From maxfury at granderiver.net  Wed Jun  1 01:51:31 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Tue May 31 11:56:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Color In Oskar Schindler's Cheeks....
Message-ID: <000901c56687$1c078480$2925b7d8@baby1>

The Color In Oskar Schindler's Cheeks....



I was watching, again, "Schindler's List", and noticed that either my (vhs)
vcr is broken, or it is all in black and white.  It's all in black and white
except for 3 places (at least that I could see or think I remember), the
little girl child in the red coat that Schindler sees in Warsaw or somewhere
and then later dead on a meat cart being pulled down the road, the red from
the blood of the women and girls in one of the camps? pricking their fingers
and wiping the blood on their lips and their cheeks so they would appear
more healthy for the systemic "inspections etc" and not be sent to the ovens
in Auschwitz or somewhere so soon, and when in the last factory/camp
Schindler made in his hometown, the rabbi holds a friday night jewish
Sabbath or something, and the 2 candles on the little table have color.

There was never any more red, or color, in that black and white movie, not
even in Schindler's cheeks.

Today his cheeks, god bless him for his act of righteousness, must be red,
looking down from "heaven" upon people like the Israelis, Americans,
English, French, Russians, Chinese, You Name Them, who herd various people
into states of rightless anonymity, and then eventually, one way or another,
find some way to eliminate if not all of them a huge portion of them, or at
least isolate them in various areas under the auspices, inspections, and
rulings of whichever current Nazi-clone host it might be.

If his are not, then mine are for him.

They assault, control, destroy and murder people.  They sell weapons for
assault, control, and murder, to anybody on this planet who has the money to
buy them.

What happened...................................??

What happened since some 60? paltry years when the Nazis were exterminating
"over 6 million Jews" (which, Richard, the movie says it was "over 6 million
Jews murdered, not 45 million....), what happened between Then and
Today....????

I'm sorry, I don't understand all of it anymore.

It doesn't make sense to stand on earth and watch the Nazis do things a few
years ago, and then turn around and watch almost Everyone on this growing by
the minute uglier planet do the exact same things.

Except it was wrong Back Then.

But it is acceptable and Just Business in The Here And Now.

Like in that movie with Tom Hanks, "Big", hey, I don't get it.

Hitler murdered 6 million Jews.  It is a bad thing.

America murders 1 million Iraqi Children with sanctions.  Nobody even talks
about it anymore.  It is almost as if it never happened.

What does it Really take for The People that are left in anything resembling
something called The Free World to actually just stand up.

They sit on their hands as the Exact Same kind of atrocities (many, at
least) occur all around the planet all the way since Schindler's List days
up to this year of 2005.

After all, what could They really even do.  They are just The People.

Now at the beck and call at a few handsful of ruthless men and women
directing the same old play of murder, genocide, and elimination, but with
better lawyers, better publicists, and better propagandists.

What does it take for The People of this earth to Just Stand Up...?

Tell me.  Tell me Now.  I want to know.  I want to know Now.

I am tired of waiting.

Extermination By The Numbers has become just The Natural Way Of Life.

For the Americans, for the Israelis, the English, the French, the Russians,
the Chinese, the You Just About Name Them.

ALL their Governments, their Corporations, and who knows who among their
Societies, both individually and collectively, participate in the spreading
of such Exterminations and the Profits, both monetary and other, that come
with the territory and The Act.

Where has sanity gone....?

It was not that long ago that Schindler was Buying People just to be able to
save 1,100 of these Jews destined for elimination by the Nazis.

There are about 400? Jews left alive in Poland today.  Schindler's Jews
descendants now number around 6,000 people.

There was a line in the movie of the inscription in the ring they gave
Schindler as he was leaving, as even though he saved those Jews, he was
still a member of the Nazi party, and at midnight he would be hunted as a
war criminal, but the inscription read something like "If you save one life,
you save the world entire".

Is that true.....?

Then where are all the Rich People in the Here and Now buying The People Of
The Earth back to Life and Sanity...?  Where are today's "Schindler's"...?

Perhaps they are out there.  Perhaps they are doing great good.  They
probably are.  I don't know.

What I do know is that their "competition" running against them for All The
Life On Earth appears to be quite stiff.

Nothing less than just about ALL the Governments of The World who profess to
be anything near "Democratic, Free, and Wise" etc (and all the Lesser
Democratic swine as well).

Out there wreaking havoc.  Piling up dead bodies,  Rounding up people and
putting them in camps.  Levelling their towns and houses to the ground.
Shooting them for fun.  Murdering 100,000 civilian men women and children
with guns, bullets, bombs, gas, etc.  Murdering 1,000,000 Children with Mere
Sanctions, no Trigger needed to be pulled.  Chopping off their arms and
legs.  Shooting them in the head.  You name the murder, torture, or
mutilations.

Top Free Governments Of This World sponsored.

Just like cigarettes.

My cheeks are burning red.      For various reasons.

My world has turned to black and white.

The Nazis never went away.

They simply changed their names and Made It All More Acceptable.

And nobody seems to notice anymore.

Although we, ourselves, do not call ourselves NAZIS, we do the same things
they did not too many years ago.

Was there a Chapter in The Historical Record of the sanity of Earth that I
missed while I was out on the road or something....?

When did such things become Acceptable.........?

And when did those who have done atrocities since the days of the Nazis, and
continue to do such atrocities to this very day, find the brazen audacity to
label themselves "The Free World"........?

Was I watching cartoons or something.....?

When did I miss this....?

And when did I miss The People Of Earth just sitting there letting it
happen....?

Oh well, there's so much more to write on such a paltry inconsequential
subject, but I've now bored even myself with such useless chatter to people
with no ears, no souls, and no guts around the world sitting on their hands
while men, women, children, even the entire ecology, is slaughtered
systematically on a daily basis by the same Governments and Various Entities
that bring you things like The Super Bowl and Marlboro Lights.  Or something
like that.

The way I figure it, America only needs about 4 million more men women and
children we can murder to catch up to the number of the Jews that the Nazis
murdered in the Holocaust.

You've come a long way, baby........

Another 4 million and you'll be king of the world.

Again.






Cheeseburger


- The slaughter.  The horror.  The lies.  The propaganda.  The people
sitting on their hands.  The profiteers.  All the blood.  All the dead men
women and children, day after day after day after day after day after day
after...........    I am tired.   I am tired of the ruthless of this world
eating whomever they please, and ceaselessly just murdering them in cold
blood, and then being able to turn around and actually amazingly convince
The People Of The World that, just like The Nazis, it is now not only
Legally Protected *Policy*, but Good Policy as well, and The People Of The
World just sitting there doing nothing.  I can't remember who commanded them
that they were to be eternally unable to stand up for Earth Itself.   My
cheeks are burning bright red, Oskar......     Goodness, well, no matter,
just more mad ramblings amid the madness of all the dead The Free World
brings me daily to view....     Oh well......      Don't let it get you
down.      It's only castles burning.   Find someone who's turning, and you
will come around................................

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 03:56:58 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:03:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4712988.1117623418207.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 A thousand thanks to Mike for breaking this story to us so promptly. The Post is, predictably, going wild on this...
Peace, Love, Freedom, Happiness -
Bill
 
 FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat'
 
 By David Von Drehle
 
 The secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053100655.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 03:57:26 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:03:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <32729202.1117623446687.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Conflicted And Mum For Decades
 
 By Dan Balz and R. Jeffrey Smith
 
 W. Mark Felt always denied he was Deep Throat. It was a denial he maintained for three decades. Throughout that period, he lived with his own sense of conflict and tension over the role he had played in bringing down a president in the Watergate scandal.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053101411.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 03:58:22 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:04:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <20621124.1117623502738.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Deep Background
 
 By Paul Farhi
 
 Vanity Fair's big scoop almost didn't happen. It started with a cold call two years ago from John D. O'Connor, a prominent lawyer in the San Francisco Bay area, to the magazine's editor, Graydon Carter.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053101588.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 03:59:15 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:05:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18955367.1117623555657.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Contemporaries Have Mixed Views
 
 By Dan Morgan
 
 Prominent figures from the Watergate era expressed a mixture of reactions, from shock to admiration, upon learning that the number two official at the FBI had guided Washington Post reporters investigating illegal activities by the Nixon administration.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 04:01:05 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:07:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <3560907.1117623665577.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Illuminating Experience of Being Kept in the Dark
 
 By Hank Stuever
 
 The idea of Deep Throat has slipped away. The man lives reduced to just that -- a old man, W. Mark Felt, with his moldered and complete Washington résumé, including a presidential pardon, living with his daughter in California, allowed two glasses of wine with dinner.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 04:02:10 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:08:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <23931788.1117623730177.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Bill Clinton Takes Spot On Global Stage
 
 By John F. Harris
 
 In 2001, in the opening months of his ex-presidency, Bill Clinton confided to an aide that he had decided on his dream job for the next chapter of his life: secretary general of the United Nations.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 04:02:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:09:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <7097023.1117623763177.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Heeding the Past As She Looks To the Future
 
 By John F. Harris
 
 Hillary Clinton's tenacity in her personal and political life has left her the most formidable figure by far in Democratic politics -- and in position to make history as the first woman to become president if she runs and wins in 2008.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 04:03:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:10:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <22586863.1117623827228.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Deep Throat Speaks
 
 It's worth remembering that this landmark victory for the rule of law also depended on the secret patriotism of a source named Deep Throat -- that is, Mark Felt. It's nice to be able to honor him by his real name while he still lives.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  1 04:04:24 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue May 31 14:10:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <8635143.1117623864528.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 A Brave Friend
 
 By Richard Cohen
 
 I applaud. We all applaud, or we should. Here was a man who did what he thought was right.
 
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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 04:34:26 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Tue May 31 14:41:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
References: <7097023.1117623763177.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>
Message-ID: <007301c5669d$de3856e0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

if anyone can do it this soon in history it is her
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <swiggard@comcast.net>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 7:02 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net


> You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of
washingtonpost.com
>
>  Heeding the Past As She Looks To the Future
>
>  By John F. Harris
>
>  Hillary Clinton's tenacity in her personal and political life has left
her the most formidable figure by far in Democratic politics -- and in
position to make history as the first woman to become president if she runs
and wins in 2008.
>
>  To view the entire article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/30/AR2005053001004.html?referrer=emailarticle
>
>
>  Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to
>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005053001004&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
>
>
>
> Visit washingtonpost.com today for the latest in:
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:32:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:39:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A No Vote Is Expected as Dutch Go to Polls
	on Europe Charter
Message-ID: <20050601133236.ADF5D13D869@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 1, 2005

A No Vote Is Expected as Dutch Go to Polls on Europe Charter
By MARLISE SIMONS

Polls predict nearly 60 percent of Dutch voters will reject the European constitution, albeit for different reasons than the French.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/international/europe/01cnd-dutch.html?ex=1118289600&en=b9967494f37988bd&ei=5070



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:32:30 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:39:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Patriot Act Redux, and in the Dark
Message-ID: <20050601133237.CF31986100@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 1, 2005

Editorial: Patriot Act Redux, and in the Dark


Rather than addressing the flaws of the Patriot Act, Senate Republicans seem to be planning to compound them, under cover of closed hearings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/opinion/01wed1.html?ex=1118289600&en=c6534eda47f93364&ei=5070




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:33:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:39:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The French Non
Message-ID: <20050601133313.9FFE87A830@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 1, 2005

Editorial: The French Non


The rejection of the new European Union constitution by French voters clearly shows a Europe suffering from an identity crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/opinion/01wed3.html?ex=1118289600&en=01731ec3273b506b&ei=5070




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:33:20 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:39:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: America's DNA
Message-ID: <20050601133328.52F2C3B027B@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 1, 2005

Op-Ed Columnist: America's DNA
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Could America's response to 9/11 change its cultural and legal essence?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/opinion/01friedman.html?ex=1118289600&en=8a17cf1e9bccf062&ei=5070




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:33:34 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:40:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Beyond Viagra Politics
Message-ID: <20050601133342.BA1137A815@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 1, 2005

Guest Columnist: Beyond Viagra Politics
By MATT MILLER

What if leaders in each party actually told their supporters some truths they needed to hear?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/opinion/01miller.html?ex=1118289600&en=e91e8683af71c490&ei=5070




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:34:19 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:40:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The War in Iraq: 'I Can't Understand' (3
	Letters)
Message-ID: <20050601133427.9954513D8F7@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 1, 2005

The War in Iraq: 'I Can't Understand' (3 Letters)


To the Editor:.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/opinion/l01iraq.html?ex=1118289600&en=4e3ba870f5dd7022&ei=5070




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:36:46 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:43:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iraq to Move Up Trial of Hussein and Start
	It in Summer
Message-ID: <20050601133654.2529B31ABF4@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 1, 2005

Iraq to Move Up Trial of Hussein and Start It in Summer
By JOHN F. BURNS

Iraq's transitional government said that the country's need for outside military assistance should determine when American troop withdrawals should start.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/international/middleeast/01iraq.html?ex=1118289600&en=029edf64a74aebb1&ei=5070



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:36:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:43:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Opposition_to_U=2ES?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?=2E_Makes_Ch=E1vez_a_Hero_to_Many?=
Message-ID: <20050601133706.5FC1D24D1DA@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / AMERICAS | June 1, 2005

Letter From South America: Opposition to U.S. Makes Chávez a Hero to Many
By JUAN FORERO

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is emerging as this generation's Fidel Castro - a charismatic figure who draws out fervent well-wishers from Havana to Buenos Aires.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/international/americas/01letter.html?ex=1118289600&en=ce7f1df56654e0bc&ei=5070



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:38:11 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:45:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Slots Plan in Pennsylvania Suffers a Blow
Message-ID: <20050601133831.12D3624D26A@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 1, 2005

Slots Plan in Pennsylvania Suffers a Blow
By JAMES DAO

Only one-fifth of the state's 500 school boards voted to participate in an ambitious plan to use gambling revenues to reduce homeowners' property taxes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/national/01pennsylvania.html?ex=1118289600&en=67bf74f757f4eece&ei=5070



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/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 07:38:51 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue May 31 16:45:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Hints He Will Withhold Other Papers on
	Bolton
Message-ID: <20050601133859.B5F1F13D9F4@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 1, 2005

Bush Hints He Will Withhold Other Papers on Bolton
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON

President Bush indicated that he would not grant Democrats access to documents they have demanded before confirming John Bolton as U.N. ambassador.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/politics/01prexy.html?ex=1118289600&en=739acd99789d4e18&ei=5070



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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  1 06:38:16 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue May 31 16:45:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Yukos chief sentenced to nine years
Message-ID: <BEC33288.20FEC%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Ex-Yukos chief sentenced to nine years
>By Neil Buckley and Isabel Gorst in Moscow and Caroline Daniel in Washington
>Published: May 31 2005 10:39 | Last updated: May 31 2005 21:54
>>

Mikhail Khodorkovsky vowed on Tuesday to fight for his freedom and the
"freedom of the whole of Russia" after he was sentenced to serve nine years
in prison for fraud and tax evasion.

Once Russia's richest man, Mr Khodorkovsky made clear he had not renounced
his ambitions to reshape Russia's political landscape. "I will work together
with those who want to and are able to talk openly about the country and the
people and our shared present and future," he said in a statement.

Platon Lebedev, Mr Khodorkovsky's business partner, was found guilty of the
same charges and given the same sentence.

The case has been viewed as an attack by the Kremlin on a businessman who
was using his wealth to gain political influence. The Kremlin has also
renationalised part of Mr Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil company in part payment
of a massive $28bn (?22.7bn) back tax claim.

President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he had expressed concerns about the
case to Russia's president Vladimir Putin. "It appeared to us, at least
people in my administration, that he had been adjudged guilty prior to
having a fair trial," Mr Bush said. "In other words, he was put in prison
and then tried."

Russia's prosecutor-general made clear the verdicts were not the end of the
assault on Mr Khodorkovsky, saying it would soon bring new charges.

The prosecutor's office has said it is preparing money laundering charges
against Mr Khodorkovsky and Mr Lebedev.

Lawyers said the two men would appeal. They are expected to take their case
to the European Court of Human Rights.

The nine-year term was one less than the maximum 10 years demanded by the
prosecution.
>
>
>
 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  1 06:39:58 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue May 31 16:48:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Growing disputes hit global trading
Message-ID: <BEC332EE.20FEE%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Growing disputes hit global trading
>By Alan Beattie in London and Raphael Minder in Brussels
>Published: May 31 2005 19:25 | Last updated: May 31 2005 19:25
>>

Trade officials have expressed concern that the global trade system is being
damaged by increasingly acrimonious disputes, after Europe and the US
reopened their World Trade Organisation battle over aircraft subsidies.

The EU on Tuesday said it would revive its dormant WTO case against the US's
support for Boeing in retaliation for the American decision, announced late
on Monday, to start the first stage of litigation against the EU for loans
to Airbus.

The escalation of the Airbus-Boeing dispute follows growing conflict over
Chinese textiles, with China strongly criticising planned restrictions on
its exports to the US and Europe. Some officials said such tension
threatened the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks, which are behind
schedule in the build-up to a ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.

One WTO ambassador from a country in the Cairns Group of agricultural
exporters and a supporter of liberalisation, said: ?We have been hit by a
triple whammy this week. First the Chinese textile dispute, then the French
referendum and now these Airbus-Boeing complaints.?

But the US and EU said that the flurry of disputes would not derail the
global push towards freer trade.

Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, lamented the decision to trigger
litigation despite the ?worrisome? state of the Doha talks. He suggested
that litigation might widen to take in Japan, where Boeing sources some of
its production.

?Everything that is wrapped up in the Doha round is infinitely more
important than what is basically a grudge fight between two companies,? Mr
Mandelson said. He added: ?I am determined to make sure that whatever blood
is spilt in this aircraft dispute in Geneva, personal relations are not
damaged and key negotiators don't fall out.?

The Cairns Group ambassador said of the Boeing-Airbus case, however:
?Clearly it could swamp, or at least impact, the negotiations. This case
will be one of the biggest things to hit [the WTO] and has the potential to
be monstrous.?

Sir Peter Sutherland, chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former
head of the WTO, said: ?It is highly desirable that [Airbus-Boeing] is
placed back solely into the context of bilateral negotiations. All of this
is unhelpful to Doha.?

The US trade representative's office fiercely rejected the idea that it was
jeopardising global trade. US officials pointed out that WTO litigation over
its steel tariffs and a tax rebate on foreign sales, and the EU's ban on
genetically-modified food, had not prevented transatlantic co-operation in
global trade talks.

Mr Mandelson said on Tuesday that the Airbus-Boeing litigation was likely to
be self-defeating. Even if the Geneva panel were to yield a clear ruling
against one of the parties, he suggested it would be impossible to enforce
it in view of the huge commercial and political interests at stake.

>


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  1 06:41:54 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue May 31 16:49:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US court overturns Arthur Andersen conviction
Message-ID: <BEC33362.20FEF%michael@michaelbutler.com>

US court overturns Arthur Andersen conviction
>By Patti Waldmeir in Washington
>Published: May 31 2005 15:55 | Last updated: May 31 2005 17:53
>>

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the Enron-related conviction of
Arthur Andersen, the former accounting giant, dealing a substantial blow to
the government's crackdown on corporate fraud.

In a unanimous ruling that was welcomed by US business groups, the court
said that Andersen's conviction in the biggest corporate trial of the
post-Enron period was based on faulty jury instructions.

Andersen's US business was convicted in 2002 of witness-tampering, after
some of the firm's officials urged employees to shred documents connected to
its audits of Enron, to comply with its document retention policy.

The court said on Tuesday that the jury instructions were faulty because
they did not require proof that Andersen officials knew they were doing
something wrong. The dep
>
Andersen ruling strengthens lobby
>Click here
>
artment of justice said it would consider whether to retry the case.

The ruling came too late to save Andersen, whose global network of
accounting businesses collapsed in early 2002 after it admitted to shredding
the Enron related documents.

Legal experts said the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley act brought in tough new
guidelines for document retention that supersede the law under which
Andersen was tried, and resolved ambiguities that were central to the
accounting firm's case.

But several pro-business groups said Tuesday?s ruling went well beyond the
issue of document destruction, sending a signal that the court disapproved
of what some US business groups see as overly aggressive white-collar
prosecutions.

?The court sent a stinging rebuke to the department of justice for its
abusive prosecutorial conduct,? said Paul Kamenar, who wrote a brief in the
case for the US Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Legal Foundation, a
free-market think tank.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the court, criticised the
instructions given to the original jury, saying they indicated that the jury
?need not find any consciousness of wrongdoing in order to convict?. He said
it was ?striking how little culpability the instructions required?.

His ruling also implicitly rebuked government prosecutors for failing to
follow the traditional practice of resolving legal ambiguities in favour of
criminal defendants. ?We have traditionally exercised restraint in assessing
the reach of a federal criminal statute,? he wrote, noting that defendants
deserved a ?fair warning in language that the common world will understand?.

Andersen's US business said it was ?very pleased? with the court's ruling
because it acknowledged ?the fundamental injustice that has been done to
Arthur Andersen and its former personnel and retirees?.

Andersen's US business today does no auditing or consulting work, and
employs just 200 people, compared to 28,000 in 2002.

?We pursued an appeal of this case not because we believed Arthur Andersen
could be restored to its previous position, but because we had an obligation
to set the record straight and clear the good name of the 28,000 people who
lost their jobs at the time of the indictment,? said Andersen.

The case concerned the language of a federal witness-tampering law, which
makes it a crime for someone ?knowingly? to ?corruptly persuade? another to
destroy evidence. The ruling stressed that destroying documents even if the
goal was to withhold information from the government was not in itself a
crime.

?Under ordinary circumstances, it is not wrongful for a manager to instruct
his employees to comply with a valid document retention policy, even though
the policy, in part, is created to keep certain information from others,
including the government,? Justice Rehnquist wrote.

Stephanie Martz of the white-collar crime project of the National
Association of Criminal Defense Laywers said the ruling could help other
defendants.

?The point this opinion makes is that is perfectly legal under the
adversarial system to withhold information under many circumstances,?
including when a government investigation might be foreseeable.


From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Wed Jun  1 08:24:14 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Tue May 31 18:38:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: 
In-Reply-To: <002401c566b8$819fdb40$1063e052@gvad8w310lqzzx>
Message-ID: <200506010138.j511cOkg028500@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: "Juan" <villasudjuan@free.fr>
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 16:45:07 +0200
To: "REZA" <villasudjuan@wanadoo.fr>
Subject: Fw: 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Elahe golsorkhi" <egolsorkhi@yahoo.com>
To: "villasudjuan" <villasudjuan@free.fr>
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 1:38 PM


> Iran Reports Gain in Test of Missile Fuel
> E-Mail This
> Printer-Friendly
> Reprints
> 
> 
> By THE NEW YORK TIMES
> Published: June 1, 2005
> TEHRAN, May 31 - Iran said Tuesday that it had
> successfully tested a solid-fuel motor for its
> medium-range ballistic missile known as Shahab 3,
> raising concerns that it could reach its enemies,
> including American forces in the region and Israel,
> with more precision.
> 
> Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told state television
> the test was a success but did not say when it had
> been carried out.
> 
> "When you fill a missile with liquid, you have to use
> it quickly," he said. "With solid fuel, a missile can
> be stored for years. And in addition, it makes the
> missile more accurate and cheaper."
> 
> Iran's ambition to develop its nuclear program and its
> missile industry has been a major concern for the
> West. Iran announced large-scale production of the
> Shahab 3 last year. If Iran were to develop nuclear
> weapons, the missile would make it possible to deliver
> them to targets more than 1,200 miles away.
> 
> The new fuel technology is a breakthrough for Iran's
> military. Solid-fuel missiles can be stockpiled for
> much longer than liquid-fuel weapons, making mass
> production much more practical.
> 
> 
> Next Article in International (8 of 12) >
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________
> Discover Yahoo! 
> Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news and more. Check it out!
> http://discover.yahoo.com/mobile.html
>


------ End of Forwarded Message


From earth_email_list at venusproject.com  Wed Jun  1 08:13:14 2005
From: earth_email_list at venusproject.com (Bahram Maskanian)
Date: Tue May 31 18:39:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Saint Mark's Church, 2  Ave & 10  Street - Sunday,
 June 5th, 6-10 pm
Message-ID: <200506010139.j511dITv028510@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


Confronting the Evidence:
A Call to Reopen the 911 Investigation
 
Documentary Film of September 11, 2004 Event at Manhattan Ballroom
Produced by ReOpen911.org and the INN Report (2005)

Sunday, June 5th, 6-10 pm
Saint Mark's Church, 2nd Avenue and 10th Street

Do you know that:

On September 9th the president had a war plan on his desk to invade 
Afghanistan?
The alleged hijackers names were not on the passenger lists?
There were up to 23 individually recorded warnings regarding the attack 
from a total of 11 foreign governments?
The Air Force should have intercepted the hijacked planes but didn't due 
to several government sponsored war games occurring?
Government officials were warned not to fly on 9/11?
The debris at Ground Zero was removed without forensic examination, 
shipped to China and melted down?
The Bush and bin Laden families have been doing business together since 
the late 70s?
The Bush administration tried to obstruct the investigation from the start?
After more than 3 1/2 years no one has been held accountable?

If you realize there's much more to the story and want to learn about 
what the real agenda was behind the attacks, join us for this event that 
will add a new dimension of understanding of the most profoundly 
important event of our time. You'll leave knowing what difference you 
can make. All issues of peace, justice and progress for the human race 
depend on getting to the truth of 9/11 because it exposes the forces of 
empire like no other event in history. Tell everyone you care about and 
we'll see you there!

Donation appreciated...No one turned away.

The Quest For Truth Continues!

NY911Truth.org
Hotline: 212-714-7147
 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  1 10:29:09 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue May 31 20:35:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Thousands held in Zimbabwe blitz
Message-ID: <20050601_172909_057112.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Thousands held in Zimbabwe blitz **
More than 22,000 people have been arrested in the recent crackdown on Zimbabwe's shantytowns, police say.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4598645.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  1 10:51:21 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue May 31 20:57:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Young Russians face health crisis
Message-ID: <20050601_175121_030319.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Young Russians face health crisis **
Ill-health, drug addiction and illiteracy mean Russia's young are as unhealthy as in 1945, a senior minister admits.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4600619.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  1 06:36:20 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue May 31 22:04:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deepthroat
Message-ID: <BEC33215.20FE8%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  1 12:06:46 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue May 31 22:13:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bagle virus peril in empty e-mail
Message-ID: <20050601_190646_086792.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bagle virus peril in empty e-mail **
Further variants of the mass-mailing computer virus, Bagle, have spread quickly across the net, say security firms.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4599501.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 13:59:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 00:06:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Planned Parenthood Is Told to Show
	Children's Files
Message-ID: <20050601205929.4E96711F8A7@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 1, 2005
Planned Parenthood Is Told to Show Children's Files
By MONICA DAVEY
Planned Parenthood of Indiana has to show state investigators the medical records of some of its youngest patients, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/national/01indiana.html?ex=1118289600&en=523a6d01725bd2da&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 14:00:50 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 00:07:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Trump Group Selling West Side Parcel for
	$1.8 Billion
Message-ID: <20050601210050.4F3589FC4D@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Look who's buying the development next door to me - The Carlyle Group! There goes the neighborhood! Peace.


NEW YORK REGION | June 1, 2005
Trump Group Selling West Side Parcel for $1.8 Billion
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The $1.8 billion sale would be the largest residential sale in the city's history and the latest example of a rocketing housing market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/nyregion/01trump.html?ex=1118289600&en=56e6740481554b86&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  1 15:01:15 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  1 01:08:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dutch join French in rejecting EU treaty
Message-ID: <BEC3A86B.2105B%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Dutch join French in rejecting EU treaty
>By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam
>Published: June 1 2005 18:13 | Last updated: June 1 2005 20:04
>>

The Dutch on Wednesday turned out in force for a referendum in which they
look set to join the French in rejecting the European Union constitutional
treaty, a result that would plunge the 25-nation bloc further into crisis.

Exit polls indicated that 63 per cent voted to reject the charter and that
the turnout stood at 62 per cent.

By mid-afternoon 31 per cent of more than 12m eligible Dutch voters had cast
their ballots, Dutch television reported, with most expected to say No to
new rules drafted to govern the enlarged EU, of which The Netherlands, like
France, is a founding member.

The turnout was set to exceed the 39.1 per cent at last year's election for
the European Parliament. That would mean the Dutch parliament, which called
for the non-binding referendum, would abide by the outcome.

While an opinion poll late on Tuesday gave the government-backed Yes
campaign the faintest hope that it might close the gap on treaty opponents,
Labour and Green party politicians leafleting morning rush-hour commuters
conceded it was too little, too late.

The result is likely to prove the final nail in the coffin of the treaty,
and would almost certainly lead the UK government to abandon its referendum
scheduled for next year, EU leaders believe.

Political commentators and diplomats played down the influence of the French
result on Dutch voters, and pointed to differences behind the No vote in the
two countries as evidence of a profound problem in Europe.

The Dutch have cited fears over loss of sovereignty, the impact of the
single currency and Turkey's membership application.

The disappointment in the Yes camp is compounded by the fact that it failed
despite the support of 80 per cent of parliament, nearly every newspaper,
and all Dutch business leaders. Jan Peter Balkenende, prime minister, has
said there will be no resignations from his government.

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  1 15:31:29 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 01:38:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Nation That Should Know Better
Message-ID: <30916375.1117665089600.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
A Nation That Should Know Better 
--------------------

By Roger Mahony
Cardinal Roger Mahony is the archbishop of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles.

June 1 2005

It appears fashionable these days, and almost politically correct, to blame hard-working immigrants, especially those from Mexico and Central America, for the social and economic ills of our state and nation. Anti-immigrant fervor on TV and radio talk shows, citizens attempting to enforce immigration laws and the enactment of restrictive laws, such as the Real ID Act, are evidence of this trend. Some of our elected officials are joining the parade, going so far as to call for the closing of our southern border. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mahony1jun01,0,2948046.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  1 16:38:30 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 02:45:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Catapulting the Propaganda
Message-ID: <20050601233830.2B914B8074@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Catapulting the Propaganda
http://www.alternet.org/story/22122

Bush decided to wage an entirely elective war against a country that presented little or no threat to us -- and according to the Downing Street memo, he damn well knew it, too.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  1 16:44:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 02:51:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: How's Dean Doing?
Message-ID: <20050601234443.50AE1B8074@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
How's Dean Doing?
http://www.alternet.org/story/22121

Howard Dean's first 100 days as DNC chair have come and gone. Marty Kaplan from Air America recently asked a panel to discuss his performance. 
-------------------------------------

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun  1 18:19:15 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun  1 04:26:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ZIMBABWE ARRESTS THOUSANDS IN SLUM CRACKDOWN 
Message-ID: <20050602011915.16F0369AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ZIMBABWE ARRESTS THOUSANDS IN SLUM CRACKDOWN 
WebPosted Wed Jun  1 14:30:07 2005

---Zimbabwean police have arrested more than 22,000 people in a crackdown
on urban shantytowns, officials say.

Thousands of others have been forced to flee as authorities used
bulldozers, sledgehammers and fire to destroy their illegal shacks.

Many are trying to escape to their families in the countryside, but are
being hampered by a lack of fuel.

The operation was launched last week in a bid to get rid of black markets
and crime in the slums of Harare and other cities, President Robert
Mugabe's government told state media in interviews published Wednesday.

But critics and opposition candidates have condemned it as a political
vendetta against people who support the main opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change.

"The Zimbabwean government insists they're trying to restore law and
order," Gugulethu Moyo, a lawyer from Zimbabwe, told CBC News.

"Critics of the government say, 'No, in fact what is happening is the
government is targeting areas where people voted for the opposition in
the last elections', which were in March," said Moyo, who was once
jailed in Zimbabwe but who now works for the International Bar
Association in London.

"And this is just an exercise in retaliation."

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since it received official
independence from Britain 25 years ago, won an overwhelming victory
in the March 31 election.

The opposition and western governments said it was riddled with
corruption and fraud.

Moyo and other observers said the crackdown on slums is part of a
bigger problem.

The country's agriculture-based economy has collapsed over the past five
years, leaving five million people without sufficient food and raising
unemployment rates to about 80 per cent.

Critics say the crisis is caused in part by Mugabe's controversial land-
reform policy, under which white-owned farms were seized and given to
landless blacks.

Mugabe, 81, blames it on sabotage by political opponents.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  1 18:57:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 05:04:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN.com - Stage set for '.xxx' Internet addresses - Jun
	1, 2005
Message-ID: <3236623.1117677464064.JavaMail.tomcat@localhost>



*Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.



Why would the owner of an extant pron site VOLUNTARILY change over to an "xxx" suffix if he knows it will cut into his business?



 
********************
 
If you are having trouble with any of the links in this message, or if the URL's are not appearing as links, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.
 
Title: CNN.com - Stage set for '.xxx' Internet addresses - Jun 1, 2005
 
  
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Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to SAVE THIS link:
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun  2 01:10:18 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Wed Jun  1 11:15:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Nation That Should Know Better
Message-ID: <000901c5674a$85c13600$1525b7d8@baby1>

Re:  A Nation That Should Know Better



The guy in the red monkey suit wrote:


=======
Our country stands at a critical point in its history. Our heritage as a
nation of immigrants is at stake. We should not attack undocumented workers
for our broader problems at the same time we accept their talent, toil and
taxes. We should not blockade our border at the same time that we depend
upon the labor of the immigrant nanny, janitor, busboy and agricultural
worker.

As we have in the past, we should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize
that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the
solution.
==========



The guy in the Cheeseburger suit replies:


Ok, and now passing on kissing Roger's ring (I dunno, I just don't kiss
peoples' rings, call it a phobia if you want, even if I know them, I don't
know those people from Adam, neither does God, imho, I'm just of the
personal opinion that people who make other people kiss their rings on Earth
in this life, when they die, there is either an angel or a demon at the gate
of heaven or hell, and both always say "Kiss my butt".  Ironic, I think so,
funny, I dunno, it's what Galileo the guy who works at the gas station in my
little town told me, and I trust him so it must be true), we drift back to
something called Reality.

Here's how it stands at The Border at this moment, at least the tip of the
iceberg of it:

There is a hit out on the President of Mexico, El Presidente Fox, or
whatever they call him.  It was put out by a gigantic group of people
something akin to a guerilla army that encompasses the whole of Mexico.  The
complete make-up of the members on their roster, I dunno, there are
apparently tons of young kids running with them though.  They uzi police,
and their families, who bother them there while they are in drive-in windows
and things like that,  They no longer bury bodies they use in voodoo-like
rituals to ensure various shipments, but rather put them in a 50 gallon
barrel and fill it with cement and toss it in the river.  Now and then when
it rains a lot, the barrels come to the surface, the bodies are still very
well intact since they were encased in cement.  Billions of dollars, each
year, of drugs, sex slaves, who knows what, streams across into America from
Mexico The Beautiful.

This nationwide guerilla army is now also allegedly in cahoots with anything
resembling or calling itself "al-Qaeda", at least the last time I looked.

There is a U.S. State Department warning out for people to actually avoid
Mexico if they possibly can because so many plain Tourists are getting their
heads blown off at The Border or elsewhere.

Something like 3 million Immigrants have streamed across the U.S.-Mexico
Border, each year, for almost forever now it seems.  Hmmm, those would be
nice exact statistics to have.  In 10 years, that is about 3 NYC's.

Yes, Roger, I'll have to agree, that's a heck of a lot of Cheap Labor.

It's really a rather complex matter sometimes it seems, and then you just
crunch the simple numbers of the volume of Immigrants that come to America
each year, just from Mexico alone, and it becomes less complex by the
minute, to various people, for various reasons.

Now if you just had a little card or something, and a machine that could
discern the difference 100 percent of the time, and somehow be able to
separate the Friendly Nice Immigrants, perhaps all 3 million of them Each
Year, from the drug runners, the weapons smugglers, the slavers, the slaves,
the teen and pre-teen sex trade, members of the nationwide guerilla army who
currently have a hit out on El Presidente, the people who are currently
shooting tourists on vacation, the people who are floating body-filled
barrels down the border river for summer sport, all the actual people tied
into real Terrorism who are now allied with this guerilla army, and all the
teens and children that have now been absorbed into their vast forces, you
might have something interesting at least to debate on the floor of
Congress.

Indeed, how ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen America.

I dunno, it's a complex issue, which very likely needs great consideration,
duh, but I just seriously doubt anyone on the floor of Congress has suddenly
grown enough brains overnight to solve such a gigantic problem which I ain't
got time to discuss all the various facets of it right now, but sit here 100
miles from it and easily know what it must be like to live next to something
at least mildly resembling one of those countries they keep referring to in
something called The Middle East.

Yep, true, who's gonna pick our grapes, wash our cars, be our nannies, cut
our lawns, herd our cows, cook for the tourists, etc etc etc if "we close
our border there" or anything like that...?  Yeah, you're right, certainly
not Americans, we're too busy living off our inheritances and those jobs are
too lowly for the TON of unemployed on this side of the Rio Grande.  (Oh,
sorry, I forgot, the American Side Employers don't want to pay Real Money to
actual Americans, that remains, as always, one of the greatest incentives to
not address any Problem part of the whole thing in a realistic manner for
the next billion years or something).

But you also get the bad side of the coin in the process, some of which
Roger referred to in his statement, a lot which he didn't even mildly refer
to.

If that is "the definitive statement from the Vatican" on the matter, well,
kids, I just dunno, lol...   There's a riot goin' on down here, and The
Church didn't seem to think that needed mentioning in discussing The
Millions of Immigrants that stream across The Border with our neighbor
Mexico year after year, so I just thought I'd fill in a tiny bit of the
blanks.

I hope you could hear it all over the uzis and the bodies floating down the
river thudding up against the bridge and the people inside screaming for
help.

And the children laughing on the bank.






Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:44:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:52:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat' - Bob Woodward -
	Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE31D.5030409@comcast.net>

Post e-mail system is down again, sending this manually.
Peace, Love, Freedom, Happiness -
Bill

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060102124.html
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:45:21 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:52:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Leaks Came Against Backdrop Of a Post-Hoover Power
 Struggle - Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE341.3020600@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101778.html
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:46:33 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:54:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A 33-Year-Old Pledge Was Kept at a Price: The Post's
 Lost Scoop - Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE389.9000104@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060102021.html
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:48:18 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:55:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	At FBI, Reflections On Felt and Loyalty - Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE3F2.5090605@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101831.html
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:49:13 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:56:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Follow the Money: The Marketing Of Deep Throat -
	Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE429.9000404@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101993.html?nav=hcmodule
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:49:55 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:57:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Watergate Chronology (washingtonpost.com)
Message-ID: <429EE453.8000608@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/chronology.htm
From newsletter at villagevoice.com  Wed Jun  1 21:30:42 2005
From: newsletter at villagevoice.com (Village Voice Newsletter)
Date: Wed Jun  1 13:58:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Can't Afford Rent? Buy Instead
Message-ID: <20050602043042.86111.qmail@www3.villagevoice.com>

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:52:30 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:00:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deep Throat Revealed (Slide show, Washington Post)
Message-ID: <429EE4EE.9060404@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2005/05/31/GA2005053100928_index_frames.htm?startat=1
From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  2 03:54:28 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:01:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Opportunity in Defeat (EU votes in France and
 Netherlands) - Jim Hoagland - Washington Post
Message-ID: <429EE564.4060901@comcast.net>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101644.html?nav=hcmodule
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 03:57:31 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:04:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Virtually Unprotected
Message-ID: <20050602105731.04274A0FF9@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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OPINION / NEW YORK/REGION OPINIONS | June 2, 2005
Editorial: An Insecure Nation: Virtually Unprotected

Protecting the nation from a potentially devastating cyberattack should be a high priority.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/opinion/opinionspecial/02thu1.html?ex=1118376000&en=df6be964a2e3b642&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 03:57:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:04:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Fear and Rejection
Message-ID: <20050602105742.008833AE59D@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 2, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Fear and Rejection
By DAVID BROOKS
Events in Western Europe are slowly discrediting large swaths of American liberalism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/opinion/02brooks.html?ex=1118376000&en=c016b02b26074bc5&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 03:57:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:04:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Truth and Deceit
Message-ID: <20050602105754.497BE249D2A@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 2, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Truth and Deceit
By BOB HERBERT
The lessons of Watergate and Vietnam are as important now as they have ever been.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/opinion/02herbert.html?ex=1118376000&en=d1be88c5bf809fbb&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 03:58:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:05:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: War From the Top Down
Message-ID: <20050602105818.9077983EEC@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 2, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: War From the Top Down
By JAMES S. CORUM
Unless we provide Iraq with good leadership, our plan to spread democracy will end in defeat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/opinion/02corum.html?ex=1118376000&en=e9d5e320c6c4e025&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 03:59:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:05:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: 'Deep Throat,
	' a Mystery No More (8 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050602105910.26B83A1033@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 2, 2005
'Deep Throat,' a Mystery No More (8 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/opinion/l02deepthroat.html?ex=1118376000&en=0f9a40e0a4cd5d7b&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 04:00:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:06:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Powder Shuts Indonesian Office in Australia
Message-ID: <20050602110008.53DF711F8A7@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 2, 2005
Powder Shuts Indonesian Office in Australia
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Indonesian Embassy in Australia closed after a package arrived containing a white powder that Prime Minister John Howard said was "some kind of biological agent."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/international/asia/02indo.html?ex=1118376000&en=2ab2024ac4148933&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 04:00:26 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:07:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Dutch Voters Solidly Reject New European
	Constitution
Message-ID: <20050602110026.1F43313B896@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 2, 2005
Dutch Voters Solidly Reject New European Constitution
By MARLISE SIMONS
Following France's 'no' vote, the Dutch vote further undermines Europe's ambitions to play a stronger role on the world scene.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/international/europe/02dutch.html?ex=1118376000&en=3a35a883796d46ca&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 04:00:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:07:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Departing Israeli Army Chief Is Gloomy on
	Peace Prospects
Message-ID: <20050602110044.8061783E61@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 2, 2005
Departing Israeli Army Chief Is Gloomy on Peace Prospects
By STEVEN ERLANGER
After the last four years of bloodshed, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon said, "I can't offer now a simple, achievable solution."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/international/middleeast/02israel.html?ex=1118376000&en=5c00311fcbba6037&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 04:02:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:09:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Schwarzenegger Issues Plan to Reduce
	Greenhouse Gases
Message-ID: <20050602110253.1A6C323703C@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 2, 2005
Schwarzenegger Issues Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
By CAROLYN MARSHALL
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced an ambitious plan to reduce California's contribution to gases that many scientists believe cause global warming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/national/02arnold.html?ex=1118376000&en=6b2d9520d0b021c2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  2 04:03:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 14:10:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Senate Leader Backs Initiative on Biodefense
Message-ID: <20050602110336.48823A0FF4@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 2, 2005
Senate Leader Backs Initiative on Biodefense
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
A federal initiative as ambitious as the Manhattan Project is needed to protect the nation from infectious diseases, Senator Bill Frist said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/politics/02frist.html?ex=1118376000&en=de8251013401c000&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun  1 22:07:19 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:28:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] French people reject "globalization" + Moving Goalposts
	(on Palestinians
Message-ID: <200506012328.j51NSXdk031952@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

I wuz hoping for a good article about the French people's rejection of the new 
European Union constitution, since the corporate media is as usual busy 
confusing us with its spin.  Thanks to Ed Pearl, here it is....followed by 
another good one about  goalpost moving by US adminstration in dealing with 
Palestinians..

The French "NON"

Given the chance, the people reject "globalization"

By Diana Johnstone, for Counterpoint


         Paris, May 30, 2005. The French went ahead and did it.  Despite
being lectured by government and party leaders, media pundits and foreign
leaders flown in from neighboring countries, all telling them that they
must vote "yes" to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for the European
Union or the sky would fall, a solid majority of 55% voted "no"!  The high
turnout of 70% gave the rejection indisputable credibility.

         This was essentially a vote against dogmatic free market
         policies,
and the type of economic globalization being pursued by the "neo-liberal"
free marketeers.

          The "non" was resounding, and, for those who were listening, the
message was clear.  But who was really listening?

        The day after the vote, mainstream politicians and media were all
scurrying to misinterpret the event to suit their own repudiated agendas.
No wonder, because the referendum result amounted to an extraordinary
rejection not only of a bad text, but also of the whole political class --
newspaper and television commentators included -- who had zealously
resorted to every possible exhortation, deception and threat to sell the
"oui" vote.

        And it was not only the ardent salesmanship of the familiar faces
on the screen that was rejected.  The "non" was also an expression of
exasperation with the whole lot of mainstream politicians and media stars,
the "oui-ouistes" as they were dubbed, for years of preening self -
satisfaction and unfulfilled promises as more and more businesses shut
down leaving employees out in the cold. Part of the satisfaction of voting
"non" was to watch television and see the consternation on all those
familiar faces, and listen to each one's frantic attempts to blame the
others for the disaster in hopes of salvaging his or her own political
career.

        This was a highly amusing spectacle, but also extremely
        disturbing.
Because although the meaning of the vote was clearly a desire to throw all
the rascals out, they are still there.  They are still there in the media
especially, where they need not fear losing the next election. They are
there to interpret events as it suits them, not least to the rest of
Europe and the world.

        The interpretations of the French vote making the rounds display
an unshakable determination not to understand what happened.

       Of course, all the stale, ignorant clichis about "the French" are
being trotted out.  Typically, to explain the French psychology, the
International Herald Tribune quoted a Polish human resources consultant on
a Warsaw parkbench, who opined that "France still has nostalgia for its
empire".  No doubt people all over Europe and in the United States could
come up with the same absurdity, because that's what their media tell
them.

        That being the case, let it be observed that France's "nostalgia
for empire" is a fantasy, especially current among certain imperialist
Americans who cannot conceive of any lesser national ambition.  There has
been no significant nostalgia for empire in France since President de
Gaulle decided over forty years ago that it was in France's best interest
to withdraw from its colonies.  In any case, that has absolutely nothing
whatever to do with the May 29 vote.

        Exit polls showed that the number one motive for the "no" vote --
56% of respondants -- was the state of the economy.  This means
unemployment.  Because in terms of business profits, the French economy is
not doing so badly, thank you. But ten percent official unemployment, as
profitable firms shut down plant to move to countries with cheaper labor,
is considered intolerable.

        The second motive indicated, with 46%, was the "neo-liberal"
        nature
of the Constitution treaty. The third most frequently mentioned motive was
the desire to have the Constitution renegotiated.

        These data show clearly that the vote was not "against Europe". Of
course, there were bound to be contradictory motives behind the no vote --
and behind the yes vote as well. The far right National Front voted "no"
to the European Union, which will surely be the choice of an even larger
segment in the United Kingdom, if the UK referendum takes place.  But the
bulk of the French "non" was pro-European and anti-globalization.  If
anything, it was for a stronger Europe more inclined and able to resist
the destruction thrust of globalization and to protect social and
environmental standards.

        On the right, voters wanted to preserve national sovereignty.
There is nothing really so dreadful about that.  But most of the "no" vote
came from the left.  Despite increasingly frantic efforts by their party
leaders to shore up the "yes" vote, a large majority of Socialists (59%)
and an overwhelming majority of Greens voted "no".  The current leaders of
those parties are in for a rough time.  Socialist Party leader Frangois
Hollande is perhaps the major casualty, with his main rival, Laurent
Fabius, who prudently endorsed the "non", waiting politely in the wings to
take over the shattered party.

        The party leader who comes out of this test with flying colors is
Marie-George Buffet, who may have succeeded in saving the French 
Communist
Party from total oblivion by cutting loose from the Socialist Party while
at the same time abandoning all past sectarianism in favor of a unitary
campaign with the whole rejectionist spectrum from the center to the left,
includingTrotskyists, dissident Socialists and Greens.  An eventual left
coalition with Laurent Fabius can be imagined.

       Meanwhile, the Eurocrats who were warning of a cataclysm in case
the French voted the wrong way, are trying to pretend that nothing has
happened.  The particularly unattractive Portuguese head of the European
Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the current Luxembourgeois head of
the European Council announced blandly that the ratification process will
go ahead as planned in spite of this "accident de parcours"  -- a chance
mishap, like a flat tire to be repaired before continuing in the same
direction.  However, legally, the Constitution cannot go into effect
unless it is ratified by all 25 member States.  Rather than recognize that
the French have killed this text, and demanded a better one, the Eurocrats
sputter that it's not fair for one country to decide for all the others.

But one reason people voted against the proposed Constitution was
precisely that it required unanimity for amendment, meaning any country
could decide no for all the others.

     In a couple of days, the Dutch will vote.  Their no will probably
     have
a somewhat different coloration than the French, but so what?  There is in
fact an emerging clash between the sort of "European construction" pursued
over the heads of Europe's people and democracy.  If "Europe" can't be
constructed democratically, should it be constructed at all?

    The biggest question mark is Germany, where the left is already in
political crisis because of the drastic anti-social economic reforms
pursued relentlessly by the "pink and green" government of Gerhard
Schroeder.  The Social Democratic Party (SPD) was just voted out of office
in its last major stronghold, North Rhine Westphalia.  Oskar Lafontaine,
who left the leadership of the SPD years ago in disagreement over

Schroeder's turn to neoliberalism, has now officially left the SPD and is
working to create a new more progressive party.  At a "non de gauche"
rally on the eve of the French vote, Lafontaine was given a huge,
overwhelming ovation that obviously left him deeply moved. The revival of
the French left around the referendum has encouraged Lafontaine to try to
revive the German left.  While mainstream Germans converged on Paris
condescendingly lecturing people who knew more about the Treaty and they
did, Lafontaine is one German who understands perfectly what this vote was
all about. And there are more.  The crucial task for the future of Europe
will depend on cooperation between the French and German left in
explaining the meaning of the French rejection to the Germans and in
inspiring a new common political course.

        President Chirac warned that France would be the "black sheep" of
Europe if it refused to ratify the Constitution.  Significantly, Germany
ratified the Constitution by an overwhelming vote -- of the Bundestag. If
French ratification had been up to the National Assembly, the "yes" vote
would have been just as overwhelming.  The German Constitution bans
popular referendums.  But one can imagine that a popular referendum in
Germany might have produced exactly the same result: at first, polls would
have shown a majority in favor, but little by little, as people examined
and discussed the actual text, opinion would have shifted.  After all, the
economic situation in Germany is even quite a bit worse than in France.
The reasons to reject free market dogma are equally valid in both
countries.

      For this to be realized, trade unionists and political activists
have to overcome the obstacle of chronic media misrepresentation.  For
this, they have a new weapon, which already played a significant role in
the campaign for the "non" -- the web.

###########################

		
May 29, 2005. 
U.S. keeps moving Mideast goal posts
Haroon Siddiqui says America inconsistent in its dealings with 
Palestinians

HAROON SIDDIQUI

Laura Bush, trotted out in times of trouble, as she was during last fall's 
presidential election, went to the Middle East to counter the anger at 
George W.'s policies.

She hailed Hosni Mubarak. The 77-year-old autocrat has won four 
uncontested referendums but will now allow competition. Opponents, 
however, must be from a party at least five years old, and get the 
support of 250 members of the Egyptian parliament and each of the 26 
local councils, all of which are controlled by his party.

This is what the mullahs in Iran do during elections ? disqualify those 
they don't like ? and get pilloried by America, rightly so. Yet Mrs. Bush 
thought he was "bold and wise."

No sooner had she left than police were arresting critics and caning 
protesters. President Bush, embarrassed, offered mild criticism of the 
"beating," but not Mubarak's "reforms."

Egypt, the second major recipient of U.S. aid after Israel, is a partner in 
Bush's war on terror. It has taken in the highest number of suspects, 
about 200, to torture them under his Orwellian program of "rendition."

Egypt offers only one of many inconsistencies in the American policy 
on the Middle East, starting with the two familiar ones:

Iraq must be invaded and Syria squeezed for not adhering to United 
Nations resolutions but Israel can go on ignoring them.

Israel can keep its reported 200 nuclear bombs but Iran and North 
Korea can't have one. (They shouldn't, on the less-than-perfect theory 
that those who have can and those who don't can't. But coming from 
Bush, the call rings hollow).

Other contradictions:

The welcome offered Mahmoud Abbas at the White House ended 
Bush's boycott of the Palestinian leadership. Yasser Arafat was 
banned for being corrupt, duplicitous and anti-democratic. By that 
measure, Bush shouldn't be seeing almost all his autocratic Arab 
allies.

Bush praises Abbas for being the only Arab leader with a clear 
democratic mandate and for pulling the Palestinians into a peaceful 
political process.

But the political participation of Hamas is deemed troubling.

The terrorist group won a third of the seats in local elections in the 
occupied territories. Concern that it might do well in national elections 
in July prompted proposals that the planned Israeli withdrawal from 
Gaza be postponed, as also the election.

Ariel Sharon has rightly rejected the first. Bush has not vetoed the 
second. Is democracy good only if the right party wins?

It is said that an electorally strong Hamas might pressure Abbas into 
taking a tough stance against Israel in peace talks.

Does that mean that Israel is entitled to negotiate a hard bargain but 
not the Palestinians?

Abbas is asked to confront Hamas, not co-opt it, because it still has 
guns and rockets. But he can't have all the tools he needs, such as 
armoured cars, which Russia is willing to provide.

"He can't fight terrorism with slingshots and stones," said Vladimir 
Putin, on a recent visit to Ramallah. But Israel reportedly doesn't want 
him to.

This is a strategy of wishing Hamas away or wiping it out. Neither is 
likely to happen.

Similarly, in Lebanon, the militant Hezbollah must disarm. But the pro-
U.S. Kurdish militia in Iraq need not ? just as the anti-Tehran terrorist 
Mujahideen, hiding in Iraq, did not have to.

Bush cites the proposed Gaza pullout as proof of progress under his 
road map for peace approved by the U.S., the United Nations, the 
European Union and Russia.

But he rejects Abbas' plea that the Gaza plan be brought under the 
auspices of the quartet, rather than be left to Sharon's unilateralism.

In his first term, Bush told Sharon to keep the bigger West Bank 
settlements. In the second, he tells Abbas that the boundaries between 
Israel and a future Palestinian state "must be mutually agreed to."

No peace could be negotiated until terrorism ceased. Now that it has, 
to a large extent, under the current ceasefire, it is said that the peace 
process can only begin after terrorist organizations are totally 
dismantled.

The goal posts are being moved in another way. Condoleezza Rice 
has just said that "Israel could not be expected to negotiate peace 
terms if terrorism and authoritarian rule were not curbed in the Middle 
East."

This could be a long time coming, especially given American 
mollycoddling of Mubarak and other Arab tyrants.

Haroon Siddiqui writes Thursdays and Sundays. hsiddiq@thestar.ca.




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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun  1 22:08:11 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:29:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FDA and deadly drugs:  The Side Effects of Truth
Message-ID: <200506012329.j51NTIto031962@dune.islandtechnologies.net>



MotherJones.com / News / Feature

The Side Effects of Truth
In exposing the deadly threat posed by Vioxx, FDA researcher David 
Graham was serving the public interest. His bosses had other interests 
in mind.

Michael Scherer
May/June 2005 Issue

DR. DAVID GRAHAM IS LOSING WEIGHT AGAIN. His wife noticed 
first, then his colleagues at the Food and Drug Administration. Graham 
is a skinny man, and when he drops weight, his cheekbones seem to 
sit higher on his face. His striped cotton shirts, the frumpy uniform of a 
government scientist, hang more loosely on his narrow frame. But he 
isn?t eating, and no wonder: Graham, the scientist who brought the 
Vioxx scandal to the nation?s attention, feels like a marked man.

?I?m no longer welcome,? he says, sitting in a Rockville, Maryland, 
coffee shop in early February. He has just left another frustrating day 
at work, where his boss warned him not to disclose new safety findings 
about a popular class of painkillers called Cox-2 inhibitors. In a few 
minutes, he is due at his son?s Boy Scout meeting, but all he can talk 
about now is the exhaustion of working in a drug-safety system in 
turmoil. ?I?m hoping things will calm down, but I don?t think the FDA will 
let that happen,? he says. ?How do you get off the merry-go-round??

In August 2004, Graham told his supervisors that, in light of his 
research, high-dose prescriptions of the painkiller Vioxx, which 
appeared to triple heart attack rates, should be banned. They told him 
to be quiet. Their reasoning was circular: That?s not the FDA?s position; 
you work here; it can?t be yours. Dr. John Jenkins, the FDA director of 
new drugs, argued that because Graham?s findings didn?t replicate the 
drug?s warning label, Graham shouldn?t be raising the warning. Another 
supervisor, Anne Trontrell, called Graham?s position ?particularly 
problematic since FDA funded this study.? Days after Graham?s 
pronouncement, the agency approved Vioxx for use in children.

But Graham was right. The following month, Merck pulled Vioxx from 
the market after its own research found that the drug, even when taken 
at low dosages, doubled the risk of heart attack. The announcement 
provided Graham no vindication. With a scandal on the horizon, the 
FDA brass now saw him as a danger. They couldn?t silence the 
message, so they tried to take out the messenger.

Dr. Steven K. Galson, the acting director of the drug-evaluation division 
at the FDA, told reporters that Graham?s work ?constitutes junk 
science.? Then he sent an email to an editor at the prestigious British 
medical journal The Lancet, questioning the ?integrity? of Graham?s 
data?a suspicion that proved baseless. The FDA?s acting 
commissioner, Dr. Lester Crawford, criticized Graham for evading the 
agency?s ?long-established peer review and clearance process.? 
Another official made calls to at least one Senate staffer, disparaging 
Graham personally and professionally.

Eventually, he was heard. In November he went before the Senate 
Finance Committee hearing on Vioxx. Gaunt (he?d lost 12 pounds over 
three months) but very lucid, Graham took his place before a bank of 
cameras, wearing his only sport coat, a 20-year-old blue blazer with 
brass buttons. He explained his conclusion that patients taking high 
doses of Vioxx were suffering heart attacks. ?The estimates range 
from 88,000 to 139,000 Americans,? he said. ?Of these, 30 to 40 
percent probably died. For the survivors, their lives were changed 
forever.? According to the top end of those projections, the toll Vioxx 
had already taken was comparable to the number of Americans killed 
in Vietnam. ?The FDA, as currently configured,? Graham told the 
committee, ?is incapable of protecting America against another Vioxx. 
We are virtually defenseless.?

But three months later, as Graham sips iced tea in a Rockville caf?, 
the FDA is again trying to suppress his research, this time on the 
effects of pain medications similar to Vioxx. ?I think we?ve already 
articulated our preference,? his supervisor, Dr. Paul Seligman, wrote 
him in a terse email. The agency doesn?t want Graham presenting his 
latest research to scientists who will be meeting in a few days to 
discuss the drugs.

David Graham is headstrong, but not insubordinate. He cannot afford 
to lose his job. His family has just moved to a new house. His wife, 
Nancy, stopped working as a lawyer so she could homeschool their six 
children. Really, though, he has no more time to sit here worrying. The 
Boy Scouts are competing for their merit badges this evening. He 
finishes his iced tea.

?I?ve made a commitment,? he says, before walking out the door. ?I?ll 
weigh myself this evening.?

WE LIVE IN THE pharmaceutical era of medicine, a time of tablet-
sized miracles and blockbuster serums. More than 70 new drugs are 
approved every year, adding to the thousands for which American 
doctors already write some 3 billion annual prescriptions. The 
medications prolong countless lives and cause millions of harmful side 
effects. For most patients, the benefits far outweigh the dangers. An 
aging man will risk diarrhea to restore his virility. A cancer patient will 
lose her hair in the hope that chemotherapy will save her life. FDA 
safety officers like Graham spend their lives searching out the other 
type of pills, the unexpected killers that harm patients after the FDA 
has approved them.

Since 1988, Graham has called for the removal of 12 drugs from 
pharmacy shelves, leading to 10 recalls that have likely saved 
hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Each recall is an embarrassment 
for Graham?s employer, the FDA?s Center for Drug Evaluation and 
Research, which approved the drugs in the first place. The trouble is 
that the roughly 2,300 staffers who support the approval process, and 
the 109, like Graham, who study the safety of drugs after their release, 
all fall under the same leadership, and that leadership is highly 
responsive to industry. In recent years, nearly half of the center?s $400 
million budget has been paid for by drug companies. This arrangement 
stems from a 1992 agreement, made partly at the urging of AIDS 
activists, that the FDA would speed up approvals in exchange for ?user 
fees? from industry. ?The focus at FDA is efficacy,? says Dr. Curt 
Furberg, a scientist at Wake Forest University who advises the 
agency. ?Safety is a stepchild.?

For the pharmaceutical companies the system works just fine. ?The 
drug-approval process [in the United States] is second to none,? says 
Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for PHRMA, the drug industry?s trade 
group. ?This is an exhaustive process.?

Companies eventually recall about 3 percent of their drugs for safety 
reasons. Behind many of these recalls are scientists like Graham, who 
often find themselves pitted against their own supervisors. ?If you say 
something negative about a drug, they try to shut you up,? says Dr. 
Sidney Wolfe, an FDA watchdog for the group Public Citizen, which 
has been exposing dangerous drugs for three decades. ?David is not 
the only one, by any means, who has raised issues that later proved to 
be correct.?

In 1998, for instance, an FDA drug reviewer named Dr. Robert Misbin 
wrote a paper showing that the diabetes drug Rezulin had caused liver 
failure in a patient during a controlled study. When his bosses tried to 
prevent him from publishing, Misbin saw firsthand how the system 
encouraged the sacrifice of public health to the interests of the 
industry. ?One of my supervisors said something to me that I have 
never forgotten,? Misbin says, ?that we have to maintain good relations 
with the drug companies because they are our customers.? Misbin 
eventually went public with his concerns, and the drug was pulled a 
year later. But he has paid for sticking to his principles. ?I am no longer 
given any good projects,? he says.

Dr. Andrew Mosholder, another FDA reviewer, faced similar pressures 
last year when he completed a study showing that antidepressants 
increased suicidal behavior in children. Further studies proved that 
Mosholder?s science was spot on. But his bosses told him not to report 
the findings. When someone with access to the study passed his 
results to the press, the FDA launched an investigation into the leak. 
According to Tom Devine at the Government Accountability Project, 
who later became Graham?s lawyer, several scientists were 
interrogated and threatened with possible jail time.

Such intimidation has worked. In 2002, about one in five FDA 
scientists told federal investigators that they felt pressure to approve 
drugs despite reservations about safety and efficacy. Two-thirds said 
they lacked confidence that the agency adequately monitors drug 
safety after approval.

DAVID GRAHAM IS A CHILD of the Bronx. One of six children, he 
spent his teenage years in a cramped home in northern New Jersey, 
sleeping three to a room. It wasn?t until he reached college, at Franklin 
& Marshall, that he decided to become a doctor. Johns Hopkins 
Medical School offered him a chance at early admission, and he 
accepted. His plan was to become a general practitioner in Vermont, 
where he?d live with Nancy Peterson, a girl he had met in the freshman 
dormitory. He graduated from med school with the second-highest 
grades in his class?not the highest, he points out, owing to a single B 
in the medical history course he cut every other Friday, when he?d ride 
a bus 75 miles to spend the weekend with Nancy. She married him a 
year later. ?It was worth it,? he says.

Hopkins, however, was geared toward academic research, not 
producing family doctors for the Green Mountain State. And Graham 
never took to working with patients anyway. ?What I really enjoyed was 
problem solving,? he says. So after residencies in internal medicine at 
Yale and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Graham took a 
job at the FDA in epidemiology. His first major safety review, in 1988, 
focused on a pill called Accutane, intended for patients with severe, 
previously untreatable acne. The study proved to be a crash course in 
the ways of the FDA.

At the time, Accutane was seen as a miracle cure by people just like 
Graham, who still bears the scars of teenage acne. But the side effects 
could be horrible. One in four children born to women who got 
pregnant while using the medication suffered from birth defects. Many 
women didn?t bring their babies to term at all, losing them to 
miscarriage, and most pregnancies ended in abortion. Graham looked 
at the data and sounded an alarm. Attempts to educate young women 
about Accutane?s risks were failing. ?Only the immediate withdrawal of 
Accutane from the market will work,? he wrote to his supervisors in 
1990. ?The delay only compounds the body count.?

That statement was both scientific and political. Graham is opposed to 
abortion, and the bodies he was referring to were those of the 
thousands of unborn children whose mothers had taken the drug. 
Devoutly Catholic, Graham keeps a postcard image of Jesus on his 
office wall and speaks easily about his calling to service as a Christian. 
He taught himself ancient Greek so he could read the New Testament 
as it was written. For him, the scientific process is an extension of his 
faith. ?He really does believe that to know what is real is to know 
something about the Author of the truth,? says John Cavanaugh-
O?Keefe, a pro-life activist who met Graham at a prayer group.

But for his managers at the FDA, under pressure from dermatologists 
and Roche, the drug?s manufacturer, Graham?s religion was an 
irrational excuse for his unreasonable claims. ?They?d call him the 
right-to-life nut,? says Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who recently 
introduced legislation to restrict patient access to Accutane. ?But 
everything he said has pretty much been proven.?

The FDA sided with Roche, rejecting Graham?s calls to withdraw the 
drug and his later pleas to restrict its distribution. In the years that 
followed, the drug?s use among young women nearly tripled, and 
Roche?s annual Accutane revenues exceeded $1 billion. The company 
designed a voluntary program to encourage birth control among users, 
but the number of pregnancies continued to rise. Nonetheless, Roche 
described the program as a success, noting that occasional 
pregnancies were the inevitable result of birth-control failures. ?You 
can?t control everything when you are dealing with human behavior,? 
explains Gail Safian, a Roche spokeswoman.

In 2002, when Roche?s patent expired, the FDA helped create a 
stricter program to ensure that women on the drug used birth control, 
requiring monthly proof of a negative pregnancy test. Two years later, 
a panel of scientists found the system was still failing. In November, as 
the FDA was attacking Graham for his work on Vioxx, the agency 
announced still stronger restrictions. These measures echo changes 
Graham asked for more than a decade ago.

SHORTLY AFTER Merck pulled Vioxx from the market last 
September, Graham began carrying an index card full of phone 
numbers in his breast pocket. The little scribbles of red and black ink 
were his lifelines, contacts to a dozen supportive congressional 
staffers and reporters who?d sought him out after he went public. It had 
become clear that he wouldn?t survive long in his job without help from 
some heavyweight defenders.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the 
Finance Committee, became his primary protector. ?It?s people like this 
who give us the opportunity to know that something is wrong, helping 
me do my job,? Grassley says. He believes the industry has far too 
much influence on FDA deliberations over safety. ?There should only 
be one chair at the table,? he says, ?and that is for the American 
people.?

The only way to resolve the FDA?s dangerous conflict of interest, 
according to Graham, is to create an independent center for drug 
safety, situated on one side of a fire wall; those who study efficacy and 
recommend approvals would be on the other side. Researchers would 
report their findings to scientists with no stake in the performance of 
the drug. But this is a more drastic change than the agency is likely to 
implement of its own accord. The FDA has made other gestures: It has 
announced a new committee to monitor safety issues, asked for an 
investigation of its procedures by the Institute of Medicine, and 
proposed reassigning about 20 scientists to work on drug safety.

Jeff Trewhitt, the spokesman for PHRMA, rejects Graham?s solution 
out of hand. ?He seems to start from the premise that the drug-safety 
program is broken, and we don?t accept that premise at all,? Trewhitt 
says, adding that any new regulation ?could mean slower delivery of 
new medicines to patients.? That view has also been embraced by the 
White House, which maintains close ties to the drug industry and its 
more than 600 lobbyists. During a television interview, Andy Card, 
chief of staff to President Bush, said that the administration?s handling 
of the Vioxx recall was ?a testament to the FDA and how they do their 
job.?

This leaves the prospect of real systemic change at the FDA in the 
hands of Congress. Indeed, throughout history, safety scandals have 
regularly sparked congressional action. The agency itself was 
established by Congress in 1906 after a wave of adulterated or 
dangerous drugs was exposed in the press, including a ?headache 
powder? containing acetanilide that caused heart attacks. In 1962, 
Congress began forcing pharmaceutical companies to test drugs after 
doctors distributed doses of a pill called thalidomide to pregnant 
mothers, a sedative later shown to cause birth defects.

But the scale of the Vioxx scandal appears, in sheer numbers, far 
greater than any other in the nation?s history, and Congress has yet to 
respond. Not only has the drug been widely used?peaking in 2001 at 
25 million prescriptions?but it has increased by two- or threefold the 
risk of one of the most common causes of death, heart attack.

IN FEBRUARY, six months after the Vioxx scandal broke, Graham still 
finds himself struggling to get the word out. His latest research, based 
on the records of 651,000 California Medicaid patients, raises safety 
concerns about other drugs in the same class as Vioxx. Mobic, a 
popular painkiller still viewed as safe, appears to be increasing heart 
attack rates by about 37 percent. Celebrex, a blockbuster pain 
medication from Pfizer, increases rates by about 25 percent in high 
doses. Although the findings are not statistically conclusive, the study 
adds key data to the medical literature. But Graham?s superiors aren?t 
interested. The email Graham receives before heading to his son?s 
Boy Scout meeting asks him to focus only on ?the key studies in the 
published literature.? According to Graham, he can present only one 
unpublished study, a report paid for by Merck.

Graham?s most powerful defender comes to his aid: Senator Grassley 
sends a terse letter to the acting FDA commissioner, Lester Crawford, 
demanding an explanation of why Graham can?t present his data. 
Grassley gives Crawford a deadline for responding: February 16, 
opening day of the three-day FDA advisory committee meeting. The 
gathering is held in an overstuffed Hilton conference room in 
Gaithersburg, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., covered with 
rolling parking lots and B-rated shopping malls. Broadcast trucks ring 
the hotel, and the hallways are crowded with cameras. Just hours 
before Steven Galson, Graham?s supervisor, is to welcome the 32 
scientists assembled from around the country, Crawford intervenes. 
The backtracking is brazen. ?It goes without saying,? Galson says in his 
opening remarks, ?that all FDA staff are free to make any presentation 
without fear of any retaliation.? Graham, who is scheduled to speak the 
next day, leaves the meeting to hastily redesign his presentation.

When he returns the following day, he?s wearing the same coat and 
the same tie. In the previous three weeks, he has lost two more 
pounds. ?I?d like to take this moment to thank Dr. Crawford for his 
leadership, for making it possible for me to present our preliminary 
data from a study from California Medicaid,? he tells the gathered 
scientists. He presents his findings on the dangers of Mobic and 
Celebrex in high doses. About Vioxx, he says the risks associated with 
taking high doses are ?probably more significant than smoking or 
diabetes or hypertension.? Then he challenges the FDA to begin 
shifting its assumptions when it considers a new drug. ?Let?s start out 
at the beginning assuming the drug isn?t safe.?

On the third day of the conference, Graham dips outside the meeting 
room for a break and is immediately surrounded by a scrum of 
reporters. The committee of 32 scientists was nearly unanimous in 
acknowledging the dangers Graham presented to the FDA six months 
earlier. But they voted by a narrow margin to keep the two most 
troublesome painkillers, Vioxx and Bextra, on the market, calling 
instead for tighter restrictions on distribution. Ten of the scientists were 
consultants for the manufacturers of the drugs in question. Had they 
not been allowed to vote, according to an analysis by the Center for 
Science in the Public Interest, both Vioxx and Bextra would have been 
recalled.

The reporters ask Graham for his reaction. ?The fact is, debate is 
happening,? he says. It may be one of the last times he finds himself in 
the public spotlight as a federal researcher. If the experience of others 
is repeated, he?ll be sidelined within the agency and denied any 
meaningful projects over the coming year. Despite Grassley?s backing, 
he expects to be pushed out of his job. Standing outside the 
conference, however, Graham still has the power to speak out?and 
infuriate his government employer. ?Sunlight is the best disinfectant,? 
he tells the surrounding crowd. ?This is more sunlight on the problem.?

Michael Scherer is the Washington correspondent for Mother Jones.

EmailE-mail article

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This article has been made possible by the Foundation for National 
Progress, the Investigative Fund of Mother Jones, and gifts from 
generous readers like you.

? 2005 The Foundation for National Progress


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From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:30:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Greg Palast: Deep Throat Cover Blown...Washington Post
	Still Sucks
Message-ID: <200506012330.j51NUTAU031981@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Deep Throat Cover Blown
Washington Post Still Sucks

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

By Greg Palast

I've been gagging all morning on the Washington Post's self-congratulatory
preening about its glory days of the Watergate investigation.

Think about it. It's been 33 years since cub reporters Woodward and
Bernstein pulled down the pants of the Nixon operation and exposed its
tie-in to the Watergate burglary. That marks a third of a century since
the Washington Post has broken a major investigative story. I got a hint
of why the long, dry spell when I met Mark Hosenball, "investigative"
reporter for the Washington Post's magazine, Newsweek. 

It was in the summer of 2001.  A few months earlier, for the Guardian
papers of Britain, I'd discovered that Katherine Harris and Governor Jeb
Bush of Florida had removed tens of thousands of African-Americans from
voter registries before the 2000 election, thereby fixing the race for
George Bush. Hosenball said the Post-Newsweek team "looked into it and
couldn't find anything." 

Nothing at all?   What I found noteworthy about the Post's investigation
was that "looking into it" involved their reporters chatting with Florida
officials -- but not bothering to look at the voter purge list itself. 

Yes, I admit the Washington Post ran my story -- seven months after the
election -- but with the key info siphoned out, such as the Bush crew's
destruction of evidence and the salient fact that almost all those purged
were Democrats. In other words, the story was drained of anything which
might discomfit the new residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Let's not pick on the Post alone. Viacom Corporation's CBS News also
spiked the story. Why? "We called Jeb Bush's office," a CBS producer told
me, and Jeb's office denied Jeb did wrong. End of story.

During the Clinton years, the Washington Post and Newsweek allowed
reporter Mike Isikoff to sniff at the President's zipper and write about
our Commander-in-Chief's Lewinsky. But when it came to a big story about
dirty energy industry money for Clinton's campaigns, Mike told me his
editors didn't "give a sh--" and so he passed the material for me to print
in England.

Today, Bob Woodward rules as the Post's Managing Editor.  And how is he
"managing" the news? After the September 11 attack, when we needed an
independent press to keep us from hysteria-driven fascism, Woodward was
given "access" to the president, writing Bush at War,a fawning,
puke-making fairy tale of a take-charge president brilliantly leading the
war against Terror.

Woodward's news-oid story is a symptom of a disease epidemic in US
journalism. The illness is called, "access." In return for a supposedly
"inside" connection to the powers that be, the journalists in fact become
conduits for disinformation sewerage. 

And woe to any journalist who annoys the politicians and loses "access."
Career-wise, they're DOA.

Here's a good place to tote up part of the investigative reporter body
count. There's Bob Parry forced out of the Associated Press for the crime
of uncovering Ollie North's arms-for-hostages game. And there's Gary Webb,
hounded to suicide for documenting the long-known history of the CIA's
love-affair with drug runners. The list goes on. Even the prize-laden
Seymour Hersh was, he told me, exiled from the New York Times and now has
to write from the refuge of a fashion magazine.

And notice someone missing in the Deep Throat extravaganza? Carl
Bernstein, the brains and soul of the All-the-President's-Men duo, is
notably absent from the staff of the Post or any other US newspaper. 

But before we get too weepy about the glory days of investigative
journalism gone by, we should remember that the golden era was not pure
gold.

Newspapers are part of the power elite and have never in US history gone
out of their way to rock the clubhouse. Let's go back to Hersh's stellar
story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

The massacre was first uncovered by the greatest investigative reporter of
our era, the late Ron Ridenhour. Then a soldier conducting the
investigation on his own, Ridenhour turned over his findings to Hersh,
hoping to give it a chance for exposure. That wasn't so easy. 

Ridenhour told me that he and Hersh pushed the story -- with photos! -- at
dozens of newspapers. No one would touch it until Ridenhour threatened to
read the story from the steps of the Pentagon. 

It's only gotten worse. After all, Hersh's latest big story, about Abu
Ghraib prison, was buried by CBS and other news outlets before Hersh put
it in the New Yorker.

The Washington Post has no monopoly on journalistic evil. If anything, the
Post is probably better than most of the bilge contaminating our news
outlets.   This is about the death-march of investigative journalism in
America; or, at least, its dearth under the "mainstream" mastheads.

Why don't we read more "Watergate" investigative stories in the US press? 
 Given that the Woodwards of today dance on their hind legs begging
officialdom for "access", news without official blessing doesn't stand a
chance.

The Post follows current American news industry practice of killing any
story based on evidence from a confidential source if a government honcho
privately denies it. A flat-out "we didn't do it" is enough to kill an
investigation in its cradle. And by that rule, there is no chance that the
Managing Editor of the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, would today run Deep
Throat's story of the Watergate break-in.

And that sucks.


****
Greg Palast's reports for Britain's Guardian newspapers and Harper's
Magazine can be found at www.GregPalast.com. Palast won this year's George
Orwell Courage in Journalism award at the Sundance Freedom Cinema Festival
for his investigations of the Bush family for BBC Television.

-- 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  2 06:30:48 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:38:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Europe in turmoil as the Dutch vote No
Message-ID: <BEC48248.210BC%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Europe in turmoil as the Dutch vote No
>By George Parker in Brussels, Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam and Ralph Atkins in
Frankfurt
>Published: June 1 2005 20:14 | Last updated: June 2 2005 11:05
>>

Jos? Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, was holding a series
of crisis talks with political leaders on Thursday on the next steps for the
proposed EU constitution after it was dealt a further blow by the Dutch in
their referendum on Wednesday.

The European parliament?s constitutional affairs committee meanwhile was set
to hold a special session to read the small print of the document and work
out what should be done next.

The Netherlands delivered a massive No vote just three days after it was
rejected by the French, throwing out the treaty by 62 to 38 per cent,
illustrating the chasm that has opened up between the EU leadership and its
citizens.

The constitutional treaty, intended to make Europe work more effectively and
sharpen its global profile, looks to be heading for the library shelves
after rejection by two founding members.

>
>>
>Straw says No vote 'raises questions' over Europe's future
>>
>>     
>

Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary, said the decisive Dutch No vote had raised
?profound questions? about Europe's future direction.
Go there
>
>
The UK on Thursday was reluctant to sound the death knell for the treaty,
saying it was not for one country to declare the constitution dead. But the
reaction of Jack Straw, foreign secretary, on Wednesday night reinforced
expectations that the UK would halt ratification of the treaty. ?The verdict
of these referendums now raises profound questions for all of us about the
future direction of Europe,? he said.

Dutch voters joined forces on a range of issues, protesting at the euro, the
proposed enlargement of the club to Turkey, the perceived loss of
sovereignty to Brussels and costs of membership. It was also a vote against
the government of Jan Peter Balkenende, who said on Wednesday night: ?The
Dutch people have spoken and it is clear and unmistakable. We shall respect
that signal.?

Turnout was higher than expected at 63 per cent, and the size of the No vote
higher than the 55 per cent recorded in France on Sunday.

Fears of an impending political crisis in Europe is causing concern in the
markets: on Wednesday the euro fell 0.6 per cent to an eight-month low of
$1.223 against the US dollar, taking its losses since Friday to 2.8 per
cent. On Thursday morning however the euro seemed to have made a slight
recovery.

>
>>
>Leaders say voting process must go on
>>
>>     
>

The humiliating Dutch No vote on the constitution kicked off a bout of
political masochism among European leaders who insisted that other countries
should continue voting on the treaty.
Go there
>
>
Business continued to express fears about the uncertainty caused by the two
No votes

Germany?s manufacturing association said the decisions would have
devastating consequences. ?It is for German industry and in particular the
engineering sector, which exports more than 70 per cent of its production, a
fatal sign,? said Dieter Brucklacher, head of the VDMA. ?It is equally fatal
for the whole development of Europe.? He cautioned against interpreting the
results in France and the Netherlands as a desire to ?renationalise? Europe.

Europe's leaders will hold a summit on June 16-17 to try to contain the
turmoil. The summit is likely to extend the November 2006 deadline for
ratification in the hope that French and Dutch voters change their minds.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, holder of the rotating EU
presidency, insisted ratification should continue. But the constitution can
be saved only if the French and Dutch leaders ask their people the same
question again and somehow get a positive response.

?The constitution is in a deep coma and it may not come out,? said one EU
official.

Britain is now expected to cancel its planned referendum, and others
including Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland could follow. Tony Blair
will tell the EU summit that the UK cannot vote on a moribund treaty and
that he will wait to see if France and the Netherlands reverse their
decisions. The Czech Republic will propose extending the ratification
deadline. The treaty can come into force only if all 25 member states
approve it.
>
Discussion: What now for the EU?
>Click here
>

Meanwhile Latvia?s parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify the
treaty, as expected. ?This is a gesture to the rest of the world that we
want the ratification process to continue,? said Liene Kule, a senior
analyst with Hansabankan in Riga, the Latvian capital.

The treaty's rejection in France and the Netherlands could threaten liberal
economic reforms and EU enlargement.

Additional reporting by Clare MacCarthy in Copenhagen and Richard Milne in
Frankfurt


From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun  2 06:40:32 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:47:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FT.com / Analysis - Killings persist as Iraqis struggle
	for compromise
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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun  2 06:41:21 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:47:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FT.com / Home UK - China in new Latin American foray
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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun  2 06:41:58 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 16:48:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FT.com / In depth / News in depth - US 'losing its grip'
	on Baghdad's political process
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  2 07:26:19 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  1 17:34:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Killings persist as Iraqis struggle for compromise
Message-ID: <BEC48F4B.210C9%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Killings persist as Iraqis struggle for compromise
>By Steve Negus
>Published: June 1 2005 20:06 | Last updated: June 1 2005 20:06
>>

Five weeks ago Ibrahim al??Jaafari, Iraq?s new prime minister, presented his
country?s national unity government. Its numbers painstakingly selected to
ensure that none of Iraq?s biggest ethnic or religious communities felt
excluded, the government?s formation was the most important step in a slow
political process meant to put Iraq on an irrevocable path towards democracy
and end two years of turbulence after the downfall of Saddam Hussein.

?Those who supported the former regime should know that Iraqis have a big
heart. Our people are ready to forgive you provided you have no blood on
your hands,? said Mr Jaafari a few days later as the government was sworn
in.

But any sense of reassurance or a fresh start was almost immediately blown
away by a torrent of violence intense even by Iraqi standards. On the day
after Mr Jaafari presented the government, 12 car bombs across the country
killed 29 people. Since then, guerrilla attacks ? ranging from suicide
blasts at police stations to massacres of travelling Shia pilgrims ? have
killed nearly 700 people.

Perhaps just as ominously, sectarian tensions have been aggravated by
prominent community leaders. On the state-backed al-Iraqiya television
station this month, Hareth al-Dhari, head of the Sunni Association of Muslim
Scholars, charged the Shia Badr Organisation militia with ?assassinating
[Sunni] preachers and worshippers?. Hadi al-Amri, Badr?s leader, retorted
that Sunni clerics ?stand behind terrorist operations in which Iraq?s Shia
are the first victims?. Many Iraqis were shocked, seeing this breakdown of
the normal code of public conduct for their leaders as another step on the
road to an inevitable civil war.

Can postwar Iraq overcome a bitter history of sectarian repression, the
total collapse of the state after the 2003 invasion, foreign military
occupation and an ongoing insurgency? In the run-up to the 2003 invasion,
many in the west and Iraq hoped that Mr Hussein?s downfall would herald a
democratic era in which one sect would not dominate others. Critics argued
that without strong government ? something that the US and its fractious
Iraqi allies could never supply ? a country with such a history of ethnic
and sectarian conflict would probably fall apart.

Over the next few months, political progress should continue towards the
eventual adoption of a permanent constitution. Community leaders seem to be
redoubling their efforts to avoid a full-fledged civil war. But while the
political process should allow ethnic and religious communities a forum to
resolve their differences and keep the country from sliding into wholescale
ethnic violence, it will probably not be able to quell the insurgency or
bring stable governance. Iraqis and Americans are increasingly admitting
that it will take many years before the state is strong enough to supplant
the general state of chaos and lawlessness, of which the insurgency is the
most dramatic but hardly the only example.

Despite the recent surge of violence, US officials still consider that the
January elections, in which more than 8m voters chose a government dominated
by Shia- and Kurdish-led blocs, have offered the best opportunity for a
political solution to the Iraqi crisis. They continue to press the Iraqi
government to allow Sunni Arabs, most of whom stayed away from the polls, a
greater political role, particularly in the drafting of the constitution.

Thanks to the success of the elections, said one US official, the Sunni
Arabs were beginning to realise their mistake. ?There is now a sizeable and
important group of Sunnis that want to participate in the political process,
and it includes people who have serious ties in [insurgent-ridden] provinces
and were much harder line . . . three or four months ago,? he said. The hope
is that these people can reach out to other insurgent leaders, including
members of the former ruling Ba?ath party, to convince them they cannot win
against a government put in power by a clear majority of the electorate.

The US officials and their allies say this scenario has not necessarily been
discredited by the wave of violence. One British official describes the
recent attacks by radical Islamic insurgents such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as
acts of desperation ?saved up for when the government was finally formed?.
The Americans say they are making progress against Mr Zarqawi?s network,
killing or capturing over 20 of his lieutenants in recent months and
possibly even wounding the Jordanian militant.

However, even if Mr Zarqawi?s network can be crippled, this is no guarantee
that the violence will ebb.

First, it will be difficult to find any compromise between Shia hardliners,
particularly the militant Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq
(Sciri) and the former Ba?athists who tend to dominate Sunni institutions
and the insurgency. Many Shia argue that the Ba?athists will settle for
nothing less than total power, citing intercepted e-mails sent by Ba?athists
to party comrades recalling successful coups in 1963 and 1968. These Shia
are set on reversing policies put forward by Iyad Allawi, former prime
minister and a Ba?athist until the 1970s, aimed at rehabilitating former
party members.

The Sunnis, on the other hand, demand key posts in the military and security
forces to protect their communities. They are particularly alarmed by the
ascent of Sciri, which fought alongside Iran in the 1980-88 war and now
controls the interior ministry. Many believe that Sciri?s plans to purge
Ba?athists are merely a pretext to bring in Shia militiamen, take control of
the security forces and use them to extract revenge for decades-long
grievances. In this case, say some Sunnis, they would rather go down
fighting than be picked off one by one.

Second, the insurgency often develops an independent local dynamic. In some
areas, such as Mosul, Mr Zarqawi?s group is reported to have funnelled cash
from abroad to local cells in exchange for carrying out attacks. Other
insurgents fight to avenge the deaths of relatives or humiliating treatment
at the hands of US or Iraqi troops. Iraqi officials also say the insurgents
co-operate with local criminal networks, financing operations through
kidnapping and other activities.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, there does not appear to be a Sunni
leadership that can demonstrate meaningful control over the insurgency.
Individual Sunni clerics may be able to ?influence a gang here, a gang
there?, says one US official, but cannot deliver peace in a city, let alone
a region. This makes it difficult to reach any agreement with local Sunni
leaders to stop security measures including bombardments, mass arrests and
the deployment of Shia and US troops.

The difficulty that the central government has in restoring order in the
Sunni regions reflects the problems of exercising its authority throughout
Iraq, which remains a patchwork of fiefdoms where various tribes, parties,
militias and religious movements compete with the government for control. If
the prime minister makes a decision, it may not be implemented by a ministry
that may be in the hands of a rival party. If the ministry does transmit a
decision, it may not be implemented by a regional branch that is likely to
be influenced by local potentates and their supporters. Even if the regional
branch of the ministry does what the central government wants, it may well
be ignored by citizens turning to tribal or religious networks to solve
problems.

It is unlikely that Mr Jaafari can rebuild the state?s authority. He is seen
as a relatively weak leader who can retain his position only by sacrificing
control. The prime minister is broadly popular among the Shia and acceptable
to most other political factions, which believe that he sincerely wants to
achieve reconciliation and stability. But he lacks personal charisma and his
Dawa party is only a small faction of a diverse coalition. Consequently, he
has had to divide up cabinet posts among a dozen factions to retain their
support.

Mr Jaafari has pledged repeatedly to fight corruption but his need to parcel
out ministries to his coalition partners will curtail his ability to curb
abuses of power. ?He is saying the right things . . . but when you form the
government in this way, everyone expects to take something out of it for
himself,?? says the chief executive of one Iraqi bank. In the last postwar
government, parties quickly turned their ministries into patronage machines.
Indeed, Mr Jaafari?s party was one of the most notorious offenders: a year
ago, a letter of recommendation from a local Dawa office was usually needed
for a jobseeker to secure a post at the Dawa-run health ministry.

Lack of state control extends to the security forces. True, Iraqi security
forces are slowly growing in size and capabilities, their morale boosted by
their successful performance fighting off attacks on election day. The US
says more than 75,000 Iraqi soldiers are ?operational?, compared with 30,000
?partially or fully trained? troops a year ago. Iraqi forces that used to
melt away in battle now regularly repulse guerrilla attacks and sometimes
launch offensives. However Iraqi soldiers accuse many officers of selling
commissions, issuing contracts to friends and even taking bribes to release
suspected insurgents. Special police commando units such as the Wolf
Brigade, which is among the government?s most effective forces but which
also stands accused of killing Sunni clerics, are reported to pay little
attention to orders from above. ?They operate outside the control [of the
interior ministry] and no doubt there are excesses,? says one Iraqi security
insider.
>
>

US and Iraqi officials say the picture is not all bleak. Events such as last
week?s argument between Mr Dhari and Mr Amri set off alarm bells among their
colleagues. Politicians called for national unity and Mr Jaafari vowed to
crack down on ?anyone who kills a Sunni or a Shia citizen . . . with an iron
fist?. The Sunnis? Association of Muslim Scholars, meanwhile, issued a rare
denunciation of the murder of a Shia scholar. Even more surprisingly,
members of the Association of Muslim Scholars and the Shia Badr organisation
met to talk over their differences.

This climbdown, Iraqi and western officials say, shows that political
efforts can still work to produce a viable state and prevent a complete
fragmentation of the country. The Iraqi politicians ?peered over the edge,
and decided that?s not really where they want to go?, says one US official.

The main Shia and the Kurdish political blocs, meanwhile, appear to be
ironing out some of their differences in preparation for the drafting of a
constitution. The parties have agreed to stick to the framework of the
Transitional Administrative Law, an interim constitution adopted last year
under US pressure, to work out most of the contentious issues between them.

But the official debate over the constitution is just getting started and
many sensitive issues still have to be agreed. These include the status of
the province of Kirkuk, which Kurds say should be part of their northern
autonomous zone. The Shia may balk at a referendum in which the province
would vote to join an independent Kurdistan. The Kurds also insist on a
?federal? Iraq but many Shia see that as a code word for Kurdish secession.

Nonetheless the parties have managed to compromise before and officials
appear convinced that they can do so again. Many Kurds, for example, are
willing to concede oil revenues to the federal government as a way of
reducing what is at stake in Kirkuk. Many Shia are coming round to the idea
of federalism, thanks to politicians from the impoverished southern Shia
city of Basra, which for decades was starved of funds by Baghdad. Both
northern and southern politicians agree that all provinces should receive a
share of the oil wealth ? a gesture that they hope will ease opposition to
federalism in the oil-poor Sunni central region.

No one argues that a new constitution, or an election with Sunni
participation, will end the insurgency. With further political progress ?
and better economic prospects (see below) ? the insurgency may ?fade away?,
as one official put it recently. But US officials? increasingly seem to
recognise that will take longer than they wanted.

?The average counterinsurgency [in the world] in the 20th century was about
nine years, so it takes time to snuff out the insurgency,? the US?s senior
commander in Iraq, General George Casey, said in March.

This long-term view may be of some comfort to geopolitical planners ? but is
probably of much less comfort to Iraqis yearning for safety and stability.

SMALL VICTORIES IN WAR TO LIFT LIVING STANDARDS

Despite occupation, insurgency and sectarian tensions, Iraqis can at least
point to some improvement in their standards of living. The country?s first
postwar living conditions survey, released by the ministry of planning and
the United Nations Development Programme in April, suggests minor
improvement in household income and unemployment between 2003 and mid-2004,
despite the US-led invasion and the collapse of the state.

The rise in median household income, which the survey found may have been as
high as 20 per cent, comes largely from the decision, taken while Iraq was
under US-led occupation, to raise the pay of government employees.
Sanctions-era inflation had eroded civil servants? wages to about $2 or $3 a
month by the start of the war. But by the end of 2003 they earned an average
of $120 a month. Recruits to Iraq?s army, who earn about $350 per month, now
pay bribes to enlist whereas before the war they paid to stay out.

The US has also placed new priority on job creation to encourage stability.
In the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, thousands of radical Mahdi Army militiamen
who formerly wielded their rifles against the US military now swing shovels
on US-funded urban improvement projects.

These wages help prop up other sectors of the economy, in particular trade.
There are far more cars on the road, and far more air conditioners in
people?s homes, than before the war. This, however, has a downside, as it
drives up demand for petrol and electricity, both of which remain in short
supply. Services are as bad as ever. Iraqis expect another stifling summer
of power cuts: electricity generation has not increased since 2003 and is
still short of prewar levels, meeting only a little over half of demand.

Some 46 per cent of households have either unsafe or unstable water
supplies. In the southern city of Basra, families spend what little they
have on bottled water rather than drink the brackish liquid that flows
sporadically from the tap. US and Iraqi officials say they are doing what
they can to patch up the country?s infrastructure.

The economy remains fragile, however. While oil production, the source of 95
per cent of the state?s budget, has held steady at about 2.2m barrels a day
for much of the last year, it falls about 10 per cent short of target.

Virtually all the budget is spent on food rations, civil servant wages,
lossmaking public sector factories and other subsidies to keep Iraqi
families afloat.

Foreign donors are the other main source of income but cannot always be
counted on to follow through on their pledges. ?We are living hand to
mouth,? says Hussein Uzri, chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq, the state
bank set up to finance imports.

The US and other donors have prescribed privatisation and direct investment.
However, even investors willing to risk their lives in Iraq would be ill
advised to risk their assets. Investment laws are a patchwork of Saddam-era
ordinances, which are expected to be replaced, and US coalition decrees,
which are also temporary and may be illegal under international law. But
parliament is not expected to pass new investment legislation, particularly
in the oil sector, until late next year.


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  2 07:29:01 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  1 17:36:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Barroso appeals for calm as EU agonises over treaty
Message-ID: <BEC48FED.210CB%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Barroso appeals for calm as EU agonises over treaty
>By George Parker in Brussels, Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam and Ralph Atkins in
Frankfurt
>Published: June 1 2005 20:14 | Last updated: June 2 2005 14:24
>>

Jos? Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, on Thursday appealed
for Europe?s political leaders to proceed cautiously following the
potentially fatal blow dealt to the proposed EU constitution by the Dutch
referendum on Wednesday.

?What I am asking for now is that political leaders, in particular
government chiefs, not take individual, or unilateral decisions. I ask
political leaders to show responsibility, to show caution,? Mr Barroso said.

The European parliament?s constitutional affairs committee meanwhile was set
to hold a special session to read the small print of the document and work
out what should be done next.

The Netherlands delivered a massive No vote just three days after it was
rejected by the French, throwing out the treaty by 62 to 38 per cent,
illustrating the chasm that has opened up between the EU leadership and its
citizens.

The constitutional treaty, intended to make Europe work more effectively and
sharpen its global profile, looks to be heading for the library shelves
after rejection by two founding members.

>
>>
>Straw says No vote 'raises questions' over Europe's future
>>
>>     
>

Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary, said the decisive Dutch No vote had raised
?profound questions? about Europe's future direction.
Go there
>
>
The UK on Thursday was reluctant to sound the death knell for the treaty,
saying it was not for one country to declare the constitution dead. But the
reaction of Jack Straw, foreign secretary, on Wednesday night reinforced
expectations that the UK would halt ratification of the treaty. ?The verdict
of these referendums now raises profound questions for all of us about the
future direction of Europe,? he said.

Dutch voters joined forces on a range of issues, protesting at the euro, the
proposed enlargement of the club to Turkey, the perceived loss of
sovereignty to Brussels and costs of membership. It was also a vote against
the government of Jan Peter Balkenende, who said on Wednesday night: ?The
Dutch people have spoken and it is clear and unmistakable. We shall respect
that signal.?

Turnout was higher than expected at 63 per cent, and the size of the No vote
higher than the 55 per cent recorded in France on Sunday.

Fears of an impending political crisis in Europe is causing concern in the
markets: on Wednesday the euro fell 0.6 per cent to an eight-month low of
$1.223 against the US dollar, taking its losses since Friday to 2.8 per
cent. On Thursday morning however the euro seemed to have made a slight
recovery.

>
>>
>Leaders say voting process must go on
>>
>>     
>

The humiliating Dutch No vote on the constitution kicked off a bout of
political masochism among European leaders who insisted that other countries
should continue voting on the treaty.
Go there
>
>
Business continued to express fears about the uncertainty caused by the two
No votes

Germany?s manufacturing association said the decisions would have
devastating consequences. ?It is for German industry and in particular the
engineering sector, which exports more than 70 per cent of its production, a
fatal sign,? said Dieter Brucklacher, head of the VDMA. ?It is equally fatal
for the whole development of Europe.? He cautioned against interpreting the
results in France and the Netherlands as a desire to ?renationalise? Europe.

Europe's leaders will hold a summit on June 16-17 to try to contain the
turmoil. The summit is likely to extend the November 2006 deadline for
ratification in the hope that French and Dutch voters change their minds.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, holder of the rotating EU
presidency, insisted ratification should continue. But the constitution can
be saved only if the French and Dutch leaders ask their people the same
question again and somehow get a positive response.

?The constitution is in a deep coma and it may not come out,? said one EU
official.

Britain is now expected to cancel its planned referendum, and others
including Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland could follow. Tony Blair
will tell the EU summit that the UK cannot vote on a moribund treaty and
that he will wait to see if France and the Netherlands reverse their
decisions. The Czech Republic will propose extending the ratification
deadline. The treaty can come into force only if all 25 member states
approve it.
>
Discussion: What now for the EU?
>Click here
>

Meanwhile Latvia?s parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify the
treaty, as expected. ?This is a gesture to the rest of the world that we
want the ratification process to continue,? said Liene Kule, a senior
analyst with Hansabankan in Riga, the Latvian capital.

The treaty's rejection in France and the Netherlands could threaten liberal
economic reforms and EU enlargement.

Additional reporting by Clare MacCarthy in Copenhagen and Richard Milne in
Frankfurt


From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun  2 08:10:39 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  1 18:17:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Thousands march over Niger hunger
Message-ID: <20050602_151039_034645.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Thousands march over Niger hunger **
Some 2,000 people march in the Niger capital to demand that the government does more to ease the food crisis.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4603995.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun  2 08:11:46 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  1 18:18:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Beached whales saved in Australia
Message-ID: <20050602_151146_009602.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Beached whales saved in Australia **
Volunteers help to save dozens of false killer whales stranded in western Australia.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4602429.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun  2 08:12:17 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  1 18:18:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: EU leaders set for crisis talks
Message-ID: <20050602_151217_036046.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** EU leaders set for crisis talks **
Germany's Gerhard Schroeder flies to Luxembourg for crisis talks after the Dutch reject the draft EU constitution.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4602035.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun  2 10:23:07 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Wed Jun  1 20:29:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Nation That Should Know Better
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV429C1A63C5A00E78AC71DAB060@phx.gbl>

Nice piece Cheeseburger... :-)

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Cheeseburger
Sent: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 01:10:18 -0700
To: mb-civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Nation That Should Know Better

Re:  A Nation That Should Know Better



The guy in the red monkey suit wrote:


=======
Our country stands at a critical point in its history. Our heritage as a
nation of immigrants is at stake. We should not attack undocumented workers
for our broader problems at the same time we accept their talent, toil and
taxes. We should not blockade our border at the same time that we depend
upon the labor of the immigrant nanny, janitor, busboy and agricultural
worker.

As we have in the past, we should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize
that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the
solution.
==========



The guy in the Cheeseburger suit replies:


Ok, and now passing on kissing Roger's ring (I dunno, I just don't kiss
peoples' rings, call it a phobia if you want, even if I know them, I don't
know those people from Adam, neither does God, imho, I'm just of the
personal opinion that people who make other people kiss their rings on Earth
in this life, when they die, there is either an angel or a demon at the gate
of heaven or hell, and both always say "Kiss my butt".  Ironic, I think so,
funny, I dunno, it's what Galileo the guy who works at the gas station in my
little town told me, and I trust him so it must be true), we drift back to
something called Reality.

Here's how it stands at The Border at this moment, at least the tip of the
iceberg of it:

There is a hit out on the President of Mexico, El Presidente Fox, or
whatever they call him.  It was put out by a gigantic group of people
something akin to a guerilla army that encompasses the whole of Mexico.  The
complete make-up of the members on their roster, I dunno, there are
apparently tons of young kids running with them though.  They uzi police,
and their families, who bother them there while they are in drive-in windows
and things like that,  They no longer bury bodies they use in voodoo-like
rituals to ensure various shipments, but rather put them in a 50 gallon
barrel and fill it with cement and toss it in the river.  Now and then when
it rains a lot, the barrels come to the surface, the bodies are still very
well intact since they were encased in cement.  Billions of dollars, each
year, of drugs, sex slaves, who knows what, streams across into America from
Mexico The Beautiful.

This nationwide guerilla army is now also allegedly in cahoots with anything
resembling or calling itself "al-Qaeda", at least the last time I looked.

There is a U.S. State Department warning out for people to actually avoid
Mexico if they possibly can because so many plain Tourists are getting their
heads blown off at The Border or elsewhere.

Something like 3 million Immigrants have streamed across the U.S.-Mexico
Border, each year, for almost forever now it seems.  Hmmm, those would be
nice exact statistics to have.  In 10 years, that is about 3 NYC's.

Yes, Roger, I'll have to agree, that's a heck of a lot of Cheap Labor.

It's really a rather complex matter sometimes it seems, and then you just
crunch the simple numbers of the volume of Immigrants that come to America
each year, just from Mexico alone, and it becomes less complex by the
minute, to various people, for various reasons.

Now if you just had a little card or something, and a machine that could
discern the difference 100 percent of the time, and somehow be able to
separate the Friendly Nice Immigrants, perhaps all 3 million of them Each
Year, from the drug runners, the weapons smugglers, the slavers, the slaves,
the teen and pre-teen sex trade, members of the nationwide guerilla army who
currently have a hit out on El Presidente, the people who are currently
shooting tourists on vacation, the people who are floating body-filled
barrels down the border river for summer sport, all the actual people tied
into real Terrorism who are now allied with this guerilla army, and all the
teens and children that have now been absorbed into their vast forces, you
might have something interesting at least to debate on the floor of
Congress.

Indeed, how ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen America.

I dunno, it's a complex issue, which very likely needs great consideration,
duh, but I just seriously doubt anyone on the floor of Congress has suddenly
grown enough brains overnight to solve such a gigantic problem which I ain't
got time to discuss all the various facets of it right now, but sit here 100
miles from it and easily know what it must be like to live next to something
at least mildly resembling one of those countries they keep referring to in
something called The Middle East.

Yep, true, who's gonna pick our grapes, wash our cars, be our nannies, cut
our lawns, herd our cows, cook for the tourists, etc etc etc if "we close
our border there" or anything like that...?  Yeah, you're right, certainly
not Americans, we're too busy living off our inheritances and those jobs are
too lowly for the TON of unemployed on this side of the Rio Grande.  (Oh,
sorry, I forgot, the American Side Employers don't want to pay Real Money to
actual Americans, that remains, as always, one of the greatest incentives to
not address any Problem part of the whole thing in a realistic manner for
the next billion years or something).

But you also get the bad side of the coin in the process, some of which
Roger referred to in his statement, a lot which he didn't even mildly refer
to.

If that is "the definitive statement from the Vatican" on the matter, well,
kids, I just dunno, lol...   There's a riot goin' on down here, and The
Church didn't seem to think that needed mentioning in discussing The
Millions of Immigrants that stream across The Border with our neighbor
Mexico year after year, so I just thought I'd fill in a tiny bit of the
blanks.

I hope you could hear it all over the uzis and the bodies floating down the
river thudding up against the bridge and the people inside screaming for
help.

And the children laughing on the bank.






Cheeseburger



_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic


From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun  2 10:53:36 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Wed Jun  1 21:00:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deep Throat Revealed (Slide show, Washington Post)
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV5BC8E32D5C94C0565FF13AB060@phx.gbl>

These photos of Deep Throat in his prime are awesome.... Thanks Bill.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: William Swiggard
Sent: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 03:52:30 -0700
To: mb-civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deep Throat Revealed (Slide show, Washington Post)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2005/05/31/GA2005053100928_index_frames.htm?startat=1
_______________________________________________
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Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun  2 11:40:20 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Wed Jun  1 21:46:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from:
	barbarasiomos38@msn.com
Message-ID: <11774516.1117737620623.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from barbarasiomos38@msn.com as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 A Transcript of interview with Ben Bradlee...

peace,
barbara
 
 Deep Throat Revealed: Ben Bradlee
 
 Ben Bradlee
 
  The Washington Post Tuesday confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was "Deep Throat," the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal. The confirmation came from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, and their former top editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee. The three spoke after Felt's family and Vanity Fair magazine identified the 91-year-old Felt, now a retiree in California, as the long-anonymous source who provided crucial guidance for some of the newspaper's groundbreaking Watergate stories.
 
 Ben Bradlee , vice president at large and former executive editor of The Washington Post, was online Thursday, June 2, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss Felt and his work with Woodward and Bernstein to uncover the Watergate Scandal.
 
 Bradlee served as executive editor of The Washington Post for 23 years, through the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, and became vice president at large in 1991.
 
 ____________________
 
 washingtonpost.com: Ben Bradlee will begin his discussion in just a few minutes, a slight delay. Please stay with us.
 
 _______________________
 
 washingtonpost.com: Ben, thank you for joining us online today.
 
 The unmasking of Deep Throat is a moment you've known was coming for 30 years. Clearly, the way Mark Felt's identity was revealed was not what you, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein expected, but how does it feel to finally have the epilogue of the Watergate story finally written?
 
 Ben Bradlee: It feels good. And it's good for history that this story is becoming really complete and over now.
 
 _______________________
 
 Escanaba, Mich.: Is it true that you were against the investigation into who was involved at the White House?
 
 Ben Bradlee: It certainly is not true. As the story progressed the clues all pointed higher up and finally into the White House itself and of course ultimately to the president himself. What newspaperman could be against that?
 
 _______________________
 
 Silver Spring, Md.: Mr Bradlee:
 
 When you first learned that Mark Felt was "Deep Throat," were you concerned about his motivations, and what did you do to assure yourself that he was not pursuing a personal agenda? I ask, of course, because Felt was then known to have been disappointed in his ambitions for the FBI top job in the wake of Hoover's death in 1972. Were you worried that he might be trying to embarrass L. Patrick Gray, the outsider who got the nod over Felt, the long-time Hoover loyalist?
 
 Ben Bradlee: Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That's just a given. And good reporters always -- repeat always -- probe to find out what that motive is. In Felt's case it seemed obvious that he was concerned about abuses of power coming from people who worked for the president. Including his highest advisers, including the attorney general of the United States and that seemed a totally decent motive.
 
 _______________________
 
 Fairfield, Conn.: What is your reaction to the strong criticisms leveled at Mark Felt by Pat Buchanan and Charles Colson?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I am really baffled by Colson and Gordon Liddy lecturing the world about public morality. Both of them went to jail after being convicted of misbehavior surrounding the Watergate cover-up. They were threatening and they paid a price for it. And as far as I'm concerned they have no standing in the morality debate.
 
 Buchanan is a little different because he hasn't done time, but I'm not ready to be part of his indignation.
 
 _______________________
 
 washingtonpost.com: You're one of the legendary editors in the news business. Turn that critical eye on John O'Connor's Vanity Fair article. Any edits?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I haven't perused it with an editor's eye. But I thought the story was fascinating and he was obviously authoritative and I would like to have seen it in The Washington Post, but we had this little problem. Woodward and Bernstein and I had given our word that we wouldn't tell a soul and we hadn't been freed from that restriction by Felt himself. We finally concluded that after Felt had talked publicly about the whole deal we were freed.
 
 _______________________
 
 Sarasota, Fla.: Bob Woodward and the Post have benefited financially from the cooperation of Mark Felt. Do they have a moral obligation to help him financially?
 
 Ben Bradlee: Woodward benefits financially from books that he writes. On his own time. The Post benefits from every news source -- whether it's a football team or a five-alarm fire or a president. We can't go out of the news business -- ever.
 
 _______________________
 
 USA: Bradlee,
 
 Your interview with Koppel was really neat. You came off as a tough SOB.
 
 Thanks for everything. I am going to go into journalism because of All the President's Men.
 
 Say, can I look you up for a job in two years?
 
 Ben Bradlee: If I'm still around, of course.
 
 _______________________
 
 Pine Bluff, Ark.: Mr. Bradlee: At a time in which circulation among all major newspapers appears to be declining, do you fear that publishers and managers (and perhaps editors) are increasingly prone to giving readers what it is believed they want as opposed to the journalism they need? Would editors today give "a third-rate burglary" as much attention as they do Laci Peterson or Michael Jackson?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I do worry about how newspapers respond to falling circulation figures. I'm not sure that the answer is for newspapers to try to cater to whatever seems to be the fad of the day. I think probably Michael Jackson is being overcovered. I am so sick of that trial I don't read it anymore. I think that editors -- and that's plural -- should have the widest interests and follow their own judgments about what to cover.
 
 _______________________
 
 Downtown D.C.: Mr. Bradlee,
 
 Did you and Woodstein ever discuss how you would go about divulging Deep Throat's identity after he died?
 
 Ben Bradlee: Two or three months ago Woodward and I talked about a story to appear in The Post the day after Deep Throat died. There would obviously be a news story -- not by Woodward or Bernstein -- that described the impact that Watergate had on American society and the fallout on American politics. I felt that the paper should get a first-person singular story out of Woodward with special emphasis on his relationship with Deep Throat and that he needed to bring the current executive editor, Len Downie, into the loop and he did that. A later version of that story is in the paper today.
 
 _______________________
 
 Pottsville, Pa.: What have you done since leaving the Post? Have you thought of doing a book of your own about the events of Watergate?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I am at The Post almost every day. Someone described me as a "stop on the tour." But I am available to editors and reporters for whatever good they think I can do for the paper. When Katharine Graham was still alive, she and I were available to reporters and organizations and things haven't changed that much in that department since she died.
 
 I have other gigs. I'm on the board of directors of a company that owns newspapers in Ireland, South Africa, London, New Zealand and various other countries and that gets me out of Washington pretty regularly.
 
 I am also involved in historic St. Mary's City, a museum centered on the third-oldest settlement in America, 90 miles south of Washington. And I'm on the board of trustees of St. Mary's College, an excellent small liberal arts college next to the museum.
 
 _______________________
 
 Rockville, Md.: How confident are you that Felt is truly competent to understand what is going on? And does that matter to you?
 
 Ben Bradlee: Bob Woodward has been in touch with Felt off and on for 30 years. Mostly off, but recently mostly on. I have no doubt that Felt is telling the truth and that's good enough for me.
 
 _______________________
 
 Columbia, Md.: Mr. Bradlee,
 
 As I understand it, you knew Deep Throat was an FBI official, but you never asked about his identity.
 
 If this is correct, I have to ask -- given what was at stake, how did you decide to display such an extraordinary amount of trust in two very young reporters, who did not enjoy anything near the prominence they enjoy today? How could you be sure?
 
 Thank you for your service, both militarily and at the Post.
 
 Ben Bradlee: I didn't know Deep Throat personally. I never met him. I did know -- generically -- where he worked. That was the Justice Department, which of course included the FBI. I did not know he was the number two person in the FBI. But the important thing about Deep Throat from day one was that he was telling the truth. Everything he told us was true and in that sense that was all I needed.
 
 After Nixon resigned I felt that some people were threatening the bonafides of our reporting and I thought that I had to know Deep Throat's identity. Woodward and I went for a walk down to McPhereson Square and I asked him for Deep Throat's name and he gave it to me. Took about three minutes.
 
 Woodward and Bernstein were, in fact, very young and green but they were right. I was under some pressure to put one of the many talented veterans on the story but how could you take the story away from people who were doing such a good job? I couldn't answer that then and I can't now.
 
 _______________________
 
 Las Vegas, Nev.: I watched your Nightline interview with great interest. In explaining how you were all but convinced Nixon was lying, you said, "That national security red flag is -- I've heard it before and I'm just sick of it."
 
 In saying,"I'm just sick of it," it sounded for all the world as though you were about to draw a parallel between Nixon's lies and rationalizations and others you're hearing in 2005.
 
 Your thoughts on this? Thank you.
 
 Ben Bradlee: It's very hard to stand up to the government which is saying that publication will threaten national security. People don't seem to realize that reporters and editors know something about national security and care deeply about it. I spent almost four years on a destroyer in the Pacific ocean during World War II and it makes my blood boil when some guy who maybe ran an insurance company in the Midwest becomes an assistant secretary of this or that and tells me about national security.
 
 It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth. Remember that Nixon's first comment about Watergate claimed that he was going to be unable to answer questions about Watergate because Watergate involved "matters of national security." That was baloney and Nixon knew it, but the charge convinced some people otherwise. Too bad.
 
 _______________________
 
 Washington, D.C.: What do you think your pal, the late Mrs. Graham, would think about this week's reveal?
 
 Ben Bradlee: She would've had one wonderful time. She loved the business and she loved to come into the city room for a "fix" two or three times a day when we really had a tiger by the tail of a story.
 
 _______________________
 
 San Francisco, Calif.: How much pressure were you really under at the time? Was it movie hype when Robards said the story could sink the paper? Weren't you comfortable knowing the info was coming from the senior FBI guy heading the investigation?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I didn't need Jason Robards to tell me that if we were wrong the damage to the paper would be incalculable. I didn't know exactly who the information was coming from but I gained confidence week by week when his information proved to be accurate. There were almost 400 Watergate stories and I think we gained confidence as these stories proved to be on the button.
 
 _______________________
 
 Alexandria, Va.: How much concern did Woodward and Bernstein, as well as yourself and others on the paper who were known to be involved in the whole story, have for their personal safety?
 
 Ben Bradlee: On one occasion Deep Throat told Woodward that our lives "were in danger." Given his track record you had to take that seriously but I don't think any of us really believed him on that occasion.
 
 We paid special attention to things like tax returns and we concentrated on being good citizens.
 
 _______________________
 
 Washington, D.C.: How do you think the revelation that Deep Throat was a leader of the FBI will impact leaks and unidentified sources in the future? Do you think we will see a further decline in governmental sources who are willing to go off the record in an attempt to have the truth told to the public?
 
 Ben Bradlee: There will always be leaks -- in Washington, everywhere. I can remember a congressman reaching into his desk drawer and bringing out a scissors to cut off the "secret" classification on a government document and then give me the document. His motive was perfectly obvious and as far as I could see did not threaten national security. He simply wanted to convince people of the rightness of his view. In this case, his motive was obvious and no harm was done.
 
 _______________________
 
 Cambridge, Mass.: Is there a Deep Throat out there today, ready to save the nation once again?
 
 Ben Bradlee: I hope so.
 
 _______________________
 
 Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=DI2005060101457&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
 
 

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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun  2 13:58:08 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 00:04:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] michael wants you to see this. 
Message-ID: <200506022058.j52Kw8dW006162@server1.truthout.org>



michael thought you would like this site.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060205X.shtml

ApplyRefer v2.3



From referralsvr2 at referralblast.com  Thu Jun  2 14:10:04 2005
From: referralsvr2 at referralblast.com (Bryan Peterson)
Date: Thu Jun  2 00:17:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Common Dreams NewsCenter
Message-ID: <200506020717.j527HkoE000384@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Hello,

Bryan Peterson wanted to share this article with you:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0601-29.htm


Message: Very good article.


Thanks!
______________________________________
Common Dreams
Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community
www.commondreams.org


________________________________________________________
Referral powered by ReferralBlast.com

From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun  2 15:29:09 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 01:35:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: 100 Days and Counting
Message-ID: <20050602222909.A529FB808F@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
100 Days and Counting
http://www.alternet.org/story/22136

The Democratic Party in D.C. is ready to call Dean a disaster, but the local parties love what he's done so far. Who's right and who's wrong?
-------------------------------------

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  2 16:13:37 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  2 02:21:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: New Fiore Animation - "Democracy Lite"
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F3140882CBCA5208B25F53FAB060@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BEC50AE1.21122%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Thanks

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Hecate Gould" <bodhababe@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 14:34:21 -0700
To: michael@michaelbutler.com
Subject: FW: New Fiore Animation - "Democracy Lite"






>From: Mark Fiore <mark@markfiore.com>
>To: bodhababe@hotmail.com
>Subject: New Fiore Animation - "Democracy Lite"
>Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 20:15:53 -0700
>
>
>The new animation "Democracy Lite" has just been posted!
>http://sfgate.com/comics/fiore/
>
>-Mark
>
>---------
>Mark Fiore
>Git yer DVDs here:
>http://www.markfiore.com
>---------
>
>--------------------------------------
>To Unsubscribe, please click here:
>http://markfiore.com/email/box.php?funcml=unsub2&nl=1&email=bodhababe@hotmail.c
om
>


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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:51:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 13:58:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4012612.1117795903126.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Deep Silence On Redford Place
 
 By Lynne Duke
 
 W. Mark Felt's once-peaceful home has become a haven for media and history buffs hoping for a glimpse of Deep Throat.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:53:14 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 13:59:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <12183213.1117795994736.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Secret That Didn't Reach Washington's Lips
 
 By Sally Quinn
 
 No. I did not know who Deep Throat was. And no. I never asked my husband, Ben Bradlee. Why not? For several reasons.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:54:01 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:00:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <12472130.1117796041476.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Bush Poised to Nominate Dozens For Judgeships, GOP Insiders Say
 
 By Peter Baker
 
 The White House is preparing to send a raft of new judicial nominations to the Senate in the next few weeks, according to Republican strategists inside and outside the administration -- a move that could challenge the durability of last week's bipartisan filibuster deal and reignite the political...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:55:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:02:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <7647096.1117796147506.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Gitmo Grovel: Enough Already
 
 By Charles Krauthammer
 
 The self-flagellation over  reports of abuse at Guantanamo Bay has turned into a full-scale panic. There are calls for the United States, with all this worldwide publicity, to simply shut the place down.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:56:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:03:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <28797577.1117796203475.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Hyperbole and Human Rights
 
 By E. J. Dionne Jr.
 
 Why do President Bush's critics make life so easy for him?
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun  3 03:57:41 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:04:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18783514.1117796261715.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Democrats Also Got Tribal Donations
 
 By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Derek Willis
 
 Democrats are hoping to gain political advantage from investigations into the lobbyist's activities and his ties to Tom DeLay, yet many benefited from Abramoff's political operation.
 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun  2 20:09:16 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:10:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Sell the Gold, Free the Poor
Message-ID: <200506022109.j52L9xA4001838@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

There is an important online action opportunity at the end of this little piece--
if you wanna do it first, I've pasted it immediately below..

To contact Newmont, and for more information on the issue, go to:
<http://www.essentialaction.org/imfgold>.

To send a free fax to Newmont via Global Exchange, go to:
<http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/goldindustryaction.html>.



Sell the Gold, Free the Poor
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

When historians look back over the last 25 years, one of the great
crimes they will identify is the Third World debt crisis.

Now, finally, the rich countries have agreed to cancel the debts of the
poorest countries to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
But they continue to differ over how to do it.

It is now clear a compromise agreement among the rich countries over
cancellation of IMF debt can only be reached if sale of IMF gold is a
component of the financing package for debt cancellation.

But a decision to sell some of the IMF's stock of gold is being blocked by
the gold industry, led by the world's largest gold producing corporation,
Newmont Mining Co. Newmont and the industry say that IMF gold sales will
lower the world gold price, but they ignore a proposal from the IMF itself
that would ensure IMF gold sales have no net impact on the world gold
market.

"We are calling on Newmont to reverse its position," says Neil Watkins,
national coordinator of Jubilee USA, the debt cancellation network. "That
will enable progress toward debt cancellation, which is such a critical
piece of efforts to eradicate poverty around the world."

Here's how critical debt cancellation is: Every year, sub-Saharan Africa
pays about $13 billion to the IMF, World Bank and others in wealthy
countries. Poor countries in Africa spend an average of $14 per person on
debt service payments to international financial institutions and only $5
per person on healthcare.

To qualify for new loans needed to pay off old ones, poor countries must
submit to the policy mandates of the IMF and World Bank. These
pro-corporate, market fundamentalist policies -- things like unqualified
privatization, orienting their economies to exports, downsizing
government, eliminating labor protections, charging user fees for
healthcare -- have further worsened life throughout the developing world.

The situation is so dire that almost everyone agrees that debt
cancellation for poor countries is imperative, and last year the rich
countries in the G7 finally reached consensus on the issue.

But then they embarked on a contentious dispute about how to do it. And
now the dispute about how to cancel the debt may result in no cancellation
whatsoever, or at least no cancellation of IMF debt.

There has been an extensive back-and-forth between the Bush
administration and the Europeans on the issue. Agreement may be near on
cancellation of World Bank debt.

But the sides remain far apart on IMF debt.

Cancellation of IMF debt is in many ways the most strategic step. While
IMF debt represents only 10 percent of total debt from the poor countries,
about one third of these countries' debt payments go to the IMF. Canceling
IMF debt would also reduce significantly the reach of the IMF -- the
harder-line supporter of corporate-friendly economics -- into poor
countries.

The available compromise position for cancellation of IMF debt is for the
IMF to sell some of its gold reserves and use the proceeds to cancel debt.
The UK favors this position. The hold-up is the United States.

The reason for U.S. obstruction is primarily not the administration,
however, but Congress. Gold sales would require Congressional approval.

And the reason for Congressional opposition is the Colorado-based
Newmont Mining Co.

Newmont and the gold industry have lobbied Congress hard on this issue.
Earlier this year, the industry orchestrated a letter signed by 12 Western
state senators opposing IMF gold sales.

The reason for industry opposition is the fear that IMF gold sales will
depress the world price for gold. But the fear is misplaced: the way to do
such gold sales, as the IMF itself has stated, is in the context of the
Central Bank Gold Agreement. The European central banks annually sell a
significant amount of gold, according to a schedule that the market has
already taken into account. The IMF sales would be made in the context of
this agreement. The central banks would simply sell less, so there would
be no net increase in gold sales.

We asked Newmont spokesperson Doug Hock: Doesn't the IMF's proposal,
which would preserve the gold price, address the company's concerns?

But an initial comment that it might, in theory, was quickly qualified by
a statement that he hadn't seen the IMF proposal.

So we sent it to him.

Subsequent calls and e-mails haven't been returned.

Meanwhile, the World Gold Council, an industry association, says it
can't comment on the IMF proposal because it hasn't been made public. But
IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato has specified that IMF gold sales
would be conducted in the context of the Central Bank Gold Agreement to
preserve gold price. And while the IMF's technical proposal hasn't
officially been made public, it is widely available. (You can see it at:
<http://www.essentialaction.org/imfgold/imf03112005.pdf>.)

Newmont's misguided and groundless opposition is on the brink of
sabotaging IMF debt cancellation -- thus ensuring millions of poor
people will suffer needlessly. This is a life-and-death matter.

Time is running short for Newmont to reverse its position: A deal on
debt cancellation is likely to be announced at the G8 summit in July, and
if IMF debt is not part of the deal, it may fall of the radar screen for
the foreseeable future.

There is hope. Since Newmont has no discernible, material interest in
opposing IMF gold sales, with enough public outrage, it might be persuaded
to reverse its position.

To contact Newmont, and for more information on the issue, go to:
<http://www.essentialaction.org/imfgold>.

To send a free fax to Newmont via Global Exchange, go to:
<http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/goldindustryaction.html>.


Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter, <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com>. Robert Weissman is
editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor,
<http://www.multinationalmonitor.org>, and director of Essential Action, a
corporate accountability group supporting debt cancellation. Mokhiber and
Weissman are co-authors of On the Rampage: Corporate Predators and the
Destruction of Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

This article is posted at:
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2005/000205.html>


_______________________________________________

Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber
and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or
repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on
a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us
(russell@nationalpress.com or rob@essential.org).

Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve
corp-focus@lists.essential.org. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your
address to corp-focus, go to:
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message to corp-focus-admin@lists.essential.org with your request.

Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at
<http://www.corporatepredators.org>.

Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to
comment on the columns, send a message to russell@nationalpress.com or
rob@essential.org.


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun  2 20:11:09 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:10:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	Bad for America, Bad for the World : US Nuclear Hypocrisy
Message-ID: <200506022110.j52LADpA001848@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.counterpunch.com/krieger05312005.html

Bad for America, Bad for the World : US Nuclear Hypocrisy

By DAVID KRIEGER

CounterPunch    May 31, 2005


Every five years the parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meet
in a review conference to further the non-proliferation and disarmament
goals of the treaty. This year the conference ended in a spectacular
failure with no final document and no agreement on moving forward. For the
first ten days of the conference, the US resisted agreement on an agenda
that made any reference to past commitments.

The failure of the treaty conference is overwhelmingly attributable to the
nuclear policies of the Bush administration, which has disavowed previous
US nuclear disarmament commitments under the treaty. The Bush
administration does not seem to grasp the hypocrisy of pressing other
nations to forego their nuclear options, while failing to fulfill its own
obligations under the disarmament provisions of the treaty.

The treaty is crumbling under the double standards of American policy, and
may not be able to recover from the rigid "do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do"
positions of the Bush administration. These policies are viewed by most of
the world as high-level nuclear hypocrisy.

Paul Meyer, the head of Canada's delegation to the treaty conference,
reflected on the conference, "The vast majority of states have to be
acknowledged, but we did not get that kind of diplomacy from the US."
Former UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook also singled out the Bush
administration in explaining the failure of the conference. "How strange,"
he wrote, "that no delegation should have worked harder to frustrate
agreement on what needs to be done than the representatives of George
Bush."

What the US did at the treaty conference was to point the finger at Iran
and North Korea, while refusing to discuss or even acknowledge its own
failure to meet its obligations under the treaty. Five years ago, at the
2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the parties to the
treaty, including the US, agreed to 13 Practical Steps for Nuclear
Disarmament. Under the Bush administration, nearly all of these
obligations have been disavowed.

Although President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in
1996, the Bush administration does not support it and refused to allow
ratification of this treaty, which is part of the 13 Practical Steps, to
even be discussed at the 2005 review conference. The parties to the treaty
are aware that the Bush administration is seeking funding from Congress to
continue work on new earth penetrating nuclear weapons ("bunker busters"),
while telling other nations not to develop nuclear arms.

They are also aware that the Bush administration has withdrawn from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to pursue a destabilizing missile
defense program, and has not supported a verifiable Fissile Material
Cut-off Treaty, although the US had agreed to support these treaties in
the 13 Practical Steps.

The failure of this treaty conference makes nuclear proliferation more
likely, including proliferation to terrorist organizations that cannot be
deterred from using the weapons. The fault for this failure does not lie
with other governments as the Bush administration would have us believe.
It does not lie with Egypt for seeking consideration of previous promises
to achieve a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.

Nor does the fault lie with Iran for seeking to enrich uranium for its
nuclear energy program, as is done by many other states, including the US,
under the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It would no doubt be
preferable to have the enrichment of uranium and the separation of
plutonium, both of which can be used for nuclear weapons programs, done
under strict international controls, but this requires a change in the
treaty that must be applicable to all parties, not just to those singled
out by the US.

Nor can the fault be said to lie with those states that, having given up
their option to develop nuclear weapons, sought renewed commitments from
the nuclear weapons states not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear
weapons states. It is hard to imagine a more reasonable request. Yet the
US has refused to relinquish the option of first use of nuclear weapons,
even against non-nuclear weapons states.

The fault for the failure of the treaty conference lies clearly with the
Bush administration, which must take full responsibility for undermining
the security of every American by its double standards and nuclear
hypocrisy.

The American people must understand the full magnitude of the Bush
administration's failure at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review
Conference. This may not happen because the administration has been so
remarkably successful in spinning the news to suit its unilateralist,
militarist and triumphalist worldviews.

As Americans, we can not afford to wait until we experience an American
Hiroshima before we wake up to the very real dangers posed by US nuclear
policies. We must demand the reversal of these policies and the resumption
of constructive engagement with the rest of the world.

David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

--------

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0517-34.htm
Published on Tuesday, May 17, 2005 by Working for Change
Don't Blame Newsweek
Despite sloppiness, Newsweek didn't fabricate Koran story
by Molly Ivins
 
As Riley used to say on an ancient television sitcom, "This is a revoltin' 
development." There seems to be a bit of a campaign on the right to 
blame Newsweek for the anti-American riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan 
and other Islamic countries.

Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans 
abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for 
quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, 
when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen 
released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been 
physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological 
torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer 
programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had 
gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The 
strike was ended by force-feeding.

Then came the report, widely covered in American media last 
December, by the International Red Cross concerning torture at Gitmo. 
I wrote at the time: "In the name of Jesus Christ Almighty, why are 
people representing our government, paid by us, writing filth on the 
Korans of helpless prisoners? Is this American? Is this Christian? 
What are our moral values? Where are the clergymen on this? Speak 
up, speak out."

The reports kept coming: Dec. 30, 2004, "Released Moroccan 
Guantanamo Detainee Tells Islamist Paper of His Ordeal," reported 
the Financial Times. "They watched you each time you went to the 
toilet; the American soldiers used to tear up copies of Koran and throw 
them in the toilet. ..." said the released prisoner.

On Jan. 9, 2005, Andrew Sullivan, writing in The Sunday Times of 
London, said: "We now know a great deal about what has gone on in 
U.S. detention facilities under the Bush administration. Several 
government and Red Cross reports detail the way many detainees 
have been treated. We know for certain that the United States has 
tortured five inmates to death. We know that 23 others have died in 
U.S. custody under suspicious circumstances. We know that torture 
has been practiced by almost every branch of the U.S. military in sites 
all over the world -- from Abu Ghraib to Tikrit, Mosul, Basra, 
Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

"We know that no incidents of abuse have been reported in regular 
internment facilities and that hundreds have occurred in prisons 
geared to getting intelligence. We know that thousands of men, 
women and children were grabbed almost at random from their homes 
in Baghdad, taken to Saddam's former torture palace and subjected to 
abuse, murder, beatings, semi-crucifixions and rape.

"All of this is detailed in the official reports. What has been perpetrated 
in secret prisons to 'ghost detainees' hidden from Red Cross 
inspection, we do not know. We may never know.

"This is America? While White House lawyers were arguing about 
what separates torture from legitimate 'coercive interrogation 
techniques,' the following was taking place: Prisoners were hanged for 
hours or days from bars or doors in semi-crucifixions; they were 
repeatedly beaten unconscious, woken and then beaten again for days 
on end; they were sodomized; they were urinated on, kicked in the 
head, had their ribs broken, and were subjected to electric shocks.

"Some Muslims had pork or alcohol forced down their throats; they had 
tape placed over their mouths for reciting the Koran; many Muslims 
were forced to be naked in front of each other, members of the 
opposite sex and sometimes their own families. It was routine for the 
abuses to be photographed in order to threaten the showing of the 
humiliating footage to family members."

The New York Times reported on May 1 on the same investigation 
Newsweek was writing about and interviewed a released Kuwaiti, who 
spoke of three major hunger strikes, one of them touched off by 
"guards' handling copies of the Koran, which had been tossed into a 
pile and stomped on. A senior officer delivered an apology over the 
camp's loudspeaker system, pledging that such abuses would stop. 
Interpreters, standing outside each prison block, translated the officer's 
apology. A former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the 
Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the 
public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans."

So where does all this leave us? With a story that is not only true, but 
previously reported numerous times. So let's drop the "Lynch 
Newsweek" bull. Seventeen people have died in these riots. They 
didn't die because of anything Newsweek did -- the riots were caused 
by what our government has done.

Get your minds around it. Our country is guilty of torture. To quote 
myself once more: "What are you going to do about this? It's your 
country, your money, your government. You own this country, you run 
it, you are the board of directors. They are doing this in your name. 
The people we elected to public office do what you want them to. 
Perhaps you should get in touch with them."

? 2005 Working for Change



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun  2 20:13:05 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:10:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] French Voters Rewrite History
Message-ID: <200506022110.j52LAmNb001868@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0601-26.htm

Published on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 by The Nation
French Voters Rewrite History
by John Nichols
 
Since the close of the Cold War, apologists for corporate arrogance 
and irresponsibility have argued that the world has reached an "end of 
history" moment when there can no longer be any debate about the 
superiority of cut-throat competition and business-defined "free 
markets." The rigid orthodoxy of the corporatists has played out in the 
form of free trade agreements such as NAFTA, which are crafted to 
allow corporations to easily relocate production facilities in order to 
avoid laws, rules and regulations that protect workers, consumers and 
the environment, and in the strengthening of "global governance" 
groups such as the World Trade Organization, which were created to 
take away the ability of communities, regions and nation states to hold 
corporations accountable.

The initiative has been advanced by conservative and centrist 
politicians such as George W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton and 
Tony Blair, and by most of the global media conglomerates, which 
stand to benefit from the deconstruction of laws that require 
broadcasters and publishers to display at least a small measure of 
concern for the civic and democratic health of the nations where they 
operate.

But, despite the pressure from the politicians and the constant spin 
campaign from the media, the people have begun to notice that the 
free-market emperor has no clothes. Street protests in Seattle in 1999 
prevented the WTO from advancing the free-trade agenda into new 
sectors of the economy, saving millions of farmers around the world 
from being overrun by the agribusiness conglomerates and slowing the 
rush to privatize education, transportation and communications 
services.

After Seattle, the question was whether the great mass of people who 
believe that this is not the end of history, and that another better world 
is possible, would eventually flex their muscles at the ballot box. The 
late US Senator Paul Wellstone, D-Minnesota, tried unsuccessfully to 
get the Democratic Party in the US to take up the issues raised by the 
labor, farm and environmental groups that had banded together to 
oppose corporate globalization. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they 
failed to take Wellstone's advice and ended up campaigning in 
successive national election campaigns on the issues that the Bush 
Administration and its corporate allies chose to discuss.

There have been better results outside the US. Last year, in India, a 
militantly corporatist government that united religious extremists and 
business interests was swept out of power when the poorest voters in 
the world's largest democracy revolted against the false claim that the 
free-market policies that benefitted the richest Indians were good for 
the vast majority of citizens. After the election, one of the leaders of the 
ousted government, Deputy Premier LK Advani, admitted, "In 
retrospect, it seems that the fruits of development did not equitably 
reach all sections of our society."

Now comes an even clearer, and blunter, challenge to the free-market 
mantra of the "end of history" crowd.

France's overwhelming rejection of the new European Union 
Constitution, which would have locked in free-market policies that 
coddle corporations while creating pressure to cut pay, benefits and 
social-welfare protections for workers in western Europe, sent a 
powerful signal that citizens are waking up to the threats posed by an 
unbridled free market to their livelihoods, their communities and their 
democracies.

While most of the French political and media establishment urged a 
"yes" vote on the Constitution -- which must be approved by the EU's 
25 member states before it is implemented -- opponents such as 
former Socialist Party head Henri Emmanuelli built a grassroots 
campaign that warned the Constitution would pit workers from different 
countries against one another in a "race to the bottom" that would 
benefit only powerful corporations. "I'm not fighting against Europe," 
said Emmanuelli, as he explained that a "no" vote should not be seen 
as a rejection of cooperation between European states. "But Europe 
was not created so that we could set the poor against the poor. That's 
economic warfare."

Veterans of the Seattle protests of 1999, such as peasant leader Jose 
Bove, were key players in the campaign for a "no" vote, arguing that 
the Constitution would impose an economic model based on the 
demands of big business, rather than the needs of workers and 
farmers.

They were joined by the group Attac, one of the most effective of the 
growing number of anti-corporate globalization groups that are forming 
an international infrastructure of opposition to the push for corporate-
defined markets and privatization. Attac's campaign urged a "no" vote, 
but it was not negative. Rather, it suggested that the constitution be 
rewritten to support development of "a Europe that is truly European, 
democratic, social, environmental." Attac's posters promised, "Another 
Europe is Possible!"

But why stop at Europe? Why not counter the big lie of the "end of 
history" fanatics with the big truth: Another World is Possible?

John Nichols is the author of Jews for Buchanan (The New Press), a 
review of the Florida recount fight.

? 2005 The Nation

###


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You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun  3 04:14:55 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:22:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Day of reckoning nears for energy markets
Message-ID: <BEC5B3EF.21157%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Day of reckoning nears for energy markets
>By Spencer Abraham
>Published: June 2 2005 20:04 | Last updated: June 2 2005 20:04
>>

As high oil and natural gas prices continue to take their toll on the bottom
lines of households and key industrial sectors, a great deal of speculation
is taking place in the business and political worlds about energy markets.

Conventional wisdom and traditional market economic theory suggest high
prices and profits will ultimately produce a correction on both the demand
and supply side of the energy equation to bring prices back in line.

Yet many believe this analysis is not applicable to today's challenges.
Credible experts are even predicting that oil will reach $100 a barrel.
Count me on the side of those who believe that, without significant changes
in energy policy, tight markets are likely to continue and potentially
worsen.

Several factors are likely to prevent traditional market corrections from
occurring. It is improbable that worldwide demand for energy will be as
price sensitive as in the past. First, the prices of some fuels - such as
petrol in the US - have not really kept pace with inflation. Moreover, much
of the growth in demand is a function of cultural and social changes in
developing countries that have made acquiring motor vehicles and appliances
far more acceptable and desirable. This is why even higher prices and slower
economic growth in the developing world are unlikely to lessen the growth of
energy consumption there.

As a result, over the next 20 years worldwide oil demand is expected to
increase to 121m-130m barrels per day from the current 82m-84m, electricity
consumption to grow by 100 per cent and natural gas demand to increase by 67
per cent.

Meanwhile, a variety of natural and self-imposed factors is constraining
supply. In the US, moratoria on energy development in offshore areas and on
federal territory are keeping huge natural gas and oil reserves off limits.
Furthermore, in both the US and Europe, opposition to nuclear energy and
coal-fired generation has taken its toll on energy supply, as have "not in
my backyard" challenges to new energy infrastructure projects. Middle East
tensions and factors such as Iran's nuclear stand-off with the west continue
to cast a shadow over future supply levels.

Expect markets to stay tight for the foreseeable future unless we act
boldly. So what needs to be done?

First, we need more nuclear power. Substantially increasing supply worldwide
and doubling it in the US over the next 25-30 years are worthy targets. To
get there in America we must provide risk insurance to those who build new
nuclear plants, as President George W. Bush has suggested, and reform the
regulatory process to ensure the safety of new units and reduce the
regulatory uncertainty that is preventing investment. In Europe and
elsewhere, it is time to recognise that meeting Kyoto protocol carbon
targets and significantly moderating dependence on imported energy will be
almost impossible without increased nuclear supply.

Second, we must re-examine the regulatory constraints on exploration in
areas that hold vast reserves of oil and natural gas. In America, federal
land and offshore areas contain more than 100,000bn cubic feet of natural
gas that are subject to moratoria. While we certainly should take legitimate
environmental concerns into account, we simply cannot continue to keep all
these important energy resources off limits.

Third, we must enhance international energy partnerships. America needs even
stronger energy relationships with Canada, Mexico and Australia. And it must
build on the energy working relationship begun with China in the past two
years. Both countries stand to benefit greatly from co-operation on the new
technologies and alternative fuels that will help them meet their needs
without becoming unacceptably dependent on imports.

We also need to increase substantially international investments in clean
coal, carbon sequestration, renewables and hydrogen technology. The best
chance America has to lessen its dependence on energy imports and increase
supply is to ensure that coal remains an integral and environmentally safe
part of its energy mix and to introduce new sources - from wind and solar to
hydrogen fuel cells.

In 2001, when Mr Bush unveiled his energy plan, critics argued that he was
exaggerating the problem in order to advance unnecessary policy ideas. The
result has been deadlock over energy legislation. Necessary energy security
proposals have too often been debated without significant action.
Unfortunately, the day of reckoning is near. Today's energy prices will seem
tame in comparison with what might well ensue unless we act decisively now.

The writer, the former US secretary of energy, is a distinguished visiting
fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun  3 04:52:26 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun  2 14:59:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "eye for an eye killings"
Message-ID: <000801c56832$b9198c80$af27e440@Harold>

Israeli soldiers involved in 'eye for an eye killings'

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050603/2005-06-03T071554Z_01_N03231854_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MIDEAST-REVENGE-DC.html

Later H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:53:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:00:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Syria Test-Fires 3 Scud Missiles,
	Israelis Say
Message-ID: <20050603125353.DD05383E1A@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 3, 2005
Syria Test-Fires 3 Scud Missiles, Israelis Say
By STEVEN ERLANGER
One of the missiles broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/international/middleeast/03syria.html?ex=1118462400&en=7c0b0bd82589e5a2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:54:00 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:00:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Growing Problem for Military Recruiters:
	Parents
Message-ID: <20050603125400.4DA78249CC2@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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NEW YORK REGION | June 3, 2005
Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents
By DAMIEN CAVE
Two years into the Iraq war, parents are discouraging their children from serving in a war that many see as unnecessary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/nyregion/03recruit.html?ex=1118462400&en=3ee0778939137e0a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:55:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:01:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Race to the Top
Message-ID: <20050603125515.C06C413B7E3@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 3, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: A Race to the Top
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
This is a bad time for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work - just when India, China and Poland are rediscovering theirs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/opinion/03friedman.html?ex=1118462400&en=5205f1f60bff4ac7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:55:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:02:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The State of Iraq: An Update
Message-ID: <20050603125515.C04FD83E37@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 3, 2005
Op-Chart: The State of Iraq: An Update
By ADRIANA LINS de ALBUQUERQUE, MICHAEL O’HANLON and AMY UNIKEWICZ
More than two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq remains a complex mix of tragedy and hope.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/opinion/03chart.html?ex=1118462400&en=5feed6d8e9d5c17b&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:55:26 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:02:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Immaculate Destruction
Message-ID: <20050603125526.0ABBE3AE3A1@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 3, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Immaculate Destruction
By FRANCES FITZGERALD
The idea of putting weapons in space has its roots in American national mythology and in a strain of 19th-century strategic thinking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/opinion/03Fitzgerald.html?ex=1118462400&en=3eb03f5abc8facac&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:55:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:02:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Filibusters Are Only Half the Problem
Message-ID: <20050603125542.166B183DD5@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 3, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Filibusters Are Only Half the Problem
By PAUL C. LIGHT
History suggests that the founders would prefer the filibuster to the times when democracy moves too fast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/opinion/03Light.html?ex=1118462400&en=efb34bb9125a6e42&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun  3 05:57:11 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:03:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: North Korea Denounces the U.S. and Calls
	Cheney 'Bloodthirsty'
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INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 3, 2005
North Korea Denounces the U.S. and Calls Cheney 'Bloodthirsty'
By JAMES BROOKE
Statements made through North Korea's Central News Agency were made in response in part to the Bush administration's decision to send fighter jets to South Korea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/international/asia/03korea.html?ex=1118462400&en=a2bd8e55c96bd0a9&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:04:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush S.E.C. Pick Is Seen as Friend to
	Corporations
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BUSINESS | June 3, 2005
Bush S.E.C. Pick Is Seen as Friend to Corporations
By STEPHEN LABATON
A major recipient of contributions from business groups, Christopher Cox is seen as supporting the easing of regulations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/business/03cox.html?ex=1118462400&en=65e4ca1418316ea1&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  2 16:06:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Ruling on W.T.O. Protests
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NATIONAL | June 3, 2005
A Ruling on W.T.O. Protests
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE, June 2 (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting here, the police may have erred by keeping some protesters out of a restricted zone based on their beliefs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/national/03wto.html?ex=1118462400&en=77f59de5cab2d79a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From harperalexander at mail.com  Fri Jun  3 10:44:56 2005
From: harperalexander at mail.com (Alexander Harper)
Date: Thu Jun  2 20:51:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] EU Consitution (Python style) - Shrimsley FT
Message-ID: <20050603174456.1C3751F50B1@ws1-2.us4.outblaze.com>

An ex-constitution

(With apologies to Python)

The scene: a Brussels shop. Customer: I wish to complain about this treaty establishing a new constitution for Europe, which I signed up to just a few months ago. 

Shopkeeper(played by Jos? Manuel Barroso, Jean-Claude Juncker among others): What's wrong with it? 

Customer: I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead. 

Shopkeeper: It's got problems, we recognise that. But it's not dead.Beautiful draftsmanship, eh? 

Customer: Never mind the draftsmanship. It's dead. 

Shopkeeper: It's just taken a bit of a knock. You go on and ratify anyway. 

Customer: Go ahead and ratify it? How can I? Ratify what? (Banging constitution against counter) It's dead. Hello, voters, vote for me, I'm never going to happen. 

Shopkeeper: It's just stunned. Ratify it and we could revive it. 

Customer: It's not stunned. It's passed on. People don't want it revived. This constitution is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It's off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-constitution. 

Shopkeeper: You've got to ratify it anyway. 

Customer: Why? 

Shopkeeper: So we know where we stand. 

Customer: We know where we stand. It's dead. (Pauses.) You're going to try and sell it again, aren't you? 

Shopkeeper: Of course not. The people have spoken. We recognise that. We have to abide by their decision. 

Customer: Do you mean that? 

Shopkeeper: No. 

Customer: But it's dead. 

Shopkeeper: Not till we say it is and we can't do that until everyone has ratified it. All the people must be allowed to speak, not just the ones whose voices we don't want to hear. 

Customer: So after everyone has voted, you'll say it's dead. 

Shopkeeper: No. That would be a terrible waste of everyone's time. 




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From harperalexander at mail.com  Fri Jun  3 10:55:03 2005
From: harperalexander at mail.com (Alexander Harper)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:01:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Sell the Gold, Free the Poor
Message-ID: <20050603175503.D25681CE303@ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com>

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun  3 11:28:58 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:39:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A This Is London email from Harry
Message-ID: <2091948.1117823338885.JavaMail.root@Web-Sites1>

Live 8

ANGER AT LIVE 8 FAT CATS
Mobile phone giant O2 is set to rake in Â£7 million from the text message lottery for Live8 tickets. The company has refused to waive its administration cost of 10p per message for the lottery, which opens at 8am on Monday....

Full Story:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/19072330?version=1

3 June 2005
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 11:38:52 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:45:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Wedding on top of Mount Everest
Message-ID: <20050603_183852_035268.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Wedding on top of Mount Everest **
A Nepalese couple exchange wedding vows on top of Mount Everest, the first people ever to marry there.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4605711.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun  3 11:39:24 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:46:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Check out this page at www.canoe.ca
Message-ID: <200506031839.j53IdO8u029350@nova.fast.canoe.ca>

From:  harry.sifton@sympatico.ca 

The person above has asked that we send you the following URL, as it
contains information that you might find useful or interesting.

        http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/06/03/1069819.html

Note that information on CANOE is changed frequently.
In some sections, such as our newspapers, content is removed after 24 hours.

If you have any questions about this service, please send e-mail to:
webmaster@canoe.ca.

Thanks!
CANOE - Your Internet Network
http://www.canoe.ca

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 11:39:27 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:46:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Israel tit-for-tat death claims
Message-ID: <20050603_183927_032834.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Israel tit-for-tat death claims **
Israeli soldiers allege they were ordered to kill Palestinian policemen to avenge the deaths of comrades.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4605899.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 11:41:34 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:48:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: 'Witch' child cruelty trio guilty
Message-ID: <20050603_184134_045062.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** 'Witch' child cruelty trio guilty **
Three people are found guilty of cruelty charges for ill-treating a girl they believed was using witchcraft.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4607435.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 11:42:44 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:49:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Niger scorns 'free food' demands
Message-ID: <20050603_184244_056541.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Niger scorns 'free food' demands **
The Niger government says it would be "foolish" to distribute free food, as demanded by some 2,000 protesters on Thursday.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4607345.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun  3 11:44:47 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun  2 21:51:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Man charged with McCartney murder
Message-ID: <20050603184447.C8B7A41F8@mullet.gul3.gnl>

harry spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Man charged with McCartney murder
Staff and agencies
Friday June 03 2005
The Guardian


Belfast police today charged a man with the murder of Robert McCartney, who was beaten and stabbed outside a Belfast pub in January. 

Police said a second man is to be charged with the attempted murder of Brendan Devine, who was with McCartney on the night of the killing outside Magennis's Bar on January 30. Mr Devine was left critically injured.

McCartney, 33, a father of two, was beaten and stabbed after being dragged from Magennis's bar near the Markets district on January 30. The IRA later expelled three members over what it termed the "brutal" killing. Sinn FÃ©in has suspended 12 members.

The two men due in court tomorrow are aged 36 and 49. One was arrested in Birmingham and the second in Belfast. 

McCartney's family have led a high-profile campaign to bring to justice those responsible for his death, and to convince those who witnessed the killing to come forward to police. Today his sister, Paula McCartney, said the family was hopeful of progress but aware that this was just one step in the process. She told Sky News that the charges had given the family's morale a boost, but they would keep up their campaign until all 15 people involved in her brother's murder were held accountable. 

McCartney's sister Catherine said tonight she was pleased with the breakthrough in the police investigation. 

She told the Press Association: "We hope it will lead to further arrests because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions."

McCartney and Devine had been drinking together in the bar when a row broke out. McCartney was then taken outside where he was beaten and stabbed in an alleyway. Later, CCTV footage was allegedly removed as part of an attempt by the killers to clean the pub of all evidence.

Under pressure from the family and in the aftermath of the Â£26.5m Christmas robbery of the Northern Bank, Belfast, which police blamed on the Provisionals, the IRA said it had expelled three men. 

Sinn F&eacute;in also suspended a number of party members who were in the bar at the time. They allegedly failed to act on President Gerry Adams' demands to disclose what they knew or saw on the night of the killing. 

In Derry yesterday, police said detectives took statements from more than 150 witnesses. Ten people provided signed statements through the offices of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan.

At her home outside Belfast tonight, Catherine McCartney said: "We are happy this has happened, but we know it is by no means over."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 12:01:58 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun  2 22:08:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Iraq weapons materiel 'missing'
Message-ID: <20050603_190158_092776.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Iraq weapons materiel 'missing' **
Material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons has gone missing in Iraq, the UN says.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4607629.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun  3 12:16:27 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Thu Jun  2 22:23:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] wonderful short !
Message-ID: <QjZGTlVBWSY6IyBHNCosMjg4ODcyMw@Dragon>

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From harperalexander at mail.com  Fri Jun  3 12:18:44 2005
From: harperalexander at mail.com (Alexander Harper)
Date: Thu Jun  2 22:25:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Drowned out - the liberal US press by right wing radio
	jocks
Message-ID: <20050603191844.9A6D34BEAD@ws1-1.us4.outblaze.com>

 

Drowned out
>By John Lloyd
>Published: June 3 2005 16:37 | Last updated: June 3 2005 16:37
>>
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, is the same as most other cities in the US in having one daily paper, the Baltimore Sun, a distinguished journal, founded in 1837. It has as its greatest alumnus H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), a man whom some contemporary journalists find embarrassing to claim as a patron saint because of his (for the time unremarkable) racism and misogyny, but who was a fine crafter of the witty phrase, the first of what another, contemporary, American wit, P.J. O?Rourke, calls ?the city smart-ass?.

One of Mencken?s smart-ass sayings was that ?A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy, crazier.? Mencken died when newspapers - and his newspaper - were in their prime. Had he lived on, he might have been more careful about that piece of wit. Had he lived on until now, he might have met a medium which does ignorance and craziness better.

The Sun is a liberal paper in a Democratic town in a Democratic state. But that state has a Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Junior - a Republican in a Democratic sea (?There is always something to be thankful for,? wrote Mencken, wholly in tune with his city. ?For me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.?)

You might think Ehrlich would try to woo over the Sun by being nice to it. Not a bit. He pitches himself constantly against it: last November he banned his senior officials from speaking to the two Sun journalists who most closely covered the state government. At an off-the-record meeting in December with the newspaper?s publisher and senior editors, Ehrlich and his staff distributed a ?partial? list of ?errors, distortions, omissions and inaccuracies? - 23 items over a three-year period.

The paper?s ombudsman, Paul Moore, went over the list: he found that four of the 23 needed correction or clarification. He said that articles could have been better organised or edited, and parts of some were poorly worded. ?But taken together,? Moore wrote, ?the Ehrlich administration?s complaints do not support a conclusion that the Sun, or any of its journalists, were engaged in a deliberate campaign to smear the governor.?

The governor hasn?t accepted this: the ban on the Sun reporters remains. The main reason for this, Sun people believe, is that he doesn?t need them. It may be the only paper in town, but it?s not the only medium. There?s also talk radio, and talk radio - on the WBAL channel - is on the right, and for the governor. A lot of people listen to talk radio; fewer people than before read the Baltimore Sun.

Talk radio jocks tend to adopt a posture of anti-liberal-elitist rage, rarely coming in at less than full, jet-powered whine. And they have real political effect. An example from elsewhere, brilliantly reported in Atlantic Monthly by David Foster Wallace: John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of the KFI station in Los Angeles, who bill themselves as ?the Junkyard Dogs of Talk Radio?, over a period of months violently attacked Gray Davis, the Democratic governor of California succeeded by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. One on-air comment was: ?We just happened on our own to decide that Davis was a rotting stool that ought to be flushed.? With the aid of such nuanced comment, they are credited with being a major influence in stimulating the 2003 campaign to recall Davis, which ended with the election of Schwarzenegger. It is a form of politics: the politics of the rant. But its power gives Ehrlich the confidence to face down the Sun.

I talked to the Sun?s Moore and his fellow ombudsmen when they were in London last week at their association?s conference. Much of their conversation was about the unprecedented challenges they face, especially in the US. It?s not just an aroused and less trusting public. It?s also a kind of paradigm shift, a more and more insistent pressing of the thesis that the news media, especially newspapers, are the product of a liberal elite, nothing more than a pressure group for their own interests, and will never give a fair crack of the whip to conservatives, believers and the hard-working suburbs.

The ombudsman, or readers? editor, has metamorphosed from an add-on to show the public how moral the news organisation is, to being a figure at the heart of this hurricane which is now battering the verities of journalism. It?s driven by a technology that allows everyone their own opinion column and an atmosphere where ?lack of trust? is the only attitude with which to approach any institution - the truly modern sign of the city smart-ass. The ombudsmen no longer just deal with a misquotation here and a false conclusion there: they face the aroused perception on the right that the news media are out to get it. Sally Begbie, the ombudsman for Australia?s state-owned SBS Channel, has to handle the consequences of her government?s view that ABC misreported Iraq. Jeffrey Dvorkin, ombudsman for US National Public Radio, faces an administration which sees NPR and its TV equivalent, PBS, as intrinsically biased: the Republican-dominated Corporation for Public Broadcasting has just set up an inquiry into its reporting of the Middle East. And Moore, of the Baltimore Sun, has the state governor exiling his paper from the corridors of power.

Yet while these men and women struggle in the toils of this new cultural battle, they might also be the means for peace. Their position forces them to think through the preconditions for a truly fair journalism - preconditions whose existence both liberal and conservative news organisations often don?t care to ensure. They may be the pioneers in discovering if such journalism is possible, and what form it might take.

john.lloyd@ft.com
 
> 
>
 


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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun  3 15:52:59 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun  3 01:59:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Sir! No Sir!
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV13C2C18811FC09C3F7FAC2AB070@phx.gbl>

For those of you on the West Coast... Please check this out.

peace,
barbara
~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~
RE:     Sir! No Sir!

Subject: Premiere of Sir! No Sir!

Please join us for the world premiere of
Sir! No Sir! at the Los Angeles Independent
Film Festival---

Sunday, June 19, 7 pm
Directors Guild Theater
7920 Sunset Blvd---

Second screening Thursday, June 23, 5:30 pm---


There is no more appropriate time than
now to tell the riveting, incendiary story of
GI Antiwar Movement during the Vietnam
War. Help us launch this crucial film into
the world by spreading the word and
attending the premiere.

In the 1960's an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history.
This movement didn't take place on college
campuses, but in barracks and on ships. It
flourished in army stockades, navy brigs
and in the dingy towns that surround
military bases. It penetrated elite military
colleges like West Point, and it spread
throughout the battlefields of Vietnam.
It was a movement no one expected, least
of all those in it. 

Hundreds went to prison and thousands
into exile. By 1971 it had, in the words of
one colonel, infested the entire armed
services. Yet today few people know about
the GI movement against the war in
Vietnam.

"Opening narration of Sir! No Sir"

--- 

Displaced Films
3421 Fernwood Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323-906-9249
www.displacedfilms.com

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun  3 16:22:35 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun  3 02:29:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Wedding on top of Mount Everest
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV137DB4565851DF6C69787BAB070@phx.gbl>

Thank you so much for sending this... I am such an Everest and Nepal freak since being on line on the mountain with a group of climbers in year 2000. My dream is to one day go there, although climbing to the top (or at least trying) is I fear only a dream and the cost too much.

While on line with the climbers (via web) I got to know a few of the Sherpas as well, what beautiful honorable men they are.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Hecate
Sent: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 11:38:52 -0700
To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Wedding on top of Mount Everest

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Wedding on top of Mount Everest **
A Nepalese couple exchange wedding vows on top of Mount Everest, the first people ever to marry there.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4605711.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender havebeen verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun  3 16:50:55 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun  3 02:57:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Take Action for Tibet
Message-ID: <20050603235055.29217.192.qmail@web9.getactive.com>

Dear Friend,

Please join me in sending a message to Bombardier, urging them
not to partner the Chinese government in its occupation of
Tibet. Bombardier has announced that it will supply China with
cars for the Tibet railway, a project viewed by many Tibetans as
the single greatest threat to the survival of their culture and
identity.

It's easy to help - just click on the link below. Thank you!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/bombardier_all?rk=tp1jumM1Xzs3W

***********************************
Powered by GetActive Software, Inc.
Relationship Management for Member Organizations (tm)
http://www.getactive.com
***********************************



From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun  3 19:45:36 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun  3 05:54:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Take Action for Tibet
Message-ID: <20050603.194625.11417.272692@webmail22.nyc.untd.com>


Thanks Barbara for your vigilance. Signed it.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- Barbara Siomos <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> wrote:
Dear Friend,

Please join me in sending a message to Bombardier, urging them
not to partner the Chinese government in its occupation of
Tibet. Bombardier has announced that it will supply China with
cars for the Tibet railway, a project viewed by many Tibetans as
the single greatest threat to the survival of their culture and
identity.

It's easy to help - just click on the link below. Thank you!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/bombardier_all?rk=tp1jumM1Xzs3W

***********************************
Powered by GetActive Software, Inc.
Relationship Management for Member Organizations (tm)
http://www.getactive.com
***********************************



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Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun  3 21:39:47 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun  3 07:44:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet
Message-ID: <000701c568bf$7082f500$7e25b7d8@baby1>

China vs Tibet



Good to sign things trying to keep people from aiding China's development of
Tibet.

My personal opinion is that is a good righteous thing to do and the
publicity it might draw or create is necessary and essential.

But the day China stops "developing" Tibet, it's nuts will fall off.

As everyone knows by this late date, The Entire World Governments basically
stood by and didn't even flinch when China just took over the sovreign
country of Tibet.

And they're not about to do crap to alleviate that.   Ever.   And if China
can't get "railway cars" or whatever it needs, it will eventually just
create factories there for that purpose.

But the color of their money is still whatever, and they'll probably find
railway cars even if they have to shop in Guam or wherever.

And they'll develop Tibet until their socks turn purple, and nobody will
ever stop them, even for a second.

They invaded it, took it over, and The World sat on its butt about the
matter, for the most part, and they'll never bother China about that little
Tibetan matter again, for the most part, until Jesus comes back.

I take that back, the day England gives back Northern Ireland to Ireland,
will be the same day China gives back Tibet to Tibet.

Neither will ever happen, at least not in my short lifetime.

I like petitions and things, often they do great good, but I was just
pointing out that, like things and people like Northern Ireland, Leonard
Peltier, Tibet, Etc, writing petitions very seldom seems to work.

Well, at least with Tibet specifically.  Some day England might give
Northern Ireland back to Ireland, highly unlikely, but it might happen.  And
some day they might even release Leonard Peltier, highly unlikely, but it
might happen.

But China will never release Tibet.

A sad Fact, or rather sad-sack personal prediction, based mainly on The
Chinese Government and their cringingly democratic ways of freeing everyone
and everything around them by enslaving it to their still highly contagious
Communist wills.

And China, hehe, these are the people who hold so many of our IOU's over
there in their banks or something, are about one-fifth of Earth's current
population, and predicted to grow so big and so fast that they will just
about eat all the resources of the planet in their leap from the womb of
Communism to The Bright New World the rest of us have been enjoying for so
long.

Oh crap, lol, never mind.

You just got me going on my China vs Tibet thing, and looking up the road,
all the signatures in the world aren't going to sway Commies with Nuclear
Weapons.  The publicity, the efforts, and the drawing of attention to
Tibet's plight is good, and again, necessary.

But if True Hope itself is ever to be even mildly hatched for that poor
miserably occupied country named Tibet, you would be lying to everyone if
you suggested any other manner of accomplishing that other than
strip-bombing Beijing.

Oh well, Friday night, just going over some thoughts.

Superpowers, among others, just don't care anymore if people call them
murdering pigs, even in the international public, they just smile and say
anything they want, especially those who are holding iou's of Superpowers
like America and nuclear weapons as well.

The entire "Tibet Thing" is one of the biggest scandals of the 20th and 21st
centuries, in that just about The Entire World let it happen and did
absolutely nothing, and continue to basically be completely powerless in the
face of "The Chinese".

They're not *really* powerless in such a matter, actually it's quite the
exact opposite of that.

But they just found another reason to look the other way when it was going
on, for things like Trade Contracts and other commercial etc reasons.

The World sold Tibet down the toilet just like it has sold anyone else they
can make a buck off of by doing it.

And the day The World will *admit* that will be the same day that Bush &
Gang admit they ran a Bad Administration.

Neither will ever happen.  Nor will Tibet ever be free.

Well, hehe, just thought I'd cheer everyone up about it all....

:|





Cheeseburger


- Where is The Iron Monkey when Tibet needs him...?  Sitting in a bungalow
on Hollywood Boulevard sipping some brews watching the halftime show.  Tell
me something I don't already know.....


.

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun  4 04:02:24 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:09:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Military Details Koran Incidents at Base in
	Cuba
Message-ID: <20050604110224.61CDD24AEB1@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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Check out that dissembling!


WASHINGTON | June 4, 2005
Military Details Koran Incidents at Base in Cuba
By ERIC SCHMITT
A military inquiry has found that guards or interrogators at Guantánamo Bay abused the Koran, in some cases intentionally.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/politics/04koran.html?ex=1118548800&en=2dd3eb8df6376898&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:10:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Is Persuasion Dead?
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OPINION | June 4, 2005
Guest Columnist: Is Persuasion Dead?
By MATT MILLER
Is it possible in America today to convince anyone of anything he doesn't already believe?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/opinion/04miller_oped.html?ex=1118548800&en=b428292ab088a0c8&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:10:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Don't Rush the Revolution
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OPINION | June 4, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Don't Rush the Revolution
By YASSIN AL-HAJ SALEH
Despite the authoritarian nature of the Syrian leadership, gradual change is preferable to abrupt change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/opinion/04saleh.html?ex=1118548800&en=ac11a5d1eccdca5a&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:11:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Rights Group Answers Bush
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OPINION | June 4, 2005
Rights Group Answers Bush

To the Editor:.
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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:11:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Fix the Rockefeller Drug Laws,
	Rockefellers Say
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OPINION | June 4, 2005
Fix the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Rockefellers Say

To the Editor:.
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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:11:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Israel Evacuates Staff From Uzbekistan as
	Instability Worsens
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INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 4, 2005
Israel Evacuates Staff From Uzbekistan as Instability Worsens
By C. J. CHIVERS
Signs of instability grew in Uzbekistan, as most Israeli diplomats left amid fresh warnings of attacks, and the U.S. Embassy authorized most of its employees to leave.
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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:12:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Palestinian Leader Expected to Defer
	Election
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 4, 2005
Palestinian Leader Expected to Defer Election
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Mahmoud Abbas is expected to announce that he has decided to postpone parliamentary elections that had been scheduled to take place July 17.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/international/middleeast/04palestinians.html?ex=1118548800&en=237f26f533cdb22c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:13:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hundreds in Cairo Protest Assaults on Women
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INTERNATIONAL / AFRICA | June 2, 2005
Hundreds in Cairo Protest Assaults on Women
By MONA EL-NAGGAR
Demonstrators protested assaults last week on advocates of political change during Egypt's referendum about direct presidential elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/international/africa/02egypt.html?ex=1118548800&en=b5940e29cef4fdc6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:18:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Rights Group Defends Chastising of U.S.
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INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 4, 2005
Rights Group Defends Chastising of U.S.
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
An official of Amnesty International shrugged off criticism by the Bush administration of a report that placed the U.S. at the heart of human rights offenders.
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun  4 04:43:24 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun  3 14:50:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <6444437.1117885404527.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

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 Deep Throat's Other Legacy
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun  4 04:44:42 2005
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Date: Fri Jun  3 14:51:25 2005
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 Following Terrorists' Money
 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun  4 06:04:44 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Fri Jun  3 16:11:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - STATE COURT GIVES GO-AHEAD TO DEVILS LAKE
	WATER PLAN
Message-ID: <20050604130444.0C3A11B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
STATE COURT GIVES GO-AHEAD TO DEVILS LAKE WATER PLAN
WebPosted Fri Jun  3 12:07:30 2005

---North Dakota's highest court has ruled the controversial Devils
Lake diversion project can go ahead, upsetting foes of the project
in Manitoba.

The unanimous ruling on Thursday clears the way for the Devils Lake
diversion to begin operating as soon as construction is complete, and
that could be as early as next month.

The project will ease flooding around Devils Lake by diverting water into
the Sheyenne River, which joins the Red River near Fargo and flows north
to Lake Winnipeg.

Rising water levels in recent years have submerged about 300 homes
around the North Dakota lake, as well as roads and more than 28,000
hectares of farmland.

The ruling is bad news for the provincial and federal governments, which
have both long insisted the lake is polluted and contains foreign plants
and other life forms that could harm the Red River and Lake Winnipeg.

North Dakota officials insist the water is safe. They say the court
ruling reaffirms that.

"I'm very pleased they upheld the decision by the district judge and the
permit that was issued by the North Dakota health department, because I
felt it was a very good, clean document and there was protection in there
for everyone," said county commissioner Joe Belford.

 Court didn't consider big issues: Doer

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said he wasn't surprised by the decision,
but said North Dakota's Supreme Court didn't consider the larger
issues at play.

"Obviously, if you don't look at the impact on the international border,
if you only look at things inside North Dakota, we didn't get the result
we were hoping for," he said.

After losing the latest court battle, provincial officials admit they are
running out of options. Manitoba has appealed to local and state
legislators, tried to block the state from obtaining operating permits,
and sent the case up to the state's highest court.

The federal government is examining the feasibility of more lawsuits, and
reports say the prime minister and U.S. President George W. Bush are in
discussions on the issue.

 Commission may be asked to intervene

But Doer said the only realistic option is for the International Joint
Commission, an independent binational agency which settles cross-border
water disputes, to resolve the matter.

Manitoba has been pushing for months for the matter to be referred to the
commission, but there's still no word on whether that will happen.

"If this doesn't go to the [commission], there are going to be states and
provinces doing whatever they want on water projects on a unilateral
basis because there will be no respect for an international treaty," said
Doer. "This is bigger than North Dakota-Manitoba."

The province has spent more than $250,000 on Washington-based lawyers to
represent it in court so far.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun  4 09:39:35 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun  3 19:46:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Hong Kong marks Tiananmen deaths
Message-ID: <20050604_163935_056894.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Hong Kong marks Tiananmen deaths **
Tens of thousands in Hong Kong mark the 16th anniversary of the crackdown on protests in Beijing.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4608763.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
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** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun  4 09:42:45 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun  3 19:49:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US report warns key Gulf allies
Message-ID: <20050604_164245_011760.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US report warns key Gulf allies **
The US says four Gulf allies in the war on terror could face sanctions for failing to fight human trafficking.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4608567.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun  4 09:43:40 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun  3 19:50:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: China diplomat makes asylum plea
Message-ID: <20050604_164340_079432.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** China diplomat makes asylum plea **
A senior Chinese diplomat in Sydney who applied for asylum in Australia addresses a pro-democracy rally.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4609103.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun  4 09:35:30 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Fri Jun  3 22:40:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] books to read - the 10 "most dangerous"
Message-ID: <QjZIWTMzQyVbIS45NCosNjcxMzk1@Dragon>

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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sat Jun  4 13:35:10 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun  3 23:41:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV26C176FB18F34C4CC1BD4ABF90@phx.gbl>

Cheeseburger....

While there is some truth in what you say I AGAIN say to entirely give up hope would be a black day for all of us.....

I for one will go down protesting and enlightening those who otherwise do not take the time to seek the truth.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Cheeseburger
Sent: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:39:47 -0700
To: mb-civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet

China vs Tibet



Good to sign things trying to keep people from aiding China's development of
Tibet.

My personal opinion is that is a good righteous thing to do and the
publicity it might draw or create is necessary and essential.

But the day China stops "developing" Tibet, it's nuts will fall off.

As everyone knows by this late date, The Entire World Governments basically
stood by and didn't even flinch when China just took over the sovreign
country of Tibet.

And they're not about to do crap to alleviate that.   Ever.   And if China
can't get "railway cars" or whatever it needs, it will eventually just
create factories there for that purpose.

But the color of their money is still whatever, and they'll probably find
railway cars even if they have to shop in Guam or wherever.

And they'll develop Tibet until their socks turn purple, and nobody will
ever stop them, even for a second.

They invaded it, took it over, and The World sat on its butt about the
matter, for the most part, and they'll never bother China about that little
Tibetan matter again, for the most part, until Jesus comes back.

I take that back, the day England gives back Northern Ireland to Ireland,
will be the same day China gives back Tibet to Tibet.

Neither will ever happen, at least not in my short lifetime.

I like petitions and things, often they do great good, but I was just
pointing out that, like things and people like Northern Ireland, Leonard
Peltier, Tibet, Etc, writing petitions very seldom seems to work.

Well, at least with Tibet specifically.  Some day England might give
Northern Ireland back to Ireland, highly unlikely, but it might happen.  And
some day they might even release Leonard Peltier, highly unlikely, but it
might happen.

But China will never release Tibet.

A sad Fact, or rather sad-sack personal prediction, based mainly on The
Chinese Government and their cringingly democratic ways of freeing everyone
and everything around them by enslaving it to their still highly contagious
Communist wills.

And China, hehe, these are the people who hold so many of our IOU's over
there in their banks or something, are about one-fifth of Earth's current
population, and predicted to grow so big and so fast that they will just
about eat all the resources of the planet in their leap from the womb of
Communism to The Bright New World the rest of us have been enjoying for so
long.

Oh crap, lol, never mind.

You just got me going on my China vs Tibet thing, and looking up the road,
all the signatures in the world aren't going to sway Commies with Nuclear
Weapons.  The publicity, the efforts, and the drawing of attention to
Tibet's plight is good, and again, necessary.

But if True Hope itself is ever to be even mildly hatched for that poor
miserably occupied country named Tibet, you would be lying to everyone if
you suggested any other manner of accomplishing that other than
strip-bombing Beijing.

Oh well, Friday night, just going over some thoughts.

Superpowers, among others, just don't care anymore if people call them
murdering pigs, even in the international public, they just smile and say
anything they want, especially those who are holding iou's of Superpowers
like America and nuclear weapons as well.

The entire "Tibet Thing" is one of the biggest scandals of the 20th and 21st
centuries, in that just about The Entire World let it happen and did
absolutely nothing, and continue to basically be completely powerless in the
face of "The Chinese".

They're not *really* powerless in such a matter, actually it's quite the
exact opposite of that.

But they just found another reason to look the other way when it was going
on, for things like Trade Contracts and other commercial etc reasons.

The World sold Tibet down the toilet just like it has sold anyone else they
can make a buck off of by doing it.

And the day The World will *admit* that will be the same day that Bush &
Gang admit they ran a Bad Administration.

Neither will ever happen.  Nor will Tibet ever be free.

Well, hehe, just thought I'd cheer everyone up about it all....

:|





Cheeseburger


- Where is The Iron Monkey when Tibet needs him...?  Sitting in a bungalow
on Hollywood Boulevard sipping some brews watching the halftime show.  Tell
me something I don't already know.....




_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun  4 15:40:31 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun  4 01:47:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: US lowers standards in army numbers
	crisis
Message-ID: <20050604224031.D6A22862A@mussel.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from HS:

Desperate measures.......
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

US lowers standards in army numbers crisis
Jamie Wilson  in Washington
Saturday June 04 2005
The Guardian


The US military has stopped battalion commanders from dismissing new recruits for drug abuse, alcohol, poor fitness and pregnancy in an attempt to halt the rising attrition rate in an army under growing strain as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

An internal memo sent to senior commanders said the growing dropout rate was "a matter of great concern" in an army at war. It told officers: "We need your concerted effort to reverse the negative   trend. By reducing attrition 1%, we can save up to 3,000 initial-term soldiers. That's 3,000 more soldiers in our formations."  

Officially, the memo, reported in the Wall Street Journal and posted on Slate.com, ordered battalion commanders to refer cases of problem soldiers up to brigade level. Military experts warned that the move would make it more difficult to remove poor soldiers and would lower quality in the ranks.  

A military spokesman told the Guardian yesterday: "It   was merely a question of an additional set of eyes looking at an issue before we release potential recruits."  

The Wall Street Journal quoted a battalion commander as saying: "It is the guys on weight control ... school no-shows, drug users, etc, who eat up my time and cause my hair to grey prematurely ... Often they have more than one of these issues simultaneously."  

Asked what the new policy meant, John Pike from the thinktank Globalsecurity.org said: "It means there is a war on. They need all the soldiers   they can get. But it is a dilemma. You need good soldiers more in wartime than peacetime."  

The latest controversy comes amid a growing recruitment and retention crisis in the US military. Last month the army announced that it was 6,659 soldiers short of its recruitment targets for the year so far. On Wednesday, the department of defence withheld the latest figures, a move seen by most commentators as heralding more bad news.  

The military's target is 80,000 new recruits this year,   but the army only managed 73% of its target in February, 68% in March and 57% in April, forcing the expansion of a pilot programme offering 15-month active duty enlistments, rather than the usual four years.  

The crisis has even led to fears - despite repeated denials by President George Bush - of a return to the draft system that conscripted 1.8 million Americans during the Vietnam war.  

Major General Michael Rochelle, the head of army recruitment, said this was the   "toughest recruiting climate ever faced by the all-volunteer army", with the war raising concern among potential recruits and their families.  

"Recruiters have been given greater leeway," said Mr Pike. "By doing things to increase quantity you are also doing things to decrease quality, but they have made the judgment that that is the way to go."  

One recruiting standard that was about to be lowered was a rule governing tattoos in the navy and marines. "If you have excessively prominent and vulgar tattoos they will not take   you right now, but that is about to change," he said.  

A commander quoted in the Wall Street Journal linked the growing attrition rate among new recruits to a slipping of standards by recruiters, who were under pressure to meet their monthly quotas.  

An army spokeswoman said: "We are doing our best to decrease attrition level, but we have not and will not lower our standards for recruiting and retaining soldiers."  

Yet in March 17.4% of all new army recruits failed to complete training, while   another 7.3% did not finish the first three years with their unit.  

Last month it emerged that one recruiter gave advice on how to cheat a mandatory drug test to a potential would-be soldier who said he had a drug problem.  

In another incident in Texas, a recruiter threatened a 20-year-old man with arrest if he did not turn up to an interview. As a result all military recruiters stopped work for one day to attend retraining classes on acceptable practices. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun  4 15:48:11 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sat Jun  4 01:55:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bolton is 'unfit for anything'!
Message-ID: <000801c56957$7eafaa40$4b27e440@Harold>

Another reason why Bolton is unfit for "any" duty whether it be the UN or any other Department of the US of A!

His constant unlawful actions!!

http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050604/w060463A.html

Later H
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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun  4 17:54:01 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun  4 04:03:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Crazy Horse and Leonard Peltier
Message-ID: <20050604.175441.26074.282406@webmail34.nyc.untd.com>


Some thoughts by an author, I thought might interest you.

**********************************************************************
>From the desk of  Harvey Arden
Founder: The Wisdomkeepers Collective
"Bringing the Elders to the World & the World to the Elders"
**********************************************************************
Author:  WISDOMKEEPERS: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders
         DREAMKEEPERS: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia
         TRAVELS IN A STONE CANOE: The Return to the Wisdomkeepers
         HAVE YOU THOUGHT of LEONARD PELTIER LATELY?
Editor:  PRISON WRITINGS: My Life Is My Sun Dance by Leonard Peltier
         NOBLE RED MAN: Lakota Wisdomkeeper Mathew King
         WHITE BUFFALO TEACHINGS  by Chief Arvol Looking Horse
**********************************************************************
Dear Friends...  Here's an advance peek of few pages from the new book
~HAVE YOU THOUGHT of LEONARD PELTIER LATELY?~ which we've put together and
will shortly be printing. This extract revolves around my answer to a gal
who asks why I, a Jew, concern myself with the fate of a Native American
political prisoner in Leavenworth.  I sent her these paragraphs...partly
from the book's Foreword, partly from the body of the text.


[FROM THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD]


THIS BOOK ~Have You Thought of Leonard Peltier Lately? ~ wasn’t written.
It was—and continues to be— lived.  What you read and see in these
pages—and in our companion website www.haveyouthought.com –are the
artifacts of an ongoing struggle for one man’s freedom and for all of our
self-respect.  The issue of Leonard’s freedom should be seen not simply in
regard to his own personal physical freedom, but as a key to freedom for
tens of thousands of others in our American Gulag, the innocent callously
imprisoned along with the guilty, serving time for crimes they never
committed.  I personally champion Leonard’s cause not as a Native American
activist, which I’m not—though I empathize profoundly with the cause of
indigenous peoples everywhere—but as an American, as a Jew, and as a human
being, a ‘Citizen of Planet Earth.’

                  We are all indigenous to somewhere.

I’m reminded of the words of an Aboriginal Australian Wisdomkeeper named
Lilla Watson:

     “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.
   But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
                  then let us work together.”


I’VE OFTEN THOUGHT that my own empathy with indigenous peoples and their
sufferings relates to the still searingly recent Holocaust upon my own
people, the Jews of Europe, a calamity that haunts every fiber of my being
to this day—witness the scores of books on Auschwitz and histories and
testimonies of the Jewish Holocaust on my bookshelves, and the
dust-gathering boxes of notes and drafts for a yet-to-be-finished
Holocaust novel of my own.  When the Nazi war on the Jews ended in 1945, I
was just ten years old, living carefree in Chicago—too young to grasp even
remotely what had happened to my own People on the killing fields of
Europe, much less to do anything about it.   Had my grandparents not
emigrated to America in the early 1900’s,  I—or any Jewish child my age in
Lithuania or the Ukraine, where my maternal and paternal families came
from—would likely have been rounded up for the death camps in 1941-1942 or
so.  There‘s a famous historic photograph of a young Jewish boy of just
about my age at that time, holding his arms in the air in frozen terror as
a Nazi officer points a Luger pistol directly at his head during a
round-up of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto.   I often contemplate that image
with an anguished mixture of sorrow, anger, guilt and frustration.

            That boy—my other Self, in a way—likely died in the death
camps circa 1942.  I myself—blessed to be an American—lived
through it all, quite unknowing of my great good luck at the
time, and today I continue unabashedly to live a full,
challenging life at age 68 more than six decades later.  Yes,
God Bless America.

            So when—as much by accident as inclination, though both are
involved—I find myself, first as a journalist, later as an
author, witnessing a Holocaust in this same land of America—a
Holocaust against American Indian Peoples that has taken
millions of lives over the past 500 years—and, what’s more, a
Holocaust that in many ways is still going on, all but totally
disregarded by American society at large, then my Jewish
outrage, my aboriginal outrage, my indigenous outrage, my
human outrage resonates powerfully against such injustice—and
so should all of ours.  I  become drawn to the victims, and,
yes, to their Cause—to which I here give a capital ‘C’.   That
Cause, is quite simply, To survive as a People.

            The Jews of Auschwitz would have understood that.

            Lakota Elder Mat King, when he was explaining to me the
concept of the ‘Original Instructions’ given to Indian Peoples
by Tunkashila, the Great Spirit, emphasized: “The first
Instruction is to survive as a People! Nothing is more
important than that! You understand that and you understand a
lot about us Indian People.  We intend to survive…and that
means to survive as a People!”

            Yes, my liberation is bound up with theirs…and with Leonard’s.

            As his Lakota/Nakota/Dakota brethren of the Great Sioux Nation
 say on sacred occasions: Mitakuye Oyasin—‘We are all
related’…’We are all One Family of Humankind.’

            Yes, we are.  If only we might all realize it.

                         *                         *

[FROM THE BODY OF THE BOOK]

EVEN WHILE the Clinton clemency decision was being awaited, I made a trip
over the Christmas 2000 holidays with wife Lorraine and my Army son Mark,
whose Apache helicopter unit was stationed in Germany (he served in the
Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts).  To me this was a somber personal
pilgrimage.

            We drove from Bavaria to southwest Poland to visit the haunted
site of Auschwitz—a central locale for the Holocaust novel I
will soon (hopefully) be finishing.  Leonard was much on my
mind that appropriately bleak winter’s afternoon as I walked
among the well-swept remnants of this grim memorial to
humanity’s inhumanity.  In my mind, here in Auschwitz, I
superimposed the horrors inflicted on my own People with those
inflicted on Leonard and his People.  To me personally there’s
an inescapable connection between the two.

            As a page torn from my own living past, here’s an excerpt from
an email—written near the torn quick of my feelings—that I
wrote shortly after that visit to Auschwitz to a broadcaster
who had offered to get my (ultimately unanswered) plea for an
audience with Clinton to someone close to the President.
                         *                         *
To Marc Steiner

>From Harvey Arden
On behalf of Leonard Peltier
December 23, 2000
Dear Marc,
I have just returned to Germany from a visit on Thursday to Auschwitz in
southwest Poland, where the Nazis slaughtered a million and half of my
Jewish brethren, killing each of them with a special vengeance for the
crime of being innocent--the same crime for which Leonard Peltier has been
imprisoned this past quarter century. The day was appropriately bleak, the
sky a grimy white, the air sulphurous with the fumes of Soviet-era
factories that even today make Poland’s air almost unbreatheable. As I
walked through the barracks where the innocents were tortured and murdered
with such malignant glee during that Holocaust of the human spirit, I felt
Leonard walking with me, and I pondered the ways of men toward their
fellow men. I wondered, What is the use of prayer? For most of those who
died here prayed with the most intense passion and profound belief every
morning, noon and evening of their lives. I pondered what is the use of
Justice, when it is so selectively dispensed by the Unjust? I asked myself
what is the use of Love, when those who love their families and friends
and country, as the Nazis did, have such hatred in their hearts as to
obliterate the very meaning of Love. As I walked through those
ghost-filled barracks, I thought not only of these hallowed ones who died,
but of my brother Leonard, languishing in his 5-1/2-by-9-foot cell at
Leavenworth, and also of President Clinton, who now holds Leonard’s fate
in his hands, and, yes, of the FBI agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler,
whose portraits sat above my desk for three years as I edited Leonard’s
book. I thought of the thousands of FBI agents who today put their lives
on the line to protect every one of us, yet wish to see an innocent man
die in prison for standing up for the rights of his People; I thought of
all the Holocaust-deniers, who would have it that no Holocaust ever
occurred, just as the FBI pretends the Reign of Terror it instigated at
Pine Ridge in the 1970 never occurred; I think of Mr. Janklow, sitting in
the Oval Office even as I was visiting Aushwitz and doing his best to
convince our President to deny clemency to Leonard Peltier, and I wonder,
what is the use of Truth, when it can be so violated as to obliterate all
Truth?

Marc, you ask me what I can say that could be passed on to convince
President Clinton to give our brother Leonard Peltier clemency.  Ask him,
please, to give a half-hour audience to me and Chief Arvol Looking Horse,
19th-Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Pipe of the Great
Lakota Nation, so that we may deliver a message to him on behalf of the
tens of millions of people around the world who plead for Leonard’s
freedom, who see Leonard’s freedom as The Sign that Democracy and Justice
and Love and Prayer still have a meaning in America. I want to read to Mr.
Clinton from Leonard’s book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE. I
welcome the presence of President-elect Bush and Mr. Cheney and Mrs.
Clinton and Ms. Reno and Mr. Freeh and any others the President cares to
have on hand, even Mr. Janklow, for he, too, I know, loves his family and
his friends and his country, and his soul, too, is redeemable, as are all
of ours. Tell Mr. Clinton I also ask to have Leonard Peltier standing
beside me in the Oval Office as I read his words, words Leonard would read
himself if his locked jaw would allow him to.  I ask no more than that,
make no plea beyond that. The decision is President Clinton’s and no one
else’s.

Marc, I hope you can get this message to the President. May Spirit guide
it on its way.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse and Leonard Peltier,
/Harvey Arden


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun  4 17:44:11 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:09:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet
Message-ID: <20050604.174459.26074.282341@webmail34.nyc.untd.com>


Cheesburger stated:
"And China, hehe, these are the people who hold so many of our IOU's over
there in their banks or something, are about one-fifth of Earth's current
population, and predicted to grow so big and so fast that they will just
about eat all the resources of the planet in their leap from the womb of
Communism to The Bright New World the rest of us have been enjoying for so
long."

China is set to spend somewhere around 86 Billion on its infrastructure, basically to clean up its act. It is buying, and/or developing modern technology for forecasts that say they will rule. So in goes the infrastructure, out comes the money from investors that are eager to develop China.

China is also examining their industrial waste processes to be better than most modern-world countries. Even aggressive enough to say that they can do better with cleaning up water, air pollution and the impending traffic problems.

Long Live Tibet!

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger....

While there is some truth in what you say I AGAIN say to entirely give up hope would be a black day for all of us.....

I for one will go down protesting and enlightening those who otherwise do not take the time to seek the truth.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Cheeseburger
Sent: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:39:47 -0700
To: mb-civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet

China vs Tibet



Good to sign things trying to keep people from aiding China's development of
Tibet.

My personal opinion is that is a good righteous thing to do and the
publicity it might draw or create is necessary and essential.

But the day China stops "developing" Tibet, it's nuts will fall off.

As everyone knows by this late date, The Entire World Governments basically
stood by and didn't even flinch when China just took over the sovreign
country of Tibet.

And they're not about to do crap to alleviate that.   Ever.   And if China
can't get "railway cars" or whatever it needs, it will eventually just
create factories there for that purpose.

But the color of their money is still whatever, and they'll probably find
railway cars even if they have to shop in Guam or wherever.

And they'll develop Tibet until their socks turn purple, and nobody will
ever stop them, even for a second.

They invaded it, took it over, and The World sat on its butt about the
matter, for the most part, and they'll never bother China about that little
Tibetan matter again, for the most part, until Jesus comes back.

I take that back, the day England gives back Northern Ireland to Ireland,
will be the same day China gives back Tibet to Tibet.

Neither will ever happen, at least not in my short lifetime.

I like petitions and things, often they do great good, but I was just
pointing out that, like things and people like Northern Ireland, Leonard
Peltier, Tibet, Etc, writing petitions very seldom seems to work.

Well, at least with Tibet specifically.  Some day England might give
Northern Ireland back to Ireland, highly unlikely, but it might happen.  And
some day they might even release Leonard Peltier, highly unlikely, but it
might happen.

But China will never release Tibet.

A sad Fact, or rather sad-sack personal prediction, based mainly on The
Chinese Government and their cringingly democratic ways of freeing everyone
and everything around them by enslaving it to their still highly contagious
Communist wills.

And China, hehe, these are the people who hold so many of our IOU's over
there in their banks or something, are about one-fifth of Earth's current
population, and predicted to grow so big and so fast that they will just
about eat all the resources of the planet in their leap from the womb of
Communism to The Bright New World the rest of us have been enjoying for so
long.

Oh crap, lol, never mind.

You just got me going on my China vs Tibet thing, and looking up the road,
all the signatures in the world aren't going to sway Commies with Nuclear
Weapons.  The publicity, the efforts, and the drawing of attention to
Tibet's plight is good, and again, necessary.

But if True Hope itself is ever to be even mildly hatched for that poor
miserably occupied country named Tibet, you would be lying to everyone if
you suggested any other manner of accomplishing that other than
strip-bombing Beijing.

Oh well, Friday night, just going over some thoughts.

Superpowers, among others, just don't care anymore if people call them
murdering pigs, even in the international public, they just smile and say
anything they want, especially those who are holding iou's of Superpowers
like America and nuclear weapons as well.

The entire "Tibet Thing" is one of the biggest scandals of the 20th and 21st
centuries, in that just about The Entire World let it happen and did
absolutely nothing, and continue to basically be completely powerless in the
face of "The Chinese".

They're not *really* powerless in such a matter, actually it's quite the
exact opposite of that.

But they just found another reason to look the other way when it was going
on, for things like Trade Contracts and other commercial etc reasons.

The World sold Tibet down the toilet just like it has sold anyone else they
can make a buck off of by doing it.

And the day The World will *admit* that will be the same day that Bush &
Gang admit they ran a Bad Administration.

Neither will ever happen.  Nor will Tibet ever be free.

Well, hehe, just thought I'd cheer everyone up about it all....

:|





Cheeseburger


- Where is The Iron Monkey when Tibet needs him...?  Sitting in a bungalow
on Hollywood Boulevard sipping some brews watching the halftime show.  Tell
me something I don't already know.....




_______________________________________________
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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Fri Jun  3 06:10:53 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:26:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: At Tehran's grand bazaar, a season of discontent 
In-Reply-To: <B3241FC2-D4A7-490C-AB82-965BB96ECE53@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506041226.j54CQutU005858@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 13:17:26 -0400
Subject: At Tehran's grand bazaar, a season of discontent

The Christian Science Monitor

June 02, 2005

At Tehran's grand bazaar, a season of discontent

By Robert Tait | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor


TEHRAN - It was once the spiritual core of Iran's Islamic revolution, where
popular anger and financial support welled for the movement that swept away
the Shah in 1979 and propelled the mullahs to power.

But today, Tehran's grand bazaar - a sprawling indoor retail mall selling
everything from Persian rugs to women's bikinis - is host to very different
sentiments.

Instead of loyally supporting the Islamic regime, this bastion of political
and religious conservatism is reflecting the seething resentments and
discontents now finding expression across Iranian society.

The sum manifestation of the bazaar's dissatisfaction is a widespread intent
not to vote in next month's presidential election, in which eight candidates
- of 1,014 initially registered - have been cleared to run by the watchdog
Guardian Council.

"We won't vote for any of them - they are robbers," said Hasan, a textile
wholesaler.

Hasan's threat, echoed by fellow traders, presents a grim prospect for
leaders who hope for a high turnout to establish their democratic
legitimacy.

Hasan should be one of the regime's most fervent champions. Fidgeting with
prayer beads, he removes from his wallet two photos of turbaned clerics whom
he says are close relatives. "I am from a clerical family," he explains. "I
campaigned in 1979 for the forces of [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini to get
rid of the Shah. But this religion has got us tied by our hands and feet."

Voicing the heretical opinion that the system of velayet-e faqih (infallible
rule by a supreme religious jurisprudent) is inappropriate for Iran, he goes
on: "The first characteristic of a marja-e taqlid (a senior cleric with a
following) should be courage. None of them have that. In the past, if
somebody insulted clerics, you would argue with them. But why should we do
that now? Why shouldn't we criticize them if they have been lying?"

Hasan's accusations range from the general to the specific. He says
authorities lied about Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian photographer who died of
injuries sustained in custody after she was arrested for taking photos of a
demonstration two years ago.

He is angry about the mullah's involvement in key sectors of the economy.
The most qualified cleric, he says, is Grand Ayatollah Ali-Hosein Montazeri,
at one time the chosen successor of Khomenei, who was put under house
arrest.

Within this seemingly inchoate potpourri lies a theme: unhappiness with 26
years of Islamic rule. Into this comes the election, scheduled for June 17.
The front- runner is Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a two-time former
president, who claims he can heal the rift between reformers and
hard-liners. Mr. Rafsanjani, who was president between 1989 and 1997, also
says he wants to ease tensions with America.

His main challenger is Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, a hard-line former chief of
police who casts himself as a modernizer.

The bazaar should be friendly territory for Rafsanjani, a mid-level cleric
who was among the original revolutionary cadre of 1979. Located in Tehran's
rundown southern quarters, its leading traders have been pivotal allies of
the religious establishment.

An exclusively male preserve, its traditionalism remains strong today. But
there is little evidence Rafsanjani will benefit from that. Many traders
pinpoint his free-market reforms as the root of many ills - inflation,
unemployment, drug addiction, and poverty.

"I don't think anyone will vote for Rafsanjani," said Ali, another textile
wholesaler. "During his first presidency, there was widespread poverty. The
only people who will vote are those government employees who need the
election stamp on their documents to keep their jobs. The bazaar is still
conservative, but our souls have been killed."

Reza, a carpet trader, voiced another discontent. "The poor feel insecure
because they have uncomfortable lives that often force them into
prostitution and drug addiction," he says, adding that he will not vote.
"The rich are worried because they feel they could be arrested at any time.

"What they are showing is not the true Islam. It should be about giving
welfare to people, not oppressing them."

One crumb of comfort for Rafsanjani came from Hossein Mohammadi, also a
carpet trader, who said he would vote for him. "There are candidates we
don't know and I feel safer with Rafsanjani," he says. "If you are hungry,
you don't care about politicians, whether it's Rafsanjani, Saddam [Hussein],
or Hitler."
---

Copyright ? 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.



------ End of Forwarded Message

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From earth_email_list at venusproject.com  Fri Jun  3 13:29:33 2005
From: earth_email_list at venusproject.com (Bahram Maskanian)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:27:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
 Administration's Offenses Impeachable - Thursday, June 02, 2005 -
 Bangor Daily News
Message-ID: <200506041227.j54CRAG8005868@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

  Administration's Offenses Impeachable

Thursday, June 02, 2005 - Bangor Daily News

Let's consider an item from the news of about two weeks ago:

A British citizen leaked a memo to London's Sunday Times. The memo was 
of the written account of a meeting that a man named Richard Dearlove 
had with the Bush administration in July 2002. Dearlove was the head of 
the England's MI-6, the equivalent of the CIA. On July 23, 2002, 
Dearlove briefed Tony Blair about the meeting. He said that Bush was 
determined to attack Iraq. He said that Bush knew that U.S. intelligence 
had no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and no links to 
foreign terrorists, that there was no imminent danger to the U.S. from 
Iraq. But, since Bush was determined to go to war, "Intelligence and 
facts are being fixed around the policy." "Fixed" means faked, 
manufactured, conjured, hyped - the product of whole cloth fabrication.

So we got aluminum tubes, mushroom clouds imported from Niger, 
biological weapons labs in weather trucks, fear and trembling, the phony 
ultimatums to Saddam Hussein to turn over the weapons he didn't have and 
thus couldn't. We got the call to arms, the stifling of dissent, the 
parade of retired generals strategizing on the "news" shows, with us or 
against us, flags in the lapel, a craven media afraid to look for a 
truth that might disturb their corporate owners who would profit from 
the war. Shock and Awe. Fallujah. Abu Ghraib.

It was all a lie. Many of us have said for a long time it was a lie. But 
here it is in black and white: Lies from a president who has taken a 
sacred trust to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

So, what does it mean? It means that our president and all of his 
administration are war criminals. It's as simple as that. They lied to 
the American people, have killed and injured and traumatized thousands 
of American men and women doing their patriotic duty, killed at least 
100,000 Iraqi civilians, destroyed Iraq's infrastructure and poisoned 
its environment, squandered billions and billions of our tax dollars, 
made a mockery of American integrity in the world, changed the course of 
history, tortured Iraqi prisoners, and bound us intractably to an insane 
situation that they have no idea how to fix because they had no plan, 
but greed and empire, in the first place.

What does it mean? It means that everyone in this administration should 
be impeached. It means that our Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan 
Collins and our Congressmen Tom Allen and Mike Michaud should call for 
immediate impeachment. They were lied to by their president, voted for 
war, and are thus complicit in the multiply betrayals of the American 
people unless they stand up now for the truth.

Richard Nixon was impeached for a cover-up of a two-bit break-in. 
William Cohen, a young Maine Republican, played an important role for 
the prosecution in those proceedings. Bill Clinton was impeached for 
lying about sex with an intern. Now we have the irrefutable evidence 
that George W. Bush lied about the reasons for taking the United States 
to war. The intelligence wasn't flawed. The weapons weren't hidden. Our 
elected leaders were lying.

Democracy, like any sound relationship between people, is built on 
trust. We trust our leaders to tell the truth so that the consent that 
we give them is honestly informed. If the consent is won through 
manipulation, propaganda, fear, or lies, the basis of our democracy has 
been subverted. It is no longer democracy at all, but we continue to 
call it that because we have not the courage or stamina to demand its 
overhaul.

We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their lies. 
By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone 
hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and 
Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right 
to. Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not 
that we support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them.

What's curious is why anyone like me should have to even point this out. 
Don't our senators and congressmen feel betrayed? Are they content to 
continue the murdering rather than do what truth demands? Do they think 
they can lie to history, too. Do they think that this little Iraq 
problem will somehow just go away, that the courageous resistance to the 
United States occupation will give up and hand Bush the keys to the oil 
wells? Do they think that any of the grave crises facing the world now - 
energy consumption, global warming, species extinction - can be solved 
by lying about them?

We are living in an age of no accountability. It's also an age upon 
which may hang the survival of human life on this earth. One should not 
bet one's future on people who abjure responsibility. The first 
courageous step is to come to terms with what we know is true: America's 
president lied to America's people to create an unnecessary war. I ask 
Sens. Snowe and Collins, Reps. Allen and Michaud to take that step. 
Begin impeachment proceedings. It's really no more or less than their 
duty. It's also the first step toward restoring America's integrity.

Robert Shetterly is a writer and artist who lives in Brooksville, Maine. 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun  3 20:40:18 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:29:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A case for supreme justice
Message-ID: <200506041229.j54CTHSg005878@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

A case for supreme justice
by David Batstone

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=050602#
3

The radical politicization of the judicial branch at the moment should 
worry all of us regardless of our political leanings - Republican, 
Democrat, or otherwise. I am not so na?ve to assume there has ever 
been a time in American history when the judicial system was free of 
special interests, political or economic. But it is striking today that 
judicial nominees are evaluated first and foremost on their adherence 
to a narrow set of ideologies rather than their proven track record on 
meting out justice in a fair and impartial way.

Perhaps we just take for granted the importance of an independent 
judicial process, executed by judges unfettered by political parties or 
economic elites. Indeed, checks and balances that are foundational to 
any real practice of democracy. A recent series of events in Peru drove 
that point home to me.

I have been close for some time to a street kids project in Lima named 
Generac?on [Generation]. For more than 15 years, Generac?on has 
been helping homeless children find a dignified place for shelter and 
work so that they can rebuild their lives. Its work is financially 
supported by the international NGO Save the Children as well as many 
private parties. The reputation and reach of Generac?on transcends 
the borders of Peru; the staff consults to a global network of street 
children activists.

In recent days, however, the continued existence of Generac?on is 
under threat. A Lima-based judge ordered that its shelter be shut 
down. One hundred riot police subsequently stormed the home where 
up to 60 children live peacefully, forcibly displacing them. The police 
now maintain a security presence around the house to ensure that no 
children return to the shelter.

What was the "crime" that led to the judicial eviction order? For 
starters, many Peruvian political leaders are angry at Generac?on for 
holding up the crisis of street kids as a sign of their failure to govern 
effectively. Additionally, Lima's economic elites are pressing for 
Generac?on's demise. The shelter is located in an upper-middle-class 
neighborhood in Lima. Most neighbors do not want to even see these 
children, let alone live next door to them. There is a widespread belief 
in Peru that street children are dangerous criminals. Therefore, the 
responsible way of working with children at risk is to put them in 
shelters that have methodologies similar to the juvenile halls, which 
also keeps them out of sight.

The police also show animosity to the project due to its steady 
reporting of police brutality. Several months ago, the municipal police 
burned the face of a child while he was sleeping in the street. After 
Generac?on reported the incident, the local government increased its 
legal efforts against the project. Several weeks later, Generacion 
reported several rapes that occurred in the streets against street 
children; once again, both the police and the judge refused to believe 
the evidence.

In the months leading up to the eviction, Lima's police stirred up 
conflict with street kids. They stood outside the shelter putting up 
posters that questioned the dignity of children and the work of 
Generac?on. They also regularly arrested children who left the house 
alone, and organized the neighborhood to protest against the shelter. 
When Generac?on organized a vigil asking the local government to 
respect children's rights, they beat several children up without 
provocation.

The judicial sector in Peru does not have a sterling reputation for 
establishing codes of justice that might counter political and economic 
elites. Hence, Generac?on does not have a refuge in the public sector 
to turn to for protection. The judge in this case justified his decision 
based on the need for "legal order."

That "order" is discrimination that keeps the poorest children in the 
dirtiest and most hostile places of the city. As an alternative, the court 
ruled that street kids must give up their freedom and live under 
surveillance wherein they would have their behavior tightly controlled. It 
is the only path for these children to become socialized, opined the 
judge.

We have reason to worry when ideologues - be they conservative or 
liberal - use their own vision of the right social order to trump a 
deliberation for justice. More often than not, might tragically makes for 
right in political and economic arenas. The poor and vulnerable - which 
might one day be any of us who fall on the wrong side of those who 
govern - need a shelter for justice. If we don't wake up, that public 
space may disappear in the United States as well.


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun  3 21:26:01 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:29:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Another biting critique from Mr Palast: "FRENCH FRIED
	FRIEDMAN"
Message-ID: <200506041229.j54CTLt2005888@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

FRENCH FRIED FRIEDMAN
The Nouvelle Globalizer
by Greg Palast
Friday, June 3, 2005

Vicente Fox got a well-deserved boot in the derriere for saying Mexicans
come to America for taking jobs "not even Blacks want to do."

But Thomas Friedman earns plaudits and Pulitzers for his column which
today announces that East Indians are taking jobs the French are too lazy
to do ["A Race to the Top," New York Times, June 3]. His fit of racial
profiling was motivated by his pique over France's rejection of the
globalizers' charter for corporate dominance known as the European
Constitution.

It's not the implicit racism of Friedman's statement which is most
irksome, it's his ghastly glee that "a world of benefits they [Western
Europeans] have known for 50 years is coming apart," because the French
and other Europeans "are trying to preserve a 35 hour work week in a world
where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day." 

He forgot to add, "and where Indian families are ready to sell their
children into sexual slavery to survive." Now, THERE'S a standard to reach
for.

In his endless series of pukey peons to globalization, Friedman promises
that free trade, an end of regulation, slashing government welfare and
privatization of industry will lead to an economic nirvana. 

Yet, all he and his globalization clique can point to as the free market's
accomplishment is the murderous competition between workers across 
borders to cut their wages for the chance to work in the new digital 
sweatshops.

Friedman praises the New India, freed of the shackles of Old India's
socialist welfare state. I've seen the New India: half a billion people in
dirt huts supporting a tiny minority's right to shop in air-conditioned
malls. It is a Fritz Lang film in Hindi.

There is, of course, a hopeful, growing India where the much-heralded
cyber work is based. But, Mr. Friedman, please note these brains for hire
are found in Karnataka and Kerala, states whose cussed adherence to social
welfare makes them more French than France and nothing like Thatcherized
dog-eat-dog Britain or Reaganized America.

The computer wizards of Bangalore (in Karnataka) and Kerala are the
products of fully funded state education systems where, unlike the USA, no
child is left behind. A huge apparatus of state-owned or state-controlled
industries, redistributionist tax systems, subsidies of necessities from
electricity to food, tight government regulation and affirmative action
programs for the lower castes are what has created these comfortable
refuges for Oracle and Microsoft. 

And the successful Indian states, unlike the dreadful free-market Uttar
Pradesh, have labor unions so tough they make the French CGT look like a
luncheon club of baguette biters.

A few years ago, I dropped in on a fishing village in Kerala in Southern
India. Most fisherman worked from motorless dug-out log boats. Their
language is Malayalam, but a large banner slung between two cocoanut trees
announced in English, "WordPerfect applications class today." After they
brought in the catch, the locals practiced programming on cardboard
replicas of keyboards.

What made this all possible was not capitalist competitive drive (there
was no corporate "entrepreneur" in sight), but the state's investment in
universal education and the village's commitment to development of
opportunity, not of a lucky few, but for the entire community. The village
was 100% literate, 100% unionized, and 100% committed to sharing 
resources through a sophisticated credit union finance operation. 

This was the communal welfare state at it's best. Microsoft did not build
the schools for programmers -- the corporation only harvested what the
socialist communities sowed. 

The economist Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for predicting that
Southern India, with it's strong communalist social welfare state, would
lead the economic advance of South Asia -- and do so without the
Thatcherite sleight-of-hand of pretending that riches for the few equates
to progress for the many.

When I asked the fisherman on their way to programming lessons what the
West could do to encourage their efforts, they did not suggest privatizing
Kerala's social security system. Rather -- and this was before the Seattle
demonstrations of 1999 brought the World Trade Organization to the West's
attention -- they called for the abolition of the WTO and greater
protection for their wooden fishing fleet against the foreign factory
boats marauding in their waters. With protective trade barriers, they
could do as the US did for a hundred years: build up local resources and
industry that creates the infrastructure of growth.

And the programmers themselves do not dream, Mr. Friedman, of stealing
work from indolent Frenchmen or slothful Seattle geeks. Indians are not in
love with the new method of brain-drain by satellite. They would hope for
the opportunity to write code in their own languages for their own
industries.

Friedman ends with the typical globalizer's warning that, "it's a bad time
for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work," or they will
lose their jobs to Indians and Chinese willing to work for noodles. What
Friedman means is that the French should give up their taste for old age
pensions, universal health care, top-quality public education, protection
of their skies and waters and all those things we used to call advances
but now, according to the Friedman world order, stand in the way of
progress.

It is too bad that the Times' opinion columns have not been outsourced to
India. Were it so, a Keralite might explain to Friedman that human
advances are measured not by our willingness to crawl lower and lower to
buy ourselves a job from Bill Gates, or by counting the number of Gap
outlets in Delhi, but by our success in protecting and nurturing libert?,
?galit? and fraternit? among all humanity.


Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best
Democracy Money Can Buy which contains his investigation of globalization,
"Sell the Lexus, Burn the Olive Tree." Subscribe to Palast's columns at
www.GregPalast.com.

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun  3 21:26:02 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:29:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in CAFTA
	fight?
Message-ID: <200506041229.j54CTMHW005891@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/06/02/grandia-
cafta/?source=daily

Silence Is Beholden
Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in 
CAFTA fight?

By Liza Grandia, et al
02 Jun 2005

A year ago, President Bush signed the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement. Since then, the controversial plan has inspired protests 
across the U.S. and in Central America. And while past trade 
agreements have been ratified by Congress in less than two months, 
the Bush administration has delayed the vote on CAFTA multiple 
times, unable to rally the support needed for it to pass.

The latest vote is scheduled for this month, but CAFTA's passage is by 
no means inevitable. Many Democrats and some Republicans, having 
learned from the fallout of NAFTA -- for example, the loss of hundreds 
of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs -- are expected to vote 
against it. They're taking this stand because the agreement is weak on 
both labor and environmental standards, and because they are 
beginning to realize such treaties promote not free trade, but corporate 
trade.

The environmental movement has also learned from NAFTA. An 
impressive coalition of professional and grassroots organizations is 
fighting CAFTA on the basis that it "would allow foreign investors to 
challenge hard-won environmental laws and regulations, and fails to 
include adequate measures to ensure environmental improvement 
throughout Central America and the United States." Members include 
Friends of the Earth, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, League of Conservation 
Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, and U.S. Public Interest 
Research Group, among others.

Missing from this fight is an elite subset of the movement: the 
international biodiversity conservation organizations. Not one of the 
four major groups in this field -- Conservation International, the World 
Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlife Conservation 
Society -- has demonstrated the courage to oppose CAFTA, despite 
ample opportunity over the past year.

When asked about his organization's position on CAFTA at a recent 
talk at the University of California-Berkeley, Kent Redford of WCS 
replied that his organization "does not engage in policy work." (The 
speech, offering an indication of priorities, was titled, "Has Poverty 
Alleviation Abducted Conservation?") Conservation International's vice 
president for conservation and government said, "We don't have a 
position." A World Wildlife Fund representative wrote, "WWF has not 
been tracing CAFTA either in Central America or in our U.S. office. As 
a result, we don't have a position on CAFTA ..." Nor has The Nature 
Conservancy stated a position.

Their silence is inexcusable. Consider the immediate threats CAFTA 
poses in a region that, while accounting for less than 1 percent of the 
world's land mass, is estimated to hold 8 to 10 percent of the planet's 
species:

    * The treaty would allow international agribusiness to dump 
subsidized food commodities, most notably corn, at below-market 
prices in Central America. When this happened in Mexico under 
NAFTA, more than 1.5 million Mexican farmers lost their livelihoods. 
CAFTA may hasten agricultural price collapses, which would ultimately 
force small farmers off their land and -- as has happened in 
Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve -- into protected areas in 
search of subsistence. CAFTA would effectively create a new 
underclass of displaced people: free-trade refugees.

    * It would enable corporations to sue governments over future lost 
profits if local environmental laws inhibit their activities. (This expands 
provisions in NAFTA that corporations have taken full advantage of; in 
perhaps the most famous, and still pending, case, Vancouver-based 
Methanex sued the U.S. government for $970 million over a California 
law that had banned the gasoline additive MTBE, a suspected 
carcinogen.) CAFTA would benefit companies like Harken Energy, 
which has long wanted to drill offshore in Costa Rica's protected 
Talamanca region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If CAFTA passes, 
Harken (on whose board George W. Bush formerly served) plans to 
sue the government of Costa Rica for $58 billion for the right to drill 
there. By comparison, the entire GDP of Costa Rica is $38 billion.

    * Most Central American countries currently prohibit the patenting of 
nature. But CAFTA would force them to modify their intellectual-
property laws to enable corporate bio-prospecting (what many call bio-
piracy), effectively allowing corporations to steal traditional indigenous 
knowledge. CAFTA would also facilitate the privatization of critical 
services like water, health, education, and telecommunications.

    * Although CAFTA does contain an "environmental" chapter, it 
merely makes recommendations like the "promotion" of clean 
production technologies. Corporate lobbyists hail CAFTA's voluntary 
mechanisms as the "most advanced ... ever included in a trade 
agreement." But as one Salvadoran environmental activist put it, "They 
have added a bit of green sweetener to a truly toxic stew."

In the face of these outrageous threats, how to explain the silence of 
these four groups, which are so well-endowed in budgets and policy 
staff?

We might look to an important paradigm shift. In the heady days after 
the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, all of the major biodiversity groups 
embraced the concept of sustainable development. But over the past 
few years, the conservation pendulum has been swinging back to a 
stricter preservationist ideology. Little by little, the international 
conservation organizations have shifted to market-based approaches 
to conservation.

A decade after Rio, at the Johannesburg World Summit on 
Sustainable Development, these groups championed public-private 
partnerships. They also lauded the new reign of "ecosystem services," 
whereby any aspect of the environment can be had, for a price. It's not 
that the big organizations don't "do" policy; rather, they do only a 
certain kind of free-market policy work.

Spend Your $.02
Discuss this story in our blog, Gristmill.
To facilitate the uptake of this free-market approach, international 
conservation groups have opened their doors to transnational 
corporate leaders. Today, three-quarters of Conservation 
International's board and half of the slots on The Nature 
Conservancy's board are given to representatives of major 
corporations -- including Wal-Mart and Gap, Inc., two companies 
actively lobbying in support of CAFTA. Are these corporate dollars a 
Faustian bargain for the international environmental movement? Are 
they subtly distracting these large conservation organizations from 
seeing the links between political economy and environmental 
degradation?

In these final critical weeks of debate, we need the lobbying support of 
the international conservationists working in Central America. 
Together, the four major groups control well over half of conservation 
dollars available worldwide, and wield enormous influence. Their 
partnerships with in-country organizations make them perfectly suited 
to lobby both on the ground and in Washington, D.C. They could give 
detailed testimony about CAFTA's impact on the regional environment. 
They could also lend support to the courageous Central Americans 
who have already spoken out vociferously against CAFTA.

Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature 
Conservancy, and Wildlife Conservation Society: it's time. We 
challenge you, with all your resources and your clout, to see beyond 
corporate interests. Join the many others in the environmental 
community who oppose this dangerous trade agreement.

- - - - - - - - - -

Liza Grandia is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of 
California-Berkeley and a senior fellow of the Environmental 
Leadership Program. Her coauthors are Laura Nader, Magal? Rey 
Rosa, Michael Dorsey, Jorge Cabrera, Carmelo Ruiz, and Jesse 
Colorado Swanhuyse
-- 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun  4 18:38:30 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:53:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] PAT TILLMAN
Message-ID: <200506041253.j54Cr6PF005950@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


A FINE ARTICLE ON PAT TILLMAN'S DEATH, CAPTURING 
BOTH THE HYPOCRISY AND THE TRAGEDY:

Edge of Sports
May 27, 2005

'Killing Their Own Poster Boy': Why Pat Tillman's
Parents Are No Longer Silent

By Dave Zirin

To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain't got
no name But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in
their game. - Bob Dylan

When former Arizona Cardinals football player turned
Army Ranger Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan, sonorous
bugles moaned from coast to coast. We were told he died
a 'warrior's death' charging up a hill and urging on
his fellow Rangers. His funeral was a nationally
televised political extravaganza with Senator John
McCain among others delivering eulogies over his open
grave. Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth was one of many
singing Tillman's praises. 'He chose action rather than
words. He lived the American dream, and he fought to
preserve the American dream and our way of life.' His
Commander in Chief George W. Bush even took time during
last fall's Presidential campaign to address Cardinals
fans on the Jumbotron at Sun Devil Stadium.

At the time, I wrote a small column stating that
Tillman - who refused 'hundreds if not thousands' of
offers by the Pentagon to shill publicly for the 'War
on Terror'- would be repulsed by all the attention. I
wrote that to Bush, McCain, and their pro-war ilk,
Tillman was proving far more useful dead than alive. He
had joined the Rangers for ideals like freedom and
justice, but fought in a war for oil and empire. I
wrote that the final injustice was that in death, even
more than in life, he was little more than a 'pawn in
their game.'

This observation didn't click with the pro-
war/occupation camp, as hate mail and death threats
flooded my inbox. People claimed that the Masters of
War were celebrating his heroism, not exploiting his
death - and by not simply standing and saluting, I
deserved a similar fate.

I want to know how the hate mongers and internet thugs
feel now, knowing that they were duped about the real
circumstances of Tillman's death. Yes, once again the
American people discover they have been lied to. Lied
to by the same people who told us that there were
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Saddam
Hussein was responsible for 9-11, and that the US
occupation was 'liberating" the people of Iraq by
bombing their country to pieces and stealing their oil.

I can also only wonder if those so protective of Pat
Tillman's memory will exhibit a fraction of the bravery
being shown by Pat's parents Patrick and Mary. The
divorced couple has decided to go public with their
fury at a government that profaned the body of their
dead son

Patrick and Mary now know that Pat did not die at the
hands of the Taliban while charging up a hill, but was
shot by his own troops in an instance of what they call
'fratricide.' Patrick and Mary now know that Tillman's
men realized they had gunned him down 'within moments.'
They know that the soldiers - in an effort to cover up
the killing of the All American 'poster boy' - burned
Tillman's uniform and body armor.

They know that over the next 10 days, top-ranking Army
officials, including the all too appropriately titled
'theater commander,' Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, hid the
truth of Tillman's death, while Pentagon script writers
conjured a Hollywood ending. They know that the army
waited until weeks after the nationally televised
memorial service to even clue them in about
'irregularities' surrounding their son's death. They
know that the concurrent eruption of the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal may have played a role in the cover-up,
as the army attempted to avoid a double public
relations disaster.

'After it happened, all the people in positions of
authority went out of their way to script this,'
Patrick Tillman said earlier this week to the
Washington Post. 'They purposely interfered with the
investigation, they covered it up. [T]hey realized that
their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a
handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They
blew up their poster boy.'

Mary Tillman, like her ex-husband and son, a fiercely
private person, spoke with a frankness that should put
dissembling military planners to shame. 'It makes you
feel like you're losing your mind in a way,' she said.
'You imagine things. When you don't know the truth,
certain details can be blown out of proportion. The
truth may be painful, but it's the truth. You start to
contrive all these scenarios that could have taken
place because they just kept lying. If you feel you're
being lied to, you can never put it to rest.'

Now the Tillmans, consciously or not, are lending their
voice to a growing chorus of military family members
determined to speak out against this war. New
organizations, like Gold Star Mothers for Peace and
Military Families Speak Out, are made up of people
handling their grief by refusing to be political props
and instead making a country bear witness to their
pain.

'Every day is sort of emotional,' Mary Tillman said.
'It just keeps slapping me in the face. To find that he
was killed in this debacle -- everything that could
have gone wrong did -- it's so much harder to take. We
should not have been subjected to all of this. This lie
was to cover their image. I think there's a lot more
yet that we don't even know, or they wouldn't still be
covering their tails. If this is what happens when
someone high profile dies, I can only imagine what
happens with everyone else.'

It is exactly for 'everyone else' dying throughout the
Middle East, that we must follow the Tillmans example
and regard silence as a luxury we can no longer afford.
__

Dave Zirin's new book 'What's My Name Fool? Sports and
Resistance in the United States' will be in stores in
June 2005. Check out his revamped website
edgeofsports.com. You can receive his column Edge of
Sports, every week by e-mailing edgeofsports-
subscribe@zirin.com. Contact him at
whatsmynamefool2005@yahoo.com

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun  4 18:27:30 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:59:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] New California anti-globalwarming initiative and
	extremist judge nominee Action alert
Message-ID: <200506041259.j54Cx5d9005961@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Here is a report about Arnold's anti-global warming initiative, followed by an 
action alert on one of the super-extremist judge nominees that the Democrats 
will allow to be voted on soon--you can give your Senators your opinion...

http://www.bushgreenwatch.org
***************************************

June 2, 2005

HUGE NEW CALIFORNIA CLIMATE INITIATIVE 
TRUMPS BUSH ADMINISTRATION 

Despite the Bush Administration's refusal to act against the
threat of global warming, hundreds of cities, counties, states,
colleges and businesses are moving ahead on their own. In the
process they are saving huge amounts of money and helping reduce
America's dependence on fossil fuels. 

Yesterday, in the biggest single initiative anywhere in the U.S.
to date, the state of California--the world's fifth largest
economy--announced an enormous new effort to reduce greenhouse
gases. 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan would reduce the state's
emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) to year 2000 levels by 2010;
to 1990 levels by 2020, and 80-percent below 1990 levels by
2050. Schwarzenegger's goal is to actually go beyond the targets
set in the Kyoto Climate Change accord, which the Bush
Administration has rejected. 

"The politics of global warming are shifting in the United
States. In just the past month, the Republican governors of the
nation's two largest states and the CEO of the nation's largest
company have made important announcements about steps to tackle
this problem. The Bush administration is increasingly out of the
mainstream on this issue," David Sandalow, director of the
environment and energy project at Brookings Institute, told
BushGreenwatch. 

To implement the plan, Gov. Schwarzenegger has created a Climate
Action Team, consisting of the secretaries of most of the
state's major departments, such as business, transportation,
housing, environment and agriculture. The team will be
responsible for implementing global warming emission reduction
programs. It will issue its first progress report next January,
and bi-annually after that. 

Schwarzenegger also established a "scenario planning effort,"
which will assess the impacts of climate change on California's
water resources, agriculture, coastline, public health and
forests. 

Although the Bush Administration opposes Kyoto-driven actions on
the basis that they will allegedly hurt the economy, the
California EPA estimates that worldwide demand for new
technologies to reduce GHG emissions will create a market worth
over $180 billion annually. 

Figures released by the state point out, for example, that
DuPont has reduced GHG emissions by nearly 70 percent since 1990
and realized a net savings of $2 billion. IBM reduced GHG
emissions by 65 percent, for a net savings of $791 million. 

With transportation being the single largest source of GHG in
the state, California aims to reduce auto emissions 30 percent
by year 2016. The governor's office notes that California
already leads the world in the development and implementation of
energy efficiency technology, and in programs to shift energy
production to renewable resources. 

"Climate change," says a statement from Schwarzenegger's office,
"will adversely affect public health, the environment and the
economy in California." Hence the far-reaching plan announced
yesterday. 

### 

***************************************
:
Copyright (c) 2003 Environmental Media Services
--------------------------------------------------

Here's a judge alert--you can contact your Senators online with link below 
AND you can call them (contact info at www.congress.org).  If they don't hear 
from you they'll think you're OK with whatever they do....

Of all the extremist positions judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown has
taken, her stated agenda to undo all progress on social justice since the
New Deal may be the most striking.  These are her own words:

"The New Deal, however, inoculated the federal Constitution with a kind of
underground collectivist mentality. The Constitution itself was transmuted
into a significantly different document...1937...marks the triumph of our
own socialist revolution."

The year 1937 was when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the
constitutionality of Social Security, who for nominee Brown was some kind
of sinister commie plot to be undone at the next opportune century.  A
broad coalition of groups has come out in strong opposition including the
NAACP, the National Bar Association, the Congressional Black Causus and
many others.  Please ask your senators in Congress to do likewise.

http://www.usalone.com/judges.htm

Equally objectionable nominee William Pryor is cut from the reactionary
cloth as evidenced by one of his own quotes:

"With the New Deal, the Great Society, and the growing federal
bureaucracy, we have strayed too far in the expansion of the federal
government."

It's no coincidence we have a president running back and forth all over
the country for months on end trying to trick the American public into
rolling some Wall Street dice with their retirement funds, while elsewhere
judges rule its perfectly OK for corporations to default on their pension
plans.  If they can't con us one way, they'll cheat us with their cronies
in the courts, unless we SPEAK OUT NOW to stop them

http://www.usalone.com/judges.htm



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun  4 18:24:41 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 05:59:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Will the Democrats Confront the Kinkiness of Their
	Enemies?
Message-ID: <200506041259.j54CxnbE005980@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Progreso Weekly - June 2, 2005
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Landau&otherweek=11
17774800

Will the Democrats Confront the Kinkiness of Their 
Enemies?

By Saul Landau

Will the Democrats ever take off their gloves and fight appropriately
against the truly dangerous gang of ultra right wingers who have taken
over the executive and legislative branches of government and threaten to
dominate the judiciary?

As the extreme right wingers show their true character in repeated sex and
addiction scandals, the Democrats ignore choice opportunities for
counterpunching. Indeed, the now routine news stories about major
reactionary spokespeople engaging in scandalous behavior offers liberals a
chance to show the public the true nature of those who have taken over the
U.S. government.

Last year, Rush Limbaugh, the most pompous and pretentious of the AM
radio bombasts, got caught with lots of Oxycontin (rural heroin), a
very illegal drug to possess without prescription. Evidence also
indicated that he also engaged in dealing the illicit substances that he
ingested. He admitted to a heavy addiction, but the Democrats, objects of
his daily sarcasm and acid, let this scandal slip by.

Even more tempting for those with even a drop of pluck was the
revelation that the White House had issued instant press credentials
to Jeff Gannon, aka James Guckert. For two years, this ultra right
"reporter" for Republican Party Web sites (owned by a Texas
Republican) got called on regularly by White House press secretary
Scott McClellan and by Bush himself. Gannon, predictably, asked
loaded, pro-Administration questions. He also directed disinformation
campaigns on various controversial issues for his Republican bosses.

The Secret Service knew about Guckert's homo-erotic Web sites where
Gannon appears as "military, muscular, masculine and discrete." A web
designer admitted he had "designed a gay escort site for Gannon and had
posted naked pictures of Gannon at the client's request" (Washington Post,
Feb 13). On his promotional website, Gannon wears a helmet and nothing
else, until you look down at his paratrooper boots.

Did this ultra sleazy prostitute simply slip through the "increased
security" cracks and receive his daily White House press card? A
former federal policeman assured me that "only a direct order from
very high up could have gotten him that close to the President."

Neither the Democrats nor the media followed up on this scandal or
pursued the question: Who in the higher reaches of the White House
knows people like Gannon-Guckert well enough to use them for political
ends?

Marquis of Queensbury rules don't apply when your opponents eye-gouge.
Don't Democrats recall that Bill Clinton's benign peccadillo - tens of
millions of both sexes have engaged in it - brought on an almost
interminable and costly investigation that almost cost him the presidency?
The Democrats don't convert these "personal idiosyncrasies" into political
weapons, or even raise these extremely weird behavior patterns as
political issues that the public should investigate with great care.

In 1972, I stood next to a musician friend behind a San Francisco
stage. He tuned his guitar in preparation for a benefit performance
for the short lived Hookers' Union, which some clever prostitutes had
launched to defend the rights of those particular working women.

Several of these recently recruited union members talked about how
hard they had had to work at the recent San Diego Republican
convention. "I must've put in four straight eighteen hour days," said a
cute blond in a mini skirt. "But I never got my privates wet."

"Huh? asked the musician. "What did you do?"

"I peed and crapped on people and whipped a few, told them how bad
they were and how much they deserved to be punished. That's what got
`em off. So that's what I did."

"So, who were these people anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, Senators and judges and people like that," she replied.

Twenty-three years and dozens of expos? stories later allows us to
stop calling this behavior by the prissy and proper "hypocrisy" and
name it correctly. When people of power obtain their sexual
gratification by having prostitutes humiliate them, we might at least
question the motives of their quest for naked power.

Those who despise themselves and want to be punished for their sexual and
other behavioral proclivities - sex outside of marriage and drug using,
for examples - and seek positions of power then turn that power against
homosexuals, people who share their own behavioral tendencies.

The recent case of Christian fundamentalist Jim West, Mayor of
Spokane, illustrates the point. West spewed anti-gay language and
dedicated himself to opposing gay rights, while luring young men - or
teenage boys - into sexual relationships (He claimed he thought they were
adults). West preached Christian values as a Boy Scout leader, Deputy
Sheriff, Republican State legislator and as Mayor - while engaging in
sexual practices that he himself defined as abhorrent and criminal.

West admitted that he had a dinner date in June 2004 with an
18-year-old man whom he had contacted through a gay chat room. Using
internet names Cobra82nd and RightBi-Guy, West then let the youth
drive his "blue Lexus convertible. The evening ended with consensual
sex," said the 18-year-old Bill Morling (Spokane Spokeman-Review May
24).

Washington State Sen. Pam Roach, who disagreed with West while he
served in the Senate, called West "a cutthroat politician. He likes
power over people - and over young people."

The West episode echoes a 1980 case in Washington DC. Police caught
Republican Congressman Bobby Bauman of Maryland in flagrante in a male
brothel with an underage boy. Bauman blamed the incident on alcohol. But
several years later, after resigning from Congress, he came out of the
closet and apologized for his gay-bashing activities.

Like West, Bauman had distinguished himself in Congress by attacking
homosexuals. Later, Bauman admitted that he had unconsciously loathed his
own homosexuality. Rather than confronting and accepting it, he admitted
that he projected the disgust he felt toward himself onto others who
shared his identity.

Such self-loathing in some Nazi storm troopers led them to kill and
severely beat other homosexuals. Indeed, who but closet homosexuals
has such passionate interest in "bashing" gays and denying rights to
people who differ from the supposedly "biblical" prescriptions of
proper behavior?

Members of the ultra right led by Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the
House and his counterparts on the President's staff now threaten to
dominate the federal judiciary. DeLay has led his coalition of bible
thumping Republican, gay bashers in policies that benefit exclusively the
very rich and multinational corporate sectors. He has ruled the House as
if debate, hearings and bipartisanship amounted to socialist traditions
and replaced them with authoritarian directives.

In 1982, I interviewed right wing ideologue and then Senate aide Sam
Frances. He described the goals of the then new right as "a quest for
power - total power."

This grab to dominate in politics includes a propaganda assault
through the media, exemplified by bombastic right wing talk show hosts who
unleash their peculiar form of "freedom dogma" and espousal of "Christian
values" over the am airwaves. Once in a while, even the Rupert
Murdoch-owned Fox News allows a liberal to get some air time - especially
if he brings in advertising money.

In mid May, the rare liberal on Fox radio, talk show host Alan Colmes,
interviewed Neal Horsley, an anti-abortion militant. As a boy growing up
in rural Georgia, Horsley said he routinely enjoyed intimate relations
with animals.

Planned Parenthood named Horsley as the author of the "Nuremberg
Files," a list of abortion doctors, "marked for death."

Village Voice (May 19) columnist James Ridgeway reprinted Horsley's
dialogue with Colmes:



Colmes: You had sex with animals?



Horsley: Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in
Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule.



Colmes: Are you suggesting that everybody who grows up on a farm in
Georgia has a mule as a girlfriend?



Horsley: It has historically been the case. You people are so far
removed from the reality. . . . Welcome to domestic life on the farm. You
experiment with anything that moves when you are growing up sexually.
You're naive. You know better than that... If it's warm and it's damp and
it vibrates, you might in fact have sex with it.

Ridgeway called Horsley and read him the quotes. "That's correct,"
Horsley replied. Ridgeway reprinted words from Horsley's website. "Now
when homosexuals, or adulterers, or fornicators, or pedophiles, or beast
fornicators and beast suckers, or any sexual outlaws, parade themselves
around as if they could be followers of Jesus Christ, they demonstrate a
lie and blasphemy and abomination."

My tendency is to laugh. But Horsley is not just another loony, bible
pounding right winger. His energy typifies the ?lan of the Bush era. If
the Democrats don't stand up to those who have captured the Republican
Party we will all have to rely on what Gore Vidal predicted to me would be
the solution to the Bush madness. The real conservatives will have to step
forward and deal with this ultra radical gang.

[Landau teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University and is a fellow of the
Institute for Policy Studies.]

Copyright 2005 Progreso Weekly, Inc.

-- 
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sun Jun  5 00:30:14 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun  4 10:35:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China vs Tibet
Message-ID: <000b01c569a0$6aa354e0$1d25b7d8@baby1>

Re:  China vs Tibet



Barbara wrote:


======
Cheeseburger....

While there is some truth in what you say I AGAIN say to entirely give up
hope would be a black day for all of us.....

I for one will go down protesting and enlightening those who otherwise do
not take the time to seek the truth.
==============


Ok, although I am not a firm believer in "giving up hope", even for a
millisecond (well, in most cases at least, sometimes you sit at a bar and
stare at someone and just know ahead of time "Oh crap, no way is this going
to work"), and agree that protesting and enlightening etc is the only way to
go, for the most part, it reaches a point, at least in my sporadic
fluctuation "imho", of throwing Hope upon the hearts of those who crave it,
but at the same time that action is taking place, to an outside observer,
such as in this case of China vs Tibet, it does basically appear that the
day China will release Tibet will be the day they resurrect Marilyn Monroe
and elect her premier of China.

Strip bomb Beijing.  Or somesuch.

I can imagine a hundred million signatures on anything having to do with
China doing anything to release, not develop, etc Tibet, and it placed upon
the table before the leaders of China, and they shoot the person who laid it
there, bill the cost of the bullet to his family, and go on with their
brunch.

If, as has been noted, China is going to "clean up its act", from my entire
life experiences and the little things of knowledge I know about various
things, I can't imagine any Act of China even vaguely resembling "freeing"
or "making autonomous" or whatever toward Tibet in the next 1,000 years.

True, things could change, stranger things have happened, but if these are
still the same people who *do* shoot whomever they wish in the head in the
town square and *then* out of their wisdom and generosity bill the actual
cost of the bullet to the dead person's family, it will be a cold day in
hell when they "release Tibet" etc, and I just look at the matter, and it
looks like that millionaire model sitting at the end of the bar trying to
evade old Uncle Cheeseburger's wistful gaze.

There's no hope really in either case, at least all the physics and
mathematics of logic and probabilities appear to indicate that, especially
when dealing with such a dead-bolt mindset of such a premier literal
Communist country who still appears to take their Far East version of
Communism quite seriously.

The odds of probabilities.

If they were making book on China vs Tibet in Las Vegas, all the bookies
would tell anyone that the odds of China "freeing" Tibet, on any level, are
as good as Rumsfeld and Cheney having sex changes and moving in together.

I do not sit, or crouch, or whatever here and state that "in completely
hopeless situations hope itself should be abandoned", but for some odd
reason do like to point out the differences between the two reactions the
leaders of China would have on the matter between a list of one-hundred
million protest signatures sitting in front of them on their desk, or the
sound of Beijing being strip-bombed outside their windows.

The former will never do anything, imho, although, I agree, it remains
completely necessary, for, unfortunately for so many gazillion people who
have, are, and will inhabit this interesting planet, Hope is all some of us
will ever have, the latter would make them sit up straight, take a crap in
their pants, and release Tibet immediately.

The sad loss for Humanity and the all of this entire Earth, is that the dna
traits of people like Joan of Arc are being bred out of them as quickly as
can be managed.

Along with such dna strands goes real freedom for things and people like
Tibet and etc etc etc.

I'd love to just lift my little finger and free Tibet, perhaps I will spare
a moment later on and give the premier of China a mild heart attack to get
warmed up, yet would that do any good..?  Even if I stopped all the tickers
of the entire leadership of Communist China, would that free Tibet...?  I
don't know.

All I know is that even the biggest pieces of crap who pass themselves off
as leaders of the masses all tend to take a crap in their pants when they
hear strip-bombing outside their windows.

That nobody exists in America who has that kind of guts anymore, but rather
goes after the 100,000 unarmed civilian men women and children Iraqis, and
the 1,000,000 unsuspecting Iraqi children eliminated by American sanctions
"kind of Targets", rather than doing something foolish by going up against a
Communist nation with one-fifth the world's population and who dishes out
vast Trade etc Contracts like water to our Leaders in this USA (whatever it
has now been transformed into by such vermin), kind of just says it all.

Tibet will never receive help from the scum at The Top of our own beloved
"We believe in Freedom etc" for such people like Tibet because they would
rather do Trade and Real Estate and Etc deals rather than actually free
countries.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nixon didn't trade Tibet to the Chinese for
something long long ago in one of his little jaunts to Beijing, but that's
just wishful projection on my part.

Regardless, yes, protest, signatures, publicity, all of that kind of stuff,
even "the spreading of Hope", no matter who thinks what of its "Real Actual
Chances" of doing anything other than keeping the doomed alive inside, all
good, great, necessary.

It just sometimes bothers me that nothing actually REAL that would REALLY
begin to even mildly do something like "Free Tibet" is happening anywhere on
the entire planet Earth.

And I make the mistake of actually articulating it.

Oh well, sorry, I've just had another Saturday night attack of
Statisticitis.

I see the beautiful butterflies and birds and rainbows flying in the blue
sky and I know, even they are doomed.

Shall I reach forth my hand and give them something called "Hope"...?

I think I will instead just save them.

Yet in the process, I will throw in some "Hope" along the road of freedom
strewn with the dead just because you're a nice person.

:)






Cheeseburger


Oh my god, oh my god, great leader of China, it's horrible, it's gigantic,
it's 800 feet tall and smashing all the buildings in Beijing, creating
havoc, strip-bombing everything, help us, help us, help us, what should we
do...!!??
Is it Godzilla....?
No, great leader, it's worse, it's Cheeseburger...!!
Cheeseburger......??!!
Yes, great one, Cheeseburger, he's destroying everything..!!
You idiot, look out the window, that's not strip-bombing, that's
Cheeseburger's stools.
Oh, my god, oh my god, what will we do....!!??
Get up from the floor, you snivelling moron...  Well, well, well, I didn't
think he'd do it...
Do what, great leader...?
I thought his telegram was just a joke....  He said "I'm gonna crap on your
heads if you don't free Tibet"....   I thought he was just having a bad day.
Oh, my god, oh, my god.....!!
Oh, shutup, sit down, take this dictation....
Yes, great leader, ok, I am ready...
Allright, say "Dear Cheeseburger, I didn't really....".....
Great leader....?  What's wrong...!!??
It's....  ahhhhrggghhhh..... it's... it's my heart..... aaaaaa......
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god....!!
Oh crap, quick, call up Bush, tell him we'll trade him Tibet for Iraq and
then send Cheeseburger's headquarters a telegram immediately.
I've got Bush on the line, great leader, he says he's having too much fun
with all the little dead babies' heads in Iraq, that you will have to deal
with Cheeseburger on your own...
C*cksucker...  Oh well, don't worry, we'll get his ass at WalMart.

And at that point, I opened up a strange package, and lost it.

Hope, yes, by all means Hope, I, personally, would have been dead long ago
without it.

That hope that leads to Real redeeming or saving whatever, on any or all
levels, appears to be in short supply, never ceases to hurt my heart.

If it weren't for people, true, standing up, protesting, enlightening
others, etc, yep, this would be a *much* more miserable place to live than
it already is for so many.

I just want to know the missing formula that was supposed to be inserted
between Hope and Real Freedom has gone to.

Battling the superpowers that have divided up the world for centuries.  An
interesting hobby to have, for some.

Will things like one-hundred million signatures in protest whatever *ever*
be able to change their wills of death, conquest and enslavement.

I can only hope so.

Until then, I'm simply going to crap on their heads until they let my people
go.

It's said that God works in mysterious ways.

People, at least to me, who do things like take over Tibet, and invade Iraq
and kill so many civilian men women and children, are completely
transparent.

The only problem is that they appear to still hold all the cards, the
politicians, the judges, the courts, the weapons, the armies, and they don't
care about 100 million signatures any more than the next superpower does.

And they've been literally killing people who try to change that in both
America and China for centuries.  Taking over "all lines of communication"
has always been one of their best first tricks.

Come on, Joan, pull your act together.  Enlighten them all at once, one by
one is killing me.

Ok, sorry, neither I nor my midnight ramblings are here anymore, I'm going
to drink some prune juice, put on my extra tall cowboy boots, and dream of
China.


tick tick tick tick tick tick tick........   beeeeeeeeeeep...........
I'm sorry, doctor, we've lost another ruthless murdering bigshot.
Oh, crap, what was it, cholesterol?, smoking?, cancer.....?
It was too many cheeseburgers........
I knew that.
Of course you did, doctor.....

:|




Brought to you by The Global Postcard:  "Hey, it's better than having a
cheeseburger crapping on our heads"

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 07:41:21 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 17:48:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <28723931.1117982481648.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

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 Bush's Optimism On Iraq Debated
 
 By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
 
 Bush's portrayal of a wilting insurgency at a time of escalating violence in the nation is reviving the debate over the administration's Iraq strategy.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 07:42:36 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 17:49:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <30742623.1117982557278.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 An Administration's Amnesty Amnesia
 
 By Dana Milbank
 
 The folks at Amnesty International are practically begging for a one-way ticket to Gitmo. After the human rights group issued a report late last month calling the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "the gulag of our times," top officials raced to condemn Amnesty.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 07:44:32 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 17:51:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11082309.1117982673368.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 WOW - a must-read...PLFH...Bill
 
 'It Was Not I'
 
 By Ruth Marcus
 
 Look at the photo of W. Mark Felt as a 45-year-old FBI agent in 1958, and you begin to grasp something of the terrible ambivalence he endured over his role as Deep Throat. Felt appears poised for action, knees bent. In one hand, a drawn gun points at the camera; the other hand is raised slightly, as...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 07:47:18 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 17:54:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <1218130.1117982839138.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

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 Personal Message:
 ZOUNDS!!!!! Best BRIEF analysis of the historical context of Watergate I have read - anothe must-read.....PLFH - Bill
 
 Antidote To Secrecy
 
 By David S. Broder
 
 The great benefit of W. Mark Felt's decision to identify himself as "Deep Throat," the famous Watergate secret source, is that a whole new generation of Americans now has a chance to learn just how perverse were the values that infected the Nixon White House.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 07:48:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun  4 17:55:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 Mobility Vs. Nobility
 
 By Michael Kinsley
 
 According to our founding document and our national myth, we are all created equal, and then it's up to us. Inequality in material things is mitigated in two ways: first, by equal opportunity at the start and, second, by full civil equality despite material differences. We don't claim to have...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun  5 08:24:27 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun  4 18:31:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] ZNet - French Fried Friedman
Message-ID: <42A3192B.3060707@comcast.net>

ZNet Commentary

French Fried Friedman June 05, 2005

By Greg Palast


Vicente Fox got a well-deserved boot in the derriere for saying Mexicans 
come to America for taking jobs "not even Blacks want to do."

But Thomas Friedman earns plaudits and Pulitzers for his column which 
today announces that East Indians are taking jobs the French are too 
lazy to do ["A Race to the Top," New York Times, June 3]. His fit of 
racial profiling was motivated by his pique over France's rejection of 
the globalizers' charter for corporate dominance known as the European 
Constitution.

It's not the implicit racism of Friedman's statement which is most 
irksome, it's his ghastly glee that "a world of benefits they [Western 
Europeans] have known for 50 years is coming apart," because the French 
and other Europeans "are trying to preserve a 35 hour work week in a 
world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day."

He forgot to add, "and where Indian families are ready to sell their 
children into sexual slavery to survive." Now, THERE'S a standard to 
reach for.

In his endless series of pukey peons to globalization, Friedman promises 
that free trade, an end of regulation, slashing government welfare and 
privatization of industry will lead to an economic nirvana.

Yet, all he and his globalization clique can point to as the free 
market's accomplishment is the murderous competition between workers 
across borders to cut their wages for the chance to work in the new 
digital sweatshops.

Friedman praises the New India, freed of the shackles of Old India's 
socialist welfare state. I've seen the New India: half a billion people 
in dirt huts supporting a tiny minority's right to shop in 
air-conditioned malls. It is a Fritz Lang film in Hindi.

There is, of course, a hopeful, growing India where the much-heralded 
cyber work is based. But, Mr. Friedman, please note these brains for 
hire are found in Karnataka and Kerala, states whose cussed adherence to 
social welfare makes them more French than France and nothing like 
Thatcherized dog-eat-dog Britain or Reaganized America.

The computer wizards of Bangalore (in Karnataka) and Kerala are the 
products of fully funded state education systems where, unlike the USA, 
no child is left behind. A huge apparatus of state-owned or 
state-controlled industries, redistributionist tax systems, subsidies of 
necessities from electricity to food, tight government regulation and 
affirmative action programs for the lower castes are what has created 
these comfortable refuges for Oracle and Microsoft.

And the successful Indian states, unlike the dreadful free-market Uttar 
Pradesh, have labor unions so tough they make the French CGT look like a 
luncheon club of baguette biters.

A few years ago, I dropped in on a fishing village in Kerala in Southern 
India. Most fisherman worked from motorless dug-out log boats. Their 
language is Malayalam, but a large banner slung between two cocoanut 
trees announced in English, "WordPerfect applications class today." 
After they brought in the catch, the locals practiced programming on 
cardboard replicas of keyboards.

What made this all possible was not capitalist competitive drive (there 
was no corporate "entrepreneur" in sight), but the state's investment in 
universal education and the village's commitment to development of 
opportunity, not of a lucky few, but for the entire community. The 
village was 100% literate, 100% unionized, and 100% committed to sharing 
resources through a sophisticated credit union finance operation.

This was the communal welfare state at it's best. Microsoft did not 
build the schools for programmers -- the corporation only harvested what 
the socialist communities sowed.

The economist Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for predicting 
that Southern India, with it's strong communalist social welfare state, 
would lead the economic advance of South Asia -- and do so without the 
Thatcherite sleight-of-hand of pretending that riches for the few 
equates to progress for the many.

When I asked the fisherman on their way to programming lessons what the 
West could do to encourage their efforts, they did not suggest 
privatizing Kerala's social security system. Rather -- and this was 
before the Seattle demonstrations of 1999 brought the World Trade 
Organization to the West's attention -- they called for the abolition of 
the WTO and greater protection for their wooden fishing fleet against 
the foreign factory boats marauding in their waters. With protective 
trade barriers, they could do as the US did for a hundred years: build 
up local resources and industry that creates the infrastructure of growth.

And the programmers themselves do not dream, Mr. Friedman, of stealing 
work from indolent Frenchmen or slothful Seattle geeks. Indians are not 
in love with the new method of brain-drain by satellite. They would hope 
for the opportunity to write code in their own languages for their own 
industries.

Friedman ends with the typical globalizer's warning that, "it's a bad 
time for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work," or 
they will lose their jobs to Indians and Chinese willing to work for 
noodles. What Friedman means is that the French should give up their 
taste for old age pensions, universal health care, top-quality public 
education, protection of their skies and waters and all those things we 
used to call advances but now, according to the Friedman world order, 
stand in the way of progress.

It is too bad that the Times' opinion columns have not been outsourced 
to India. Were it so, a Keralite might explain to Friedman that human 
advances are measured not by our willingness to crawl lower and lower to 
buy ourselves a job from Bill Gates, or by counting the number of Gap 
outlets in Delhi, but by our success in protecting and nurturing 
libert?, ?galit? and fraternit? among all humanity.



Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best 
Democracy Money Can Buy which contains his investigation of 
globalization, "Sell the Lexus, Burn the Olive Tree." Subscribe to 
Palast's columns at www.GregPalast.com.


-------------- next part --------------
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun  5 10:08:50 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun  4 20:16:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ATLAS SHOWS ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
Message-ID: <20050605170850.324BE69AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ATLAS SHOWS ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
WebPosted Sun Jun  5 09:12:31 2005

---The United Nations has unveiled a new world atlas that uses
satellite imagery to show the often damaging environmental changes
sweeping the planet.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) produced the atlas, called "One
Planet Many People," to mark World Environment Day.

The atlas compares and contrasts satellite images of past decades with
ones from the present.

It finds many of the world's precious resources have seriously
deteriorated because of rapid urbanization, overfishing and the loss
of forests.

UN environment expert Pascal Peduzzi warned that natural resources are
being used up so rapidly that many are in danger of disappearing.

"We've already cut 20 per cent of the Amazon. We have also seen some
lakes that just totally vanished."

Peduzzi also said 78 per cent of the oceans are overfished. Hesaid
overfishing caused the collapse of cod fishery in Canada and sardine
fishery in California.

The atlas shows the effects of retreating glaciers on mountains and in
polar regions. It shows the explosive construction growth around some of
the world's major cities and how this is increasing pollution and leading
to global climate change.

But the atlas also reveals how environmental problems can be solved when
people work together. The UN group says it shows that the ozone layer is
improving as a result of the Montreal Protocol that called for the ban of
ozone depleting aerosol gases.

The atlas was unveiled in San Francisco, where representatives from
cities from around the globe on Sunday were ending a week of meetings,
held to discuss the future of the world's environment.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun  5 10:10:43 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun  4 20:17:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - THOUSANDS MARK TIANANMEN CRACKDOWN
Message-ID: <20050605171043.AEA5369AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
THOUSANDS MARK TIANANMEN CRACKDOWN
WebPosted Sat Jun  4 22:00:24 2005

---Tens of thousands of people held a vigil in Hong Kong to mark the 16th
anniversary of China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations
in Tiananmen Square.

Hong Kong was the only place in China that was allowed to hold such a
memorial on Saturday. In the rest of the country, especially the Beijing
square where soldiers killed hundreds of protesters in 1989, security was
tighter than usual.

"We enjoy freedom and democracy and so we also want the people in China
to do the same," one of the organizers of the Hong Kong vigil, Lee Cheuk
Yan, told CBC News.

"And we also know very well if they are not able to enjoy freedom, our
freedom will also be very delicate. And so the turnout shows that the
people in Hong Kong are persistent in their struggle for democracy."

China regained control over Hong Kong after 156 years of British rule in
1997, but promised to allow the territory a large degree of autonomy
under a "one country, two systems" approach.

There were no signs of public commemorations on the giant square in
Beijing where hundreds &#8211; and perhaps thousands &#8211; of unarmed
protesters died in 1989 after the government ordered the army to end six
weeks of peaceful demonstrations.

Uniformed and plainclothes police officers fanned out around the
square, while political dissidents in the city were kept in their homes
under guard.

This year's anniversary was seen as more sensitive than in
previous years.

Zhao Ziyang, a top Communist leader who was ousted in 1989 for
sympathizing with the student demonstrators, died in January.

                       FROM JAN. 17, 2005: Former
                     Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang dies



Zhao was once China's Communist party chief, but was deposed from his
post and put under house arrest because he opposed the military
crackdown.

Police estimated that 22,000 people attended the Hong Kong vigil, but
organizers said the crowd ranged between 30,000 and 40,000.



The anniversary brings tens of thousands of the island's residents out
onto the street every year.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun  5 10:11:41 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun  4 20:18:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ZIMBABWE'S EVICTIONS VIOLATE RIGHTS: UN
Message-ID: <20050605171141.327BF69AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ZIMBABWE'S EVICTIONS VIOLATE RIGHTS: UN
WebPosted Sat Jun  4 15:29:07 2005

---The United Nations has condemned the eviction of hundreds of thousands
of people from shantytowns in Zimbabwe, calling it a gross violation of
human rights.

The UN is urging the government to halt its campaign of mass evictions.

Zimbabwean police are under orders to destroy what the government
considers to be illegal settlements as part of an urban cleanup. The
opposition MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party alleges the blitz
is aimed at provoking unrest in the country.

UN human rights expert Miloon Kothari says he is very disturbed by the
dismantling of dwellings and vendors' shacks.

"There is a creation of a sort of a new kind of segregation &#8211;
apartheid &#8211; where the poor people are being evicted out of the
cities into marginal areas," he said.

"The cities are being essentially left for the rich and well-off, and
this is again completely contrary to the human rights obligations of
the state."

 FROM JUNE 1, 2005: Zimbabwe arrests thousands in slum crackdown About
 two weeks ago, Zimbabwe began evicting people and demolishing their
 shacks in and around the capital, Harare.

An estimated 200,000 people have been evicted and some 30,000 are
believed to have been arrested.

Kothari says the vast majority of those affected are now homeless and
forced to sleep out on the streets in bitterly cold weather.

A couple of days ago, he says two children died because of exposure
to the cold.

If current evictions continue, he warns about a quarter of Zimbabwe's
population of some 10 million could be affected.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun  5 11:10:30 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Sat Jun  4 21:17:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] article about the chinese govt. sent by a friend
Message-ID: <QjZLT1NDMSQvL0xfNCosMzY2Mzk2@Dragon>

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun  5 11:22:56 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Sat Jun  4 21:29:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] cults, religions, and lunatics
Message-ID: <QjZLUEw0MSg5I1g7NCosMTExMjI4OQ@Dragon>

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From michael at intrafi.com  Sun Jun  5 11:48:56 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sat Jun  4 21:55:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Now Playing on Broadway: The Money Pit
Message-ID: <20050605184856.C174E236FFA@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

BUSINESS | June 4, 2005
Joseph Nocera: Now Playing on Broadway: The Money Pit

The producers of an off-Broadway show chose to keep it off Broadway, signaling something important about the impossible economics of the Broadway theater.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/business/04nocera.html?ex=1118635200&en=db1db11dd0df2cbd&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:20:33 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:27:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind
Message-ID: <20050605222033.6A08311F8C0@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL / CLASS | June 5, 2005
Class Matters: Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
The people at the top of America's money pyramid have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population in recent years, an analysis of tax records and other data shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html?ex=1118635200&en=54fc0c9f3cbd8398&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:21:32 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:28:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Concerns at A.C.L.U. Over Document Shredding
Message-ID: <20050605222132.35B47A10E2@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 5, 2005
Concerns at A.C.L.U. Over Document Shredding
By STEPHANIE STROM
The American Civil Liberties Union has been shredding some documents over the objections of its records manager and in conflict with its policies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/05aclu.html?ex=1118635200&en=92ed7fb30e014136&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:22:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:29:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Un-American by Any Name
Message-ID: <20050605222218.4DC6883DDE@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 5, 2005
Editorial: Un-American by Any Name

What the Guantánamo Bay detention camp exemplifies has nothing in common with any American notions of justice or the rule of law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/opinion/05sun1.html?ex=1118635200&en=4236bf99101cf289&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:23:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:30:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Army's Troubles,
	and What to Do (3 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050605222329.0F5BC24B079@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 5, 2005
The Army's Troubles, and What to Do (3 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/opinion/l05troops.html?ex=1118635200&en=5c822d0e0ca951f7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:23:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:30:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iraqi Prosecutors Decide to Focus on 12
	Cases Against Hussein
Message-ID: <20050605222356.8E71011FB51@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL | June 5, 2005
Iraqi Prosecutors Decide to Focus on 12 Cases Against Hussein
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saddam Hussein could face up to 500 charges, but prosecutors will focus on 12 well-documented cases, including the gassing of thousands of Kurds.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?ex=1118635200&en=890609631a799c14&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:24:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:31:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hezbollah Is Focus of Voting in Lebanon
Message-ID: <20050605222413.C77A524B084@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 5, 2005
Hezbollah Is Focus of Voting in Lebanon
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
The future of Hezbollah and its militia is the primary issue as Lebanese voters head to the polls on Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/international/middleeast/05lebanon.html?ex=1118635200&en=43c07591fc6ade28&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun  5 15:25:23 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 01:32:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: From Advocacy to Terrorism, a Line Blurs
Message-ID: <20050605222523.AB9E49FE10@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL / THREATS AND RESPONSES | June 5, 2005
>From Advocacy to Terrorism, a Line Blurs
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
A Kuwaiti-born professor at the University of South Florida will go on trial in federal court on Monday on terrorism and racketeering charges.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/nationalspecial3/05terror.html?ex=1118635200&en=81a99432ce25cb5a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun  5 15:57:47 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun  5 02:04:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Message from hs
Message-ID: <016e01c56a21$fde73420$9808a8c0@sympatico.msn.clr>

hs has visited Sympatico / MSN Health & Fitness at
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/ and has asked us to send this
message to you so you can check out the following page:

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting.aspx?conten
tid=1e6dd40a501c426bae6ef37a3031c6d7&show=False&number=0&showbyline=Fals
e&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc

To jump to the page, open your web browser and copy the address exactly
as shown. Or, if your mail reader supports in-line links, simply click
on the address. hs also sent you this message:

I love this story!


--------------------------------------------------

Sympatico.MSN.ca is committed to your privacy. For more information
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not endorse, and has not screened, reviewed or approved the contents of
this message from hs. Sympatico / MSN does not assume responsibility,
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun  5 16:01:32 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun  5 02:08:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - MYSTERY WORSHIPPERS RATE CHURCH SERVICES
Message-ID: <20050605230132.5D31169AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
MYSTERY WORSHIPPERS RATE CHURCH SERVICES
WebPosted Sun Jun  5 12:47:39 2005

---First there were movie and restaurant reviewers, then mystery
shoppers. Now, people called mystery worshippers are reviewing the best
and worst church services.

They also have a forum &#8211; a London-based website called Ship of
Fools, dubbed "the magazine of Christian unrest" when it was launched as
a now-defunct magazine in the 1970s.

Kenneth Moyle of Hamilton, Ont., is adding some Canadian content to the
site. He says he got involved after reading several U.S. and U.K. reviews
and not seeing any Canadian churches.

The Pentecostal-born man says writing about the services he attends is
also a way of organizing his thoughts about religion.

"I'm a Christian. I think in one of my mystery reviews I mention being an
atheist, and I probably was at the time," he told CBC Newsworld. "I
vacillate. I suppose I wouldn't be jumping around from church to church
if I knew exactly what I believe."

The reviewers surreptitiously take notes and report back to the website
in a very strict format.

"We don't have a lot of choice there. We have to answer very
specifically, how long the sermon was in minutes. We rate the preacher on
a scale of one to 10.

"We're asked to describe the neighbourhood, to describe the opening words
of the service &#8211; and there are the free form parts of the
questionnaire, such as, what part of the service was like being in heaven
and what part of the service was like being in the other place."

St. John's church a slice of heaven

Moyle says the church service that was closest to heaven might have been
one at St. John's Cathedral in Newfoundland.

He says it was a quiet service, with only about 20 people in a beautiful
cathedral, on a sunny afternoon.

"There was a real feeling of community. I got to talk to almost everyone
there. They were incredibly welcoming."

He rated as a "very cold experience" a service at another church in St.
John's, where he said, "No one said 'boo' to me."

Moyle says he leaves a card in the collection plate, telling church
officials where they can read the review.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun  5 16:11:00 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun  5 02:18:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Take that you Texan's
Message-ID: <000a01c56a23$d94ae150$5227e440@Harold>

A Quebecer is faster on the draw, wins gunslinger championship.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/06/05/1072711-cp.html

ha-ha

Harry
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun  5 20:50:14 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 06:57:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Inside Watergate&#39;s Last Chapter
Message-ID: <33095476.1118029814238.JavaMail.tomcat@localhost>



*Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.



Last go round on WaterGate.

peace,
barbara



 
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun  5 20:53:35 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 07:00:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] TIME.com -- Joe Klein: Which Brand Would You Buy?
Message-ID: <24047118.1118030015211.JavaMail.tomcat@localhost>



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You have received the following link from barbarasiomos38@msn.com

 
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun  5 20:55:37 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 07:02:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] America&#39;s House Party
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 03:35:26 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun  5 13:42:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <21376980.1118054126933.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Report: Apple Switching to Intel Chips
 
 By GREG SANDOVAL
 
 SAN FRANCISCO -- A stormy, decade-long relationship between Apple Computer Inc. and IBM is over, according to published reports. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce Monday morning at the company's software developers conference in San Francisco that Apple will discontinue using...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060500783.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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Travel - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/travel/?referrer=emailarticle

Technology - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/technology/?referrer=emailarticle




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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 03:37:42 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun  5 13:44:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <16024153.1118054262933.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 China's (Petty) Fiscal Crimes
 
 By Sebastian Mallaby
 
 For an example of what stokes anti-Americanism, consider the current tone on Capitol Hill toward China's economic policies.
 
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Travel - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/travel/?referrer=emailarticle

Technology - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/technology/?referrer=emailarticle




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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 03:38:51 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun  5 13:45:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <25230003.1118054331613.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 What We Would Lose in Alaska
 
 By Jonathan Waterman
 
 In the northeastern corner of Alaska is a strange, polygonal-patterned plain that the local Gwich'in people call Vadzaii Googii Vi Dehk'it Gwanlii, or the Sacred Place Where Life Begins. At this cold ocean edge a caribou herd calves, polar bears den and millions of migratory birds roost. Snowy...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 03:40:56 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun  5 13:47:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <30601235.1118054456583.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Two Democrats Disavow Dean's Jab at GOP
 
 By Mike Allen and Alan Cooperman
 
 Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) distanced themselves over the weekend from remarks by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who is facing criticism for the pace of the party's fundraising.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060500932.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun  6 04:15:04 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun  5 14:22:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. ROCKET DUMPED TOXIC FUEL IN GRAND BANKS:
	REPORT
Message-ID: <20050606111504.1229A1B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by Harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
U.S. ROCKET DUMPED TOXIC FUEL IN GRAND BANKS: REPORT
WebPosted Sun Jun  5 22:32:59 2005

---A U.S. rocket booster that came down into waters off Newfoundland's
Grand Banks in April was carrying up to 2.25 tonnes of highly toxic
chemicals.

They were in fuel that was left over after a Titan IVB rocket launched on
April 29 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., according to a newly released
government report.

The rocket dropped a 10,000-kg booster into the North Atlantic near
the Hibernia platform on the Grand Banks, about 350 kilometres east of
St. John's.

The report, prepared by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada,
says two chemicals in the fuel &#8211; dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen
dioxide &#8211; are poisonous and corrosive.

Inhaling vapours from the chemicals can kill a person, says the document
obtained under the Access to Information Act.

However, Environment Canada told the Canadian Press it doesn't believe
the chemicals pose a long-term danger to the Grand Banks.

The rocket mission caused a diplomatic scramble in April, when officials
revealed that the booster and other debris would land near oil platforms.
FROM APRIL 8, 2005: Conflicting reports emerge over U.S. rocket launch



The launch was delayed several times amid fears that the rocket
could land on a platform, killing people and possibly causing an
ecological disaster.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From jefbek at mindspring.com  Sun Jun  5 22:07:49 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Sun Jun  5 19:38:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Downing Street Memo
Message-ID: <200506060238.j562cST7010044@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Have you heard about
The Downing Street Memo?

http://downingstreetmemo.com/index.html

The Downing Street Memo is actually a document containing meeting minutes
transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002
with British and American intelligence agents a full eight months PRIOR to
the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.

The memo states "Intelligence and Facts were being FIXED around the Policy"!
Plans for war had begun in earnest as the Bush administration was publicly
announcing "We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq"

Please read this website

http://downingstreetmemo.com/whycare.html

It is no longer an opinion that Bush lied...

IT IS A PROVABLE FACT!

This is not getting much press...YET!

Please do what you can! Read about it, spread the word!
Congressman Conyers has drafted a letter to Bush demanding an explanation!
He has over 110,000 signatures. Please sign his petition:

http://www.johnconyers.com/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC={456ECCD5-4EAC-4C6D-8A17-
89728B250AE2}

John Kerry is going to speak about it on the floor of the Senate on Monday.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. Shouldn't there be an
investigation to find the truth? If this is true, hundreds of thousands of
lives have been horrifically used as pawns in Bush's sick war game! The
recent reveal of "Deep Throat" reminds us of how deeply twisted The
Republican Party can be. Please help to bring THE DOWNING STREET MEMO to
light.

Thank You,

Jef Bek
Citizen for truth and peace

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:21:06 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:28:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: High Court Allows Prosecution of Medical
	Marijuana Users
Message-ID: <20050606172106.CAB4323704B@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 6, 2005
High Court Allows Prosecution of Medical Marijuana Users
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/politics/06cnd-scot.html?ex=1118721600&en=5e87dbaad2929878&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:22:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:29:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Barred From the Long Haul
Message-ID: <20050606172244.39BBF237074@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 6, 2005
Barred From the Long Haul

New rules under the Patriot Act could worsen a national trucking shortage and bar law-abiding ex-offenders from one of the few professions that have historically been open to them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/opinion/06mon3.html?ex=1118721600&en=bb7ce979975a09ae&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:22:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:29:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Mobility Myth
Message-ID: <20050606172256.0F50A11F9EE@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 6, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: The Mobility Myth
By BOB HERBERT
Put the myth of the American Dream aside. The bottom line is that it's becoming increasingly difficult for working Americans to move up in class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/opinion/06herbert.html?ex=1118721600&en=34ab046ffd6b8948&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:23:17 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:30:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Sending Our Children Off to War (5 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050606172317.A47A8A0FDE@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 6, 2005
Sending Our Children Off to War (5 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/opinion/l06recruit.html?ex=1118721600&en=e3c285fa84c9bba7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:24:27 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:31:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hezbollah and Ally Win All 23 Seats in
	Lebanese Region Vote
Message-ID: <20050606172427.CA76C11FACB@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 6, 2005
Hezbollah and Ally Win All 23 Seats in Lebanese Region Vote
By JOHN KIFNER
Shiite political parties scored a sweeping victory in the second of four rounds of parliamentary elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/international/middleeast/06cnd-lebanon.html?ex=1118721600&en=6c8fb12620195336&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:24:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:31:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Dozens of Sunnis Expected to Help Draft
	Iraq Constitution
Message-ID: <20050606172454.554FF24AFB7@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 6, 2005
Dozens of Sunnis Expected to Help Draft Iraq Constitution
By EDWARD WONG
Sunni Arab leaders are expected to present by Thursday a list of 25 to 35 Sunni Arabs willing to help draft a permanent constitution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/international/middleeast/06iraq.html?ex=1118721600&en=3152476071da604b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:27:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:34:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Senator Clinton Assails Bush and G.O.P. at
	Campaign Fund-Raiser
Message-ID: <20050606172759.ED01511FA4F@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NEW YORK REGION | June 6, 2005
Senator Clinton Assails Bush and G.O.P. at Campaign Fund-Raiser
By PATRICK D. HEALY
Senator Hillary Clinton castigated President Bush today as mad with power and bent on marginalizing Democrats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html?ex=1118721600&en=6a4bc903ca5cf573&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 10:28:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:35:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Biden_Urges_U=2ES=2E_?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?to_Take_Steps_to_Close_Prison_at_Guant=E1namo?=
Message-ID: <20050606172809.D7774A0FF9@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 6, 2005
Biden Urges U.S. to Take Steps to Close Prison at Guantánamo
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. said that the military detention center "has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/politics/06gitmo.html?ex=1118721600&en=4bde924119b1846e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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0


----------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun  6 10:28:37 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:35:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Can You Believe This!!!
Message-ID: <BEC9D5D5.205AB%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Europe warned to boost its military spending
>By Peter Spiegel in London
>Published: June 5 2005 21:58 | Last updated: June 5 2005 21:58
>>

Europe is at risk of falling severely behind the US in weapons technologies
unless it increases spending on military equipment and research by as much
as ?45bn a year, a panel appointed by Michele Alliot-Marie, the French
defence minister, will warn this week.

According to people who have read the panel's report, which will be
presented at a symposium attended by Ms Alliot-Marie on Wednesday, it found
that spending on military hardware in the European Union is equal to only a
third of the Pentagon's equipment budget, and research spending Europe-wide
totals only a fifth of US outlays.

While the panel found that Europe's defence industry continues to be
competitive in several sectors - fighter aircraft, military helicopters and
defence electronics - it warns that heavy US spending on high-technology
networks that can link weapons together could leave Europe's capabilities in
so-called "systems of systems" far behind.

It calls for the establishment of a ministry working group, the College
Operationnel des Systemes de Systems, to plot French strategy in the area.

The report was compiled by the Defence Economy Council, a panel set up by Ms
Alliot-Marie after taking over the ministry three years ago to assess the
health of France and Europe's defence industries and to give a higher
profile to defence spending.

The nine-member council is chaired by Philippe Esper, a long-time government
and defence industry official, and includes General Henri Bentegeat, chief
of the French defence staff, and Fran?ois Lureau, head of the defence
procurement agency.

People who have read the report said that it finds France and Britain have
accounted for nearly half of all spending on military equipment in Europe
over the past three years and more than two-thirds of all EU defence
research budgets.

France and Britain are also two of only four European countries that spend 2
per cent of gross domestic product on defence (the US spends more than 3 per
cent), and the report says an EU-wide budget of 2 per cent of GDP would
increase military spending by ?45bn, which would help preserve Europe's
defence base.

Although the study includes several recommendations for European
co-operation in defence spending, it is also said to include a call for
increased transatlantic partnerships, urging French industry and officials
to overcome past difficulties to work more closely with the US.

It notes that Britain's BAE Systems remains the only European defence
company with a big US presence, and provides encouragement to French and
European groups to achieve a similar standing.

Indeed, people who have seen the report said it cites the UK as a model for
several defence spending initiatives, particularly its recent push to
outsource Ministry of Defence activities - including some front-line
missions, such as air-to-air refuelling tankers - to the private sector.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun  6 10:32:25 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:39:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Quentin Peel: Stop this demonising of the UN
Message-ID: <BEC9D6B9.205AF%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
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Quentin Peel: Stop this demonising of the UN
>By Quentin Peel
>Published: December 8 2004 23:01 | Last updated: December 8 2004 23:01
>>

The United Nations is a frustrating and often infuriating organisation. In
its many different guises it can be indecisive, inefficient, slow-moving and
bureaucratic. When crises clamour for simple solutions, the wheels of
international diplomacy grind desperately slowly - and people die as a
result. The reality, that simple solutions to complex conflicts are seldom
available or effective, is hard to sell.

The human tragedy in Darfur is a classic example. According to Kofi Annan,
the UN secretary-general, almost 2.3m people are in urgent need of
humanitarian aid in Sudan's western province, and "chaos is looming as order
is collapsing". That is the problem, but where is the solution? The UN
Security Council is deadlocked over imposing sanctions on Sudan - a path
that would anyway scarcely improve the lot of the 2.3m. Protection of the
civilian population is being left to the impoverished members of the African
Union.

It is not only the raucous ranks of American conservatives that are capable
of voicing criticism of the UN. But they have launched a witch-hunt in
Washington to sniff out corruption within the ranks of the UN bureaucracy -
over oil-for-food contracts in Iraq - that seems to have lost all contact
with reality. They seem to be hell-bent on destroying the organisation, and
forcing the resignation of Mr Annan, rather than contributing to a coherent
debate on its modernisation.

Last week a thoroughly sensible report on UN reform was published by a panel
of wise people set up by Mr Annan. It proposes 101 recommendations,
including institutional changes, probably rather too many for all but the
most dedicated to digest. Some parts of the system would be scrapped, others
reinforced, to focus on conflict-prevention and rebuilding failed states.
Just as important, the report analyses in a systematic way all the threats
to national, international and individual security that an organisation such
as the UN should seek to tackle or, even better, to avert.

It also proposes a definition of terrorism that would help all nations join
forces to fight the scourge, and sets out clear rules to determine when
"preventive force" may be warranted to avert an imminent threat, so we do
not get into another Iraq debacle.

The exercise was not designed entirely to persuade the US of the importance
and relevance of the UN system, but that is potentially its most important
task. The international divisions over the war in Iraq have brought to a
head long-festering mistrust in US political circles of the UN. Yet if a
system of collective security is ever to be effective, the sole superpower
must be involved.

The panel goes a long way to meet US concerns. When the UN was conceived in
1945, the overriding ambition was to prevent another world war, and the
greatest threats were of conflicts between nation states. The report
concludes that today's threats are far more complex: civil wars, ethnic
cleansing within a country's borders, terrorism, proliferation of nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons, and transnational organised crime are all
part of the picture. So are economic and social threats, including poverty,
diseases and damage to the environment.

The list could have been written by Mr Bush's national security advisers,
although economic and social threats might have been given less attention.
But the panel goes further to stress just how interconnected they all are,
and how failed states - caused by civil war, or poverty, or even in future
by the ravages of diseases such as HIV/Aids - are a critical element in
global insecurity. Al-Qaeda was bred in one failed state, Afghanistan. The
most terrible genocide of the recent past happened in another, Rwanda.

The fundamental conclusion of the UN panel is that facing such a complex
array of threats, no one state - not even the world's superpower - can
adequately protect itself. However imperfect the system, collective security
is indispensable. Nation states may co-operate on intelligence and law
enforcement, but international rules are essential to meet threats that do
not respect national boundaries.

That may seem like a statement of the obvious to most people. It may seem
even more so in the light of the US policy failures in Iraq. But there is
clearly a huge job of persuasion to be done in Washington.

Two factors make that a particularly difficult task. One is that Mr Bush is
not going to admit he was wrong in Iraq. The other is that the conservative
bandwagon is obsessed by the oil-for-food scandal. There is a determination
to expose corruption in the UN bureaucracy, although it was the member
states, including the US and UK, who were in charge of the oil-for-food
programme, and not Mr Annan's staff. Any suggestion of positive UN reform is
seen as a distraction.

Those who are intent on destroying the UN are unlikely to be persuaded. But
it is high time the president distanced himself from the witch-hunt, instead
of tacitly encouraging it. Mr Bush may still be furious with Mr Annan for
daring to say the war in Iraq was illegal, and the assault on Falluja a
mistake, but he must know that he is running out of inspiration on how to
stabilise the country.

The UN reform plan provides him with an ideal opportunity to start afresh.
He can claim credit for the realistic focus on threats, preventive action
and defining terrorism. He does not have to admit he was wrong. But he does
have to know it in his heart.

quentin.peel@ft.com
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun  6 10:50:04 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun  5 20:57:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] An article for you from an Economist.com reader.
Message-ID: <200506061727.NAA10617@stage-web-app.economist.com>

  
- AN ARTICLE FOR YOU, FROM ECONOMIST.COM - 

Dear civic,

Michael Butler (michael@intrafi.com) wants you to see this article on Economist.com.



(Note: the sender's e-mail address above has not been verified.)

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DEAD, BUT NOT YET BURIED
Jun 6th 2005  

Comprehensive rejection by voters in France and the Netherlands has
killed the European Union constitution--even if some of the EU's
leaders can't yet bring themselves to admit it. How is the 25-nation
club to get out of this crisis?

THE Thalys train that runs from Paris to Amsterdam via Brussels is a
symbol of the high-tech, borderless Europe that the leaders of the
European Union want to build. But last week, the
Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam route became the fault-line for a European
political earthquake. The first shock hit in France on the night of
Sunday May 29th, when exit polls showed that France had voted to reject
the EU constitution by 55-45%. In the European Commission building in
Brussels, the news was met with a collective gasp--and, from somewhere
in the crowd, an "ooh-la-la".

Senior officials responded with all the panicky reactions of a
small-town mayor in an American disaster movie. The insistence of
Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and current president
of the EU, that the constitution was not dead, and that ratification
must continue, was echoed by Jose Manuel Barroso and Josep Borrell,
presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament
respectively. Even when, on June 1st, the Dutch voted still more
strongly against the constitution--62% said NEE, on a
stronger-than-expected turnout of 62.8%--the EU's worthies insisted
that ratification must continue elsewhere.

The Dutch and French noes are a terrible blow to the morale of true
believers in political union, whose faith in the historical
inevitability of their dream may never recover. Given the depth of the
commitment of such men as Mr Juncker to the project, it is not
surprising that his first reaction was of defiance. But the arguments
for continuing with ratification seem increasingly surreal.

The legal position is that, for the constitution to come into force,
all 25 members of the EU must ratify it. When they signed the text in
Rome last October, EU leaders attached a declaration that if, two years
later, four-fifths of countries had ratified, but some had "encountered
difficulties", an EU summit would be held to consider the situation.
This declaration is the basis for Mr Juncker's insistence that
ratification must continue. He points out that nine countries have
already ratified the constitution (although only Spain did so via a
referendum). Are the wishes of the nine to be ignored, simply because
the French and Dutch have encountered difficulties? 

Yet there is a strong risk that referendums in Denmark, Poland, the
Czech Republic or Britain, and even in Mr Juncker's own Luxembourg,
which is planning to vote on July 10th, will produce further
rejections. And it is anyway hard to see how anybody can seriously be
asked to vote on a text whose legal status is now in limbo. To send
people to the polls to answer a hypothetical question is to invite
trouble. The British, though treading carefully, are clearly looking
for a way to bring the ratification process to a halt, most likely at
the EU summit on June 16th and 17th. On Monday, Britain formally
suspended the legislation needed to hold its referendum.

The broader problem is that EU leaders had assumed that potential
non-ratifiers would either be small countries, such as Denmark or the
Czech Republic--whose arms might be twisted into voting again--or a
more sceptical country such as Britain. Some keen federalists relished
the idea of presenting the British with the stark choice of ratifying
the constitution or leaving the EU. But it is impossible to see either
"solution"--a second vote or expulsion--applying to France or the
Netherlands.

If it were not to invite an even bigger raspberry, a new vote would
have to be on a text that had been revised or qualified in some way.
But the strongest French demands in any renegotiation would be for some
kind of extension of French social protection to the rest of the EU,
which other members would never concede. Yet if renegotiation and a
second vote are unthinkable, so is the option of chucking France out.
Unlike Britain, France has always been politically (and geographically)
central to the EU. Like the Netherlands, France is one of the six
founders, and also one of the 12 that have joined the single European
currency, the euro. An EU without France is simply unimaginable.

How else might the EU get out of its crisis? Technocrats in Brussels
are already talking of cherry-picking parts of the constitution that
could be pushed through without changing the treaties--a strategy that
might avert new referendums. The difficulty is that some key
provisions--changes to the voting system, the abolition of some vetoes,
the creation of a Charter of Fundamental Rights--undoubtedly require
treaty amendments. The one big change that lawyers think might be
achievable without referendums is creating an EU foreign minister,
which could be done by inter-governmental agreement. But that could be
politically tricky. After the French and Dutch votes, anything smacking
of an elite-driven attempt to circumvent the popular will would look
awful.

NATIONAL EGOISM TO THE FORE? 
Cherry-picking the constitution is not in any case a response to the
crisis of legitimacy revealed by these votes. One idea long popular
with federalists is for a "hard core" led by France and Germany to
forge ahead with an ever-closer union. There are some common points in
the German and French debates that might aid such a venture, notably
shared anxiety about the impact of enlargement. But it is hard to see
France's Jacques Chirac or Germany's Gerhard Schroder being able to
pursue such an option now. Mr Chirac has been humiliated (see
article[1]), and Mr Schroder is likely to lose the German election in
September (see article[2]). One unkind member of Mr Chirac's own party
was quoted in LE FIGARO last week likening the Chirac-Schroder
partnership to one between the "blind and the crippled".

If France cannot regain the initiative in Europe through a joint
venture with Germany, it may become increasingly curmudgeonly in its
dealings with the EU. This would be bad news for future enlargement of
the club. Even Bulgaria and Romania, which have signed accession
treaties, could find the doors bolted at the last moment--the French
parliament still has to ratify Bulgarian and Romanian membership. The
omens are worse for Turkey, due to start membership talks with the EU
in October. The prospect of Turkish membership was a strong card for
the no campaigns in both France and the Netherlands. Angela Merkel, who
is likely to be the next German chancellor, is against Turkish
membership of the EU. Even if negotiations start on time, they may do
so only on the basis of the EU making even clearer that there is no
promise of eventual Turkish membership. 

The French will kick up a fuss on other issues too. Mr Chirac will
press harder than ever to scrap the rebate that Britain enjoys on its
contribution to the EU budget, which will worsen his already bad
relations with Britain's Tony Blair, who will take over the EU
presidency from Mr Juncker in July. France will also oppose further
economic liberalisation, in direct opposition to the European
Commission. Watching from Berlin, one senior German official predicts
gloomily that "if France pushes its national interests even harder,
others will do the same. We may be entering a new era of national
egoism."

-----
[1] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=4033934
[2] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=4033927
 

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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun  6 11:07:09 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael)
Date: Sun Jun  5 21:14:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <200506061807.j56I79VW000837@thor.thenation.com>

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From dekuyper at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun  6 11:00:39 2005
From: dekuyper at sbcglobal.net (Gerald Gerald)
Date: Sun Jun  5 21:23:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...
Message-ID: <200506060423.j564NqcU010422@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

The alternative to genetically modified, poisoned and
irradiated food is organic food. It is no surprise
that the organic foods movement is growing by leaps
and bounds.
 
The Whole Foods Markets chain, for example, the
largest buyer of organic produce in the U.S., has
continually expanded to serve 40% more customers per
year, every year, for the last ten years.

 Organic fruits and vegetables contain twice the
beneficial trace minerals, according to a 1993 study
in the Journal of Applied Nutrition comparing organic
to conventional produce.

 And that's not even the important difference. The
amount of life energy in fresh organic fruits and
vegetables compared to conventional ones is like the
difference between night and day. You can see the
difference show up in Kirlian energy photography, or
you can ask a monkey.

Really! In 2002, keepers at a Copenhagen zoo began
offering 10% organic fruits to animals. The
chimpanzees surprised the keepers by actively choosing
organic bananas over the conventional ones with
pesticides. Furthermore, when they had organic bananas
to eat, the chimpanzees would eat the skins as well,
but they would take the peel off the  conventional
bananas before eating them! As you can tell, those
chimps don't monkey around when it comes to organic
bananas!


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 11:29:16 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun  5 21:36:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...
References: <200506060423.j564NqcU010422@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
Message-ID: <004e01c56ac5$a5e66ad0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Although I, too, try to eat organic as often as possible, let me offer a 
"devil's advocate" observation here.

Mr. Brown has an "organic" farm, at which he adheres to all the procedures 
required for organic farming.  Mr. White, nearby, has a regular farm.

If Mr. White uses pesticides and does other things that are not "organic," 
and those pesticides are getting into the water table - which means they may 
well spread into Mr. Brown's farm - then is Mr. Brown's product truly 
"organic?"

Give this some thought, since it is far more common than you may think.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 2:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...


> The alternative to genetically modified, poisoned and
> irradiated food is organic food. It is no surprise
> that the organic foods movement is growing by leaps
> and bounds.
>
> The Whole Foods Markets chain, for example, the
> largest buyer of organic produce in the U.S., has
> continually expanded to serve 40% more customers per
> year, every year, for the last ten years.
>
> Organic fruits and vegetables contain twice the
> beneficial trace minerals, according to a 1993 study
> in the Journal of Applied Nutrition comparing organic
> to conventional produce.
>
> And that's not even the important difference. The
> amount of life energy in fresh organic fruits and
> vegetables compared to conventional ones is like the
> difference between night and day. You can see the
> difference show up in Kirlian energy photography, or
> you can ask a monkey.
>
> Really! In 2002, keepers at a Copenhagen zoo began
> offering 10% organic fruits to animals. The
> chimpanzees surprised the keepers by actively choosing
> organic bananas over the conventional ones with
> pesticides. Furthermore, when they had organic bananas
> to eat, the chimpanzees would eat the skins as well,
> but they would take the peel off the  conventional
> bananas before eating them! As you can tell, those
> chimps don't monkey around when it comes to organic
> bananas!
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 10:21:00 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (Bill Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun  5 22:40:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Withdraw from Iraq
Message-ID: <20050606172133.A43A1147BF@x02.boston.com>

 

____________________________________________________________

The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: Withdraw from Iraq 
Date:     June 6, 2005

"WE WERE early opponents of the US invasion of Iraq. Nonetheless,
once American forces were committed, we hoped that our concerns would
be proven wrong. That has not been the case."
____________________________________________________________

To see this recommendation, click on the link below or cut and paste it
into a Web browser:

http://www.boston.com:80/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/06/withdraw_from_iraq

____________________________________________________________

This message was sent by Bill Swiggard [mailto:swiggard@comcast.net]
through Boston.com's email recommendation service. If you have questions
or comments about this free service, please email us at feedback@boston.com.


From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 10:25:00 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (Bill Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun  5 22:40:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A long way from the gulag
Message-ID: <20050606172544.9600A147D3@x02.boston.com>

 

____________________________________________________________

The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: A long way from the gulag 
Date:     June 6, 2005

"NO PERSON of conscience, whatever his or her views on the war in
Iraq, the war on terror, and US foreign policy in general, should
remain untroubled by reports of prisoner abuse by American forces.
These reports, including one from the FBI, indicate a systemic problem.
It is appalling that in a war conducted in our name, detainees have
been ..."
____________________________________________________________

To see this recommendation, click on the link below or cut and paste it
into a Web browser:

http://www.boston.com:80/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/06/a_long_way_from_the_gulag

____________________________________________________________

This message was sent by Bill Swiggard [mailto:swiggard@comcast.net]
through Boston.com's email recommendation service. If you have questions
or comments about this free service, please email us at feedback@boston.com.


From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Mon Jun  6 12:48:01 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Sun Jun  5 22:54:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV87EC369B7CE3ECBCDC295ABFB0@phx.gbl>

Ian...

Wouldn't it be Mr. Browns (organic farm) responsibility to ensure that Mr Whites (regular farm) water does not reach his farm?

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian
Sent: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 11:29:16 -0700
To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...

Although I, too, try to eat organic as often as possible, let me offer a 
"devil's advocate" observation here.

Mr. Brown has an "organic" farm, at which he adheres to all the procedures 
required for organic farming.  Mr. White, nearby, has a regular farm.

If Mr. White uses pesticides and does other things that are not "organic," 
and those pesticides are getting into the water table - which means they may 
well spread into Mr. Brown's farm - then is Mr. Brown's product truly 
"organic?"

Give this some thought, since it is far more common than you may think.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 2:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Monkying around ...


> The alternative to genetically modified, poisoned and
> irradiated food is organic food. It is no surprise
> that the organic foods movement is growing by leaps
> and bounds.
>
> The Whole Foods Markets chain, for example, the
> largest buyer of organic produce in the U.S., has
> continually expanded to serve 40% more customers per
> year, every year, for the last ten years.
>
> Organic fruits and vegetables contain twice the
> beneficial trace minerals, according to a 1993 study
> in the Journal of Applied Nutrition comparing organic
> to conventional produce.
>
> And that's not even the important difference. The
> amount of life energy in fresh organic fruits and
> vegetables compared to conventional ones is like the
> difference between night and day. You can see the
> difference show up in Kirlian energy photography, or
> you can ask a monkey.
>
> Really! In 2002, keepers at a Copenhagen zoo began
> offering 10% organic fruits to animals. The
> chimpanzees surprised the keepers by actively choosing
> organic bananas over the conventional ones with
> pesticides. Furthermore, when they had organic bananas
> to eat, the chimpanzees would eat the skins as well,
> but they would take the peel off the  conventional
> bananas before eating them! As you can tell, those
> chimps don't monkey around when it comes to organic
> bananas!
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun  6 13:02:20 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun  5 23:09:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US can bar medical cannabis use
Message-ID: <20050606_200220_034475.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US can bar medical cannabis use **
People in the US who use cannabis for medical use risk prosecution after a ruling by the US Supreme Court.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4614635.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun  6 13:19:23 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun  5 23:26:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: China dismisses US Tiananmen call
Message-ID: <20050606_201923_067277.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** China dismisses US Tiananmen call **
China dismisses US calls to give a full account of the people killed during the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4612535.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun  6 13:20:12 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun  5 23:27:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US and N Korea officials in talks
Message-ID: <20050606_202012_036686.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US and N Korea officials in talks **
Officials from the US and North Korea have held talks at the United Nations, the state department confirms.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4615669.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From arianna at ariannaonline.com  Mon Jun  6 13:47:56 2005
From: arianna at ariannaonline.com (Arianna Huffington)
Date: Mon Jun  6 01:27:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Russert Watch: Ken Mehlman Gets the E-Zpass
	Treatment 6-6-05
Message-ID: <200506060826.j568Qvoa010971@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

This week's column takes a look at the easy time Tim Russert gave RNC Chair Ken Mehlman on Sunday's Meet the Press...and every weekend check out The Russert Watch on huffingtonpost.com.


--


THE RUSSERT WATCH: KEN MEHLMAN GETS THE E-ZPASS TREATMENT

By Arianna Huffington

Sunday's "Meet the Press," featuring RNC chair Ken Mehlman, was another classic example of why host Tim Russert is fast becoming journalism's answer to the "E-ZPass," those electronic tags that allow drivers to go through toll booths without having to stop. On the show today, Mehlman was allowed to distort, twist, manipulate, obfuscate and "disassemble" his way through every stop on the disinformation highway.

The key to the E-ZPass method is no follow-ups - or lame follow-ups quickly abandoned. And Mehlman is a master at dealing with those. His technique? Just repeat or slightly rephrase his talking point, and trust that Russert will give up, wave him on and proceed to the next prepared question.

To see a master in action, let's go to the transcript:

Early in the interview, Russert asks Mehlman whether "the president has hit a wall with his domestic agenda? What's the problem?"

The RNC chair dances around the question so deftly his moves should be taught at Arthur Murray: "Tim, I don't think there's a problem," he responds, and then promptly changes the subject to Ronald Reagan before closing with an RNC commercial.

"Before we provided prescription drugs for Medicare, we were told it wasn't going to happen. Before the president was able to move forward with No Child Left Behind, we were told it was stalled. We just passed class-action reform for the first time in six years and that, too, was predicted not to happen."

If Russert were doing his job, he would have countered with some well-aired problems with these three accomplishments: the Medicare prescription drug plan was promised to cost under $400 billion over 10 years but now stands at $724 billion (and, in a stunning giveaway to the drug industry, the government gets no bulk-purchasing discount); the No Child Left Behind Act has been such a massively underfunded disaster that 12 states are considering legislation to get out of it; and the class-action "reform" will just make it harder for injured people to get a fair day in court.

But E-ZPass Russert mentions none of the above. Instead, he waves Mehlman through and moves on to stem cell research about which Mehlman says: "This is the first administration ever that has funded with federal dollars embryonic stem cell research."

Does Russert bother to point out that this is not much of claim, since this is the first administration ever to have had the chance to fund embryonic stem cell research? Of course not. Mehlman is in the GOP Express Lane. No need to slow down for little things like facts. Move right along.

Russert actually allows Mehlman to get away with saying, "So you have an administration that is unprecedented in our commitment to more scientific research," without offering a spit take, a rim shot, or a "Please, Ken, not even I can let you slide on that one!"

Russert then switches to his pet interrogatory method: asking his guest for a reaction to a pointed quote from someone else - in this case, former Republican Sen. John Danforth:

"By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians. As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around."

Mehlman bypasses the criticism altogether, leaving Danforth in his rear-view mirror with a condescending, "I think he's a good man. I would respectfully disagree with that." And Russert lets him get away without even attempting to answer a serious charge from a senior member of his own party.

And on and on Mehlman rolls, on issue after issue after issue:

On the deficit, he follows the administration's standard "In An Emergency Break Glass" procedure and seeks refuge in 9/11: "Well, Tim, I would say that what we've suffered, unfortunately, was an attack on this country."

When asked why, even after the president's 100-day tour, 56 percent of Americans continue to oppose his Social Security plan, Mehlman says he "would respectfully disagree with those numbers," then counters them with a bit of complete nonsense: "That same NBC News poll showed that a plurality of Americans believe that Congress is moving too slowly on the question of dealing with Social Security."

Now even if a plurality of Americans saying something actually meant anything, I read that poll three times from beginning to end - yes, I did have a fun Sunday - and it says nothing of the sort.

When asked about the latest Pentagon report that, in fact, several Korans were mishandled, Mehlman responds by calling this "unacceptable," but tries to minimize the unacceptability by putting it in "context": "We also need to remember it in the context, in the context of an America that is liberating Muslims."

Well, it's all fine and dandy if we want to look at it that way, but the question is not how we look at it, it's how Muslims look at it. And, unlike Russert, they're not buying Mehlman's "context."

When asked about the Downing Street Memo, which shows that Bush was determined to go to war almost a year before the invasion, and that the intelligence was accordingly "fixed," Mehlman falls back on an out-and-out fabrication: "Tim, that report has been discredited by everyone else who's looked at it since then."

Russert actually manages a follow up on this whopper: "I don't believe that the authenticity of this report has been discredited."

But Mehlman just flashes his E-ZPass again: "I believe that the findings of the report, the fact that the intelligence was somehow fixed, have been totally discredited by everyone who's looked at it."

And so he gets through. And, returning to form, Bulldog Russert just gives up.

They eventually make it to Pat Tillman, and the fact that Tillman's family was deeply offended by the Pentagon's lies regarding the circumstances of their son's death and its attempt to make Tillman a poster child to sell the war.

Mehlman's response is that he "respectfully disagrees" with Tillman's mother.

In fact, Mehlman said he "respectfully disagrees" a total of seven times over the course of the interview. Sometimes he respectfully disagrees with people, sometimes with a report, sometimes with numbers. Mostly, he "respectfully disagrees" with the truth.

But there's something about the way Mehlman says it that makes him come off like a prissy doorman. You know that when he says, "I respectfully disagree," he really means "Fuck off."

"Ken Mehlman," Russert intones in closing, "we hope you'll come back."

And given the obliging treatment he got, you know he will.

? 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun  6 15:54:55 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun  6 02:01:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Protests deepen in Bolivian city
Message-ID: <20050606_225455_080826.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Protests deepen in Bolivian city **
Tens of thousands of Bolivians rally in La Paz in one of the biggest protests in weeks of unrest.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4613119.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:05:44 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:13:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - STUDY SHOWS HEAT AND SMOG ARE KILLERS
Message-ID: <20050607000544.BD01B69AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
STUDY SHOWS HEAT AND SMOG ARE KILLERS
WebPosted Mon Jun  6 13:54:30 2005

---Smog is responsible for more than 800 deaths a year in Toronto,
and extreme heat makes the problem even worse, a new government study
has found.

The issue appears to be just as bad, in relative terms, in three smaller
cities &#8211; Montreal, Ottawa and Windsor, Ont. &#8211; that were
studied by a team of scientists from Toronto's public health department,
the federal government and McMaster University in Hamilton.

Data from the study were released in Toronto on Monday, which happened
also to be the first day this year that that city announced a heat alert,
advising residents to: Keep cool. Take rests. Drink lots of water,
whether they are thirsty or not. Check on elderly or frail neighbours,
relatives and friends who live alone. Take advantage of air conditioning
in public places such as malls, community centres and libraries.

Monday was also the 14th day this year that Ontario's environment
department issued a smog alert for Toronto. That matches the total number
of smog warnings that were issued in all of 2004 &#8211; and this year's
summer has not yet officially started.

The study measured the impact of extreme cold, extreme heat and air
pollution on premature deaths in the four cities over a 46-year period.

It concluded that extreme heat was killing an average of 120 people a
year in Toronto, 121 in Montreal, 41 in Ottawa and 37 in Windsor.

Extreme cold was responsible for an average of 105 deaths a year in
Toronto, 143 in Montreal, 54 in Ottawa and 32 in Windsor.

The air pollution that causes smog was found to be the cause of
822 deaths a year in Toronto, 818 in Montreal, 368 in Ottawa and
258 in Windsor.

The study predicted that heat-related deaths will double by 2050 and
triple by 2080 because of global warming.

Increased air pollution will cause a 20 per cent increase in smog-related
deaths by 2050 and a 25 per cent increase by 2080, the study estimated.

The scientists recommended the federal government introduce a national
heat warning system such as Toronto's.

And they urged the federal government to focus on mandatory, rather than
voluntary measures to meet Canada's targets under the Kyoto Protocol for
reducing smog and greenhouse gases.

 INDEPTH: Kyoto Protocol

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:08:22 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:15:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - POPE CONDEMNS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Message-ID: <20050607000822.6C6A069AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
POPE CONDEMNS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
WebPosted Mon Jun  6 18:01:43 2005

--- Pope Benedict has condemned same-sex unions, calling them expressions
of "anarchic freedom" that threaten the future of the family.

        It is the Pope's first clear pronouncement on gay marriages since
        his election in April.

        The Pope also condemned divorce, artificial birth control and
        trial marriages, saying all of these practices were dangerous for
        the family.

"Today's various forms of dissolution of marriage, free unions, trial
marriages, as well as the pseudo-matrimonies between people of the same
sex are instead expressions of anarchic freedom which falsely tries to
pass itself off as the true liberation of man," he said.

        The Pope made his comments Monday, while addressing families at
        Rome's St. John's Cathedral.

        Gay marriages are already legal in several European countries.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:11:21 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:18:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CHINA CALLING A HALT TO STEEL INDUSTRY'S
	PARTY, DBRS SAYS
Message-ID: <20050607001121.7513169AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CHINA CALLING A HALT TO STEEL INDUSTRY'S PARTY, DBRS SAYS
WebPosted Mon Jun  6 17:11:29 2005

---A Toronto debt-rating agency has added its voice to warnings that the
party is over in the steel industry, where times had been so good that
Stelco Inc. set a profit record while under bankruptcy court protection.

The boom was due primarily to China's hunger for steel as it emerged as a
dominant manufacturing force, but what China gives it can take away,
Dominion Bond Rating Service says.

Developments in the world's most populous country "have a large influence
on the steel industry, given that China is the world's largest producer
and consumer of steel," it said in a commentary on Monday.

 "China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel"


"Surging Chinese demand largely drove the rebound in 2004 steel prices,
but China has reportedly been a net exporter of steel in recent months.
As a result, the emergence of China as a significant and sustainable net
steel exporter would place significant pressure on prices."

Conditions have softened lately in the North American steel industry,
DBRS said.

FROM MAY 10, 2005: Stelco posts record Q1 profit

FROM MAY 26, 2005: Stelco sees steel prices falling

"Weakened demand, Chinese exports and high steel inventory levels have
largely contributed to the steady decline in benchmark U.S. flat-rolled
steel prices, which have corrected roughly 35 per cent from peak August
2004 levels," it said.

"In addition, raw material prices, particularly iron ore and
metallurgical coal, have sharply increased in recent months."

A return to 2004 prices is "highly unlikely" in the short term and
measures of Canadian steel makers' creditworthiness may soon weaken as
rising costs squeeze profit margins, DBRS said.

"The impact will be most notable on the integrated producers, including
Algoma Steel Inc., Stelco Inc. and, to a lesser extent, Dofasco Inc.,
given their respective exposures to iron ore and coal," it said.

Mini-mill producer Ipsco Inc. is expected to do better, partly
because prices of scrap steel, its primary feedstock, are falling,
the agency said.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:12:27 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:19:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. COURT FINDS POT ILLEGAL,
	EVEN ON DOCTOR'S ORDERS
Message-ID: <20050607001227.237D169AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
U.S. COURT FINDS POT ILLEGAL, EVEN ON DOCTOR'S ORDERS
WebPosted Mon Jun  6 12:24:09 2005

---Sick people can't smoke marijuana in the United States, even under
doctor's orders, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

Six of the court's nine justices supported the decision, which overturns
laws passed in 10 of the 50 states that allowed people to grow their own
pot and use it to treat various illnesses.

The case before the court involved two seriously ill women in California
who were smoking marijuana, on the advice of their doctor, to relieve
chronic pain.

Angel Raich, who lives in Oakland, suffers from ailments including
scoliosis, a brain tumour, chronic nausea, fatigue and pain. She said she
was partly paralyzed until she started smoking pot several times a day.

Diane Monson, who has a degenerative spine disease, grows marijuana in
her Oroville backyard.

A California court ruled in 2003 that prosecution of medical marijuana
users such as Raich and Monson under the federal Controlled Substances
Act was unconstitutional. The Bush administration appealed that finding,
and the Supreme Court's majority said on Monday the federal law was a
valid exercise of Congress's power, "even as applied to the troubling
facts of this case."

California's medical marijuana law, passed by voters as a proposition in
the 1996 general election, allows people to grow, smoke or obtain
marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation.

The states of Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon,
Vermont and Washington have medical marijuana laws similar to
California's.

The legal question presented a dilemma for the Supreme Court's
conservatives, who have pushed to broaden states' rights in recent years.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion, which raised
concerns about abuse of marijuana laws. "Our cases have taught us that
there are some unscrupulous physicians who over-prescribe when it is
sufficiently profitable to do so," he said.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor filed a dissent, arguing that states should
be allowed to set their own rules. "The states' core police powers have
always included authority to define criminal law and to protect the
health, safety and welfare of their citizens," she said.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:25:25 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:32:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] No Bud for you!
Message-ID: <001b01c56af7$695fce80$9f3fe440@Harold>

The world's biggest consumer of 'the herb', has just had another hit in the face. 

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/06/us-pot050606.html

I did not re-send this because of America's consumerism of the herb!

I re-sent it as a fact that as a medicinal and a recognized relief for cancer patients is being ignored, that is beyond belief !!

You are being sent back to the dark ages my American friends.

Later H

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun  6 17:42:00 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (Bill Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun  6 03:49:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] SFGate: Bush,
	The Spoiled Man-Child/What causes the fall of empires? Why,
	stubborn leaders who speak like toddlers and never admit mistakes
Message-ID: <E1DfSAV-00009D-Qi@griva-2.sfgate.com>


 Hubris! May it anger the gods and bring him down...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/06/03/notes060305.DTL
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, June 3, 2005 (SF Gate)
Bush, The Spoiled Man-Child/What causes the fall of empires? Why, stubborn leaders who speak like toddlers and never admit mistakes
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Know what real men do? They admit their mistakes. Know what real people do
in times of great stress and strife and economic downturn? They seek help,
understand they don't know all the answers, realize they might not've been
asking the right questions in the first place.

   Know what great leaders, great nations do at times of war and fracture and
massive bludgeoning debt? All of the above, all the time, with great
intelligence and humility and grace and awareness and shared humanity. Or
they die.

   But not BushCo. This is the hilarious thing. This is the appalling thing,
still. How can this man remain so blindly, staggeringly resolute? How can
he be so appallingly ignorant of fact, of truth, of evidence, of deep
thought? In short, what the hell is wrong with George W. Bush?

   Here it is, another bumbling, barely articulate press conference by Dubya,
one of few he ever gives because he clearly hates the things and is deeply
troubled by them, hates reporters who ask complicated questions and hates
people who dare doubt his simple mindset, his effectiveness, his policies,
his lopsided myopic one-way black/white good/evil worldview.

   Bush hates press conferences because he can't speak extemporaneously and
can't form a complete sentence without mashing up the language like a
five-year-old and can't express a complex idea to save his life and
somewhere deep down, he knows it, and he knows we know it, and it makes
him mumble and stutter and wish he could be somewhere else, anywhere else,
like sittin' on the back porch in Texas eatin' ribs and dreamin' 'bout
baseball. Ahhh, there now. That's better.

   But here he is, instead, stuck like a pinned bug in the Rose Garden,
struggling to answer tricky, multisyllabic questions from the godforsaken
press. Go ahead, read the Q&A, linked above. It's sort of staggering. It's
also very impressive, in a soul-stabbing, nauseating way.

   Bush is, to be sure and in a word, unyielding. Determined. Immovable.
Also, deeply confused. Myopic as hell. Frighteningly narrow minded.
Weirdly random. Childish in a way that would make any good parent
seriously question whether it might be time to get their child some
Ritalin and an emetic.

   Unlike you or me or any human anywhere who happens to be in possession of
humility or subtlety of mind, Bush, to this day, admits zero mistakes. He
refuses help, rejects suggestions that everything is not dandy and swell.
He is confounded by questions that dare suggest he might be somewhat
inept, or failing. And he absolutely insists that America exists in some
sort of bizarre utopian vacuum, isolated and virtuous and towering like a
mad hobbled king over our enemies and allies alike.

   He is, in other words, our downfall.

   Iraq? Going smoothly, Bush says, happy with the progress there, despite
huge surges in insurgent violence and endless uptick of the U.S. death
toll and the utter wasteland we've made of that poor, shredded nation.

   Iran, North Korea and Egypt? Just dandy. No serious problems at all. Gotta
talk more with that "North Korean" guy though, sort out the "nukuler"
problem. Sneering thug John Bolton for U.N. ambassador? You betcha, still
on track, a good man, despite what everybody -- and I do mean everybody --
says.

   Overhaul Social Security, despite an enormous lack of support from Dems
and Repubs and the vast majority of the American people? "Just a matter of
time," Bush mutters, completely blinded to the fact that it's an enormous
mistake. His deeply hypocritical stance on stem-cell research that
kow-tows to the deeply ignorant Christian Right? No real answer there.
Doesn't compute. Just shrug that sucker right off.

   Notice, when you read: There is no eloquent, deeply felt defense of ideas.
There is no intellectual breakdown of opinion, no multifaceted
explanation, no passionate clarification. And there is certainly no
reference to outside ideas, a confession that we might need help, input,
wisdom from our neighbors, from science, from the wise and the
experienced.

   It's a fact we've known all along but which keeps hammering at us like a
drunk gorilla hammers at a dead mouse: Bush is able to speak only at one
level, to one level. The level of a child. The level of a simpleton. The
level of a sweet, bumbling, small-town mayor, addressing a PTA meeting,
everyone in soft plaids and everyone drinking light beer and everyone
wondering about just what the heck to do about the rusty swing sets and
the busted stoplight.

   Bush is, of course, not talking to you or me or anyone with a remotely
active imagination when he speaks at press conferences, or at his staged,
pre-screened, sycophant-rich "town hall" meetings, so full of plain,
everyday folk hand-selected for their blind love of Shrub and lack of
ability to ask hard questions (read this transcript of a recent town hall
on Social Security, and come away stupefied at the man's shocking ability
to appear just exactly as gullible and uneducated as his questioners).

   He is not even speaking to conservative Democrats or moderate Republicans.
He's certainly not speaking to highly educated people who harbor a sincere
curiousity for and tenuous understanding of the complexities of the world.

   Bush is, of course, speaking to children. He is speaking to babies. It is
a decidedly shallow and hollow and oddly deflated type of language that
offers not a single nutritious or substantive thought to the political or
cultural dialogue, other than to expand his staggering collection of
embarrassing Bushisms.

   It's all merely a crayon drawing, an intellectual wading pool, a big messy
cartoon world populated by manly white good guys and fanged dark evil guys
and we are good and They are evil and that's all there is to it so please
stop asking weird tricky polysyllabic questions.

   Maybe this is appropriate. Maybe this is as it should be. After all, we
are, by and large, a nation that refuses to grow up, refuses to take
responsibility for our gluttony and its global effects, refuses to see the
world as it is now, a mad tangle of interconnected humanity, a global
marketplace, a hodgepodge of variegated religions all stemming from the
same source and which therefore all require a nimble and nuanced and
deeply intelligent leadership, to navigate. Qualities which our current
leadership has, well, not at all.

   The U.S. still behaves, when all is said and done, like one of those
scared wild monkeys, clinging desperately to a shiny object despite the
trap closing in all around us, unable to let go of this old, silly,
faux-cowboy mentality of boom boom kill kill God is your daddy now sit
down and shut up.

   What causes the downfall of empires? What causes the implosion of
leadership, the slide of great nations into the deep muck of recession and
war and mediocrity and numb irrelevance? That's easy. Stagnation. Refusal
to change. Refusal to adapt, to progress. Refusal to grow the hell up, to
take responsibility for our shortcomings and failures, as well as our
successes.

   Indeed, George W. Bush would make a great small-town mayor, somewhere deep
in a dusty, forgotten part of Texas. His still-appalling inability to
speak with any depth or resonance, coupled with his brand of personable,
aww-shucks, none-too-bright simpleton worldview is perfect for some cute,
redneck, tiny burg. It really is.

   But for a major world power caught in the throes of a desperate need to
change and grow and evolve, he is, of course, imminent death, leading us
deeper into a regressive ideological tar pit from which we may never
emerge.

Thoughts for the author? E-mail him. Subscribe to this column here Mark's
column archives are here The RSS feed for Mark's column is here

   Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every Wednesday and Friday on
SF Gate, unless it appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which it never does.
Subscribe to this column at sfgate.com/newsletters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 SF Gate


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun  6 17:55:05 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun  6 04:02:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Shirley MacLaine
Message-ID: <000801c56afb$8e1a9710$9f3fe440@Harold>

God love Shirley MacLaine

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/maclaine%20wants%20sex%20with%20toyboys

Peace and Love

Harry
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun  6 18:20:06 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun  6 04:27:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!
Message-ID: <000f01c56aff$0d0fa120$9f3fe440@Harold>

Senator Clinton attacks Bush !

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html?ei=5090&en=b58541f817436370&ex=1275710400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

A rally to arms, she's getting organized.

H
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun  6 18:36:15 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun  6 04:43:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Wash your hands!
Message-ID: <001601c56b01$4de5eae0$9f3fe440@Harold>

I know this is not a regular MB thing, but please for your own good, wash your hands all the time. Life is life!!

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005060614290002072945&dt=20050606142900&w=RTR&coview=

Love H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun  6 20:03:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun  6 06:10:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!
References: <000f01c56aff$0d0fa120$9f3fe440@Harold>
Message-ID: <008b01c56b0d$6fdd7b20$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Yes, but is it just a "political" move, or is it "real?"  After all, she could have - some would say "should have" - "spoken up" long ago...

Still, it can't be a bad thing, I suppose...

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harold Sifton 
  To: MB Civic 
  Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:20 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


  Senator Clinton attacks Bush !

  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html?ei=5090&en=b58541f817436370&ex=1275710400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

  A rally to arms, she's getting organized.

  H


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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Mon Jun  6 23:00:53 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Mon Jun  6 09:06:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A very stoned Jimi and Judi reply.......
Message-ID: <000701c56b26$44add760$0625b7d8@baby1>

A very stoned Jimi and Judi reply.......




Hehehehe....
Hehehehehehe.......
That is so funny, Judi...
Yeah, I know, Jimi...
This is the same Congress, Supreme Court, etc that took almost 200 years
just to pass Environmental laws...
Yeah, I know, most of the people who now need marijuana to just ease pain or
nausea are sick from all the slipshod deals the Congress etc made with
Corporate/Industrial America in the first place...
Yeah, I know, pisses me off.  We're all sitting around infested with
everything from pesticides to radioactive fallout to mercury in tuna fish to
who knows what is in the air and in the water, and the list is about a
million zillion things...
It sucks, doesn't it...
Yes, yes it does...
And we can't even have marijuana to ease our pain as millions of us get
older and more infested with the pollution Congress etc let ravage our
beautiful land, atmosphere, and even our bodies here for like forever...
Yeah, that does suck, doesn't it...  Why did they wait 200 years to pass
Environmental etc etc etc laws...?
Too busy making money, connections, and being the cocks of the walk...
Real brains...
Yeah...  Our great leadership...
And so now millions of us are dying from all kinds of cancers etc etc etc
because the bigshots made out like bandits and didn't even start just
thinking about Environmental etc etc laws to protect our lives and where we
live until just a couple or so decades ago...
Yeah......
And no pot to go with it as we fall apart at the seams and suffer...
Nope...
They suck...
I know....
We can still buy beer and cigarettes though in the store, right...?
Of course...
But those things give us cirhossis of the liver, emphesema, cancer, etc,
right...?
Of course...
They don't have cures for most of those yet, do they...?
No, they don't...
So we just have to suffer...?
Yes...  Or you can pay a doctor to see him, then pay for a prescription,
which will kill a lot of pain, is nothing like natural marijuana, and costs
a fortune often...
I don't have that kind of money...
And your point is...?
So then I just have to suffer...?
Yes...
With no pot to help me...?
Yes...
They suck...
Yes, I know...
They're one reason I have all this crap in my body eating me to begin
with...
Ok, ok, ok, we know that, look, no pot, face it, a million dead children
from sanctions overseas, but marijuana will corrupt our culture, our
children and turn everyone into heavy metal devil worshippers...
I can still get my ritalin at school though, I hope...
Of course...
Well, that's something at least...  But no pot...  Horrible...
Yeah, I know...
So this means we still have to buy our pot from the Columbian and other
cartels who make billions etc each year from supplying us and the rest of
the world...?
Yeah, I guess so...  Uncle Cheeseburger says the government etc gets
kickbacks from them which are much more profitable than the amount they
would make from legalizing it, at least in their own minds, but I think the
real reason they won't legalize etc it is that they will always have a
boogeyman named marijuana to blame just about everything wrong with everyone
on that everyone can be afraid of forever to help cover up their own massive
ongoing crimes against nature and humanity, then they never have to either
legalize it or stop getting their lucrative kickbacks from the Columbians
etc, and as our tax-sponsored government is overseas murdering a million
children by starving etc them to death, there will always be moms over here
who can point at something and someone and say "Look, kids, drugs, the
devil's workshop..."
Ok, f*ck it, give me Juan's number, we're running short and I wanna stock up
just in case we have to wait another 200 years for them to get their heads
out of their butts...
You shouldn't talk like that about them, after all, they do rule our
world...
Yeah, but they made us sick, they let all those people pollute and poison
and infect and infest just about everything around us including ourselves,
they let a million children starve etc to death and don't blink, they
subsidize and even tax things like cigarettes and alchohol which kills
millions of people each year, and we can't have any pot to even just ease
our f*cking pain here on the bottom dying like rats, then in my book, they
have their heads up their butts...
I agree, but you never know who might be listening...
Oh, yeah, I forgot, where is Uncle Cheeseburger anyway...
He took our last roach and locked himself in his room when he heard the
news...
Oh, ok, that sounds like something he would do...
Yeah, I know, we won't see him for days now...
It would have been so nice if adults here could have gotten a prescription
for pot for pain etc, gee, someday they could have even legalized it for
adults, especially since it doesn't cause all those diseases that tobacco
and alcohol cause, and made a fortune off of it in vending machines...
Yeah, I know, but they're deranged c*cksuckers who kill a million kids
overseas with sanctions and dose their own kids in school here with ritalin
etc, so go figure, no way would they be interested in alleviating anyone's
pain, especially adults who live with it every day and are hostage to the
pharmaceutical companies instead, hey, wow, it all goes around and around
and around in a big giant big boys you scratch my back I'll scratch your
back circle no matter where you start from, hehe....
Hehehe.....
Hehehehehe.....
Oh well, f*ck 'em....
Yeah, I agree, f*ck 'em....
Allright now, I've been saving this, but here's a surprise...
What....?
Here, I've been hiding this roach from Uncle Cheeseburger for months now in
the bottom of the cricket cage...
Oh cool.....
Yeah, I knew you'd like it...
Hey...  Wait a moment...  This is a *real* roach, I can see its legs...
What...?   Lemme see that.....
Here....
Oh wow, cool, you're right, it *is* a real roach...  hehe....
Hehehe...
Hehehehe...
Hehehehehehe....
Oh well, nevermind....  Night Jimi....
Night Judi....


The cricket waits until they are asleep and then pulls the real roach out
from under his bed, lights it and sits in the dark softly giggling........

.

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun  6 23:33:39 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Mon Jun  6 09:40:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Moyers on Truthout
Message-ID: <QjZPTDVXRSkrKE9ONCosNzA2NTgwMA@Dragon>

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun  7 03:55:40 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:02:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <7254993.1118141740719.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Reject Justice Brown
 
 THE SENATE filibuster agreement guaranteeing up-or-down votes for most judicial nominees creates a test for conservatives who rail against judicial activism. For decades, conservative politicians have objected to the use of the courts to bring about liberal policy results, arguing that judges should...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun  7 03:56:36 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:03:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <26341249.1118141796412.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Justice Before Politics
 
 By Floyd Abrams, Bob Barr and Thomas Pickering
 
 After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, came widespread shock and horror -- and some tough questions. Could the United States have prevented this catastrophe? What corrective action might we take to protect ourselves from other terrorist attacks?
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun  7 03:57:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:04:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <19537891.1118141872882.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Payoff From Globalization
 
 By Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Paul L.E. Grieco
 
 The battle over the Central American  Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) recalls some familiar themes. The "modern" debate over trade barriers can be traced to the 19th century. Then as now, the debate has been dominated by special interests (land barons vs. merchants in the 19th century; the AFL-CIO vs....
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun  7 03:59:38 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:06:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4138804.1118141978371.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

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 The 'Third Tier' Years
 
 By Richard Cohen
 
 Not too long ago I went up to Harlem to see Bill Clinton. Our talk was off the record, so I cannot tell you what he said, but I can say -- can't I? -- that he was smart and encyclopedic and wise and knowledgeable. As always, I was impressed, but then, shortly afterward, I read "The Survivor," John...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun  7 04:01:31 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:08:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <26027945.1118142091253.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Apple Abandons IBM, Will Use Intel Chips
 
 By Mike Musgrove
 
 Apple Computer Inc. said yesterday that it will stop using processors built by IBM in favor of Intel chips, which  could help the company cut prices and offer more products but undercut Apple's reputation for going against the grain of the rest of the computer industry.
 
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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 04:47:15 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Mon Jun  6 14:54:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!
References: <000f01c56aff$0d0fa120$9f3fe440@Harold>
	<008b01c56b0d$6fdd7b20$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
Message-ID: <001801c56b56$a6d084d0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

and i have some personal letters from her
which are very hawkish i must say
although obviously i support hilary over any conservative
i have always felt she is not so liberal as one would think
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ian 
  To: Harold Sifton ; mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 11:03 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


  Yes, but is it just a "political" move, or is it "real?"  After all, she could have - some would say "should have" - "spoken up" long ago...

  Still, it can't be a bad thing, I suppose...

  Peace.
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Harold Sifton 
    To: MB Civic 
    Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:20 PM
    Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


    Senator Clinton attacks Bush !

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html?ei=5090&en=b58541f817436370&ex=1275710400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

    A rally to arms, she's getting organized.

    H


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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:26:39 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:33:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!
References: <000f01c56aff$0d0fa120$9f3fe440@Harold>
	<008b01c56b0d$6fdd7b20$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
	<001801c56b56$a6d084d0$6e436c42@hotprojects>
Message-ID: <00b701c56b64$8a349290$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Richard:

Although that, too, could be "positioning."  After all, for any woman to win the White House, she would need to be seen, at a minimum, as being able to "make the tough decisions" re future military action; i.e., that she would be a "tough" C-in-C.

However, as you say, I would have to support her over any conservative Republican...

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: richard haase 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 7:47 AM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


  and i have some personal letters from her
  which are very hawkish i must say
  although obviously i support hilary over any conservative
  i have always felt she is not so liberal as one would think
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Ian 
    To: Harold Sifton ; mb-civic@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 11:03 PM
    Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


    Yes, but is it just a "political" move, or is it "real?"  After all, she could have - some would say "should have" - "spoken up" long ago...

    Still, it can't be a bad thing, I suppose...

    Peace.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Harold Sifton 
      To: MB Civic 
      Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:20 PM
      Subject: [Mb-civic] Hiloray speaks up, with substance!


      Senator Clinton attacks Bush !

      http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html?ei=5090&en=b58541f817436370&ex=1275710400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

      A rally to arms, she's getting organized.

      H


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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:27:40 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:34:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Bush Economy
Message-ID: <20050607132740.C310C23700A@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 7, 2005
The Bush Economy

The president's tax policy gives more to the richest of the rich at the expense of everyone else.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/opinion/07tues1.html?ex=1118808000&en=45eba49d1eea49c7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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NYTimes.com 500 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:28:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:35:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Crushing Upward Mobility
Message-ID: <20050607132808.51E86237175@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 7, 2005
Crushing Upward Mobility

Until the country renews its commitment to making college affordable for everyone, the American dream of success through education will die.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/opinion/07tues2.html?ex=1118808000&en=1084a2c0c5da5444&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:30:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:37:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Where the Austerity of Islam Yields to a
	Yen for Chic
Message-ID: <20050607133058.3289CA104A@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

And this is news...why?


INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 7, 2005
Qum Journal: Where the Austerity of Islam Yields to a Yen for Chic
By NAZILA FATHI
The 1979 Iranian revolution has had a sartorial side effect, pushing clerics into garb that is both more comfortable and more fashionable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/international/middleeast/07qum.html?ex=1118808000&en=abc29c0501c15856&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:31:47 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:38:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Latin Nations Resist Plan for Monitor of
	Democracy
Message-ID: <20050607133147.E0F28236FFD@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Of course, this would make more sense if there was democracy in America....


INTERNATIONAL / AMERICAS | June 6, 2005
Latin Nations Resist Plan for Monitor of Democracy
By JOEL BRINKLEY
Major Latin American nations told the U.S. they could not support its plan for a panel of the Organization of American States that would monitor democracy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/international/americas/06oas.html?ex=1118808000&en=0001aef90946e060&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:32:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:39:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Personal Data for 3.9 Million Lost in
	Transit
Message-ID: <20050607133248.D39B53AE4A0@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Third time in three months. This is becoming epidemic...


BUSINESS | June 7, 2005
Personal Data for 3.9 Million Lost in Transit
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
CitiFinancial said that a box of computer tapes containing information on 3.9 million customers was lost by United Parcel Service last month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/business/07data.html?ex=1118808000&en=d26faf6f56f912b6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:34:45 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:41:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Drug's Users Say Ruling Won't End Their
	Efforts
Message-ID: <20050607133445.4B15913B7D2@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 7, 2005
Drug's Users Say Ruling Won't End Their Efforts
By DEAN E. MURPHY
Though some advocates worried that the ruling might embolden opponents, as a practical matter, there are very few federal prosecutions of medical marijuana users nationwide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/national/07react.html?ex=1118808000&en=87a9fb7a2787ab56&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun  7 06:35:17 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun  6 16:42:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Washington
	Election
Message-ID: <20050607133517.9898F83CD9@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 7, 2005
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Washington Election
By ELI SANDERS
In response to the ruling, the Republican candidate, Dino Rossi, said he would end his five-month legal effort to remove Gov. Christine Gregoire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/national/07governor.html?ex=1118808000&en=7751fde3345fd964&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun  7 07:51:31 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun  6 17:58:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Weapons spending tops $1 trillion
Message-ID: <20050607_145131_087320.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Weapons spending tops $1 trillion **
Global spending on arms rose above $1 trillion for the first time in 2004 on the back of the US "war on terror", a new report says.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4617721.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun  7 07:51:54 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun  6 17:58:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Chinese blogs face restrictions
Message-ID: <20050607_145154_038337.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Chinese blogs face restrictions **
China-based blogs must be officially registered or face being declared illegal.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4617657.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun  7 07:57:29 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun  6 18:04:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Protesters gear up for G8 summit
Message-ID: <20050607_145728_002325.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Protesters gear up for G8 summit **
While world leaders focus on aid to Africa and climate change during the G8 summit, a diverse range of people will be protesting outside.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4595439.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun  7 10:14:34 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun  6 20:21:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] America must endure the pain of fixing Medicare >By Tom
	Healey and Robert Steel
Message-ID: <BECB240A.2064E%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
America must endure the pain of fixing Medicare
>By Tom Healey and Robert Steel
>Published: June 6 2005 20:59 | Last updated: June 6 2005 20:59
>>

While President George W. Bush remains focused on Social Security, an even
bigger fiscal time bomb is ticking away in the US - Medicare.

The Social Security trust fund is projected to become exhausted in 2041; but
the public health system runs completely dry much sooner:in 2020. What is
more, to bring Social Security into balance over the next 75 years would
require a 15 per cent increase in payroll taxes today (or a corresponding
reduction in benefits), while bringing Medicare into balance would require
an immediate 107 per cent increase in revenue (or a 48 percent reduction in
outlays).

Even more significant, the present under-funding of Medicare ($29,700bn)is
more than seven times that of Social Security ($4,000bn).

Few leaders in Washington seem willing to face the fact that Medicare is a
structurally broken system in far worse shape than Social Security that
could bring the American economy to its knees in a relatively short amount
of time.

As accumulating evidence makes abundantly clear, Medicare is not just an
undercapitalised system, it is a severely flawed model. One of its biggest
defects is the inherent mismatch between revenues and expenditures. Medicare
is largely funded through a payroll tax of 2.9 per cent, and through
premiums from Supplementary Medical Insurance. Because they are tied to the
rate of business growth, payroll revenues have proven to be woefully
insufficient, particularly in economically stressed times such as the past
few years. SMI premiums, for their part, only cover 12 per cent of total
Medicare costs. Not surprisingly, the Medicare trustees predict that the
programme's assets - which are held in Medicare trust funds to cover the
hospital insurance portion of the health plan - will be exhausted by 2019.
To illustrate the deterioration, four years ago the prediction was for
depletion by 2025.

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that over the past 40 years, medical
costs have outstripped economic growth by three percentage points. One of
the chief drivers of this increase has been dramatic advances in medical
technology and patient treatment - obvious benefits that unfortunately carry
a huge price tag.

Faced with this looming crisis, why have no serious efforts been made to
treat the root of the problem?

Few, if any, incentives exist to prudently manage or control the cost of
medical treatment. In the case of retired people, they will undertake
treatment as long as the value of that care is more than the co-payment for
which they are responsible. In the case of providers of medical care -
doctors, nurses and other health professionals - any desire to restrain
costs through less expensive treatment alternatives is often overridden by
self-interest or the perceived need for treatment that is, in fact,
excessive. Finally, politicians have virtually no short-term inducements to
tackle the Medicare problem. Any change that leaves the elderly worse off
will lead to ballot box reprisals by a large and vocal segment of the
population. On the other hand, pressure from much younger workers who fund
Medicare is nearly non-existent.

Given the magnitude of the problem, there is unlikely to be a single
solution. Policies need to target the inequities caused by misaligned
incentives if they are to bring costs and benefits closer together. Even
this may be insufficient, however, creating the need for reductions in
entitlements and/or increases in taxes and costs to beneficiaries (possibly
involving some form of means-testing). Implicit in such policy change is the
realisation that all stakeholders - not just the young - need to bear the
burden of making Medicare sustainable. We cannot keep blindly passing on
Medicare's costs to future generations. While this is a daunting task, it is
not without precedent. A similar, albeit smaller, imbroglio involving Social
Security was effectively addressed in the early 1980s by a bipartisan
commission headed by Alan Greenspan. This presidentially-appointed panel was
strikingly successful in strengthening the fabric of a fraying Social
Security system.

That model could - and clearly should - be adopted for Medicare. The sooner
we get started the better; delay exacerbates the problem and makes solutions
even more painful.

Thomas Healey is a former assistant secretary of the Treasury and a retired
partner of Goldman Sachs. Robert Steel is a former vice-chairman of Goldman
Sachs. Both are senior fellows at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d54de526-d6b5-11d9-b0a4-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=_ftaler
t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
ym_ftymarc_ic_ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=1.html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun  7 10:15:51 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun  6 20:22:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Short View: Markets and the Goldilocks scenario
Message-ID: <BECB2457.2064F%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
The Short View: Markets and the Goldilocks scenario
>By Philip Coggan, Investment Editor
>Published: June 6 2005 18:29 | Last updated: June 6 2005 18:29
>>

The weak US non-farm payrolls data have kept the debate on the outlook for
the US economy bubbling nicely. Many commentators believe the Federal
Reserve will soon have to halt its tightening of monetary policy and the
yield on the 10 year US Treasury bond has dipped below 4 per cent.

But not everyone accepts the bearish case. Lower bond yields by themselves
act to bolster consumer spending, by cutting mortgage rates. Bijal Shah of
SG Corporate and Investment Banking points out that the 30 year mortgage
rate of 5.2 per cent is nearly a percentage point below the average rate on
outstanding mortgages. ?On each occasion this has happened in the last five
years, homeowners have been lured into refinancing their mortgages,
borrowing has surged and consumer firepower has received a big boost? he
says.

The real health of the labour market is also something of a puzzle. While
the payroll data were weak, the household survey showed a jobs gain of
376,000, pushing the unemployment rate down to 5.1 per cent. A steady rise
in hours worked, recent upward revisions to wage and salary income and a
surge in tax receipts to the US Treasury all suggest that household finances
ought to be robust.

Equity markets have adopted a version of the ?Goldilocks scenario? under
which economic growth is too weak to prompt the Fed to raise rates much
further but sufficiently strong to allow corporate profits to keep rising.
But the recent data could be bad news for profits. First, the year-on-year
gain in unit labour costs has risen to 4.3 per cent, potentially squeezing
margins. Second, David Bowers of Merrill Lynch says there has been a good
relationship over the last three decades between global profits growth and
the prices paid component of the US purchasing managers? survey. The most
recent price paid component is consistent with 5 per cent earnings per share
growth in six months? time. If the survey weakens further, ?we could be
talking about negative corporate earnings growth? in the first half of next
year.

It is easy to solve the ?conundrum? of low bond yields if one accepts that
the economy is weakening. But that only creates another conundrum; why have
equity markets been so strong over the past month?
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8ce9aee6-d692-11d9-b0a4-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=_ftaler
t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
ym_ftymarc_ic_ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=1.html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun  6 21:05:18 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 20:32:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The "memo" that proves Bush and Co. deserve impeachment
	(action and info)
Message-ID: <200506070332.j573W4b7013269@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Hi folks!  This email contains a summary of info about the "Downing 
Street Memo" which has been front page news in England and back 
page or no news in the U.S.  The memo consists of minutes of a 
meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other 
government officials which clearly documents that GW Bush and Blair 
conspired to invade Iraq and to deceive the American and British 
people beginning many many months before Bush and Co. "made their 
case" to the American people and Congress.  In a sane world this 
would be daily headline news and firm grounds for impeachment.  So if 
you wanna participate in furthering sanity, read on for an action alert to 
sign John Conyers' petition, a summary of the situation from the 
Nation, and another short article describing the situation....We all need 
to understand this and "spread the word."  --Mha Atma


http://www.johnconyers.com/

John Conyers, Jr.
40 Years Of Jobs, Justice And Peace
The Downing Street Memo

May 27, 2005

Dear Friend:

 As many of you are aware, a classified memo was recently disclosed 
in Great Britain that I believe has serious ramifications for the integrity 
of the United States Government.  Dubbed the ?Downing Street 
Memo,? but actually comprising the minutes of a meeting of Prime 
Minister Tony Blair and other top British government officials, the 
memo casts serious doubt on many of the contentions of the Bush 
Administration in the lead up to the Iraq war.  With over 1,600 U.S. 
servicemen and servicewomen killed in Iraq, the deaths of hundreds of 
thousands of Iraqis, and over $200 billion in taxpayer funds going to 
this war effort, we cannot afford to stand by any longer. 

 Along with 88 of my colleagues, I wrote to the President requesting 
answers about this grave matter.  Thus far, our search for the truth has 
been stonewalled and I need your help.  I believe the American people 
deserve answers about this matter and should demand directly that the 
President tell the truth about the memo.  To that end, I am asking you 
to sign on to a letter to the President requesting he answer the 
questions posed to him by 89 Members of Congress.

 I will personally insure that this letter is delivered to the White House.

 You can read the letter here and sign on to it below.  You and I know 
the White House is just hoping that this matter will fade away, but in a 
few short weeks, with our steadfastness, the memo has found its way 
into leading newspapers and White House press briefings.  With your 
help, we can hold this Administration accountable.

 Please pass on this important letter to your friends and colleagues, 
and ask them to sign as well.

 Thank you for your help and support.

John Conyers, Jr.

Letter to President Bush Concerning the Downing Street Memo
(Go to link below then click on link at bottom of page to sign your 
name to petition.)

http://www.johnconyers.com/  

----------------------------------

Dear EmailNation Subscriber, 

What should be on front pages currently is new proof of the Bush
Administration's lies brought to light by the previously unknown Downing
Street Minutes, recently obtained and printed in the Times of London. The
memo appears to directly contradict the Administration's assertions to
Congress that it would exhaust all other options before going to war. 

According to the minutes, taken at a meeting led by Tony Blair in July
2002, the Administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq and
was already moving to manipulate intelligence toward its goal.

For more on the minutes, read a new Nation online exclusive by Steve
Cobble: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050620&s=cobble

Check out a new website for info on how you can help hold our government
accountable for these new revelations. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

Click below to read the actual minutes themselves:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html

New information that has come out in response to the Downing Street memo
reveals that well before either Congressional or UN approval, the war was
already a foregone conclusion and numerous US military attacks at the time
were not at all the defensive measures designed to protect the integrity
of the no-fly zone that the Administration claimed but were rather the
undeclared beginning of the invasion of Iraq. 

Read Jeremy Scahill's "The Other Bomb Drops" for more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050613&s=scahill

And check out John Nichols's Online Beat for why the Democrats need to be
loud and clear in saying that Iraq is the issue.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=3059

---------------

This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050620&s=cobble
After Downing Street

by STEVE COBBLE

[posted online on June 6, 2005]

It's not exactly a news flash that the Bush Administration lied to the 
public before the invasion of Iraq. What should be on front pages, 
though, is new proof of the Bush Administration's lies brought to light 
by the previously unknown Downing Street Minutes, recently obtained 
and printed in the Times of London. (The Downing Street Memo is a 
transcript of minutes of a secret meeting chaired by Tomy Blair in 
Britain in July of 2002 to discuss preparations and propaganda before 
going to war. It was marked "Secret and strictly personal--UK eyes 
only.")

The Downing Street Minutes are deserving, in the words of 
constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz, of an official "Resolution of Inquiry 
directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal 
investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of 
Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach 
George W. Bush, President of the United States."

Bonifaz, who two years ago took the Bush Administration to court on 
behalf of a coalition of US soldiers, parents of soldiers and twelve 
Members of Congress (including John Conyers Jr., Dennis Kucinich, 
Jesse Jackson Jr., Jim McDermott, Jos? Serrano, Sheila Jackson Lee) 
to challenge the constitutionality of the Iraq war, adds:

"The question must now be asked, with the release of the Downing 
Street Memo, whether the President has committed impeachable 
offenses. Is it a High Crime to engage in a conspiracy to deceive and 
mislead the United States Congress and the American people about 
the basis for taking the nation into a war? Is it a High Crime to 
manipulate intelligence so as to allege falsely a national security threat 
posed to the United States as a means of trying to justify a war against 
another nation based on 'preemptive' purposes? Is it a High Crime to 
commit a felony via the submission of an official report to the United 
States Congress falsifying the reasons for launching military action?"

As in previous investigations of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," 
such a "Resolution of Inquiry is the appropriate first step in launching 
this investigation."

Bonifaz's memorandum making the case for launching a Resolution of 
Inquiry is posted at www.afterdowningstreet.org/, a new website 
founded by David Swanson, Bob Fertik, Bonifaz and others (including 
this writer), together with a broad array of public interest groups that is 
posted on the web site.

Our memo is written to Representative Conyers, both because he is 
the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and because 
he has been a brave truth-seeker on this issue and so many others. 
We support his letter demanding answers from the Bush 
Administration, signed originally by eighty-eight of his House 
colleagues; his call for 100,000 signatures to back up that letter; and 
his plan to go to London to seek more answers.

We have also made contact with several other members of Congress, 
and we believe that it will not be long before a group in Congress 
officially calls for an ROI.

Unfortunately, as most Nation readers know, the Downing Street 
Minutes have only been a story in the rest of the world, especially in 
Britain. In the United States it is taking much longer for the mainstream 
to pick up on it, and the issue is still being treated far less seriously 
than the seriousness of the charges warrant.

Fortunately, the blogosphere has found this new proof of George W. 
Bush's "misleadership" much more compelling than the mainstream 
press has; writers like Apian have posted incisive diaries on 
www.dailykos.com/, which regularly covers the story, as has Georgia10 
and her friends, who founded the wonderful site 
www.downingstreetmemo.com/.

Despite a slow start, the Downing Street Minutes may have a long life 
expectancy, and the Misleader of the Pack may yet have to confront 
the truth.

-------

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun  6 20:47:03 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 20:33:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Administration's Offenses Impeachable
Message-ID: <200506070333.j573XrBs013289@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Bangor (ME) Daily News - June 2, 2005
http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=114420

Op-Ed:

Administration's Offenses Impeachable

By Robert Shetterly

Let's consider an item from the news of about two weeks ago:

A British citizen leaked a memo to London's Sunday Times. The memo 
was of the written account of a meeting that a man named Richard 
Dearlove had with the Bush administration in July 2002. Dearlove was the
head of the England's MI-6, the equivalent of the CIA. On July 23, 2002,
Dearlove briefed Tony Blair about the meeting. He said that Bush was
determined to attack Iraq. He said that Bush knew that US intelligence had
no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and no links to foreign
terrorists, that there was no imminent danger to the US from Iraq. But,
since Bush was determined to go to war, "Intelligence and facts are being
fixed around the policy." "Fixed" means faked, manufactured, conjured,
hyped - the product of whole cloth fabrication.

So we got aluminum tubes, mushroom clouds imported from Niger, 
biological weapons labs in weather trucks, fear and trembling, the phony
ultimatums to Saddam Hussein to turn over the weapons he didn't have and
thus couldn't. We got the call to arms, the stifling of dissent, the
parade of retired generals strategizing on the "news" shows, with us or
against us, flags in the lapel, a craven media afraid to look for a truth
that might disturb their corporate owners who would profit from the war.
Shock and Awe. Fallujah. Abu Ghraib.

It was all a lie. Many of us have said for a long time it was a 
lie. But here it is in black and white: Lies from a president who has
taken a sacred trust to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

So, what does it mean? It means that our president and all of his 
administration are war criminals. It's as simple as that. They lied to the
American people, have killed and injured and traumatized thousands of
American men and women doing their patriotic duty, killed at least 100,000
Iraqi civilians, destroyed Iraq's infrastructure and poisoned its
environment, squandered billions and billions of our tax dollars, made a
mockery of American integrity in the world, changed the course of history,
tortured Iraqi prisoners, and bound us intractably to an insane situation
that they have no idea how to fix because they had no plan, but greed and
empire, in the first place.

What does it mean? It means that everyone in this administration 
should be impeached. It means that our Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and 
Susan
Collins and our Congressmen Tom Allen and Mike Michaud should call for
immediate impeachment. They were lied to by their president, voted for
war, and are thus complicit in the multiply betrayals of the American
people unless they stand up now for the truth.

Richard Nixon was impeached for a cover-up of a two-bit break-in. 
William Cohen, a young Maine Republican, played an important role for the
prosecution in those proceedings. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying
about sex with an intern. Now we have the irrefutable evidence that George
W. Bush lied about the reasons for taking the United States to war. The
intelligence wasn't flawed. The weapons weren't hidden. Our elected
leaders were lying.

Democracy, like any sound relationship between people, is built on 
trust. We trust our leaders to tell the truth so that the consent that we
give them is honestly informed. If the consent is won through
manipulation, propaganda, fear, or lies, the basis of our democracy has
been subverted. It is no longer democracy at all, but we continue to call
it that because we have not the courage or stamina to demand its overhaul.

We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their 
lies. By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone
hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and
Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right to.
Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not that we
support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them.

What's curious is why anyone like me should have to even point this 
out. Don't our senators and congressmen feel betrayed? Are they content to
continue the murdering rather than do what truth demands? Do they think
they can lie to history, too. Do they think that this little Iraq problem
will somehow just go away, that the courageous resistance to the United
States occupation will give up and hand Bush the keys to the oil wells? Do
they think that any of the grave crises facing the world now - energy
consumption, global warming, species extinction - can be solved by lying
about them?

We are living in an age of no accountability. It's also an age upon 
which may hang the survival of human life on this earth. One should not
bet one's future on people who abjure responsibility. The first courageous
step is to come to terms with what we know is true: America's president
lied to America's people to create an unnecessary war. I ask Sens. Snowe
and Collins, Reps. Allen and Michaud to take that step. Begin impeachment
proceedings. It's really no more or less than their duty. It's also the
first step toward restoring America's integrity.

[Robert Shetterly is a writer and artist who lives in Brooksville.]



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun  6 20:47:03 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun  6 20:34:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Israel's 'Mr. TV'
Message-ID: <200506070334.j573YjJ5013302@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

This piece, via Ed Pearl, has an important introduction added by David 
McReynolds.  The article is about the new documentary film series by veteran 
television journalist Haim Yavin, who has been an icon of Israeli TV for 40 
years, and known to everyone as a completely impartial conveyer of the 
news.....

From: David Mcreynolds [mailto:david.mcr@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 12:45 PM
To: UFPJ

Cc: Dieter Wulf; Giacchino

Subject: More on Israel's 'Mr. TV'

This is a painful article. I'm sending it to the Middle East lists, but
also to a German friend with whom I had been having a discussion about how
I felt it was too easy for people in any society to "go along". These
brief comments of mine are not intended to address the issues of Israeli
treatment of Palestinians, but the broader question of how people respond
to terrible policies imposed by their government. In part this is done by
"not seeing the enemy as human", so that for the Germans the Jews became
"non-people". For our own troops in Iraq, who are young, who often have
never been in any other country, are frightened, can't understand the
culture or language, the Iraqis become "the other". (As was the case also
in Vietnam - and was the case with Soviet troops in Afghanistan).

It is also true that those in the Muslim world who rejoiced at 9.11 (and I
don't think for a moment that every Muslim rejoiced), did so because they
didn't see nearly three thousand ordinary people engulfed screaming in
smoke, fire and stone, but "the other", the abstract. This absolutely held
true for US leaders who developed the MAD nuclear strategy which worked
only if, in a crunch, we were willing to destroy the human race.

I know some of you have seen my comment earlier that after seeing "The
Downfall" about Hitler's final days in his bunker in Berlin (an excellent
film, by the way), I realized that most Soviet citizens, even in the midst
of Stalin's terror, most Germans during the worst of the Nazi period, most
Israelis today, and most of our own citizens, wake up, splash their face
with water, grumble to their wife or husband, make coffee, rush to work,
talk about sports or sex or fashion, leave for home and have a beer, watch
TV, have dinner, maybe have sex, fall asleep - and never really think
about politics, about the murder being done in their name. Most of us
(actually, all of us!) are so helpless to change national policy, here, in
Hitler's Germany, in Stalin's Soviet Union, or in

Israel, and the risks of "seeing the other as a human being" are so great,
that people read the sports page but not the news. Have access only to
media coverage, which reinforces a point of view consistent with their
nation's policies.

In some ways it is a wonder that, in the midst of this, some very brave
American troops are deserting, refusing to go, or that, in Israel, Haim
Yavin made his documentary.

Peace,
David

Counterpunch, May 31, 2005

"We Simply Do Not See the Palestinians as Human Beings."
Our Man in the Territories

By TOM SEGEV

Tel Aviv


No one knew until now what veteran television journalist Haim Yavin
thought about the news he has been announcing for more than three decades,
and he is so nonpartisan that one wondered whether he had an opinion of
his own at  all. Now, at 72, he is coming out of the closet: "Since 1967
we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers, suppressing another people," he
says in "Yoman Masa" ("Diary of a Journey"), which he filmed in the West
Bank.

For two and a half years,s Yavin wandered the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip with a small hand-held camera, which he operated himself, without a
technical crew. Here and there he was reviled as the representative of the
hostile leftist media, but in general the settlers spoke to him on the
assumption that he was their man, and justly so: Until now he was
everyone's man. The film he brought back seems intended to salve his
conscience: "I cannot really do anything to relieve this misery, other
than to document it, so! that neither I nor those like me will be able to
say that we saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing," he says in the
film, and in response to a question asserts: "I did not move left. The
country moved right."

He filmed people who waited for hours at checkpoints and says this has no
security justification. Settlers who heard from him about a woman who was
not allowed to get to a hospital and therefore was forced to give birth at
a checkpoint, try to reassure him: If only the Israelis are able to
maintain domestic harmony, "Mohammed" will make coffee both for them 
and
for him. Yavin responds: "I am not willing to rule another people, not
willing for `Mohammed' to make me coffee." He tells again of the woman 
who
was forced to give birth at a checkpoint and says, "It is not Jewish, what
we are doing there."

He believes in withdrawal so that a Palestinian state will be established
and peace will come. "That is the only thing I can believe in. Other than
that I! have nothing to believe in - only in bloodshed," he tells a female
settler. His thoughts move to the roots of Zionist existence. When he
hears people describe Zionism as an expression of racism and colonialism,
he is outraged, of course, he says, but on returning from the West Bank,
he asks himself what remains of the "true Zionism," the Zionism of peace
and equal rights: the Zionism of the settlements?

This is a good foundation for a discussion of the question of whether
there ever was a "true Zionism" that did not dispossess the Arabs of this
land.

Be that as it may, in the first two films in a series of five, Yavin
portrays
the settlers as members of a fanatic, insane, racist, despicable, violent
and dangerous sect - more infuriating and despairing than they have ever
been seen in an Israeli film.

It is no wonder that Channel 1 (the state television station, with which
Yavin has been identified for almost 40 years) refused to broadcast the
series.

Instead, it will be broadcast starting next Tuesday as the swan song of
Telad on Channel 2: Having failed to win the tender for a renewed
franchise, Telad can allow itself to end its term with something real.

A soldier in uniform told Yavin that the Hebron settlers were inciting him
to shoot and kill Palestinian children. Activist Noam Federman and his
wife tell him on camera that an ultimatum has to be presented to the Arab
residents of Hebron: Either they leave the country immediately, or the
Israel Air Force will bomb their homes. Not far from their home, Yavin
filmed a bit of graffiti on a wall: "Arabs to the crematoria." A Border
Policeman, a muscular, tough-looking guy, says in a heavy Russian accent,
"I am only following orders, I do what I am told." Yavin asserts: "We
simply do not see the Palestinians as human beings."

A Peace Now activist who wanders around in the territories still believes
that the settlers can be evacuated, as France evacuated its citizens from
Algeria, but Yavin does not bring even an iota of hope from the West Bank:
"This hilula [merrymaking] will never be stopped," he states. He recalls,
apparently with sorrow, how Yitzhak Rabin missed the chance to evacuate
the Hebron settlers in the wake of the massacre of Muslim worshipers by
Baruch Goldstein at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994. About 20,000
Hebron residents were forced to leave their homes then. Yavin feels
"sadness and despair" and says that "maybe it really is preferable to
visit Hebron with a visa."

Yavin believes that the settlers are "wrong" and are also "endangering
us," but in contrast to some of his friends on the left, he does not hate
the settlers; he even "esteems and likes them," he says. Occasionally he
also tries to "balance" Palestinian bereavement with Israeli bereavement,
as though finding it difficult to discard the usage of the national "we"
that became second nature to him. But not one of the settlers he filmed
justifies his high regard.

Daniella Weiss, one of the original settlers in the West Bank, articulates
for the camera her credo as a mother: We have to raise tough children. She
gives less consideration to life than to the idea. A woman named Orit
Struk reacts to Yavin's arguments with bloodcurdling laughter and tells
him about how a sniper tried to kill her son.

In any properly run country, the welfare authorities would take away
their  children.

Yavin, though, also tries to jettison the superficial thesis that pins all
the blame on the settlers themselves. In his film, too, they are the
"masters of the land"; they issue orders to the army and the army obeys.
But Yavin's series shows that the whole society is to blame for the
injustices of the occupation and also for the war crimes it has entailed.
"We cluck our tongues and move on to the gossip columns," he says.

A few of the settlers praise the help they received from two leaders of
the Labor Party, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Ehud Barak. One of the original
settlers, Elyakim Haetzni, relates that he has been fighting for a long
time to have one ! of the squares in Hebron named after Yigal Alon, the
father of the set tlements, but Alon's widow objects.

Yavin shows that the left-wing organizations, such as Peace Now, are
effectively moribund and that only a few humanitarian groups remain, such
as Ta'ayush, Physicians for Human Rights, B'Tselem and MachsonWatch, the
women of the checkpoints. The good Israelis in the film are individuals:
an immunologist (Prof. Zvi Bentwich), a lawyer (Shlomo Laker), a
journalist (Haaretz's Gideon Levy), a Jerusalem plumber (Ezra Yitzhak
Nawi) and a soldier in uniform. who says that he could not remain silent
"in the face of such horrors."

Yavin says that his professional integrity will allow him to go on
anchoring Channel 1's nightly "Mabat News Magazine." However, the
broadcast  of the series on a commercial channel raises the question of
why we even need what continues to be called "public broadcasting." It's
not worth the compulsory fee. One way or the other, it will be interesting
to watch the reactions. It's possible that attention will not focus on the
horrific message of the films, but only on the fact that Haim Yavin, of
all people, made them. If he is right about the moral insensitivity that
prevails in the country, most viewers may react like the family in the
Strauss commercial: Mom, Dad and the kids are visiting the Safari in Ramat
Gan. They see an antelope, say "We saw it," and hurry on. They see a lion,
say "We saw it" - and hurry home to lick an ice cream bar.

Tom Segev is the co-editor The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and
Refusal.

This article originally appeared in Ha'aretz.


 --
-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun  7 11:30:07 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun  6 21:37:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: GM plans to cut 25,000 jobs in US
Message-ID: <20050607_183007_048870.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** GM plans to cut 25,000 jobs in US **
Car giant General Motors is planning to cut at least 25,000 jobs in the US as it tries to turn itself around from its recent heavy losses.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4070556.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Tue Jun  7 14:17:30 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Tue Jun  7 00:24:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Harris to run for senate in 2006
Message-ID: <000701c56ba6$53024cd0$8423e440@Harold>

It will take a decade or more to sort out this republican mess with people like Harris in the Senate!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/07/AR2005060700749_pf.html

Later H

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From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun  7 15:13:10 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun  7 01:22:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] DEMONSTRATIONS DON'T WORK?
Message-ID: <20050607.151343.157.2057@webmail26.nyc.untd.com>


DEMONSTRATIONS DON'T WORK? MAYBE NOT IN TIMID AMERICA ANYMORE...
BUT ELSEWHERE-READ ON...

*RAILWAY CAMPAIGN UPDATE FROM MONTREAL*

Bombardier shareholders must be wondering why the company ever agreed to get involved in the China-Tibet railway after their experience at their annual meeting today. Five Tibetans, supporters and shareholders, including SFT's Executive Director Lhadon Tethong, attended the meeting and fired difficult questions at Bombardier's senior management, while a demonstration raged in the street below and SFT member Mike Hudema from Edmonton scaled the hotel roof above to unfurl a Tibetan flag. The meeting was broadcast live on Bombardier's website and all of the action was recorded by the media both in and outside of the meeting.

As we write this, the coverage is still unfolding. Click here to see photos and read more: http://studentsforafreetibet.org. Following the more than 3,000 faxes sent to Bombardier's CEO Laurent Beaudoin over the past few weeks, today's activities have raised the stakes of the company's involvement in this destructive project. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this campaign so far (especially the Bombardier shareholders who appointed us their proxies and the Tibetans who traveled all the way from Toronto today to demonstrate).

We will keep up the pressure until Bombardier ends its cooperation with the Chinese government in this destructive project.

--Freya, Lhadon, Kate (SFT Canada National Coordinator) & SFT Montreal

See photos and read more on the SFT site: http://studentsforafreetibet.org 


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun  7 15:16:00 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun  7 01:24:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BuzzFlash
Message-ID: <20050607.151700.157.2113@webmail26.nyc.untd.com>


I found this on BuzzFlash.com.  http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/06/edi05050.html

BuzzFlash.com provides headlines, news, and commentary for a geographically-diverse, politically-savvy, pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy web audience, reaching 5 million visitors a month and growing.

Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash.com
 
You will find that this is a very very good summary of all of the lies and deceptions of the Bush Administration regarding the Iraq war including the Smoking Gun and the Smoking Bullet.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun  7 17:44:46 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:11:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Longevity Crisis? Kill Grandma
Message-ID: <200506071111.j57BBhE7014182@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Here is the contradiction in the tiny, dark heart of American 
conservatism: Its values are solidly "pro-life," but its economic policies 
lean toward death. While upholding the right of each stem cell to 
blossom into a human, conservatives have curtailed the lives of all 
multicellular citizens ? by weakening environmental regulations, for 
instance, and cutting social programs.

Published on Monday, June 6, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0606-26.htm
Longevity Crisis? Kill Grandma
by Barbara Ehrenreich
 
A specter is stalking the Western world, and it looks a lot like 
Grandma. As President Bush has repeatedly put it, the problem with 
Social Security is that "baby boomers will be living longer." Not "too" 
long, he's careful to say, but long enough to create a fiscal 
catastrophe. And it's not just Social Security. Medicare, as well as any 
company rash enough to have offered pensions, may eventually sink 
under the weight of its obligations to the elderly. A welfare state 
designed in the era of bacon, eggs and Lucky Strikes cannot expect to 
survive in an age of "active seniors" who wash down their Viagra with 
soy milk and think a six-pack is something you get at the gym.

So far, the policymakers' response has been to gut the welfare state 
before the greedy geezers can plunder it. For example, the Bush 
administration has achieved deep cuts in Medicaid, which supports 
many of the middle class in their post-golden nursing home years, and 
it continues to fight for the evisceration of Social Security.

But can such namby-pamby solutions really get to the root of the 
problem? Isn't it clear that there are just too many old people around, 
luxuriating in their assisted-living communities and expecting the 
government to support their statin and beta-blocker habits? Does no 
one have the courage to confront the longevity crisis head-on?

There are exceptions ? a few Americans brave enough to try. Some 
credit should go to Burger King for its new "Enormous Omelet 
Sandwich," and to Hardee's for its "Monster Burger" (two one-third-
pound patties.) Nor can we neglect the manufacturers of the various 
cardiovascularly compromising painkillers, such as Celebrex and 
Vioxx. In addition, Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company whose 
aggressively marketed hormone replacement therapy pill turned out to 
cause breast cancer and heart disease, deserves some retrospective 
recognition.

The longevity-fighting Purple Heart, though, goes to the Center for 
Consumer Freedom, funded by the tobacco and restaurant industries, 
which bravely battles restrictions on indoor smoking, repressive limits 
on blood-alcohol levels for drivers and the relentless liberal bad-
mouthing of salt, fat, sugar and meat. And what has the CCF gotten for 
its efforts? A challenge to its tax-exempt status from Citizens for 
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Face it, nothing is really going to change until the federal government 
tackles the problem itself. It might start drafting 60-year-olds, for 
example, for a few months of service in the Iraqi desert. And what 
about transforming the Drug Enforcement Administration into the Diet 
Enforcement Administration, with the power to search drivers for stray 
bits of broccoli and tofu?

Of course, it could be argued that Bush's attack on the welfare state 
will solve the longevity crisis without recourse to controversial 
measures. Toss Gramps out of the nursing home, take away his Social 
Security check and see how long he survives. Still, it's fair to ask: Is 
Bush really doing enough, or is he being held back by his oft-stated 
commitment to the "culture of life"?

Here is the contradiction in the tiny, dark heart of American 
conservatism: Its values are solidly "pro-life," but its economic policies 
lean toward death. While upholding the right of each stem cell to 
blossom into a human, conservatives have curtailed the lives of all 
multicellular citizens ? by weakening environmental regulations, for 
instance, and cutting social programs.

Right-wing ambivalence on life-and-death issues exploded into a 
schizophrenic breakdown in the case of Terri Schiavo. With one hand, 
the Republicans held her feeding tube firmly in place, while the other 
hand reached for the ax to cut off the flow of Medicaid dollars that were 
keeping that poor shell of woman alive.

It would take courage for a president to promote a consistently pro-
death outlook. Some Christian spokesmen will fret that we are on the 
slippery slope to euthanasia, although they have never complained 
about torture or war. Nevertheless, it might be tactful to frame the new 
stance as a way of encouraging turnover ? as at Wal-Mart, where 
40% of employees leave every year ? rather than death.

Get born, get into the crucial 18-to-35-year-old consumer 
demographic, and have the good sense to get out before you've 
overstayed your welcome. And it would take genuine heroism to 
confront baby boomers with the question usually addressed to 18-year-
old grunts: Are you willing to die for your country? Like maybe right 
now? Because that's what they want from us, folks, unless we can 
come up with a better idea.

Barbara Ehrenreich is the author, most recently, of "Nickel and Dimed: 
On (Not) Getting By in America" (Owl Books, 2002).

? 2005 LA Times

###

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun  7 17:44:10 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:12:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Opponents Say Anti-Lawsuit Movement Favors Industry,
	Distorts Facts
Message-ID: <200506071112.j57BC76e014193@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1896

Opponents Say Anti-Lawsuit Movement 
Favors Industry, Distorts Facts
by Michelle Chen 

Contrary to the widely accepted notion that rising insurance premiums 
are a result of a civil court system run amok to the detriment of 
corporations and ?legitimate victims,? studies suggest the finger of 
blame is misdirected.

Jun 6 - When Mark and Michelle Geyer found out that their 7-year-old 
daughter Jessie had died from a preventable infection, a sense of 
disbelief bled into their grief. Just a few days earlier, Jessie had been 
sent home to recover from "the flu" after two doctors had failed to 
properly diagnose and treat her, as Jessie's mother recalled before 
members of Congress earlier this year.

Believing their daughter would have lived if the hospital had performed 
the appropriate tests, Jessie's parents were determined to seek 
recourse.

But a California state law imposing limits on medical malpractice suits, 
combined with harsh market realities, erected a barrier between the 
family and the courts.

"I couldn't get an attorney," said Michelle Geyer, recounting a string of 
rejections by lawyers who cited financial concerns about the case 
before she successfully "begged" a lawyer to represent them in court. 
Due to a statewide cap on damages for pain and suffering in 
malpractice cases, she said: "They turned me down because she is 
only worth $250,000. They told me it was a bad business decision for 
them to take it."

The experience of the Geyers, according to rights advocates, is just 
one case of a rash of legal misfortunes accumulating in the wake of 
California's 30-year-old malpractice lawsuit reform law.

Other states have enacted similarly controversial restrictions on civil, 
or "tort," lawsuits, looking to limit the liability of corporations, hospitals 
and other entities. Such changes are ostensibly pursued in order to 
control rising insurance prices and combat what critics of the current 
system consider "frivolous" claims.

The US Congress may soon follow suit, facing pressure to overhaul 
the tort system from the Bush administration and pro-business lobby 
groups.

The "tort reform" proposals introduced in this session of Congress 
range from medical liability award caps like California's, to 
unprecedented restrictions on class action lawsuits.

Public interest organizations and lawyers' associations are rallying in 
defense of the public's longstanding right to hold corporations and 
institutions accountable for wrongdoing, while conservative factions 
push for a restructuring of the civil litigation process on the grounds 
that the current judicial system is rife with abuse.
Class Action Law Drives Wedge Between Corporations, Accusers

So far, the Bush administration has scored one major victory with the 
passage of the Class Action Fairness Act, signed into law in February.

Aligning with the tort reform movement, the backers of the Act say it 
prevents profit-minded lawyers and undeserving claimants from 
"gaming a broken system," as Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) put it 
in a Senate floor speech last winter.

The new law provides defendants greater flexibility to move cases out 
of state courts and into federal jurisdiction, which has historically been 
more favorable to big business in civil suits.

In addition, public interest groups fear the Act will prevent people in 
different states from uniting to bring large suits ? such as product 
liability claims ? against corporations.

Jillian Aldebron, counsel with the Congress Watch project of the 
watchdog group Public Citizen, predicted that that the law will weaken 
the civil court system as a mode of defense for communities against 
corporations that sell unsafe products or harm the environment and 
public health. "Air, water -- it doesn't necessarily follow state 
boundaries," she said.

"Clearly, this effort to restrict liability is very broad," said Joanne 
Doroshow, a public interest lawyer and executive director of the Center 
for Justice and Democracy, a civil law advocacy group. "And the kind 
of laws that you're going to start seeing in Congress and [that] we've 
already been seeing at the state level, would limit liability for anybody 
who's sued, whether it's a toxic polluter or an HMO or a
 
manufacturer of defective cribs."
Activists Call Industry the Real Culprit

The civil court system has historically served as the public's primary 
line of direct defense against bad medical practices and public health 
and safety threats. But since the 1980s, the perception of a litigation 
"crisis," marked by rising insurance costs, has catalyzed a movement 
for a shakedown of the litigation system.

In well-funded public relations campaigns, the insurance industry has 
heaped the blame for rising premiums on civil lawsuits, warning 
Americans that "tort excess" is wreaking havoc on the economy. A 
report issued in April by the Insurance Information Institute, an industry 
association, and the US Chamber of Commerce stated that the 
"litigation crisis" was translating into "higher prices, lower wages and 
fewer jobs" for taxpayers and workers.

But economic analysts and progressive groups counter that the 
industry is fueling anti-lawsuit hysteria in an attempt to wipe out 
anything interfering with its profits, including the judiciary.

"There is a huge amount of public relations efforts going on to turn the 
American public's mind against the legal system and the people who 
use it," said Doroshow.

Meanwhile, professional organizations like the American Medical 
Association (AMA) contend that fear of malpractice suits is driving 
doctors to limit their services or to administer unnecessary, and often 
costly, medical procedures -- a practice known as "defensive 
medicine" -- in order to ward off potential lawsuits.

The AMA reported last December that in twenty so-called "crisis" 
states, doctors were shutting down their practices or moving out of 
state at alarming rates because of the threat of lawsuits or the states' 
unaffordable insurance premiums. From 2001 to 2002, according to 
government data cited by the organization, premiums rose at a greater 
rate in states without malpractice damage caps than in those with 
caps.

But advocates point to data from several states revealing that 
malpractice insurance premiums have continued to rise sharply even 
after the enactment of tort reforms, undermining the theory that 
capping damage awards could directly control insurance costs.

In Nevada, for instance, according to the consumer advocacy coalition 
Americans for Insurance Reform, shortly after the passage of laws 
limiting malpractice claims in 2002, insurers filed for rate hikes ranging 
from 17 to 93 percent. Similarly, the passage of California's flagship 
malpractice liability reform bill in 1975 was followed by continued 
spikes in doctors' premiums over the next 13 years, which tapered only 
after the government imposed stricter regulations on insurance 
companies.

A 2003 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, a government 
agency that estimates the costs of proposed and enacted legislation, 
found scant evidence of tort litigation leading directly to a crisis in 
access to services or to a rise in health care costs. Moreover, the 
Center for Justice and Democracy reported that since the early 1980s, 
both malpractice insurance premiums and lawsuit payouts have 
consistently amounted to less than one percent of the country's total 
healthcare costs.

In May, the Kaiser Family Foundation, a mainstream health policy 
research organization, issued a report that tempers public perceptions 
of a litigation system running rampant. Using data collected from the 
federally administered National Practitioner Data Bank, researchers 
found that from 1991 to 2003, while the total dollar amount paid for 
malpractice suits grew from $2.1 billion to $4.5 billion nationwide, 
adjustment for inflation translates this into an annual rise of only 1.7 
percent.

The Foundation noted that the increase in payouts mainly mirrors 
growth in the average amount paid per claim; the frequency of lawsuits 
resulting in payment grew "modestly" by an estimated 12 percent 
between 1991 and 2003. In the same period, the number of paid 
malpractice claims per 1,000 non-federal physicians actually dipped by 
6 percent.

For tort cases in general, government data indicate that both the 
number of lawsuits and payout costs have stabilized and even declined 
in recent years. According to a US Department of Justice survey of 
state civil courts in the 75 largest counties, the number of tort cases 
filed between 1992 and 2001 declined by 32 percent.

Critics of tort reform acknowledge that rising insurance costs burden 
the healthcare system, but they say the blame lies not with the courts 
but with the multi-billion-dollar insurance industry.

Advocates contend that as the industry cries out for enhanced liability 
protections for its clients, it continues to rake in record profits and 
resist both state and federal government regulation. Public interest 
groups like Americans for Insurance Reform are calling on the 
government to curb insurance industry practices like price-fixing and 
unreasonable rate hikes.

Challenging the insurance lobby's stance, critics question any attempt 
to calculate the real economic costs of the tort system. The 
progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently 
reported that the oft-cited actuarial firm Tillinghast Towers-Perrin 
inflated its tort cost calculations by counting payouts by insurers as 
"expenses" born by the economy as a whole. In fact, EPI pointed out, 
these payments simply reflect an internal shift of funds "from 
wrongdoers to victims."

Critics argue further that tort law's value as a social institution does not 
lend itself to conventional accounting methods. In a recent policy 
report, Americans for Insurance Reform stressed that industry 
statistics do not take into account the social benefits of the tort system, 
including greater adherence by corporations to regulatory protections, 
the prevention of injuries and deaths due to "safer products and 
practices," as well as "wages not lost, health care expenses not 
incurred, and so on."
Following the Money to the Courthouse Door

The tort reform movement has ridden into state and federal legislative 
chambers with a strong financial and political push from industry and 
conservative think tanks. At the fore in the debate on Capitol Hill is the 
American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), which bills itself as a 
"broad based, bipartisan coalition of more than 300 businesses, 
corporations, municipalities, associations and professional firms."

ATRA says its main focus is ridding the civil legal system of frivolous 
lawsuits by advocating greater restrictions on claims at both the state 
and federal levels. These include rules to discourage "junk" claims and 
to prevent "forum shopping" by plaintiffs -- the selection of a certain 
trial jurisdiction because the judge or jury might be more sympathetic.

ATRA spokesperson Gretchen Schaefer told The NewStandard that in 
ATRA's view, the real victims of the tort system include not only "mom 
and pop" businesses, targeted by mercenary plaintiffs; but also the 
truly injured, who are in danger of being crowded out of courts by 
frivolous claimants. Schaefer also claimed that ATRA has "seen no 
evidence" that tort reform could potentially limit victims' rights, and that 
the group aims to protect businesses from victimization by unfair 
lawsuits.

Highlighting the plight of the corporations ATRA represents, she 
remarked, "These people are getting sued because they have deep 
pockets," regardless of whether they have actually committed any 
harm. "That's not justice," she said. "That's greed."

"Greed" is also the operative word for ATRA's opponents, who point 
out that the tort reform organizations have in recent years received 
millions in contributions from the tobacco, insurance, pharmaceutical 
and energy industries. ATRA's website lists among its key supporters 
the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, State 
Farm Insurance and Kraft Foods.

The passage of the Class Action Fairness Act was a strategic 
benchmark for the tort reform lobby in its push for federal liability 
protections. Backed by the National Association of Manufacturers and 
the National Restaurant Association, ATRA is now promoting the 
Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2005, which would restrict a plaintiff's 
right to choose the forum of the trial and mandate stiffer penalties for 
plaintiffs who make claims later found to be "frivolous." The bill recently 
passed the House Judiciary Committee.

Although it is unclear whether any of the pending reform bills will 
muster enough votes to pass Congress, according to activists tracking 
the tort reform movement, what they view as an effort to limit access to 
the legal system is gaining momentum among legislators and the 
public, while the opposition lags behind.

The Commonweal Institute, a liberal policy think tank, has cautioned 
opponents of tort reform that their movement is hindered by the 
lobbyists leading it, who are mostly involved with trial lawyers' 
organizations and not grassroots groups.

In order to garner support on the community level, said Commonweal 
President Leonard Salle, "independent groups" must persuade "the 
broader public" that preserving the tort system is in society's best 
interest. Without effective outreach to counterbalance tort reform 
campaigns, he said, "the messages that are being put out
 they're 
good messages, and they're saying some of the right stuff. But they're 
not being heard."
Malpractice Reform May Be a Costly Trade-off

Medical malpractice liability has become ground zero in the tort reform 
debate, embodying the emotional and political tensions on either side 
of the issue. Proposals to limit compensation for malpractice victims 
have ignited friction between those who say reform would strengthen 
the health care system, and opponents who argue that it would rob 
patients of their right to seek redress against providers who have 
harmed them.

The key liability reform under consideration in Congress is a blanket 
cap on awards for "non-economic damages," which include the pain 
and suffering of victims and other long-term costs beyond those 
directly associated with the injury.

Other legislative proposals would grant liability protections to drug 
companies, impose strict limitations on punitive damage awards levied 
against violating corporations, and limit the proportion of awards that 
can go towards attorneys' fees. In some cases, these laws would 
preempt state medical liability laws.

Opponents say the measure would restrict a vital aspect of fair 
compensation: restitution for long-term pain and suffering. Critics 
argue that children, along with the elderly and low-income people, are 
financially dependent on awards for lost quality of life because 
compensation based on the direct costs of lost wages would be small 
or nonexistent.

The Center for Justice and Democracy contends that a cap would 
disproportionately impact women, who generally have lower incomes 
than men or are more likely to be stay-at-home parents, and minorities, 
who are more likely to receive substandard healthcare.

The case of Jessie Geyer, whose family was turned down repeatedly 
in their search for a lawyer, may illustrate how malpractice lawsuit 
restrictions could undermine victims' rights long before a verdict is 
issued. The Geyers believe California's cap on non-economic 
damages, by guaranteeing a less lucrative case for lawyers, made it a 
struggle just to reach the courthouse door.

Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate with the California-based public 
interest group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, 
explained to TNS that any cap on awards in malpractice cases -- the 
majority of which are lost by plaintiffs and may cost tens of thousands 
of dollars just to litigate -- would essentially limit "the amount of money 
that attorneys can theoretically make." Victims and their families would 
subsequently be more vulnerable to a legal system in which access to 
representation hinges on the potential for a profitable verdict.

To illustrate, Balber described a scenario of an avoidable mishap 
leading to a lost finger: "If you're low-income, your case is simply not 
worth as much
 as the case of a technology [executive] who lost a 
finger."

The medical and insurance industries have jointly pressed liability 
reforms to thwart what they define as wild insurance rate hikes. Yet 
some tort reform critics suspect that with this lobbying partnership, the 
medical community is either overlooking or strategically ignoring, the 
possibility that fluctuations in premiums stem more from manipulative 
insurance industry practices than from excessive claims.

Doroshow believes the insurance issue is actually a smokescreen for a 
deeper agenda. "When you look at the motives of doctors and 
hospitals and HMOs that get their liability capped," she said, "it has 
much less to do with insurance rates than it has to do with the fact that 
they simply don't want to be sued. They don't want anyone looking over 
their shoulder
 even if people die as a result."

But other advocates say that doctors, like the public, have been roped 
into the tort reform movement by the deceptive claims of big business.

"The medical industry basically has been conned by the insurance 
industry," said Carlton Carl, a spokesperson for the American Trial 
Lawyers Association, one of the leading professional organizations 
lobbying against tort reform. Instead of targeting malpractice victims, 
he argued, physicians should hold insurers responsible for the high 
premiums stoking fear among doctors across the country.

Some advocates in the medical community are pushing for liability 
reform that goes further than shielding doctors from lawsuits, such as 
insurance discounts to reward high quality-of-care standards, or 
conditioning liability reductions on stronger safety mandates for 
physicians.

One alternative reform initiative that has attracted both public interest 
groups and doctors is a program known as "Sorry Works!" which 
encourages doctors to admit mistakes to patients, apologize and 
openly negotiate a settlement. A pilot project in the University of 
Michigan Health System has seen a drop in malpractice suits as well 
as litigation costs under this model, suggesting that honesty could be a 
surprisingly effective antidote to litigiousness.

But to the disappointment of victims' advocates , the momentum 
among federal and state lawmakers for dealing with liability issues has 
generally not ventured beyond the courtroom, but rather centered on 
legislating a tighter sieve for lawsuits.

Although opponents of tort reform acknowledge the uncertainties and 
inefficiencies of the civil litigation system, they argue that the proposed 
"remedies" could not curtail "tort excess" without also restricting the 
power of the courts as an inviolable, if imperfect, instrument of justice.

Adam Scales, a professor of law at Washington and Lee University, 
sees no sound alternative to existing legal process. "The tort system 
stinks," he said. "It's slow. It's uneven. It's often random. But 'tort 
reform' does not involve an effort to actually think about how to 
redesign the system. It simply involves playing around with the 
numbers."

? 2005 The NewStandard.

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
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   ---   George Orwell


-------------- next part --------------
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun  7 18:09:20 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:16:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CUT GREENHOUSE GASES NOW,
	SCIENCE ACADEMIES TELL G-8 LEADERS
Message-ID: <20050608010920.79D6069AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CUT GREENHOUSE GASES NOW, SCIENCE ACADEMIES TELL G-8 LEADERS
WebPosted Tue Jun  7 12:31:57 2005

---Governments must act quickly to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,
the world's science academies said Tuesday.

The statement, jointly published by the national academies of science in
several countries, came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with
U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C.

 INDEPTH: Kyoto Protocol

Blair and other European leaders support mandatory limits on greenhouse
gas emissions that scientists say contribute to global climate change.


The White House opposes mandatory limits, saying it would cost too much
to the American economy. The U.S. administration favours using technology
to reduce emissions.

"The current U.S. policy on climate change is misguided," said Lord May,
president of the Royal Society. He added the policy ignores scientific
evidence from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

After meeting with Blair, Bush called climate change "a serious long-term
issue that needs to be dealt with," but the pair did not agree on a new
way to tackle emissions.

The statement is published by the U.K. national academy of science,
along with its counterparts in France, Russia, Germany, U.S., Japan,
Italy and Canada.

Academies in Brazil, China and India, which are among the largest
emitters of greenhouses gases in the developing world, also signed the
statement.

The statement was also released ahead of the July G-8 summit of wealthy
countries in Gleneagles, Scotland.

It calls on G-8 nations to find "cost-effective steps" immediately to
"contribute to substantial and long-term reductions in net global
greenhouse gas emissions."

Delaying action increases the risk of poor effects on the environment and
will likely cost more, the statement said.

"It is clear that world leaders, including the G-8, can no longer use
uncertainty about aspects of climate change as an excuse for not taking
urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions."



RELATED STORY: Bush, Blair working on Africa debt relief plan Fighting
global warming and contributing more aid to Africa top Blair's agenda for
the G-8 summit.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun  7 18:11:51 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC Arts)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:19:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC Arts - LIBRARY REMOVES KAZEMI PHOTOS AFTER COMPLAINT
Message-ID: <20050608011151.187571B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC ARTS
at http://www.cbc.ca/arts
____________________________________________________
LIBRARY REMOVES KAZEMI PHOTOS AFTER COMPLAINT
WebPosted Tue Jun  7 12:53:04 2005

---An exhibition of work by slain Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi has
been shut down, following complaints it was too sympathetic to the
Palestinian uprising.

Last week, a collection of 23 black-and-white photos Kazemi took during
her travels in countries like Israel, Iran and Afghanistan opened at a
municipal library in the Montreal borough of Côte Saint-Luc, which has a
large Jewish population.

A library patron complained that several of the photos depict scenes of
the intefadeh, the Palestinian uprising in Israel, and of Palestinian
refugee camps. Gallery officials decided to remove five images.

Kazemi's son Stephan Hachemi told Radio-Canada Monday that dismantling
the exhibition shows a lack of respect.

"To me, this is truly a violation of the spirit of my mother's
work," he said.

Hachemi gave the borough an ultimatum &#8211; either display all the
photos or none of them &#8211; so organizers have closed the exhibit.


Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Robert Libman told CBC News Tuesday that the
library's gallery isn't there to provoke controversy.

"It's a very complicated conflict, and to create an impression where the
Palestinian cause is being martyred by oppression by the Israeli
government, we don't consider that to be a fair portrait," Libman said.
He added that, in the future, such politically charged work won't be
displayed at the library.

The borough council had commissioned the exhibition to draw attention to
the ongoing fight to find out what happened to Kazemi, who died in Tehran
on July 11, 2003.

INDEPTH: Zahra Kazemi

At the time, the Montreal-based photographer was in the custody of local
police, who had arrested her for shooting pictures of a student
demonstration outside an Iranian prison.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun  7 18:29:01 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:36:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Unconstitutional Cannabis
Message-ID: <25404639.1118194141477.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Unconstitutional Cannabis 
--------------------


June 7 2005

If this editorial board were Congress, we would enact a law allowing marijuana to be used for legitimate medical purposes, such as alleviating intense pain for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In fact, we strongly urge Congress to pass such a law, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that "compassionate-use" laws in California and other states are invalid under the "commerce clause" of the Constitution. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-pot7jun07,0,6711446.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun  7 18:30:05 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:37:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What Were Those Justices Smoking?
Message-ID: <7732876.1118194205470.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
What Were Those Justices Smoking? 
--------------------

The medical marijuana ruling is legally and morally flawed.

By Nick Gillespie
Nick Gillespie is editor in chief of Reason magazine.

June 7 2005

Monday's Supreme Court ruling against medical marijuana was widely expected, but that doesn't make it defensible from a legal or moral perspective. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-gillespie7jun07,0,2694074.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun  7 18:30:58 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:37:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Blaming the Messenger Fools No One
Message-ID: <23935409.1118194258213.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Blaming the Messenger Fools No One 
--------------------

Robert Scheer

June 7 2005

On Sunday, the Iraqi government announced that Saddam Hussein would be charged with crimes going back to the 1982 killings of almost 160 men in the Shiite village of Dujail. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer7jun07,0,6032833.column 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From Bryan.Peterson at LW.com  Tue Jun  7 18:11:03 2005
From: Bryan.Peterson at LW.com (Bryan.Peterson@LW.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:59:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Houses of Right-Wing Worship
Message-ID: <200506071159.j57BxHLC014341@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by Bryan.Peterson@LW.com

Good one for you, Michael.

-------------------------------------
Houses of Right-Wing Worship
http://www.alternet.org/story/22173

A group of Texans say Governor Rick Perry's recent signing of anti-abortion and anti-gay legislation on the grounds of a church school is decidedly un-Christian.
-------------------------------------

From Bryan.Peterson at LW.com  Tue Jun  7 18:13:41 2005
From: Bryan.Peterson at LW.com (Bryan.Peterson@LW.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 04:59:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Education, Not Ammunition
Message-ID: <200506071159.j57Bxh5A014351@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by Bryan.Peterson@LW.com

Boy, is this reminiscent of the 60s.  Do you think we'll have to go back to the draft?

-------------------------------------
Education, Not Ammunition
http://www.alternet.org/story/22169

Summer is typically the most active military enlistment season, but the growing student counter-recruitment movement is working hard to keep youth in schools. 
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun  7 19:39:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 05:47:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Cover-Up as Shameful as Tillman's Death
Message-ID: <6705674.1118198383132.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
A Cover-Up as Shameful as Tillman's Death 
--------------------

Robert Scheer

May 31 2005

Once again it has taken grieving relatives to point out that the Bush administration will exploit even a heroic death for its own partisan purposes. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer31may31,0,6952617.column 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun  7 19:40:22 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 05:47:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Hypocritical Church's Sex Lessons
Message-ID: <15406293.1118198422762.JavaMail.turbine@s73>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
A Hypocritical Church's Sex Lessons 
--------------------

The pope has minimized priests' crimes while wagging a finger at gays.

Robert Scheer

May 24 2005

One of the most sexually repressed institutions in human history has been caught with its pants down yet again but still insists on wagging its disapproving finger at the rest of us. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer24may24,0,7739053.column 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun  7 20:12:21 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun  7 06:20:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] How Dare They Try to End This"
Message-ID: <20050607.201227.8655.6434@webmail21.nyc.untd.com>


This is abhorrent.
Our base, the ‘60’s is now under attack. Everything we did to change America for the better languishes as gain after gain, is being destroyed or under attack. Everything!

Water, Air, No War, Human decency-and now the doctor’s prescriptions for medical marijuana to alleviate pain and suffering.

It is clear to me-the forced steering to drug companies is covert and/or obvious.

I do hope, all the beauty in this world that we once knew, does not go away and die: that’s all I have left-the rest of my existence is being taken away.

What about the way the sound ‘America’ made me feel. My flag, my patriotism and belief ‘of the people’, ‘by the people’, and ‘for the people’, has been drastically altered, marred, changed through new and despicable actions.

“How Dare They Try to End This Beauty, How Dare They Try to End This Beauty!”


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun  7 21:47:01 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun  7 07:55:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alleviate Pain and Suffering
Message-ID: <20050607.214755.8655.7436@webmail21.nyc.untd.com>


This is abhorrent. 
Our base, the ‘60’s is now under attack. Everything we did to change America for the better languishes as gain after gain, is being destroyed or under attack. Everything!

Water, Air, No War, Human decency-and now the doctor’s prescriptions for medical marijuana to alleviate pain and suffering. 

It is clear to me-the forced steering to drug companies is covert and/or obvious.

I do hope, all the beauty in this world that we once knew, does not go away and die: that’s all I have left-the rest of my existence is being taken away.

What about the way the sound ‘America’ made me feel. My flag, my patriotism and belief ‘of the people’, ‘by the people’, and ‘for the people’, has been drastically altered, marred, changed through new and despicable actions.

“How Dare They Try to End This Beauty, How Dare They Try to End This Beauty!” 



Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun  7 22:17:50 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun  7 08:26:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A very stoned Jimi and Judi reply.......
Message-ID: <20050607.221850.8655.7625@webmail21.nyc.untd.com>


great story-how true, especially the cricket-they're smart-of course, I don't need to tell you that.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
A very stoned Jimi and Judi reply.......




Hehehehe....
Hehehehehehe.......
That is so funny, Judi...
Yeah, I know, Jimi...
This is the same Congress, Supreme Court, etc that took almost 200 years
just to pass Environmental laws...
Yeah, I know, most of the people who now need marijuana to just ease pain or
nausea are sick from all the slipshod deals the Congress etc made with
Corporate/Industrial America in the first place...
Yeah, I know, pisses me off.  We're all sitting around infested with
everything from pesticides to radioactive fallout to mercury in tuna fish to
who knows what is in the air and in the water, and the list is about a
million zillion things...
It sucks, doesn't it...
Yes, yes it does...
And we can't even have marijuana to ease our pain as millions of us get
older and more infested with the pollution Congress etc let ravage our
beautiful land, atmosphere, and even our bodies here for like forever...
Yeah, that does suck, doesn't it...  Why did they wait 200 years to pass
Environmental etc etc etc laws...?
Too busy making money, connections, and being the cocks of the walk...
Real brains...
Yeah...  Our great leadership...
And so now millions of us are dying from all kinds of cancers etc etc etc
because the bigshots made out like bandits and didn't even start just
thinking about Environmental etc etc laws to protect our lives and where we
live until just a couple or so decades ago...
Yeah......
And no pot to go with it as we fall apart at the seams and suffer...
Nope...
They suck...
I know....
We can still buy beer and cigarettes though in the store, right...?
Of course...
But those things give us cirhossis of the liver, emphesema, cancer, etc,
right...?
Of course...
They don't have cures for most of those yet, do they...?
No, they don't...
So we just have to suffer...?
Yes...  Or you can pay a doctor to see him, then pay for a prescription,
which will kill a lot of pain, is nothing like natural marijuana, and costs
a fortune often...
I don't have that kind of money...
And your point is...?
So then I just have to suffer...?
Yes...
With no pot to help me...?
Yes...
They suck...
Yes, I know...
They're one reason I have all this crap in my body eating me to begin
with...
Ok, ok, ok, we know that, look, no pot, face it, a million dead children
from sanctions overseas, but marijuana will corrupt our culture, our
children and turn everyone into heavy metal devil worshippers...
I can still get my ritalin at school though, I hope...
Of course...
Well, that's something at least...  But no pot...  Horrible...
Yeah, I know...
So this means we still have to buy our pot from the Columbian and other
cartels who make billions etc each year from supplying us and the rest of
the world...?
Yeah, I guess so...  Uncle Cheeseburger says the government etc gets
kickbacks from them which are much more profitable than the amount they
would make from legalizing it, at least in their own minds, but I think the
real reason they won't legalize etc it is that they will always have a
boogeyman named marijuana to blame just about everything wrong with everyone
on that everyone can be afraid of forever to help cover up their own massive
ongoing crimes against nature and humanity, then they never have to either
legalize it or stop getting their lucrative kickbacks from the Columbians
etc, and as our tax-sponsored government is overseas murdering a million
children by starving etc them to death, there will always be moms over here
who can point at something and someone and say "Look, kids, drugs, the
devil's workshop..."
Ok, f*ck it, give me Juan's number, we're running short and I wanna stock up
just in case we have to wait another 200 years for them to get their heads
out of their butts...
You shouldn't talk like that about them, after all, they do rule our
world...
Yeah, but they made us sick, they let all those people pollute and poison
and infect and infest just about everything around us including ourselves,
they let a million children starve etc to death and don't blink, they
subsidize and even tax things like cigarettes and alchohol which kills
millions of people each year, and we can't have any pot to even just ease
our f*cking pain here on the bottom dying like rats, then in my book, they
have their heads up their butts...
I agree, but you never know who might be listening...
Oh, yeah, I forgot, where is Uncle Cheeseburger anyway...
He took our last roach and locked himself in his room when he heard the
news...
Oh, ok, that sounds like something he would do...
Yeah, I know, we won't see him for days now...
It would have been so nice if adults here could have gotten a prescription
for pot for pain etc, gee, someday they could have even legalized it for
adults, especially since it doesn't cause all those diseases that tobacco
and alcohol cause, and made a fortune off of it in vending machines...
Yeah, I know, but they're deranged c*cksuckers who kill a million kids
overseas with sanctions and dose their own kids in school here with ritalin
etc, so go figure, no way would they be interested in alleviating anyone's
pain, especially adults who live with it every day and are hostage to the
pharmaceutical companies instead, hey, wow, it all goes around and around
and around in a big giant big boys you scratch my back I'll scratch your
back circle no matter where you start from, hehe....
Hehehe.....
Hehehehehe.....
Oh well, f*ck 'em....
Yeah, I agree, f*ck 'em....
Allright now, I've been saving this, but here's a surprise...
What....?
Here, I've been hiding this roach from Uncle Cheeseburger for months now in
the bottom of the cricket cage...
Oh cool.....
Yeah, I knew you'd like it...
Hey...  Wait a moment...  This is a *real* roach, I can see its legs...
What...?   Lemme see that.....
Here....
Oh wow, cool, you're right, it *is* a real roach...  hehe....
Hehehe...
Hehehehe...
Hehehehehehe....
Oh well, nevermind....  Night Jimi....
Night Judi....


The cricket waits until they are asleep and then pulls the real roach out
from under his bed, lights it and sits in the dark softly giggling........

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:51:25 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 13:58:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <2853500.1118227885759.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty
 
 By Carol D. Leonnig
 
 Justice Dept. lawyers abruptly upset landmark case against the industry by asking for $10 billion, instead of the expected $130 billion, in penalties.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/07/AR2005060702019.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:52:13 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 13:59:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <25374380.1118227933739.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Oscar-Winning Actress Anne Bancroft Dies at 73
 
 By Matt Schudel
 
 Versatile actress who may be best remembered as the sultry suburban housewife in "The Graduate," died on June 6 of uterine cancer.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:53:10 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:00:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31211020.1118227990569.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Poll Finds Dimmer View of Iraq War
 
 By Dana Milbank and Claudia Deane
 
 For the first time since the war in Iraq began, more than half of the American public believes the fight there has not made the United States safer, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:53:39 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:00:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <32890673.1118228019910.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Right Path to Arab Democracy
 
 By Madeleine Albright and Vin Weber
 
 The Bush administration is right to support democratic change in the Arab Middle East. The question is how best to go about that delicate process. If we push too hard, we may add to the perception that we are trying to impose our will. If we fail to push hard enough, we may contribute to the view...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:54:29 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:01:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4790014.1118228069450.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Judging This Court
 
 By George F. Will
 
 With the parties warring over the composition of the federal judiciary, and with a Supreme Court vacancy perhaps impending, Americans should use the court's end-of-term decisions as whetstones on which to sharpen their sense of the ambiguities in the categories -- "liberal," "conservative,"...
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun  7 18:40:43 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:01:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Sultan of Brunei
In-Reply-To: <20050607185425.80115.qmail@web81701.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <BECB9ABB.206C9%michael@michaelbutler.com>

No, I had not seen this.
My last experience with him was umpiring a charity polo game at Cirencester.
The Sultan's team was opposed by that of Prince Charles.
I was advised that if I called on PC's team I probably would be sent to the
Tower. If called on the Sultan's team I would be named in a 'fatwa'.
As I did not call on either team I am still around.
Rich, He is beyond rich.
Michael
 
------ Forwarded Message
From: Gerald Gerald <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 11:54:25 -0700 (PDT)
To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Sultan of Brunei

 Private Airplane
 
 You may have already seen this, it's amazing!
 
 The Sultan of Brunei's Private Airplane
Think of this the next time you fill up with gas
This aircraft was "remodeled" in Waco.  Yes, the sinks
are solid gold and one of them is Lalique crystal.
The Sultan bought the aircraft for roughly $100M; had
it flown to Waco, brand-new,  had the interior
completely removed; and had the folks at E-Systems
(now Raytheon) install $120M worth of improvements
inside and outside.
 
I've gained entrance to nuclear weapons storage areas
much easier than gaining entrance to see this
airplane.  While there it struck me: maybe the rich
really are different than the rest of us!

------ End of Forwarded Message

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From Hawaiipolo at cs.com  Tue Jun  7 19:36:43 2005
From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com (Hawaiipolo@cs.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:01:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <200506071324.j57DOhvQ014543@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

THE AMERICAN TALIBAN IS ON THE HUNT! MD

 What's behind the Student Bill of Rights? 
By David Bacon 
t r u t h o u t | Perspective 

Tuesday 07 June 2005 

Santa Rosa, CA - An older generation of teachers may remember the days of 
California's loyalty oaths and red scares. During the cold-war, McCarthyite era 
of the early 1950s, educators accused of being Communists or harboring 
left-wing views were driven from the school system. 

Today, witchhunts seem once again on the rise. The latest attempt to return 
to the era of red-baiting is called, ironically, the Student Bill of Rights. 
That has a fine, democratic ring to it. The phrase, however, is being used to 
restrict the ability of teachers to introduce controversial or provocative ideas 
into their classrooms. The argument goes like this: Conservative students are 
offended when "liberal" faculty try to force them to consider ideas with 
which they don't agree. Political science or sociology instructors, for instance, 
who support the benefits of minimum or living wage ordinances for workers, 
should be prevented from advancing such liberal biases in class. 

If this sounds far-fetched, consider the fact that 13 states have introduced 
legislation that would prohibit such "indoctrination." These bills, a project 
of ultra-conservative ideologue David Horowitz, aren't aimed at the many 
prestigious business schools around the country. There, instructors not only teach 
students that making profit is necessary and virtuous, but insist students 
learn to do so as efficiently as possible. Instead, these measures are directed 
against teachers who question such established ideas. 

This spring in Santa Rosa, conservative students supporting the state's own 
version of the Student Bill of Rights demonstrated where this is headed. 

On February 25, leaflets quoting Section 51530 of the Education Code were 
anonymously posted on the doors of ten faculty members at Santa Rosa Junior 
College. The leaflet quoted the code: "No teacher ... shall advocate or teach 
communism with the intent to indoctrinate, inculcate in the mind of any pupil a 
preference for communism." Such "advocacy," the statute says, means teaching "for 
the purpose of undermining patriotism for, and the belief in, the government 
of the United States and of this state." Fifty years ago, when left-wing 
teachers were hounded out of the state's school system during the cold war, this 
code section was rushed through the legislature to make it legal. 

A subsequent press release by the Santa Rosa Junior College Republicans 
claimed responsibility. "We did this because we believe certain instructors at SRJC 
are in violation of California state law," it said. The same day, a news 
release was posted on the website of California College Republicans, titled 
"Operation 'Red Scare,'" saying the action targeted "10 troublesome professors." The 
organization's chair, Michael Davidson, told blogger John Gorenfeld that "a 
lot of the college professors are leftovers from the Seventies - and Communist 
sympathizers." 

In a letter to the campus newspaper, the Oak Leaf, the president of the SRJC 
College Republicans, Molly McPherson, explains that "The instructors I 
'targeted' were not selected at random ... There have even been accounts of JC 
teachers openly advocating Communist and Marxist theories ... [which have] been 
outlawed in the classrooms of a country with the strongest free speech rights in 
the world." 

When the campus Republicans found it hard to document the massive teaching of 
communism at the junior college, they retreated to general complaints of 
"leftist bias" by faculty members. Evidence to support charges of biased teaching 
seemed just as scarce. In a forum discussing the flyer, student trustee Nick 
Caston pointed out, "I have been on the Board of Review (the last step of the 
grievance process) for three years and have never heard a complaint about bias 
in the class room." 

"I've never even talked with any of the students who were involved in this," 
commented red-starred professor Marty Bennett. "But I do teach a lot of labor 
history in my social sciences classes, and I'm identified in the community as 
someone involved in the labor movement. That's probably why I was chosen." 
Other instructors also had had little or no contact with the young Republicans. 
Bennett says that because of the incident, "some teachers were reluctant to 
take up more controversial subjects. But it pushed others towards an activism 
they might not have considered before." 

On her organization's website, McPherson says the flyering was "just in time 
for one of our senators introducing the academic bill of rights in April." 
That bill, SB 5, introduced by Sen. Bill Morrow, R-San Juan Capistrano, says, 
"faculty shall not use their courses or their positions for the purpose of 
political, ideological, religious or anti-religious indoctrination." 

David Horowitz' website warns that "while a professor is on campus or in an 
academic setting, he or she has professional responsibilities that make 
partisan political action unacceptable," and that "all too frequently, professors 
behave as political advocates in the classroom, express opinions in a partisan 
manner on controversial issues irrelevant to the academic subject." In an era in 
which Governor Schwarzenegger has gone to war with the state's teachers, 
Horowitz's admonitions would silence protest against him. On April 20, SB 5 failed 
to pass the Senate Education Committee. McPherson and her clubmates fared 
equally poorly in late April student body elections at SRJC, when the slate they 
supported lost by a 2-1 majority. 

Nevertheless, bills similar to Morrow's have been introduced into 13 other 
states this year. Defending one in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State Senator 
Larry Mumper warned that "card-carrying Communists," whom he defined as "people 
who try to over-regulate and try to bring in a lot of issues we don't agree 
with," are teaching at universities. 

Isn't that what the free market in ideas is all about? 



David Bacon is a California photojournalist who documents labor, migration 
and globalization. His book The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the US/Mexico 
Border was published last year by University of California Press. -------

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From Hawaiipolo at cs.com  Tue Jun  7 15:31:48 2005
From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com (Hawaiipolo@cs.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:01:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <200506071350.j57Do06a014753@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

An interesting take on the anti globalization backlash that seems to be 
picking up speed...MD
> 
>  The Rage of Days
> By Stirling Newberry
> t r u t h o u t | Perspective 
> 
> Tuesday 07 June 2005
> 
>  It came with dawn, a banging of pots. First one, and then another, until 
> there formed an incessant chorus, like the waking of the birds. Wave upon 
> pattering wave. In late 2001, the sound of banging pots came to Buenos Aires, and 
> they sang the song of discontent. The Peso was in crisis, and within weeks it 
> would be unpegged from the dollar, dropping to a fraction of its previous 
> value. Early in the new year, men would be shuffled through the presidency, 
> ending the comic parade with a huge default and a massive economic recession. 
> 
> What followed was a rage of days, where presidents came and went, and 
> confusion and uncertainty hung over the fate of the nation. In the wake of this 
> collapse, an entirely unexpected political stability was reached. Foreign 
> lenders were told to stand in line behind everyone else, and the standard 
> prescription of "shock therapy" was ignored. Foreign economists would throw tantrums 
> about the "Great Bank Robbery" and wring their hands about the problems of 
> "moral hazard" in lending to developing nations. Desperation and gloom descended 
> on the capital city, and people crowded into milongas to wash away their 
> frustrations, immersed in the rhythms that reached to the roots of tradition: 
> the tango. And in those halls, out of jostling fragments, there emerged a 
> whirling motion, a hive of humanity captured by the swirls of the dance. Argentina 
> debated its future as much in gesture as in words. There was something 
> there, something beyond cogent enunciation, that did not flee with capital, and 
> was not devalued with the peso.
> 
>  It was in the solace of nation that Argentines eventually were to place 
> their faith, and in the wreckage of the economy they found something that had 
> been lost in the years of chasing the dollar: autonomy. They had taken their 
> country back. And even though unemployment remained high, and poverty curled 
> its fingers around the lives of hundreds of thousands who had not long before 
> known affluence, this was the hard-won profit of their pain.
> 
>  What was not understood at the time was that Argentina's fiscal crisis was 
> Janus-headed: the end of one era and the beginning of the next. It was the 
> last of the financial crisis moments, in which money fled a local currency for 
> the safety of dollars. But in the aftermath came the rejection of the 
> International Monetary Fund's shock therapy and an assertion that Argentines would 
> go it alone into an uncertain future.
> 
>  The "No" votes on the proposed European Constitution have been framed in 
> ideological terms, with some blaming "socialism at the end of its tether" and 
> others, an excess of "liberalisme." Instead, it should be seen as part of an 
> ever-increasing torrent, a rejection of internationalism and the international 
> institutions that were architected in the wake of World War II. 
> 
> It should be seen as of a kind with America's growing unilateralism, 
> expressed in going to war in Iraq. It should be seen as of a kind with the 
> transformation of jobs riots in China into anti-Japanese riots. It should be seen as 
> of a kind with Putin's re-nationalization of Russia's mineral resources. It 
> should be seen of as a piece with the attempt to topple the Liberal Party of 
> Canada by an alliance of the Partie Quebecois and the National Alliance - two 
> parties seeking to dismantle the federal nature of Canada and break it into 
> semi-sovereign states. Economic and political nationalism are not separate, but 
> conjoined expressions of a deeper urge, an urge for a tie that binds people 
> and power together by more than appeals to abstract self-interest.
> 
>  Internationalism is, almost by its nature, a creature of reason and of 
> rigor. It is explanatory and discursive. The European Constitution asked to be 
> graded by the pound. What was lacking was a visceral sense of the kind of 
> Europe it would create, and what rhythms that Europe would dance to. The public of 
> France and Holland could not grasp what it meant, and so, they rejected it. 
> Some part of this was fear, and some part was motivated by a hard-core 
> revulsion toward what was seen as alien - whether Turkish nationality, muslim 
> culture, or English economics. But as much of what is "Non" welled up from the 
> diaphragms of French workers who did not see a place for themselves in the 
> Europe that was coming to be.
> 
>  The logic of nation is the logic of emotion. If it is to produce an 
> authentic expression, this logic must go from turbulent and narrowing anger to an 
> expansion of perception and that peculiar clarity that only crisis affords. It 
> is too early to tell whether this moment of rejection is merely a convulsive 
> reflex or the turning of a tide. However, it cannot be dismissed as a 
> political movement of the fringes, because it has flowered in so many different 
> places, in so many different forms. This rejection of internationalism is neither 
> uniformly good nor uniformly bad but is, instead, a force unto itself that 
> obeys a law unto itself. With the rejection of the EU Constitution, Europe 
> enters into its own rage of days, without consensus as to direction or the means 
> to solve its looming economic problems. For the time being, the centrifugal 
> forces have overwhelmed the drive to convergence, and yet neither side can 
> answer the simple question, "what next?" 
> 
> What causes long-seething passions to break forth is a deep need, a need for 
> people to be able to feel their way through the intricacies of the world, as 
> the gestures of the tango allow men and women to thread their way from 
> introduction to intoxication. If internationalism in its myriad forms is to 
> survive, it must become this infinite dance within which people may find 
> themselves. Otherwise, as has happened so often before, they will leave the larger 
> public squares and crowd into smaller spaces whose shape they can understand, and 
> whose forms are familiar to their hands and feet.
> 
>  The international order has been very kind to some, opening doors and 
> creating rivers of trade, created by flows of people, goods, and money. But it has 
> not given millions and millions a sense of their place in it, nor has it 
> given them any reason to believe that they even have a place in it. Without an 
> inevitable emotional logic, there is no connection between the words written 
> in documents and the will of the peoples that must enact those words. 
> 
> And that is the crux of the matter, and only that.
> 
>  
> 
> Stirling Newberry is an internet business and strategy consultant, with 
> experience in international telecom, consumer marketing, e-commerce and forensic 
> database analysis. He has acted as an advisor to Democratic political 
> campaigns and organizations and is the the co-founder, along with Christopher Lydon, 
> Jay Rosen and Matt Stoller, of BopNews, as well as being the military 
> affairs editor of The Agonist. -------
> 
>  Jump to today's TO Features:                                                
>                                                                       
> 
> Print This Story E-mail This Story
> 
> 
> 
    
    
        
    
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From venuetheatre at juno.com  Tue Jun  7 20:27:15 2005
From: venuetheatre at juno.com (venuetheatre@juno.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:01:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Help Save Africa
Message-ID: <200506071355.j57DtETp014767@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Please go to this website and sign the petition to send funds to African
people

$16 supports a child in school for a year
$10 gives aids medicine for 6 months

http://www.bread.org/one.htm

What is the ONE Campaign? 
The ONE Campaign is for people like you who care and want to know simple
things you can do to help. ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally
Americans ? ONE by ONE ? to fight the emergency of global AIDS, extreme
poverty and chronic hunger. The ONE Campaign is engaging Americans across
the nation ? in churches and businesses, online and on college campuses,
at community meetings and concerts. ONE is showing people the steps they
can take to fight global AIDS, hunger and poverty.
Each ONE of us can make a difference.
Together as ONE we can change the world.

We?re not asking for your money. We?re asking for your voice. 
 Thanks
Corinne


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit our web site at www.VenueActorStudio.org
Venue Theatre is a not for profit 501(c)(3) Corporation.  Our office is
located at  5124 Ninth Avenue N, St Petersburg, FL 33710.  Please send
all mail to the office.
The Studio is at 9125 US 19 N, Pinellas Park (at Mainlands Blvd.)
727-822-6194  cell  727-656-8525


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit our web site at www.VenueActorStudio.org
Venue Theatre is a not for profit 501(c)(3) Corporation.  Our office is
located at  5124 Ninth Avenue N, St Petersburg, FL 33710.  Please send
all mail to the office.
The Studio is at 9125 US 19 N, Pinellas Park (at Mainlands Blvd.)
727-822-6194  cell  727-656-8525
From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:55:10 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:02:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31374740.1118228110759.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Amnesty's Amnesia
 
 By Anne Applebaum
 
 A few years ago I spent several days sitting in the back of a library in London, reading through newsletters, pamphlets and other accounts of Soviet prison conditions published in the 1970s and '80s by Amnesty International. Sometimes these reports were remarkably detailed, testifying to the...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:55:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:02:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11677613.1118228152740.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Candor on Immigration
 
 By Robert J. Samuelson
 
 Immigration is crawling its way back onto the national agenda -- and not just as a footnote to keeping terrorists out. This year Congress enacted a law intended to prevent illegal immigrants from getting state driver's licenses; the volunteer "minutemen" who recently patrolled the porous Arizona...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun  8 03:56:42 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:03:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <17404926.1118228202349.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 'We Need to Accelerate'
 
 By David Ignatius
 
 AMMAN, Jordan -- When an Arab leader removes his chief of intelligence, it's a sign that some kind of serious internal shake-up is underway. And that's just what has been happening here as the storm of political reform settles deeper over the Arab world.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/08/AR2005060800351.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 04:08:49 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:15:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to
	Global Warming
Message-ID: <20050608110849.774D3249C1F@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 8, 2005
Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A White House official repeatedly edited climate reports in ways that play down links between emissions and global warming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08climate.html?ex=1118894400&en=3ecf6a7e95009d2c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 04:09:02 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:15:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Court and Marijuana
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OPINION | June 8, 2005
Editorial: The Court and Marijuana

To wean the Justice Department from its gross misuse of the Controlled Substances Act, Congress should amend the law to exempt prescribed marijuana.
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 04:09:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:16:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Spilling Each and Every Bean
Message-ID: <20050608110959.79697237064@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 8, 2005
Guest Columnist: Spilling Each and Every Bean
By STACY SCHIFF
The very idea of keeping a secret for 33 years seems as quaint as 18 1/2 minutes of silence - on reel-to-reel tape.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08schiff.html?ex=1118894400&en=8f28c8ca0c651a3c&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:17:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Burst of Arab-Israeli Violence Shatters a
	Time of Calm
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 8, 2005
Burst of Arab-Israeli Violence Shatters a Time of Calm
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and STEVEN ERLANGER
A mortar shell fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza struck a greenhouse in an Israeli settlement on Tuesday, killing three workers and wounding five more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/international/middleeast/08mideast.html?ex=1118894400&en=f9e31bb5b2b10b9e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:18:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Colonel Sanders Under Fiery Siege in
	Pakistan
Message-ID: <20050608111112.84532249C7C@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 8, 2005
Karachi Journal: Colonel Sanders Under Fiery Siege in Pakistan
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Four times since Pakistan allied itself with the United States campaign against terror, a KFC outlet in Karachi has been attacked. This time, it may not reopen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/international/asia/08karachi.html?ex=1118894400&en=bfa078d7a1c32f43&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 04:11:35 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:18:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush and Blair Deny 'Fixed' Iraq Reports
Message-ID: <20050608111135.EB6593AE393@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL | June 8, 2005
Bush and Blair Deny 'Fixed' Iraq Reports
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair denied allegations that intelligence was being "fixed" around the policy of removing Saddam Hussein.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/international/08prexy.html?ex=1118894400&en=248fa14fa6504bb2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 04:14:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:21:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Carter_Says_U=2ES=2E_?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?Should_Close_Detention_Center_at_Guant=E1namo?=
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NATIONAL / THREATS AND RESPONSES | June 8, 2005
Carter Says U.S. Should Close Detention Center at Guantánamo
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former President Jimmy Carter said the move would demonstrate the country's commitment to protecting human rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/national/nationalspecial3/08carter.html?ex=1118894400&en=9c6f663c0fdb2277&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 14:21:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Kerry Grades Near Bush's While at Yale
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WASHINGTON | June 8, 2005
Kerry Grades Near Bush's While at Yale
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senator John Kerry's grade average at Yale University was almost identical to that of President Bush, his rival in the 2004 presidential campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08kerry.html?ex=1118894400&en=c7d4d0e640d74ca3&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From harperalexander at mail.com  Wed Jun  8 05:37:24 2005
From: harperalexander at mail.com (Alexander Harper)
Date: Tue Jun  7 15:44:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Climate Change: PLEASE, americans - do something!
Message-ID: <20050608123724.9705A1CE303@ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com>

This article appeared in today's UK Independent. The US media must also be running the story.We all know that Bush is in the pocket of the oil industry and that the president of Exxon has said (so I am reliably told) that 'if the sky isn't black we aren't making money' but this has now gone beyond a joke. I know that Bush and his constituents think that gay marriage, abortion and terrorism are far more important issues but some one has now got to make him and the majority of americans pay attention to this imminent but still, perhaps, just avertable catastrophe.
Al Baraka

quote
An unprecedented joint statement issued by the leading scientific academies of the world has called on the G8 governments to take urgent action to avert a global catastrophe caused by climate change.

The national academies of science for all the G8 countries, along with those of Brazil, India and China, have warned that governments must no longer procrastinate on what is widely seen as the greatest danger facing humanity. The statement, which has taken months to finalise, is all the more important as it is signed by Bruce Alberts, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, which has warned George Bush about the dangers of ignoring the threat posed by global warming.

It was released on the day that Tony Blair met Mr Bush in Washington, where the American President was expected to reaffirm his opposition to joining the Kyoto treat to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Over dinner at the White House last night, Mr Blair appeared to make little progress on one of his main priorities for Britain's year chairing the G8 - a new international effort to combat climate change. The Prime Minister is trying to draw the US, China and India into the discussion, but there is little sign that the Bush administration will accept the growing scientific evidence about the problem.

Lord May of Oxford, the president of the Royal Society, Britain's national academy of sciences, lambasted President Bush yesterday for ignoring his own scientists by withdrawing from the Kyoto treaty. "The current US policy on climate change is misguided. The Bush administration has consistently refused to accept advice of the US National Academy of Sciences ... Getting the US on board is critical because of the sheer amount of greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for," Lord May said.

Between 1990 and 2002, the carbon dioxide emissions of the US increased by 13 per cent, which on their own were greater than the combined cut in emissions that will be achieved if all Kyoto countries hit their targets, he said.

"President Bush has an opportunity at Gleneagles to signal that his administration will no longer ignore the scientific evidence and act to cut emissions," Lord May said. "The G8 summit is an unprecedented moment in human history. Our leaders face a stark choice - act now to tackle climate change or let future generations face the price of their inaction.

"Never before have we faced such a global threat. And if we do not begin effective action now it will be much harder to stop the runaway train as it continues to gather momentum," he added.

The joint statement by the national science academies of the 11 countries does not mention Kyoto but it does refer repeatedly to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change that spawned the 1995 protocol to limit future greenhouse gas emissions, which the US has signed up to.

Climate change is real, global warming is occurring and there is strong evidence that man-made greenhouse gases are implicated in a potentially catastrophic increase in global temperatures, the statement says. "It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities. This warming has already led to changes in the Earth's climate."

Human activities are causing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to rise to a point not reached for at least 420,000 years. Meanwhile average global temperatures rose by 0.6C in the 20th century and are projected to increase by between 1.4C and 5.8C by 2100.

"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions," the statement says.

In a veiled reference to President Bush's reluctance to accept climate change by claiming that the science is unclear, the academies emphasise that action is needed now to reduce the build-up of greenhouse gases.

"A lack of full scientific certainty about some aspects of climate change is not a reason for delaying an immediate response that will, at a reasonable cost, prevent dangerous anthropogenic [man-made] interference with the climate system," the statement says.

"We urge all nations... to take prompt action to reduce the causes of climate change, adapt to its impacts and ensure that the issue is included in all relevant national and international strategies."

The national academies warn that even if greenhouse gas emissions can be stabilised at existing levels, the climate would continue to change as it slowly responds to the extra carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere. "Further changes in climate are therefore unavoidable. Nations must prepare for them," the statement says.

CO2 on the increase

1958: A US scientist, Charles Keeling, begins measuring the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) on an extinct volcano in Hawaii. It stands at 315 parts per million (ppm).

1968: The US spacecraft 'Apollo 8' takes the first pictures of Earth from a distance, beautiful but fragile - which help start modern environmentalism. The C02 level has reached 323ppm.

1972: The UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm - the moment when the world first recognises environmental threats to the Earth as a whole. CO2 now at 327ppm.

1988: The world wakes up to the danger of climate change, with an outspoken warning from scientists, and a speech by Margaret Thatcher. CO2 level stands at 351ppm.

1992: The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro sees more than 100 countries sign the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the first global warming treaty. CO2 now at 356ppm.

1995: The Kyoto protocol to the UN's climate treaty is signed in Japan, binding countries, including the US, to make cuts in their CO2 emissions. The CO2 level has now reached 360ppm.

2000: Obvious that the 1990s were the hottest decade in the global temperature record, with 1998 the hottest year in the northern hemisphere for 1,000 years. CO2 is 369ppm.

2001: George Bush withdraws the US, the world's biggest CO2 emitter, from Kyoto, alleging it will damage America's economy - jeopardising the whole process. CO2 level now at 371ppm.

2003: First two weeks of August are the hottest period ever recorded in western Europe: 35,000 people die. New record high temperature for Britain. CO2 now at 375ppm.

2004: After much dithering, Russia ratifies Kyoto, enabling the protocol to enter into force despite the desertion of the United States. But that doesn't stop the CO2 level rising to 377ppm. 



-- 
___________________________________________________________
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From akstudio at flash.net  Tue Jun  7 22:48:57 2005
From: akstudio at flash.net (DAGMAR & ANTON)
Date: Tue Jun  7 18:58:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] quotes...
Message-ID: <200506080158.j581wk9c016117@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

xx
 Dagmar

--- Skyelav@aol.com wrote:
 
>       "This is an impressive crowd, the haves and
> the have-mores. 
> Some people call you the elite. 
> I call you my base.
> George W Bush 
> Al Smith Memorial Dinner in New York 
> October 19, 2000
> 
> 
> 'You can fool some of the people all of the time,
> and those are the ones you 
> want to concentrate on."  George W. Bush, Washington
> Gridiron Club, March, 
> 2001
> 
> 
> 


The "ELVIS! by Dagmar "Book (and a sampling of R'n'R photos) can be seen here: http://www.dagmarfoto.com

Come visit Atelier Anton Krajnc in Cyberspace: http://www.AntonKrajnc.com
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  8 09:36:53 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun  7 19:43:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Well Off and Homeless - A Paradox
In-Reply-To: <42A71D5B.9000709@cox.net>
Message-ID: <BECC6CB5.20743%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Marsha <marsha.erman@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:31:23 -0500
To: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Subject: Re: Well Off and Homeless - A Paradox

Michael Butler wrote:

>Michael Butler's Blog
>
>http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
>
>
>
>
>  
>
I read your comments about housing and I completely agree.  Nowhere is
this trend more evident than in Hawaii where many grown children are
forced to leave their families and the culture of their ancestors due to
real estate prices. Not only can they not afford to buy a home, but many
cannot even afford to rent. A decent one bedroom cottage costs anywhere
from $1,000 to $1,500 and up. Mansions are being built every day by
people with big money moving to Hawaii from the mainland. In the 35
years I lived on Maui, the cost of living has gone sky-high while
salaries have remained the same, and they wonder why they can't get
special education teachers to make sure that "no child gets left
behind".  As an educational assistant {teacher's aide}, I was paid about
$10 an hour.  Food prices are rediculous also.  The middle class is a
thing of the past. History shows that when you wipe out the middle
class, society collapses. I especially feel bad for the native Hawaiians
who are forced to move to the mainland because of this situation. Not
only have we taken their land in the same way as we did to the native
Americans, but now they can't even afford to live a decent life in their
homeland which is rich with a strong cultural heritage. Shameful.


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.6.6 - Release Date: 6/8/2005


------ End of Forwarded Message

From herzogje at adelphia.net  Wed Jun  8 00:28:06 2005
From: herzogje at adelphia.net (John Herzog)
Date: Tue Jun  7 19:47:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw:   No Dentist Left Behind
Message-ID: <200506080247.j582lCsu016230@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun  8 09:42:11 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun  7 19:49:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Sure Not What I Heard
Message-ID: <BECC6DF3.20746%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Bush paves way for African debt deal
>By Caroline Daniel and Ben Hall in Washington and Chris Giles in London
>Published: June 7 2005 22:44 | Last updated: June 8 2005 00:50
>>

President George W.Bush on Tuesday paved the way for an agreement on
multilateral debt relief for Africa when in a change of tack he promised
?additional resources? would be made available to the World Bank.

Speaking at the White House, flanked by Tony Blair, the UK prime minister,
Mr Bush presented a show of unity on reform and development in Africa, which
will be the centrepiece of next month's Group of Eight summit at Gleneagles
in Scotland.

?We agree that highly indebted developing countries that are on the path to
reform should not be burdened by mountains of debt,? he said.

?Our countries are developing a proposal for the G8 that will eliminate 100
per cent of that debt and that, by providing additional resources, will
preserve the financial integrity of the World Bank and the African
Development Bank.? Both leaders, however, cautioned that more work was
needed to garner wider international support for the debt proposals. Mr
Blair said: ?Its important to realise we need, obviously, America and the UK
to be in agreement, but then we need the agreement of the others.?

Mr Bush's comments about new resources mark a concession by the US which had
previously wanted to cancel the debt without replenishing World Bank funds.
The UK favours paying the debt-servicing bills of African countries.

Mr Blair expressed the hope of concluding a debt deal at the meeting of G7
finance ministers in London this weekend.

>
>>
>Bush seeks 'to know more' about global warming
>>
>>     
>

President George W. Bush promised to take action on US greenhouse gas
emissions, but said the US first needed to know more about the phenomenon of
global warming.
Go there
>
>
The deal would lead to cancelling the debts of sub-Saharan African countries
and paying additional funds into the World Bank to cover the payments due
from these countries.

Such a deal would cheer campaigners for debt relief but fall far short of
doubling aid flows, as recommended by Mr Blair's Commission for Africa
earlier this year. Mr Bush last week called that effort ?outside our
budgetary process? and again rebuffed the idea yesterday.

?In terms of whether or not the formulae the right way to analyse the US
commitment, I don't think it is.?

He defended the US position, noting that he had called on Congress to triple
aid to Africa. He also pledged an additional $674m in aid for humanitarian
relief that would help save 14m Africans from famine.
>
Is the US doing enough for Africa? Vote online
>Click here
>

The deal on debt relief could increase net aid to Africa by up to $1bn a
year, compared with the $25bn increase the commission said was necessary to
reduce poverty substantially.

The remaining disagreements between countries are over which countries would
be eligible for debt relief, and under what conditions World Bank debts
would be cancelled.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/db1e73c0-d79c-11d9-9f43-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 10:35:46 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue Jun  7 20:42:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Ethiopians shot dead in protests
Message-ID: <20050608_173546_018090.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Ethiopians shot dead in protests **
At least 22 Ethiopians are shot dead as police fire on protesters alleging fraud in last month's elections.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4072616.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  8 11:40:44 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 21:47:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Papers Reach Iraq Boiling Point?
Message-ID: <20050608184044.7FD82B8083@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Papers Reach Iraq Boiling Point?
http://www.alternet.org/story/22184

Widely scattered newspaper editorialists have roused themselves from apparent acceptance of the continuing slaughter in Iraq to voice, for the first time in many cases, outright condemnation of the war.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  8 11:43:07 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 21:50:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] An article for you from an Economist.com reader.
Message-ID: <200506081820.OAA19038@stage-web-app.economist.com>

  
- AN ARTICLE FOR YOU, FROM ECONOMIST.COM - 

Dear civic,

Michael Butler (michael@intrafi.com) wants you to see this article on Economist.com.



(Note: the sender's e-mail address above has not been verified.)

Subscribe to The Economist print edition, get great savings and FREE full access to Economist.com.  Click here to subscribe:  http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/email.cfm 

Alternatively subscribe to online only version by clicking on the link below and save 25%:
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AGREEING ON AFRICA, UP TO A POINT
Jun 8th 2005  

George Bush and Tony Blair have agreed that America will funnel more
money towards Africa. But the British leader failed to secure Mr Bush's
support for doubling aid flows to the poverty-stricken continent, and
hopes for widespread debt relief may be fading

IS 2005 the year when Africa finally starts getting the help it needs
to pull its inhabitants out of penury? Tony Blair certainly hopes so.
The British prime minister has made reducing African poverty the
centrepiece of his presidency of the G8. In preparation for the group
of rich nations' summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, which is coming up in
July, he has been working hard to secure support from other heads of
government for his plan to forgive vast swathes of Africa's crippling
debt burden and pour $50 billion more a year in aid into the continent
by 2015.

So far he has had mixed success. After a long meeting on Tuesday June
7th, Mr Blair and President George Bush announced agreement that
Sub-Saharan African debt should be cancelled, and money paid into the
World Bank's coffers by rich donor nations in order to make up the loss
of the debt-service payments. Mr Blair hopes that the debt deal can be
finalised at this weekend's summit of G8 finance ministers. Mr Bush has
also agreed to disburse $674m more in aid to Africa.

But Reuters news agency has reported that France, Germany and Japan are
pushing a compromise debt-relief plan which would offer forgiveness to
just five nations: Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and Mauritania in Africa, plus
Guyana in South America. And Mr Blair failed to secure Mr Bush's
support for doubling aid flows to Africa, as recommended by Britain's
Commission for Africa in March. Aid matters because debt forgiveness
alone, though it may help struggling countries to get their fiscal
houses in order, will not heal the millions who die each year from
preventable disease, nor lift those living on less than a dollar a day
out of their extreme poverty. Yet it is hard to see how substantial
progress can be made on aid without the backing of the world's richest
donor.

The American government is notoriously stingy with its foreign aid,
giving just 0.2% of GDP to poor countries every year. Even when
Americans' ample private donations are added in, America still falls
near the bottom of the rich-nation pack in generosity to those abroad.
Yet American voters believe they are absurdly generous. A 2001 poll
showed that they think 24% of their federal budget goes on foreign aid,
a figure that would amount to more than 4% of America's GDP. Given that
perception, it would be difficult for Mr Bush to agree to substantial
spending increases, much less get such an agreement through
Congress--especially with a budget deficit expected to top $400 billion
this year. 

But catering to selfish American voters is not the only reason that Mr
Bush--and many analysts--are reluctant to endorse Mr Blair's bold new
vision for Africa. Critics of such grand plans argue that the continent
does not need, in the words of Gordon Brown, Britain's finance
minister, "a new Marshall Plan". The rich world has already poured the
equivalent of six Marshall Plans into Africa, with very little to show
for the money. What Africa needs most, the Americans argue, is decent
governments--not perfect ones, just ones that are less corrupt,
incompetent or violent. Without such governments, aid will do nothing
but build roads to nowhere and line the Swiss bank accounts of the
ruling kleptocrats.

These days, most talk about aid acknowledges the fact that good
governance is a precondition of poverty eradication. Mr Blair certainly
recognises this. But his ambitious aid plans are, to many minds, hard
to square with the current shortage of decent African governments. In
theory, aid can be used to encourage political reform, but critics
question whether donor nations will really be sufficiently hard-nosed
to crack down on countries that go astray. Could rich countries really
bring themselves to suspend aid to dodgy administrations when that
might mean less help for sick and hungry children?

Some are afraid that such problems could also plague debt relief, and
are thus pushing for relief to be offered to only those countries whose
governments are democratic and whose policies encourage economic
growth. Debt relief, the argument goes, can only be a one-off event, a
way of letting countries shrug off the excesses of the immediate
post-colonial era; any hint that such relief might be available again
would merely encourage bad governments to get themselves back into
trouble. Because of this, debt relief should be limited to governments
with sound policies, both as an encouragement to others to reform, and
to ensure that the fresh start comes at a time when the country is best
able to use it.

But to many onlookers, waiting for good government to arrive seems
callous when a continent is suffering as much as Africa is. On
Wednesday, the UN Development Programme released a statement showing
that progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which
were supposed to cut extreme poverty in half and improve social
indicators such as education and health care, has been pitifully slow.
At the current rate of progress, by 2015 the number of deaths of
African children under five will have fallen only to 5m a year, rather
than the 2m target set by the MDG. Other indicators look just as bleak.
AIDS, in particular, is devastating the population. Life expectancy has
dropped by more than ten years in many countries. And with the deaths
concentrated in the working-age population, each new case adds to a
widening circle of economic hardship.

IT'S FARM SUBSIDIES, STUPID
Yet there is one step that rich countries could take that would help
Africans in both well-governed and poorly-governed states: curbing the
agricultural subsidies and health-and-safety regulations that keep
African products out of rich-country markets. The current structure of
agricultural protections not only hurts poor African farmers, but also,
by levying disproportionate tariffs on many processed goods such as
ground coffee, helps keep poor countries selling low on the value
chain. This leaves their already-weak economies extremely vulnerable to
swings in raw commodity prices. 

But the most obvious step may be the hardest one for the G8 to take.
Fear of muscular farm lobbies among rich-world governments has been one
of the main obstacles to progress in the Doha round of world trade
talks. The suffering of their own consumers has not yet moved either
the European Union or America to wean their farmers off government
protections. Perhaps the much deeper suffering of Africans will do the
trick.
 

See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4054539&fsrc=nwl

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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  8 11:47:34 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 21:54:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Turning Up the Sleaze
Message-ID: <20050608184734.56987B8083@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Turning Up the Sleaze
http://www.alternet.org/story/22180

Government is fast becoming a transactional institution as money becomes more and more influential in politics.  
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  8 11:50:13 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 21:57:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Crumbs for Africa
Message-ID: <20050608185013.CD1B1236F76@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 8, 2005
Editorial: Crumbs for Africa

At a time when rich countries are mounting a noble and worthy effort to make poverty history, the Bush administration is offering a drop in the bucket.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08wed1.html?ex=1118894400&en=bc45abc142c1b4ae&ei=5070&emc=eta1




----------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun  8 11:51:09 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun  7 21:58:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Bush Economy
Message-ID: <20050608185109.E26D99FC4C@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 7, 2005
The Bush Economy

The president's tax policy gives more to the richest of the rich at the expense of everyone else.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/opinion/07tues1.html?ex=1118894400&en=471b5849f5e1e728&ei=5070&emc=eta1




----------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 11:55:48 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue Jun  7 22:03:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US slashes tobacco trial penalty
Message-ID: <20050608_185548_071992.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US slashes tobacco trial penalty **
The US government cuts penalties it was expected to seek in a major case against the tobacco industry.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4073470.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 12:19:57 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue Jun  7 22:27:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: $80bn Google takes top media spot
Message-ID: <20050608_191957_011339.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** $80bn Google takes top media spot **
Ubiquitous search engine Google overtakes Time Warner to become the world's biggest media company by stock market value.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4072772.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun  8 12:32:27 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harry)
Date: Tue Jun  7 22:39:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Ronald McDonald turns health guru
Message-ID: <20050608_193227_087380.harry.sifton@sympatico.ca>

Harry saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
Say it ain't so Joe !

"Ronald as health food guru?"

** Ronald McDonald turns health guru **
Ronald McDonald, the iconic clown mascot of fast food giant McDonald's, is to be given a sporty new image.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4072986.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
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From dekuyper at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun  8 13:52:00 2005
From: dekuyper at sbcglobal.net (Gerald Gerald)
Date: Wed Jun  8 00:55:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] About the way it is ....
Message-ID: <200506080738.j587ccQ0016783@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

 
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun  8 19:43:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Wed Jun  8 05:50:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Sultan of Brunei
References: <BECB9ABB.206C9%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <005901c56c9c$ff26ad70$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Gerald:

Michael says "beyond rich."  He is being far too gracious (LOL).

Although the Sultan is, on paper, behind Gates and Buffett, he is, in fact, 
richer than both put together.  Gates is worth about $50 bil, Buffett about 
$40 bil.  The Sultan's actual wealth, all inclusive - real estate, palaces, 
planes, cars, income - is well over $100 bil.

Except perhaps for a couple of narco-billionaires in South America, he is 
almost without question the richest man in the world.  And consider that he 
pays the salaries of over 20,000 people in Brunei - and they all live well!

Hey - maybe he could hire a couple of us!!

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>; "HAIR List" 
<mb-hair@islandlists.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 9:40 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Sultan of Brunei


> No, I had not seen this.
> My last experience with him was umpiring a charity polo game at 
> Cirencester.
> The Sultan's team was opposed by that of Prince Charles.
> I was advised that if I called on PC's team I probably would be sent to 
> the
> Tower. If called on the Sultan's team I would be named in a 'fatwa'.
> As I did not call on either team I am still around.
> Rich, He is beyond rich.
> Michael
>
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Gerald Gerald <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
> Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 11:54:25 -0700 (PDT)
> To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Sultan of Brunei
>
> Private Airplane
>
> You may have already seen this, it's amazing!
>
> The Sultan of Brunei's Private Airplane
> Think of this the next time you fill up with gas
> This aircraft was "remodeled" in Waco.  Yes, the sinks
> are solid gold and one of them is Lalique crystal.
> The Sultan bought the aircraft for roughly $100M; had
> it flown to Waco, brand-new,  had the interior
> completely removed; and had the folks at E-Systems
> (now Raytheon) install $120M worth of improvements
> inside and outside.
>
> I've gained entrance to nuclear weapons storage areas
> much easier than gaining entrance to see this
> airplane.  While there it struck me: maybe the rich
> really are different than the rest of us!
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun  8 19:52:40 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Wed Jun  8 05:59:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Revealed: how oil giant influenced
	Bush
Message-ID: <20050609025240.7D86DA4D8@mussel.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry:

Big Oil, Little Bush!
What more can I say!

Harry
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush
White House sought advice from Exxon on Kyoto stance
John Vidal, environment editor
Wednesday June 08 2005
The Guardian


President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian. 

The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the White House for discussions on climate change before next month's G8 meeting, reinforce widely-held suspicions of how close the company is to the administration and its role in helping to formulate US policy.  

In briefing papers given before meetings to the US under-secretary of state, Paula Dobriansky, between 2001 and 2004, the administration is found thanking Exxon executives for the company's "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy, and also seeking its advice on what climate change policies the company might find acceptable.  

Other papers suggest that Ms Dobriansky should sound out Exxon executives and other anti-Kyoto business groups on potential alternatives to Kyoto.  

Until now Exxon has publicly maintained that it had no involvement in the US government's rejection of Kyoto. But the documents, obtained by Greenpeace under US freedom of information legislation, suggest this is not the case.  

"Potus [president of the United States] rejected Kyoto in part based on input from you &#91;the Global Climate Coalition&#93;," says one briefing note before Ms Dobriansky's meeting with the GCC, the main anti-Kyoto US industry group, which was dominated by Exxon.  

The papers further state that the White House considered Exxon "among the companies most actively and prominently opposed to binding approaches &#91;like Kyoto&#93; to cut greenhouse gas emissions".  

But in evidence to the UK House of Lords science and technology committee in 2003, Exxon's head of public affairs, Nick Thomas, said: "I   think we can say categorically we have not campaigned with the United States government or any other government to take any sort of position over Kyoto."  

Exxon, officially the US's most valuable company valued at $379bn (&#163;206bn) earlier this year, is seen in the papers to share the White House's unwavering scepticism of international efforts to address climate change.  

The documents, which reflect unanimity between the company and the US administration on the need for more global warming science and the unacceptable costs of Kyoto, state that Exxon believes that joining Kyoto "would be unjustifiably drastic and premature".  

This line has been taken consistently by President Bush, and was expected to be continued in yesterday's talks with Tony Blair who has said that climate change is "the most pressing issue facing mankind".  

"President Bush tells Mr Blair he's concerned about climate change, but these documents reveal the alarming truth, that policy in this White House is being written by the world's most powerful oil company. This administration's climate policy is a menace to humanity," said Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace's executive director in London last night.  

"The prime minister needs to tell Mr Bush he's calling in some favours. Only by securing mandatory cuts in US emissions can Blair live up to his rhetoric," said Mr Tindale.  

In other meetings documented in the papers, Ms Dobriansky meets Don Pearlman, an international anti-Kyoto lobbyist who has been a paid adviser to the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments, both of which have followed the US line against Kyoto.  

The purpose of the meeting with Mr Pearlman, who also represents the secretive anti-Kyoto Climate Council, which the administration says "works against most US government efforts to address climate change", is said to be to "solicit &#91;his&#93; views as part of our dialogue with friends and allies".  

ExxonMobil, which was yesterday contacted by the Guardian in the US but did not return calls, is spending millions of pounds on an advertising campaign aimed at influencing politicians, opinion formers and business leaders in the UK and other pro-Kyoto countries in the weeks before the G8 meeting at Gleneagles. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun  8 20:15:52 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Wed Jun  8 06:23:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Nixon's empire strikes back
Message-ID: <20050609031552.BB2819DEE@mullet.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from HS:

The Empire Strikes Back !
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Nixon's empire strikes back
Bush's imperial project has succeeded by learning the chief lesson of Watergate - muzzle the press.
Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday June 09 2005
The Guardian


The unveiling of the identity of Deep Throat - Mark Felt, the former deputy director of the FBI - seemed affirm the story of Watergate as the triumph of the lone journalist supported from the shadows by a magically appearing secret source. Shazam! The outlines of the fuller story we now know, thanks not only to Felt's selfunmasking but to disclosures the Albany Times Union of upstate New York, unreported so far by any major outlet. Felt was not working as "a disgruntled maverick ... but rather as the leader of a clandestine group" of three other high-level agents to control the story by collecting intelligence and leaking it. For more than 30 years the secrecy around Deep Throat diverted attention to who Deep Throat was rather than what Deep Throat was - a covertFBI operation in which Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward was almost certainly an unwitting asset.

When FBI director J Edgar Hoover died on May 2 1972, Felt, who believed he should be his replacement, was passed over. The Watergate break-in took place a month later. As President Nixon sought to coerce the CIA and FBI to participate in his increasingly frantic efforts to obstruct justice, Felt, who had access to raw intelligence files, organised a band of his most trusted lieutenants and began strategic leaking. The Felt op, in fact, was part of a widespread revolt of professionals throughout the federal government against Nixon's threats to their bureaucratic integrity.

Nixon's grand plan was to concentrate executive power in an imperial presidency, politicise the bureaucracyand crush its independence, and invoke national security to wage partisan warfare. He intended to "reconstitute the Republican party", staging a "purge" to foster "a new majority",  as his aide William Safire wrote in his memoir. Nixon himself declared in his own memoir that to achieve his ends the "institutions" of government had to be "reformed, replaced or circumvented.  In my second term I was prepared to adopt whichever of these three methods - or whichever combination of them - was necessary."

But now George Bush is building a leviathan beyond Nixon's imagining. The Bush presidency is the highest stage of Nixonism. The commander-in-chief has declared himself by executive order  above international law, the CIA is being purged, the justice department deploying its resources to break down thewall of separation between church and state, the Environmental Protection Agency being ordered to suppress scientific studies and the Pentagon subsuming intelligence  and diplomacy, leaving the US with blunt military force as its chief foreign policy.

The three main architects of Bush's imperial presidency gained their formative experience amid Nixon's downfall. Donald Rumsfeld, Nixon's counsellor, and his deputy, Dick Cheney, one after  the other, served as chief of staff to Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, both opposing congressional efforts for more transparency in the executive. 

With perfect Nixonian pitch, Cheney remarked in 1976: "Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose." During the Iran-contrascandal Cheney, a republican leader in the House of Representatives, argued that the congressional report denouncing "secrecy, deception and disdain for the law" was an encroachment on executive  authority.

The other architect, Karl Rove, Bush's senior political aide, began his career as an agent of Nixon's dirty trickster Donald Segretti - "ratfuckers" as Segretti called his boys. At the height of the Watergate scandal, Rove operated through a phoney front group to denounce the lynch-mob atmosphere created in this city by the Washington Post and other parts of the Nixon-hating media".

Under Bush, the Republican Congress has abdicated its responsibilities of executive oversight and investigation. When Republican senator John Warner, chairman of the armed services committee, held hearings on Bush's torture policy in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib revelations, the White House set rabid House Republicans to attack him. There have been no  more such hearings. Meanwhile, Bush insists that the Senate votes to confirm John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN while refusing to release essential information requested by the Senate foreign relations committee.

One of the chief lessons learned from Nixon's demise was the necessity of muzzling the press. The Bush WhiteHouse has neutralised the press corps and even turned some reporters into its own assets. The disinformation WMD in the rush to war in Iraq, funnelled into the news pages of the New York Times, is the most dramatic case in point. By manipulation and intimidation, encouraging atmosphere of self-censorship, the Bush White House has distanced the press from dissenting professionals inside the government. 

Mark Felt's sudden emergence from behind the curtain of history evoked the glory days of the press corps and its modern creation myth. It was a warm bath of nostalgia and cold comfort.

&#183; Sidney Blumenthal is former senior adviser to President Clinton and author of The Clinton Wars

sidney_blumenthal@yahoo.com

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:37:37 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:44:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Australia scare closes embassies
Message-ID: <20050609_043737_017550.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Australia scare closes embassies **
The UK, US, Japanese and South Korean missions in the Australian capital are closed by a security scare.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4075568.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:38:09 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:45:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US aims to lift Haiti gun embargo
Message-ID: <20050609_043809_065025.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US aims to lift Haiti gun embargo **
The US wants to lift a ban on selling weapons to Haiti to help police cut rising unrest before this year's polls.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4075520.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:38:49 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:45:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bolivia on edge for crucial vote
Message-ID: <20050609_043849_004750.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bolivia on edge for crucial vote **
Bolivia's politicians have begun talks over whether to name a new president on Thursday, after violent protests.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4075252.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:41:47 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:48:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: N Korea talks to resume 'soon'
Message-ID: <20050609_044147_023213.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** N Korea talks to resume 'soon' **
Regional leaders cautiously welcome reports that North Korea could soon rejoin six-nation nuclear talks.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4070338.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:43:11 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:50:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Biting the hand that feeds you
Message-ID: <20050609_044311_091322.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Biting the hand that feeds you **
BBC North America business correspondent Stephen Evans reports the artists and musicians who are sporting an opposition stance to the companies that sponsor them.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4613603.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
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in one daily e-mail
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:47:42 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:54:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] French Reporter Kidnapped by Iraqi Resistance For 4
	Months Says Bush Brought Al Qaeda to Iraq
Message-ID: <20050609044742.9748.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  French Reporter Kidnapped by Iraqi Resistance For 4 Months Says Bush Brought Al Qaeda to Iraq
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/141203
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


We speak with French reporter Christian Chesnot of Radio France who was kidnapped - along with reporter Georges Malbrunot of the Daily Figaro - by the Iraqi resistance. They were held for four months, from August to December 21st 2004. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/141203

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:48:17 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:55:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] French Journalist Describes Mistreatment by U.S. Forces
	During Siege of Fallujah
Message-ID: <20050609044817.9754.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  French Journalist Describes Mistreatment by U.S. Forces During Siege of Fallujah
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/140259
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


French TV journalist Grégoire Deniau describes his ordeal in U.S. custody in Iraq. He was detained for a day during the siege of Fallujah in April 2004. He says despite showing his passport and French press ID, U.S. soldiers forced him to kneel for hours, gaffer-taped a hood over his face and hurled insults at him, calling him a dog and accused him, as a Frenchmen, of being pro-Arab. Deniau says he was released late at night, in the middle of the desert and was warned by the soldiers that US forces shoot everything that moves.  [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/140259

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:50:00 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:57:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Salih Booker on Africa Debt: The Poorest Regions in the
	World Have Subsidized the Richest
Message-ID: <20050609045000.9770.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org

According to The New York Times, most Americans believe that the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries, it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent. In an editorial today titled "Crumbs for Africa," the Times writes "At a time when rich countries are mounting a noble and worthy effort to make poverty history, the Bush administration is showing itself to be completely out of touch by offering such a miserly drop in the bucket." 


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Salih Booker on Africa Debt: The Poorest Regions in the World Have Subsidized the Richest
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/140254
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


President Bush refused to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair's request to double aid to African nations. Instead, the two leaders announced a U.S. aid package of $674 million dollars from funds previously appropriated by Congress. We speak with Salih Booker of Africa Action. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/08/140254

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:51:26 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 07:58:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Smoking Bullet in the Smoking Gun: Bush Began Iraq
	Invasion in 2002
Message-ID: <20050609045126.10283.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  The Smoking Bullet in the Smoking Gun: Bush Began Iraq Invasion in 2002
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/06/1328242
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill reports on new documents that show President Bush began the invasion of Iraq more than half a year before Shock and Awe was launched. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/06/1328242

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun  8 21:53:14 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 08:00:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] After the Downing Street Memo: The Case for Impeachment
	Builds
Message-ID: <20050609045314.10301.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org

And Last week, former presidential candidate Senator John Kerry told the Massachusetts Standard Times newspaper that he will be raising the issue of the memo when he returns to Washington this week. He went on to say, "I think it's a stunning unbelievably simple and understandable statement of the truth and a profoundly important document that raises stunning issues here at home. And it's amazing to me the way it escaped major media discussion. It's not being missed on the Internet, I can tell you that." 




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  After the Downing Street Memo: The Case for Impeachment Builds
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/06/1328247
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


The fallout from the revelation of a secret meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his senior national security team appears to be growing. We take a look at the so-called "Downing Street Memo" which reveals how the former director of the British intelligence agency, MI6, told Prime Minister Tony Blair that the U.S. had already made plans to attack Iraq as early as July 2002. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/06/1328247

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun  9 00:28:40 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Wed Jun  8 10:33:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] When The Whip Comes Down -- Eliminating Humans Before
	They Are Able To
Message-ID: <000f01c56cc4$dcaad460$1425b7d8@baby1>

When The Whip Comes Down -- Eliminating Humans Before They Are Able To
Infest Another Planet



Let's face it, all it takes it 2 fertile humans to repopulate another planet
after they finish destroying this one.

And that's basically how it's going to happen.  This world will slowly burn
up and implode, but by that time we will have made various small strides in
space travel and colonization to at least be able to send 2 fertile humans
to Mars or somewhere to begin "the perpetuation of the human species".

They will, of course, be white, rich, Republican, right-wing exclusionary
zealouts, such as those who currently run amok among the right wing adults
and youth movements in America (too similar to Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc for
comfort), but at least they will be able to keep infesting the solar system
while the rest of us sit here and just disappear.

That will at least be something.

Everything all the little mainly insignificant humans down here at the
bottom worked their miserable trillions of lives off to accomplish century
after century will have been completely For Nothing At All Whatsoever, but
at least 2 Republicans will be f*cking each other's brains out on Mars and
praising Jesus inbetween orgasms.

Such comfort the dead far below on the burned out shell of Earth will have
from such a thought.

If one actually sits down and literally adds up all the "bad things
happening", to both humans, civilizations, life forms, environments, etc, on
this planet, and the ever-increasing degrees of continuing damage which
continues to occur from such things, the projected estimate of "Outcome" is
just that, one dead planet called Earth.

If you come up with any other "Outcome", you must have bought your slide
rule in the back room of some dark little bar in Lithuania or somewhere, or
the current Oval Office.

The pollution grows greater each year, the ice caps of mountain ranges
continue to disappear, uncontrollable diseases continue to emerge, the
political strangeholds on people and movements who would actually try and
come up with solutions to offset the ongoing complete inch by inch
annihilation of Earth and all its resources continues to tighten daily,
entire species continue to disappear, the chemicals and pollutants dispersed
throughout the species including the humans continue to grow each day, the
list of "all that bad stuff" does not seem to really have an end.  It just
keeps going and going and going.

And there is NO thing standing in its way.  And DEFINITELY at least nothing
standing in its way that is even mildly capable of reversing the flow of
Complete Destruction.

Global annihilation.  Coming to a store near you soon.

Who is going to wave their hand and restore the ice caps to the world's
mountain ranges..?  Or restore the giant country-sized chunks of the polar
ice caps breaking off...?  Or reverse the trend of global air, water, land,
food, etc pollution...?  Or be able to somehow take in hand the absolute
psychotic leadership, both politically and industrial/corporate, of the USA
to help reverse some of these ongoing trends..?

Apparently NOBODY.

And that same Nobody is going to be able to wave their magic wand and
restore the gazillion number of species that have already been permanently
removed from Life Itself and the face of planet Earth.

Etc.  Etc.  Etc.

So, yeah, sure, "fight the good fight", "never give up", "spread hope,
ideas, etc wherever and whenever you can", "etc etc etc", I do the same when
I can.

But just realize that "The Outcome" of all our efforts, for centuries, is
most likely, at least to all possible permutations of all mathematical
possibilities, going to wind up being 2 white Republican right wing zealouts
populating another planet not so far away as this one enters its Final Death
Throes and we burn and choke to death.

If you don't want to think about such a possible "Outcome", actually AT THIS
LATE DATE AND RATE OF GLOBAL DESTRUCTION, I don't see any other "Outcome"
heading our way, then, hey, just don't think about it.

That will make Everything you are doing, in whatever respects, much much,
much more easier.

And the degrees of your reactions to such Global Destruction much more mild
and insignificant.

All in all, no, "never give up the good fight", after all, that's all we
have left to do, is oppose the destructive forces at play here for centuries
and ongoing, but, hey, face it, it often appears we are fighting herds of
giant destructive elephants with spitballs.

Guess what the "Outcome" of such "great opposition" winds up being....

Which brings me to why I don't like to listen to news very often, it upsets
me, besides so many other things, much much too much.

The people in India are trying to figure out how to keep The Elephants from
storming into their villages, entering their kitchens etc, and stealing salt
and grain.

The Humans have destroyed The Elephants complete Environment, and The
Elephants can no longer even feed themselves, nor their children, properly,
but the Humans are upset for some reason, and want to keep Those Filthy
Destructive Animals out of The Human's Space.

In the Humans' actual minds, this is Supreme Justice.

Keeping lowly other Species from invading Humans' Space after the Humans'
have destroyed those lowly Species' complete Environments.

The pure heaven-sent unadulterated wisdom and logic at work there no longer
astounds me.


I say we keep the elephants and eliminate the humans.

Hey, it's a better idea, at least in my tiny "being destroyed on Earth as
well" mind, than all the other ideas all put together by all the inept Stink
Tanks coming out of D.C. and elsewhere that I have ever heard.

Oh well, nevermind, all in all, who knows, who cares, but, however, if you
ever find yourself depressed or sitting around unable to come up with "any
new ideas" of how to combat and OVERCOME this wonderful ongoing
Human-Created Global Annihilation in uninterrupted-progress, just close your
eyes and think of 2 very fertile white Republican right wing zealouts
f*cking on Mars and laughing as the rest of us sit here and go the way of
the buffalo, the carrier pigeon, and the dodo bird.

That should, at the minimum, at least give you the brains and balls to go
out and buy and learn how to operate weapons.

At the very least, you can always use them to keep the elephants out of your
kitchen.





Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 02:55:44 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:02:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <13771354.1118310945614.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Brown Approved For D.C. Circuit
 
 By Charles Babington
 
 Senators also vote to end debate and schedule a confirmation vote today for former Alabama attorney general William H. Pryor Jr.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 02:57:03 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:04:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <1698120.1118311024195.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct
 
 By Rick Weiss
 
 Few scientists fabricate results from scratch or flatly plagiarize the work of others, but a surprising number engage in troubling degrees of fact-bending or deceit, according to the first large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/08/AR2005060802385.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 02:57:38 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:04:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4499425.1118311059183.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 House Ethics Standstill Stalls DeLay Decision
 
 By Mike Allen
 
 A dispute between the parties has shut down the House ethics committee for the second time this year, and lawmakers said that it  could be months -- and perhaps next year -- before the panel will decide whether to examine the activities of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) or others accused...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 02:58:41 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:05:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4588489.1118311122714.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Whose Asian Century?
 
 By Jim Hoagland
 
 China prepares to head a great manufacturing empire. But empires unravel, usually from within. The forces that will determine which nations will dominate the 21st century may yet favor India's emerging reach for global power status more than China's determined grasp for that prize.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 03:01:00 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:08:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <1890023.1118311260647.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 A must read...plumbers and Deep Throat it ain't, but it sure is hard to explain away.  If only it broke the chains on the press...
 
 The Memo Comes In From the Cold
 
 By Dan Froomkin
 
 After six weeks in the political wilderness, the Downing Street Memo yesterday finally burst into the White House -- and into the headlines.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun  9 03:02:42 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 13:09:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4770547.1118311362196.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Not About Pot
 
 THE SUPREME COURT'S decision Monday in the case of Gonzales v. Raich is a defeat for advocates of the medical use of marijuana, because the court ruled that federal drug laws can be enforced against patients even in states that would permit them to light up. But the true importance of Raich has...
 
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From newsletter at villagevoice.com  Wed Jun  8 19:28:03 2005
From: newsletter at villagevoice.com (Village Voice Newsletter)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:06:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheap Chow Now!
Message-ID: <20050609022803.83213.qmail@www3.villagevoice.com>

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 04:03:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:11:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Reformers in Saudi Arabia: Seeking Rights,
	Paying a Price
Message-ID: <20050609110359.B85438589A@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 9, 2005
Reformers in Saudi Arabia: Seeking Rights, Paying a Price
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
For many Arab reformists, the lack of free speech grates most; obtaining it is a far higher priority than elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/international/middleeast/09saudi.html?ex=1118980800&en=e99aec67af2d671c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 04:05:40 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:12:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A (White) House Party for Lobbyists
Message-ID: <20050609110540.E3E6D85904@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 9, 2005
Editorial: A (White) House Party for Lobbyists

It's sad to think of a White House run by people who believe that environmental problems can be edited out of existence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/opinion/09thu2.html?ex=1118980800&en=a658ede00d836ec7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 04:06:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:13:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Money and Power in a Democracy (2 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050609110644.929CA8593A@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 9, 2005
Money and Power in a Democracy (2 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/opinion/l09econ.html?ex=1118980800&en=6bf5358aaefb0539&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 04:11:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:18:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Latest Confirmed Nominee Sees Slavery in
	Liberalism
Message-ID: <20050609111105.3355124CC07@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

?!?!?!


WASHINGTON | June 9, 2005
Woman in the News: Latest Confirmed Nominee Sees Slavery in Liberalism
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Janice Rogers Brown, who was confirmed to the federal appeals court in Washington, often invokes slavery in describing what she sees as the perils of liberal views.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/09brown.html?ex=1118980800&en=872d350198d868e5&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 04:11:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun  8 14:19:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: White House Calls Editing Climate Files
	Part of Usual Review
Message-ID: <20050609111155.2A93624CC64@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Yet more dissembling on a critical issue...


WASHINGTON | June 9, 2005
White House Calls Editing Climate Files Part of Usual Review
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Bush administration officials said yesterday that revisions to reports on climate change made by Philip A. Cooney, a former oil-industry lobbyist now working at the White House, were part of the normal review before publishing projects that involved many agencies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/09climate.html?ex=1118980800&en=1999985b8303102b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun  9 06:27:22 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun  8 16:34:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hecate recommends markfiore.com!
Message-ID: <200506091327.j59DRMXA026594@markfiore.com>

Dear Michael,

Hecate (hecate@diamonddragon.com) wants you to see a cartoon at "markfiore.com".  You can check it out at http://www.markfiore.com/animation/pain.html.

 
 
From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Thu Jun  9 07:57:26 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Wed Jun  8 18:05:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Tom Tomorrow on deep throat - must see!
Message-ID: <20050609145726.9737.qmail@web53001.mail.yahoo.com>

Let's Do the Time Warp Again - Effing
brilliant...see this comic!

link
http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=19157
From ean at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun  8 21:32:56 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jun  8 18:20:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Remembering FDR and the Four Freedoms
Message-ID: <200506090120.j591KhKn018989@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

 Remembering FDR and the Four Freedoms

http://www.irc-online.org/content/commentary/2005/0505barry-
unca.php


By Tom Barry | May 26, 2005
	
International Relations Center 	
www.irc-online.org

 
Four years ago, the International Relations Center and Foreign Policy 
In Focus issued a public statement called a Fateful Choice, warning 
about what we called the Present Danger facing multilateralism, 
international treaties, and rule of law.

Today, this present danger continues. Indeed, we face the prospect of 
having a U.S. representative to the UN who says we could easily afford 
to lop off ten stories of the UN building.

Clearly, the present danger represented by the Bush administration 
approach to international affairs still exists. Alarm is widespread.

With the launch of our Global Good Neighbor Initiative and our report A 
Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations, we believe it is 
time to convert our alarm into a positive initiative to reclaim the best of 
U.S. traditions, values, and history.

We note with pride that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan concludes 
his recent report, In Larger Freedom, (online at 
http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/contents.htm) by quoting President 
Franklin Roosevelt, ?whose vision,? said Annan, ?was so central to the 
founding of the United Nations.?

Just as the Secretary General explicitly draws on FDR?s vision for the 
UN and on his Four Freedoms speech for inspiration, our initiative and 
report find the Good Neighbor policy and his vision of 
interdependence, self-respect, and mutual respect among nations as a 
source of hope and determination that the present danger can be 
overcome--and good neighbor practices among nations can become 
our animating vision.

We outline four general principles, and then three principles that relate 
to the freedoms highlighted by the UN Secretary General--from fear, 
from want, and to live in dignity.

First, to become a good neighbor one must stop being a bad neighbor.

Second, foreign policy must not be tied to elite ideological, military, or 
economic interests, but rooted in broadly defined U.S. interests.

Third, we need to reassert what FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt 
successfully popularized, namely the notion of interdependence, which 
the Secretary General also mentions.

Fourth, power comes from prestige and respected leadership, not 
bullying.

At first glance, our global good neighbor ethic may seem to revert to 
the isolationism of some sectors on the left and the right. We call, for 
example, for the abolishment of the U.S. Agency for International 
Development (USAID).

In our section on governance, which closely reflects the 
recommendations of the freedom to live in dignity part of the secretary 
general?s report, we recommend the termination of U.S. programs that 
use political aid to promote democracy and freedom--such as the 
National Endowment for Democracy.

We view with special concern the efforts of the Bush administration, 
USAID, NED, and political parties to undermine and sideline the UN 
with what Secretary of State Rice last month called ?principled 
multilateralism?--the idea that true multilateralism is guided by U.S.-
fashioned coalitions of the willing.

However, the Global Good Neighbor Ethic is not isolationist, but rather 
is committed to concepts of neighborly practices on a global scale--end 
of bullying, collective responses to collective problems, and rule of law.

We believe that multilateralism under any name, under any version of 
the animating vision of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, could only lead 
to the conclusion that a UN for our time could not possibly make do 
without those ten stories. To the contrary, the UN needs to be 
reformed and strengthened in such a way that at least ten more stories 
would be needed.

Our own principles of governance, security, and development parallel 
the call by the Secretary General to restore the balance in today?s 
world among security, governance, and economic and social issues. 
Not the United States, not NATO, not the Community of Democracies, 
but the UN should be the forum and instrument for this balance.

Yes, a new commitment to multilateralism is needed--but not in the 
form of the ?muscular internationalism? promoted by the liberal hawks 
of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute; 
the ?full-spectrum dominance? of U.S.-controlled coalitions of the 
willing promoted by the neoconservative Center for Security Policy and 
the Pentagon; or the concept of a Pax Democratica advanced by NED 
and other democratic globalists in the United States.

A new millennium commitment to multilateralism means a renewed 
commitment to the United Nations Charter, and it requires of nations 
what FDR described as the ?courage to fulfill their responsibilities in an 
imperfect world?--a quote that the Kofi Annan uses to close his March 
2005 report on freedom. To be a responsible global leader, the U.S. 
government needs to embrace FDR?s vision, including the UN Charter, 
the concept of collective security, and the idea of ?mutual 
responsibility?--not to establish its own world order.

Although not spelled out in exactly the same terms as In Larger 
Freedom, we believe that the recommendations of the Secretary 
General are among the most important steps needed to institutionalize 
the ethic of a global good neighbor. These include the creation of a 
Democracy Fund that promotes democratization through technical 
assistance, election monitoring, and institution building rather than 
depending on politically tainted bilateral democratization programs. 
The Secretary General?s recommendations to create a Human Rights 
Council and Peacebuilding Commission are also to be applauded, and 
supported.

Our report urges the U.S. government to increase its foreign 
assistance dramatically to meet the target of 0.7% of national income 
and thereby meet the Millennium Goal. This aid should not be 
channeled through such politically charged bilateral instruments such 
as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, USAID, NED, and 
the newly created Millennium Challenge Corporation, but rather 
through reformed and strengthened global and regional multilateral 
organizations.

With A Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations, we 
echo what FDR said in his first inaugural address:

    I (We) would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor--
the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because we do, 
respects the right of others.

Tom Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center, 
online at www.irc-online.org, and he coauthored A Global Good 
Neighbor Ethic for International Relations. This is the text of a 
statement by Barry delivered at a press conference at the United 
Nations on May 17, 2005.


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
this email and you want to be on our list, send an email to 
ean@sbcglobal.net and tell us which option you'd like.


"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Thu Jun  9 08:03:20 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Wed Jun  8 18:22:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call
	(KIDNAPPING!!)
Message-ID: <20050609150320.16011.qmail@web53008.mail.yahoo.com>

This just fucking blows me away...pls read

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/227497_paynter08.html


When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call

By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the
white letters USMC on their caller ID soon
spelled, "Don't answer the phone!"


Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of
calls to Axel as soon as the mellow, compliant
Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his 17th
birthday cake. And soon it was nearly impossible
to get the seekers of a few good men off the
line.


With early and late calls ringing in their ears,
Marcia tried using call blocking. And that's when
she learned her first hard lesson. You can't
block calls from the government, her server said.
So, after pleas to "Please stop calling" went
unanswered, the family's "do not answer" order
ensued.


But warnings and liquid crystal lettering can
fade. So, two weeks ago when Marcia was cooking
dinner Axel goofed and answered the call. And,
faster than you can say "semper fi," an odyssey
kicked into action that illustrates just how
desperate some of the recruiters we've read about
really are to fill severely sagging quotas.


Let what we learned serve as a warning to other
moms, dads and teens, the Cobbs now say. Even if
your kids actually may want to join the military,
if they hope to do it on their own terms, after a
deep breath and due consideration, repeat these
words after them: "No," "Not now" and "Back off!"


"I've been trained to be pretty friendly. I guess
you might even say I'm kind of passive," Axel
told me last week, just after his mother and
older sister had tracked him to a Seattle testing
center and sprung him on a ruse.


The next step of Axel's misadventure came when he
heard about a cool "chin-ups" contest in
Bellingham, where the prize was a free Xbox. The
now 18-year-old Skagit Valley Community College
student dragged his tail feathers home
uncharacteristically late that night. And, in the
morning, Marcia learned the Marines had hosted
the event and "then had him out all night,
drilling him to join."


A single mom with a meager income, Marcia raised
her kids on the farm where, until recently, she
grew salad greens for restaurants.


Axel's father, a Marine Corps vet who served in
Vietnam, died when Axel was 4.






Clearly the recruiters knew all that and more.


"You don't want to be a burden to your mom," they
told him. "Be a man." "Make your father proud."
Never mind that, because of his own experience in
the service, Marcia says enlistment for his son
is the last thing Axel's dad would have wanted.


The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for
the Folklife Festival and Axel was home alone,
two recruiters showed up at the door.


Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was
feeling frazzled and worn down by then. The
sergeant was friendly but, at the same time,
aggressively insistent. This time, when Axel
said, "Not interested," the sarge turned surly,
snapping, "You're making a big (bleeping)
mistake!"


Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and
another recruiter showed up at the LaConner
Brewing Co., the restaurant where Axel works. And
before Axel, an older cousin and other co-workers
knew or understood what was happening, Axel was
whisked away in a car.


"They said we were going somewhere but I didn't
know we were going all the way to Seattle," Axel
said.


Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities,
the recruiters told him.


He could pursue his love of chemistry. He could
serve anywhere he chose and leave any time he
wanted on an "apathy discharge" if he didn't like
it. And he wouldn't have to go to Iraq if he
didn't want to.


At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened
in the motel and fed a little something. Twelve
hours later, without further sleep or food, he
had taken a battery of tests and signed a lot of
papers he hadn't gotten a chance to read. "Just
formalities," he was told. "Sign here. And here.
Nothing to worry about."


By then Marcia had "freaked out."


She went to the Burlington recruiting center
where the door was open but no one was home. So
she grabbed all the cards and numbers she could
find, including the address of the Seattle-area
testing center.


Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she
high-tailed it south, frantically phoning Axel
whose cell phone had been confiscated "so he
wouldn't be distracted during tests."


Axel's grandfather was in the hospital dying, she
told the people at the desk. He needed to come
home right away. She would have said just about
anything.


But, even after being told her son would be
brought right out, her daughter spied him being
taken down a separate hall and into another room.
So she dashed down the hall and grabbed him by
the arm.


"They were telling me I needed to 'be a man' and
stand up to my family," Axel said.


What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.


Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called
the recruiters, Axel's signed papers and his cell
phone were in the mail.


My request to speak with the sergeant who
recruited Axel and with the Burlington office
about recruitment procedures went unanswered.


And so should your phone, Marcia Cobb advised.
Take your own sweet time. Keep your own counsel.
And, if you see USMC on caller ID, remember what
answering the call could mean.

Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Call her at 206-448-8392
or send e-mail to susanpaynter@seattlepi.com.
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  9 08:52:31 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  8 18:59:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US to compromise on biometric passports
Message-ID: <BECDB3CF.207D9%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
US to compromise on biometric passports
>By Edward Alden in Washington and Sarah Laitner in Brussels
>Published: June 9 2005 00:21 | Last updated: June 9 2005 00:21
>>

The US is poised to drop its demand that European nations and other close
allies adopt biometric passports by October, a move aimed at avoiding a
serious disruption in transatlantic travel, according to US and European
government officials.

However, the compromise could strain relations by differentiating between
European countries, and in particular by requiring some French and Italian
citizens to obtain visas before they travel to the US.

The likely US action, which comes amid travel industry concerns that
overseas visitors are deterred from coming to the US, would be a significant
shift in policy. For more than two years Washington has insisted for
security reasons that countries whose citizens can enter the US without
visas begin issuing biometric documents that ensure the identity of the
passport holder.

The plan is the latest in a series of twists since Congress passed
legislation in 2002 that required the 27 countries in the so-called
visa-waiver programme to start issuing the high-tech passports by October of
last year. Brussels has said that some European countries in the programme
will not be able to meet that requirement until August, 2006.

Congress last year passed a one-year extension of the October deadline, but
James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House judiciary committee, has made it
clear he would not support another extension.

But in an effort to avoid travel disruptions, Mr Sensenbrenner has said the
law can be interpreted in such a way that nearly all European countries will
meet the standard. The law requires visa-waiver countries to meet the
passport standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation,
which currently call for biometric information to be contained in a smart
chip on the passport.

Mr Sensenbrenner said in April that he was prepared to accept the ICAO
standard at the time the law was passed in 2002, which required only a
digital photograph rather than a chip. He has criticised the ICAO for
becoming ?enmeshed in new and unproven technology?, and blasted European
governments for choosing ?an elaborate and expensive path? to meet the
requirements. The US has issued passports with digital photos since 1998,
but is not yet producing biometric passports.

US officials have conveyed that offer to Brussels as the best way out of the
impasse. Otherwise, if the deadline is not extended, citizens from many of
the 15 visa-free European countries will be forced to apply for visas to all
new passport holders.

Yet the compromise is politically awkward for the EU. Both France and Italy
continue to issue passports with laminated photographs that do not even meet
the digital standard and are seen as more vulnerable to tampering. It could
also trigger tensions among the other European countries because Brussels
would have either to accept the US interpretation or consider action against
Washington. The EU has lobbied hard for a further year's extension of the
deadline because countries are still developing their documents.

William Knocke, spokesman for the US department of homeland security, would
not comment on any specific proposals, but said the administration remained
?committed to the biometric passport?.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0102e7c0-d855-11d9-8fa7-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun  9 08:59:38 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun  8 19:06:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Broadcast TV on life support
Message-ID: <BECDB57A.207DD%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Thomas W. Hazlett: Broadcast TV on life support
>By Thomas W. Hazlett
>Published: June 2 2005 17:17 | Last updated: June 2 2005 17:17
>>

Broadcast television is fading into oblivion. Just two web sites, Google and
Yahoo!, now account for more advertising revenues than do the prime time
schedules of the three traditional television networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC -
combined. In contrast to the explosion in e-commerce, broadcast TV viewers
are fleeing to cable programming, which now easily beats broadcast TV in the
ratings. And those left to watch broadcast programs don?t stick around for
the commercials. Remote controls, VCRs, and the growing popularity of
personal digital recorders are rendering the 60-second TV spot a quaint
black and white video clip.

In some ways, however, the dinosaurs of the early TV era are remarkable for
their longevity. The network Big Three dominated an earlier time under rules
crafted by the US federal government in 1952. By perversely applying a
doctrine of ?localism,? Federal Communications Commission regulators ended
up killing a fledgling fourth network then operating - DuMont - and
precluded new competition for decades. This was achieved via spectrum
policy, denying entrants the licenses they needed to compete.

This audaciously anti-competitive gambit was couched in the language of high
principle. Excluding all but a few was said to serve the ?public interest,?
providing not only for ?localism? but for ?fairness? and ?educational?
programs, to boot. Even as FCC regulators railed famously against the ?vast
wasteland? that their cosy network triopoly had wrought, as did FCC chairman
Newton Minow in a 1961 speech, the Commission moved to block alternative
media providing higher quality programs and a broader range of consumer
choice. Minow?s FCC moved to suppress the emergence of cable TV, which
regulators declared could never be more than a niche fill-in for
broadcasting. ?Educational? goals were threatened, it determined, if cable
?siphoned? viewers.

But consumers wanted more video programmes, and entrepreneurs sought
innovative ways to deliver them. Cable TV ? ?spectrum in a tube? ? was a
regulatory bypass, recreating the transmission capacity FCC policies denied.
It too was blocked by FCC barriers; when it won deregulation in the late
1970s, new programmes were soon unleashed, and most US households subscribed
by 1988. By then, CNN had achieved the impossible: in just seven years, it
had become a profitable, mass market, 24/7 all-news network ? just what
regulators had declared impractical and virtually illegal. Liberalising US
TV rules literally changed the world. When, in 1991, CNN cameras captured
Boris Yeltsin jumping on a Soviet tank, an empire was toppled ? and a ?vast
wasteland? buried.

But the first generation cable success of CNN was not an equilibrium. New
rivalry came, once more, in the form of new spectrum. Digital satellite TV
systems launched by DirecTV in 1994 and EchoStar in 1996 were greeted as the
?death star? by cable incumbents, as they beamed 200-channel video bundles
to subscribers. Cable, scrambling to respond,spent $80bn to upgrade their
systems. The unregulated capacity competition triggered a new content boom.

One upstart to gain carriage in 1996 was the Fox News Channel. It made an
overt ideological appeal with its ?Fair and Balanced? slogan, hitting CNN
and the broadcast networks as slanted left. In contrast to news shows that
interviewed Ralph Nader activists as default experts, FNC featured talking
heads from the (Republican) Heritage Foundation. Critics cried foul,
portraying the new channel as a right-wing front ? further advancing Fox
News as ?fair and balanced? and attacked by elite purveyors of opinion.

Fox News now garners more than the combined audience size of CNN and its
sister network, Headline News. But FNC (owned by Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp)
receives only 25 cents per month for the average subscriber in homes it
serves (about 80m), below the 40 cents paid for the CNN/HN tandem. In new
carriage agreements, Fox is reportedly asking for at least 50 cents. This
shows a stunning turnaround: Just nine years ago, Fox News paid cable
systems over $300m in aggregate (or $12 per new subscriber) to gain initial
carriage. ?Fair and balanced? had to pay to play.

The gold discovered in these hills is prompting innovative counter measures
from both established networks and entrants such as the network headed by
former vice president Al Gore. The battlefield extends to radio, where the
meteoric rise of conservative talk shows (following the abolition of the
Fairness Doctrine in 1987) has triggered counter-counter liberal talk, in
the form of Al Franken?s Air America.

Today?s markets deliver diverse choices far beyond what the ?public
interest? in broadcasting delivered. With the transition to the
post-broadcasting television world ninety-percent complete, courtesy of
households paying for cable and satellite delivery, it is time cancel the
1952 TV Allocation Table ? the longest run ratings bomb in US TV history. If
station licensees were given the right to use allotted frequencies for their
highest and best use, over-the-air broadcasting would quickly migrate to
more efficient platforms, and TV band frequencies would be redeployed for
mobile telephony and broadband ? wireless services customers yearn to enjoy
and are willing to pay for. Once the radio spectrum is made available for
productive use by market competitors, additional generations of innovative
video content ? and free speech - are yet before us.

This writer is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy
Research
>
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From moveon-help at list.moveon.org  Thu Jun  9 10:44:36 2005
From: moveon-help at list.moveon.org (Ben Brandzel, MoveOn PAC)
Date: Wed Jun  8 21:39:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Proof that Bush lied -- demand an explanation
Message-ID: <200506090438.j594cx8T019372@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Dear Move On member,

Last month, the Times of London printed "smoking gun" evidence that long
before the invasion of Iraq the Bush administration was determined to go
to war, intentionally distorting intelligence, and lying to the American
people.

The proof comes from the classified minutes of a British cabinet meeting,
referred to as the "Downing Street Memo." So far President Bush has refused
to explain or directly respond to the memo, but pressure is mounting daily
from Congress and the public. This week Tony Blair visited Washington and
the press finally started asking the obvious questions -- creating a
critical opportunity to turn up the heat.

One Congressman, John Coiners of Michigan, has started a citizens
petition--demanding that Bush directly respond to the evidence of
deception contained in the Downing Street Memo. When half a million
Americans sign, Rep. Coiners will personally deliver the signatures to the
gates of the White House.

If we can reach 500,000 signatures today we can bring this scandal to
light while the story is still hot. Please add your voice today:

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/?id=5653-72753-qFFVdqWFE_vbBDT8otABHg&t=3

The smoking gun memo quotes high level British officials during a July
23rd, 2002 cabinet meeting, discussing recent conversations with the Bush
Administration on their decision to invade Iraq and the manipulation of
intelligence to back it up. Below are two key excerpts:

Sir Richard Dear love, Director of the British foreign intelligence
service, (MI6) reported on his recent meetings in Washington:

  Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove
  Sad dam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of
  terrorism and MD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed
  around the policy.[1]

Later British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw added:

  It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action,
  even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Sad dam
  was not threatening his neighbors, and his MD capability was less than
  that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.[2]

The British government has not disputed the authenticity or accuracy of
the smoking gun memo, even in the few crucial days after the story broke
before Tony Blair's re-election.[3]

What the Bush administration told these foreign officials is the exact
opposite of what the President repeatedly told Congress and the American
people about his decision before the invasion, and what he continues to
claim - that he was trying to avoid a war America did not want, and that
intelligence about the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was clear and
compelling.[4]

Why is it important to confront the Bush administration now and get this
story out?

The Bush administration continues to peddle falsehoods about the rush to
war and intelligence manipulation, despite overwhelming evidence from
former administration officials, and now our closest allies. Two weeks
ago, Secretary of State Condole Rice told troops stationed in Iraq:
"This war came to us, not the other way around."[5] And just yesterday
Bush avoided a direct question about the Downing Street Memo by simply
reiterating his claim that the war was a choice of last resort.[6]

We must make it clear that lying to the people and our representatives
about the life and death choices we face must not go unaddressed.
Democracy cannot function without truth from our leaders, and it's time
for the deception to end.

With limited news coverage and an administration completely dismissive of
any evidence it doesn't like, exposing the truth can feel like a daunting
challenge. But we've been here before. Many of us joined MoveOn at a time
when the White House and the press didn't believe there could be any real
opposition to the President's war, and it took millions of us working
together to prove them wrong. That time has come again.

Please help take the first crucial step by helping Representative Conyers
directly confront President Bush with signatures and comments from 500,000
Americans demanding a real response to the Downing Street Memo -- and the
truth about the war.

Please sign today:

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/?id=5653-72753-qFFVdqWFE_vbBDT8otABHg&t=4

Thanks for all that you do.

--Ben, Adam, Jennifer, Eli and the MoveOn PAC Team
  Thursday, June 9, 2005

Notes:

For more information about the Downing Street Memo, including the full text,
visit http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

To read the full text of Representative Conyers' sign on letter, go to:
http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/conyersletter.html?id=5653-72753-qFFVdqWFE_vbBDT8otABHg&t=5

[1] The Downing Street Memo, http://www.moveon.org/r?r=741

[2] The Downing Street Memo, http://www.moveon.org/r?r=741

[3] CNN, Bush asked to explain UK War Memo May 12, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/11/britain.war.memo/

[4] There are dozens of quotes by Bush and senior administration officials
containing false claims about invasion plans and WMD's compiled by the
Center for American Progress, and searchable here:
http://www.claimvfact.com/

Here are just a few directly from the President and the White House
official statements, made before the war and after the time of the Downing
Street Memo:

  * "Of course, I haven't made up my mind we're going to war with Iraq."
    [10/1/02]
  * "Hopefully, we can do this peacefully -- don't get me wrong. And if
    the world were to collectively come together to do so, and to put
    pressure on Saddam Hussein and convince him to disarm, there's a
    chance he may decide to do that. And war is not my first choice, don't
    -- it's my last choice." [11/7/02]
  * "This is our attempt to work with the world community to create peace.
    And the best way for peace is for Mr. Saddam Hussein to disarm. It's
    up to him to make his decision." [12/4/02]
  * "The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons...And
    according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a
    biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes." [9/26/2002]
  * "I expected to find the weapons [because] I based my decision on the
    best intelligence possible...The evidence I had was the best possible
    evidence that he had a weapon. [2/8/2004]

[5] CNN, "Rice makes surprise visit to Iraq" May 15, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=739

[6] New York Times, "Bush and Blair Deny 'Fixed' Iraq Reports" June 8th
2005 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=740

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.


________________

Subscription Management:
This is a message from MoveOn PAC. To remove yourself (Michael Butler) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=5653-72753-qFFVdqWFE_vbBDT8otABHg
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From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Thu Jun  9 13:41:04 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Wed Jun  8 23:48:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Eric Boehlert on Downing St Minutes Media Coverage
Message-ID: <20050609204104.76408.qmail@web53005.mail.yahoo.com>

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060905E.shtml

Bush Lied about War? Nope, No News There!
????By Eric Boehlert
????Salon.com


????Thursday 09 June 2005

Why did it take more than a month for the US
press to report on the serious revelations in the
Downing Street memo?


????Halfway through Sunday's "Meet the Press,"
host Tim Russert, interviewing Republican
National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, asked
about a secret, top-level British government
memorandum. Consisting of minutes from a July 23,
2002, meeting attended by Prime Minister Tony
Blair and his closest advisors, the memo revealed
their impression that the Bush administration,
eight months before the start of the Iraq war in
2003, had already decided to invade and that
Washington seemed more concerned with justifying
a war than preventing one.


????The memo was leaked this year to the Times of
London, which printed it on May 1. The story,
coming on the eve of Blair's reelection,
generated extensive press coverage in Britain. In
setting up his question to Mehlman on Sunday,
Russert said, "Let me turn to the now famous
Downing Street memo" (emphasis added).


????Famous? It would be famous in America if the
D.C. press corps functioned the way it's supposed
to. Russert's June 5 reference, five weeks after
the story broke, represented the first time NBC
News had even mentioned the document or the
controversy surrounding it. In fact, Russert's
query was the first time any of the network news
divisions addressed the issue seriously. In an
age of instant communications, the American
mainstream media has taken an exceedingly long
time -- as if news of the memo had traveled by
vessel across the Atlantic Ocean -- to report on
the leaked document. Nor has it considered its
grave implications -- namely, that President Bush
lied to the American people and Congress during
the run-up to the war with Iraq when he insisted
over and over again that war was his
administration's last option.


????And yet, as Russert's weeks-late inquiry
illustrates, the Downing Street memo story has
also refused to simply fade away. Championed by
progressive activists, media advocates, nearly
100 Democratic members of Congress, liberal radio
hosts and bloggers, ombudsmen, a handful of
columnists and an army of newspaper readers --
who have flooded editors with letters demanding
that the story be reported -- the British memo
continues to enjoy a peculiar afterlife. A small
band of protesters, led by a retired Air Force
lieutenant colonel, even held a sidewalk vigil
outside a Tampa, Fla., television station over
the weekend, demanding that it "Air the truth!"
about the memo.


????At Tuesday's joint White House press
briefing, Bush and Blair were finally asked about
the memo in public, an event that the press
dutifully chronicled. But the two leaders, not
accepting follow-up questions, simply denied the
accuracy of the memo's contents, while
circumventing the central question of why Blair's
most senior intelligence officer believed the
White House had already decided on war in the
summer of 2002. (Bush finished his response to
the memo question with his well-worn catchphrase,
"The world is better off without Saddam Hussein
in power.")


????The fact that it took five weeks for more
than a handful of Washington reporters to focus
on the memo highlights a striking disconnect
between some news consumers and mainstream news
producers. The memo story epitomizes a mainstream
press corps that is genuinely afraid to ask tough
questions and write tough stories about the Bush
administration. Worse, in the case of the Downing
Street memo, it simply refuses to report on the
existence of a plainly newsworthy document.


????"This is where all the work conservatives and
the administration have done in terms of bullying
the press, making it less willing to write
confrontational pieces -- this is where it's paid
off," says David Brock, CEO of Media Matters for
America, a liberal media advocacy group. "It's a
glaring example of omission."


????"I think it exacerbates the sense among some
[of our] listeners that NPR is not taking on the
Bush administration," notes Jeffrey Dvorkin,
ombudsman for National Public Radio, who
continues to receive listener complaints about
the missing memo story. As of Tuesday, NPR had
aired just two references to the Downing Street
memo, and both occurred in passing conversation,
without giving listeners the full context or the
details of the memo. Asked about the network's
slim coverage, Dvorkin says, "I was surprised.
It's a bigger story than we've given it. It
deserves more attention."


????Slowly, the Downing Street memo is getting
that attention. "Stories are starting to trickle
in now only because so many ordinary people are
raising hell about it," says David Swanson,
co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, which
launched on May 26. This week, thanks to constant
exposure on the Air America radio network, the
site is receiving 1.7 million hits a day,
according to Swanson. "My colleagues are doing
more radio shows than we can fit in during a
day."


????The memo provides plenty to talk about --
particularly the passage (no doubt memorized by
agitated war critics) that refers to Sir Richard
Dearlove, the head of the British Secret
Intelligence Service (referred to only as "C" in
the memo), and his impressions from a visit to
the United States:


????"C reported on his recent talks in
Washington. There was a perceptible shift in
attitude. Military action was now seen as
inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
military action, justified by the conjunction of
terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts
were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had
no patience with the U.N. route ... There was
little discussion in Washington of the aftermath
after military action."


????That more reporters, editors and producers
didn't grasp the obvious significance of the memo
remains baffling. As Mark Danner spelled out in
the June 9 issue of the New York Review of Books,
the memo helps establish five key facts in
understanding how the still-deadly war in Iraq
unfolded:
1) By mid-July 2002, eight months before the war
began, President Bush had decided to invade and
occupy Iraq. 


2) Bush had decided to "justify" the war "by the
conjunction of terrorism and WMD." 


3) Already, "the intelligence and facts were
being fixed around the policy." 


4) Many at the top of the [U.S.] administration
did not want to seek approval from the United
Nations (going "the U.N. route").


5) Few in Washington seemed much interested in
the aftermath of the war.


????Yet despite the news peg, the mainstream
media demonstrated a breathtaking lack of
interest. According to TVEyes, an
around-the-clock monitoring service, between May
1 and June 6 the story received approximately 20
mentions on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC
and PBS combined. (With Blair's arrival in
Washington Tuesday, there was a slight spike in
mentions but still very little reporting of
substance.) By contrast, during the same
five-week period, the same outlets found time to
mention 263 times the tabloid controversy that
erupted when a photograph showing Saddam Hussein
in his underwear was leaked to the British press.


????Since the Times of London published the memo
on May 1, White House spokesman Scott McClellan
has held 19 daily briefings, at which he has
fielded approximately 940 questions from
reporters, according to the White House's online
archives. Exactly two of those questions have
been about the Downing Street memo and the White
House's reported effort to fix prewar
intelligence. (Three weeks after the memo was
leaked in Britain, McClellan prefaced a response
to a question about it by telling White House
reporters he was not familiar with "the specific
memo.")


????Until Tuesday, the number of U.S. newspaper
articles reporting on the Downing Street memo
could be counted on two hands, including two
articles in the New York Times, two in the
Washington Post (print edition), and one each in
Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, the Minneapolis
Star Tribune and the Chicago Tribune. None of
these ran on Page 1. In fact, both the Star
Tribune and the Chicago Tribune articles focused
on how little commotion the memo had caused in
the United States, with the Chicago daily noting,
"The White House has denied the premise of the
memo, the American media have reacted slowly to
it and the public generally seems indifferent to
the issue or unwilling to rehash the bitter
prewar debate over the reasons for the war."


????Looking back, Jim Cox, USA Today's senior
assignment editor for foreign news, says not
reporting on the memo was a mistake. "I wish we'd
had something in early on, and I wish we'd been
able to move the memo story forward. I feel like
we missed an opportunity, and that's my fault,"
he tells Salon. But Cox takes issue with readers
who complain that Americans have been kept in the
dark about the memo's revelation that Bush had
made up his mind on going to war long before he
approached the United Nations and asked for a
coalition to be formed. "The memo doesn't say
something we haven't heard in one way or another
over the last two and a half years," Cox says.


????If the mainstream media showed little
interest in the memo and its ramifications, those
outside elite newsrooms did. On Tuesday, a query
on the blog search engine Technorati retrieved
3,039 sites on which the Downing Street memo was
being discussed.


????"It's something that's struck a chord among
NPR listeners and newspaper readers," Dvorkin
says. "It may have been blog-induced in the
beginning, but now it has legs of its own."


????Across the country readers have been
badgering their local newspapers to examine the
memo story. None of the published correspondence
appears to be form letters or so-called Astroturf
letters designed to mimic grass-roots support for
a particular issue. The letters have appeared in
the Sunday Oregonian (Portland), Los Angeles
Times, Raleigh News and Observer, Arizona
Republic, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Anchorage
Daily News, Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal, Greensboro
(N.C.) News and Record, Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle,
Newport (Va.) News Daily Press, Allentown (Pa.)
Morning Call, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald,
Bangor (Maine) Daily News, Springfield (Ill.)
State Journal-Register, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot,
Modesto (Calif.) Bee and Tulsa World, among
others.


????With the exception of the Los Angeles Times,
at the time the letters were published not one of
the newspapers, according to the LexisNexis
database, had reported on the memo.


????Meanwhile, ombudsmen for the New York Times,
the Washington Post and National Public Radio
have all gone on record admonishing their own
news organizations for slow-footed responses to
the memo. The Post's Michael Getler, siding with
upset readers, gave the paper a thumbs-down for
its handling of the story. He noted that readers'
"reaction to the failure to cover it, even with
the hyperbole and worst assumptions about
journalistic motives by some of the e-mailers, is
understandable."


????At the Times, public editor Byron Calame
noted that the paper was quick with a memo story
from London on May 2, "but the news coverage
languished until this morning [May 20] when a
Times article from Washington focused on the
reaction to the memo there. This has left Times
readers pretty much in the dark until today --
and left critics of the paper's news columns to
suspect the worst about its motives." Responding
to a query by Calame regarding the paper's lack
of coverage, Times Washington bureau chief Phil
Taubman suggested the Downing memo was old news:
"Given what has been reported about war planning
in Washington, the revelations about the Downing
Street meeting did not seem like a bolt from the
blue."


????What's more, the reporting that was done in
May was often less than stellar. The New York
Times' belated follow-up on May 20 was less than
800 words long, and despite a headline that read
"British Memo on U.S. Plans for Iraq War Fuels
Critics," Times reporter did not interview a
single war critic about the memo or its
implications.


????The issue was barely discussed on television,
and when it did pop up, hosts appeared to have no
interest. For example, here's the May 25 exchange
between actor and activist Tim Robbins and Chris
Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball."


????Robbins: I think there should be more
discussion about the Downing Street memo and less
about Newsweek. I think that that story seemed to
be buried. And there seems to be a lot of
questions that the Downing Street memo raises.


????Matthews: Tell me about that.


????Robbins: Well, it suggests that the
administration knew full well they were being
duplicitous and were operating with weak
intelligence.


????Matthews: Well, they -- well, they did tell
us at the time, Tim, that the best argument for
getting the Europeans to join us in the war was
using the WMD argument, but it wasn't their
primary purpose. The primary purpose apparently
was democratization in the Middle East, nation
building.


????Robbins: And I think they didn't mention that
until much later, Chris. I think that the
original -- original reason was that [Saddam] was
an imminent threat.


????Matthews: Let me ask you about Hollywood. Do
you think Hollywood, in its critique of this
president, has been effective? Somebody put up a
sign recently to Hollywood: "Thank you,
Hollywood, for getting Bush reelected."


????Playing catch-up this week has produced some
awkward moments for reporters, such as Russert's
referring to the memo as "famous" even though
nobody at NBC News had ever bothered to report on
it. On Monday, Fox News' online site reported
that the memo "has received little attention in
the mainstream media, frustrating opponents of
the Iraq war," while failing to mention that Fox
itself had effectively boycotted the memo story
for five weeks. On Tuesday, Fox News finally
reported that "there's been a lot of controversy
recently about a memo that suggests British
officials warned well before the war in July of
2002 that the Bush administration felt war was
inevitable." Again, Fox failed to explain why the
news organization had ignored a controversial
story for more than a month.


????That's just the latest press oddity
surrounding the memo story, says Swanson at
AfterDowningStreet.org. "It's very strange that
when it now comes up in the media, it's described
as well known. It's not well known. Most people
don't know anything about the memo. It's very
disturbing."


????-------


????Eric Boehlert is a senior writer at Salon.
From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun  9 14:19:46 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun  9 00:28:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fiore cartoon
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV610E54CDBD1C9193944CBABFC0@phx.gbl>

The Fiore Cartoon is not at the address THEY have given.... just try www.markfiore.com  then when you get there click on Pain...

peace,
barbara


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun  9 17:49:47 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun  9 03:56:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: UN alert as nuclear plans go missing
Message-ID: <20050610004947.25ABE99A1@mullet.gul3.gnl>

H spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from H:

Just great, more to worry about!
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

UN alert as nuclear plans go missing
Blueprints disclosing key steps to build a bomb feared up for sale
Ian Traynor in Vienna
Thursday June 09 2005
The Guardian


Electronic drawings that give comprehensive details of how to build and test equipment essential for making nuclear bombs have vanished and could be put up for sale on the international black market, according to UN investigators. 

The blueprints, running to hundreds of pages, show how to make centrifuges for enriching uranium. In addition, the investigators have been unable to trace key components for uranium centrifuge rigs and fear that drawings for a nuclear warhead have been secreted away and could be for sale.  

Inspectors at the UN's nuclear authority, the International Atomic Energy Agency, have been investigating the worst nuclear smuggling racket ever uncovered, headed by the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The operation was discovered two years ago to be selling sensitive nuclear technology to Libya and Iran.  

A senior official said several sets of blueprints for uranium centrifuges - the so-called P-1 and more advanced P-2 systems which were peddled by the Khan network - have gone missing.  

"We know there were several sets of them prepared," said the official. "So who got those electronic drawings? We have only actually got to the one full set from Libya. So who got the rest, the copies?  

"We have no evidence they were destroyed. One possibility is another client. We just don't know where they are."  

A European diplomat privy to western intelligence on the Khan network added: "This is what keeps people awake at night. It's very sensitive. The fact that there are [nuclear] proliferation manuals kicking around is deeply disturbing."  

The blueprints detail how to manufacture the components for a uranium centrifuge, what materials are needed, how to assemble the machines, and how to test them. The centrifuges are the main route to producing bomb-grade uranium. Uranium concentrate is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas which can be spun through cascades of centrifuges at super-high speeds to be enriched to weapons grade.  

"The big question is who else got this stuff &#91;apart from Iran and Libya&#93;," the European diplomat said.  

Another diplomat pointed out that the Khan network was based in the Middle East and that Khan was known as the father of the Islamic bomb. He suggested that Syria and Egypt could be potential customers for the materials if they were still being offered.  

Khan is a national hero for creating the Pakistani nuclear bomb but is under house arrest in Islamabad since confessing to heading the network and being pardoned in February last year.  

Although the network's operations extended to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the far east, its headquarters were in Dubai. Khan maintained a luxury apartment in Dubai.  

Following the uncovering of the network in October 2003, investigators went to the Dubai apartment only to find that it had been emptied, apparently by Khan's daughter Dina.  

The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadafy, confessed to his secret nuclear bomb programme and gave it up in December 2003. Three months later in Tripoli, the UN inspectors were given two CD-roms and one computer hard drive. One CD contained aset of drawings and manuals for the P-1 centrifuge system, the other for the more advanced P-2.  

The instructions are in English, Dutch and German, and the designs are from Urenco, the Dutch-British-German consortium which is a leader in centrifuge technology and is the source of Khan's knowhow from his time working there in the 1970s. The CDs and hard drive are at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, where they have been analysed. The investigators now know that the scanning of the original blueprints was done in Dubai and when.  

In addition to these blueprints, Khan also supplied Libya with drawings for an old Chinese nuclear warhead design. The drawings, now in Washington under IAEA seal, were not complete, say sources, but were adequate to construct a crude nuclear device.  

Investigators suspect that the warhead design was also copied into electronic form and is still available to prospective clients.  

"There is reason to believe that there might even be some drawings related to nuclear weaponisation in electronic form," said the senior official.  

It is now also clear that multiple components secretly made for Libya's $100m (&#163;54.6m) centrifuge programme did not reach Libya and have gone missing.  

>From their investigations of the nuclear programmes in Libya and Iran, the IAEA has concluded that pieces of the nuclear jigsaw have not been located.  

"We are still missing something from the picture in terms of critical equipment, certain parts of centrifuges ... There is equipment missing important enough for us to search, an amount that makes us worried," said the official.  

Around a dozen individuals, including engineers, businessmen, and middlemen, were key figures in the Khan network, with dozens of other companies operating at a secondary level, according to those familiar with the investigation.  

Alleged Khan associates have been arrested in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Dubai, and Malaysia, although none of those cases has yet come to full trial. British customs is also conducting an investigation into a British suspect. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun  9 18:35:39 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun  9 04:42:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The on going spin of denial, Tillman.
Message-ID: <000801c56d5c$b7a415d0$7f63e440@Harold>

The Army is still spinning and in denial about Tillman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060901269_pf.html

Later H

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From dekuyper at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun  9 16:43:46 2005
From: dekuyper at sbcglobal.net (Gerald Gerald)
Date: Thu Jun  9 04:43:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What's up?
Message-ID: <200506091143.j59BhLNj020107@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

 
 
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun  9 18:43:11 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun  9 04:50:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] TV show dipicts 9/11 as Bush plot!
Message-ID: <000a01c56d5d$c5fc2770$7f63e440@Harold>

This is interesting. 

Almost all fictional writing has a non-fictional root/orgin.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050608-095942-4588r.htm

Harry
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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 19:33:30 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Thu Jun  9 05:40:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What's up?
References: <200506091143.j59BhLNj020107@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
Message-ID: <004c01c56d64$ca567cb0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

that is a wonderful picture gerald thanks for sharing
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 7:43 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] What's up?


>
>


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----






----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun  9 20:08:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun  9 06:15:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] TV show dipicts 9/11 as Bush plot!
References: <000a01c56d5d$c5fc2770$7f63e440@Harold>
Message-ID: <011301c56d69$a5bbd030$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Harold:

Non-fictional root/origin?  You bet!

My predilections re 9/11 are increasingly well-known; that it was, at best, a case of Bush & Co. "letting it happen" via negligence and/or malfeasance (as with Pearl Harbor) or, at worst, Bush & Co. "making it happen" via direct complicity in the planning and/or execution.  I lean toward the latter.

As an aside, consider the actual construction of the phrase "conspiracy theory."  It is two words.  "Conspiracy" and "theory."  The "official" story - the one Bush & Co. would have us believe - is a "theory" (since real hard facts and evidence is few and/or "controlled") about a "conspiracy" by Al-Qaeda via 19 mostly Saudi hijackers (5 of whom, by the way, were seen by multiple witnesses in Saudi Arabia months after the attacks...) who somehow managed to outwit the entire intelligence and military apparatus of the only hyperpower on earth.

So what makes the government's "official" story any less a "conspiracy theory" than that of those who believe that Bush & Co. were complict in the attacks?  Indeed, there is as much evidence for "our" "conspiracy theory" as there is for theirs.

The movement to re-open the investigation into the events of 9/11 is growing worldwide, including in the U.S.  And if and when real, honest light is shed on the "official" "conspiracy theory," I believe it will quickly begin to fall apart.  And then we will see what we will see - and its won't be pretty...

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harold Sifton 
  To: MB Civic 
  Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 9:43 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] TV show dipicts 9/11 as Bush plot!


  This is interesting. 

  Almost all fictional writing has a non-fictional root/orgin.

  http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050608-095942-4588r.htm

  Harry


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun  9 20:40:02 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 07:07:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Don't just sit there,
	do something!!   3  important online alerts
Message-ID: <200506091407.j59E7dDe020596@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Number one:
Join me and the Center for Constitutional Rights in calling for the 
shut down of Guantanamo Bay.

Take action now at 
http://www.democracyinaction.org/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=8
31 

-----------------------
Number two:

* Action Alert: Urge Congress to Reform PATRIOT, Not Expand It!

If you oppose the USA PATRIOT Act, now is the time to act.  
Many of the law's most dangerous, civil-liberties corroding 
provisions are set to expire, or "sunset," at the end of 
this year.  Yet Congress is considering legislation that 
would not only make these provisions permanent, but would 
actually expand PATRIOT even further.

Fortunately, momentum has been building behind the Security
and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act, a bipartisan bill that 
represents our best hope for curbing PATRIOT's powers and 
safeguarding against abuse.  

The SAFE Act would enact several key reforms, including 
placing limits on the FBI's ability to intercept information 
about your private Internet communications without a wiretap 
order, preventing the government from using "National 
Security Letters" to secretly demand the private records of 
Americans who are not suspected of spying or terrorism, 
and requiring additional reporting to Congress and the 
American people about how PATRIOT is being used.

Word on Capitol Hill is that the President is determined to 
sign a bill renewing PATRIOT on September 11th.  Make sure 
that he signs the SAFE Act instead - contact your 
Congressman today!

Make your voice heard with the EFF Action Center:
http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=143

-----------------------------
Number three:

Our country cannot continue to drill, pump, mine, 
radiate, and burn its way through another century. This 
is a prescription for disaster for our grandchildren. Instead, 
now is the time for Congress to set a new course toward a 
more secure, safe, and sustainable energy future. 
Take Action Now
Please urge your senators to support strong provisions and 
amendments to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that 
dramatically reduce U.S. oil dependence and greenhouse gas 
emissions as they consider the energy policy act of 2005. 
Urge them to reduce demand for fossil fuels and nuclear 
energy by enacting policies that promote conservation, 
improved energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources.
FCNL makes it easy to contact your members of Congress. Go 
to 
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=7702626&type
=CO 
to see a sample letter. Then write an email or fax in your own 
words. 

----------


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
this email and you want to be on our list, send an email to 
ean@sbcglobal.net and tell us which option you'd like.


"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun  9 23:10:54 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun  9 09:17:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Testing
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV210EA894CFD63A0D0673EDABFF0@phx.gbl>

test..


From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 03:24:39 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Thu Jun  9 13:31:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Testing
References: <BAY5-DAV210EA894CFD63A0D0673EDABFF0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <005f01c56da6$9c26bbb0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

workingbarbara
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 2:10 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Testing


> test..
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
From paulnnina at adelphia.net  Thu Jun  9 18:32:54 2005
From: paulnnina at adelphia.net (paulnnina)
Date: Thu Jun  9 14:28:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fwd: FW: Best Photos of 2004
Message-ID: <200506091400.j59E0dms020570@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun 10 04:44:38 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbara)
Date: Thu Jun  9 14:50:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] This is happening now folks!
Message-ID: <DJYENoygXLsxpTljBOh00000028@djyen.epochtimes.com>

Please share this and help fight for Tibetan rights in their own Country.

Click on the link below to view the story:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-6-9/29423.html

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Fri Jun 10 05:09:20 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:16:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - MEXICAN POLICE CHIEF KILLED HOURS AFTER
	TAKING JOB
Message-ID: <20050610120920.857CE1B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
MEXICAN POLICE CHIEF KILLED HOURS AFTER TAKING JOB
WebPosted Thu Jun  9 16:51:46 2005

---The only person to apply for the post of police chief in the violent
Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo was shot and killed seven hours after
taking the job.

Alejandro Dominguez was shot dozens of times late Wednesday evening
after leaving work. He's the city's seventh police official to be killed
this year.

As he took office on Wednesday afternoon, Dominguez had declared he
wasn't afraid of taking the job.

Since January, more than 60 people, including the police officers, have
been killed in Nuevo Laredo, which is the busiest border crossing from
Mexico into the United States.

City officials have called on Mexican President Vicente Fox to do more to
curb violence, saying it may affect trade with the U.S., which has warned
its citizens to stay away from the border area.

Two months ago Fox sent in 700 troops and federal agents, but people in
the city say it isn't stopping rival drug gangs.

Tijuana human rights activist Victor Clark-Alfaro says the carnage
creates fear that paralyses people. The government announces new
campaigns to capture organized crime bosses, but no one is ever brought
to justice, he says.

The city's previous police chief left the post in May to work on the
city council.

Mexican investigative reporter Jes&uacutes Blancornelas says some Mexican
police are directly involved in drug trafficking.

It's a continental problem, he says, beginning in South America where
drugs are produced, transported through Mexico and consumed in the United
States and Canada.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:47:01 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:54:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: An Important Election Safeguard
Message-ID: <20050610124701.8DA5024AF97@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 10, 2005
Editorial: An Important Election Safeguard

There are many problems with American elections, but none more serious than the rise of paperless electronic voting, whose results cannot be trusted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/10fri3.html?ex=1119067200&en=e564787b1a0a1c79&ei=5070&emc=eta1




----------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:47:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:54:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Losing Our Country
Message-ID: <20050610124707.07E4A13B7D8@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 10, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Losing Our Country
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Almost every one of the administration's domestic policies seems intended to accelerate our march back to the robber baron era.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/10krugman.html?ex=1119067200&en=4d12567236c217a7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:47:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:54:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Behind Every Grad...
Message-ID: <20050610124722.457A924AF0C@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 10, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Behind Every Grad...
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The best way to ensure we have teachers who inspire their students is if we recognize and reward those who clearly have done so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/10friedman.html?ex=1119067200&en=5b4e0a90d77216d6&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:48:33 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:55:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Climate Reports, Edited to Fit (5 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050610124833.556DCA0F71@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 10, 2005
Climate Reports, Edited to Fit (5 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/l10warm.html?ex=1119067200&en=07a16b7c7b5688bf&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 05:49:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:57:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <29412928.1118407788031.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Pre-9/11 Missteps By FBI Detailed
 
 By Dan Eggen
 
 Justice Department Inspector General's review notes bureau's role in fumbling case, including at least five missed chances to detect the hijackers.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902000.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005060902000&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
 
 

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:50:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:57:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Assault on Women at Protest Stirs Anger,
	Not Fear, in Egypt
Message-ID: <20050610125029.B7B0F13B72B@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / AFRICA | June 10, 2005
Assault on Women at Protest Stirs Anger, Not Fear, in Egypt
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
The recent groping and beating of women as part of an attack on political protesters has helped unify groups calling for a more democratic government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/international/africa/10egypt.html?ex=1119067200&en=06da3c34a54c4b6f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 05:50:56 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 15:58:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <14582905.1118407856671.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Horseshoe Crabs' Decline Further Imperils Shorebirds
 
 By Juliet Eilperin
 
 SLAUGHTER BEACH, Del. -- As recently as five years ago, this stretch of sand was covered with chirping shorebirds, which depended on Delaware Bay as a critical stopover in their arduous spring migration from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic. But these days, the beach is almost bare, with just a...
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:54:28 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:01:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Panel Would Cut Public Broadcasting Aid
Message-ID: <20050610125428.8B58113B7D8@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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ARTS / TELEVISION | June 10, 2005
Panel Would Cut Public Broadcasting Aid
By STEPHEN LABATON
A House Appropriations panel on Thursday approved a spending bill that would cut the budget for public television and radio nearly in half.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/arts/television/10pbs.html?ex=1119067200&en=53a8b5c81030bbe7&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:56:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:03:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Different Timpanist
Message-ID: <20050610125636.2FFCA11F859@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 10, 2005
Man in the News: A Different Timpanist
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
William H. Pryor Jr. once called the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/10pryor.html?ex=1119067200&en=17260c5525ad3393&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 10 05:57:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:04:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Urges Congress to Keep Patriot Act
	Intact
Message-ID: <20050610125718.2EC6E237166@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 9, 2005
Bush Urges Congress to Keep Patriot Act Intact
By DAVID STOUT
President Bush said that it has not stepped on civil liberties, as its critics contend, but has protected America from terrorists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/09cnd-bush.html?ex=1119067200&en=f18aab7014fd63f6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 05:58:22 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:05:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <9950549.1118408302971.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 A New Syria?
 
 By David Ignatius
 
 DAMASCUS, Syria -- I'm standing in the hot sun at the gate of a fancy new conference center outside town, trying (unsuccessfully) to get inside and watch the Baath Party debate political reforms. The headline in the morning's government-run Syria Times has proclaimed: "Congress continues with...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 06:02:16 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:09:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <19942752.1118408536671.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 (White) Women We Love
 
 By Eugene Robinson
 
 Someday historians will look back at America in the decade bracketing the turn of the 21st century and identify the era's major themes: Religious fundamentalism. Terrorism. War in Iraq. Economic dislocation. Bioengineering. Information technology. Nuclear proliferation. Globalization.  The rise of...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 06:03:08 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:10:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <9789354.1118408588532.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Kerried Away
 
 By E. J. Dionne Jr.
 
 Democrats have to end their addiction to the Kerry alibi.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 06:03:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:10:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <17024751.1118408628012.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Midas Curse of the Bush Administration
 
 By Marcela Sanchez
 
 The Bush administration is suffering from a Midas curse of sorts in its interaction with the Americas. Everything it touches -- everything Bush officials consider valuable and essential -- becomes suspect or is rejected by most governments in the hemisphere.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 06:06:05 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 16:13:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4956133.1118408766241.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 From Thomas, Original Views
 
 By Charles Krauthammer
 
 Justice Thomas: "Dope is cool." Justice Scalia: "Let the cancer patients suffer."
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 09:43:11 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 19:50:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: [Mb-hair] Re: Broadcast TV...
In-Reply-To: <12632-42A95762-3590@storefull-3277.bay.webtv.net>
Message-ID: <BECF112F.20883%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: jameshburns@webtv.net (Jim Burns)
Reply-To: mb-hair@islandlists.com
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 05:03:30 -0400
To: mb-hair@islandlists.com
Subject: [Mb-hair] Re: Broadcast TV...


All that stuff, of course, may be right, and certainly interesting....

And has been, probably, for a while.

But remember the new undeground, that everyone, tends to ignore.

There are twenty to fifty million illegal, unregistered immigrants in
our country.

There are poor folks tha never get counted by anybody.

And for the majority of them, the media reality, is still the TV
stations, that they can get, over the air, along with radio.

As to the rest--

The pernicious, and myopic take, that our news outlets have wound up
giving us--

The general ill-regard for what we used to regard as beneficial to our
overall sense of society, as presented by shows like Howard Stern's, or
the networks' "reality programming"--

Has been devestating.

Pop media DOES, at the least, create the backgrund track for our lives
in America.

And we've been ill-served.

So, talk truth to the power.


And spread the joy of a smile, this weekend...


Best,  Jim

_______________________________________________
Mb-hair mailing list
Mb-hair@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair

------ End of Forwarded Message

From lyve at netzero.net  Fri Jun 10 10:02:46 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun  9 20:31:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] This is happening now folks!
Message-ID: <20050610.100302.23868.43938@webmail34.nyc.untd.com>


"But she said what terrifies her most is the electric baton. Sometimes, they would stick an electric baton in her mouth. Sometimes the soldiers would hold her down onto the ground and rape her using electric batons. If she became unconscious as a result of the electric shock and severe pain, they would throw water on her to wake her up and then continue beating her."

-Turn a blind eye, say you have too much to do, say you're overloaded, arn't we all. Keep on going!


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "barbara" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> wrote:
Please share this and help fight for Tibetan rights in their own Country.

Click on the link below to view the story:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-6-9/29423.html

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 10:26:05 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 20:33:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Greenspan sees no serious US slowdown
Message-ID: <BECF1B3D.2088F%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Greenspan sees no serious US slowdown
>By Andrew Balls in Washington
>Published: June 9 2005 15:58 | Last updated: June 10 2005 00:38
>>

Alan Greenspan told the US Congress on Thursday the Federal Reserve would
continue to raise interest rates, dispelling market speculation that the
cycle of rate rises was about to end.

The Fed chairman reassured the congressional joint economic committee on the
health of the economy, saying there had been ups and downs, due to volatile
oil prices, but performance had been satisfactory with the US expanding at a
rate of 3.7 per cent rate over the last year.

?Most recent data support the view that the soft readings on the economy
observed in the early spring were not presaging a more serious slowdown,? Mr
Greenspan said. ?The US economy seems to be on a reasonably firm footing and
underlying inflation remains contained.?

Mr Greenspan said inflation risks remained a concern and repeated the
Federal open market committee's statement that it would raise rates at a
?measured? pace.

There had been speculation the Fed might be close to the end of its
tightening cycle, following weaker economic data. Bond prices fell slightly
after Mr Greenspan's comments and the dollar rose to a nine-month high, but
later slipped back.

>
Lex: why the bond bulls are likely to be disappointed
>Click here
>

The Fed chairman gave few clues on how long the FOMC was likely to continue
raising rates. The committee meets again at the end of June. ?One thing he
has done is kill the idea they have just one more rate increase to come,?
said Ethan Harris, chief US economist at Lehman Brothers. ?He did not answer
the question of whether they expect there will be two more, or four more, or
six more.?

The Fed chairman highlighted the slowdown in productivity growth, which he
said had contributed to uncertainty about inflation and resulted in rising
unit labour costs, an indicator the Fed watches closely for signs of
inflationary pressure.

While the Fed has raised its target federal funds rate from 1 per cent to 3
per cent over the past year, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has
declined from 4.7 per cent just before the central bank started tightening
policy to less than 4 per cent.

Mr Greenspan reiterated the central bank's confusion over the fall in bond
yields over the past year, part of a global pattern that had complicated the
Fed's work. He suggested that low rates were stimulating the economy, and
said that economists at the central bank were examining whether low
long-term rates increased inflation risks.

Mr Greenspan dwelled on housing market risks, saying low mortgage rates were
adding to ?froth? in local housing markets. While price declines could not
be ruled out, this should not have ?substantial? macroeconomic implications.

Larry Meyer, former Fed governor and founder of the consultancy
Macroeconomic Advisers, said the FOMC, like the Bank of England and the
Australian central bank, was watching the housing market closely.

?If there is a bubble emerging and there is a close call about whether to
tighten more or not, the tie goes to further tightening,? he said. ?Hence,
developments in the housing market are now encouraging the FOMC to go
further, rather than stop sooner.?
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/420177ea-d8f1-11d9-8403-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 10:30:07 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 20:37:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Lack of investment is the tragedy in Africa
Message-ID: <BECF1C2F.20890%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Lack of investment is the tragedy in Africa
>By Kurt Hoffman
>Published: June 9 2005 20:20 | Last updated: June 9 2005 20:20
>>

Tony Blair must take some credit for edging the Bush administration closer
to a deal on multilateral debt relief in Washington this week. But then
reducing the debt burden for some of Africa's poorest countries will in no
way "make poverty history". That is because the moral question of our time
has little to do with public money and everything to do with private
capital.

The calls for rich taxpayers' money to eliminate poverty, either as debt
relief or as aid, drown out the whoosh of billions of dollars of private
capital that is circling the globe, looking for a place to land and
multiply. The real tragedy is that only 1 per cent of it finds its way to
sub-Saharan Africa.

This vote of no confidence in Africa on the part of global investors is seen
by some as a justification for doubling aid. But this is confounded by the
fact that Africa delivers some of the highest returns on investment on the
planet.

Even more intriguing: despite the misperception that capital shortages are
holding back development, banks across east, west and sub-Saharan Africa are
actually flush with money. Yet they refuse to lend it to those who can do
the most with it: millions of disenfranchised, small-scale African
entrepreneurs who could lift Africa out of poverty if given half a chance.

This highlights the limits of relying on aid to tackle poverty. Jeffrey
Sachs, the economist, recently claimed that, due to the realpolitik of the
aid business, the US untied development assistance in 2003 (the type that
excludes that spent on American non-governmental organisations, consultants
and contractors), amounted to just 18 cents for each of the 650m people
living in low-income sub-Saharan Africa.

So even if we combine this 18 cents per capita contribution with what is
available from others, we are not going to get much more than $1 per person
in sub-Saharan Africa. Multiply that by 10 or even 100 times to account for
new aid pledges currently being sought, and it is still only $100 per poor
African person per year. Clearly, much more than aid is needed.

Whatever else happens as a result of the Make Poverty History campaign,
lowering the risk perception of private capital with regards to investing in
Africa and in African entrepreneurs should be its single most important
goal. Those in charge of the campaigns will claim they have done what they
can: engaging with big business and trying to make African countries more
investment-friendly.

But this will not be enough to persuade bankers - especially local bankers -
to open their loan books to the African small- and medium-sized enterprise
sector. Yet this is precisely what has to happen if Africa is to swap its
bit part in globalisation as a passive supplier of primary commodities for a
more dynamic role based on a competitive, innovative enterprise base.

For this to happen, local African banks have to develop the confidence and
the investment mechanisms to shift away from lending solely on the basis of
a trading record with 100 per cent collateral. Instead, they need to begin
providing finance secured against the entrepreneur's business plan and above
all against a belief in the management team taking the investment forward.

Of course, this is unfamiliar territory for banks but it is second nature to
private-equity funds. However, the development shortcomings of this approach
in Africa is that deal size, typically bigger than $1m, is well above what
most SMEs need to grow. This and the tendency to cherry pick investments
scattered across countries means such funds will never, on their own, create
a critical mass of SMEs in one region.

To help bring this about, the Shell Foundation has been piloting
commercially viable ways of channelling mentoring and financing to large
numbers of smaller companies in need of early-stage capital of less than
$1m.*

The model enables local African banks to invest in the SME sector by
outsourcing risk management to a specialist fund manager, in this case co-
established by the Shell Foundation. And because the funds are generating
commercial rates of return, the model becomes a vehicle by which banks can
reach a critical mass of Africa's entrepreneurs.

This will help bridge the gap between the millions of small-scale African
entrepreneurs who already understand risk and return and the hundreds of
millions of dollars in the accounts of risk-averse local banks. It is on
Africa's entrepreneurs that the hopes of a continent rest.

*Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, www.shellfoundation.org

The writer is director of the Shell Foundation
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 10:32:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 20:39:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Act now to stop a space arms race
Message-ID: <BECF1CCD.20891%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Act now to stop a space arms race
>By Hui Zhang
>Published: June 9 2005 20:20 | Last updated: June 9 2005 20:20
>>

In the coming weeks, George W. Bush, US president, is expected to issue a
national security directive on accessing space for various purposes, which
is likely to open the door for deployment of space weapons. While the US
views - and characterises - these weapons as defensive, to China and to many
other countries the construction of such a system looks more like the
development of the Death Star spaceship in the Star Wars film series.

There is much evidence to suggest the US move toward space weaponisation is
gaining momentum. A number of US military planning documents issued in
recent years point to the intention to control space by military means. Last
year, the US Air Force publicised its vision of how "counterspace
operations" could help achieve and maintain space superiority - the "freedom
to attack as well as the freedom from attack" in space.

The space weapons under US development could be used not only to attack
ballistic missiles in flight - as Ronald Reagan's 1983 Star Wars weapons
programme envisaged - but also to attack military and civilian satellites
and targets anywhere on earth. Certainly, this is a formidable defence
mechanism, but at what cost? Putting weapons in space can only erode space
security, which is in no one's interest. The most effective way to secure
space assets would be to agree an international ban on space weaponisation.

No country seriously threatens US space assets. Only the US and, in the cold
war era, the Soviet Union have explored, tested and developed space weapons;
Russia placed a moratorium on its programme in the 1980s. A number of
countries are capable of attacking US satellites by launching nuclear
weapons into space, but the assurance of a deadly US response reduces
potential intent to nil. In fact, many countries including China and Russia
have sought multilateral negotiations on the prevention of space
weaponisation. So far, however, the US has moved in the opposite direction,
potentially fuelling a space weapons race.

Of primary concern is China's belief that the real purpose of US space plans
is not to protect US assets but to enhance US military dominance. Space
weapons are seen as "first-strike" weapons rather than defensive arms,
because they are vulnerable to countermeasures. Their deployment, therefore,
could be seen as a sign of US intent to use force in international affairs.

Many people in Beijing believe that China would be a target for US space
weapons. From China's perspective, it is inconceivable that the US would
expend such massive resources on a system that would be purely defensive and
aimed only at "rogue" states. China worries that such weapons would give the
US more freedom and power to intervene in its affairs, including undermining
the country's efforts at reunification with Taiwan.

This concern is enhanced by US moves in recent years to boost co-operation
in research and development of advanced theatre missile defence with Japan,
and potentially with Taiwan. Adding to this concern, some missile defence
hawks in the US have not minced their words about the utility of the system
in the event of military confrontation with China.

In response to this perceived threat, China and other countries could
possibly resort to developing low-cost space weapons. Thus, the US policy
could trigger an arms race in space.

To protect against the potential loss of its deterrent capability, China
could also resort to building up its nuclear forces, which could in turn
encourage India and then Pakistan to follow suit. Also, Russia has
threatened to respond to any country's deployment of space weapons - an act
that could undermine the already fragile nuclear non-proliferation regime.

China's concern is undoubtedly partly due to fears that putting weapons in
space would constrain its civilian and commercial space activities. The
country sees itself as a developing economic space power, dependent on free
access to space for financial gain. US moves to weaponise space directly
threaten this access, increase the potential for space debris damage to any
satellites and hinder other peaceful uses of space.

In recent years, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted resolutions
calling for negotiations on preventing an arms race in outer space.
Washington has opposed these resolutions. If the history of nuclear weapons
tells us anything, it is that banning the testing and deployment of weapons
from the outset is much more effective than attempting disarmament and
non-proliferation after the fact.

Given the global challenges that are facing the US today, the billions of
dollars it has spent developing and testing space weapons over the past
decade simply give the world one more reason to view America with suspicion
and anxiety.

The writer, a Chinese physicist, is a research associate at Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government and specialises in issues related to nuclear
arms control and China's nuclear policy
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 10 11:13:13 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 21:20:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Dean's Democrats Remain Pathetic
Message-ID: <20050610181313.650DCB80AF@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com

RIGHT ON!!!

-------------------------------------
Dean's Democrats Remain Pathetic
http://www.alternet.org/story/22189

The only thing worse than Dean's prepared platitudes is his virtual silence on the war in Iraq and the big-money corruption of electoral politics and congressional legislation.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 10 11:14:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 21:21:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: After Downing Street
Message-ID: <20050610181443.08092B80AF@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
After Downing Street
http://www.alternet.org/story/22200

The Minutes now stand as irrefutable proof that the road to war in Iraq was paved, with absolute intent, with lies and deceit and misdirection and fraud.
-------------------------------------

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 12:01:20 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 22:08:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Apology from Lt Gen. Pitman, USMC
In-Reply-To: <0IHT00H4SZGAL6S0@vms040.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <BECF3190.208B8%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Nothing humble about this man.
Of course he is not really sorry about anything.
Might is Right!!!
Michael

> Michael:  This is interesting, Bette
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jack and Sharon<mailto:CloudJ001@hawaii.rr.com>
> 
> Subject: Fw: Apology from Lt Gen. Pitman, USMC
> 
> 
>     MUSLIMS ...USMC Lt Gen. Pitman's "Apology"  ,
> 
>     This Letter of Apology was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US
> Marine Corps, Retired:
> 
>     "For good and ill", the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue.
> On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the
> actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion
> this minor event into some modern day massacre.
> 
>     I humbly offer my opinion here:
> 
>     I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and
> sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia,
> Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).
>     I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after
> 9/11. 
>     I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.
>     I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under
> savage dictatorships.
>     I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
>     I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious
> schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.
>     I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and
> high-jacked the Palestinian "cause."
>     I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a
> token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.
>     I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial
> supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the
> USA for all their problems.
>     I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed
> masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of
> our society, like radical professors, CNN and the NY TIMES).
>     I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the
> "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.
>     I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers
> upon their death.
>     I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will
> receive 72 virgins in "paradise."
>     I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies,
> children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets.
>     I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms
> and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making.
>     I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other
> group. 
>     I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of
> Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.
>     I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.
>     I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site."
>     I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving two jets into the World Trade
> Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox
> Church - one of our Holy Sites.
>     I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the
> embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl,
> etc....etc! 
>     I am sorry Michael Moore is an American; he could feed a medium sized
> village in Africa.
>     America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those
> responsible because that is what we do.
> 
>     We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on.
> That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like
> all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.
> 
>     Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we
> were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure ,
> it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we
> were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our
> hands because a few were humiliated?
> 
>     Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people
> killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.
> 
>     If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long
> wait! 
> 
>     You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins.
> 
>     Chuck Pitman 
> 
>     Lieutenant General
>     US M arine Corps (Retired)
> 
>     Semper Fi  
>    
>            
>    
> <http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=409&lang=9>

From list at freepress.net  Fri Jun 10 11:33:01 2005
From: list at freepress.net (Josh Silver, Exec Director)
Date: Thu Jun  9 22:10:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Internet under attack in Congress. Act now.
Message-ID: <200506100510.j5A5AoVJ022381@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Dear Media Reformer:

A bill just introduced in Congress would take away the right of cities and towns across the country to provide citizens with universal, low-cost Internet access.

Giant cable and telephone companies don?t want any competition -- which might actually force them to offer lower prices, higher speeds and service to rural and urban areas.

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) -- a former telephone company executive -- has introduced a bill (HR 2726) that would let cable and telecom companies shut down municipal and community efforts to offer broadband services.

You can stop this outrageous bill. Send a message to your representative now at http://www.freepress.net/action/sessionsbill .

Next, forward this message to everyone you know ...

No less than the future of all communications is at stake. In a few years, television, telephone, radio and the Web will be accessed through a high-speed internet connection. Low-cost alternatives to telephone (DSL) and cable monopolies are emerging across the country, as cities, towns, nonprofits and community groups build low-cost "Community Internet" and municipal broadband systems.

Companies like SBC, Verizon and Comcast have been introducing laws state by state that would prohibit municipal broadband, undercut local control and prevent competition. But we've been fighting back -- and winning.

An alliance of public interest groups, local officials, high-tech innovators and organized citizens have defeated anti-municipal broadband measures in nine of the 13 states where they've been introduced this year.

What the industry couldn't pass in the states, they're trying to push through in Washington. Sessions' bill -- the "Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act" (an Orwellian title if there ever was one) -- would prevent state and local governments from providing "any telecommunications service, information service or cable service" anywhere a corporation offers a similar service.

Congressman Sessions worked for telephone giant SBC for 16 years, and his wife currently serves as a director of Cingular Wireless, an SBC subsidiary. SBC and its employees have been Sessions' second-biggest career patron, pouring more than $75,000 into his campaign coffers.

We can stop this legislation and send a clear message to Congress that local communities -- not the giant telephone and cable companies -- should determine their own communications needs. But you must act now.

Please send a letter opposing HR 2726 at http://www.freepress.net/action/sessionsbill -- and forward this message to everyone you know, asking them to do the same.

Onward,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net 

P.S. For all of the latest news on Community Internet and municipal broadband, visit the Free Press Web site at http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet .


P.P.S. Want to get more involved in bringing Community Internet to your hometown? Join the Free Press Action Squad at http://www.freepress.net/action/squad/signup.php .



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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 10 13:07:29 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun  9 23:14:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <10882862.1118434050494.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Public Broadcasting Targeted By House
 
 By Paul Farhi
 
 A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite popular children's educational programs.
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 10 13:20:59 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun  9 23:28:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Anger Initiative
Message-ID: <26990244.1118434859743.JavaMail.turbine@s75>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
The Anger Initiative 
--------------------


June 10 2005

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger remains stubbornly attached to the politics of anger &#8212; manufactured and otherwise. But the public, and some of his former allies, are discovering (yet again) the pitfalls of government by ballot initiative, as well as becoming ever more weary of the permanent campaign. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-sacto10jun10,0,7633560.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun 10 13:25:43 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun  9 23:32:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Here is the Picture of Hibiscus aka George Harris
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV2368483191ACE02F684D54ABFF0@phx.gbl>

Barbara Siomos <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> has sent you the following web link:

http://www.rit.edu/~661www/100/100th-part-1/pages/Boston.htm



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 13:26:15 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun  9 23:33:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] We Love Howard Dean
Message-ID: <BECF4577.208D4%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    We Love Howard Dean
    By John Cory
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Friday 10 June 2005

    The Bush GOP is a Wal-Mart of five-and-dime ethics, self-enriching
corporate sponsored war, imitation morality made in China, and a fresh
baker's dozen of half-truths for every occasion. America on sale: to the
right folks in the right place at the right time for the right price. Going
once, going twice ...

    Bible-thumping-bunko artists shove the hand of God into your pants
pocket for thirty pieces of silver to buy membership lists from the likes of
David Dukes and the KKK, because we all know, Heaven is white with just a
touch of beige. And if you question that, James Dobson will take his Bible
belt and show you the lashing love of Jesus.

    We've long since passed murder at 1600 and now head to 1700 dead
soldiers in Bush's war on Iraq. And while Condi visits the troops, with a
smile that could slit your throat from ear to ear, nobody asks what the plan
is for this sandbox game of death.

    The Downing Street Memo is all the talk to avoid. There are some people
who want the American media to cover the contents of the memo that show Bush
and Blair conspired to wage war despite their promises otherwise. But the
media won't cover the memo any more than they covered Bush's words in the
second presidential debate of 2000 when he said: ".... The coalition against
Saddam has fallen apart or it's unraveling, let's put it that way. The
sanctions are being violated. We don't know whether he's developing weapons
of mass destruction. He better not be or there's going to be a consequence
should I be the president."

    So what is the topic that grabs the news and the Democratic leadership's
attention?

    Howard Dean said something mean. Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

    Bush lied and people died. Nope - not news. Ohio Republicans involved in
financial and voting scandal. Nope - not news. Republicans jam Democratic
phone lines during 2004 election to stop the vote. Republicans hack into
Democratic computers. No news there. Tom Delay has repeated ethical lapses
and takes money from lobbyists like Jack Abramoff. Nope - not news. The
White House edits critical environmental reports to refute scientific fact.
Nope - no news there. Wait a minute - this just in:

    Howard Dean said something mean.

    Oh my God! Stop the presses! Did you hear? Dean has gone mean, pass it
on. Get Candy Crowley at CNN and Chris Matthews at MSNBC. Don't forget
Scarborough. This is a week's worth of programming! Get Holy Joe Lieberman
to speak for the good Democrats. Get Jive-Joe Biden, he'll be good for a
sensible quote to contrast with the madness of Howard "Beal" Dean.

    Quick, do you know why Republicans are against federal money for stem
cell research? They're afraid the Democrats will use it to grow a spine.
(ba-da-boom)

    The Dainty Dems of Petticoat Junction got their knickers in a twist
because Howard Dean spoke harshly about Republicans. Not that any of the
Democratic leadership heard what Dean said or even asked him what he said.
No, they got it from talk radio or from someone with good hair and white
teeth on TV, or from some other reliable source.

    If you Democratic leaders want to get upset about something, here's part
of my list:

   1. Lack of health care in this country.
   2. Trampling of civil rights and privacy in the name of phony patriotism.
   3. Religious hate discrimination against gays sanctioned as legislation.
   4. Corporations ruining the environment and defiling worker's rights.
   5. In a culture of life - why does more money go to improving bombs than
improving schools?
   6. How can a president lie to Congress about war and get away with it?
   7. Church and State do not belong together. Ever.
   8. Why do I need to remind you of any of this?

    I don't give a crap whether or not you like Howard Dean. It's about
damned time the Democratic Party quit sucking up to corporations and
Republicans and began sticking up for the people! You remember, we the
people? Of the people, by the people, and for the people? It is there
somewhere in a government document, as I recall. Make a Freedom of
Information request and maybe one of your new conservative judges will let
you look at it under the glass where they keep it.

    You want to hold Howard Dean accountable for what he says, fine. How
about holding Bush accountable for what he does?

   1. Sending our troops into harm's way without sufficient and proper
armor.
   2. Cutting veterans' services and budgets when it is needed most.
   3. Not allowing our returning dead to be photographed and honored openly.
   4. Failing the sick and afflicted while enriching the drug industry.
   5. Selling the sweat of America to the highest corporate bidder.

    The list is long and ignored. I understand you are much too busy trying
to teach Howard Dean how polite society functions.

    Like I said in the beginning, this administration has stocked its
shelves with half-truths. The price of one half-truth is a whole life. And a
whole lot of life is dying for the dollar lies of Bush Inc.

    I want someone who will stand up not stand down. I want someone
outspoken and outrageous and out there, for me. I want someone on my side,
not on my back for more money. I want someone who fights, not folds at the
first sign of fake indignation.

    To paraphrase my good friend Titus: You whiny Democratic Leadership
wussies - get down off the cross and use the wood to build a bridge to get
over it! We love Howard Dean!

 

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun 10 13:29:26 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun  9 23:37:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: [Mb-hair] Kent State (tangent: the flower power of
 George (Hibiscus) Harris, 10-22-67)
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV205683843FB1E1D6C7EB78ABFF0@phx.gbl>

Here is the picture of Hibiscus aka George Harris...


http://www.rit.edu/~661www/100/100th-part-1/pages/Boston.htm

peace,
barbara


-----Original Message-----
From: Sibley Smith
Sent: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 10:37:00 -0700
To: Butler, Michael - HAIR List
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Kent State (tangent: the flower power of George (Hibiscus) Harris, 10-22-67)

Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 21:27:34 GMT
From: "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com>

I tried to find that photo on the internet of Hibiscus (George) putting the flower into the rifle barrel and could not... I tried for over an hour.. Any suggestions? I am guessing Life magazine has such a hold on that photo no one has it.

peace,
barbara

===================================

FYI, for those who don't know, our dearly departed Hibiscus (aka George Harris, American performance artist, 1950 - 1982) was the brother of our own dear Walter Michael Harris, who's sweet voice is heard in the Original Broadway Cast recording of HAIR in the duet, "What a Piece of Work Is Man."

It's not the clearest reproduction of that famous photograph, but go to http://home.sandiego.edu/~hbarns/1967.htm.  

Excerpts from that page read as follows:

"The October [22] 1967 march on the Pentagon held the 'largest mass draft card burning in the history of protest against Vietnam... ."

"The initial rally of over seventy thousand demonstrators outside of the Lincoln Memorial 'was entirely peaceful and conventional'."  [things did change, however, from peace to violence as the demonstration wore on]

"... At the major point of confrontation, ... young people challenged soldiers with flowers, ...."

The photo is also found on the cover of "A Nation Divided" (pub. 1984) from the Boston Publishing Company's "The Vietnam Experience" series.  The caption from the credits page reads as follows:

"Cover photo: Before a violent clash between peace demonstrators and National Guardsmen at the Pentagon on October 23, 1967, a protestor plants pink carnations in the guardsmen's rifle barrels.  By then, the nation was begining to come apart over the Vietnam War."

For more about Hibiscus, go to http://www.cockettes.com/, or better yet, rent the movie, "The Cockettes: The Rise and Fall of the Legendary San Francisco Theatrical Troupe, 1969-1972," a feature length documentary by David Weissman and Bill Weber.

peace,

Sibley J. Smith, Jr., Director of Education
Vietnam Era Educational Center at the 
New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
1 Memorial Lane, P.O. Box 648
Holmdel, New Jersey 07733
1-800-648-VETS
www.njvvmf.org


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 10 14:30:26 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 10 00:37:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Memogate Hearings Scheduled for June 16
Message-ID: <BECF5482.208E4%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Memogate Hearings Scheduled for June 16
    t r u t h o u t | Press Release

    Friday 10 June 2005

    On Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of
House Judiciary Committee, and other Democratic Members will hold a
Democratic hearing to hear testimony concerning the Downing Street Minutes
and the efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

    On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a
classified memo, also known as the Downing Street Minutes, recounting the
minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair that describes
an American President already committed to going to war in the summer of
2002, despite contrary assertions to the public and the Congress. The
minutes also describe apparent efforts by the Administration to manipulate
intelligence data to justify the war. The June 16th hearing will attempt to
answer the serious constitutional questions raised by these revelations and
will further investigate the Administration's actions in the lead up to war
with new documents that further corroborate the Downing Street memo.

    Those expected to testify include Joe Wilson, Former Ambassador and WMD
Expert; Ray McGovern, 27-year CIA analyst who prepared regular Presidential
briefings during the Reagan administration; Cindy Sheehan, mother of a
fallen American soldier; and John Bonifaz, renowned constitutional lawyer
and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org.

    Directly following the hearing, Rep. Conyers, Members of Congress, and
concerned citizens plan to hand deliver to the White House the petition and
signatures of over a half million Americans that have joined Rep. Conyers in
demanding that President Bush answer questions about his secret plan for the
Iraq war.

    AfterDowningStreet.org is a rapidly growing coalition of veterans'
groups, peace groups, and political activist groups, which launched on May
26, 2005, a campaign to urge the U.S. Congress to begin a formal
investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses
in connection with the Iraq war.

 

From CLARKE445566 at msn.com  Thu Jun  9 03:03:55 2005
From: CLARKE445566 at msn.com (ROBERT CLARKE)
Date: Fri Jun 10 02:32:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: smile
Message-ID: <200506100458.j5A4wKLX022315@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Something to look forward to




Subject: Credit card




CANCELING CREDIT CARDS - PRICELESS.
 Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today. A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank:
  
 Family Member: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."
  
 Citibank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."
  
 Family Member: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."
  
 Citibank: "Since it is two months past due, it already has been."
  
 Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"
  
 Citibank: "Either report her account to the frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"
  
 Family Member: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"
  
 Citibank: "Excuse me?"
  
 Family Member: "Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?"
  
 Citibank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor."
  
 Supervisor gets on the phone:
  
 Family Member: "I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."
  
 Citibank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."
  
 Family Member: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"
  
 Citibank: (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"
  
 Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given)
  
 Citibank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"
  
 Family Member: "Sure." (fax number is given)
  
 After they get the fax:
  
 Citibank: "Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help."
  
 Family Member: "Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. I don't think she will care."
  
 Citibank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply."
  
 Family Member: "Would you like her new billing address?"

 Citibank: "That might help."
  
 Family Member: "Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69."
  
 Citibank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"
  
 Family Member: "That's right.  Send all correspondence there."


Harriet
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From sjsmith at njvvmf.org  Fri Jun 10 14:00:19 2005
From: sjsmith at njvvmf.org (Sibley Smith)
Date: Fri Jun 10 02:32:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: [Mb-hair] Kent State (tangent: the flower power of
	George (Hibiscus) Harris, 10-22-67)
References: <BAY5-DAV205683843FB1E1D6C7EB78ABFF0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <016001c56dff$698a3340$5264a8c0@njdmava.state.nj.us>

Thanks, Barbara.  That is a sharper image than the reproduced one I found
and posted.  I now have this page, that you turned us on to, bookmarked for
future easy reference.  He will be remembered forever.

Sib
======================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com>
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 4:29 PM

Here is the picture of Hibiscus aka George Harris...

http://www.rit.edu/~661www/100/100th-part-1/pages/Boston.htm

peace,
barbara
========================
-----Original Message-----
From: Sibley Smith
Sent: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 10:37

FYI, for those who don't know, our dearly departed Hibiscus (aka George
Harris, American performance artist, 1950 - 1982) was the brother of our own
dear Walter Michael Harris, who's sweet voice is heard in the Original
Broadway Cast recording of HAIR in the duet, "What a Piece of Work Is Man."

It's not the clearest reproduction of that famous photograph, but go to
http://home.sandiego.edu/~hbarns/1967.htm.

Excerpts from that page read as follows:

"The October [22] 1967 march on the Pentagon held the 'largest mass draft
card burning in the history of protest against Vietnam... ."

"The initial rally of over seventy thousand demonstrators outside of the
Lincoln Memorial 'was entirely peaceful and conventional'."  [things did
change, however, from peace to violence as the demonstration wore on]

"... At the major point of confrontation, ... young people challenged
soldiers with flowers, ...."

The photo is also found on the cover of "A Nation Divided" (pub. 1984) from
the Boston Publishing Company's "The Vietnam Experience" series.  The
caption from the credits page reads as follows:

"Cover photo: Before a violent clash between peace demonstrators and
National Guardsmen at the Pentagon on October 23, 1967, a protestor plants
pink carnations in the guardsmen's rifle barrels.  By then, the nation was
begining to come apart over the Vietnam War."

For more about Hibiscus, go to http://www.cockettes.com/, or better yet,
rent the movie, "The Cockettes: The Rise and Fall of the Legendary San
Francisco Theatrical Troupe, 1969-1972," a feature length documentary by
David Weissman and Bill Weber.

peace,

Sibley J. Smith, Jr., Director of Education
Vietnam Era Educational Center at the
New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
1 Memorial Lane, P.O. Box 648
Holmdel, New Jersey 07733
1-800-648-VETS
www.njvvmf.org

============================
Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 21:27:34 GMT
From: "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com>

I tried to find that photo on the internet of Hibiscus (George) putting the
flower into the rifle barrel and could not... I tried for over an hour.. Any
suggestions? I am guessing Life magazine has such a hold on that photo no
one has it.

peace,
barbara

===================================




From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 10 20:12:41 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 10 06:22:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Apology from Lt Gen. Pitman, USMC
Message-ID: <20050610.201321.10964.51121@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>


Lt Gen. Pitman, USMC,

He is very callous, self-righteous, absurd and self-absorbed, white trash, far away from center...old world, kill 'em all, kind of American thinking. 

His tales are misplaced bits and fragments of dates and times-clever to leave out his administrations bastardly deeds, that have the U.S. in our own making of hateful enemies and their gun sights.

I like our own, "GIVE 'EM HELL, HOWARD!!!"

That's the kind of stuff, Americans need-not this freak of a marine, probably can't get it up-is homo-phobic, and yet he believes he is a 'true man'. 

He's a marine...I know Marines that are more manly than this pathetic, wanna-be human. It is evident by his dismal, rhetoric failures, that he has done many things bad and suffers from extreme guilt.

Too bad, too sad-most men don't get it-do they.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com> wrote:
Nothing humble about this man.
Of course he is not really sorry about anything.
Might is Right!!!
Michael

> Michael:  This is interesting, Bette
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jack and Sharon<mailto:CloudJ001@hawaii.rr.com>
> 
> Subject: Fw: Apology from Lt Gen. Pitman, USMC
> 
> 
>     MUSLIMS ...USMC Lt Gen. Pitman's "Apology"  ,
> 
>     This Letter of Apology was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US
> Marine Corps, Retired:
> 
>     "For good and ill", the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue.
> On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the
> actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion
> this minor event into some modern day massacre.
> 
>     I humbly offer my opinion here:
> 
>     I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and
> sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia,
> Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).
>     I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after
> 9/11. 
>     I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.
>     I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under
> savage dictatorships.
>     I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
>     I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious
> schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.
>     I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and
> high-jacked the Palestinian "cause."
>     I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a
> token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.
>     I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial
> supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the
> USA for all their problems.
>     I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed
> masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of
> our society, like radical professors, CNN and the NY TIMES).
>     I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the
> "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.
>     I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers
> upon their death.
>     I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will
> receive 72 virgins in "paradise."
>     I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies,
> children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets.
>     I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms
> and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making.
>     I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other
> group. 
>     I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of
> Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.
>     I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.
>     I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site."
>     I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving two jets into the World Trade
> Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox
> Church - one of our Holy Sites.
>     I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the
> embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl,
> etc....etc! 
>     I am sorry Michael Moore is an American; he could feed a medium sized
> village in Africa.
>     America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those
> responsible because that is what we do.
> 
>     We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on.
> That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like
> all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.
> 
>     Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we
> were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure ,
> it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we
> were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our
> hands because a few were humiliated?
> 
>     Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people
> killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.
> 
>     If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long
> wait! 
> 
>     You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins.
> 
>     Chuck Pitman 
> 
>     Lieutenant General
>     US M arine Corps (Retired)
> 
>     Semper Fi  
>    
>            
>    
> <http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=409&lang=9>

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 11 00:00:18 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 10 10:05:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Act now to stop a space arms race
Message-ID: <000701c56e53$3b444d00$0725b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Act now to stop a space arms race


"Given the global challenges that are facing the US today, the billions of
dollars it has spent developing and testing space weapons over the past
decade simply give the world one more reason to view America with suspicion
and anxiety."




CheeseComment:

I invite "The World" to be much more than just suspicious and anxious, and
rather join me, an American, who realizes that we the American People LOST
CONTROL of our Military long long ago.  It is no longer a secret of the huge
cash cow the Military and all its cottage industries have been enjoying at
the expense of America and The World for quite some time now, nor the
express complicity of our own Politicians which allowed it to happen and
profited and continue to profit from it to this very day.

A monster with just too many heads to cut off, especially since so many of
our Politicians are tied into it For Life.

"Arms In Space" is just another extension of this OUT OF CONTROL AMERICAN
MILITARY going through its everyday motions of its now infamous and most
noteworthy ruse of "Taking Care Of America".

It's just too long to list all the neat things we could have done and all
the lives we could have saved with all that MONEY of OURS that our Military
has and continues to spend willy nilly constructing a Global Security Net,
landbased, in the air, and now in outer space, but I'm too tired to list it
all.

Suffice it to say, that if I were "The Rest Of The World", I would put
"suspicion" and "anxiety" on the back burner, and begin crapping in your
pants like I am at the realization that you couldn't stop them now if you
tried.

You're tons of money, organization, and influence short, and a VERY long
time TOO LATE to do a g*dd*mn thing but "lodge protests".

People like Hitler, Stalin, and Caesar were wussies and wimps compared to
what our Politicians and our OUT OF CONTROL AMERICAN MILITARY have currently
in the works and waiting in the wings for The Future.

You people missed your chance to change all this. again, a VERY LONG time
ago.

The Revolution Of Freedom is dead.

Long live The Revolution Of Freedom.

People like me, you, and The World, yes, will always be here, marching,
protesting, writing articles, signing petitions, lodging official protests,
etc etc etc.

But we will continue doing all that under a stratosphere? that an out of
control American Military with the consent of various American Politicians
have armed to the teeth.

Try to get used to it "World" and stop whining so much.

Besides, you don't really have The Power nor The Balls to REALLY do anything
about "It All" in the first place.

You COULD have actually done something about it long long ago, but YOU CHOSE
INSTEAD to sit on your asses and your hands instead.

And NOW you're whining....????

LOL........

Forgive my laughter, it's just that I find it highly ironic to watch people
who SHOULD have reacted to such "Major Problems" LONG LONG ago, and NOW that
it is just TOO F*CKING LATE (for the most part), they are starting to squeak
up and actually are naive enough to "expect solid results".

I cry myself to sleep each night realizing that the actual *Reality* of
"This World" is exactly that and nothing less.





Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 05:56:35 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:04:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] U.S. Officials Confirm Second Mad Cow Case - Washington
	Post
Message-ID: <42AADF83.1050200@comcast.net>


  U.S. Officials Confirm Second Mad Cow Case

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 11, 2005; Page A02

A second American animal has tested positive for mad cow disease, 
Agriculture Department officials said last night. The sample, from a 
downer cow in Texas that died last November, was retested earlier this 
week at the request of the USDA inspector general's office.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001933.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 06:04:26 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:12:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Climate Action - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42AAE15A.409@comcast.net>

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:09:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:16:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Zealots at the Air Force Academy
Message-ID: <20050611130907.6F110236FF8@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 11, 2005
Editorial: Zealots at the Air Force Academy

It will take civilian pressure from President Bush, Congress and taxpayers, to restore the separation of church and state at the Air Force Academy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/opinion/11sat2.html?ex=1119153600&en=ca04f4d9a99c48bb&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:09:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:16:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: One Nation, With Niches for All
Message-ID: <20050611130909.1A9DA24AE54@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 11, 2005
Guest Columnist: One Nation, With Niches for All
By STACY SCHIFF
We used to be one nation, undivided, under three networks and two brands of toothpaste for all. Today we are the mass niche nation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/opinion/11schiff.html?ex=1119153600&en=90fb556aa66f4792&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:12:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:19:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: New Asian Flu Outbreaks in China Raise
	Fears of a Mutant Virus
Message-ID: <20050611131236.B7971249CC4@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

HEALTH | June 11, 2005
New Asian Flu Outbreaks in China Raise Fears of a Mutant Virus
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Two reported new outbreaks of avian flu among birds in western China have raised fears that the virus is being spread widely by migrating birds and mutating rapidly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/health/11flu.html?ex=1119153600&en=9d894e5dadd50bbc&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:13:35 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:20:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Odd Alliance Brings About Debt Relief
Message-ID: <20050611131335.D1A6D11F97F@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

BUSINESS / WORLD BUSINESS | June 11, 2005
News Analysis: Odd Alliance Brings About Debt Relief
By ELIZABETH BECKER
It took five years and the star power of Brad Pitt and Pat Robertson to persuade the world's wealthiest nations to forgive the debt of some of the world's poorest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11debt.html?ex=1119153600&en=b636e2d13b84fa90&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:16:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:23:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Government Is Checking Possible Case of Mad
	Cow
Message-ID: <20050611131608.690C9A0F64@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 11, 2005
Government Is Checking Possible Case of Mad Cow
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said that the meat of the animal that tested positive did not get into the nation's food or animal feed chain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/national/11cow.html?ex=1119153600&en=f47f36a001578b67&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:17:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:24:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hearing on Patriot Act Ends in an Angry
	Uproar
Message-ID: <20050611131707.57FD7249CAF@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 11, 2005
Hearing on Patriot Act Ends in an Angry Uproar
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. called Democrats "irresponsible," gaveled the session to a premature close and stormed out of the room.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/politics/11patriot.html?ex=1119153600&en=cdfdb54e896f54a6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:17:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:24:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hearing on Patriot Act Ends in an Angry
	Uproar
Message-ID: <20050611131707.5D150237037@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 11, 2005
Hearing on Patriot Act Ends in an Angry Uproar
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. called Democrats "irresponsible," gaveled the session to a premature close and stormed out of the room.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/politics/11patriot.html?ex=1119153600&en=cdfdb54e896f54a6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 06:18:37 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:25:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Editor of Climate Reports Resigns
Message-ID: <20050611131837.E748724AEBD@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 10, 2005
Editor of Climate Reports Resigns
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality resigned two days after documents revealed that he had repeatedly edited government reports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/11cooney.long.html?ex=1119153600&en=7ae0956e17e96b01&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Sat Jun 11 08:46:38 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Fri Jun 10 18:53:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] TV show dipicts 9/11 as Bush Plot
Message-ID: <20050611154638.10875.qmail@web53007.mail.yahoo.com>

Thanks Ian
In Democratic Underground chat rooms they call it
either LIHOP (let it happen on purpose) and MIHOP
(made it happen on purpose)

If anyone out there is curious, doubtful,
alarmed, want to get both sides of the story,
etc, here are some links that give more info and
might send you down the rabbit hole so be
forewarned

- Story in the Guradian by Michael Meacher,
former environment minister for Tony Blair
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1036571,00.html

- David Ray Griffin piece on the 911 comission
report - DRG is a respected academic/author from
Claremont College
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8765.htm

- Griffin's book "New Pearl Harbor"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1566565529/qid=1118418732/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-9357980-2056624

- Zogby poll revealed that 50% of NYC believes
Bush "knew in advance that attacks were planned
on or around September 11, 2001, and that they
consciously failed to act,"
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-houston/2004-August/0831-mi.html

- 911 Chat room at Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=125

- I live in New York City and every anniversary
of 911 there are day long events at the 92nd St
Y, Riverside Church and other venues where all
these issues are addressed in films, discussed in
panels. This website will have updates,
newsletters and other links
http://www.911truth.org/

Peace
- M

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 23:08:15 -0400
From: "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] TV show dipicts 9/11 as 
Bush plot!
To: "Harold Sifton" <harry.sifton@sympatico.ca>,
        <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Message-ID: 
<011301c56d69$a5bbd030$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Harold:

Non-fictional root/origin?  You bet!

My predilections re 9/11 are increasingly 
well-known; that it was, at best, a case of Bush
& Co. 
"letting it happen" via negligence and/or 
malfeasance (as with Pearl Harbor) or, at worst,
Bush & Co. "making it happen" via direct
complicity in 
the planning and/or execution.  I lean toward the

latter.

As an aside, consider the actual construction of 
the phrase "conspiracy theory."  It is two words.
 
"Conspiracy" and "theory."  The "official" story 
- the one Bush & Co. would have us believe - is a

"theory" (since real hard facts and evidence is 
few and/or "controlled") about a "conspiracy" by 
Al-Qaeda via 19 mostly Saudi hijackers (5 of
whom, 
by the way, were seen by multiple witnesses in 
Saudi Arabia months after the attacks...) who 
somehow managed to outwit the entire intelligence
and 
military apparatus of the only hyperpower on 
earth.

So what makes the government's "official" story 
any less a "conspiracy theory" than that of those

who believe that Bush & Co. were complict in the 
attacks?  Indeed, there is as much evidence for 
"our" "conspiracy theory" as there is for theirs.

The movement to re-open the investigation into 
the events of 9/11 is growing worldwide,
including 
in the U.S.  And if and when real, honest light 
is shed on the "official" "conspiracy theory," I 
believe it will quickly begin to fall apart.  And

then we will see what we will see - and its won't

be pretty...

Peace.
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 11 09:18:04 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 10 19:25:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right
Message-ID: <BED05CCC.20930%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Dean Was Right
    By William Rivers Pitt
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Saturday 11 June 2005

    "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you
were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

    -- Revelations 3:15-16

    If the leadership qualities of those in charge of the national
Democratic Party could be squeezed into a shampoo bottle, the directions on
the back of the bottle might read something like this: ?Make tentative
statement. Offer equivocation to avoid appearing adamant. Scramble for cover
when colleague offers stinging critique of opposition. Stab colleague in
back in public. Palpitate and fret, hem and haw. Lather, rinse, repeat.?

    Quite a recipe for success, yes? Not lately.

    For the last several years, the Democratic Party has been, for the most
part, leaving skid marks on the street as they have retreated from
confrontation after confrontation with the radicals who now control the
Republican party. This retreat has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime
to the utterly outrageous.

    Here and there resistance has been put forth - on the Social Security
issue, on the stem cell legislation, on the nomination of Bolton as UN
ambassador - but all too often the most effective resistance to these and
other disastrous policy initiatives has come from other Republicans, and not
from the Democrats. It was the eloquence of Republican Senator Voinovich
that threw sand in the gears of the Bolton nomination, and it was Republican
Senator Specter?s promised override of any Bush veto of the stem cell
legislation that has made that issue a problem for the White House.

    And then along comes Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, outspoken and
uncompromising, swinging Willie Stark?s meat ax with a will and a purpose.
He dared to say that he hates Republicans, that the leadership of that party
hasn?t worked a day in their lives, that the GOP has become a radical
hothouse of right-wing Christians, almost all of whom are white, and that
House majority leader Tom DeLay should go back to Texas and get his looming
prison sentence over with. Insert palpitations. Suddenly, Democrats like Joe
Biden and Bill Richardson start knocking over furniture and old ladies in
their rush to get to a microphone so they can distance themselves from the
wild man.

    Yes, yes, lather and rinse and repeat. The problem with all the
equivocation is that it obscures a simple fact that requires exposure and
discussion in this country: Dean was right. Ninety nine percent of
Republicans in the state legislatures in all 50 states, and in Congress in
Washington DC, are white. Even in states and districts with large minority
populations, the Republican representatives for those places are almost
uniformly white Christians.

    Of 3,643 Republicans serving in state legislatures across the country,
only 44 of them are minorities, amounting to 1.2%. Texas, with a minority
population of 47%, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature. There are
exactly zero African Americans and exactly zero Hispanics serving in that
body as Republicans. In Washington, 274 of the 535 elected Senators and
Representatives are Republican. Exactly five are minorities.

    Of course, there are ethnic and religious minorities within the rank and
file of the GOP, but every demographic analysis of the party?s makeup
clearly shows the vast majority of Republicans fit exactly into the
description offered by Mr. Dean. His point, by the way, was not that white
Christians are bad people. His point was that, in this pluralist society
made up of so much diversity, the Republican Party does not represent the
true face of this country. He was also pointing out that the GOP has been
taken over by that small, radical minority of white Christians who believe
separation of church and state is evil, and who believe Biblical law is a
better tool of governance than that pesky Constitution.

    As for hating Republicans, the employment record of the GOP leadership,
and DeLay?s date with a Houston cellblock, there is method to the supposed
madness here. Those who question the wisdom of Dean firing broadsides like
this look to the old lawyer?s maxim: When you have the law on your side,
pound on the law, and when you have the facts on your side, pound on the
facts, and when you have neither the law nor the facts on your side, pound
on the table. On so many issues facing us today, Dean and the Democrats have
both the facts and the law on their side. The question becomes, then, about
why Dean is pounding on the table.

    The answer is straightforward, and appropriately bold after several
years of ineffective limp-noodle Democratic leadership. Every time Dean
fires off one of his salvos, reporters flip open their notebooks. Headlines
get made, discussion begins, and a whole lot of people start debating the
facts and merits of his statements. Is the Republican leadership run by
right-wing yahoos? Is DeLay going to jail? Controversy begets press. Dean
can see, as well as anyone else, how effective the moderate, soft-touch,
treading-lightly approach has been working lately for the Democrats.

    But how are we going to win those white Christian middle-America voters
to our side by having Dean basically call them out? asks the ruffled
Democratic leadership. The answer to this lies at the heart of what the
Democratic party has been failing at for a while now. The voters who are
supposedly going to be alienated by this kind of talk are the very same
voters who look for guts, strength and straight talk from the leadership of
this country. All too often, Democratic leaders come off sounding like they
are saying seven things at once, leaving the impression that their spines
are somewhat slippery. Boldness, on the other hand, begets confidence, even
in disagreement.

    These Dean statements also, coincidentally, whip the Democratic base
into a roaring frenzy as they hear an actual Democratic leader speak their
beliefs out loud and in public. One of the things Dean is working on every
day is to redirect DNC fundraising away from the big-dollar donors who give
equally to both parties in order to hedge their bets. Dependence on this
breed of donor causes the party to crab towards the middle and avoid
anything resembling true opposition.

    Dean wants DNC fundraising efforts to be focused on the common citizen,
the Democratic activist who has been screaming at the party to say what must
be said, and Dean?s inflammatory statements spark the kind of donation
avalanche that turned his Presidential campaign into a financial juggernaut.
He may have lost in the end, but the manner in which he raised campaign
money changed the face of electoral politics. He is porting those lessons
into national DNC fundraising efforts, and statements like these go a long
way towards making those efforts wildly successful.

    Memo to Dean: Keep doing what you are doing. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 


From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sat Jun 11 09:38:42 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 10 19:45:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A letter from two brothers who escaped from Tibet and
	the Chinese.
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV67F8D47FA36A8AF7E104CABFE0@phx.gbl>

This is a letter from a Traveler to the Himalayas who made friends with a local man.

peace,
barbara 

Barbara Siomos <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> has sent you the following web link:

http://www.timesoftibet.com/articles/493/1/The-Brother/print/493

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sat Jun 11 09:46:32 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 10 19:53:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Travelor shares story
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV3E186AC4D94A4EE4DEC77ABFE0@phx.gbl>

Enclosed is a letter from a traveler to the Himalayas who met a local man and wants to share his story.

peace,
barbara

barbarasiomos38@msn.com> has sent you the following web link:

http://www.timesoftibet.com/articles/493/1/The-Brother/print/493



From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sat Jun 11 09:50:12 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 10 19:57:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Sorry last email was sent twice
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV970C84F28E8536E0B88A0ABFE0@phx.gbl>

I have been having problems with my emails reaching Civic so last one was sent twice since first one did NOT seem to reach civic, then of course as you can see it finally did. Sorry for the repeat.

peace


From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:16:28 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:23:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18277729.1118510188954.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 U.S. Officials Confirm Second Mad Cow Case
 
 By Marc Kaufman
 
 A second American animal has tested positive for mad cow disease, Agriculture Department officials said last night. The sample, from a downer cow in Texas that died last November, was retested earlier this week at the request of the USDA inspector general's office.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:17:03 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:24:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <16877177.1118510223534.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Army Aims to Catch Up on Recruits in Summer
 
 By Ann Scott Tyson
 
 Army announced Friday that it missed its recruiting goal for the fourth consecutive month, a deepening manpower crisis that will require a dramatic summer push for recruits.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:18:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:25:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <10082586.1118510325505.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Courage and Cowardice
 
 By Colbert I. King
 
 Today I take the foolhardy step of stomping on the lion's tail, not once but twice, and in this order: The Post's "Deep Throat" stories, and the Senate deal on judicial nominees that gave America Priscilla R. Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William H. Pryor Jr.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:20:16 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:27:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <27495326.1118510416335.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Repairing Senate's Record on Lynching
 
 By Avis Thomas-Lester
 
 Anna Holmes remembers hearing about the bridge when she was a little girl.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:21:42 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:28:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31223058.1118510502595.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Reading, Writing and Recruiting
 
 By Diane Paul
 
 Across the country military recruiters are working overtime in schools, trying to persuade young people to join a military desperate for soldiers. But this is a country at war, and we have to ask ourselves whether children between the ages of 14 and 17 have the maturity to make what may be...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 11 10:22:37 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 10 20:29:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <7850143.1118510557245.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Increasingly Unpopular President
 
 By Dan Froomkin
 
 When President Bush says "polls go up, and polls go down," he's about half right. Here's how Bush described his plan for Iraq, at his joint press availability with Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday: "We'll support Iraqis as they take the lead in providing their own security. Our...... FishbowlDC...
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 11 10:59:01 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 10 21:06:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Query From Overseas
Message-ID: <BED07475.20947%michael@michaelbutler.com>


Michael Butler's Blog

http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html


From michael at intrafi.com  Sat Jun 11 11:06:44 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Fri Jun 10 21:14:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] michael wants you to see this. 
Message-ID: <200506111806.j5BI6i5t012924@server1.truthout.org>



michael thought you would like this site.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061105Y.shtml

ApplyRefer v2.3



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 11 11:09:29 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 10 21:16:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Query From Overseas
In-Reply-To: <000501c56eaf$900a1840$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
Message-ID: <BED076E9.2094E%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Ian,

Good points.
That is why I like Dean of all the visible Democrats.

Michael

> Michael:
> 
> Excellent piece.  I, too, see the U.S. increasingly moving toward a
> proto-totalitarian quasi-theocracy.
> 
> However, although I agree that we have but a single political party (the
> "corporate" party) with two heads (Republican and Democrat), I can't help
> but hope - even believe - that were we to place a Democract in the White
> House, s/he might at least "roll back" SOME of what the neocons and their
> ilk have wreaked upon us vis-a-vis pro-rich, pro-war, anti-democratic
> policies, increasing invasion of personal, medical and other privacy, the
> shredding of the Bill of Rights and other parts of the U.S. Constitution,
> and erosion of civil rights and civil liberties in the name of an illusory
> "security."
> 
> Peace.
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> To: "SPECIAL from Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 12:52 PM
> Subject: Query From Overseas
> 
> 
>> 
>> Michael Butler's Blog
>> 
>> http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 11:19:25 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Fri Jun 10 21:26:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Query From Overseas
References: <BED076E9.2094E%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <000801c56eb2$192bc4a0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

i love dean michael
but i wonder how is going to play in peoria
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Ian Alterman" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com>
Cc: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 2:09 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Query From Overseas


> Ian,
>
> Good points.
> That is why I like Dean of all the visible Democrats.
>
> Michael
>
> > Michael:
> >
> > Excellent piece.  I, too, see the U.S. increasingly moving toward a
> > proto-totalitarian quasi-theocracy.
> >
> > However, although I agree that we have but a single political party (the
> > "corporate" party) with two heads (Republican and Democrat), I can't
help
> > but hope - even believe - that were we to place a Democract in the White
> > House, s/he might at least "roll back" SOME of what the neocons and
their
> > ilk have wreaked upon us vis-a-vis pro-rich, pro-war, anti-democratic
> > policies, increasing invasion of personal, medical and other privacy,
the
> > shredding of the Bill of Rights and other parts of the U.S.
Constitution,
> > and erosion of civil rights and civil liberties in the name of an
illusory
> > "security."
> >
> > Peace.
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> > To: "SPECIAL from Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 12:52 PM
> > Subject: Query From Overseas
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Michael Butler's Blog
> >>
> >> http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun 11 12:32:48 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun 10 22:40:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: G8 reaches deal for world's poor
Message-ID: <20050611_193248_069546.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** G8 reaches deal for world's poor **
The world's eight richest countries reach a deal on relieving the debt of some of the poorest nations.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4083676.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun 11 12:33:41 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun 10 22:40:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Stars get ready for Aids concert
Message-ID: <20050611_193341_083986.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Stars get ready for Aids concert **
Nelson Mandela's charity holds a star-studded concert in Norway to raise money for HIV/Aids sufferers.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/4084366.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sat Jun 11 12:36:45 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Fri Jun 10 22:43:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bolivia activists ready for truce
Message-ID: <20050611_193645_031488.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bolivia activists ready for truce **
Calm returns to Bolivia as a new president takes over, but protesters continue to press reform demands.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4082834.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 11 13:43:26 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 10 23:50:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] More in Congress Want Iraq Exit Strategy
Message-ID: <BED09AFE.20975%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    More in Congress Want Iraq Exit Strategy
    By Susan Milligan
    The Boston Globe

    Saturday 11 June 2005

    Unease grows as war backing falls.

    Washington - Faced with plummeting public support for the war in Iraq, a
growing number of members of Congress from both parties are reevaluating the
reasons for the invasion and demanding the Bush administration produce a
plan for withdrawing US troops.

    A bipartisan group of House members is drafting a resolution that calls
on the administration to present a strategy for getting the United States
out of Iraq, reflecting an increasing restlessness about the war in a
chamber that 2 1/2 years ago voted overwhelmingly to support the use of
force in Iraq.

    The House International Relations Committee on Thursday approved a
similar proposal, 32 to 9, with strong bipartisan support. Sponsored by
Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who voted to authorize
force in Iraq in 2002, the proposal represents the first time a
congressional committee has moved to demand steps be taken so that US troops
can start coming home.

    More than 100 Democrats - including 11 who voted for the war resolution
- have signed onto a letter to President Bush requesting an explanation of
the so-called Downing Street memo, a British document that charges the
administration planned to go to war even without hard evidence of the
presence of weapons of mass destruction.

    The proposed resolutions would not have the force of law, if approved by
the House and Senate. But the actions reflect discontent among lawmakers in
both parties who are hearing constituent complaints about the war's
escalating body counts and uncertain end.

    Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, a conservative Republican
who voted to authorize force, said his district is growing weary of a war
that has cost the lives of more than 1,600 US troops and left more than
12,000 wounded.

    "I'm hearing: 'How much do we have to do? We're giving blood. We're
giving money. What is the final chapter for our involvement?' I think people
are looking to the administration for an explanation, whether we have done
all we can do," said Jones, whose district is home to 60,000 retired
military personnel.

    Jones said he felt misled by the administration on the reasons for the
war because no weapons of mass destruction have been found. "If I knew
[then] what I knew today, I would not have voted for the resolution," Jones
said.

    Representative Marty Meehan, a Lowell Democrat who also voted for the
war resolution, said he and some Democratic colleagues are working with five
to 10 House Republicans on a resolution calling for an exit strategy to ease
the United States out of Iraq. He said he hoped to get the support of 25 or
more Republicans, despite the fact that only six voted against the war
resolution.

    "The war is going terribly," Meehan said. "It's due to a lack of a plan
to win the peace. Mistakes have been piling up."

    The administration has consistently said that the military is making
progress in Iraq, noting successes in rounding up insurgents. Representative
Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, said he rejects the idea of forcing the administration
to lay out a clear exit strategy because it "sends a message" that the
United States is not committed to finishing the job in Iraq.

    "There is an exit strategy, and it's the shoring up of the Iraqi guard
and a military force capable of protecting Iraq and its people," he said.
"That cannot be fitted to a precise calendar."

    But other lawmakers who voted for the Iraq war said their constituents
are getting restless. A Washington Post/ ABC poll this week showed support
for the war dropping dramatically, with nearly two-thirds of Americans
surveyed saying that the United States has gotten "bogged down" in Iraq,
compared with 41 percent in August 2003.

    Representative Harold Ford, a centrist Democrat who also voted for the
war, said his constituents in military-friendly Tennessee are clamoring to
have their loved ones in Iraq brought home, and are growing increasingly
skeptical about the future of the mission there.

    While they supported the war initially, Tennessee voters have begun to
express "a lot of frustration" about the duration of the mission and the
number of casualties, said Ford, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq.
"The president has to start sharing with the American people how long we are
going to be there."

    Some Democrats want a definite timeline for withdrawing, while others
continue to berate the administration and their own colleagues for backing
an invasion antiwar lawmakers believe was based on faulty or exaggerated
intelligence.

    Many Republicans are reluctant to criticize the president, while some
Democrats who voted for the war are nervous about being lumped together with
two of their party's most prominent antiwar figures - House minority leader
Nancy Pelosi of California and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard
Dean.

    "Many of the Democrats who voted for the resolution authorizing the use
of force do not want to be perceived as weak on national security, and those
who voted against the resolution somehow think it's someone else's problem,"
Meehan said.

    Still, despite lingering differences over the decision to go to war, a
consensus has been growing among lawmakers in both parties - and on both
sides of the war resolution - that the United States is in danger of getting
mired in a protracted, costly conflict, Crowley said.

    "I think the amendment sends a clear message that both sides, for the
first time, are saying the situation in Iraq is not OK," Crowley said of the
International Relations Committee's resolution, which drew support from 13
Republicans and 19 Democrats. "What I'm trying to do is create an umbrella
we can all get under."

 

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 11 14:32:01 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 11 00:37:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right
Message-ID: <000501c56ecd$02d08c20$b025b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Dean Was Right



CheeseComment:

Excellent article.  I would like to just briefly address this part of it:

==========
    Yes, yes, lather and rinse and repeat. The problem with all the
equivocation is that it obscures a simple fact that requires exposure and
discussion in this country: Dean was right. Ninety nine percent of
Republicans in the state legislatures in all 50 states, and in Congress in
Washington DC, are white. Even in states and districts with large minority
populations, the Republican representatives for those places are almost
uniformly white Christians.

    Of 3,643 Republicans serving in state legislatures across the country,
only 44 of them are minorities, amounting to 1.2%. Texas, with a minority
population of 47%, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature. There are
exactly zero African Americans and exactly zero Hispanics serving in that
body as Republicans. In Washington, 274 of the 535 elected Senators and
Representatives are Republican. Exactly five are minorities.

    Of course, there are ethnic and religious minorities within the rank and
file of the GOP, but every demographic analysis of the party?s makeup
clearly shows the vast majority of Republicans fit exactly into the
description offered by Mr. Dean. His point, by the way, was not that white
Christians are bad people. His point was that, in this pluralist society
made up of so much diversity, the Republican Party does not represent the
true face of this country. He was also pointing out that the GOP has been
taken over by that small, radical minority of white Christians who believe
separation of church and state is evil, and who believe Biblical law is a
better tool of governance than that pesky Constitution.
============



If one asked, just for sport, the huge amount of Hispanics in, say, Texas,
for instance, whether they know the above statistics about the complete
exclusion of ANY "people of color" in the hierarchy of The Republican Party,
I can just about guarantee that 99.9999 percent of them will call you a
crazy, democrat, commie, treehugging, gayloving, abortionloving,
now-self-proven-athiest-just-for-daring-to-question-anything-ever, liberal,
and prove it all beyond a shadow of a doubt by pointing out that Alberto
Gonzales belongs to The Republican Party.  Oh yeah, and by Quoting
Scriptures.  Just like The White People taught them.

They probably can't be completely blamed for such things, for after all,
Jesus, for all general purposes, has always been represented in paintings
(taken from The Original Photographs of Him of course) as a blue-eyed
light-skinned White Person, for the most part.

Who can blame them for believing Everything a White Person Republican tells
them, especially as they are having The Word Of God waved in their faces to
cement it permanently as being the way, the truth, and the light of this our
New America.

That so many people, including "people of color", have been duped by
priests, preachers, parsons, politicians, you name it, by them actually
being so low as to have to use The Word Of God to win American Elections
(other than by just fixing them), is certainly nothing new in American
Politics.  What appears to be "new" is the huge numbers of them that are
actually believing it all, especially as it is all coming from Whitey who
kept them down in the watermelon and grape fields and cleaning their toilets
for eons.

A major coupe over "people of color" by The Republican Party, of which still
most likely a Huge Majority of "people of color" *still* to this very day
haven't got the slightest clue that no "people of color" even *exist* at The
Top Of The Republican Party.

How in the face of such Statistical Facts they can get away with it, I don't
know, but it seems to be a combination of when you wave The Word Of God and
throw in a Condoleeza Rice or an Alberto Gonzales, they are just apparently
dazzled, and their voting tends to bear that out.  Well, again, a Majority
of them just Do Not Know that The Republican Party is mainly just White Folk
at The Top, so waving The Word Of God and a Condoleeza Rice and an Alberto
Gonzales seems to continue to be a winning strategy in the face of absolute
ignorance, both at home and in the voting booth.

That "people of color" have been absolutely duped by The White Republican
Party At The Top by actually using The Word Of God against them strangely
enough doesn't even seem to bother them.

After all, The Word Of God is The Word Of God, and many of them are very
religious, and their Faith in The Word Of God many times remains absolute in
many matters, after all during all those eons Whitey was marking their backs
with whip stripes, The Word Of God was just about all they had to fall back
on, well, that and the dirt where the blood could slowly ooze out from their
wounds.

So when they see a White Person in The Republican Party, or their priest,
parson, or preacher who has been instructed by A White Person In The
Republican Party, to order "people of color" to vote a specific way in an
American National Election, neither the White Person (who looks mysteriously
a lot like all the pictures of Jesus) nor their parson, preacher, or priest
is going to sit there and tell them that they are voting away the actual
futures of their own descendents.  All they see is The Word Of God and
Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales being waved in their faces, and
apparently even, in their ignorance, the very future of their own
descendents is completely expendable.

That the White People at The Top of The Republican Party do not give a
flying crap about "people of color", their well-being on all levels, nor
their descendents, they just do not seem to get.

Just as long as they continue to pay their taxes, remain poor, ignorant, and
uneducated, and stay home as often as possible making more children (like
they actually have a real choice with their limited resources), The White
Republicans will be very happy as that always ensures them an unlimited
supply of Future Slaves, ignorant, poor, uneducated, and not very much money
except to stay home, watch videos, and make more babies for The White
Republican Machine to use in The Future.

That the White Republicans have actually been able to convince a vast
majority of "people of color" that they have their best interests at heart,
and have now even brainwashed them that nobody should ever need assistance
in the form of food stamps or welfare, that all gay people are from The
Devil, that anyone who needs or wants an abortion must have been asking for
it and it is a sin anyway to kill unborn children (murdering one million
children in Iraq by American Sanctions doesn't seem to bother them though,
at all), all liberals are from The Devil, look how ungodly The Democrats
are, see, there's Bill Clinton getting head under the desk at the Oval
Office, quick, take a photo, rolling back all the environmental laws, the
humanity laws, the economic protection laws for the poorer, the privacy
laws, the etc laws that people fought for for so long in this country just
to Begin to try to get out from underneath the Massa's bloody thumb, etc etc
etc, never ceases to astound me.

The poor Hispanics in this town I live in, clamoring for "a better way of
life" for both themselves and their descendents, quote The Word Of God right
along with The Platform of The White Republican Party here in America, word
for word, without missing a beat.

To anyone else with half an inkling of The Actual Truth about various things
including some of the matters I listed above, will sit there and listen to
them and repeat silently in their minds as they are talking: "This is sheer
Madness", the "people of color" who are spouting it, have no clue
whatsoever, don't care what your words say, mean, or are, no matter how
Factually Based, and just keep repeating Bible Scripture and The White
Republican Party platform robotically.

Time after time after time.

It has no longer become a question of who is right or who is wrong to them.
It has become A Matter Of Faith.

Even with it emanating from their now pure ignorance of White Republicana
and what White Republicana is up to, someone took enough time to think up
the strategy to wave The Word Of God and Condoleeza Rice and Alberto
Gonzales in their faces, and that's all she wrote.

The actual FACTS have become irrelevant to them.

Sorry for going on about this, but this is a HUGE voting block of "people of
color", and how you are going to reach them in their now euphoric state of
"we now have real power, we elected a President who loves both Jesus and is
looking out for us, Jesus has finally won in America and will be coming back
soon to take all us Faithful directly to Heaven as our weird neighbors burn,
suffer and roast in Hell forever" and Pure Ignorance of the Actual Facts, I
would certainly like to know.

That they have actually been Duped by a bunch of White Republicans by waving
the actual Word Of God in their faces to brainwash them into voting one way
or another, just does not seem to be worthy of consideration of a Real Truth
to them, no matter how many Facts one might provide as perfect proof.

Oh well, I dunno, if only Jesus himself had not been White, then you might
have actually had a real chance to enlighten them.

Yes, Dean was right, about it all.  (As Michael pointed out, in a country
with only 2 parties to vote for, both of which are mainly lackeys for
Military/Industrial/Corporate America, I can only hop it makes a difference
him being "right".)

It's just too bad so many Democrats are Republicans.

I can no longer tell the difference between them for the most part.

Neither can "people of color".

That's why waving The Word Of God, the White Republican Party's platform,
and people like Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales endlessly in their
faces remains so very important.

At least to someone.







Cheeseburger


- Ignorance is a blister waiting to be popped.  The only problem that
remains is that nobody at The Top has the guts to do it.  They don't want to
get all that icky stuff inside it on them when the deed is done.

.

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 11 15:59:31 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 11 02:07:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - FBI MISSED CHANCES TO STOP 9/11: REPORT
Message-ID: <20050611225931.6CE381B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
FBI MISSED CHANCES TO STOP 9/11: REPORT
WebPosted Fri Jun 10 10:48:28 2005

---The FBI missed several opportunities to uncover vital information
regarding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that could have led agents to two of
the hijackers, a Justice Department report says.

"The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that
hindered the FBI's chances of being able to detect and prevent the Sept.
11 attacks," Inspector General Glenn Fine reported.

Two months before the attacks, an FBI agent told his superiors that Osama
bin Laden was sending students to the United States to study ways to take
down U.S. aircraft, the report said.

The FBI also had hard information that future hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi
and Khalid al Mihdhar were in the United States, but it conducted an
investigation "without much urgency or priority," the report concluded.


The investigation of Mihdhar was given to a single, inexperienced agent,
the report said.

The missed opportunities also related to problems with information
sharing between the CIA and FBI.

CIA agents had reviewed incoming cables containing a substantial amount
of information about Mihdhar, including that he was travelling and that
he had a U.S. visa. But the agency never approved giving the information
about Mihdhar to the FBI.

The report also criticized the FBI for not knowing about the presence of
Hazmi and Mihdhar, who were living openly in San Diego in 2000.

The two men had rented a room in the home of a long-time FBI informant.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 11 16:33:03 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Sat Jun 11 02:40:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right
References: <000501c56ecd$02d08c20$b025b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <003701c56edd$e9ed54c0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

of course dean is right
the question is will the average person get it in time?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right


> Re:  Dean Was Right
>
>
>
> CheeseComment:
>
> Excellent article.  I would like to just briefly address this part of it:
>
> ==========
>     Yes, yes, lather and rinse and repeat. The problem with all the
> equivocation is that it obscures a simple fact that requires exposure and
> discussion in this country: Dean was right. Ninety nine percent of
> Republicans in the state legislatures in all 50 states, and in Congress in
> Washington DC, are white. Even in states and districts with large minority
> populations, the Republican representatives for those places are almost
> uniformly white Christians.
>
>     Of 3,643 Republicans serving in state legislatures across the country,
> only 44 of them are minorities, amounting to 1.2%. Texas, with a minority
> population of 47%, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature. There are
> exactly zero African Americans and exactly zero Hispanics serving in that
> body as Republicans. In Washington, 274 of the 535 elected Senators and
> Representatives are Republican. Exactly five are minorities.
>
>     Of course, there are ethnic and religious minorities within the rank
and
> file of the GOP, but every demographic analysis of the party?s makeup
> clearly shows the vast majority of Republicans fit exactly into the
> description offered by Mr. Dean. His point, by the way, was not that white
> Christians are bad people. His point was that, in this pluralist society
> made up of so much diversity, the Republican Party does not represent the
> true face of this country. He was also pointing out that the GOP has been
> taken over by that small, radical minority of white Christians who believe
> separation of church and state is evil, and who believe Biblical law is a
> better tool of governance than that pesky Constitution.
> ============
>
>
>
> If one asked, just for sport, the huge amount of Hispanics in, say, Texas,
> for instance, whether they know the above statistics about the complete
> exclusion of ANY "people of color" in the hierarchy of The Republican
Party,
> I can just about guarantee that 99.9999 percent of them will call you a
> crazy, democrat, commie, treehugging, gayloving, abortionloving,
> now-self-proven-athiest-just-for-daring-to-question-anything-ever,
liberal,
> and prove it all beyond a shadow of a doubt by pointing out that Alberto
> Gonzales belongs to The Republican Party.  Oh yeah, and by Quoting
> Scriptures.  Just like The White People taught them.
>
> They probably can't be completely blamed for such things, for after all,
> Jesus, for all general purposes, has always been represented in paintings
> (taken from The Original Photographs of Him of course) as a blue-eyed
> light-skinned White Person, for the most part.
>
> Who can blame them for believing Everything a White Person Republican
tells
> them, especially as they are having The Word Of God waved in their faces
to
> cement it permanently as being the way, the truth, and the light of this
our
> New America.
>
> That so many people, including "people of color", have been duped by
> priests, preachers, parsons, politicians, you name it, by them actually
> being so low as to have to use The Word Of God to win American Elections
> (other than by just fixing them), is certainly nothing new in American
> Politics.  What appears to be "new" is the huge numbers of them that are
> actually believing it all, especially as it is all coming from Whitey who
> kept them down in the watermelon and grape fields and cleaning their
toilets
> for eons.
>
> A major coupe over "people of color" by The Republican Party, of which
still
> most likely a Huge Majority of "people of color" *still* to this very day
> haven't got the slightest clue that no "people of color" even *exist* at
The
> Top Of The Republican Party.
>
> How in the face of such Statistical Facts they can get away with it, I
don't
> know, but it seems to be a combination of when you wave The Word Of God
and
> throw in a Condoleeza Rice or an Alberto Gonzales, they are just
apparently
> dazzled, and their voting tends to bear that out.  Well, again, a Majority
> of them just Do Not Know that The Republican Party is mainly just White
Folk
> at The Top, so waving The Word Of God and a Condoleeza Rice and an Alberto
> Gonzales seems to continue to be a winning strategy in the face of
absolute
> ignorance, both at home and in the voting booth.
>
> That "people of color" have been absolutely duped by The White Republican
> Party At The Top by actually using The Word Of God against them strangely
> enough doesn't even seem to bother them.
>
> After all, The Word Of God is The Word Of God, and many of them are very
> religious, and their Faith in The Word Of God many times remains absolute
in
> many matters, after all during all those eons Whitey was marking their
backs
> with whip stripes, The Word Of God was just about all they had to fall
back
> on, well, that and the dirt where the blood could slowly ooze out from
their
> wounds.
>
> So when they see a White Person in The Republican Party, or their priest,
> parson, or preacher who has been instructed by A White Person In The
> Republican Party, to order "people of color" to vote a specific way in an
> American National Election, neither the White Person (who looks
mysteriously
> a lot like all the pictures of Jesus) nor their parson, preacher, or
priest
> is going to sit there and tell them that they are voting away the actual
> futures of their own descendents.  All they see is The Word Of God and
> Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales being waved in their faces, and
> apparently even, in their ignorance, the very future of their own
> descendents is completely expendable.
>
> That the White People at The Top of The Republican Party do not give a
> flying crap about "people of color", their well-being on all levels, nor
> their descendents, they just do not seem to get.
>
> Just as long as they continue to pay their taxes, remain poor, ignorant,
and
> uneducated, and stay home as often as possible making more children (like
> they actually have a real choice with their limited resources), The White
> Republicans will be very happy as that always ensures them an unlimited
> supply of Future Slaves, ignorant, poor, uneducated, and not very much
money
> except to stay home, watch videos, and make more babies for The White
> Republican Machine to use in The Future.
>
> That the White Republicans have actually been able to convince a vast
> majority of "people of color" that they have their best interests at
heart,
> and have now even brainwashed them that nobody should ever need assistance
> in the form of food stamps or welfare, that all gay people are from The
> Devil, that anyone who needs or wants an abortion must have been asking
for
> it and it is a sin anyway to kill unborn children (murdering one million
> children in Iraq by American Sanctions doesn't seem to bother them though,
> at all), all liberals are from The Devil, look how ungodly The Democrats
> are, see, there's Bill Clinton getting head under the desk at the Oval
> Office, quick, take a photo, rolling back all the environmental laws, the
> humanity laws, the economic protection laws for the poorer, the privacy
> laws, the etc laws that people fought for for so long in this country just
> to Begin to try to get out from underneath the Massa's bloody thumb, etc
etc
> etc, never ceases to astound me.
>
> The poor Hispanics in this town I live in, clamoring for "a better way of
> life" for both themselves and their descendents, quote The Word Of God
right
> along with The Platform of The White Republican Party here in America,
word
> for word, without missing a beat.
>
> To anyone else with half an inkling of The Actual Truth about various
things
> including some of the matters I listed above, will sit there and listen to
> them and repeat silently in their minds as they are talking: "This is
sheer
> Madness", the "people of color" who are spouting it, have no clue
> whatsoever, don't care what your words say, mean, or are, no matter how
> Factually Based, and just keep repeating Bible Scripture and The White
> Republican Party platform robotically.
>
> Time after time after time.
>
> It has no longer become a question of who is right or who is wrong to
them.
> It has become A Matter Of Faith.
>
> Even with it emanating from their now pure ignorance of White Republicana
> and what White Republicana is up to, someone took enough time to think up
> the strategy to wave The Word Of God and Condoleeza Rice and Alberto
> Gonzales in their faces, and that's all she wrote.
>
> The actual FACTS have become irrelevant to them.
>
> Sorry for going on about this, but this is a HUGE voting block of "people
of
> color", and how you are going to reach them in their now euphoric state of
> "we now have real power, we elected a President who loves both Jesus and
is
> looking out for us, Jesus has finally won in America and will be coming
back
> soon to take all us Faithful directly to Heaven as our weird neighbors
burn,
> suffer and roast in Hell forever" and Pure Ignorance of the Actual Facts,
I
> would certainly like to know.
>
> That they have actually been Duped by a bunch of White Republicans by
waving
> the actual Word Of God in their faces to brainwash them into voting one
way
> or another, just does not seem to be worthy of consideration of a Real
Truth
> to them, no matter how many Facts one might provide as perfect proof.
>
> Oh well, I dunno, if only Jesus himself had not been White, then you might
> have actually had a real chance to enlighten them.
>
> Yes, Dean was right, about it all.  (As Michael pointed out, in a country
> with only 2 parties to vote for, both of which are mainly lackeys for
> Military/Industrial/Corporate America, I can only hop it makes a
difference
> him being "right".)
>
> It's just too bad so many Democrats are Republicans.
>
> I can no longer tell the difference between them for the most part.
>
> Neither can "people of color".
>
> That's why waving The Word Of God, the White Republican Party's platform,
> and people like Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales endlessly in their
> faces remains so very important.
>
> At least to someone.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
>
> - Ignorance is a blister waiting to be popped.  The only problem that
> remains is that nobody at The Top has the guts to do it.  They don't want
to
> get all that icky stuff inside it on them when the deed is done.
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 11 16:54:15 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC Arts)
Date: Sat Jun 11 03:01:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC Arts - JEWISH GROUP WANTS KAZEMI EXHIBIT RESTORED
Message-ID: <20050611235415.C3A8F1B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC ARTS
at http://www.cbc.ca/arts
____________________________________________________
JEWISH GROUP WANTS KAZEMI EXHIBIT RESTORED
WebPosted Fri Jun 10 17:35:58 2005

---A Jewish group in Montreal is accusing city authorities of censorship
over its decision to remove a library exhibit of the work of murdered
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

On Friday, members of the Canada Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation
held a mock book-banishing ceremony in front of the Côte-St-Luc library
where Kazemi's photos had been on display.

RELATED STORY: Library removes Kazemi photos after complaint

A member of the group, Lillian Robinson, used metal tongs to drop a book
into a bright orange biohazard bag. It was one of several books about the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict that she and the Jewish Alliance borrowed
from the library to make a point about freedom of expression.

"A library, of all places, is a place where all opinions, different
opinions, are aired," Robinson said.

INDEPTH: Zahra Kazemi

She says Zahra Kazemi's photos of Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories belong in the library. She says it's absurd that a complaint
about those pictures convinced borough officials to take them down.

"What are they afraid of? They're afraid of a woman who died for free
expression, for freedom of the press," Robinson said.

Others linked to the Alliance say exhibiting the photos could help foster
more debate within Montreal's Jewish community about the conflict in the
Occupied Territories.

Daniel Thau-Leff says the photos are powerful because they are
provocative.

"They [city officials] should be offended, but not by the fact that
the photos were taken, or [are] being shown. They should be offended
by what's being shown, which is a brutal military occupation," Thau-
Leff said.

The Jewish Alliance wants the Borough of Côte St. Luc-Hampstead-Montreal-
West to restore Kazemi's photo exhibit. It is also demanding an apology
for the photojournalist's family.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 11 18:25:09 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 11 04:33:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right
Message-ID: <20050611.182516.13413.57362@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


"GIVE 'EM HELL, HOWARD!!"

Nice going an articulate Cheesburger...and oh yea, right on!

Damn, that was right on. Go Dean GO!


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "richard haase" <hotprojects@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
of course dean is right
the question is will the average person get it in time?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Was Right


> Re:  Dean Was Right
>
>
>
> CheeseComment:
>
> Excellent article.  I would like to just briefly address this part of it:
>
> ==========
>     Yes, yes, lather and rinse and repeat. The problem with all the
> equivocation is that it obscures a simple fact that requires exposure and
> discussion in this country: Dean was right. Ninety nine percent of
> Republicans in the state legislatures in all 50 states, and in Congress in
> Washington DC, are white. Even in states and districts with large minority
> populations, the Republican representatives for those places are almost
> uniformly white Christians.
>
>     Of 3,643 Republicans serving in state legislatures across the country,
> only 44 of them are minorities, amounting to 1.2%. Texas, with a minority
> population of 47%, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature. There are
> exactly zero African Americans and exactly zero Hispanics serving in that
> body as Republicans. In Washington, 274 of the 535 elected Senators and
> Representatives are Republican. Exactly five are minorities.
>
>     Of course, there are ethnic and religious minorities within the rank
and
> file of the GOP, but every demographic analysis of the party¹s makeup
> clearly shows the vast majority of Republicans fit exactly into the
> description offered by Mr. Dean. His point, by the way, was not that white
> Christians are bad people. His point was that, in this pluralist society
> made up of so much diversity, the Republican Party does not represent the
> true face of this country. He was also pointing out that the GOP has been
> taken over by that small, radical minority of white Christians who believe
> separation of church and state is evil, and who believe Biblical law is a
> better tool of governance than that pesky Constitution.
> ============
>
>
>
> If one asked, just for sport, the huge amount of Hispanics in, say, Texas,
> for instance, whether they know the above statistics about the complete
> exclusion of ANY "people of color" in the hierarchy of The Republican
Party,
> I can just about guarantee that 99.9999 percent of them will call you a
> crazy, democrat, commie, treehugging, gayloving, abortionloving,
> now-self-proven-athiest-just-for-daring-to-question-anything-ever,
liberal,
> and prove it all beyond a shadow of a doubt by pointing out that Alberto
> Gonzales belongs to The Republican Party.  Oh yeah, and by Quoting
> Scriptures.  Just like The White People taught them.
>
> They probably can't be completely blamed for such things, for after all,
> Jesus, for all general purposes, has always been represented in paintings
> (taken from The Original Photographs of Him of course) as a blue-eyed
> light-skinned White Person, for the most part.
>
> Who can blame them for believing Everything a White Person Republican
tells
> them, especially as they are having The Word Of God waved in their faces
to
> cement it permanently as being the way, the truth, and the light of this
our
> New America.
>
> That so many people, including "people of color", have been duped by
> priests, preachers, parsons, politicians, you name it, by them actually
> being so low as to have to use The Word Of God to win American Elections
> (other than by just fixing them), is certainly nothing new in American
> Politics.  What appears to be "new" is the huge numbers of them that are
> actually believing it all, especially as it is all coming from Whitey who
> kept them down in the watermelon and grape fields and cleaning their
toilets
> for eons.
>
> A major coupe over "people of color" by The Republican Party, of which
still
> most likely a Huge Majority of "people of color" *still* to this very day
> haven't got the slightest clue that no "people of color" even *exist* at
The
> Top Of The Republican Party.
>
> How in the face of such Statistical Facts they can get away with it, I
don't
> know, but it seems to be a combination of when you wave The Word Of God
and
> throw in a Condoleeza Rice or an Alberto Gonzales, they are just
apparently
> dazzled, and their voting tends to bear that out.  Well, again, a Majority
> of them just Do Not Know that The Republican Party is mainly just White
Folk
> at The Top, so waving The Word Of God and a Condoleeza Rice and an Alberto
> Gonzales seems to continue to be a winning strategy in the face of
absolute
> ignorance, both at home and in the voting booth.
>
> That "people of color" have been absolutely duped by The White Republican
> Party At The Top by actually using The Word Of God against them strangely
> enough doesn't even seem to bother them.
>
> After all, The Word Of God is The Word Of God, and many of them are very
> religious, and their Faith in The Word Of God many times remains absolute
in
> many matters, after all during all those eons Whitey was marking their
backs
> with whip stripes, The Word Of God was just about all they had to fall
back
> on, well, that and the dirt where the blood could slowly ooze out from
their
> wounds.
>
> So when they see a White Person in The Republican Party, or their priest,
> parson, or preacher who has been instructed by A White Person In The
> Republican Party, to order "people of color" to vote a specific way in an
> American National Election, neither the White Person (who looks
mysteriously
> a lot like all the pictures of Jesus) nor their parson, preacher, or
priest
> is going to sit there and tell them that they are voting away the actual
> futures of their own descendents.  All they see is The Word Of God and
> Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales being waved in their faces, and
> apparently even, in their ignorance, the very future of their own
> descendents is completely expendable.
>
> That the White People at The Top of The Republican Party do not give a
> flying crap about "people of color", their well-being on all levels, nor
> their descendents, they just do not seem to get.
>
> Just as long as they continue to pay their taxes, remain poor, ignorant,
and
> uneducated, and stay home as often as possible making more children (like
> they actually have a real choice with their limited resources), The White
> Republicans will be very happy as that always ensures them an unlimited
> supply of Future Slaves, ignorant, poor, uneducated, and not very much
money
> except to stay home, watch videos, and make more babies for The White
> Republican Machine to use in The Future.
>
> That the White Republicans have actually been able to convince a vast
> majority of "people of color" that they have their best interests at
heart,
> and have now even brainwashed them that nobody should ever need assistance
> in the form of food stamps or welfare, that all gay people are from The
> Devil, that anyone who needs or wants an abortion must have been asking
for
> it and it is a sin anyway to kill unborn children (murdering one million
> children in Iraq by American Sanctions doesn't seem to bother them though,
> at all), all liberals are from The Devil, look how ungodly The Democrats
> are, see, there's Bill Clinton getting head under the desk at the Oval
> Office, quick, take a photo, rolling back all the environmental laws, the
> humanity laws, the economic protection laws for the poorer, the privacy
> laws, the etc laws that people fought for for so long in this country just
> to Begin to try to get out from underneath the Massa's bloody thumb, etc
etc
> etc, never ceases to astound me.
>
> The poor Hispanics in this town I live in, clamoring for "a better way of
> life" for both themselves and their descendents, quote The Word Of God
right
> along with The Platform of The White Republican Party here in America,
word
> for word, without missing a beat.
>
> To anyone else with half an inkling of The Actual Truth about various
things
> including some of the matters I listed above, will sit there and listen to
> them and repeat silently in their minds as they are talking: "This is
sheer
> Madness", the "people of color" who are spouting it, have no clue
> whatsoever, don't care what your words say, mean, or are, no matter how
> Factually Based, and just keep repeating Bible Scripture and The White
> Republican Party platform robotically.
>
> Time after time after time.
>
> It has no longer become a question of who is right or who is wrong to
them.
> It has become A Matter Of Faith.
>
> Even with it emanating from their now pure ignorance of White Republicana
> and what White Republicana is up to, someone took enough time to think up
> the strategy to wave The Word Of God and Condoleeza Rice and Alberto
> Gonzales in their faces, and that's all she wrote.
>
> The actual FACTS have become irrelevant to them.
>
> Sorry for going on about this, but this is a HUGE voting block of "people
of
> color", and how you are going to reach them in their now euphoric state of
> "we now have real power, we elected a President who loves both Jesus and
is
> looking out for us, Jesus has finally won in America and will be coming
back
> soon to take all us Faithful directly to Heaven as our weird neighbors
burn,
> suffer and roast in Hell forever" and Pure Ignorance of the Actual Facts,
I
> would certainly like to know.
>
> That they have actually been Duped by a bunch of White Republicans by
waving
> the actual Word Of God in their faces to brainwash them into voting one
way
> or another, just does not seem to be worthy of consideration of a Real
Truth
> to them, no matter how many Facts one might provide as perfect proof.
>
> Oh well, I dunno, if only Jesus himself had not been White, then you might
> have actually had a real chance to enlighten them.
>
> Yes, Dean was right, about it all.  (As Michael pointed out, in a country
> with only 2 parties to vote for, both of which are mainly lackeys for
> Military/Industrial/Corporate America, I can only hop it makes a
difference
> him being "right".)
>
> It's just too bad so many Democrats are Republicans.
>
> I can no longer tell the difference between them for the most part.
>
> Neither can "people of color".
>
> That's why waving The Word Of God, the White Republican Party's platform,
> and people like Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales endlessly in their
> faces remains so very important.
>
> At least to someone.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
>
> - Ignorance is a blister waiting to be popped.  The only problem that
> remains is that nobody at The Top has the guts to do it.  They don't want
to
> get all that icky stuff inside it on them when the deed is done.
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 11 18:30:21 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 11 04:38:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Query From Overseas
Message-ID: <20050611.183030.13413.57402@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


He might get fed up with the DNC and those Dems that are spaeking out against him. 
Good, maybe he'll bring all of his grass-roots people and start the 'progressive' party, and WIN!


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "richard haase" <hotprojects@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
i love dean michael
but i wonder how is going to play in peoria
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Ian Alterman" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com>
Cc: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 2:09 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Query From Overseas


> Ian,
>
> Good points.
> That is why I like Dean of all the visible Democrats.
>
> Michael
>
> > Michael:
> >
> > Excellent piece.  I, too, see the U.S. increasingly moving toward a
> > proto-totalitarian quasi-theocracy.
> >
> > However, although I agree that we have but a single political party (the
> > "corporate" party) with two heads (Republican and Democrat), I can't
help
> > but hope - even believe - that were we to place a Democract in the White
> > House, s/he might at least "roll back" SOME of what the neocons and
their
> > ilk have wreaked upon us vis-a-vis pro-rich, pro-war, anti-democratic
> > policies, increasing invasion of personal, medical and other privacy,
the
> > shredding of the Bill of Rights and other parts of the U.S.
Constitution,
> > and erosion of civil rights and civil liberties in the name of an
illusory
> > "security."
> >
> > Peace.
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> > To: "SPECIAL from Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 12:52 PM
> > Subject: Query From Overseas
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Michael Butler's Blog
> >>
> >> http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 11 20:54:43 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun 11 07:02:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Observer: America apologises for the horrors of
	lynching
Message-ID: <20050612035443.C3CD693E6@mullet.gul3.gnl>

Harry  spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry :

Over 4,742 known lynchings in the USA etc...
-------

To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

America apologises for the horrors of lynching
Senate admits failing to stop 'holocaust' of public executions
Avis Thomas-Lester and Mark Townsend
Sunday June 12 2005
The Observer


Anna Holmes remembers hearing about the bridge when she was a little girl. It stood near where the Collington and Western branches of the Patuxent river met, less than a quarter of a mile from the Marlboro jail. 

'I used to hear them talking about the lynchings,' said Holmes, 79, who spent her childhood in the area, Prince George's County, Maryland.  

Stephen Williams, a black man accused of manhandling a white woman, was beaten and hanged on the bridge in the early hours of 20 October, 1894. A masked mob snatched him from his cell and dragged him away as he pleaded for his life.  

'When the Marlboro bridge was reached, the rope was quickly tied to the railing and amid piteous groans Williams was hurled into eternity,' the Washington Post reported.  

There was no federal law against lynching and most states refused to prosecute whites for killing black people. The House of Representatives three times agreed to make lynching a federal offence. Each time, the measure died in the Senate at the hands of southern members.  

Tomorrow, too late for Williams and the 4,742 others murdered by lynch mobs between 1882 and 1968, the Senate will vote on a motion apologising for the failure to enact an anti-lynching law first proposed 105 years ago.  

'The apology is long overdue,' said Republican Senator George Allen, sponsoring the resolution with Democrat Mary Landrieu.  

The action comes amid a flurry of reopenings of civil rights era cases. According to the Southern Poverty Law Centre in Alabama, 25 of them have been re-examined or are under re-examination. This has led to 26 arrests, 21 convictions, two acquittals and a mistrial.  

Tomorrow, Edgar Ray Killen will go on trial for the murder of three young civil rights workers, the case that formed the basis for the film Mississippi Burning.  

This month the body of 14-year-old Emmett Till was exhumed as part of an attempt to prosecute the handful of men still alive who may have been involved in his murder in Mississippi in 1955.  

Till's death was a hugely galvanising event for the civil rights movement. Just three months after his death, when Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, sparking the bus boycott that would kick-start the civil rights era, Emmett was on her mind.  

In 1955, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, JW Milam, admitted in a magazine article they had killed Emmett - his 'crime' was to whistle at Roy's wife Carolyn in a drugstore. Their confession came two months after both men had been acquitted by an all-white, male jury who took 67 minutes to return the verdict.  

Landrieu and other senators decided to back the bill after seeing the book Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, a collection of postcards taken at lynchings.  

Towns across America bear reminders of the shameful tradition. In Alexandria, a lamp-post served to lynch Joseph McCoy on 23 April, 1897. In Annapolis, a bluff near College Creek was the site of Henry Davis's lynching just before Christmas in 1906.  

Many African American families can name an ancestor or friend who fell to mob justice. Fred Tutman of Upper Marlboro can point to a tree on his family's land that a previous owner used for lynching.  

'The memories are less vivid for me because of my generation,' said Tutman, 47. 'They are more vivid for my mother and grandmother, who had all kinds of violence perpetrated on them.'  

Lynching touched all races and religions. Immigrants were frequent targets, so much so that at the start of the 20th century the State Department paid nearly $500,000 to China, Italy and Mexico on behalf of lynching victims.  

But the killings were mainly in the South and four out of five victims were black, according to statistics compiled by Tuskegee University in Alabama. Many had not been accused of anything more than answering back a white man or looking at a white woman. Black landowners were frequent targets.   

Before they were shot or hanged, some victims had their eyes gouged out or their teeth pulled with pliers, beaten, burned at the stake, dismembered or castrated.  

'It was truly the American holocaust,' said Mark Planning, counsel for the Committee for a Formal Apology. 'There are perceptions that lynchings were carried out on some poor souls who were dragged into the woods. But these were public spectacles.'   

Mob killings were often carnival-like events. Refreshments were sold, trains made special trips to lynching sites, schools and businesses closed to let people attend. Newspapers ran adverts for them. Corpses were displayed for days. Victims' ears, fingers and toes became souvenirs.  

'Lynching was the socially acceptable way to demonstrate control,' said Lawrence Guyot, 66, a civil rights activist. 'It sent a message that not only did this happen to this person, but if you as a black person thought about stepping outside our racial code, it can happen to you. We want everybody to see it. We want the body to stay up as long as possible and all the gory details to be known.'  

Seven Presidents argued for making it a federal offence. None of this swayed the  Senate, where southerners insisted a federal law would intrude on states' rights.  

The current effort was born out of a broader movement to ask Congress to acknowledge wrongs toward African Americans, including slavery. Support finally arrived for campaigners when the Committee for a Formal Apology sent copies of  Without Sanctuary to senators.  

One postcard, depicting a corpse in 1910, read: 'This is a token of a great day we had in Dallas 3 March.' Another, showing the burnt corpse of William Stanley in Temple, Texas, in 1915, read: 'This is the barbecue we had last night ... your son Joe.'  

&#183; A version of this article first appeared in the 'Washington Post'. Staff researchers Karl Evanzz and Don Pohlman contributed to this report.  

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 11 20:59:10 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun 11 07:06:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Observer: Mystery of the nuclear whistleblower
Message-ID: <20050612035910.EC4C97CFD@herring.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry:

There is something very wrong happening in America!
-------

To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Mystery of the nuclear whistleblower
A vicious assault on an ex-employee of the Los Alamos weapons lab is the latest in a series of unsolved incidents
Mark Townsend in New York
Sunday June 12 2005
The Observer


It had been the worst of blind dates; the no-show. Eventually, just before 2am, Tommy Hook conceded defeat and slunk away from the gaudy strip bar. As he traipsed across the neon-bathed parking lot of Cheeks nightclub, he would have wondered what became of his non-committal partner. 

Hours earlier Hook, 52, had received a call from a fellow employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory imploring him to head to the Santa Fe nightspot and hover by the bar. An excited, hushed voice had promised to corroborate Hook's explosive findings into massive financial irregularities at the birthplace of the nuclear bomb and proposed site for the Bush administration's new generation of atomic weapons.  

Instead it is the brutal events that followed Hook's short walk that have plunged the top secret home of the US weapons project into fresh controversy.  

The attack was ferocious; a group of up to six men stamped on the head of Hook, a former internal auditor at Los Alamos, with such intensity that footprint marks were still visible on his swollen face days later. A witness claimed that without the intervention of the club's bouncer, Hook would have been murdered. His wife Susan later alleged that the assailants told her husband during the beating that 'if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut'.  

The attack last week came 48 hours before US government investigators were scheduled to arrive at Hook's home and scrutinise audits detailing financial irregularities amounting to millions of taxpayer dollars at the New Texas laboratory. Now he has been silenced.  

His shattered jaw remained wired shut throughout his 30th wedding anniversary on Friday. The incident at Cheeks has reopened a trail of unsolved murders, harassment and ongoing death threats that continues to plague America's controversial nuclear weapons programme.  

 The Observer has tracked down former whistleblowers and US congressional investigators who claim that people are risking serious harm by exposing flaws in the US atomic project at a time when the Bush administration is intent on resuming nuclear weapons production for the first time in 15 years. The attack has even wider ramifications, coinciding with new evidence revealing Britain's close involvement with the Los Alamos laboratory.  

Peter Stockton spent last Thursday scrutinising the Cheeks car park for clues. Claims of a row over a parking accident and an altercation at the bar were soon dismissed. Neither Hook's wallet nor his red Subaru sedan was stolen. Stockton, a former congressional investigator, was deeply troubled by the similarities of the Hook beating and a case that has haunted him for almost 30 years.  

In 1974, he investigated the death of Karen Silkwood, the nuclear company employee who died in an unexplained one-car crash many suspect was deliberately caused by her employers. Having spent months gathering evidence of corruption and contamination at the Kerr McGee site, Silkwood drove to meet a  New York Times journalist with the proof. She never arrived. Subsequent investigations found that tracks were consistent with her car being forced off the road. The evidence that Silkwood was carrying with her has never been found. Her story became a Hollywood movie  

Hook too, was about to expose allegations of misconduct against the powerful nuclear lobby. He had been scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month on his allegations. A first meeting with government investigators was arranged for last Wednesday.  

Stockton said that the public's largely favourable reaction to the recent unveiling of Deep Throat's identity in the Watergate affair was unusual. 'Whistleblowers have been harassed or fired. It is still a dangerous game, particularly in the nuclear sector', he told  The Observer.  

Greg Mellor, who has been leading the Los Alamos Study Group for 13 years, has observed the mood in the remote outpost turning increasingly belligerent against those prepared to speak out about goings-on at the laboratory. 'A lot of people have been threatened, including myself,' he said. 'Los Alamos used to be full of liberal scientists, it was predominantly democratic with a lot of partying. Now it is very conservative. People feel that if you take a swipe at the labs you are taking a swipe at them.'  

One Los Alamos employee    created a political storm recently after being sacked for exposing large-scale theft at the lab. That followed the unsolved death in 1999 of Lee Scott Hall who had uncovered a serious flaw in the troubled &#163;700m weapons testing programme at the   Lawrence Livermore laboratories, close ally of its Los Alamos counterpart. The 54-year-old had been stabbed 10 times in his bedroom. No motive was established for the murder nor was anything stolen from his home. No one was ever arrested.   

This weekend allies of Hook will continue wondering how his attackers remain at large. However, no allegations have been forwarded that anyone connected with the laboratory or the US nuclear programme ordered a hit on Hook. A spokesman for   the lab denounced the beating as 'senseless and brutal'.  

Whoever was responsible, indications suggest that Hook remains intent on testifying. His evidence threatens not only to embarrass the White House, but ultimately Whitehall as well. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 11 21:08:33 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun 11 07:15:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Observer: Ruthless,
	rich and bloody: now Europe's most vicious drug lords target Britain
Message-ID: <20050612040833.BB687A3FD@mussel.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry:

The Evil .......
-------

To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Ruthless, rich and bloody: now Europe's most vicious drug lords target Britain
Exploiting their links to Colombian suppliers, rival gangs entrenched in Spain's Galicia region are aiming to smuggle vast amounts of cocaine and cannabis into the UK, report Tony Thompson and Giles Tremlett
Tony Thompson and Giles Tremlett
Sunday June 12 2005
The Observer


They are the most brutal, ruthless and successful drug barons Europe has ever known. Each month they land up to five tonnes of high-quality cocaine and cannabis on the rocky coast of Galicia in north-west Spain. 

Thanks to its geography, seafaring tradition and strong links to Colombia, Galicia has become a drug smugglers' paradise. Over the years the two main smuggling gangs, the Charl&#237;ns and Los Caneos, have earned hundreds of millions of pounds but, as with any business, the gangs know they need to find new markets if they are to survive. This is why in recent months the Galician clans have, for the first time in their 20-year history, begun to target Britain.  

In the past two weeks Spanish police, working alongside British customs officers, have detected and disrupted three separate smuggling networks attempting to bring vast quantities of cocaine or cannabis into the UK. In each case there were links between Galicia and British networks.  

The first raid came at the start of the month, when law enforcement officials from Spain, Portugal and Britain launched a joint operation to seize the fishing vessel Atlantic Warner off the Spanish coast. Nearly five tonnes of cocaine - worth &#163;225 million - were recovered. Eleven people, who included three Britons, were arrested in connection with the haul.  

It was one of the most sophisticated sting operations in the history of British Customs. When armed Spanish police confronted the Atlantic Warner, almost all the crew were understood to be British customs officials or members of the Portuguese navy. The boat itself is believed to be owned by HM Customs &amp; Excise.  

The cocaine is thought to have been bought from producers in Colombia's Valle del Norte, who transported it by river to Venezuela and, from there, loaded it onto a vessel near Isla Margarita. That vessel then had a rendezvous with the Atlantic Warner and handed over the drugs.  

Within days of the Atlantic Warner haul, a Spanish patrol vessel towed a yacht into the Galician port of El Ferrol. It had been boarded days after sailing from Trinidad under the German flag. On board was more cocaine destined for Britain. Some 230kg of the drug and &#163;1m in different currencies were recovered. One person was arrested in Britain and the mainly German network of smugglers was rounded up. The ringleader was a German living on the Costa del Sol where, presumably, he had made contact with British smugglers.  

Last week five Britons were arrested after a British-registered boat carrying eight tonnes of cannabis, worth &#163;24m, was seized off the Spanish coast. The fishing vessel is believed to have left Britain some weeks earlier, docked in Galicia and then headed towards Morocco. It was boarded during its return journey. Four crew members - two Scots, a Spaniard and an Estonian - were arrested and three other Britons were detained in Glasgow.  

Earlier this year, Spanish police broke up a drug-trafficking and money-laundering ring, seizing cash and property worth more than &#163;8m. A Moroccan-born man with British citizenship, his British wife and a Spaniard were among those arrested.  

These events follow the arrest last year of a British man in yet another international operation. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on the Costa del Sol. He is alleged to be the mastermind behind a gang and had been charged with drug-trafficking and money-laundering. The man has been linked to Manuel Charl&#237;n, once one of Galicia's most powerful drug barons, who is now in prison. The close relationship between British gangsters and Galicia's drug dealers is of concern to British police because of the Galicians' connections with Colombia and their propensity for extreme violence.  

In Galicia, shootings and the sudden disappearance of those said to be connected to smuggling, often believed to have been sent to the bottom of the sea by their rivals, have become more common since cocaine began arriving there in the Eighties. The Galicians specialise in transporting the cocaine from sea to land, and are believed to take a 25 per cent cut before handing it on to the owners for distribution around Europe.  

They have both made Spain the biggest point of entry for the drug into Europe and brought phenomenal wealth to one of the country's poorest regions. The numerous coves and beaches of the rias, - estuaries - make perfect landing places. Boats known as planeadoras, commonly used by local mollusc farmers, make contact with vessels out at sea at night.  

For years, Manuel Charl&#237;n had worked hand-in-hand with Manuel Baulo, another major trafficker from Galicia and founder of the Los Caneos gang. In 1989 Charl&#237;n was sent to prison and asked Baulo to travel to Mexico on his behalf to oversee his next smuggling venture. Baulo travelled with Charl&#237;n's 28-year-old daughter, Josefa, and several other members of the Charl&#237;n gang and successfully smuggled six tonnes of cocaine into Galicia.  

A few years later, Baulo and Charl&#237;n fell out and the two gangs fought a series of bloody battles which saw many killed, including Baulo's nephew. In early 1994 Baulo was arrested and agreed to give evidence against Charl&#237;n.  

Josefa allegedly telephoned Baulo's wife and told her: 'You know what happened to your nephew? Well, the same thing is going to happen to you.' Josefa allegedly arranged for a Colombian hitman to travel to Galicia. He claimed that she paid him &#163;100,000 in cash and handed him the weapons with which to do the job. A few days later Manuel Baulo was shot dead. His wife, who was with him at the time, has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Last week, the family was in the news again - during the raid on the Atlantic Warner, among those arrested were Daniel and Carlos Baulo, sons of the assassinated Manuel.  

Josefa Charl&#237;n then went on the run and took over leadership of the gang in 1998. She once famously used her own daughter to launder drug money, passing more than &#163;2m through the child's account. Living under the false identity of Angela Acha, she kept one step ahead of the authorities - and the Baulo gang - until last December when, at the age of 49, she was caught and sentenced to 17 years for drugs offences. In court she claimed that the Baulo family were the only ones involved in trafficking and that she was innocent.  

Spain at present accounts for 60 per cent of European cocaine seizures - up to 44 tonnes a year. Only police in the United States, Colombia and sometimes Mexico discover more of the drug than their Spanish counterparts. But, even with the latest round of seizures, Spanish customs officials believe they stop less than 10 per cent of the drug traffic into Galicia. At least five tonnes get through every month.   

The latest seizures may put a dent in the activities of the gangs, but previous attempts at dismantling the smuggling networks have ultimately done little more than change the names and faces at the head of the organisations.  

There are also questions about the effectiveness of the Spanish judicial system when it comes to dealing with its biggest offenders. In January 2002 Carlos Ruiz Santamar&#237;a, alias El Negro, accused of being the head of one of Spain's biggest drug gangs, was charged in connection with the smuggling of 11 tonnes of cocaine. While he was on remand awaiting trial, the psychiatrist at Madrid's Valdemoro prison judged Ruiz to have extreme depression and said there was a risk he might commit suicide. He had lost 15kg in prison and suffered wild mood swings. The judges ignored the protests of the prosecution, who said his alleged depression could be treated in a prison hospital, and released him. The prosecution had demanded a sentence of 60 years and a fine of around &#163;280m. Despite this, he was released on bail of just &#163;18,000 on condition that he report to police. He has not been seen since and is believed to have returned to his native Colombia. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From geomilman at milman.com  Sat Jun 11 21:40:56 2005
From: geomilman at milman.com (George R. Milman)
Date: Sat Jun 11 07:50:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ten-Hut!  The Army's Bungling Recruitment
Message-ID: <20050612044302.844D73AE3F2@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100
174.html

 

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:33:50 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:41:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31241584.1118568831221.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Beyond Guantanamo
 
 THE BUSH administration's policies and practices for detaining and interrogating foreign prisoners remain desperately in need of reform. The hundreds of suspected enemy combatants who have been held incommunicado or subjected to abuse and torture, and the scores who may have been unlawfully killed,...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:36:03 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:43:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <12579632.1118568964651.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Deep Throat's Daughter, The Kindred Free Spirit
 
 By Lynne Duke
 
 W. Mark Felt and Joan Felt are like many fathers and daughters. Their roles have been reversed by time. The 61-year-old daughter now takes care of the 91-year-old father as his health falters, his twilight deepens.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:36:59 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:44:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18981838.1118569020467.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Memo: U.S. Lacked Full Postwar Iraq Plan
 
 By Walter Pincus
 
 Briefing paper prepared 8 months before U.S.-led invasion warned of potential for "protracted and costly" postwar occupation.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:38:48 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:45:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <6255489.1118569128791.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Losing the War of Opinion
 
 By Jim Hoagland
 
 The Bush administration risks having more Americans ask, "What are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan?" than, "How are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan?"
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:40:07 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:47:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11172324.1118569208400.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 No Smoking Gun
 
 By Michael Kinsley
 
 After about the 200th e-mail from a stranger demanding that I cease my personal coverup of something called the Downing Street Memo, I decided to read it. It's all over the blogosphere and Air America, the left-wing talk radio network: This is the smoking gun of the Iraq war. It is proof positive...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001705.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 12 02:42:17 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 11 12:49:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18230903.1118569338150.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Contradiction of 'Deep Throat'
 
 By John W. Nields
 
 The news that W. Mark Felt, former deputy director of the FBI, is "Deep Throat" -- that it was he who played a key role in exposing and bringing to justice the people who authorized the 1972 Watergate break-in -- came as an unexpected revelation to many. But it was particularly unexpected for me,...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001712.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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Technology - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/technology/?referrer=emailarticle




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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:23:37 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:30:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Antiterror Head Will Help Choose an F.B.I.
	Official
Message-ID: <20050612142337.7EEDC11F9C9@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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I'm not certain, but thee would seem to be some sort of "line crossed" here between two of the three branches of government...


WASHINGTON | June 12, 2005
Antiterror Head Will Help Choose an F.B.I. Official
By DAVID JOHNSTON
The appointment would for the first give an outsider a significant role in the selection of a high-level official at the F.B.I.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/politics/12fbi.html?ex=1119240000&en=dad17690c9193d10&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:23:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:30:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Center Can Hold
Message-ID: <20050612142342.59BA2249CD3@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 12, 2005
Editorial: The Center Can Hold

The bipartisan "gang of 14" that struck a deal to save the filibuster could start to be a powerful force for centrism on the divisive issue of judicial nominations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/12sun1.html?ex=1119240000&en=718fc6d90591744b&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:23:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:31:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Mr. Bubble
Message-ID: <20050612142355.1FB2F23717D@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 12, 2005
Editorial: Mr. Bubble

It is hard to take Alan Greenspan's reassuring talk about the economy seriously when there's so much evidence to the contrary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/12sun2.html?ex=1119240000&en=5146052211fd3b76&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:24:11 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:31:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money
Message-ID: <20050612142411.F131411F9A4@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 12, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Don't Follow the Money
By FRANK RICH
And now the great Watergate cover-up of 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/12rich.html?ex=1119240000&en=23ff3abf590da1e7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:24:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:31:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Marijuana Ruling Hurts the Sick
Message-ID: <20050612142442.C761F9FD2A@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 12, 2005
Marijuana Ruling Hurts the Sick

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/l12marijuana.html?ex=1119240000&en=8ad6f27d4c2e79d0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:26:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:33:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Finance Chiefs Cancel Debt of 18 Nations
Message-ID: <20050612142605.1019413B7EA@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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Kudos to Bono and others who stayed on their case...


INTERNATIONAL | June 12, 2005
Finance Chiefs Cancel Debt of 18 Nations
By ALAN COWELL
The world’s wealthiest nations formally agreed to cancel at least $40 billion worth of debt owed by the world's poorest nations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/international/12debt.html?ex=1119240000&en=06f6e375055b2428&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:26:52 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:34:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Palestinian Authority Executes Four Men
Message-ID: <20050612142652.5D3E7120001@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL | June 12, 2005
Palestinian Authority Executes Four Men
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- The Palestinian Authority carried out its first executions since 2001 Sunday, killing four convicted murderers as part of a new campaign to rein in lawlessness and chaos, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html?ex=1119240000&en=a398729f356de8f6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:27:43 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:34:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Jordan Is Preparing to Tone Down the
	Islamic Bombast in Textbooks
Message-ID: <20050612142743.041C324AFAF@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 12, 2005
Jordan Is Preparing to Tone Down the Islamic Bombast in Textbooks
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Facing growing extremism and rising security threats, educators are seeking to revamp their religious studies curriculum.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/international/middleeast/12jordan.html?ex=1119240000&en=f9d98a51bf8ba4f3&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:29:27 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:36:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Yes, Virginia, There Is an Answer
Message-ID: <20050612142927.B7B9B24AE95@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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BUSINESS / YOUR MONEY | June 12, 2005
Economic View: Yes, Virginia, There Is an Answer
By DANIEL ALTMAN
Creating a local monopoly is harder than it used to be, and that could explain the country's economic enigma.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/business/yourmoney/12view.html?ex=1119240000&en=5dec650b48d902aa&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:30:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:37:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Ethanol's Stock as a Fuel Source Is Rising
Message-ID: <20050612143018.F406724AF99@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 12, 2005
Ethanol's Stock as a Fuel Source Is Rising
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Oil is now so expensive that when it is blended with ethanol to make high-octane fuel, the price of the blend is now often lower than that of regular gasoline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/national/12ethanol.html?ex=1119240000&en=2204298b2123295d&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:31:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:38:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: More Tests Planned in Suspected Case of Mad
	Cow Disease
Message-ID: <20050612143113.93CCC23714B@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Time for y'all to consider vegetarianism...


NATIONAL | June 12, 2005
More Tests Planned in Suspected Case of Mad Cow Disease
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
CHICAGO, June 11 - The Agriculture Department said Saturday that it would conduct further tests on an animal suspected of having mad cow disease before confirming the results, which if positive would indicate the second case of the disease to be found in a cow in the United States in the past two years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/national/12cow.html?ex=1119240000&en=71c2d66513b12773&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:31:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:38:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Republican_Urges_Clos?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?ing_Guant=E1namo_Facility?=
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WASHINGTON | June 12, 2005
Republican Urges Closing Guantánamo Facility
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senator Mel Martinez of Florida is the first high-profile Republican to make the suggestion that the Bush administration should consider closing the detention center.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/politics/12martinez.html?ex=1119240000&en=463c728fc31c0d1c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:32:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:40:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Rehnquist Court and Its Imperiled
	States' Rights Legacy
Message-ID: <20050612143255.67FB0A101D@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

As an aside, it is odd that no one has noted that two of the three justices who supported the medical marijuana laws were Rehnquist and Thomas...


WEEK IN REVIEW | June 12, 2005
The Rehnquist Court and Its Imperiled States' Rights Legacy
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
A hallmark of the Rehnquist Court has been a re-examination of basic constitutional arrangements. But what seemed to be a legacy in the making now appears evanescent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/weekinreview/12green.html?ex=1119240000&en=dad670577f739679&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:35:19 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:42:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Medical Marijuana, a Casual User's Tale
Message-ID: <20050612143519.019AC83DB9@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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FASHION & STYLE / SUNDAY STYLES | June 12, 2005
Medical Marijuana, a Casual User's Tale
By LESSLEY ANDERSON
Despite the Supreme Court's ruling that medical marijuana users could be prosecuted, there is still a laissez-faire attitude with some medical professionals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/fashion/sundaystyles/12POT.html?ex=1119240000&en=78a315cd5898061d&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:36:31 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:43:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Center Court
Message-ID: <20050612143631.6108E24AFA9@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

MAGAZINE | June 12, 2005
The Way We Live Now: Center Court
By JEFFREY ROSEN
Unelected judges aren't thwarting the will of the people — they're channeling it. Which is a blessing, and a problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/magazine/12WWLN.html?ex=1119240000&en=89ace5327ff963e6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:37:19 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:44:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Real Estate, the Global Obsession
Message-ID: <20050612143719.3926811F9D5@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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WEEK IN REVIEW | June 12, 2005
Real Estate, the Global Obsession
By STEVE LOHR
These days, house price vertigo is more than a local or national condition. It's a worldwide phenomenon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/weekinreview/12lohr.html?ex=1119240000&en=0f7c275f76643ece&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 07:36:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 11 17:44:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Interrogating Ourselves
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From jefbek at mindspring.com  Sat Jun 11 21:00:33 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Sat Jun 11 19:28:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush: "Atheists should not be considered either citizens
	or patriots"
Message-ID: <200506120228.j5C2SnTE027636@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Hi Michael,

I wanted to send you more information on this Bush quote that I referred to
at our lunch:

"I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should
they be considered patriots".

Here is the full story:
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file004.html

Us Atheists are in great company!
http://atheistempire.com/greatminds/index.html

Take Care!

Jef

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 12 09:39:57 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 11 19:47:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ministers Were Told of Need for Gulf War 'Excuse'
Message-ID: <BED1B36D.209BE%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Ministers Were Told of Need for Gulf War 'Excuse'
    By Michael Smith
    The Sunday Times UK

    Sunday 12 June 2005

    "The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair's inner
circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was
"necessary to create the conditions" which would make it legal."

    Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking
part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find
a way of making it legal.

    The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair
had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a
summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.

    The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair's inner
circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was
"necessary to create the conditions" which would make it legal.

    This was required because, even if ministers decided Britain should not
take part in an invasion, the American military would be using British
bases. This would automatically make Britain complicit in any illegal US
action.

    "US plans assume, as a minimum, the use of British bases in Cyprus and
Diego Garcia," the briefing paper warned. This meant that issues of legality
"would arise virtually whatever option ministers choose with regard to UK
participation".

    The paper was circulated to those present at the meeting, among whom
were Blair, Geoff Hoon, then defence secretary, Jack Straw, the foreign
secretary, and Sir Richard Dearlove, then chief of MI6. The full minutes of
the meeting were published last month in The Sunday Times.

    The document said the only way the allies could justify military action
was to place Saddam Hussein in a position where he ignored or rejected a
United Nations ultimatum ordering him to co-operate with the weapons
inspectors. But it warned this would be difficult.

    "It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which
Saddam would reject," the document says. But if he accepted it and did not
attack the allies, they would be "most unlikely" to obtain the legal
justification they needed.

    The suggestions that the allies use the UN to justify war contradicts
claims by Blair and Bush, repeated during their Washington summit last week,
that they turned to the UN in order to avoid having to go to war. The attack
on Iraq finally began in March 2003.

    The briefing paper is certain to add to the pressure, particularly on
the American president, because of the damaging revelation that Bush and
Blair agreed on regime change in April 2002 and then looked for a way to
justify it.

    There has been a growing storm of protest in America, created by last
month's publication of the minutes in The Sunday Times. A host of citizens,
including many internet bloggers, have demanded to know why the Downing
Street memo (often shortened to "the DSM" on websites) has been largely
ignored by the US mainstream media.

    The White House has declined to respond to a letter from 89 Democratic
congressmen asking if it was true - as Dearlove told the July meeting - that
"the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" in
Washington.

    The Downing Street memo burst into the mainstream American media only
last week after it was raised at a joint Bush-Blair press conference,
forcing the prime minister to insist that "the facts were not fixed in any
shape or form at all".

    John Conyers, the Democratic congressman who drafted the letter to Bush,
has now written to Dearlove asking him to say whether or not it was accurate
that he believed the intelligence was being "fixed" around the policy. He
also asked the former MI6 chief precisely when Bush and Blair had agreed to
invade Iraq and whether it is true they agreed to "manufacture" the UN
ultimatum in order to justify the war.

    He and other Democratic congressmen plan to hold their own inquiry this
Thursday with witnesses including Joe Wilson, the American former ambassador
who went to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium
ore for its nuclear weapons programme.

    Frustrated at the refusal by the White House to respond to their letter,
the congressmen have set up a website - www.downingstreetmemo.com - to
collect signatures on a petition demanding the same answers.

    Conyers promised to deliver it to Bush once it reached 250,000
signatures. By Friday morning it already had more than 500,000 with as many
as 1m expected to have been obtained when he delivers it to the White House
on Thursday.

    AfterDowningStreet.org, another website set up as a result of the memo,
is calling for a congressional committee to consider whether Bush's actions
as depicted in the memo constitute grounds for impeachment.

    It has been flooded with visits from people angry at what they see as
media self-censorship in ignoring the memo. It claims to have attracted more
than 1m hits a day.

    Democrats.com, another website, even offered $1,000 (about ?550) to any
journalist who quizzed Bush about the memo's contents, although the Reuters
reporter who asked the question last Tuesday was not aware of the reward and
has no intention of claiming it.

    The complaints of media self-censorship have been backed up by the
ombudsmen of The Washington Post, The New York Times and National Public
Radio, who have questioned the lack of attention the minutes have received
from their organisations.

 


From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 11:00:49 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Sat Jun 11 21:08:06 2005
Subject: Fw: [Mb-civic] Bush: "Atheists should not be considered either
	citizens	or patriots"
Message-ID: <001d01c56f78$aadcc180$6e436c42@hotprojects>

how horrible
makes you shudder
there is so much ugliness in the world ( eg the reactionaries etc )
are you jef bek the rock and roller?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jef Bek" <jefbek@mindspring.com>
To: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 12:00 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush: "Atheists should not be considered either citizens
or patriots"


> Hi Michael,
>
> I wanted to send you more information on this Bush quote that I referred
to
> at our lunch:
>
> "I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should
> they be considered patriots".
>
> Here is the full story:
> http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file004.html
>
> Us Atheists are in great company!
> http://atheistempire.com/greatminds/index.html
>
> Take Care!
>
> Jef
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 12 13:00:56 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 11 23:08:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democracy in Action?
Message-ID: <BED1E288.209F8%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Note: The entire hearing can be viewed at www.c-span.org.

    Democracy in Action?
    By Chip Pitts
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Sunday 12 June 2005

    Friday's Congressional hearing on the USA Patriot Act and civil
liberties was indeed an interesting experience.

    The hearing, called under a special rule by the Democratic minority
members, was one of the relatively rare recent opportunities that a diverse
selection of Patriot Act critics have had to voice their concerns to
Congress, and the only opportunity thus far to begin to highlight the links
between the depredations of rights at home and abroad.

    It was also unique in ending abruptly in what the New York Times
described as "an angry uproar," the Washington Post called "a cacophony of
protests," and other news outlets simply agreed was "chaos."

    At issue was the USA Patriot Act, portions of which sunset at the end of
this year. The President gave yet another major speech urging complete
renewal of those provisions last week, and the Senate Intelligence Committee
after closed door hearings agreed with him that the law should not only be
preserved, but expanded.

    As if it's not enough that law enforcement can now obtain your library
and bookstore records in secret and without probable cause, clandestinely
search your home without prior notice, and consider you a terrorist for
peaceful civil disobedience, the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to
expand FBI administrative subpoena authority to obtain all kinds of records
without even the semblance of judicial review, and even allow them to get
copies of your mail.

    Not only my organization, Amnesty International, but groups ranging from
the ACLU and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, to Bob Barr's
conservative coalition of gun owners and professional organizations
("Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances"), fault the administration's
unwillingness to acknowledge the invasions of constitutional rights
occasioned by the Patriot Act, and strongly oppose the unjustified
additional powers sought.

    As Fox News reported, "the hearing ended abruptly when committee
Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., abruptly gaveled the meeting to an end
and walked out, followed by other Republicans." Points of order raised by
the Democrats were ignored.

    Several Congressman at the hearing strongly criticized Amnesty
International, mischaracterizing our positions and even stating that we were
actually endangering American lives by documenting the administration's
tragic and counterproductive torture policy. I was prevented from
responding, until the barrage became so great that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-
N.Y.) insisted, as a "point of decency," that I be allowed to do so.

    My response emphasized that it was not Amnesty International that
created the firestorm of outrage over the abuses at Guant?namo, Abu Ghraib,
and elsewhere - but the administration officials themselves. They were the
ones who constructed Guant?namo and other secret detention centers around
the world as legal "black holes," denied access to Amnesty and the Red Cross
and others, and created both the rationale and the environments conducive to
torture, ill-treatment, "disappearances," arbitrary detention, military
trials, and extra-judicial executions.

    Then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Justice Department lawyers
drafted memos arguing that Guant?namo was beyond the law, that the
President's commander-in-chief authority allowed overriding rights in the
Constitution and international law, that customary international law doesn't
bind the President, and that "torture" could be narrowly redefined as
physical pain akin to that accompanying "death or organ failure" (so that
any physical abuse short of that would not be torture). The President
himself wrote that the Geneva Conventions would not be extended to those
deemed "al Qaeda" (without saying how membership in that organization would
be confirmed), and that those "legally entitled to humane treatment" would
be humanely treated (ignoring firm international law that everyone is
entitled to humane treatment). Defense Secretary Rumsfeld personally
authorized hiding "ghost detainees" from the Red Cross, as well as specific
torture techniques including forced nudity, the use of dogs, hooding,
sensory deprivation, and sleep deprivation.

    What subsequently happened to these officials? White House Counsel
Alberto Gonzales is the new US Attorney General. A chief author of the
Justice Department memos, Jay Bybee, is a new life-tenured federal judge.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld continues his lively press conferences. And
President Bush was re-elected.

    Amnesty International's charges were repeatedly said at the hearing to
be "absurd," echoing the statements of the President and other top
administration officials to the same effect. What is truly absurd, even
Kafkaesque, is this administration's continued focus on language to distract
attention from the true issues and deny reality.

    The "Patriot" Act is the most un-Patriotic law since the short-lived
Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It undermines most of the core freedoms in
the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press,
privacy, due process, and equal protection. These are not just domestic
constitutional rights. They are also international human rights, applying to
everyone just because they are human, as does the right to be protected from
cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, and torture.

    The administration defenders' refrain was that the Patriot Act has
"nothing to do" with Guant?namo, indefinite detention, or the violations
we're seeing around the world. But the underlying principles are no
different. The same overbroad, preemptive, secretive, subjective,
discriminatory, unchecked instances of executive power found throughout the
Patriot Act are clearly evident in the violations Amnesty and others have
documented at Guant?namo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere. All violate human
autonomy and dignity. All counterproductively undermine security as well as
liberty.

    The Justice Department's own Inspector General in 2003 documented
post-9/11 violations at home that were different only in degree, not in
kind, from those seen at Abu Ghraib and Guant?namo. Muslims and Arabs and
those mistaken for them (Sikhs and people of color generally) were treated
as sub-human, beaten, spat upon, their religion insulted, their access to
family, health care, and legal counsel denied. Some, like Mohammed Rafiq
Butt, died in custody in jails right here in the US Yet abuses at Abu Ghraib
and other detention centers abroad included many of the same practices used
at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, or in Texas or other US
prisons. Several of those implicated in the incidents abroad were previously
US corrections officials with a history of prisoner abuse.

    It pains me to say it, but a government that tolerates abuses at home is
unlikely to be scrupulous when it comes to abuses abroad. Yet in a bizarre
contortion of logic, some Congressmen at Friday's hearing placed the blame
for the upsurge in global hatred for America - that at the extreme will
inevitably manifest itself in increased terrorism - on Amnesty
International. Kafkaesque.

    Unbeknownst to most Americans, the administration has actively promoted
Patriot Act type legislation around the world. Almost every nation in the
world now has new counter-terror legislation, often modeled on the Patriot
Act, and often invading similarly fundamental rights. The result? A global
decline in the rule of law, with new space opened up for the rule of force
favored by terrorists.

    Amnesty International reiterates its call for Congress to appoint a
truly independent commission, to ask the hard questions about who is
responsible for the torture and ill-treatment now so clearly documented. And
Amnesty urges appointment of a Special Counsel to hold those responsible
accountable for their actions.

    The 9/11 Commission was similarly resisted by the administration until
public demands grew irresistible. As Friday's hearing shows, there's not
much tolerance for allowing questions in this case. But one thing's for
sure: neither the questions nor the drive for accountability are going away.

    Chip Pitts is Board Chair of Amnesty International USA, and a Board
Member of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

 


From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sun Jun 12 14:19:05 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sun Jun 12 00:24:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money
Message-ID: <000501c56f94$5ee78000$5025b7d8@baby1>

Re:  NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money



========
OPINION | June 12, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Don't Follow the Money
By FRANK RICH
And now the great Watergate cover-up of 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/12rich.html?ex=1119240000&en=23ff3abf590da1e7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
=======




CheeseComment:


I'm waiting for the movie about all this to come out.  At the rate this
current neo-fascist totalitarian Republican government is squashing anyone
and anything harmful to the neo-Nazi ideals of this new American Bush-Fuhrer
and its 4th Reich, and eliminating Access to everything from mainstream
media coverage to a cool seat on Air Force One, it appears it's going to be
a long long long long time before anyone like Oliver Stone or Mel Gibson get
their heads out of their butts and make it.

By that time Bush will have been sainted by the Vatican, and Cheney will
have been knighted by The Queen.

It's always a pleasure to watch really good people get ahead in this world.

Even at the expense of everything else on it.

Who said sitting around watching the destruction of everything everyone
worked for so hard for centuries sacrificing their time, money, sweat, and
lives for couldn't be fun...?

Rich says don't follow the money, follow the bait and switch.

I say that's much too complicated.  Just follow the New Nazis disguising
themselves as Republicans walking around on every TV screen, radio and
blogspot in America.

It's much more easy that way.  You can't miss them, as Rich said they're
just all walking around right in broad daylight plain as the nose on your
soon to be duped, converted, censored or eliminated face.

Oliver, Mel...?    No, no, don't thank me now.

Make the g*dd*mn movie!!!!,  you can thank me later.





Cheeseburger

.

From michael at intrafi.com  Sun Jun 12 16:05:15 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 02:12:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Africa's Suffering Is Bush's Shame
Message-ID: <16465129.1118617515839.JavaMail.turbine@s78>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Africa's Suffering Is Bush's Shame 
--------------------

Millions are dying because of American policy.

By Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a Columbia University economist and special advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

June 12 2005

President Bush last week brazenly brushed aside British Prime Minister Tony Blair's call for a doubling of aid to Africa. Blair and other European leaders have taken on the task of fighting extreme poverty &#8212; and Bush watches from the sidelines. To justify its dereliction, the Bush administration perpetuates a mythology that contributes to the premature deaths of millions of people each year. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-sachs12jun12,0,4534654.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at intrafi.com  Sun Jun 12 16:10:10 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 02:17:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Leading With His Lip
Message-ID: <15165425.1118617810242.JavaMail.turbine@s78>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

At least Dean is saying somethings that are believeed by many. He is almost the only voice being paid attention to by a group who  say things many times worse. And lies, important lies, to boot.

--------------------
Leading With His Lip 
--------------------


June 12 2005

Howard Dean has become the Russell Crowe of the Democratic Party. But unlike Crowe, who has been profusely apologizing for beaning a hotel concierge with a telephone in a fit of bad temper, Dean shows no signs of contrition for the intemperate rhetorical blasts that he sent flying in the direction of the GOP last week. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-dean12jun12,0,809723.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 16:56:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun 12 03:03:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democracy in Action?
References: <BED1E288.209F8%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <004f01c56faa$52857a90$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Michael:

I was just with Jerry this evening, and thanked him for this.  It is nice to 
know that at least one elected official is truly "fighting the good fight," 
and not caving in on the Bushman agenda...

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>; "HAIR List" 
<mb-hair@islandlists.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democracy in Action?


>    Note: The entire hearing can be viewed at www.c-span.org.
>
>    Democracy in Action?
>    By Chip Pitts
>    t r u t h o u t | Perspective
>
>    Sunday 12 June 2005
>
>    Friday's Congressional hearing on the USA Patriot Act and civil
> liberties was indeed an interesting experience.
>
>    The hearing, called under a special rule by the Democratic minority
> members, was one of the relatively rare recent opportunities that a 
> diverse
> selection of Patriot Act critics have had to voice their concerns to
> Congress, and the only opportunity thus far to begin to highlight the 
> links
> between the depredations of rights at home and abroad.
>
>    It was also unique in ending abruptly in what the New York Times
> described as "an angry uproar," the Washington Post called "a cacophony of
> protests," and other news outlets simply agreed was "chaos."
>
>    At issue was the USA Patriot Act, portions of which sunset at the end 
> of
> this year. The President gave yet another major speech urging complete
> renewal of those provisions last week, and the Senate Intelligence 
> Committee
> after closed door hearings agreed with him that the law should not only be
> preserved, but expanded.
>
>    As if it's not enough that law enforcement can now obtain your library
> and bookstore records in secret and without probable cause, clandestinely
> search your home without prior notice, and consider you a terrorist for
> peaceful civil disobedience, the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to
> expand FBI administrative subpoena authority to obtain all kinds of 
> records
> without even the semblance of judicial review, and even allow them to get
> copies of your mail.
>
>    Not only my organization, Amnesty International, but groups ranging 
> from
> the ACLU and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, to Bob Barr's
> conservative coalition of gun owners and professional organizations
> ("Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances"), fault the administration's
> unwillingness to acknowledge the invasions of constitutional rights
> occasioned by the Patriot Act, and strongly oppose the unjustified
> additional powers sought.
>
>    As Fox News reported, "the hearing ended abruptly when committee
> Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., abruptly gaveled the meeting to an 
> end
> and walked out, followed by other Republicans." Points of order raised by
> the Democrats were ignored.
>
>    Several Congressman at the hearing strongly criticized Amnesty
> International, mischaracterizing our positions and even stating that we 
> were
> actually endangering American lives by documenting the administration's
> tragic and counterproductive torture policy. I was prevented from
> responding, until the barrage became so great that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-
> N.Y.) insisted, as a "point of decency," that I be allowed to do so.
>
>    My response emphasized that it was not Amnesty International that
> created the firestorm of outrage over the abuses at Guant?namo, Abu 
> Ghraib,
> and elsewhere - but the administration officials themselves. They were the
> ones who constructed Guant?namo and other secret detention centers around
> the world as legal "black holes," denied access to Amnesty and the Red 
> Cross
> and others, and created both the rationale and the environments conducive 
> to
> torture, ill-treatment, "disappearances," arbitrary detention, military
> trials, and extra-judicial executions.
>
>    Then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Justice Department 
> lawyers
> drafted memos arguing that Guant?namo was beyond the law, that the
> President's commander-in-chief authority allowed overriding rights in the
> Constitution and international law, that customary international law 
> doesn't
> bind the President, and that "torture" could be narrowly redefined as
> physical pain akin to that accompanying "death or organ failure" (so that
> any physical abuse short of that would not be torture). The President
> himself wrote that the Geneva Conventions would not be extended to those
> deemed "al Qaeda" (without saying how membership in that organization 
> would
> be confirmed), and that those "legally entitled to humane treatment" would
> be humanely treated (ignoring firm international law that everyone is
> entitled to humane treatment). Defense Secretary Rumsfeld personally
> authorized hiding "ghost detainees" from the Red Cross, as well as 
> specific
> torture techniques including forced nudity, the use of dogs, hooding,
> sensory deprivation, and sleep deprivation.
>
>    What subsequently happened to these officials? White House Counsel
> Alberto Gonzales is the new US Attorney General. A chief author of the
> Justice Department memos, Jay Bybee, is a new life-tenured federal judge.
> Defense Secretary Rumsfeld continues his lively press conferences. And
> President Bush was re-elected.
>
>    Amnesty International's charges were repeatedly said at the hearing to
> be "absurd," echoing the statements of the President and other top
> administration officials to the same effect. What is truly absurd, even
> Kafkaesque, is this administration's continued focus on language to 
> distract
> attention from the true issues and deny reality.
>
>    The "Patriot" Act is the most un-Patriotic law since the short-lived
> Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It undermines most of the core freedoms 
> in
> the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, religion, assembly, 
> press,
> privacy, due process, and equal protection. These are not just domestic
> constitutional rights. They are also international human rights, applying 
> to
> everyone just because they are human, as does the right to be protected 
> from
> cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, and torture.
>
>    The administration defenders' refrain was that the Patriot Act has
> "nothing to do" with Guant?namo, indefinite detention, or the violations
> we're seeing around the world. But the underlying principles are no
> different. The same overbroad, preemptive, secretive, subjective,
> discriminatory, unchecked instances of executive power found throughout 
> the
> Patriot Act are clearly evident in the violations Amnesty and others have
> documented at Guant?namo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere. All violate human
> autonomy and dignity. All counterproductively undermine security as well 
> as
> liberty.
>
>    The Justice Department's own Inspector General in 2003 documented
> post-9/11 violations at home that were different only in degree, not in
> kind, from those seen at Abu Ghraib and Guant?namo. Muslims and Arabs and
> those mistaken for them (Sikhs and people of color generally) were treated
> as sub-human, beaten, spat upon, their religion insulted, their access to
> family, health care, and legal counsel denied. Some, like Mohammed Rafiq
> Butt, died in custody in jails right here in the US Yet abuses at Abu 
> Ghraib
> and other detention centers abroad included many of the same practices 
> used
> at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, or in Texas or other US
> prisons. Several of those implicated in the incidents abroad were 
> previously
> US corrections officials with a history of prisoner abuse.
>
>    It pains me to say it, but a government that tolerates abuses at home 
> is
> unlikely to be scrupulous when it comes to abuses abroad. Yet in a bizarre
> contortion of logic, some Congressmen at Friday's hearing placed the blame
> for the upsurge in global hatred for America - that at the extreme will
> inevitably manifest itself in increased terrorism - on Amnesty
> International. Kafkaesque.
>
>    Unbeknownst to most Americans, the administration has actively promoted
> Patriot Act type legislation around the world. Almost every nation in the
> world now has new counter-terror legislation, often modeled on the Patriot
> Act, and often invading similarly fundamental rights. The result? A global
> decline in the rule of law, with new space opened up for the rule of force
> favored by terrorists.
>
>    Amnesty International reiterates its call for Congress to appoint a
> truly independent commission, to ask the hard questions about who is
> responsible for the torture and ill-treatment now so clearly documented. 
> And
> Amnesty urges appointment of a Special Counsel to hold those responsible
> accountable for their actions.
>
>    The 9/11 Commission was similarly resisted by the administration until
> public demands grew irresistible. As Friday's hearing shows, there's not
> much tolerance for allowing questions in this case. But one thing's for
> sure: neither the questions nor the drive for accountability are going 
> away.
>
>    Chip Pitts is Board Chair of Amnesty International USA, and a Board
> Member of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 16:54:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun 12 03:04:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money
References: <000501c56f94$5ee78000$5025b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <004901c56faa$219ba8a0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Ditto and Amen!

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 5:19 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money


> Re:  NYTimes.com: Don't Follow the Money
>
>
>
> ========
> OPINION | June 12, 2005
> Op-Ed Columnist: Don't Follow the Money
> By FRANK RICH
> And now the great Watergate cover-up of 2005.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/opinion/12rich.html?ex=1119240000&en=23ff3abf590da1e7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
> =======
>
>
>
>
> CheeseComment:
>
>
> I'm waiting for the movie about all this to come out.  At the rate this
> current neo-fascist totalitarian Republican government is squashing anyone
> and anything harmful to the neo-Nazi ideals of this new American 
> Bush-Fuhrer
> and its 4th Reich, and eliminating Access to everything from mainstream
> media coverage to a cool seat on Air Force One, it appears it's going to 
> be
> a long long long long time before anyone like Oliver Stone or Mel Gibson 
> get
> their heads out of their butts and make it.
>
> By that time Bush will have been sainted by the Vatican, and Cheney will
> have been knighted by The Queen.
>
> It's always a pleasure to watch really good people get ahead in this 
> world.
>
> Even at the expense of everything else on it.
>
> Who said sitting around watching the destruction of everything everyone
> worked for so hard for centuries sacrificing their time, money, sweat, and
> lives for couldn't be fun...?
>
> Rich says don't follow the money, follow the bait and switch.
>
> I say that's much too complicated.  Just follow the New Nazis disguising
> themselves as Republicans walking around on every TV screen, radio and
> blogspot in America.
>
> It's much more easy that way.  You can't miss them, as Rich said they're
> just all walking around right in broad daylight plain as the nose on your
> soon to be duped, converted, censored or eliminated face.
>
> Oliver, Mel...?    No, no, don't thank me now.
>
> Make the g*dd*mn movie!!!!,  you can thank me later.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 17:50:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun 12 03:58:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mars!
Message-ID: <007001c56fb1$f4e6d430$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

All:

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!  This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.  The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.  Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. 

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky.  It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.  At a modest 75-power magnification. 

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.  Mars will be easy to spot.   At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 pm and reach its azimuth at about 3 am. 

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 am. That's pretty convenient to see something that few if any human beings have seen in recorded history.  So mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. 

Share this with your children, grandchildren and friends.  NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!!
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 12 18:08:57 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun 12 04:16:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Commencement Speeches
Message-ID: <007e01c56fb4$7a076ab0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Here are some excerpts from Commencement Speeches, as provided by The New York Times:

Amy Gutmann
President, University of Pennsylvania
Wesleyan University
Mutual respect is the lifeblood of democracy. ... The signs of disrespect are all around us. In the ferocious assault on the judiciary. In the shrill debate over Terri Schiavo. And worst of all, in the hateful ad hominem attacks that issue daily from the radio and TV talk shows. We are living in a smash-mouth culture in which extremists dominate public debate to the point of hijacking it. You cannot have a reasoned discussion about abortion when one side is slandered as "baby-killers" and the other side is smeared as "religious wing nuts." It is hard to pursue a reasoned debate about the Iraqi war when opponents of the war are accused of treason and the president of the United States is compared to Hitler. Reach across the aisle, pursue collaborative solutions, or explore the shades of gray on any charged issue, and you are likely to be ignored or dismissed as indecisive. That's if you're lucky. More likely, you will endure crude and often malicious attacks on your intelligence, faith and patriotism. You may even face death threats.

-------------

Barack Obama
United States Senator from Illinois
Knox College 
There are those who believe that the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government - divvy it up into individual portions, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, education and so forth. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it - Social Darwinism, every man and woman for him or herself. ... This isn't us. This isn't how our story ends - not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. ... So let's dream. Let's imagine what we can do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st century. ... Every one of us will have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off bad habits - like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our kids will have to turn off the TV sets and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We will have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend the old programs. 

------------

Bill Moyers
Journalist
Graduate Center, City University of New York
The web of cooperation is under siege. A profound transformation is occurring in America as the balance between wealth and the commonwealth is threatened by that "winner-take-all" ideology. From public schools and universities to public lands and other natural resources, from the media with their broadcast and digital spectrums to scientific discovery and medical breakthroughs - and to politics itself - a broad range of the American commons is undergoing a powerful shift away from public responsibility and obligation to private control and exploitation. ... This is no ordinary time. You are leaving here as the basic constitutional principles of America are under assault - an independent press and judiciary, the separation of church and state, progressive taxation and the social contract. You are going to be needed if we are to recover America as a shared project.
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 12 18:16:13 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 12 04:23:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The New York Times June 12,
	2005 Don't Follow the Money By FRANK RICH
Message-ID: <BED22C6D.20A1C%michael@michaelbutler.com>

 The New York Times
June 12, 2005
Don't Follow the Money
By FRANK RICH

THE morning the Deep Throat story broke, the voice on my answering machine
was as raspy as Hal Holbrook's. "I just want you to remember that I wrote
'Follow the money,' " said my caller. "I want to know if anybody will give
me credit. Watch for the accuracy of the media!"

The voice belonged to my friend William Goldman, who wrote the movie "All
the President's Men." His words proved more than a little prescient. As if
on cue, journalists everywhere - from The New York Times to The Economist to
The Washington Post itself - would soon start attributing this classic line
of dialogue to the newly unmasked Deep Throat, W. Mark Felt. But the line
was not in Woodward and Bernstein's book or in The Post's Watergate
reportage or in Bob Woodward's contemporaneous notes. It was the invention
of the author of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Marathon Man" and
"The Princess Bride."

This confusion of Hollywood's version of history with the genuine article
would quickly prove symptomatic of the overall unreality of the Deep Throat
coverage. Was Mr. Felt a hero or a villain? Should he "follow the money"
into a book deal, and if so, how would a 91-year-old showing signs of
dementia either write a book or schmooze about it with Larry King? How did
Vanity Fair scoop The Post? How does Robert Redford feel about it all? Such
were the questions that killed time for a nation awaiting the much-heralded
feature mediathon, the Michael Jackson verdict.

Richard Nixon and Watergate itself, meanwhile, were often reduced to
footnotes. Three years ago, on Watergate's 30th anniversary, an ABC News
poll found that two-thirds of Americans couldn't explain what the scandal
was, and no one was racing to enlighten them this time around. Vanity Fair
may have taken the trouble to remind us that Watergate was a web of crime
yielding the convictions and guilty pleas of more than 30 White House and
Nixon campaign officials, but few others did. Watergate has gone back to
being the "third-rate burglary" of Nixon administration spin. It is once
again being covered up.

Not without reason. Had the scandal been vividly resuscitated as the long
national nightmare it actually was, it would dampen all the Felt fun by
casting harsh light on our own present nightmare. "The fundamental right of
Americans, through our free press, to penetrate and criticize the workings
of our government is under attack as never before" was how the former Nixon
speech writer William Safire put it on this page almost nine months ago. The
current administration, a second-term imperial presidency that outstrips
Nixon's in hubris by the day, leads the attack, trying to intimidate and
snuff out any Woodwards or Bernsteins that might challenge it, any media
proprietor like Katharine Graham or editor like Ben Bradlee who might
support them and any anonymous source like Deep Throat who might enable them
to find what Carl Bernstein calls "the best obtainable version of the
truth."

The attacks continue to be so successful that even now, long after many news
organizations, including The Times, have been found guilty of failing to
puncture the administration's prewar W.M.D. hype, new details on that same
story are still being ignored or left uninvestigated. The July 2002 "Downing
Street memo," the minutes of a meeting in which Tony Blair and his advisers
learned of a White House effort to fix "the intelligence and facts" to
justify the war in Iraq, was published by The London Sunday Times on May 1.
Yet in the 19 daily Scott McClellan briefings that followed, the memo was
the subject of only 2 out of the approximately 940 questions asked by the
White House press corps, according to Eric Boehlert of Salon.

This is the kind of lapdog news media the Nixon White House cherished. To
foster it, Nixon's special counsel, Charles W. Colson, embarked on a
ruthless program of intimidation that included threatening antitrust action
against the networks if they didn't run pro-Nixon stories. Watergate tapes
and memos make Mr. Colson, who boasted of "destroying the old
establishment," sound like the founding father of today's blogging lynch
mobs. He exulted in bullying CBS to cut back its Watergate reports before
the '72 election. He enlisted NBC in pro-administration propaganda by
browbeating it to repackage 10-day-old coverage of Tricia Nixon's wedding as
a prime-time special. It was the Colson office as well that compiled a White
House enemies list that included journalists who had the audacity to
question administration policies.

Such is the equivalently supine state of much of the news media today that
Mr. Colson was repeatedly trotted out, without irony, to pass moral judgment
on Mr. Felt - and not just on Fox News, the cable channel that is actually
run by the former Nixon media maven, Roger Ailes. "I want kids to look up to
heroes," Mr. Colson said, oh so sorrowfully, on NBC's "Today" show,
condemning Mr. Felt for dishonoring "the confidence of the president of the
United States." Never mind that Mr. Colson dishonored the law, proposed
bombing the Brookings Institution and went to prison for his role in the
break-in to steal the psychiatric records of The Times's Deep Throat on
Vietnam, Daniel Ellsberg. The "Today" host, Matt Lauer, didn't mention any
of this - or even that his guest had done jail time. None of the other TV
anchors who interviewed Mr. Colson - and he was ubiquitous - ever specified
his criminal actions in the Nixon years. Some identified him onscreen only
as a "former White House counsel."

Had anyone been so rude (or professional) as to recount Mr. Colson's sordid
past, or to raise the question of whether he was a hero or a traitor, the
genealogical line between his Watergate-era machinations and those of his
present-day successors would have been all too painfully clear. The main
difference is that in the Nixon White House, the president's men plotted
behind closed doors. The current administration is now so brazen it does its
dirty work in plain sight.

In the most recent example, all the president's men slimed and intimidated
Newsweek by accusing it of being an accessory to 17 deaths for its errant
Koran story; led by Scott McClellan, they said it was unthinkable that any
American guard could be disrespectful of Islam's holy book. These
neo-Colsons easily drowned out Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, both of whom
said that the riots that led to the 17 deaths were unrelated to Newsweek.
Then came the pi?ce de r?sistance of Nixon mimicry: a Pentagon report
certifying desecrations of the Koran by American guards was released two
weeks after the Newsweek imbroglio, at 7:15 p.m. on a Friday, to assure it
would miss the evening newscasts and be buried in the Memorial Day weekend's
little-read papers.

At other times the new Colsons top the old one. Though Nixon aspired to
punish public broadcasting by cutting its funding, he never imagined that
his apparatchiks could seize the top executive positions at the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting. Nor did he come up with the brilliant ideas of
putting journalists covertly on the administration payroll and of hiring an
outside P.R. firm (Ketchum) to codify an enemies list by ranking news
organizations and individual reporters on the basis of how favorably they
cover a specific administration policy (No Child Left Behind). President
Bush has even succeeded in emasculating the post-Watergate reform that was
supposed to help curb Nixonian secrecy, the Presidential Records Act of
1978.

THE journalists who do note the resonances of now with then rarely get to
connect those dots on the news media's center stage of television. You are
more likely to hear instead of how Watergate inspired too much "gotcha"
journalism. That's a rather absurd premise given that no "gotcha" journalist
got the goods on the biggest story of our time: the false intimations of
incipient mushroom clouds peddled by American officials to sell a war that
now threatens to match the unpopularity and marathon length of Vietnam.

Only once during the Deep Throat rollout did I see a palpable, if perhaps
unconscious, effort to link the White House of 1972 with that of 2005. It
occurred at the start, when ABC News, with the first comprehensive report on
Vanity Fair's scoop, interrupted President Bush's post-Memorial Day Rose
Garden news conference to break the story. Suddenly the image of the current
president blathering on about how hunky-dory everything is in Iraq was
usurped by repeated showings of the scene in which the newly resigned Nixon
walked across the adjacent White House lawn to the helicopter that would
carry him into exile.

But in the days that followed, Nixon and his history and the long shadows
they cast largely vanished from the TV screen. In their place were constant
nostalgic replays of young Redford and flinty Holbrook. Follow the
bait-and-switch.

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 12 18:23:52 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 12 04:31:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Tucker Carlson
Message-ID: <000801c56fb6$920a80a0$3827e440@Harold>

I'll let this speak for itself.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050612/ap_en_tv/tv_tucker_carlson/nc:763;_ylt=AiRvdw8vEqQUfU006OL2raBpMhkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 12 18:31:22 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 12 04:38:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pink Floyd
Message-ID: <000801c56fb7$9e7e41e0$3827e440@Harold>

Gilmore, Mason, Waters and Wright to do Live8

http://contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/pink%20floyd%20confirm%20classic%20lineup%20is%20back

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 12 18:42:44 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 12 04:50:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Just so, so wrong!
Message-ID: <001a01c56fb9$343b94c0$3827e440@Harold>

Klein's book on the Clinton's is just so wrong, and ignorant people will believe it!

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3ek.htm

He says Bill raped her. What kind of asshole is he? Was he in their bedroom, no! He is just selling a book for profit. 
The Republican attack machine at it's lowest.
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 12 18:55:28 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 12 05:02:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Will America bail out Castro's most
	committed would-be assassin?
Message-ID: <20050613015528.6BD2AB520@mussel.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Will America bail out Castro's most committed would-be assassin?
Cuban ex-CIA operative appears in a US court today faced with extradition to Venezuela over bombing which killed 73
Jamie Wilson in Miami, and Duncan Campbell
Monday June 13 2005
The Guardian


The elderly man in the dark green tinted glasses looked intently into his cup, took a small sip of the treacle-like coffee, glanced around the room and then began to whisper in his rich Latino accent: "Luis Posada Carriles. He is a very good guy. Super guy. He is a good friend. The CIA and the government, maybe they will do the right thing and help him out." 

With that he raised his hand and declared: "I have said too much already," before turning his ample frame away to contemplate the dregs of coffee in his cup.  

It truly is a rum day for Luis Posada when even in the Versailles restaurant on Calle Ocho Street, the beating heart of the Cuban exile community in downtown Miami, the men he would once have counted as his friends - and in some cases brothers in arms - are reluctant to declare their support out loud.  

The 77-year-old former CIA operative and one-time leader of the armed struggle against Fidel Castro, who was arrested in the city last month on charges that he had illegally entered the country, is due to appear in court in Texas today in a bid to remain in the United States and avoid trial in Venezuela on charges that he orchestrated the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.  

There was a time when the arrest of such a high profile figure from the exile community - even one accused of killing 73 people, including a young Cuban athletics team - would have led to mass demonstrations on the streets of Little Havana.  

But since he was picked up by immigration officials following a bizarre cloak-and-dagger press conference in a warehouse near Miami, there has been a strange public silence from those who would have been expected to come out in his defence.  

Some say his supporters are merely biding their time, waiting to see if the CIA, an organisation with which Mr Posada has been intimately associated for decades, really does come through and bail out the man it trained in terrorism techniques. But others argue that the muted reaction signals a changing of guard within the exile community and an acceptance that the armed struggle Mr Posada and his ilk mounted against Castro has finally had its day.  

Little Havana is only a short drive across the Macarthur Causeway from the ice cream colours and art deco splendour of Miami's South Beach, but it might as well be a million miles away. On Calle Ocho car repair shops compete for space with discount furniture stores and pawnbrokers. Above a launderette in one of the area's small shopping centres sit the offices of the Movimiento Democracia.  

The group's leader, Ram&#243;n Saul S&#225;nchez, 50, has been fighting Castro since he was 15. As a young man he joined Alpha 66, a paramilitary group that trained in the Florida Everglades for the dreamed of day when exiles would mount an armed invasion of their homeland.  

In the 1980s he spent four and a half years in prison for refusing to testify to a grand jury over an alleged plot to assassinate Castro during one of his visits to the UN in New York.   

It was while in jail that Mr S&#225;nchez underwent a conversion of Damascene proportions when he "fell in love with non-violence".  

His former paramilitary colleagues were shocked and angry at first, but now he says most of them have joined him in supporting democracy groups in Cuba, consigning to the history books the era of men like Mr Posada.  

"The community realise the violent approach, the terrorism, belongs to past times," he said. "People realise these are times in which we must all help to get rid of these terrorism acts that are sometimes inspired by noble causes but have terrible consequences."  

Jose Basulto, leader of Brothers to the Rescue, an organisation that has mounted daring airlifts from Cuba, said exiles were wary of playing into Castro's hands by mounting large scale demonstrations for Mr Posada. "The community has matured," he said.  

The Cuban American National Foundation, once a keen supporter of armed intervention on the island, has also moderated its stance in the last decade. "Posada is not about freeing Cuba, he is about killing Castro," said Omar Lopez Montenegro, a former Cuban dissident who is now an executive director of the group. "Most of the younger generation of Cuban exiles believe the change should be made by Cubans, not outside forces, but most of all that it should be peaceful."  

Mr Posada's alleged involvement in an airline bombing has also muted support in the US. Since September 11, any crime involving aircraft and explosions results in a collective shudder across America, and the Cuban exile's hearing comes as newly released intelligence documents indicate his complicity in the 1976 attack.  

Last week the National Security Archive in Washington posted declassified intelligence documents from 1976 which indicated that Mr Posada had spoken about plans to "hit" a Cuban airliner only days before the Cubana flight 455 exploded.  

Peter Kornbluh of the NSA described the new documents as a "treasure trove ... on major acts of terrorism committed by violent anti-Castro groups."  

"Leaders are reticent to embrace or condone anyone who has committed alleged terrorist acts," Damian Fernandez, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, told the Miami Herald.  

"We also learned from Elian," Mr Fernandez said, referring to Elian Gonzalez, the young boy whose forced deportation back to Cuba sparked the last big demonstrations by the exile community. "That left a bitter taste. We are more in tune to national and public opinion. We are more reserved in making a judgment on a case that's much more dicey."  

But while Mr Posada's detention might not be making the waves it once would in Little Havana, it has caused a stormy diplomatic row across central America. Venezuela is seeking his extradition to stand trial. Venezuela's president, Hugo Ch&#225;vez, has threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the US if he is not handed over after the US state department indicated that the initial Venezuelan extradition application was "incomplete."  

Cuba is also demanding that the US authorities hand him over in connection with hotel bombings in Havana in 1997 in which an Italian tourist died.  

A number of American politicians and lawyers are insistent that he should be handed over to Venezuela, where the airline bomb plot was allegedly hatched. He escaped from jail there in 1985 while awaiting a prosecution appeal against his acquittal on two charges relating to the bombing.  

The president of the National Lawyers Guild, Michael Avery, said the US government had a "moral and legal" obligation to extradite him. Ten congress members, including Dennis Kucinich, who sought the Democratic party's presidential nomination in 2004, have signed a letter which states that "as a sovereign nation Venezuela has the right to pursue justice in this case."  

The Bush administration - for whom Mr Posada presents a problem in that he has admitted in the past to involvement in terrorist acts - has so far tried to distance itself from the controversy.  

The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters: "There are laws and procedures that are in place, and they are being followed at this point."  

But the politicians know that while many in the politically sensitive Cuban-American community will accept his detention in an El Paso prison, they will not countenance his extradition.  

There remains a small, but hard core of support for Mr Posada, a fact that was illustrated inside a Little Havana shop selling Cuban bric-a-brac and memorabilia - from posters of pre-revolution Havana to Fidel Castro toilet paper ("Make your wish come true," the sign reads).  

"This is a virtual Cuba, a place that does not exist any more," said the owner, Maria Vazquez, 55, sweeping her arm across the shop. "But the people who come in here still dream of going back.  

"You must understand, to us Posada is a hero, a freedom fighter. He was never convicted of the airline bombing.  

"You must not think people don't support him. We are just waiting to see what happens. If they try to extradite him, then you will see." 

The life of Luis Posada

The most committed would-be assassin of Fidel Castro, Luis Posada was born in 1928 into a wealthy family in Cienfuegos in Cuba. He studied medicine and chemistry at the University of Havana at the same time as Castro was studying law. 

Although his family supported the revolution and his sister became a colonel in the Cuban army, Posada opposed Castro from the start and was sent to a military jail. He escaped, fled to Mexico and then joined the CIA Bay of Pigs invasion project. He has spent much of his adult life in unsuccessful plots to kill Castro.  

A naturalised Venezuelan, he was accused of plotting a Cuban airliner bombing, but was acquitted twice. He is also accused of the bombings of Cuban hotels and many other terrorist acts.  

He told the journalist Ann Louise Bardach for her book Cuba Confidential that "the CIA taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb". 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From jameshburns at webtv.net  Sun Jun 12 19:00:42 2005
From: jameshburns at webtv.net (Jim Burns)
Date: Sun Jun 12 05:07:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Where the Wind Blows...
In-Reply-To: mb-civic-request@islandlists.com's message of Sun, 12 Jun 2005
	05:02:52 -0700
Message-ID: <21226-42ACE8CA-269@storefull-3272.bay.webtv.net>

 
This is extraordinary-- 

As some of us have been talking about for years, the tyranny of the oil
powers could be virtually eliminated, in a virtual, overnight... 

Best, Jim 
____ 


"Powerful New Map: Where the Wind Blows" By Bjorn Carey 
www.LiveScience.com
May 23, 2005 


A new map highlights spots where there is enough wind to provide
electricity to the whole world ? and then some. 

In putting together a global and U.S. map, researchers found wind power
could provide 40 times more electricity than is needed worldwide. 

Scientists gathered wind speed data from about 8,000 locations on the
planet ? 7,500 surface stations and 500 balloon-launch stations. They
measured the wind speeds 260 feet (80 meters) above the ground surface,
which is the height of a modern wind turbine's hub. 

At the surface stations, they could only measure wind speeds at 33 feet
(10 meters), but they developed a method to figure out what that meant
for winds at the more important height. 

They found that 13 percent of the 8,000 spots were capable of averaging
Class 3 wind speeds throughout the course of the year. Class 3 winds are
greater than 15.4 mph (6.9 meters per second), which is considered
strong enough to be economically feasible. 

"What this means is quite amazing," Cristina Archer, of Stanford
University and co-author of this study, told LiveScience. "If you pick
10 random locations on the planet, that means one, or even two, of these
are suitable for wind power generation." 

If harnessed, these sites with Class 3 and higher wind speeds could
provide 72 terawatts of electricity ? enough to run 1.2 trillion
60-watt light bulbs or 48 billion toasters. 

"We would be fools not to use it," Archer said. 

About 2.5 million wind turbines -- together capturing about 20 percent
of what's available based on the new maps -- would be needed to produce
all the world's electrical needs, Archer said. 

The wind doesn't blow constantly, however, and it cannot be adjusted to
follow electricity demand. Archer hopes that one day the bulk of our
electricity will come from green energies, like wind power, with the
gaps being filled by more reliable and traditional energies, like the
burning of fossil fuels. 

This new map is seen as a step in that direction. It demonstrates where
power companies could get the best bang for their buck in wind farms ?
mostly near coastlines. 

"I wouldn't necessarily recommend installing a wind farm based only on
our map. But it's definitely a starting point," Archer said. 

The results, and additional maps, are detailed in the May issue of The
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050523_windpower.html 


?2005 Imaginova Corp. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 


From jameshburns at webtv.net  Sun Jun 12 19:13:12 2005
From: jameshburns at webtv.net (Jim Burns)
Date: Sun Jun 12 05:20:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] I Don't Think, This Will Be, On My Must-See List...
In-Reply-To: mb-civic-request@islandlists.com's message of Sun, 12 Jun 2005
	05:02:52 -0700
Message-ID: <10234-42ACEBB8-1@storefull-3272.bay.webtv.net>

      
Museum Claims Earth is 6,000 Years Old
By The Associated Press
23 May 2005

PETERSBURG, Ky. (AP) -- Ken Ham has spent 11 years working on a museum
that poses the big question -- when and how did life begin? Ham hopes to
soon offer an answer to that question in his still-unfinished Creation
Museum in northern Kentucky. 

The $25 million monument to creationism offers Ham's view that God
created the world in six, 24-hour days on a planet just 6,000 years old. 

The largest museum of its kind in the world, it hopes to draw 600,000
people from the Midwest and beyond in its first year. 

Ham, 53, isn't bothered that his literal interpretation of the Bible
runs counter to accepted scientific theory, which says Earth and its
life forms evolved over billions of years. 

Ham said the museum is a way of reaching more people along with the
Answers in Genesis Web site, which claims to get 10 million page views
per month and his "Answers ... with Ken Ham'' radio show, carried by
more than 725 stations worldwide. 

"People will get saved here,'' Ham said of the museum. "It's going to
fire people up. If nothing else, it's going to get them to question
their own position of what they believe.'' 

Ham is ready for a fight over his beliefs -- based on a literal
interpretation of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Old
Testament. 

"It's a foundational battle,'' said Ham, a native of Australia who still
speaks with an accent. "You've got to get people believing the right
history - and believing that you can trust the Bible.'' 

Among Ham's beliefs are that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, a
figure arrived at by tracing the biblical genealogies, and not 4.5
billion years, as mainstream scientists say; the Grand Canyon was formed
not by erosion over millions of years, but by floodwaters in a matter of
days or weeks and that dinosaurs and man once coexisted, and dozens of
the creatures -- including Tyrannosaurus Rex -- were passengers on the
ark built by Noah, who was a real man, not a myth. 

Although the Creation Museum's full opening is still two years away,
already a buzz is building. 
"When that museum is finished, it's going to be Cincinnati's No. 1
tourist attraction,'' says the Rev. Jerry Falwell, nationally known
Baptist evangelist and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg,
Va. "It's going to be a mini-Disney World.''

Respected groups such as the National Science Board, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science
Teachers Association strongly support the theory of evolution. John
Marburger, the Bush administration's science adviser, has said, 
"Evolution is a cornerstone of modern biology.'' 
Many mainstream scientists worry that creationist theology masquerading
as science will have an adverse effect on the public's science literacy. 

"It's a giant step backward in science education,'' says Carolyn
Chambers, chair of the biology department at Xavier University, which is
operated by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church. 

Glenn Storrs, curator of vertebrate paleontology for the Cincinnati
Museum Center, leads dinosaur excavations in Montana each summer. He
said the theory of dinosaurs and man coexisting is a "non-issue.'' 

"And so, I believe, is the age of the Earth,'' Storrs said. "It's very
clear the Earth is much older than 6,000 years.'' 

The Rev. Mendle Adams, pastor of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in
Pleasant Ridge, takes issue with Ham's views -- and the man himself. 

"He takes extraordinary liberties with Scripture and theology to prove
his point,'' Adams said. "The bottom line is, he is anti-gay, and he
uses that card all the time.'' 

Ham says homosexual behavior is a sin. But he adds that he's careful to
condemn the behavior, not the person. 

Even detractors concede that Ham has appeal. 
Ian Plimer, chair of geology at the University of Melbourne, became
aware of Ham in the late 1980s, when Ham's creationist ministry in
Australia was just a few years old. 

"He is promoting the religion and science of 350 years ago,'' says
Plimer. "He's a far better communicator than most mainstream
scientists.'' 

Despite his communication skills, Ham admits he doesn't always make a
good first impression. But, that doesn't stop him from trying to spread
his beliefs. 

"He'd be speaking 20 hours a day if his body would let him,'' said Mike
Zovath, vice president of museum operations. 

Ham's wife of 32 years agrees. "He finds it difficult talking about
things apart from the ministry,'' Mally Ham says. "He doesn't shut
off.'' 
Ham said he has no choice but to speak out about what he believes. 

"The Lord gave me a fire in my bones,'' Ham says. "The Lord has put this
burden in my heart: 'You've got to get this information out.'''



? 2005 The Associated Press

www.livescience.com
         


From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sun Jun 12 21:14:24 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sun Jun 12 07:19:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Leading With His Lip
Message-ID: <000701c56fce$62a8c160$1b25b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Leading With His Lip



CheeseComment:


I didn't realize that the Editorial Page of The L.A. Times had been taken
over by Republican sympathizers cum zealouts.

Either the person who wrote that editorial is right, OR someone named
William Rivers Pitt, whose article here someone recently posted that
confirms Dean's statements as statistical facts, is right.

One simply cannot have it both ways.

I guess that's why The Masked Republican is writing editorials for the L.A.
Times, and someone named William Rivers Pitt is writing editorials for
things like Truth Out.


Either way, the current Republican Party remains nothing short of The New
American Nazis.

No matter who is right.





Cheeseburger

.

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sun Jun 12 21:49:45 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sun Jun 12 07:54:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Africa's Suffering Is Bush's Shame
Message-ID: <000d01c56fd3$52628ca0$1b25b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Africa's Suffering Is Bush's Shame




CheeseComment:


The quasi-word on the street is that the White Republican Party (the New
American Nazis) are literally waiting for Africa, as a whole, to basically
be eventually pretty well cleared out by AIDS, starvation, etc etc etc, so
they can then have a relatively just that "cleared out country" which they
can then begin to ship some of us over there.

Kind of funny, this is a while down the road they say, but that The Slaves
were first shipped here from Africa, and now, when The New American Nazis
have finally finished sorting their various psychosi out, they will begin
shipping us, The New Slaves, back over to the country of Africa.

Ironic, if true.

What is more ironic, imho, is that we give One Billion Dollars less to the
Entire Continent of Africa each year than we give to the tiny Country of
Israel each year.

If only Africa had spies in our Pentagon and Government like Israel does,
they would have it made in the shade.

I look at such irony like this, hey, if only Jesus had been born Black and
in Africa, the Africans would be in the chips right about now, and some
little country named Israel would be dying from AIDS, starvation, etc,
begging the world for help.

Kind of funny when I really sit down and think about it all, that we INSIST
that the monkeys in our American Zoos consistently have better food, water,
shelter, and medical care than the miserable inconsequential men women and
children living, and dying, miserably, in stupid places like Africa.

Especially since we got our monkeys from Africa in the first place.

What is even more ironic, is that our American Zoos etc are stockpiling
various DNA strains from African etc animals for future "Re-Creation"
projects, while the lowly humans just disappear over there, DNA and all.

Looking down the road to The Future, one can never say that The New American
Nazis were without foresight nor heart.

Common Decency...?   Well...  That's an entirely different matter.

All in all, though, who really cares, forget Africa, it's just full of
filthy monkeys, come to Israel, the place of Jesus, plant a tree, be happy.





Cheeseburger

.

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 23:01:01 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Sun Jun 12 09:08:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FWD: gathering storm on the illegal war - from Phoebe
Message-ID: <QjczWU1EViQ9PCA+NCosMzA1MzQ1MA@Dragon>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20050612/4f19dc29/attachment.htm
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 22:47:44 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 12 09:08:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Meditation 'brain training' clues
Message-ID: <20050613_054744_037067.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Meditation 'brain training' clues **
Meditating monks are giving clues about how the brain's basic responses can be overridden, researchers say.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4613759.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 22:46:28 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 12 09:08:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Date palm buds after 2,000 years
Message-ID: <20050613_054628_018877.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Date palm buds after 2,000 years **
Israeli researchers say they have managed to grow a date palm sapling from a 2,000-year-old seed.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4086348.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 22:45:21 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 12 09:08:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US troops in Afghanistan attacked
Message-ID: <20050613_054521_030077.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US troops in Afghanistan attacked **
A powerful explosion has hit a US military convoy in southern Afghanistan, reports from the area say.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4086588.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 23:02:58 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 12 09:24:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Brush up on your nanotechnology
Message-ID: <20050613_060258_097659.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Brush up on your nanotechnology **
US scientists create the world's smallest brushes, with bristles more a thousand times finer than a human hair.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4085214.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 12 22:44:19 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 12 10:32:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US behind Bolivia crisis - Chavez
Message-ID: <20050613_054419_090382.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US behind Bolivia crisis - Chavez **
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez blames US free trade policies for the recent troubles in Bolivia.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4086452.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Mon Jun 13 00:57:10 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sun Jun 12 11:02:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FWD: gathering storm on the illegal war - from Phoebe
Message-ID: <000701c56fed$81d9e400$1e25b7d8@baby1>

Re:  FWD: gathering storm on the illegal war - from Phoebe



Here's my 2 cents:

I would love to read this article, but it, =as with so many others from
various people at various times here=, arrives as an Attachment (on the
actual Internet where I am reading this), and when the Attachment is opened,
the Below Version is The Form the post arrives to my eyes.

I can read it, but after a quarter of the way through it, I start to go
blind.

If anyone and everyone who sends posts to the MB Civic List here could find
some Other Way to form and send their posts so they are At Least Legible (to
whomever accesses the MB Civic list from The Internet), I for one would
greatly appreciate it, as it both then actually gets read, and who knows
maybe I or someone else might actually learn something instead of passing
html etc scribble up as a waste of time.  Or at the very least, at the top
of the Illegible Attachment, at least edit in an actual Web Site address
that people like me who are unable to read this stuff can go to and try to
find it in a more legible state.  Thanks.

On another note, I did notice one section of this post that quoted an old
proverb or something like "He who does not eat Cheese will go mad.".

Ok, whatever, here I am <rips clothes off revealing rippling muscles and
ripe fresh veins>, this is my body, eat, drink, be full, take a big bite, I
only come around once.

:)



Cheeseburger




==============
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<STYLE type=text/css> P, UL, OL, DL, DIR, MENU, PRE { margin: 0
auto;}</STYLE>

<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2627" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY leftMargin=1 topMargin=1 rightMargin=1><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>
<DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR>forwarded by my friend Michael York<BR><BR>Ministers
Were
Told of Need for Gulf War 'Excuse'<BR>By Michael Smith<BR>The Sunday Times
UK<BR>Sunday 12 June 2005<BR><BR>"The briefing paper, for participants at a
meeting of Blair's inner circle<BR>on<BR>July 23, 2002, said that since
regime
change was illegal it was "necessary<BR>to<BR>create the conditions" which
would make it legal."<BR>Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was
committed to taking<BR>part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had
no
choice but to find<BR>a<BR>way of making it legal.<BR>The warning, in a
leaked
Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair<BR>had already agreed to back
military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a<BR>summit at the Texas
ranch
of President George W Bush three months earlier.<BR>The briefing paper, for
participants at a meeting of Blair's inner circle<BR>on July 23, 2002, said
that since regime change was illegal it was<BR>"necessary<BR>to create the
conditions" which would make it legal.<BR>This was required because, even if
ministers decided Britain should not<BR>take part in an invasion, the
American
military would be using British<BR>bases.<BR>This would automatically make
Britain complicit in any illegal US action.<BR>"US plans assume, as a
minimum,
the use of British bases in Cyprus and<BR>Diego Garcia," the briefing paper
warned. This meant that issues of legality<BR>"would arise virtually
whatever
option ministers choose with regard to UK<BR>participation".<BR>The paper
was
circulated to those present at the meeting, among whom were<BR>Blair, Geoff
Hoon, then defence secretary, Jack Straw, the foreign<BR>secretary,<BR>and
Sir
Richard Dearlove, then chief of MI6. The full minutes of the meeting<BR>were
published last month in The Sunday Times.<BR>The document said the only way
the
allies could justify military action<BR>was to place Saddam Hussein in a
position where he ignored or rejected a<BR>United<BR>Nations ultimatum
ordering
him to co-operate with the weapons inspectors.<BR>But<BR>it warned this
would
be difficult.<BR>"It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in
terms
which<BR>Saddam would reject," the document says. But if he accepted it and
did
not<BR>attack<BR>the allies, they would be "most unlikely" to obtain the
legal
justification<BR>they needed.<BR>The suggestions that the allies use the UN
to
justify war contradicts<BR>claims by Blair and Bush, repeated during their
Washington summit last week,<BR>that<BR>they turned to the UN in order to
avoid
having to go to war. The attack on<BR>Iraq finally began in March
2003.<BR>The
briefing paper is certain to add to the pressure, particularly on
the<BR>American president, because of the damaging revelation that Bush and
Blair<BR>agreed on regime change in April 2002 and then looked for a way to
justify<BR>it.<BR>There has been a growing storm of protest in America,
created
by last<BR>month's publication of the minutes in The Sunday Times. A host of
citizens,<BR>including many internet bloggers, have demanded to know why the
Downing<BR>Street memo<BR>(often shortened to "the DSM" on websites) has
been
largely ignored by the<BR>US<BR>mainstream media.<BR>The White House has
declined to respond to a letter from 89 Democratic<BR>congressmen asking if
it
was true - as Dearlove told the July meeting - that<BR>"the intelligence and
facts were being fixed around the policy" in<BR>Washington.<BR>The Downing
Street memo burst into the mainstream American media only<BR>last week after
it
was raised at a joint Bush-Blair press conference,<BR>forcing the<BR>prime
minister to insist that "the facts were not fixed in any shape or form<BR>at
all".<BR>John Conyers, the Democratic congressman who drafted the letter to
Bush,<BR>has now written to Dearlove asking him to say whether or not it was
accurate<BR>that he believed the intelligence was being "fixed" around the
policy. He<BR>also<BR>asked the former MI6 chief precisely when Bush and
Blair
had agreed to<BR>invade<BR>Iraq and whether it is true they agreed to
"manufacture" the UN ultimatum in<BR>order to justify the war.<BR>He and
other
Democratic congressmen plan to hold their own inquiry this<BR>Thursday with
witnesses including Joe Wilson, the American former ambassador<BR>who went
to
Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking to buy
uranium<BR>ore<BR>for
its nuclear weapons programme.<BR>Frustrated at the refusal by the White
House
to respond to their letter,<BR>the congressmen have set up a website - <A
href="http://www.downingstreetmemo.com"><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.downingstreetmemo.com</FONT></A> -
to<BR>collect<BR>signatures on a petition demanding the same
answers.<BR>Conyers promised to deliver it to Bush once it reached
250,000<BR>signatures. By Friday morning it already had more than 500,000
with
as many<BR>as 1m<BR>expected to have been obtained when he delivers it to
the
White House on<BR>Thursday.<BR>AfterDowningStreet.org, another website set
up
as a result of the memo,<BR>is calling for a congressional committee to
consider whether Bush's actions<BR>as<BR>depicted in the memo constitute
grounds for impeachment.<BR>It has been flooded with visits from people
angry
at what they see as<BR>media self-censorship in ignoring the memo. It claims
to
have attracted more<BR>than<BR>1m hits a day.<BR>Democrats.com, another
website, even offered $1,000 (about &#163;550) to any<BR>journalist who
quizzed
Bush about the memo's contents, although the Reuters<BR>reporter who asked
the
question last Tuesday was not aware of the reward and<BR>has<BR>no intention
of
claiming it.<BR>The complaints of media self-censorship have been backed up
by
the<BR>ombudsmen of The Washington Post, The New York Times and National
Public<BR>Radio, who<BR>have questioned the lack of attention the minutes
have
received from their<BR>organisations.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Man
is
the woman for whom the gods
contend.<BR><BR>***************************************************<BR><BR>M
ich
ael York<BR><BR>18A Whitelands House<BR>Cheltenham Terrace<BR>London SW3
4QX<BR>United Kingdom<BR><BR>Reguliersgracht 33<BR>1017LK Amsterdam<BR>The
Netherlands<BR><BR>Telephone:<BR>London:
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*44 (0)20 7730 0911<BR>Amsterdam: *31
(0)20
6257662<BR><BR>*************************************************<BR><BR>He
who
does not eat cheese will go
mad.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n
bsp
;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nb
sp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(French
proverb)<BR><BR>"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the
intention
of arriving<BR>safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to
skid
in broadside,<BR>thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming -
WOW---What A<BR>Ride!"<BR>~Unknown (via Angie
Buchanan)<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Man is the woman for whom the gods
contend.<BR><BR>***************************************************<BR><BR>M
ich
ael York<BR><BR>18A Whitelands House<BR>Cheltenham Terrace<BR>London SW3
4QX<BR>United Kingdom<BR><BR>Reguliersgracht 33<BR>1017LK Amsterdam<BR>The
Netherlands<BR><BR>Telephone:<BR>London:
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*44 (0)20 7730 0911<BR>Amsterdam: *31
(0)20
6257662<BR><BR>*************************************************<BR><BR>He
who
does not eat cheese will go
mad.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n
bsp
;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nb
sp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(French
proverb)<BR><BR>"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the
intention
of arriving<BR>safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to
skid
in broadside,<BR>thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming -
WOW---What A<BR>Ride!"<BR>~Unknown (via Angie
Buchanan)</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>
============

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:28:17 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:35:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11451533.1118658497090.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Immigration Law as Anti-Terrorism Tool
 
 By Mary Beth Sheridan
 
 Individuals whose U.S. immigration records don't pass muster are more likely to face severe consequences in post-Sept. 11th climate.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:30:04 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:37:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <21427229.1118658604140.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Terrorism Case That Wasn't  --  and Still Is
 
 By Jerry Markon
 
 Soon after  Sept. 11, 2001,  the FBI learned that 18 Middle Eastern men had obtained  licenses in Pennsylvania to haul hazardous materials across the nation's roadways.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100379.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:31:05 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:38:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <6258864.1118658665699.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 U.S. Campaign Produces Few Convictions on Terrorism Charges
 
 By Dan Eggen and Julie Tate
 
 Analysis of the Justice Department's list of terrorism prosecutions by The Washington Post indicates that identifying terrorists in the United States has been less successful than the government has often suggested.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100381.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:33:26 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:40:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <27438832.1118658806150.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Right Conversation for America
 
 By Fred Hiatt
 
 Earlier this month Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld questioned the priorities of editorial pages such as The Post's.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:34:18 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:41:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <24568755.1118658858130.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 China: Containment Won't Work
 
 By Henry A. Kissinger
 
 The relationship between the United States and China is beset by ambiguity. On the one hand, it represents perhaps the most consistent expression of a bipartisan, long-range American foreign policy. Starting with Richard Nixon, seven presidents have affirmed the importance of cooperative relations...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 13 03:36:14 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 13:43:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <153192.1118658974280.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 A Bridge For the Underclass
 
 By Sebastian Mallaby
 
 A few weeks ago I met Mark Kushner, a charismatic product of Harvard and Oxford who dumped lawyering in favor of crusading. Kushner opened a high school in a tough section of San Francisco and took in kids who never counted on making it to college. By demanding high standards, Kushner succeeded in...
 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 13 06:35:17 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun 12 16:43:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - BRITISH MEMO QUERIED U.S. POST-WAR PLANNING
	ON IRAQ
Message-ID: <20050613133517.0063F1B69E@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
BRITISH MEMO QUERIED U.S. POST-WAR PLANNING ON IRAQ
WebPosted Sun Jun 12 22:02:50 2005

---A briefing paper written for British Prime Minister Tony Blair eight
months before Iraq was invaded warned the United States was giving
"little thought" to a postwar occupation, a news report says.

The eight-page document suggested that top British officials thought
Washington was determined to invade Iraq but had done very little
planning for "the aftermath and how to shape it," the Washington Post
reported on Sunday.

"A postwar occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-
building exercise," the memo was quoted as saying.

"As already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on
this point. Washington could look to us to share a disproportionate share
of the burden."

The memo was produced on July 21, 2002 &#8211; eight months before
the United States, Britain and their allies began bombarding Iraq on
March 20, 2003.

Memo incorrect and outdated: White House

The White House reacted angrily to the report of the memo.

"There was significant post-war planning," said spokesman David Almacy,
according to the Associated Press.

"More importantly, the memo in question was written eight months
before the war began; there was significant post-war planning in the
time that elapsed."

He said the military had prepared for some things that didn't happen,
such as large numbers of refugees requiring assistance.

Other problems cropped up that the United States didn't expect, such as
"large numbers of regime elements fleeing the battlefield only to return
later," he said.

"Any time you go to war, you have to be flexible to adapt to the
unexpected. That is why we gave our commanders the flexibility to do so."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:00:45 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:08:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: U.S. Panel's Report Criticizes U.N. and
	Proposes Overhaul
Message-ID: <20050613140045.48C709FC4E@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What incredible chutzpah! The Bush Administration talking about "accountability." Truly the pot calling the kettle black...


WASHINGTON | June 13, 2005
U.S. Panel's Report Criticizes U.N. and Proposes Overhaul
By WARREN HOGE
A Congressionally mandated panel asserts that the U.N. suffers from poor management and a lack of accountability.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/politics/13nations.html?ex=1119326400&en=712e3e3d502edac6&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:01:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:08:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Unabashed Greed in the House
Message-ID: <20050613140105.E39A9249D06@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 13, 2005
Unabashed Greed in the House

A shameful campaign finance bill that would undo much of the post-Watergate reforms is being rushed to the House floor.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13mon2.html?ex=1119326400&en=024b93acb825a7a5&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:01:31 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:08:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: They Won't Go
Message-ID: <20050613140131.5F5EE2371DD@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Bravo!


OPINION | June 13, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: They Won't Go
By BOB HERBERT
With the war in Iraq going badly and allegations of abuse by military personnel widespread, young people are turning their backs on the military in droves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13herbert.html?ex=1119326400&en=0a2e37c2d2c4b5a0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:01:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:09:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: One Nation, Uninsured
Message-ID: <20050613140144.3A8573AE639@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 13, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: One Nation, Uninsured
By PAUL KRUGMAN
With the cost of health care exploding and the number of uninsured growing, the time will soon be ripe for another try at universal coverage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html?ex=1119326400&en=72d5ecd649fa3662&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:03:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:11:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Take My Privacy, Please!
Message-ID: <20050613140348.A456013B81C@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

A must-read....


OPINION | June 13, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Take My Privacy, Please!
By TED KOPPEL
The Patriot Act may turn out to be among the lesser threats to our individual and collective privacy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13koppel.html?ex=1119326400&en=c55e08c48fe4299f&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 13 07:05:38 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:12:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Dr. Dean Speaks,
	for Better or Worse (5 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050613140538.09EA73AE65F@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 13, 2005
Dr. Dean Speaks, for Better or Worse (5 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/l13dean.html?ex=1119326400&en=2f976b727f774a96&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:13:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Long-Exiled General Battles Warlord in
	Lebanon Voting
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 13, 2005
Long-Exiled General Battles Warlord in Lebanon Voting
By JOHN KIFNER
Nearly half the 128-seat Parliament was elected, with 34 Christian seats and 24 Muslim seats at issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/international/middleeast/13lebanon.html?ex=1119326400&en=b6eab65af85c7b4e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:14:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Woman to Join Kuwait Cabinet
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 13, 2005
Woman to Join Kuwait Cabinet
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Kuwait appointed a woman to its cabinet just a month after women won the right to vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/international/middleeast/13kuwait.html?ex=1119326400&en=1c0cae2dd94b87a0&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 17:14:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iranian Women Defy Authority to Protest Sex
	Discrimination
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 13, 2005
Iranian Women Defy Authority to Protest Sex Discrimination
By NAZILA FATHI
The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/international/middleeast/13xwomen.html?ex=1119326400&en=64a2262eabea746f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sun Jun 12 21:56:36 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 18:35:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts
Message-ID: <200506130135.j5D1ZE59030831@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2005/06/10/notes061005.DTL&nl=fix-

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts
Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports.
Is there any hope at all? By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, June 10, 2005


Like anyone is the slightest bit shocked.

Like anyone is the slightest bit appalled anymore by the breathtaking
litany of utter BS oozing forth from the White House these days, this time
about how one of BushCo's top oil-lovin' henchmen has been hacking away at
countless scientific reports for over two years, editing them at will, all
to downplay the effects of emissions on global warming.

His name is Philip Cooney, and he has zero scientific training whatsoever
and was formerly the "climate-team leader" (read: top flying monkey) and a
lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group
representing the oil industry. He is now chief of staff for the White
House Council on Environmental Quality, the group that helps devise and
set the nation's environmental agenda; Cooney's cuts and edits of
scientific emissions and global warming reports often made it into final
White House policy.

Isn't that just the cutest thing? Aren't you just, like, yawning with
ennui at the bitter repetition of it all? At how savagely and biliously
common these stories have become?

Or how about that other story about how Bush's decision not to sign the
Kyoto Treaty, the landmark environmental policy signed by 122 other
nations to reduce greenhouse emissions, was influenced not at all by sound
science or serious concern for the planet, but by pressure put on him by
his pals at ExxonMobil and other major oil corporations? Did you read that
one?

Thus proving what everyone already knows: Bush cares about as much for the
health of the planet and for air quality and for the future of your
miserable stupid emphysemic kids as a snake cares for lip balm.

Or rather, in more plain terms, it means this: The environmental policies
of the most powerful and gluttonous nation on the planet are being written
by the world's most powerful oil company. Which is, of course, a bit like
our national dietary guidelines being written by Burger King, or our
national health care guidelines being written by Merck, or our national
school curricula being written by lost born-again Neanderthal
creationists. Oh wait.

This, as we all now know, is the BushCo way. They lie about environmental
devastation, going so far as to hire known skeptics of global warming to
testify in court against piles of data compiled by thousands of
world-class scientists the world over that prove the obvious direness of
the threat.

They lie about abortion and breast cancer. They lie about unemployment
data and corporate layoffs. They lie about prison-inmate torture, about
intentionally desecrating the Koran and smearing menstrual blood on
prisoners and violating the Geneva Convention the way a lonely farmer
violates a sheep.

They lie about why a gay male model and former prostitute who ran gay porn
Web sites was allowed to pose as a partisan hack reporter in White House
press briefings for over two years, allowed to ask softball questions of
the president and the press secretary and allowed to sleep overnight in
the White House and shall we venture a guess who might've been waiting
down in the dungeon all those nights, all sweaty and adipose, waiting for
hunky Jeff Gannon to come and spank him but good?

And of course, most impressively, BushCo lied about WMDs, about why 
we're
at war, about why we're dumping $5 billion along with dozens of dead U.S.
soldiers and thousands of wounded per month into the Iraq quagmire (total
cost: over $175 billion, and counting -- fast) when our own economy is
gutted and the dollar is at a desperate low and the deficit is at an
all-time high and our education and health care systems are crumbling and
we are, as a nation, essentially running on fumes.

Yes, I know. This isn't even news anymore. Doesn't even raise an eyebrow.
And how sad is that?

So these latest salvos, these latest disgusting proofs of misprision and
environmental abuse, they're just par for the BushCo course, standard
operating procedure for a callous and domineering administration that, if
it can't find the data it needs to support its agenda, simply creates it,
edits it, forces it into existence and crams it down your throat and calls
it sound government policy.

There are, however, glimmers of hope. There are forces of change at work,
despite BushCo's laziness and resistance and despite his administration's
whorelike devotion to Big Oil and Big Coal and despite his outright
ignorance of all things environmental and desperate and imminent.

Look over here. There stand 132 U.S. mayors from all over the nation,
including many Republicans and including some from Texas and including
Bloomberg from New York, who have bucked the general vicious BushCo 
idiocy
regarding global warming and have agreed to carry out the Kyoto Protocol
rules in their own cities, on their own. Seattle, for one, is poised to
become, by the end of this year, the only city in the nation whose
municipal energy utility produces zero net emissions of greenhouse gases.

And over here are the national scientific academies of all G8 nations,
plus those of the three developing countries that consume the most oil on
the planet -- China, India and Brazil -- making an unprecedented political
gesture by signing a common letter declaring that a plan to address global
warming must be put into action immediately, if not sooner.

And they've aimed the letter straight at the mumbling, bumbling BushCo,
whose only decision on greenhouse emissions to date has been to let the
major polluters of the nation self-regulate until 2012, when he's a faint,
painful, cancerous memory and the global warming problem is far worse and
even more dire and is shoved onto the plate of the next guy. Aww, thanks
Dubya.

Even some of BushCo's more rabid followers, even some hardcore 
evangelical
Christians, those intelligent few not wrapped up in the nutball Rapture
Index and who therefore don't believe it's our God-given duty to ravage
the planet and burn through all the resources as fast as possible so as to
hasten the arrival of a really pissed-off, homophobic Christ, even some
powerful evangelicals are urging Bush to get on the global warming issue
ASAP, as, according to the Bible, we are supposed to be good stewards of
the Earth, not its destroyers.

And you know the global warming issue has become dire when even staunch,
lifelong environmental activists like Stewart Brand are beginning to look
anew at the old demon of nuclear power to help ease the energy strain on
the nation. It's not because nuclear reactors have become so beautiful and
safe and desirable. It's because the global warming threat has become just
that ominous. Going back to nuclear is simply the lesser of two evils. We
have little choice.

So there you go. For the next 3.5 years, these alternatives appear to be
the only path, the only means toward change. Via grassroots movements,
regional lawmaking, commonsense ideas, collectives of like-minded people
banding together despite their differences to thwart the idiocy and abuse
and general autocracy of one of the most heartless and corporatized and
least accountable administrations in American history. Think it'll work?
Think we'll make it? Stock up on water, keep your fingers crossed and keep
handy plenty of SPF 1000.


Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every Wednesday and Friday 
on
SF Gate, unless it appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which it never does.
Subscribe to this column at sfgate.com/newsletters.

***



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sun Jun 12 21:58:55 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sun Jun 12 18:36:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Turning Up the Sleaze
Message-ID: <200506130136.j5D1agGt030854@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

"The effects of the new, higher level of corruption on the way the 
country is governed are profound. Not only is legislation increasingly 
skewed to benefit the richest interests, but Congress itself has been 
changed. The head of a public policy strategy group told me: 'It's not 
about governing any more. The Congress is now a transactional 
institution. ...' The theory that ours is a system of one-person, one-
vote, or even that it's a representative democracy, is challenged by the 
reality of power and who really wields it.

Turning Up the Sleaze
By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
Posted on June 8, 2005, Printed on June 9, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/22180/

A jaw-dropping article in the Texas Observer shows that two lobbying 
clients of Jack Abramoff paid $25,000 to Grover Norquist's group for a 
lunch date and meeting with President George W. Bush in May 2001. 
Abramoff brought the Indian chiefs to the White House at the request 
of Norquist, a leading "movement conservative" in Washington. In 
addition, Abramoff obtained $2.5 million in contributions from the 
Indians for a nonprofit foundation run by his wife and himself.

The White House guests were the chiefs of two of the six casino-rich 
Indian tribes represented by Abramoff and his partner Michael 
Scanlon, former top aide to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. The 
$25,000 check from the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana is made out to 
Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax group founded and directed by 
Norquist.

Norquist, Abramoff and Karl Rove have worked together for 30 years, 
since they were national leaders of the College Republicans. Norquist, 
DeLay and Abramoff are all key players in the "the K Street Project" to 
turn the Washington lobby corps into an arm of the Republican Party.

(Obligatory disclosure: The Observer's story, "The Pimping of the 
President," is by Lou Dubose, a freelance writer with whom I have 
written two books and am working on a third. However, Dubose has 
never had anything to do with my newspaper column, nor am I 
involved with any of his journalism. Another reporter who deserves 
credit on this story is Shawn Martin of the Lake Charles (La.) American 
Press, who has followed it from the end of the local Indian tribe.)

The Observer's story comes after a year of denials from the tribe (or at 
least the majority on the tribal council and their lawyer, Kent Hance, a 
major player in Texas Republican circles and former state 
officeholder).

The Observer was too tasteful to crack any jokes about how 
forgettable a meeting with this Great White Father might be. Dubose 
reports: "According to a source close to the tribal majority, Chairman 
Poncho recently 'revisited that issue' of his visit to the White House. He 
had previously denied it because he thought he was responding to 
press inquiries that implied he had a one-on-one meeting with Bush. 
He now recalls that he did in fact go to the White House on May 9, 
2001. ... That meeting lasted for about 15 minutes and was not a one-
on-one meeting. ... Abramoff was at the meeting."

According to the new version, Bush made some general comments 
about Indian policy but did not discuss Indian gaming. Abramoff billed 
the Coushatta $25,000 for the meeting.

"Norquist has not responded to inquiries about using the White House 
as a fund-raiser. It is, however, a regular ATR practice to invite state 
legislators and tribal leaders who have supported ATR anti-tax 
initiatives to the White House for a personal thank-you from the 
president. A source at ATR said no money is ever accepted from 
participants in these events. The $25,000 check from the Coushattas 
suggests that, at least in this instance, Norquist's organization made 
an exception. The $75,000 collected from the Mississippi Choctaws 
and two corporate sponsors mentioned in Abramoff's e-mail suggests 
there were other exceptions. Norquist recently wrote to the tribes who 
paid to attend White House meetings. His story regarding that event is 
also evolving."

Norquist now says the contributions were in no way related to any 
White House event. "That doesn't square with the paper trail Abramoff 
and Norquist left behind, which makes it evident they were selling 
access to the president," Dubose writes.

For an overview of the entire Abramoff scandal and its relation to Tom 
DeLay and the K Street Project -- and what all this means in terms of 
Washington sleaze -- see an article by Elizabeth Drew, "Selling 
Washington," in the June 23 issue of The New York Review of Books. 
Drew and other students of Washington corruption conclude what we 
have here is not so much a difference in kind as in degree of 
corruption -- but of a degree that's making a difference in everything.

Drew writes, "The effects of the new, higher level of corruption on the 
way the country is governed are profound. Not only is legislation 
increasingly skewed to benefit the richest interests, but Congress itself 
has been changed. The head of a public policy strategy group told me: 
'It's not about governing any more. The Congress is now a 
transactional institution. ...' The theory that ours is a system of one-
person, one-vote, or even that it's a representative democracy, is 
challenged by the reality of power and who really wields it.

 (Massachusetts Rep.) Barney Frank argues that 'the political system 
was supposed to overcome the financial advantage of the capitalists, 
but as money becomes more and more influential, it doesn't work that 
way.'"

I doubt there is a more important story in this country today. All 
reporters who want to be the next Woodward and Bernstein should 
follow Dubose and Martin to the local ends of this story.

Molly Ivins writes about politics, Texas and other bizarre happenings.

? 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/22180/


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From jefbek at mindspring.com  Sun Jun 12 23:22:59 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Sun Jun 12 18:58:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] I want to have access to your site!
Message-ID: <BED27453.843%jefbek@mindspring.com>



From MARRAKI at aol.com  Mon Jun 13 02:45:30 2005
From: MARRAKI at aol.com (MARRAKI@aol.com)
Date: Sun Jun 12 18:58:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] How beautiful is our planet!
Message-ID: <200506130146.j5D1kqQT030899@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 13 09:45:41 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 12 19:52:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Opec slashes discount for crude
Message-ID: <BED30645.20A6C%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Opec slashes discount for crude
>By Javier Blas and Carola Hoyos in London
>Published: June 12 2005 22:10 | Last updated: June 12 2005 22:10
>>

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil cartel, has
raised the price of its own oil to the highest level in a year, while
publicly promising to tackle the high cost of oil at this week's meeting in
Vienna.

Emboldened by strong demand and a high oil price that has yet to have a
significant impact on global economic growth, several of Opec's biggest
Middle Eastern producers last week further increased the prices they charge
US and European traders and refiners for their oil.

The decision to increase the costs of actual crude oil from the Middle East
- led by Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer - has gone largely
undetected because New York and London oil futures prices, the world's
benchmarks, have remained almost the same. What has changed is the level of
discount to international futures benchmark prices at which the Middle East
countries sell their crude to the US and Europe.

Last week's adjustment marked a halving of that discount, now at a year's
low. Compounding the impact of the increase in Europe is the fall in value
of the euro against the dollar. For US and European consumers, the price
increase has driven the cost of a barrel of Middle East oil from $37 a
barrel last October to $50, even though the overall world futures oil price
is little changed.

Last winter, consumers were insulated from the increase in futures prices by
the record discounts Opec was offering. But last October's $14.20 discount
for Dubai crude oil, the benchmark for Middle East countries, has shrunk to
$2.

Alarm bells could be sounded, however, if the increased costs started to be
reflected in a larger US trade deficit and slower US and European economic
growth.

"We [the refiners] pay far more for the oil than last winter because of the
discount's reduction and the fall of the euro," a senior executive from a
European refiner said.

But some analysts and delegates at this week's Opec meeting said that the
recent discount cut was justified because of the strong refining margins and
rising fuel oil prices.

The cartel is also concerned about increased stockpiles of oil in the US,
Europe and Asia, which threaten to reduce the power of the group to
determine the timing and volume of its own oil in the market.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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html
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 13 09:48:14 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 12 19:55:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The paradox of thrift
Message-ID: <BED306DE.20A6E%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
The paradox of thrift
>By Martin Wolf
>Published: June 12 2005 19:37 | Last updated: June 12 2005 19:37
>>

Strange things are happening in the world economy: falling interest rates on
long-term ?securities, declining spreads between returns on safe and riskier
assets, large fiscal deficits and huge global current account ?imbalances?
should not, in normal circumstances, coincide. So what is going on?

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, admits that he is ?puzzled.
He has referred to the decline in interest rates on long-term bonds at a
time of rising short-term rates as a ?conundrum?. He returned to the issue
last week when he remarked that ?the unusual behaviour of long-term rates
first became apparent almost a year ago.?* Markets tried to push long-term
rates up early last summer and again in March this year, but in both cases
?forces came into play to make those increases short-lived. But what,?
continued Mr Greenspan, ?are those forces? Clearly, they are not operating
solely in the United States.?

Chart>

Mr Greenspan is correct. The changes are global. So, then, must be the
forces at work. What are they? The answer, in a nutshell, is a global excess
of desired savings against the background of weak investment, low ?inflation
and ever more integrated economies.

Mr Greenspan?s former colleague, Ben Bernanke, has already referred directly
to excessive savings in explaining the explosive growth in the US current
account deficit.** In doing so, he took issue ?with the common view that the
recent deterioration in the US current account primarily reflects economic
policies and other economic developments within the United States itself?.
Instead, he developed what he called an ?unconventional? perspective that
seeks the explanation in the emergence of a ?global savings glut?. He was
right to do so.

To understand the present we need to go back to the 1930s. The ?paradox of
thrift? was the most counterintuitive and, to the classically trained
?economist, morally, theoretically and practically objectionable idea in
John Maynard Keynes? General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,
published in 1936, in response to the Great Depression. It is possible, he
argued, for the private sector to want to save more than it wishes to
invest. That is the paradox: what is good for indi?viduals can be bad for an
economy. Today, at the beginning of a new ?millennium, Keynes? warning is
again apposite.

Unfortunately, in certain circumstances, even lower interest rates may fail
to clear the market for investible funds. This is particularly likely if
inflation is low ? and still more likely ?if it is negative, as has been the
case in Japan for many years. Large fiscal deficits may then be needed to
mop up the excess savings, as has also been the case in Japan. Otherwise,
the economy may fall into a slump.

We are living once again in such a ?Keynesian world. How then does the
argument work? What is the evidence to support it? What are the consequent
dangers for the world economy? And what needs to be done?

Let us start with the economic argument. One likely outcome of a world of
excess desired private sector savings will be high fiscal deficits. These
emerge partly in response to cyclical weaknesses and partly to ?kick start?
sluggish economies. In these circumstances, however, fiscal deficits will
not crowd out private spending, but rather crowd it in, by sustaining
current income and expenditures.

Another likely outcome will be ?reaching for yield?. High desired savings
will lower real rates of interest, and so real return on capital, below
?normal? levels. In response investors are likely to move towards riskier
assets. If the riskiness of previously high-risk investments is also
believed to be lower, perhaps because of success in stabilising inflation at
low levels this tendency will be strengthened.Chart>

Again, if high desired private sector savings are not offset by monetary or
fiscal policy action, current account surpluses will emerge in some
economies. Attempts to keep the exchange rate down will support this
outcome. These are, in the language of the 1930s, ??beggar thy neighbour?
policies. Some trading partners will then need to tolerate offsetting
deficits. In effect, deficit countries act as spenders of last resort in the
world economy.

Now turn to our second big question: how well does the evidence fit the
story? Remarkably well, is the answer.

We can identify only realised, rather than desired, savings. Yet we can note
that the global savings rate ran at the exceptionally high level of 25 per
cent of global output last year. The striking features are the
extraordinarily high, and rising, savings rate of the emerging market
economies and the low, and falling, savings rates of the US (and the UK).

The private sectors of the eurozone and Japan, which generate one-third of
world gross domestic product at market prices between them (22 per cent from
the eurozone and 11 per cent from Japan), are running substantial surpluses
of income over expenditure.Chart>

In both, the principal offset to high private sector financial surpluses has
been government deficits. Japan?s fiscal deficit absorbed just over 60 per
cent of the country?s private sector surplus in 2004 (with the rest going
into the current account), while the eurozone?s fiscal deficits absorbed
over 80 per cent of the private sector surplus.

Despite the fiscal deficits, rough and ready estimates suggest that real
long-term interest rates are below 2 per cent in Japan and Germany. But real
interest rates are low worldwide. According to the International Monetary
Fund?s latest World Economic Outlook, they have not been this low since the
1970s . Then, real interest rates were low because of unexpected ?inflation.
This time, however, low real interest rates are expected: US and UK
?government index-linked government bonds are yielding only 11?2 per cent,
which is less than half their level prior to the late 1990s. Moreover,
inflation risk premiums have fallen since the late 1990s in both the US and
UK.

Default risk premiums on emerging market and riskier corporate debt have
also declined. Since October 2002, spreads over US treasuries of emerging
market debt have fallen by 600 basis points, according to the JPMorgan
index. This reflects not only the reaching for yield, but also an
understandable perception of greater stability in these economies: inflation
is down, balance of payments positions are stronger, as we shall see, and
the last worldwide emerging market financial crisis ended some six years
ago.

Chart>

Finally, there are those notorious external imbalances. As Maurice ?Obstfeld
of the University of California at Berkeley and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard
point out, ?incredibly, the US current account deficit is currently soaking
up about 75 per cent of the combined current account surpluses of Germany,
Japan, China and all the world's surplus countries?.*** Meanwhile, the rest
of the world is running a surplus of savings over domestic investment of
around one-eighth of its gross savings.

Consider the structure of the global balance of payments in 1996 and 2004.
Between these years, the US current account deficit rose by $549bn, to
$666bn. A few other countries also had increases: Australia, Spain and the
UK are examples. Between these years, the aggregate ?current account
surpluses of Japan, the eurozone, Denmark, Norway and Sweden rose from
$189bn to $316bn, a rise of $127bn. But the rest of the world's current
account moved from a deficit of $99bn to a surplus of $329bn, an enormous
swing of $428bn.

Particularly striking has been the shift for the emerging market economies
as a group. Prior to 1997, they ran sizeable current account deficits,
financed by private capital inflows. Since then they have moved into
enormous current account surpluses, combined with huge private capital
inflows.Chart>

Why has this turnround happened? The most important explanation was the
financial crises of the late 1990s, which made everyone more cautious.
Two-thirds of the Asian emerging market economies? swing from current
account deficits to huge surplus occurred between 1996 and 1998 alone. The
crises have cast long shadows. Also significant, however, have been the
recent oil price rises: the Middle East?s current account surplus jumped
from $29bn in 2002 to $113bn in 2004.

The US has been accommodating the excess savings of the rest of the world,
while attempting to run its economy in line with potential. One way of
thinking about this is that in a global economy with no global government,
the most important regional power ? the US ? has been following the
Keynesian recommendation by offsetting excess desired savings elsewhere. The
US authorities did not intend to do that. But that is what they have had to
do to generate a decent recovery at home.

Foreign governments have, more?over, played a huge part in sustaining their
domestic excess savings. According to statistics on the US ?balance of
payments, 42 per cent of the net funding of the US current account deficits
between 2002 and 2004 came from official sources. But these flows are the
result of official intervention, combined with sufficiently tight monetary
and fiscal policies ? and direct intervention in credit markets ? to
?sustain the domestic savings that are the counterpart of the official
flows. In other words, the excess savings are in part a policy choice,
except in Japan, where they are happening more naturally.

Yet another way of seeing the same thing is in accumulations of foreign
currency reserves. In just the three years from 2002 to 2004, foreign
currency reserves rose by $1,680bn to reach a total of $3,730bn.

This analysis allows us to turn to our third big question: what are the
dangers of this way of managing the desired excess savings? The answer is:
large.Chart>

The reason for this is that the solution the world has found to the excess
desired savings involves an explosive increase in US current account
deficits and net external liabilities. If current trends for imports and
exports continued for another 10 years (without further declines in the
dollar), the current account deficit would be well over 10 per cent of GDP
and net liabilities would exceed 120 per cent of US GDP, even without any
adverse shift in the cost of servicing US liabilities. Even if the current
account deficit were to stabilise at the current ratio to GDP (itself
demanding a big improvement on recent trends), the ratio of net ?liabilities
to GDP would rise towards 100 per cent.

As Sebastian Edwards of the University of California at Los Angeles has
pointed out, New Zealand ? a very small economy indeed ? is the only
industrial country to have had a net stock of liabilities of more than 100
per cent of GDP.**** The only industrial countries to have run current
account deficits of over 5 per cent of GDP for more than five years have
been New Zealand and Ireland. The scale of US current account deficits and
prospective liabilities is unprecedented for a large industrial country. To
believe that this will be sustainable is to hope that investors are prepared
to make an open-ended commitment to holding assets that are unhedged against
the foreign exchange (and other) risks created by just one jurisdiction.

True, the huge current account? ?deficit gives the US the happy combination
of guns and butter in the short run. Since the external deficit is bigger
than the fiscal deficit and also bigger than the amount that the US is
spending on its armed forces, either of these can be regarded as a free
lunch, if only for the moment. But even before the market imposes a
reversal, via a sharp decline in the dollar ? delayed perhaps by the tide of
troubles to afflict the euro ? there is the danger of rising protectionism
in the US. Moreover, the longer the correction is delayed the bigger it will
ultimately have to be.

Finally, what needs to be done? The most important conclusion of the
analysis is: reduce the excess saving, particularly in emerging market
economies.Chart>

It cannot make sense for these relatively poor countries to devolve the task
of borrowing and spending on to the vastly richer US. If the people of
emerging economies are to lend on a vast scale to any governments, it should
surely be to their own governments, which should be able to find better use
for the funds now being poured into foreign currency reserves. As the rest
of the world starts to shrink its excess savings, the US should expand its
savings as well, largely by reducing the structural fiscal deficit.

In the short to medium term, the best way for surplus countries to reduce
their excess savings is via fiscal expansion. In the long run, however, what
is needed is financial sector reform that encourages their citizens to spend
a little more enthusiastically.

Large exchange rate changes will also be needed, to facilitate the
?adjustment process. All academic analyses of global balance of payments
adjustment conclude that this will require large changes in relative prices
or, to put it more precisely, in real exchange rates. Under plausible
assumptions, the required adjustment is two times larger than the real
depreciation of the dollar that has occurred so far. Some estimates are much
larger still. Precisely how much of a depreciation will be needed depends on
how large a US current account deficit and net liability position proves
sustainable.

To summarise, excess savings in about 60 per cent of the world economy
largely explain today?s low real interest rates, somewhat manic reaching for
yield, persistent fiscal deficits and growing and dangerous global
imbalances.Chart>

The policies that are playing a part in generating such excess savings are
partly a response to the pain inflicted by past financial crises. But a way
out must be found. Every year additional US liabilities amount to about half
its total exports. The world economy cannot be balanced indefinitely ?
perhaps even for very long ? by pushing its borrower and spender of last
resort into ever-rising liabilities on such a scale.

The world must find a co-operative solution involving adjustments in
spending and saving together with supportive changes in real exchange rates.
Such adjustment will be both painful and risky. But it will not be nearly as
painful and risky as blaming one another, while continuing to do nothing,
instead.


>* ?Remarks by chairman Alan Greenspan to the International Monetary
Conference?, Beijing, People's Republic of China, June 6 2005, www.federal?
reserve.gov;
>
>** ?The global saving glut and the US current account deficit?, April 14 2005;
>
>*** ?Global Current Account Imbalances and Exchange Rate Adjustments?, May 16
2005, http://post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/rogoff/rogoff.html;
>
>**** ?Is the US Current Account Deficit Sustainable? And if not, how costly is
adjustment likely to be?? March 2005, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity,
forthcoming.

Sources for charts: IMF; OECD; Wynne Godley; BEA; Thomson Datastream

martin.wolf@ft.com
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 13 09:54:01 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 12 20:01:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Caution over G8 debt plan for poor countries
Message-ID: <BED30839.20A70%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
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Caution over G8 debt plan for poor countries
>By Chris Giles and Friederike Tiesenhausen Cave
>Published: June 12 2005 12:22 | Last updated: June 12 2005 18:31
>>

While the Group of Eight finance ministers were hailing a "historic
breakthrough" at the weekend after they agreed to cancel the debts of 18
poor but well-governed countries, doubts were already being raised about how
great an impact the deal would have.

Ministers came to a last-minute compromise after Germany and Japan - under
pressure from Gordon Brown, UK finance minister who chaired the London
meeting - watered down the conditions they wanted to be attached to debt
relief.

The agreement, which covers $40bn of debts of 18 heavily indebted poor
countries (HIPC) with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and
the African Development Bank, will cost rich countries $1.2bn a year for the
next three years.

Development campaigners said that while the deal was a step in the right
direction, much higher additional funds were necessary to lift Africa out of
poverty. The Commission for Africa has recommended extra aid flows of $25bn
a year.

As part of the weekend deal the industrialised nations promised more
resources for the World Bank and African Development Bank for the next three
years and made political commitments thereafter.

The IMF will be expected to fund its share of debt relief from its own
resources. The G8 has dropped all its plans for the IMF to sell some of its
gold reserves to fund the relief.

As other African countries meet the conditions in the long-standing HIPC
initiative, they too would also become eligible for debt relief.

Mr Brown said nine more countries were likely to reach the completion point
within the next 18 months.

Mr Brown later stressed the importance of the US agreement to pay between
$700m and $960m more money to the World Bank over the next three years: "We
could not have tolerated a situation where the World Bank was prevented from
giving money to other poor countries because it was not compensated for the
loss of debt interest payments from the heavily indebted poor countries."

But the G8 countries, including the UK, made it clear that initial payments
would come out of existing aid budgets.

Campaigners said it was important that the debt deal should be matched by
extra aid resources.

Stephen Rand, co-chair of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: "The deal is a
step forward, there is no doubt about that. But the amount of money involved
is very small and there is still a long, long way to go."

While the extra commitment covers only the next three years, G8 nations said
at the weekend they would cover the full costs for the duration of the
cancelled loans by topping up their regular payments to the International
Development Agency - the World Bank's lending arm.

But as the regular replenishments are by no means fixed - the US's share of
the contributions to the IDA fell from 20 per cent to around 13 over the
last three years - it is impossible to know if the funds for debt relief
will be additional to the amount the IDA would have received anyway after
2008.

However, the hopeful sign for poor countries is that European governments,
at least, have made substantial commitments to additional development aid
flows in the years to come.

Similar commitments have been made over the past 30 years and European
politicians have cautioned that - given strained budgets - fulfilling these
pledges depends on new revenue streams, such an airline ticket tax.

A sticking point over the weekend had been Germany and Japan's concerns that
100 per cent debt relief could encourage corruption and be seen as rewarding
reckless borrowing among the countries offered the relief.

They had initially wanted to write off a smaller proportion of poor
countries' multilateral debt if they were unable to meet payment schedules,
but bowed in the end to the "political reality" of strong public support for
the deal. Heeding their concerns, the G8 agreed to ask the World Bank and
the IMF for a report on ways to ensure the money was used for poverty
reduction and did not lead to corruption.

The IDA will in the future determine how much money individual countries
receive based on their performance against governance and transparency
criteria.

This means that if corruption in a recipient country increases after debt
relief, it could be penalised in future aid and financial flows. The British
had initially not wanted to include this element in the package but conceded
at the last minute.

Caio Koch-Weser, the German deputy finance minister, sounded a note of
caution on Saturday. He said international financial institutions had with
this deal entered a "new world" that had considerable risks. "We will have
to watch it carefully," he added.
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 13 10:17:53 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 12 20:25:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Criticizes GOP Courting of Black Voters
Message-ID: <BED30DD1.20A77%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Dean Criticizes GOP Courting of Black Voters
    By Brendan McCarthy and Jeff Zeleny
    The Chicago Tribune

    Sunday 12 June 2005

    Chicago - Until President Bush and top Republicans reaffirm their
support for the Voting Rights Act, they should stop courting black voters
and showing up in black churches, Democratic National Committee chairman
Howard Dean said Sunday.

    Dean, speaking in Chicago at a Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference, also
labeled the Fox News Channel a propaganda machine and sharply criticized the
Republican Party, which he said has yet to support re-authorizing certain
provisions of the Voting Rights Act that expire in 2007.

    "I think it's hypocritical for the Republicans to pretend to reach out
to the African-American community unless they say they are going to
reauthorize what gave the African-American community political power," Dean
said in an interview. "I'd love to have the president say whether he's going
to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act."

    After barely registering a double-digit showing among black voters
nationally in last fall's election, the Republican Party has intensified its
efforts to recruit African-American supporters. Chairman Ken Mehlman is
engineering the party's most aggressive outreach to black voters, frequently
speaking in churches and to community groups in an effort to improve the
party's performance among minority voters before the 2006 mid-term elections
and the 2008 presidential race.

    Dean said Republicans should not "pretend" to be genuinely interested in
courting African-American voters until the party makes a clear statement on
the act.

    "The chairman of the Republican Party as you know has made a big deal
about attracting African-American voters," Dean said to conference
attendees. "And this is a litmus test. If you aren't going to support the
extension of the Voting Rights Act, I don't know what right you have to go
to a black church and show your face."

    Dean raised the ire of many GOP leaders last week after issuing several
sharp-barbed comments directed at Republicans. His comments have stirred
criticism among several Democrats, too, who believe his rhetoric is
detrimental to the party.

    Dean's recent remarks drew a rebuke from Vice President Dick Cheney in
an interview to be aired Monday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes,"
according to the Associated Press.

    Cheney called Dean "over the top" and "not the kind of individual you
want to have representing your political party," according to the Associated
Press.

    Asked by a reporter Sunday to reply to Cheney's criticisms, Dean said:
"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and
that I don't comment on Fox News." The response drew applause from the room.

    Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said
Sunday that anger should not be an agenda.

    "Howard Dean can attack Republicans till he is blue in the face,"
Schmitt said in a telephone interview. "But we remain committed to growing
and expanding the Republican Party. He can focus on throwing mud and making
headlines, and we will continue to focus on making inroads in minority
communities."

    The five-day PUSH conference has drawn top political and civic leaders,
educators and labor union officials from across the nation. Dean weighed in
Sunday on voter's rights. Later in the day, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., gave
a speech on improving education to compete in the global economy. Sen. John
Edwards and former President Bill Clinton are scheduled to attend conference
sessions on Monday.

    The Rev. Jesse Jackson formed the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a
Chicago-based progressive organization that fights for social change, in
1971. Jackson led discussion Sunday on the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the
landmark legislation that grew out of the civil rights movement.

    Although the act is permanent, and the right to vote is protected by the
15th Amendment, certain provisions of the act were extended in 1982 and
those parts expire in 2007 unless Congress re-authorizes the measure. These
provisions include ones that ensure non-English speaking voters get
assistance at polling places and another that requires jurisdictions with
segregationist pasts to submit changes in election law to the U.S. Justice
Department for approval.

    The coalition is organizing a march and rally supporting renewal of some
of the law's provisions on Aug. 6 in Atlanta, where President Lyndon Johnson
signed the law 40 years ago. The group is leading a signature drive calling
for the renewal of the act. Jackson said he plans to give President Bush a
petition with 1 million signatures.

 

From lyve at netzero.net  Mon Jun 13 12:26:48 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sun Jun 12 22:46:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean Criticizes GOP Courting of Black Voters
Message-ID: <20050613.122705.20535.75654@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>


...good for Jackson & the Rainbow Coalition-whatever you may think of him.

As I stated before I believe Dean's rhetoric is crucial for the survival of a two party system in America, though some are pushing for one.

He is not detrimental to the party-he's courageous, has passion, and has stirred up the new voters for change. Kick out those Dixie-crats.

"GIVE 'EM HELL, HOWARD!"


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com> wrote:
    Go to Original

    Dean Criticizes GOP Courting of Black Voters
    By Brendan McCarthy and Jeff Zeleny
    The Chicago Tribune

    Sunday 12 June 2005

    Chicago - Until President Bush and top Republicans reaffirm their
support for the Voting Rights Act, they should stop courting black voters
and showing up in black churches, Democratic National Committee chairman
Howard Dean said Sunday.

    Dean, speaking in Chicago at a Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference, also
labeled the Fox News Channel a propaganda machine and sharply criticized the
Republican Party, which he said has yet to support re-authorizing certain
provisions of the Voting Rights Act that expire in 2007.

    "I think it's hypocritical for the Republicans to pretend to reach out
to the African-American community unless they say they are going to
reauthorize what gave the African-American community political power," Dean
said in an interview. "I'd love to have the president say whether he's going
to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act."

    After barely registering a double-digit showing among black voters
nationally in last fall's election, the Republican Party has intensified its
efforts to recruit African-American supporters. Chairman Ken Mehlman is
engineering the party's most aggressive outreach to black voters, frequently
speaking in churches and to community groups in an effort to improve the
party's performance among minority voters before the 2006 mid-term elections
and the 2008 presidential race.

    Dean said Republicans should not "pretend" to be genuinely interested in
courting African-American voters until the party makes a clear statement on
the act.

    "The chairman of the Republican Party as you know has made a big deal
about attracting African-American voters," Dean said to conference
attendees. "And this is a litmus test. If you aren't going to support the
extension of the Voting Rights Act, I don't know what right you have to go
to a black church and show your face."

    Dean raised the ire of many GOP leaders last week after issuing several
sharp-barbed comments directed at Republicans. His comments have stirred
criticism among several Democrats, too, who believe his rhetoric is
detrimental to the party.

    Dean's recent remarks drew a rebuke from Vice President Dick Cheney in
an interview to be aired Monday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes,"
according to the Associated Press.

    Cheney called Dean "over the top" and "not the kind of individual you
want to have representing your political party," according to the Associated
Press.

    Asked by a reporter Sunday to reply to Cheney's criticisms, Dean said:
"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and
that I don't comment on Fox News." The response drew applause from the room.

    Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said
Sunday that anger should not be an agenda.

    "Howard Dean can attack Republicans till he is blue in the face,"
Schmitt said in a telephone interview. "But we remain committed to growing
and expanding the Republican Party. He can focus on throwing mud and making
headlines, and we will continue to focus on making inroads in minority
communities."

    The five-day PUSH conference has drawn top political and civic leaders,
educators and labor union officials from across the nation. Dean weighed in
Sunday on voter's rights. Later in the day, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., gave
a speech on improving education to compete in the global economy. Sen. John
Edwards and former President Bill Clinton are scheduled to attend conference
sessions on Monday.

    The Rev. Jesse Jackson formed the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a
Chicago-based progressive organization that fights for social change, in
1971. Jackson led discussion Sunday on the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the
landmark legislation that grew out of the civil rights movement.

    Although the act is permanent, and the right to vote is protected by the
15th Amendment, certain provisions of the act were extended in 1982 and
those parts expire in 2007 unless Congress re-authorizes the measure. These
provisions include ones that ensure non-English speaking voters get
assistance at polling places and another that requires jurisdictions with
segregationist pasts to submit changes in election law to the U.S. Justice
Department for approval.

    The coalition is organizing a march and rally supporting renewal of some
of the law's provisions on Aug. 6 in Atlanta, where President Lyndon Johnson
signed the law 40 years ago. The group is leading a signature drive calling
for the renewal of the act. Jackson said he plans to give President Bush a
petition with 1 million signatures.

 

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From harperalexander at mail.com  Mon Jun 13 15:05:01 2005
From: harperalexander at mail.com (Alexander Harper)
Date: Mon Jun 13 01:12:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] John McCain on Uzbekistan
Message-ID: <20050613220501.8E9071F50B2@ws1-2.us4.outblaze.com>

Good for him; a pity there are not more Republicans of that ilk.
AlBaraka

When decency and expediency clash 
>By John McCain
>Published: June 13 2005 20:16 | Last updated: June 13 2005 20:16
>>
In the wake of a brutal crackdown last month in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, American policymakers seem to face a dilemma. On the one hand, the US must vigorously protest against the killing of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators and reaffirm that we stand for freedom, not repression. But on the other hand, the US has important military interests in Uzbekistan, including the use of a regional base that assists our efforts in Afghanistan. What is to be done?

While many commentators have described this as a complex problem, I believe the solution is simple. Either the government of Uzbekistan must make immediate, fundamental changes in the way it operates, or America's relations with it must change fundamentally.

First, a few facts. Last month the security services of Islam Karimov, Uzbek president, fired on demonstrators after protesters stormed a prison and local government headquarters. The government contends that fewer than 200 people were killed by the troops, all of them armed Islamic militants. Eyewitnesses, journalists and independent groups tell a darker, much different, story. They estimate the dead at somewhere between 500 and 1,000, and say the vast majority were unarmed men, women and children protesting against the government's corruption, lack of opportunity and continued oppression. In addition to those killed, many others were wounded, and at least 500 fled across the border into Kyrgyzstan.

Two weeks ago, senators Lindsey Graham, John Sununu and I travelled to central Asia, stopping briefly in Uzbekistan. There we saw photographs and heard other evidence that was as compelling as it was shocking, and it is clear that the Uzbek government's account of the events in Andijan simply does not add up. It is also apparent that the killings were just the latest and most dramatic example of government repression in Uzbekistan.

In that country today there are no independent media or true opposition parties. The government's human rights record is appalling, and political rights are virtually unknown. Often in the name of fighting Islamist terrorism, the government rounds up those opposed to its rule, sometimes subjecting prisoners to torture.

The government has provided genuine assistance to the US in the war on terror, and was particularly helpful during the height of our operations against the Taliban. But in a recent editorial in The Weekly Standard, Stephen Schwarz and William Kristol point out: "The Uzbek regime that was part of the solution in 2001 is now, with its bloody suppression of protests, part of the problem." They are right. Uzbekistan today does have a real problem with violent Islamic extremism, but this will worsen because of the regime's record of repression, not in spite of it. The Karimov regime must alter its governance radically, and it should begin by accepting an international inquiry into the Andijan events.

Unfortunately, the only change one sees today is movement in the wrong direction. Since Andijan the regime has rounded up opponents, refused to allow the European Union's human rights envoy to enter the country, denied the Red Cross access to the wounded and imprisoned, and forced the termination of the American Peace Corps operation in Uzbekistan. During our brief visit two weeks ago, no government official would agree to meet us.

If this trend continues, the US has no choice but to re-evaluate all aspects of its relationship with Uzbekistan, and this includes our military relations. While we review our policy, we should suspend any talk of a long-term basing arrangement and look very critically at our continued presence at the Karshi-Khanabad air base.

To do otherwise risks damaging America's credibility as the US puts ever greater priority on the promotion of human rights and democracy abroad. We cannot remain idle while a government with which we have close ties so blatantly contravenes the ideal of freedom. This does not mean that we simply walk away - in fact, allowing Uzbekistan to retreat into isolation poses its own dangers - but it does imply a different kind of relationship, one in which the US explicitly and publicly presses Mr Karimov to change.

Using sticks and carrots to encourage positive change may not be successful, but it would put the US on the right side of history. It would show the Uzbek people that we support their freedom, not simply our narrow security interests, and would actually strengthen our security in the long run. For if we have learnt any lesson from the attacks of September 11 2001, it is that, where repression and despair rule, extremism and violence breed.

This is a lesson that applies just as much to Mr Karimov's government as it does to the US government. And so I hope his regime will realise that the only way to true security is to embrace fundamental freedoms and human rights. But if the US cannot induce change in Uzbekistan, we can at least avoid a close and continuing relationship with its current government. The world will expect no less of us, and we should expect no less of ourselves.

The writer is senior US senator from Arizona and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
 
> 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 13 16:40:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 02:48:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Russia House, After the Oligarchs
Message-ID: <20050613234043.43E3A83D5D@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

BUSINESS / YOUR MONEY | June 12, 2005
The Russia House, After the Oligarchs
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN and STEVEN LEE MYERS
Wherever the unusual journey of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former of chief of Yukos, ends, the economic cast of tomorrow’s Russia has been shaped by his demise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/business/yourmoney/12russia.html?ex=1119326400&en=ea9079e3287004e5&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 13 16:41:39 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 02:48:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: In a Real Estate Boom,
	Many Try Life as a Landlord
Message-ID: <20050613234139.0ED4B249C39@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

BUSINESS / YOUR MONEY | June 12, 2005
Investing: In a Real Estate Boom, Many Try Life as a Landlord
By AMY ZIPKIN
With the stock market stalled, homeowners nationwide are tapping their equity and taking advantage of continued low interest rates to make the most of real estate investing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/business/yourmoney/12rent.html?ex=1119326400&en=40a175663e845b4e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 13 17:02:01 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 13 03:09:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Uzbekistan
Message-ID: <BED36C89.20ABC%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Al Baraka
Good article by John McCain. Doubt Bush will follow.
Thanks for sending.
M

From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 13 17:27:15 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 03:34:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Born on the Fourth of July: The Long Journey
	Home
Message-ID: <20050614002715.30C59B807A@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Born on the Fourth of July: The Long Journey Home
http://www.alternet.org/story/22181

The author shares the inspiration behind his classic antiwar memoir: 'I wanted people to know what it really meant to be in a war--to be shot and wounded, to be fighting for my life on the intensive care ward--not the myth we had grown up believing.'
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 13 17:28:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 03:36:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: The New Blacklist
Message-ID: <20050614002843.BF834B807A@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
The New Blacklist
http://www.alternet.org/story/22206

The Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America -- and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don't like.
-------------------------------------

From Hawaiipolo at cs.com  Mon Jun 13 16:11:35 2005
From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com (Hawaiipolo@cs.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 04:00:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <200506131020.j5DAKmap031969@dune.islandtechnologies.net>



 Could Memo Sink Bush?
By Dave Richardson
The Times Herald-Record UK


Monday 13 June 2005

 
> Hinchey, others demand answers on Downing Street Memo.
 
What if President Bush lied to Congress and the American people, used those 
lies to gain congressional approval for military action against Iraq and 
launched a war that killed 1,700 Americans and tens of thousands of others? 
That might have been a hypothetical question a month ago; it might not be 
hypothetical anymore. 
In fact, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, says the answer to the question 
could lead to the impeachment of President Bush. 
The release of an explosive piece of paper called the Downing Street Memo has 
Hinchey, almost 90 members of Congress and people around the world in an 
uproar. 
The memo provides the closest thing to proof Bush may have lied about Iraq's 
weapons of mass destruction and led the nation into an unnecessary war, 
Hinchey and others say. 
"Attacking Iraq was something the administration focused on from the very 
beginning," Hinchey said. "Bush made the policy, then altered, twisted and 
distorted the facts to fit the policy." 
According to published reports in Britain, the Downing Street Memo, written 
in July, 2002 details a conversation in which British Prime Minister Tony 
Blair, Sir Richard Dearlove, head of British intelligence, and British Foreign 
Secretary Jack Straw discuss a meeting held with U.S. officials on Iraq. 
In the memo, Dearlove warns Blair that Bush had already decided to attack 
Iraq - months before Bush brought the question to the U.N., and while he 
continued to deny, both to Congress and publicly, any plans to do so. Dearlove warned 
that Bush sought to justify that policy by fabricating evidence of Iraqi 
weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi links to Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorist 
attacks. 
"There was a perceptible shift in attitude," the memo quotes Dearlove as 
saying. "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the 
conjunction of terrorism and WMD. 
"But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy." 
The Times of London made the memo public May 1, and has continued to hammer 
it in its pages. 
High-ranking current and former members of both in the British and U.S. 
governments have reportedly confirmed the memo's authenticity. 
Until now, the story has been largely ignored by the U.S. news media and 
dismissed by the Bush administration. But it has prompted massive interest and 
widespread outrage abroad and is a hot topic on internet blogs. 
In the U.S., that outrage is also growing. 
On May 5, Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, sent a letter to Bush 
demanding answers about the memo. 
"If the disclosure is accurate, it raises troubling new questions regarding 
the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own 
administration," Conyers wrote. 
The letter was signed by 88 other members of Congress. Conyers has at least 
90,000 signatures on a petition demanding the same, and hopes to have more than 
500,000 soon. 
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy has a similar petition, and California Rep. 
Maxine Waters has vowed to introduce daily amendments to pending House 
legislation demanding Bush answer questions raised by the memo. 
Hinchey signed Conyers' letter, and had harsh words for Bush. "The Downing 
Street Memo confirms a lot of information coming from insiders in the 
administration and the intelligence agencies, and says clearly that they fixed the facts 
around the policy," Hinchey said. 
So far there has been no official response to Conyers' letter. 
"They are trying to ignore the letter, but we will be back to them on this. 
We will continue to press this," Hinchey said. "It's outrageous. It goes 
against everything this country stands for." 
Representatives of both Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton declined to 
comment directly on the memo or on the House response to it. 
Still, calls for a congressional inquiry into the questions raised by the 
memo are growing louder, with some even discussing a Bush impeachment. 
"If the president intentionally twisted the facts about the Sept. 11 attacks 
and the Iraq war, and lied to Congress about it, and then elicited 
authorization from Congress to launch a war that's caused the deaths of 1,700 U.S. men 
and women along with tens of thousands of others, that is definitely an 
impeachable offense," Hinchey said. 
Downing Street Excerpts 
Key excerpts from the Downing Street Memo, dated July 23, 2002, as reported 
May 1 in the Times of London. The memo details a conversation between British 
Prime Minister Tony Blair and key ministers about a meeting held with U.S. 
officials on Iraq months before the Bush administration officially decided to go 
to war. 
"Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, 
through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and (weapons 
of mass destruction.) But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed 
around the policy." 
"But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD 
capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." 
"There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath of the war." 
Yesterday, the Times released details of a briefing paper written two days 
before the Downing Street memo. The Times reported: 
> "Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking 
> part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a 
> way of making it legal."
> "The briefing paper warned that regime-change was not a legal option, the 
> U.S. and Britain would find it 'necessary to create the conditions' to make the 
> invasion legal."
 
------- 
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun 13 18:09:59 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun 13 04:17:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Poll, Canadians see Bush and Bin ladin as equal threat
Message-ID: <000801c5707d$cb94d9c0$5027e440@Harold>

Canadians see 'International Organized Crime as' as the #1 National Security threat.   

# 2, is Bush and Bin laden as equal National Security threats!

http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/national/story.html?id=ee0db970-7505-416a-b61b-fd1c07e368c0

Makes for an interesting read.

H
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From lyve at netzero.com  Mon Jun 13 22:24:13 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Mon Jun 13 08:33:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Did you get this?
Message-ID: <20050613.222513.20535.83411@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>


<COPY>
Dear Lyle,

Democracy for America

Did you get the memo?
The major media is refusing to cover the breaking scandals around the Downing Street Memos. DFA needs your ideas for how to spread the word.
Tell us at democracyforamerica.com/downingideas

Last week, I sent you the full minutes of a July 2002 meeting where the British intelligence chief -- having just returned to London from the White House -- told Prime Minister Tony Blair that, in regards to Iraq War planning, "the intelligence and facts were being fixed" by the Bush administration.

Those minutes -- the "Downing Street Memo" -- finally made the front page of the Washington Post on Sunday. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) holds hearings on the matter later this week.

But now there's even more: As if we didn't have enough evidence that the White House sacrificed over 1,700 American lives to a war based on trumped-up charges, this past weekend brought news of yet another memo -- this time, the PERSONAL SECRET UK EYES ONLY briefing paper from that July 2002 meeting.

What does the new memo show? That British officials worried about "creat[ing] the conditions in which [they] could legally support military action" -- because they knew the facts made no case for the war Bush had decided to wage. Worse, it confirms the rudely obvious fact that Bush had no clue how to deal with Iraq after toppling the regime. To quote:
"A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise. As already made clear, the US military plans are virtually silent on this point."

See the new EYES ONLY briefing and the Downing Street Memo for yourself:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/memo

Together, these briefings give us the painful, raw truth. In 2002, George W. Bush fixed the facts. He didn't have an exit strategy. He still doesn't. And every day, our sons and daughters in Iraq pay a terrible price because of it.

We need to get out of this mess.

Democracy for America is looking for ideas - yours - on how best to spread the word on the Downing Street papers. Is it reprints in newspapers across the country? Is it a "Did You Get The Memo?" advertising campaign? Or, maybe, it's billboards in Crawford?

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/downingideas

Be creative. The best ideas always come from the grassroots. Later this week, we'll announce the campaign that you help design.

The facts in the memo and the briefing can't be twisted, and they can't be fixed. Together, we're going to get them to as many people as we can -- because America deserves the truth about the White House's failed and misguided policy.

With thanks,
Tom Hughes
Democracy for America


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Mon Jun 13 22:52:17 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Mon Jun 13 09:00:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mars!
Message-ID: <20050613.225246.20535.83559@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>

thanks, Ian-it's popcorn time.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 14 03:52:20 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 13:59:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <26593812.1118746340977.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Jury Acquits Jackson on All Charges
 
 By William Booth
 
 Jury of eight women and four men concluded that the evidence was not sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt that pop star is a predatory child molester. The jurors found him not guilty on all 10 counts.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061300238.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 14 03:54:08 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:01:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <8604374.1118746448596.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 One Strange Case
 
 By Libby Copeland
 
 For years we've longed for someone to tell us what the heck's going with Michael Jackson. An acquittal doesn't clear his name; it only muddies the waters.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 14 03:55:25 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:02:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11667953.1118746525077.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 McCain May Be Bush's Ticket
 
 By E. J. Dionne Jr.
 
 McCain-Bush in 2008? That would be John and Jeb, the most logical Republican ticket if the party remains in the polling doldrums. If President Bush and his political maestro, Karl Rove, decide that the only way to create a political legacy is to nod toward the Arizona senator with whom they have...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301461.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 14 03:56:23 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:03:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <23003582.1118746583346.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Small Step in Their Shoes
 
 By Richard Cohen
 
 Some time ago I interviewed a professor at Howard University who recalled his boyhood in the South and the kindness of a shoe store owner who let him try on shoes. Mostly, blacks were not permitted to try on shoes before buying them -- a feature of Jim Crow racism that took some creativity to come...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301462.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 14 03:58:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:06:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <17264120.1118746725815.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 As the Verdict Comes Down, Pundits' Crystal Balls Go Foggy
 
 By Lisa de Moraes
 
 Television brought the country together like one big rubbernecking family as the verdict was read yesterday in Michael Jackson's 3 1/2 -month trial on child-molestation charges.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301716.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:24:41 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:32:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Feeling the Heat
Message-ID: <20050614112441.C920D24AEBD@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Yes, but is it already too late?


OPINION | June 14, 2005
Today's Editorials: Feeling the Heat

The global warming issue is gaining traction at home and abroad, inspired partly by President Bush's incorrigible stubbornness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/opinion/14tue1.html?ex=1119412800&en=434cdf53790fb1bd&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:25:01 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:32:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced
Message-ID: <20050614112501.0795483DC8@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 14, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
The Pakistani government has gone berserk, kidnapping Mukhtaran Bibi to prevent her from speaking out against rape and honor killings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/opinion/14kristof.html?ex=1119412800&en=ef89f15d86292b2a&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:25:26 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:32:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Madrassa Myth
Message-ID: <20050614112526.E9D3D24AFAF@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 14, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: The Madrassa Myth
By PETER BERGEN and SWATI PANDEY
There is little or no evidence that the Muslim religious schools produce terrorists capable of attacking the West.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/opinion/14bergen.html?ex=1119412800&en=3fe2b52278355e0d&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:27:12 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:34:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Returning Lebanese General Stuns Anti-Syria
	Alliance
Message-ID: <20050614112712.4880783C61@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 14, 2005
Returning Lebanese General Stuns Anti-Syria Alliance
By JOHN KIFNER
The bright promise of the "Cedar Revolution" is dissolving in old vendettas and the unsettling re-emergence of a powerful figure, Gen. Michel Aoun.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/international/middleeast/14lebanon.html?ex=1119412800&en=d8b18632bb870f4f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:27:21 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:34:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Will Israeli Settlements Serve Them,
	Gazan Refugees Ask
Message-ID: <20050614112721.7E4A7A0F78@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 14, 2005
Will Israeli Settlements Serve Them, Gazan Refugees Ask
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Israel is to withdraw from Gaza in two months, but some Palestinians worry about the prospect of chaos.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/international/middleeast/14gaza.html?ex=1119412800&en=1c128bb2a12bf733&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:28:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:35:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iran's Giant Question Mark: To Vote or Not?
Message-ID: <20050614112809.81E6783CF3@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 14, 2005
Letter From the Middle East: Iran's Giant Question Mark: To Vote or Not?
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
The reformist camp finds itself facing a fork in the road: to vote or to boycott the ballot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/international/middleeast/14letter.html?ex=1119412800&en=3d050790db89839b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 14 04:29:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 13 14:37:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Supreme Court Won't Hear Pleas to Restore
	Media Ownership Rules
Message-ID: <20050614112954.0100D24AEC7@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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BUSINESS / MEDIA & ADVERTISING | June 14, 2005
Supreme Court Won't Hear Pleas to Restore Media Ownership Rules
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Supreme Court turned away several appeals from broadcast and newspaper groups that sought to restore new government rules easing restrictions on media ownership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/business/media/14media.html?ex=1119412800&en=6c0dee7681a3127e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun 14 06:42:06 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 13 16:50:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - 'MISSISSIPPI BURNING' JURORS START ARRIVING
Message-ID: <20050614134206.C932D69AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
'MISSISSIPPI BURNING' JURORS START ARRIVING
WebPosted Mon Jun 13 11:09:34 2005

---Security was high Monday as up to 400 potential jurors began arriving
for a trial involving a 41-year-old crime that turned a small town in
Mississippi into a byword for racial hatred.

Edgar Ray Killen, 80, was first tried in the 1960s on charges involving
the deaths of three young anti-segregation workers in the town of
Philadelphia, Miss.

James Chaney, a black man from Mississippi, and his white colleagues,
Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner of New York, were killed in 1964
while trying to register black voters in the southern state.

The FBI found their bodies 44 days later.

Killen was the only man ever indicted on state charges in the deaths
during what was dubbed Mississippi's "Freedom Summer," but he was not
brought to trial for murder before now.

The part-time preacher watched from a wheelchair Monday as prospective
jurors, about a third of them black, were examined at the Neshoba County
courthouse.

 FROM JAN. 6, 2005: Arrest made in 1964 civil rights murders

Killen was one of several alleged Ku Klux Klan members who faced federal
charges of violating the victims' civil rights, but his trial ended in a
hung jury.

A female juror later said she couldn't find a preacher guilty, despite
the strong evidence that the part-time preacher had participated in the
vicious murders that inspired the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning.

The three young men had been driving through the town of Philadelphia,
while investigating the torching of a church used to register voters,
when Klansmen stopped them.

Goodman and Schwerner were shot in the chest. Chaney was shot but he was
also beaten, to the point that half the bones in his body were broken.

In recent years, a group called the Philadelphia Coalition had pressed
the state to bring Killen to trial, saying that would be the only way to
remove the stigma on the town of 7,300.

Killen was finally arrested in January and faces a two-week trial on
murder charges.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Tue Jun 14 06:47:55 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Mon Jun 13 16:55:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Illicit rice trade endangers biotech
	barriers
Message-ID: <20050614134755.4A12D98E8@mullet.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Illicit rice trade endangers biotech barriers
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday June 14 2005
The Guardian


Genetically engineered strains of the world's most important staple crop, rice, could creep on to the global market through the back door, Greenpeace warned yesterday after disclosing that GE rice was being sold illegally in China. 

The government in Beijing is still debating whether China should become the first country to switch to transgenic rice, but the environmental group said scientists and seed factories may be trying to bounce the authorities into a decision by making the controversial product so widely available that there is no turning back.  

Under pressure to feed the world's biggest population, the government has launched advanced field trials of at least two strains of GE rice in Hubei and Fujian provinces.  

The trials are supposed to be controlled so that they do not contaminate neighbouring fields or enter the market. Licences for commercial production have not been granted.   

But Greenpeace said at least 29 tonnes of genetically modified rice seeds, capable of producing as much as 14,500 tonnes of rice, had been illegally sold in Hubei this year. Last month, it found the seeds in local markets; yesterday it said the rice was being sold as far away as Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in the south.  

A laboratory in Germany found that the samples contained the Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium, genetically inserted to kill pests.   

The products had reportedly been sold under the names of two seed manufacturers owned by Huazhong Agriculture University, responsible for the trials of GE rice in Hubei.  

"This calls into question the whole regulatory environment surrounding GE rice," said a Greenpeace campaigner, Sze Pang Cheung. "It may be that researchers are taking advantage of the weak law enforcement in Hubei province so that as much rice as possible is contaminated and people have to take it for granted."   

Despite intense lobbying by the biotech industry, politicians have hesitated to grant a commercial licence to GE rice because the long-term impact is uncertain.  

About a quarter of China's agricultural land is used for rice production and it provides a third of the calorie intake for its 1.3 billion people.  

The proponents of GE rice say that yields of the crop are 7% to 15% higher than usual and it uses fewer agrochemicals, which will improve the environment, lower prices and in crease profits. Opponents, however, warn that the health risks are unclear and that GM crops could harm biodiversity by wiping out wild species of rice.  

The impact on other countries is still to be determined. As well as the possibility that modified crops could contaminate regular paddy fields, the rice could also be exported overseas, either directly or in the form of processed produce. Britain is unlikely to be greatly affected as it does not import much rice from China.  

However, the accusations, if confirmed and not acted upon, would create doubts about China's recent ratification of a UN treaty that aims for more transparency and control over trade in genetically modified foods.  

The Chinese government has yet to respond to Greenpeace's recent claims.  

The father of China's GE rice programme, Professor Zhu Zhen of the Chinese Academy of Science, insisted, however, that there were no risks. In comments made before the recent Greenpeace claims, Prof Zhu told the Guardian he expected that half of China's agricultural produce would be genetically modified by 2015.  

"We have strong government support for biotechnology and our scientists have made advances in fundamental research into hybrid strains and mapping the genome sequence of rice. So I think it is possible for China to take a leading position in the field of genetically engineered rice," Prof Zhu said.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 14 08:42:35 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 13 18:50:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Microsoft censors Chinese blogs
Message-ID: <20050614_154234_052511.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Microsoft censors Chinese blogs **
Microsoft's Chinese internet service is censoring what people can say in their online journals.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4088702.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 14 08:44:31 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 13 18:51:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Brain cells are matured in lab
Message-ID: <20050614_154431_080743.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Brain cells are matured in lab **
Scientists say they have duplicated the process of generating new adult brain cells in a controlled way in the lab.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4087202.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From moveon-help at list.moveon.org  Tue Jun 14 09:40:54 2005
From: moveon-help at list.moveon.org (Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org)
Date: Mon Jun 13 20:00:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] This time, it's for real: Save NPR and PBS
Message-ID: <200506140300.j5E30RAZ001564@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Dear MoveOn member,

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is
slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really.
Check the footnotes if you don't believe us.)

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, 
starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other 
commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most 
severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull 
the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?id=5663-615480-BrmD5p6zEZN1_qiASPVCow&t=3

If we can reach 250,000 signatures by the end of the week, we'll put 
Congress on notice. After you sign the petition, please pass this 
message along to any friends, neighbors or co-workers who count on NPR 
and PBS.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year -- $100 
million -- and end funding altogether within two years [1]. In 
particular, the loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Sesame 
Street," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur" and "Postcards from 
Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might 
not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate 
sponsorships.

This shameful vote is only the latest partisan assault on public TV and 
radio. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which exists to shield 
public TV and radio from political pressure, is now chaired by Kenneth 
Tomlinson, a staunch Republican close to the White House. Tomlinson has 
already forced one-sided conservative programs on the air, even though 
Tomlinson's own surveys show that most people consider NPR "fair and 
balanced" and they actually trust public broadcasting more than 
commercial network news [2].

Tomlinson also spent taxpayer dollars on a witch hunt to root out 
"liberal bias," including a secret investigation of Bill Moyers and PBS' 
popular investigative show, "NOW." Even though the public paid for the 
investigation, Tomlinson has refused to release the findings [3].

The lawmakers who proposed the cuts aren't just trying to save money in 
the budget -- they're trying to decimate any news outlets who question 
those in power. This is an ideological attack on our free press.

Talk about bad timing. Every day brings another story about media 
consolidation. Radio, TV stations and newspapers are increasingly 
controlled by a few massive corporate conglomerates trying to maximize 
profits at the expense of quality journalism. Now more than ever, we 
need publicly funded media who will ask hard questions and focus on 
stories that affect real people, instead of Michael Jackson and the 
runaway bride.

As the House and Senate consider this frightening effort to kill public
broadcasting, they need to hear from its owners -- you.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?id=5663-615480-BrmD5p6zEZN1_qiASPVCow&t=4

Thank you for all you do,

--Noah, Wes, Jennifer, Eli and the MoveOn.org Team
  Tuesday, June 14th, 2005

P.S. You can learn more about the threat to public broadcasting from our 
friends at Free Press at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=748

Sources:

1. "Public Broadcasting Targeted By House," Washington Post, June 10, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

2. "CPB's 'Secrets and Lies': Why the CPB Board Hid its Polls Revealing
Broad Public Support for PBS and NPR," Center for Digital Democracy, April
27, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=746

3. "Republican Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases," New York
Times, May 2, 2005
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0502-01.htm

________________

Subscription Management:
This is a message from MoveOn.org. To change your email address, update your contact info, or remove yourself (Michael Butler) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=5663-615480-BrmD5p6zEZN1_qiASPVCow
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun 13 21:30:03 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 20:36:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Wind Power--enough energy for the whole world
Message-ID: <200506140336.j5E3a4YL001637@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050523_windpower.html 

Powerful New Map: Where the Wind Blows
By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
23 May 2005

	

A new map highlights spots where there is enough wind to provide 
electricity to the whole world ? and then some.

In putting together a global and U.S. map, researchers found wind 
power could provide 40 times more electricity than is needed 
worldwide.

Scientists gathered wind speed data from about 8,000 locations on the 
planet ? 7,500 surface stations and 500 balloon-launch stations. They 
measured the wind speeds 260 feet (80 meters) above the ground 
surface, which is the height of a modern wind turbine?s hub.

At the surface stations, they could only measure wind speeds at 33 
feet (10 meters), but they developed a method to figure out what that 
meant for winds at the more important height.

They found that 13 percent of the 8,000 spots were capable of 
averaging Class 3 wind speeds throughout the course of the year. 
Class 3 winds are greater than 15.4 mph (6.9 meters per second), 
which is considered strong enough to be economically feasible.

"What this means is quite amazing," Cristina Archer, of Stanford 
University and co-author of this study, told LiveScience. "If you pick 10 
random locations on the planet, that means one, or even two, of these 
are suitable for wind power generation."

If harnessed, these sites with Class 3 and higher wind speeds could 
provide 72 terawatts of electricity ? enough to run 1.2 trillion 60-watt 
light bulbs or 48 billion toasters.

"We would be fools not to use it," Archer said.

About 2.5 million wind turbines -- together capturing about 20 percent 
of what's available based on the new maps -- would be needed to 
produce all the world's electrical needs, Archer said.

The wind doesn?t blow constantly, however, and it cannot be adjusted 
to follow electricity demand. Archer hopes that one day the bulk of our 
electricity will come from green energies, like wind power, with the 
gaps being filled by more reliable and traditional energies, like the 
burning of fossil fuels.

This new map is seen as a step in that direction. It demonstrates 
where power companies could get the best bang for their buck in wind 
farms ? mostly near coastlines.

"I wouldn?t necessarily recommend installing a wind farm based only 
on our map. But it?s definitely a starting point," Archer said.

The results, and additional maps, are detailed in the May issue of The 
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun 13 21:30:44 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 20:39:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Internet under attack in Congress. Act now.
Message-ID: <200506140339.j5E3dPFR001650@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

A bill just introduced in Congress would take away the right of cities 
and towns across the country to provide citizens with universal, low-
cost Internet access.
Giant cable and telephone companies don?t want any competition -- 
which might actually force them to offer lower prices, higher speeds 
and service to rural and urban areas.
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) -- a former telephone company 
executive -- has introduced a bill (HR 2726) that would let cable and 
telecom companies shut down municipal and community efforts to 
offer broadband services.
You can stop this outrageous bill. Send a message to your 
representative now.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=19022384&url_nu
m=2&url=http://www.freepress.net/action/sessionsbill
Next, forward this message to everyone you know ...
No less than the future of all communications is at stake. In a few 
years, television, telephone, radio and the Web will be accessed 
through a high-speed internet connection. Low-cost alternatives to 
telephone (DSL) and cable monopolies are emerging across the 
country, as cities, towns, nonprofits and community groups build low-
cost "Community Internet" and municipal broadband systems.
Companies like SBC, Verizon and Comcast have been introducing 
laws state by state that would prohibit municipal broadband, undercut 
local control and prevent competition. But we've been fighting back -- 
and winning.
An alliance of public interest groups, local officials, high-tech 
innovators and organized citizens have defeated anti-municipal 
broadband measures in nine of the 13 states where they've been 
introduced this year.
What the industry couldn't pass in the states, they're trying to push 
through in Washington. Sessions' bill -- the "Preserving Innovation in 
Telecom Act" (an Orwellian title if there ever was one) -- would prevent 
state and local governments from providing "any telecommunications 
service, information service or cable service" anywhere a corporation 
offers a similar service.
Congressman Sessions worked for telephone giant SBC for 16 years, 
and his wife currently serves as a director of Cingular Wireless, an 
SBC subsidiary. SBC and its employees have been Sessions' second-
biggest career patron, pouring more than $75,000 into his campaign 
coffers.
We can stop this legislation and send a clear message to Congress 
that local communities -- not the giant telephone and cable companies 
-- should determine their own communications needs. But you must 
act now.
Please send a letter opposing HR 2726 -- and forward this message to 
everyone you know, asking them to do the same.
Onward,
Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net
-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun 13 21:31:07 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun 13 20:39:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Throwing America a Life Preserver--study clarifies
	terrorism solutions
Message-ID: <200506140339.j5E3drUB001672@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

[Michael Scheuer is the former CIA officer who wrote "Imperial Hubris"
under the nom de plume of "Anonymous."]

Antiwar.com - 10 June 2005
http://www.antiwar.com/scheuer/?articleid=6286

Throwing America a Life Preserver

By Michael Scheuer

Professor Robert Pape's brilliant new book "Dying to Win: The
Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism" gives Americans an urgently
needed basis for devising a strategy to defeat Osama bin Laden and
other Islamist militants. In scholarly and low-key prose, Pape
delivers the results of his own extensive research and that done by
the University of Chicago's Project on Suicide Terrorism. In so
doing, Pape demolishes the relentlessly repeated assertion of the
neoconservatives and Israeli politicians that Islamist suicide
attacks against America and other counties are launched by
undereducated, unemployed, alienated, apocalyptic fanatics who are
eager to kill themselves because Americans vote, have civil
liberties, and allow women to drive cars. This assertion always has
been transparently false, and I have argued so in my own work on
al-Qaeda. It has been, however, an assertion that is easy to protect
because its authors simply dismiss their critics by calling them
anti-Semites, thereby foreclosing debate. But Pape avoids
contentious rhetoric and employs facts to kill the assertion, and he
does so coolly and with the precision of a Marine sniper.

The basis of Dying to Win is Pape's study of the 315 known suicide
terrorist attacks that occurred in the world between 1980 and 2003,
attacks carried out by Muslims, Tamils, Sikhs, and Kurds. Pape
concludes that "the data show there is little connection between
suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, or any of the world's
religions."

"Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common is
a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies
to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists
consider to be their homeland. Religion is rarely the root cause,
although it is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in
recruiting and in other efforts in service of the broader strategic
objective."

Yes, Pape has documented both the valid logic behind the use of
suicide attacks - they are an effective weapon for an inferior force
fighting a great power, especially a pain-averse, democratic great
power - and the reality that groups using such attacks are playing
for strategic stakes: Their goal is victory, not mere destruction.
The suicide attacks by each of the groups studied in Dying to Win,
Pape concludes, were "mainly a response to foreign occupation rather
than the product of Islamic fundamentalism." In sum, America faces a
logical, patient, and deliberate enemy, one with clear strategic
goals. This enemy is attacking because he perceives his country,
culture, and/or religion are under attack. In addition, Pape shows
conclusively that suicide attackers are usually respected and even
revered in their own societies because they are defending those
societies against a foreign threat. Simply put, Pape suggests there
is no sound reason to believe the pool of potential suicide
attackers can be dried up as long as their societies perceive an
existential threat to their existence.

Pape's conclusions flow into a set of recommendations that cannot be
too highly commended to American leaders and citizens, whatever
their political persuasion: For near-term self-defense, America must
kill as many of this generation of terrorists as possible while
simultaneously beginning to terminate the interventionist policies
and presence that motivate our present enemies and, if continued,
will motivate greater numbers in the next generation. Pape warns
that the hands-on, Wilsonian crusaders who today control both U.S.
political parties have already vastly increased the likelihood of
another 9/11 attack via their efforts to use military force to
spread democracy abroad; this he calls the "taproot" of the suicide
attackers' motivation. Pape argues that the "most important" concept
for Americans - the leaders and the led - is that

"[A]n attempt to transform Muslim societies through regime change is
likely to dramatically increase the threat we face. The root cause
of suicide terrorism is foreign occupation and the threat that
foreign military presence poses to the local community's way of
life. Hence, any policy that seeks to conquer Muslim societies in
order, deliberately, to transform their culture is folly. Even if
our intentions are good, anti-American terrorism would likely grow,
and grow rapidly."

This reality, Pape recognizes, will require changes in America's
relations with the Persian Gulf states, getting our military out of
Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula, and the implementation of an energy
policy that makes Arab oil production substantially less important
to our economy. In other words, America must heed John Quincy Adam's
advice that disaster lurks for America in every effort it undertakes
to destroy monsters abroad in order to install democracy in their
place. What Adams knew based on historical study and intuition, Pape
has splendidly documented with cold, hard facts. All honor and
praise to Professor Robert Pape and his colleagues at the University
of Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism not only for solid and
penetrating research, but for leaving the neoconservatives, the
Israelis, and the world's other Wilsonian democracy-installers with
the formidable task of finding a way to attribute "anti-Semitism" to
the mass of data painstakingly accumulated and evenhandedly
presented in the invaluable book, "Dying to Win."



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 14 10:37:48 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 13 20:45:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Putin backs Blair =?iso-8859-1?q?=B9?= s G8 Africa agenda
Message-ID: <BED463FC.20B51%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Putin backs Blair?s G8 Africa agenda
>By Jean Eaglesham in Moscow
>Published: June 13 2005 14:02 | Last updated: June 13 2005 14:02
>>

Russia has called for international support for the former Soviet states, as
an effective quid pro quo for backing Britain?s proposals for helping
Africa. Following a meeting on Monday with Tony Blair, the British prime
minister and current Group of Eight chairman, president Vladimir Putin said
Russia ?fully supported? the agenda on Africa and climate change set by the
UK for next month?s G8 summit.

But Mr Putin made it clear he wants Britain to reciprocate this endorsement
by backing proposals to help the Commonwealth of Independent States when
Russia takes over the G8 presidency next year. ?Hopefully next year we will
be able to impartially assess the situation in these countries with our
colleagues. We don?t always have easy going relations, especially with some
of the CIS countries, but they want support,? Mr Putin said. ?We need not
turn this CIS space into a battle field -- rather we should turn it into a
space of cooperation.? The countries he highlighted as needing international
backing included Georgia and Moldova.

Mr Putin also signalled he wants Britain to include the US in any G8
agreements on addressing climate change. He pointed out that, unlike the US,
Russia had ratified the Kyoto protocol on climate change and said it was
?not an easy process. It?s important for us now how that will be followed
up,? he said.

The two leaders put on a determined show of unity following their two hours
of talks in president Putin?s country residence just outside the Russian
capital. Relations between Russia and the UK have been fraught in recent
years, with arguments over the Iraq war exacerbated by rows over Britain?s
decision in 2003 to grant asylum to two of Mr Putin?s strongest opponents,
Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakaev.

But Mr Blair and Mr Putin both sought to play down these continuing
tensions. Mr Putin highlighted the ?developing cooperation? in the energy
sector, where British companies have invested billions of dollars, notably
through BP?s joint venture with the TNK oil company.

The British prime minister in turn saluted the ?very strong? Anglo-Russian
relationship. He apologised for his absence from last month?s 60th
anniversary celebrations of victory in Europe day in Moscow, saying he had
been ?preoccupied? at the time with forming a new government after Britain?s
general election. Mr Blair heaped lavish praise on the heroism and courage
of the Russian people during the Second World War.

The only potential note of discord came when British journalists asked Mr
Putin how he could advocate reforms to governance in Africa, given Russia?s
mixed track record on human rights and concerns -- heightened by the recent
trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oil tycoon -- that the country is
recruiting from democratic reforms. Mr Putin replied by comparing the
criticisms to those endured by Britain in relation to Northern Ireland and
by accusing Africans of cannibalism. ?We know that African countries used to
have a tradition of eating their adversaries. We don?t have such a tradition
and I believe the comparison of Africa and Russia is not quite just,? the
Russian president said.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/73683d22-dc26-11d9-819f-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From marsha.erman at cox.net  Tue Jun 14 11:28:55 2005
From: marsha.erman at cox.net (Marsha)
Date: Tue Jun 14 00:46:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] [Fwd: Fwd: Fw: Remember those days....]
Message-ID: <200506140746.j5E7kMvs002081@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


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From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun 14 16:58:50 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 03:06:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Lovesick Cruise et al. is bad reality TV
Message-ID: <29289119.1118793530298.JavaMail.turbine@s75>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Lovesick Cruise et al. is bad reality TV 
--------------------

Somewhere at the intersection between aberrant star behavior and insatiable audience voyeurism, we've created a new entertainment form: celebrity reality TV.

By Patrick Goldstein
Times Staff Writer

Jun 14 2005

The last few weeks have been a Lollapalooza when it comes to our unending fascination with strange celebrity behavior. Just consider: Russell Crowe has been on an apology PR tour after heaving a telephone at a hotel desk clerk. Lindsay Lohan has been reduced to denying reports that Disney had her much-gossiped-about breasts digitally reduced to avoid offending families coming to see "Herbie: Fully Loaded." Brad Pitt took "Primetime Live" sob-sister Diane Sawyer all the way to poverty-ridden Ethiopia to avoid talking about Angelina Jolie, only to find himself inundated with insinuating queries about his busted marriage. Jolie had her lawyer warning interviewers about discussing her personal life. Christian Slater managed to get arrested for allegedly groping a woman's bottom on a New York street corner. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-goldstein14jun14,0,6120538.story
From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun 14 17:02:29 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 03:09:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pattern of Deception Persists in Tillman's Death
Message-ID: <31197956.1118793749956.JavaMail.turbine@s80>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Pattern of Deception Persists in Tillman's Death 
--------------------

Army's latest statement just doesn't wash.

Robert Scheer

June 14 2005

On Saturday, Mary Tillman went to a graduation party, corrected essays written by her junior high school students and got the house ready for a visit from her mother. Life goes on, even though the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of her famous football-playing son never fully leaves her thoughts. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer14jun14,0,1246392.column 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun 14 18:13:05 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 04:40:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] John Pilger : Sleeping With The Enemy
Message-ID: <200506141140.j5EBeqAt002514@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Today's commentary:
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-06/11pilger.cfm

==================================

ZNet Commentary
Sleeping With The Enemy June 11, 2005
By John Pilger 

The National Union of Journalists and the Blair government are planning a
"launch" ceremony, at which they will announce their "partnership".
According to John Fray, the NUJ's deputy general secretary, this
collaboration will "promote awareness among journalists of the issues that
surround the struggle against poverty on a world scale... We want to help
the media to tell it like it is."

In a glossy letter to NUJ members, Fray says that joining hands with the
government is "enhancing the understanding of the need for a positive
approach to international development amongst those who report and 
comment
on the issues...". For this "positive approach", the government is paying
the journalists' union 80,000 pounds. What a bargain price for the
principle of independence from power.

A "partnership" with the NUJ is a master stroke for a rapacious British
government whose "aid" and "debt relief" are intended to mask, as Gordon
Brown put it, an "obligation" on the poorest countries to "create the
conditions for [business] investment". The chief civil servant at the
Department for International Development wrote, "We are extending our
support for privatisation in the poorest countries from the power sector
in India to the tea industry in Nepal."

Since when did privatisation have anything to do with "the struggle
against poverty"? Privatisation is about control of markets and profit.
Period. Britain's "new global deal" for the poor is one of those brilliant
propaganda illusions that enjoy widespread sycophancy among
courtier-journalists who, like rock stars, prefer to think of their
government as benign, regardless of its record of exploitation, lying and
violence. That's how Blair got away with his WDM lies for as long as he
did and how he's getting away with "aid" tied to extremist free market
World Bank and IMF policies that have devastated the poorest countries. 

For example, Zambia was pressured to sack thousands of teachers if it
wanted to qualify for "relief". As Caroline Pearce of the Jubilee Campaign
says: "Debt is used as a tool of control."

Now in the pay of the government, will the NUJ tell this truth about
aid,"like it is"? Will John Fray publish another glossy newsletter, this
time describing how the Department for International Development, his new
"partners", have handed out millions of pounds of "aid" money to the far
right-wing Adam Smith Institute, and Halcrow and KPMG, to push
privatisation, such as water? And what will be the NUJ's new "positive
approach" to the Blair government's impoverishing arms sales to 14 of
Africa's most conflict-ridden countries?

The NUJ, of which I have been a life-long member, has done excellent work
highlighting abuses against fellow trade unionists around the world, as in
Colombia. I asked Jeremy Dear, the general secretary, about his new
"partners". He, too, cited the NUJ's work in Colombia, "the most dangerous
country for journalists in the world, where the British government fund
the murderous Uribe regime." He then disclosed that the union was taking
money from the Foreign Office in order to establish in Colombia "the first
independent trade union for journalists so they can expose what is going
on in their country." 

This is the same Foreign Office that is "fund[ing] the murderous Uribe
regime". Such is the familiar game of having it both ways: a game at which
governments are well practised.

He also revealed that, in the Ukraine, "dozens of NUJ activists" had taken
British government money to set up "an independent union for journalists".
How independent is it? The Ukraine is, of course, a Washington/Whitehall
"showcase project". He also said the union was taking British government
money for its work promoting press freedom and journalists' safety in Iraq
and Palestine. "There is not one single example of the NUJ compromising
its independence as a result of securing outside funding," he said, "...
and no government or individual can buy it."

Accepting tainted money - money from the same source that "funds a
murderous regime" - is itself a compromise, and a dangerous one. Why
should a government, which has a clear, ideological world view and a
proven record of warmongering, give money to a trade union whose members
should be exposing not collaborating with its manipulations? I urge my
fellow NUJ members to take up that question urgently, remembering that the
current US government also funds journalists who also protest their
innocence.

What this "partnership" promises is harm to the union's credibility
abroad, because it will be seen as yet another example of "embedding". It
also lowers a threshold, demonstrating just how insidious "embedding" has
become, as if it now has a certain legitimacy. In Iraq, the BBC, embedded
up to its ears, has all but lost its credibility, because it broadcasts
the occupiers' news - rarely spelling out that 80 per cent of the deaths
are caused by the Americans and their clients. Read the instructive
exchanges between the editors of MediaLens (www.medialens.org) and Helen
Boaden, the head of BBC News, about why the BBC has remained silent on
American atrocities in Fallujah and the use of Napalm, and why it
suppresses independent eye-witness reporting.

Another form of embedding was clear in most of the reporting of the
"shock" rejection of the European constitution. The French were
caricatured as haters of change, ratting on the "European dream". On 29
May, the Observer, once a celebrated liberal newspaper, published a
cartoon headed "The Completely Bonkers Frog". The image of a huge farting
frog might have been lifted from an especially grotesque Sun front page. 

That a spectacular majority in two European nations voted against the
market fundamentalism that has torn the very fabric of British life was
not the news. Neither was the fact that 80 per cent of working class
people and 60 per cent of those under 25 voted against the greed of the
European rich and the autocracy of the central banks: against poverty,
unemployment, war and the betrayal of post-war social democracy once
proclaimed as a mainstay of Europe's post-fascist ideal of "never again".
(How desperate the true right are; with the contortion of intellect and
morality that distinguishes New Labour, Denis MacShane, a former Blair
minister, smeared the voters with the absurdity they were beckoning
fascism and anti-Semitism).

It was also a vote against media-ism. Almost the entire French media had
demanded a "yes" vote, and the "shock" was theirs. There is a lesson in
all this for journalists who care about their craft. Millions of people
across the world no longer credit the "global" (western) media as
independent or truthful. This is especially so of young people. In Korea,
during the last general election, a majority turned to the internet for
their political news, dismissing the likes of CNN and their own
establishment media, just as people in Stalinist countries used to.

For most human beings, the evidence of their lives is that consumerism is
not democracy and "globalisation" is a vicious war against the poorest, a
form of terrorism, and millions of them are taking action. The National
Union of Journalists should not collaborate with their enemy.



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun 14 18:35:35 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 04:42:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Downing Street Directive
Message-ID: <20050615013535.9B360B807D@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Downing Street Directive
http://www.alternet.org/story/22220

In the wake of newly uncovered British documents showing there was no postwar plan for Iraq, critics are launching a renewed offensive against the Bush administration and its justification for war.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun 14 18:36:45 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 04:44:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Something Rotten in Ohio
Message-ID: <20050615013645.4CAC5B808B@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Something Rotten in Ohio
http://www.alternet.org/story/22222

The disturbing truths about the last election in Ohio have been largely ignored by the press and the Congress.
-------------------------------------

From jameshburns at webtv.net  Tue Jun 14 19:09:54 2005
From: jameshburns at webtv.net (Jim Burns)
Date: Tue Jun 14 05:17:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Power of the Future  (Energy)
In-Reply-To: mb-civic-request@islandlists.com's message of Tue, 14 Jun 2005
	04:41:03 -0700
Message-ID: <12733-42AF8DF2-304@storefull-3274.bay.webtv.net>


Power of the Future: 10 Ways to Run the 21st Century
http://www.livescience.com/environment/top10_power_21stcentury.html 


Scientists are racing to perfect greener sources of energy to improve
the environment and reduce dependence on oil and other fossil fuels.
Some predict a hydrogen economy. Others say solar is the way to go.
Wilder schemes involve sky-high wind turbines or antimatter engines.
LiveScience explores the expectations, myths and realities of 10 top
possibilities



Solar 


If things go according to plan, construction on a giant solar tower
could begin in Australia in 2006. The 3,280-foot tall tower will be
surrounded by a vast greenhouse that will heat air to drive turbines
around the base of the tower. It is estimated that the power station
will be able to generate 200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power
200,000 households. 

Solar energy requires no additional fuel to run and is pollution free.
Sunlight can be captured as usable heat or converted into electricity
using solar, or photoelectric, cells or through synchronized mirrors
known as heliostats that track the sun's movement across the sky.
Scientists have also developed methods for using solar power to replace
a gas-powered engine by heating hydrogen gas in a tank, which expands to
drive pistons and power a generator. 

Drawbacks of solar energy include high initial cost, and the need for
large spaces. Also, for most solar energy alternatives, productivity is
subject to the whims of air pollution and weather, which can block
sunlight. 


Coal 


Coal was the fuel that powered the Industrial Revolution, and it has
played an increasingly larger role in meeting the world's energy needs
ever since. The major advantage of coal is that there is lots of it,
enough to last the world for another 200-300 years at current rates of
consumption. 

While its abundance makes it very economical, burning coal releases
impurities like sulfur and nitrogen into the air, which can combine with
water in the atmosphere to form acid rain. 

Burning coal also produces large amounts of carbon dioxide, a gas that
according to most climate scientists contributes to global warming.
Major efforts are underway to find new ways of making coal burn cleaner
and to recover waste coal, a formerly unusable byproduct of coal mining. 


Wind 


Taking the concept of windmills one step further, or higher, scientists
want to create power stations in the sky by floating windmills
15,000-feet in the air. The strange crafts will be kept afloat by four
propellers that double as turbines, and feed electricity back to earth
through a cable. 

Wind energy currently accounts for only 0.1 percent of the world's
electricity demands, but that number is expected to increase as wind is
one of the cleanest forms of energy and can generate power as long as
the wind blows. 

The problem, of course, is that winds don't always blow, and wind power
cannot be relied upon to produce constant electricity. There is also
concern that wind farms could impact local weather in ways that are yet
to be fully understood. Scientists hope that taking windmills to the
skies will solve these problems, since winds blow much stronger and more
consistently at high altitudes. 


Petroleum 


Some call it black gold. Whole empires are based upon it; wars have been
fought over it. 
One reason petroleum, or crude oil, is so valuable is because it can be
transformed into a variety of products, everything from kerosene to
plastic and asphalt. Whether it's a source for the future is hotly
debated. 

Estimates of how much petroleum is left in the 
Earth vary wildly. Some scientists predict that petroleum reserves will
reach a peak and then rapidly decline as early as 2005; others believe
that enough new reserves will be discovered to meet world energy needs
for several more decades. 

Like coal and natural gas, petroleum is relatively cheap compared to
other fuel alternatives, but its use comes at the larger cost of
environmental damage. Oil use produces large amounts of carbon dioxide,
and oil spills can damage fragile ecosystems and are extremely difficult
to clean up. 


Biomass 


Biomass energy, or biofuel, involves releasing the chemical energy
stored in organic matter such as wood, crops, and animal waste. These
materials are burned directly to produce heat or refined to create
alcoholic fuels like ethanol. 

But unlike some other renewable energy sources, biomass energy is not
clean, since burning organic matter produces large amounts of carbon
dioxide. It may be possible, however, to offset or eliminate this
difference by planting fast growing trees and grasses as fuel supplies. 
Scientists are also experimenting with using bacteria to break down
biomass and produce hydrogen for use as fuel. 

One exciting but controversial biofuel alternative involves a process
known as thermal conversion, or TCP. Unlike conventional biofuels, TCP
can convert practically any type of organic matter into high quality
petroleum with water as the only byproduct, proponents claim. It remains
to be seen, however, whether Changing World Technologies, the company
that patented the process, can produce enough oil for it to become a
viable fuel alternative. 


Hydroelectricity 


Whether falling, flowing, or otherwise moving in tides or under-ocean
currents, water can be harnessed to produce electric power. 

Hydropower supplies approximately 20 percent of the world's electricity.
Until recently, it was generally believed that water energy is an
abundant natural resource that requires no additional fuel and produces
no pollution. 

Recent studies, however, challenge some of these claims and suggest that
hydroelectric dams can produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide and
methane through the decay of submerged plant material. In some cases,
these emissions rival that of power plants running on fossil fuel.
Another drawback of dams is that people often need to be relocated. 

In the case of the Three Gorges Dams Project in China -- which will be
the largest dam in the world when completed in 2009 -- 1.9 million
people were moved and countless historical sites were flooded and lost. 
   
 
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion


Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth, and water is a natural solar
energy collector. OTEC, or ocean thermal energy conversion, aims to
exploit this fact and use the temperature differences between surface
water heated by the sun and water in the ocean's chilly depths to
generate electricity. 

OTEC plants generally fall into three categories: 

Closed Cycle: A liquid with a low boiling point like ammonia is boiled
using warm seawater. The resulting steam is used to operate an
electricity-generating turbine; the vapor is then cooled using cold
seawater. 

Open Cycle: Similar to the closed cycle OTEC, except there is no
intermediate liquid. The warm seawater is converted into low-pressure
vapor that is used to generate electricity. The vapor is then cooled and
turned into usable fresh water with cold seawater. 

Hybrid Cycle: A closed cycle OTEC is used to generate electricity, which
is then used to create the low-pressure environment necessary for the
open cycle. 


OTEC plants can double as fresh water sources and the nutrient rich
seawater drawn from ocean depths can be used to culture marine organisms
and plants. The major drawback of OTEC is that since they operate on
such small temperature differences, generally about 36 degrees
Fahrenheit (20 Celsius), they are only 1 to 3 percent efficient.
   
 
Nuclear


Albert Einstein told us that the line between matter and energy is a
fuzzy one. Energy can be produced by either splitting or combining
atoms?processes known as fission and fusion respectively. 
Nuclear fission releases harmful radiation and produces large amounts of
radioactive material, which can remain active for thousands of years and
can destroy entire ecosystems if leaked. 

There is also concern that nuclear material could be used in weapons. 

Currently, most nuclear power plants use fission, as fusion requires
tremendous amounts of energy to produce and maintain the necessary high
temperatures. But a natural phenomenon known as sonoluminescence might
one day provide a means of duplicating the power of the stars?which
are themselves just giant nuclear fusion reactors -- in a beaker of
liquid. 

Sonoluminescence refers to the flash of light produced when special
liquids are struck by high-energy sound waves. The sound waves rip
through the liquid and produce tiny bubbles that rapidly expand and then
violently collapse. Light is produced in the process, but more
importantly, the insides of the imploding bubbles reach extremely high
temperatures and pressures -- enough, some scientists speculate, for
nuclear fusion to occur. 

Scientists are also experimenting with methods to create controlled
nuclear fusion by accelerating "heavy" hydrogen ions in a powerful
electric field.


Fuel Cells

At first glance, hydrogen fuel cells might seem like the perfect
alternative to fossil fuels. They can generate electricity using only
hydrogen and oxygen and are pollution free. An automobile running on
hydrogen fuel cells would not only be more efficient than one powered by
an internal combustion engine, its only emission would be water.

Unfortunately, while hydrogen is the most 
abundant element in the universe, most of it is bound up in molecules
such as water. That means pure unbound hydrogen must be produced with
the help of other energy sources -- which in many cases involve fossil
fuels. If that's the case, then many of the environmental benefits of
hydrogen as a fuel are negated. 

Another problem with hydrogen is that it cannot be compressed easily or
safely, and requires large tanks to store. Also, for reasons that are
not fully understood, hydrogen atoms have a tendency to bleed through
the materials encasing them, thus weakening their containers. 

Honda introduced last year a scooter that uses fuel cell technology.
   
 
Antimatter


Antimatter is the Bizarro twin of matter, made up of antiparticles that
have the same mass as ordinary matter but with opposite atomic
properties known as spin and charge. When the opposed particles meet,
they annihilate each other and release tremendous amounts of energy as
dictated by Einstein's famous equation, E=mc2. 

Antimatter is already in use in a medical imaging technique known as
positron emission tomography (PET), but its use as a potential fuel
source remains in the realm of science fiction. 

The problem with antimatter is that there is very little of it in the
universe. It can be produced in laboratories, but currently only in very
tiny amounts, and at prohibitively high costs. And even if the problem
of production could be solved, there is still the knotty question of how
to store something that has a tendency to annihilate itself on contact
with ordinary matter, and also how to harness that energy once created. 

NASA funds research into creating antimatter drives that could one day
take humanity to the stars, but dreams of antimatter-powered starships
as seen on Star Trek are still a long way off, all experts agree.    


? 2005 Imaginova Corp. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Tue Jun 14 19:25:35 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (HS)
Date: Tue Jun 14 05:32:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Yahoo! News Story - Republican Party on Yahoo! News
	Photos
Message-ID: <20050615022536.3E7EC236FF4@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

HS (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Personal message:

Hiel Bush

Republican Party on Yahoo! News Photos
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050615/ids_photos_ts/r1876538514.jpg

============================================================
Yahoo! News http://dailynews.yahoo.com/


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Tue Jun 14 19:35:38 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Tue Jun 14 05:43:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Former Bush aide says WTC collapse bogus !
Message-ID: <000a01c57152$ed841340$3227e440@Harold>

Now this is interesting. Former Bush aide says theory on WTC collapse bogus, more like a controlled demolition.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htm

H
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Tue Jun 14 20:34:35 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Tue Jun 14 06:40:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheney's Big Mouth
Message-ID: <000b01c5715b$27dec280$6f25b7d8@baby1>

Cheney's Big Mouth



CheeseComment:

This is just the first post about the subject matter re: Cheney talking
about Dean's mother in public.  Thought I'd put it up, if you want to read
the followups to this one, you can go to:

http://www.democrats.org/blog/comment/00012199.html

My personal opinion, other than "Cheney and people like Cheney" should be
brought up for a 5 minute trial and then hung from the nearest tree to the
White House lawn and then have their bodies displayed publicly for 6 months
so the children of America can get a good look at what eventually happens to
pure non-democracy based swine, is that he should be more careful what he
says, after all this is actually a "Mother" country before it is a "Jesus"
country, believe it or not.  All one has to do is piss off enough mothers in
America and we would see an immediate if not sooner "regime change".  If
only people like MADD had enough sense to have something other than just
alchohol on their minds.  Oh well, spartan to the bitter end, here's one
person's small comment about Cheney and his mouth:



Speaking on Fox News yesterday, Dick Cheney said about Governor Dean, "Maybe
his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does." Leave it to
Cheney, who while on a stage called a reporter an "a-hole" and while on the
floor of the U.S. Senate told a Senator to "go f--" himself, to start
talking about the Governor's mother.

Besides his trash talking, Cheney also lied about Governor Dean's record
during his tirade. The same man who lied about the al Qaeda-Iraq connection
being "well established" (and then lied about lying about it) said that
Governor Dean "has never won anything".

In fact, leaving aside his unanimous election as DNC Chairman in February,
Howard Dean has won more elections than Dick Cheney - including five terms
as Governor in a state 20% larger by population than Wyoming, where Cheney
was elected to the U.S. House.

And don't look for Cheney to be winning any more elections anytime soon -
polls show his lame duck administration to be one of the most unpopular in
history, and Democrats to be the party that shares the values (PDF) of more
Americans. This administration's time is clearly up - don't expect Cheney at
the top of any ticket next time around, because the American people have had
enough.

The Governor, for his part, responded to the comments as such: "My view is
Fox News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment
on Fox News."

Just based on the last week alone, I'd have to say he's right.


.

From jefbek at mindspring.com  Tue Jun 14 23:17:37 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Tue Jun 14 09:26:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "it's hard work"
Message-ID: <BED51611.86F%jefbek@mindspring.com>

Hi!

This is my first e-mail to post! I feel very passionate, as I'm sure the
mb-Civic readers do that Bush MUST be stopped. The following is a very
passionate plea:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/11888623.htm

Peace,

Jef

From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Wed Jun 15 00:20:40 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Tue Jun 14 10:28:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "it's hard work"  "GANDHI
In-Reply-To: <BED51611.86F%jefbek@mindspring.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F2213CAD2C85A61592F71C8B8F20@phx.gbl>


        Passion has a long history.   I  quote from GANDHI.   "What 
difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether 
the mad destrution is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy 
name of liberty and democracy?"     I emphathize with the mother.  
Marylouise


>From: Jef Bek <jefbek@mindspring.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] "it's hard work"
>Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 23:17:37 -0700
>
>Hi!
>
>This is my first e-mail to post! I feel very passionate, as I'm sure the
>mb-Civic readers do that Bush MUST be stopped. The following is a very
>passionate plea:
>
>http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/11888623.htm
>
>Peace,
>
>Jef
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! 
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Wed Jun 15 01:21:44 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Tue Jun 14 11:29:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "it's hard work"
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV225B9C50A75E4A77952DE4ABF20@phx.gbl>

Welcome Jef,

We are all very passionate on this list... :-)  that is what makes it so special.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Jef Bek
Sent: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 23:17:37 -0700
To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
Subject: [Mb-civic] "it's hard work"

Hi!

This is my first e-mail to post! I feel very passionate, as I'm sure the
mb-Civic readers do that Bush MUST be stopped. The following is a very
passionate plea:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/11888623.htm

Peace,

Jef

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic


From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 15 03:22:28 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 13:29:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <25269365.1118830948277.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 No Progress on Bolton Effort
 
 By Charles Babington
 
 A key Democratic senator warned yesterday that the Bush administration may be losing ground in its bid to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, as the White House continued to rebuff Democrats' request for documents related to the nominee.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401462.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 15 03:24:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 13:32:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <9385828.1118831092177.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The End of Europe
 
 By Robert J. Samuelson
 
 Europe as we know it is slowly going out of business. Since French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed constitution of the European Union, we've heard countless theories as to why: the unreality of trying to forge 25 E.U. countries into a United States of Europe; fear of ceding excessive power...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401340.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 15 03:26:27 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 13:33:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <24216890.1118831187398.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Airport Security's Grand Illusion
 
 By Anne Applebaum
 
 If you happen to be reading this while standing in one of those disturbingly slow, zigzag lines at airport security -- looking repeatedly at your watch, wondering if this time you really will miss the plane -- here's something to make you feel worse: Almost none of the agony you are experiencing is...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401346.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 15 03:28:04 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 13:35:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <7275199.1118831284658.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Long Road to the Promised Land
 
 By David Ignatius
 
 BEIRUT -- The road here from Damascus last week was a billboard for democracy, quite literally. The moment you crossed the border, you saw huge posters touting the various candidates in this month's parliamentary elections, and the banners continued every hundred yards or so over the mountains and...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 15 03:29:32 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Tue Jun 14 13:36:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <17394128.1118831372418.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Iraq, Then and Now
 
 AFTER LAGGING for months, debate on Iraq in Washington is picking up again. That's a needed and welcome development, but much of the discussion is being diverted to the wrong subject. War opponents have been trumpeting several British government memos from July 2002, which describe the Bush...
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:35:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:43:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Squelching Public Broadcasting
Message-ID: <20050615123536.DE9D424AE54@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 15, 2005
Editorial: Squelching Public Broadcasting

The House Republicans who voted to gut federal support of public broadcasting are attacking a valued institution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/opinion/15wed2.html?ex=1119499200&en=274c734ccf735b1b&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:35:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:43:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: With Friends Like This...
Message-ID: <20050615123536.6F4D124AEBC@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 15, 2005
Editorial: With Friends Like This...

Being allies with Pakistan should include pressing its president, Pervez Musharraf, to adopt minimum standards of human rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/opinion/15wed1.html?ex=1119499200&en=27cc734ccb735b1b&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:35:52 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:43:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Let's Talk About Iraq
Message-ID: <20050615123552.3384924AFAB@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 15, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Let's Talk About Iraq
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
This is no time to give up on Iraq — this is still winnable — but it is time to ask an urgent question: What is our strategy?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/opinion/15friedman.html?ex=1119499200&en=38e7d375d8bcc85c&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:36:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:43:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Interactive Truth
Message-ID: <20050615123629.C8B7D13B7DA@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 15, 2005
Guest Columnist: The Interactive Truth
By STACY SCHIFF
We're happier to swallow a half-baked Renaissance religious conspiracy theory than to examine the historical fiction we're living (and dying for) today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/opinion/15schiff.html?ex=1119499200&en=18a79c8d783992e0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:37:43 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:45:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Invasions of Privacy
Message-ID: <20050615123743.02C18237188@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 15, 2005
Invasions of Privacy

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/opinion/l15koppel.html?ex=1119499200&en=ebb8ac141aef3c62&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:38:50 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:46:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: British Seek to Thin Iraq Ranks,
	Add Afghan Forces
Message-ID: <20050615123850.52D2D13B737@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 15, 2005
British Seek to Thin Iraq Ranks, Add Afghan Forces
By SARAH LYALL
The British Defense Ministry hopes to reduce its troop levels in Iraq "sooner rather than later," and to send more troops to Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/europe/15britain.html?ex=1119499200&en=a1f3ae9d8f430237&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:39:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:47:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: China Is Said to Consider $15 Billion
	Bailout of Stock Market
Message-ID: <20050615123953.0DA0111F9D1@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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BUSINESS / WORLD BUSINESS | June 15, 2005
China Is Said to Consider $15 Billion Bailout of Stock Market
By DAVID BARBOZA
The creation of a huge fund to invest in mainland stocks would be the Chinese government's most striking effort yet to prop up share prices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15yuan.html?ex=1119499200&en=9848ea7be6c36ad4&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:43:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:50:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Denounces Democrats as Focusing on
	Obstruction
Message-ID: <20050615124310.F316B11F9AF@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 15, 2005
Bush Denounces Democrats as Focusing on Obstruction
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
President Bush spent Tuesday replenishing his party's coffers and struck an aggressive new tone by accusing Democrats of standing for nothing but obstructionism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/politics/15bush.html?ex=1119499200&en=81c36d7931bcf288&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:44:41 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:52:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Self-Imposed Ban on Drug Ads
Message-ID: <20050615124441.66F60237170@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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BUSINESS / MEDIA & ADVERTISING | June 15, 2005
Advertising: A Self-Imposed Ban on Drug Ads
By STEPHANIE SAUL
The drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb said that it had imposed a ban on advertising its new drugs to consumers in their first year on the market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/business/media/15adco.html?ex=1119499200&en=c7f017b292e4d43c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 15 05:45:02 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 14 15:52:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Former Bush Aide Who Edited Reports Is
	Hired by Exxon
Message-ID: <20050615124502.25FF5A0FFD@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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Typical!!!


WASHINGTON | June 15, 2005
Former Bush Aide Who Edited Reports Is Hired by Exxon
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Philip A. Cooney, who revised government scientific reports on global warming, resigned as chief of staff for President Bush's environmental policy council on Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/politics/15climate.html?ex=1119499200&en=8147faf2d7e4935b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Wed Jun 15 09:12:21 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Tue Jun 14 19:19:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re 9/11 controlled demolition
Message-ID: <20050615161221.87552.qmail@web53006.mail.yahoo.com>

i think it deserves a full copy and paste...

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htm

UPI Hears...
By John Daly
UPI International Correspondent

Washington, DC, Jun. 13 (UPI) -- Insider notes
from United Press International for June 8

 A former Bush team member during his first
administration is now voicing serious doubts
about the collapse of the World Trade Center on
9-11. Former chief economist for the Department
of Labor during President George W. Bush's first
term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official
story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus"
and that it is more likely that a controlled
demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent
Building No. 7. Reynolds, who also served as
director of the Criminal Justice Center at the
National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and
is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University
said, "If demolition destroyed three steel
skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11,
then the case for an 'inside job' and a
government attack on America would be
compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas
A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the
importance of a scientific debate over the cause
of the collapse of the twin towers and building
7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is
wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on
such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely
to be correct either. The government's collapse
theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms.
Only professional demolition appears to account
for the full range of facts associated with the
collapse of the three buildings."
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 15 11:31:46 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 14 21:39:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 'Record volume rise' in world energy consumption
Message-ID: <BED5C222.20BF9%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
'Record volume rise' in world energy consumption
>By Thomas Catan in London
>Published: June 14 2005 20:53 | Last updated: June 14 2005 20:53
>>

World energy consumption surged 4.3 per cent last year, the biggest
percentage rise since 1984 and the largest volume increase ever, according
to new figures from BP, the oil company.

Burning fossil fuels at a faster rate also resulted in the largest absolute
increase in carbon emissions, adding to the stock of ?greenhouse gases?
blamed for global warming.

BP's annual statistical review, released on Tuesday, showed that the
fast-growing economies of Asia were responsible for a large portion of the
rise. China's fuel consumption rose by 15.1 per cent and India's by 7.2 per
cent.

Global consumption of oil also rose by 3.4 per cent, or 2.5m barrels a day,
the biggest increase since 1978. Some 900,000 b/d of that increase in demand
came from China, but BP said the demand also rose strongly across virtually
every region.

?Overall, the growth of global oil demand has outstripped oil production
capacity growth, reducing the level of spare capacity,? said David Allen,
group managing director of BP. ?That has been the fundamental cause of the
oil price increases we've seen over the last two years.?

The average oil price in 2004 was $38 a barrel, BP said, up from $29 a
barrel in 2003 and the highest ever figure expressed in ?money-of-the-day?.
The oil price has averaged about $49 a barrel so far this year.

At the same time, Britain and Australia suffered large falls in oil
production they pumped 10 per cent and 13.9 per cent less respectively.

Even so, BP said there was no shortage of available energy resources. At
present production rates and without taking into account future discoveries,
the world has enough oil to last 40 years and enough natural gas to last 60
years, according to BP.

Lord Browne, chief executive of BP, said last week he expected world oil
prices to remain at more than $40 a barrel until new supplies came on stream
in the next three to four years.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6af9ba8a-dd0c-11d9-b590-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
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     EMAIL THIS | Close
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 15 11:36:48 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 14 21:44:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] An odd time to be rising
Message-ID: <BED5C350.20BFC%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Buttonwood

An odd time to be rising
Jun 14th 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


Europe?s share prices are rising smartly even though Europe itself seems to
be falling apart


DOES it strike anyone else as odd that European shares are jumping ahead
these days? The future of the euro, perhaps even of Europe, looks more than
a bit uncertain. Each new economic statistic is soggier than the last. Yet
France?s CAC 40 has risen by 1.7% since its citizens voted against the
proposed European constitution, and it touched a three-year high en route.
Frankfurt?s DAX has gone up by 3.5% and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 by
3.1%. America?s S&P 500, meanwhile, has risen by a mere 0.2% and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average has slipped by 0.2%. Looking at total returns,
which include dividends along with share-price movements, the pattern is the
same. And so it has been since before the beginning of the year.

At first glance this looks like another conundrum. Economic growth in the
euro area is likely to be just 1.4% this year, according to the European
Central Bank, and most expect the forecast to be cut again before long. Of
the zone?s biggest economies, Italy is in flat-out recession, while France
and Germany are barely growing, with unemployment of around 10%. Britain,
outside the euro area, has enjoyed good economic growth, but house prices
are now trending down and consumer spending is slowing. Across the Atlantic,
by contrast, the United States is growing at about 3.5% and unemployment is
just over 5%. So, why are European shares doing so well?

The first answer is that they aren?t, exactly. As the chart below shows,
translated into dollars, European shares have done roughly the same as
American shares. The dollar has strengthened by over 12% this year against
the euro, and is likely to strengthen further as the gap between American
and European short-term rates increases.

This means that foreign investors in euro-area shares have seen some of
their profits lost in translation. But the strong euro had been a millstone
around the necks of Europe?s exporters: Italy, of all places, became a net
importer of shoes last year. The weaker euro brings hope of export-led
growth. Among the higher-flying European shares these days, points out James
Barty, head of tactical asset allocation at Deutsche Bank in London, are
those that are most sensitive to exchange-rate moves. These include
Richemont, a luxury-goods maker, whose stock has risen by 13% over the past
month, and capital-goods manufacturers such as SKF, which is up by 7.5%.

A recent shift in expectations about interest rates is another part of the
answer. As recently as a couple of months ago, their likely direction seemed
to be upwards in America and undecided in Europe. Investors now seem to
reckon that the Fed will soon find lower growth a greater threat than higher
inflation and stop hiking interest rates?though a rise looks virtually
certain later this month. Ten-year Treasuries have recently flirted with
yields below 4%. In Europe the ECB is being pressed to cut short rates, and
most expect the Bank of England to lower rates.

When bond yields fall (ie, bond prices rise) and look likely to stay down,
shares tend to look undervalued by comparison?and investors rush in. This is
happening, to some degree, in both America and Europe. But there is a
difference. Europe?s shares are relatively cheaper than American ones to
start with, and its bonds are dearer. Yields on ten-year German Bunds, for
example, are 93 basis points lower than the yield on ten-year Treasuries.
Euro-area shares, meanwhile, are selling for 13 times forecast 2005
earnings, on figures from Deutsche Bank, while S&P 500 shares are trading at
price-earnings (p/e) multiples of 16. So the comparison between dividend
yields and bond yields favours shares even more in Europe than it does in
America.

It is a bit misleading to compare share indices across boundaries, because
their sectoral composition can be quite different. Europe, for example, is
reckoned lighter in growth stocks than America, so some argue that it is
logical for the index to reflect lower p/e multiples. Stripping out sectoral
differences, however, Mislav Matejka, head of European equity strategy at
J.P. Morgan Chase, finds that European shares (excluding health care) sell
at a 15% discount to American shares.

Is that discount justified? Probably not. True, share prices are supposed to
reflect expectations about future profits, and long-term trends favour
America. Productivity is increasing faster there than in Europe and its
working-age population is decreasing more slowly, so a growth gap of some
magnitude is likely to continue. But Europe has the edge in two respects.


First, European firms are better placed to react to their common dilemma:
competition from emerging countries with low wages and high investment
rates, which is also pushing up commodity prices. With virtually full
employment in America, companies cannot squeeze labour costs to compensate;
in fact, unit labour costs are rising. In the euro area, where unemployment
is high, companies can continue to lean on real wages. In addition, while
companies on both sides of the Atlantic have healthy balance sheets after a
couple of years of paying down debt, European firms deleveraged more, says
Luca Silipo, an economist at IXIS CIB in Paris. European profits should
therefore be more robust, despite lacklustre economies, and so should
shares. Indeed, they have been since mid-2004, reckon the team at IXIS CIB.

The second point is that, for all its deservedly bad press, Europe?s
monetary union has done some of what it was supposed to do: make companies
streamline and become more competitive. Germany is the main example of a
country where some tough restructuring has taken place. The current wave of
mergers and acquisitions, which has boosted the share prices of European
firms in recent days, is one sign that whatever the politicians think Europe
has much to gain from consolidation. The ?15.4 billion bid for German bank
HVB by Italy?s UniCredit, agreed on Sunday, is Europe?s biggest cross-border
banking takeover but it will not be the last one.

So should we all race out and buy Siemens shares? If you believe that the
Fed is about to hang up its rate-hiking jersey, then yes, for a bit. But
some of the cannier heads are not so sure. Rolf Elgeti of ABN AMRO warns
that there is a ?significant possibility? that the market is wrong, and that
the Fed will keep raising rates on signs of continued inflationary pressure.
If so, equities could see severe setbacks. And David Bowers of Merrill Lynch
points out that if the euro is weak because markets sniff the end of
restructuring in Europe, or equities look cheap because of lower interest
rates that tell us deflation may be returning, these are hardly positive
signs for an asset class that depends on growth.

At the end of the day, big companies are ever less anchored to the domestic
economy in which they are domiciled anyway. Siemens sells more than half its
products outside Germany; Nokia is a play not on Finland but on global
demand for mobile phones. So Buttonwood?s answer is to look for long-term
investment in anything that is yield-sensitive and selling at fair value
(among utilities, oil and gas, telecoms, insurance), and for short-term
investment among potential takeover candidates?and it doesn?t much matter
whether you buy it in America or in Europe.

Send comments on this article to Buttonwood (Please state whether you are
happy for your comments to be published)

Read more Buttonwood columns at www.economist.com/buttonwood


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Wed Jun 15 12:42:26 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Tue Jun 14 22:49:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keyboard Commando Komics
Message-ID: <20050615194227.65691.qmail@web53006.mail.yahoo.com>

The Adventures of Battle Action Bush and the
Keyboard Kommandos
Episode 2 - Death Wrote a Memo

http://thepoorman.net/?p=186#more-186
From moveon-help at list.moveon.org  Wed Jun 15 11:44:00 2005
From: moveon-help at list.moveon.org (Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org)
Date: Wed Jun 15 01:24:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NPR, PBS vote TOMORROW -- help reach 400,000 signers
Message-ID: <200506150824.j5F8OIIU004835@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Dear MoveOn member,

In less than a day, we've blown past our goal--more than 300,000 of us
have signed the petition to save NPR and PBS from losing public funding.
This is huge, but we need your help.

Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee will decide whether to
approve these severe cuts to NPR and PBS. We can stop the cuts--and save
public TV and radio--with a strong show of public outrage. We'll report to
the committee members on our petition before they vote.

Can you help us reach 400,000 signers by the end of the day?

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?id=5665-72753-69ry8zmdABu6COkbfe28jg&t=1

Once you've signed the petition, please pass it along to friends, family
and neighbors who count on NPR and PBS. You can use the note below.

Thank you for all you do,

--Noah, Joan, Rosalyn, and the MoveOn.org Team
  Wednesday, June 15th, 2005

P.S. Here's a note to send your friends:

Hi,

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is
slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really.
Check at the bottom if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=2

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting
with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free
children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the
history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird,
Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year--$100
million--and end funding altogether within two years. The loss could kill
beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and
"Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income
communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase
corporate sponsorships.

The next vote on the cuts will take place tomorrow (Thursday). Help us
reach 400,000 signatures to be delivered to the committee members.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=3

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745


________________

Subscription Management:
This is a message from MoveOn.org. To change your email address, update your contact info, or remove yourself (Michael Butler) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=5665-72753-69ry8zmdABu6COkbfe28jg
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 15 15:17:29 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Wed Jun 15 01:24:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] america by  the numbers
Message-ID: <QjdBVUxDUyQzYENVNCosNzIzNTYw@Dragon>

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From arianna at ariannaonline.com  Wed Jun 15 15:06:20 2005
From: arianna at ariannaonline.com (Arianna Huffington)
Date: Wed Jun 15 02:22:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iraq: Not Your Father's Anti-War Movement
Message-ID: <200506150922.j5F9M97e004958@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

		   
		
The Huffington Post has made a commitment to keeping the Iraq story front and center and keeping the pressure up on our leaders--both on the blog side and the news side.  Check it out for constant updates.	
				
			 				
										
IRAQ: NOT YOUR FATHER'S ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

By Arianna Huffington

			
"What Korea was to Truman, and Vietnam was to LBJ, Iraq will be to George W. Bush," Arthur Schlesinger told me last week. In all three cases, the public grew weary of a drawn-out war with no end in sight. History shows that there is nothing sacrosanct about wartime presidents. There is no guaranteed immunity for them. Rally round the president when the nation is at war is the American tradition - but only for a time. The Korean War forced Truman to pull out of the 1952 race. Vietnam forced Johnson to pull out in 1968. 

Bush was able to keep Iraq at bay long enough to get re-elected, but the debacle threatens to derail his second term. Just look at the latest polls. According to Washington Post/ABC News, for the first time a majority of Americans feel that the war has not made the U.S. safer. Fifty-eight percent disapprove of Bush's handling of it. Fifty-eight percent say the war was not worth fighting. And 73 percent consider the number of casualties unacceptable. 

But poll numbers are not the only figures the White House should be worrying about. Dick Cheney's "last throes" delusion is being rebutted by the figures coming out of Iraq every day. May was the fifth deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops. And in just the first two weeks of June, 41 Americans have been killed and 75 wounded.

This is clearly not a war that is waning or winnable. Yet the Bush administration continues to refuse even to consider the idea of developing an exit strategy. And don't tell me it's when Iraqi troops are ready to take over the fight; at the rate they're going, Ahmed Chalabi's great-grandchildren will be leading the first all-Iraqi push against the insurgents.

Like LBJ with Vietnam, Bush appears to be losing touch both with reality and with the sentiments of a growing majority of Americans. But, unlike Johnson, he seems strangely unaffected by the disconnect. Perhaps because he's so convinced that God put him there. That he saved him from drinking and drugs so he could spread democracy in Iraq. But a combination of hubris and incompetence-always a dangerous cocktail-could well be his undoing. Unlike Truman and Johnson, he doesn't have any more elections to lose-but his party does. If only the Democrats would find their voice on the subject as 2006 approaches.

With memos pouring out of the U.K. showing there was no planning for what to do after Baghdad fell and that "intelligence and facts were being fixed," and with the number of dead American soldiers now over 1,700, what is the Democratic leadership waiting for before they finally stand up to the White House? Where are Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Howard Dean on a moral issue of this magnitude, on which the majority of Americans oppose the administration?

This is definitely not your father's anti-war movement. 
Unlike Vietnam, opposition to the war in Iraq is not being driven by the "make love, not war" crowd. A growing number of voices are being raised-and asking whether the ongoing disaster in Iraq is draining precious resources from the war on terror (remember that?) and efforts to secure the homeland. So this is not war vs. peace; it's war vs. security.

While Democrats are crisscrossing the country, holding conclaves in search of what the party should stand for, Russ Feingold introduced a resolution in the Senate on Tuesday calling on the president to create a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. Thank God at least one prominent Dem has the good sense to know what the party should stand for-and, just as importantly, the cojones to act on that knowledge. 

As for the House, the leadership against the war in Iraq is now in the hands of Mr. "Freedom Fries" himself, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.). After being a staunch supporter of the war - "There is no question," he said in November 2002, "that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the security of not only our nation, but of every nation across the globe" - Jones now believes we went to war "with no justification." He even voted for the Woolsey Amendment, which calls on President Bush to develop an exit strategy as soon as possible. So he voted yes while 79 Democrats - including Nancy Pelosi - voted no.

On last week's "Meet the Press," Sen. Joe Biden said that a military draft "is going to become a subject if in fact there is a 40 percent shortfall in recruitment. It's just a reality." But the best thing for the health of our Army would be to institute a draft for an opposition party. Right now, it seems, there aren't enough willing to serve voluntarily.
		

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From Hawaiipolo at cs.com  Wed Jun 15 17:34:13 2005
From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com (Hawaiipolo@cs.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 04:02:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <200506151056.j5FAuxaf005080@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

THE M0MENTUM IS BUILDING......
On Thursday, June 16th, Rep. John Conyers will hold a hearing to investigate 
and expose the facts revealed by the release of the Downing Street Minutes and 
the other documents. A variety of witnesses will be called to describe the 
contents of these documents, and to describe what has been done to Iraq, and to 
us all, by this administration. Lurking in the corners of the hearing will be 
a phrase - "High Crime" - that aptly describes what has taken place. 

The Conyers hearing will be held on Thursday at 2:30pm EST in room HC-9 in 
the Capitol Building in Washington DC. This is a small room, so any overflow of 
public viewers will be directed to the Wasserman Room in the headquarters of 
the Democratic National Committee. 

At 5:00pm EST, a rally will take place in Lafayette Park, at the gates of the 
White House. Rep. Conyers will speak, along with Ambassador Joseph Wilson and 
Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in Iraq in May 2003, as Bush was 
unfurling his "Mission Accomplished" banner. The hearing and rally have been 
organized by the After Downing Street coalition , a collection of more than 120 
organizations and news outlets that came together for the purpose of nailing the 
facts of the Downing Street Minutes to the White House door. 

That, just before the opening of the rally on Thursday, is exactly what will 
happen. Several weeks ago, Rep. Conyers published a letter demanding answers 
from the Bush administration regarding the Minutes. That letter has been signed 
by more than one hundred Congresspeople, and by nearly a million American 
citizens. Rep. Conyers will personally deliver this letter and all those 
signatures to the White House on Thursday. 

Jawaharlal Nehru, who with Mahatma Gandhi successfully freed India from 
British colonial rule, once said, "A moment comes, which comes but rarely in 
history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the 
sound of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance." 

Thursday, June 16th, may see such a moment come to pass. It has been a long 
time coming, and so much remains to be done if the terrible damage of these 
last years is to be repaired. But a moment is before us. Let us see where this 
moment takes us. 



William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling 
author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The 
Greatest Sedition Is Silence. 

-------

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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 16 02:46:47 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Wed Jun 15 12:52:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000701c57258$5098b200$0f25b7d8@baby1>

Strange Things Christians Teach Children




I was thinking of titling this "New Modern Christians:  Nazis with bibles?
Or just overzealous misguided businessmen...?", but I changed my mind.  I'm
certainly not an expert on the subject matter of this post, but walked in on
something today in a business, and a "Christian" was rattling off this and
that to a group of about 9 year olds to 14 year olds, and I just caught the
end of it, which went something like "Yes, it's a good idea to not date or
marry anyone not of your own race."  And one kid asked something, and the
guy replied "Yes, it's also a very good idea not to either date or marry
someone who is not a Christian...".

So, I just thought to myself (later) if some "Christians" are teaching such
things to Children here in good old America such as those, then I wonder
what OTHER really interesting things they are teaching Children, and thus
this illustrious post was born out of the ether.

Surely someone here might sometime in the future perchance take an interest
in such a subject matter and write an actual definitive piece on it,
especially since some Children's minds are so very interesting at such young
ages, and actually contribute somewhat to the historical documentation of
modern religious indoctrination of The Children of America.

At least put it on a backburner as a perhaps hobby project on your day off
some day.

As many of those reading this already know, the "New American Christians'"
(not counting those still with humanity, logic, common sense, common
decency, or souls left in them) ideologies has now meshed with the
ideologies of the Right Wing Republican Movement in America now, better
known to The Underground as "The New American Nazis".  So the line of who,
in their extreme Youth here in America, is being taught what and by whom,
sometimes blurs between the White House, the Pentagon, and The Church.  I
can only hope that someone someday makes up a definitive List of such basic
bizarre curriculum, as I am sure it be of some interest to anyone left in
America who believes in anything called Basic Rights Of Humanity, if not as
just a very bizarro List to pass around to your friends on the Internet and
things, but also as a prime List of what some of "The New American Youth"
are coming out with, guns a blazing, at the rest of whatever is left of
Humanity here in America sometime in the very near future, like Now.

Herein lay my feeble and limited attempt to construct the guidelines of a
hopeful future definitive listing of the contents of the Education Of
Children In Modern America:

Try to remember as you're reading these, that teens and pre-teens are being
literally taught this, daily, all across America.

1.  All gay people must die.  They are an abomination to the Lord.  If we
cannot kill them outright, the least we should be able to do is ruin their
lives and businesses in every way possible, run them out of town, and
hopefully some day in the future export them to Africa or somewhere to just
get such filth out of our presence.  We don't normally refer to them as gays
or lesbians, but rather as c*cksuckers and muff munchers.  These 2 terms
seem to go over with the Children much bigger than using the regular terms
normally affiliated to this group of people in general American society.

2.  Anyone who is not a Republican, there is something wrong with them.  If
it is at all possible in the future to either eliminate them or ship them to
Africa with all the c*cksuckers and muff munchers, that would please us.
(This includes just about everyone you can think of who is not a Republican
in America, which still composes basically a majority of us.)  If we cannot
eliminate them or ship them to Africa with you know who, then we can at
least ruin their entire lives and businesses also.  That will at least be
something good in the eyes of the Lord.

3.  Anyone who is not a Christian, well, it would certainly be nice if we
could pack them up as well, unless we can convert them, and eliminate them
also, or pack them off to Africa, or at least ruin their lives and
businesses as well if they do not cooperate.  There remains plenty of room
for all sorts of good and necessary deeds in the eyes of the Lord.

4.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not a Christian.

5.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not the same race as you.

6.  The Lord is moving into politics, business, education, and etc, and you
will be The New Leaders of this vast new enlightening of both America and
The World.  If you cannot convert anyone and everyone to who you are now and
will be in The Future, crush them like an eggshell.  The Lord is great and
mighty.

7.  Blackballing, slander, hearsay, and malicious gossip are allright in the
sight of the Lord if that winds up being the only way you have of dealing
with someone finally who is Not One Of Us.  It's ok to destroy All The Evil
People, again, if they will not cooperate with The Great Work.

8.  All drugs are bad for any reason at all times.  Anyone who uses them
must be devil worshippers.  If you need them, sure, prescription drugs, take
all you want.  Take your ritalin in school as well, it will help heal your
mind and aid in your study of the scriptures.

9.  Anyone who questions any of the teachings, rulings, or actions of the
church, our government, or our military, is a traitor to America.  They are
to be dealt with like any of the above listed profiles of those lower than
us.

10.  If it takes removing a forest, a lake, a species, or something to build
a strip mall, hotel, prison, or mega-church, that's allright.  People like
the treehugging, pot smoking, liberal, long haired, c*cksuckers and muff
munchers just do not get that it is our time, it is your time, the work of
the Lord is at hand, we will rule in Education, Government, Religion,
Society, AND Business.  All revolutions and rumors of misguided heretical
fake freedoms are dead.  It is A Corporate World now.  The Kingdom Of God is
finally at hand.  You will be his new handmaidens and servants.  Go forth,
multiply, prosper, crush anyone who opposes you like an egg shell.

11.  100,000 dead Iraqi Civilian men women and children, 1 million dead
Iraqi Children by American sanctions, that's allright.  God works in
mysterious ways.  They made 2 mistakes, and the Lord has and is punishing
them, they turned away from the Lord Jesus and his Father, and they all
attacked the World Trade Centers.  Forget them, you'll just have nightmares,
pray for the loan for the new Christian strip mall to come through.


Well, I lost track, I'm sure there's lots more things that some
"Christians", dare I call them right wing republican militant activists as
some have self-described themselves to me, are actually teaching The
Children of America, daily now, but I just can't think of them or just don't
know them all yet.  Do some research, make up your own List, it will be both
fun and educational.  A little slice of The Future at your fingertips.

I had read about some of these things on the Internet, but until I walked in
on this person teaching some of this to some Children, well, it's just a lot
different to hear and watch it happening in person.  This, interestingly
enough, is the person who went to our new headshop here (oh my god, the 1st
headshop ever in this little town), and asked them in the Lord's name if
they would consider selling all the other merchandise, tshirts etc, but
discontinue selling bongs, rolling papers, etc.

Anyway, I walked in on him today, by accident, and he had a group of
children talking to them, and all I heard was "Don't date or marry anyone
who is not of your own race or who is not a Christian", and I just lost it,
lol.

I said something like "Bullshit, don't listen to this guy, you can date or
marry whomever you want, what really counts is that you have Love between
you, not what color you are or not what religion you are..", or something
like that.

And he blurted out "Hey, this is the guy who has no job, no wife, no career,
no life, and lived with his mother until she died..."

I lost it at that point.  I snapped my fingers and told all the kids to
leave the room that I wanted to have a small chat with this guy, and they
got up from their chairs and all went and stood out on the street.  I then
had about a 20 minute little talk with him about various things, trying to
straighten him out on this and that, even resorted to using something as low
as The Truth, but it eventually wound up near the end with him unzipping his
bible, turning to a passage, and beginning just reading it out loud to me.
It was about sinners, and murderers, and idol worshippers, and liars, and
adulterers, and etc.  And then he looked at me and asked "Have you ever
committed adultery, Cheese..?", and I just stared at him, lol.  Then he just
went down the list of all those and other neat things, asking me each time
if I had committed one or more of those various "sins", and then I finally
told him "Look, put down the bible, stop quoting out of it, and talk to me
like a man".

Anyway, the story of that little 20 minute discussion is too long to relate
in its entirety here, suffice it to say that it covered several subject
matters, on several levels, and ended not so very pretty.

Oh well, anyway, little incidents like this I witness personally, and
various things I read on the Internet etc, just make me wonder sometimes
what so called right wing republican christian whatevers are actually
teaching Children in this country every single day, and what they are going
to do to this country armed with such bizarre information and Truths From
God and Co. Incorporated International Ltd.

I dunno, I just wanted to make sure that if there was someone out there
thinking that these interesting people, these "Educators", are only in your
city, town, neighborhood, or street, that you never make the mistake of
feeling, believing, or allowing yourself to be convinced, that you are all
alone.

In the face of this, and all the other matters circling this country, our
lives, and the world, I don't really know what to say.  I know what to say,
but I seem to have a hard time of finding anyone to say it to without
someone blowing my house up after they leave bibles in my mailbox.



Good luck to us.

Good luck to The Children.

We're both *definitely* going to need it.






Cheeseburger


-  Hey, look on the bright side, if you are not on a "List" or multiple
"Lists" by this late date, stop whining, you will be.  Then your life can
truly begin.  You're probably walking around with an invisible bull's eye on
your back right now and don't even know it.  Hey, don't freak out, take a
valium, go to church, you'll feel better in the morning.

No, I'm sorry, it shouldn't be "The best trick the devil ever pulled was to
convince the world that he didn't exist".  In these Modern Days And Times, I
just like "The best trick the devil ever pulled was to convince America that
he was A Christian" much better for some reason.

I dunno, I just sleep better armed with Truth in my cranium instead of
Bullsh*t.   Eh well... go figure.

Maybe the Children will be able to sort it all out, one way or the
other.......


.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 16 03:41:02 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 15 13:48:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 House Votes To Curb Patriot Act
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 16 03:42:20 2005
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Date: Wed Jun 15 13:49:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 16 03:44:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 15 13:52:12 2005
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 Crime Over Courage In Iraq
 
 By Jim Hoagland
 
 Three haggard Romanian journalists appeared on al-Jazeera television April 22, in handcuffs and with guns pointed at their heads, to beg for their lives. They would be killed if Romania did not immediately withdraw its 860 troops from Iraq, their captors announced to the world.
 
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 This War Is Worth Fighting
 
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Date: Wed Jun 15 14:37:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: House Blocks a Provision for Patriot Act
	Inquiries
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WASHINGTON | June 16, 2005
House Blocks a Provision for Patriot Act Inquiries
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The House voted to block a provision that makes it easier for federal investigators to review the records of libraries and bookstores on national security grounds.
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	Investigated
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WASHINGTON | June 16, 2005
Lobbyists' Role for Public TV Is Investigated
By STEPHEN LABATON
Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are examining payments to two Republican lobbyists that were not disclosed to the corporation's board.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/politics/16broadcast.html?ex=1119585600&en=5788d63a2b2a6df9&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:30:37 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:38:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Autopsy on the Schiavo Tragedy
Message-ID: <20050616113037.2E4332371DE@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 16, 2005
Editorial: Autopsy on the Schiavo Tragedy

Terri Schiavo's autopsy results should embarrass all the opportunistic politicians and agenda-driven agitators who meddled in her right-to-die case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/opinion/16thu3.html?ex=1119585600&en=15a1d931851f3805&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:30:46 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:38:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Affordable-Housing Crisis
Message-ID: <20050616113046.0F3909FD81@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 16, 2005
Editorial: The Affordable-Housing Crisis

Congress is realizing that millions of poor families are no longer able to buy or rent decent homes and an affordable-housing fund makes perfect sense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/opinion/16thu4.html?ex=1119585600&en=ad0bc832f9f980f7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:30:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:38:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Joe Strauss to Joe Six-Pack
Message-ID: <20050616113059.ECB5B2371DC@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 16, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Joe Strauss to Joe Six-Pack
By DAVID BROOKS
Middlebrow culture once thrived in America, but it was killed in the late 50's and 60's.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/opinion/16brooks.html?ex=1119585600&en=c03b9af5db5ca499&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:31:24 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:38:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Not Our Man in Iran
Message-ID: <20050616113124.1E10CA111C@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 16, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Not Our Man in Iran
By DANIELLE PLETKA
Washington will welcome Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's likely return to the Iranian presidency, but he is a corrupt and power-hungry wheeler-dealer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/opinion/16pletka.html?ex=1119585600&en=790b7315c2f7546e&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:32:29 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:39:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: 'Exit Strategy' Is More Than a Whisper in
	Washington, With Lawmakers Speaking Out
Message-ID: <20050616113229.1FA37249E5B@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 16, 2005
'Exit Strategy' Is More Than a Whisper in Washington, With Lawmakers Speaking Out
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
With opinion polls showing a drop in support for the war, the words "exit strategy" are being uttered by both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/politics/16exit.html?ex=1119585600&en=351103aa61a59d6d&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:34:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:41:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Schiavo Autopsy Says Brain, Withered,
	Was Untreatable
Message-ID: <20050616113409.D0ADD13B87B@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 16, 2005
Schiavo Autopsy Says Brain, Withered, Was Untreatable
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
The autopsy found that Terri Schiavo's brain had withered to half the normal size since her collapse in 1990 and that no treatment could have improved her condition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/national/16schiavo.html?ex=1119585600&en=cad39cbf0af41681&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:36:06 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:43:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Sends Regrets on U.N. Celebration
Message-ID: <20050616113606.DD9A0249DE0@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 16, 2005
Bush Sends Regrets on U.N. Celebration
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
The administration indicated that it would instead send Ambassador Sichan Siv, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/politics/16frisco.html?ex=1119585600&en=9a166d1d80e5e283&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 04:37:30 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 14:44:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: M.T.A. Collects Some ZIP Codes When
	MetroCard Buyers Use Credit Cards
Message-ID: <20050616113730.488FE11F9A5@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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Yet more invasion of privacy, and another potential leak toward identity theft...


NEW YORK REGION | June 16, 2005
M.T.A. Collects Some ZIP Codes When MetroCard Buyers Use Credit Cards
By SEWELL CHAN
In an attempt to reduce credit card fraud, New York City Transit has been quietly collecting ZIP codes from riders when they charge their MetroCard purchases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/nyregion/16zip.html?ex=1119585600&en=d24af0d0e689e103&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 08:28:22 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 18:36:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Child dies as Cambodia siege ends
Message-ID: <20050616_152822_035783.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Child dies as Cambodia siege ends **
A Canadian child is killed at an international school in Cambodia, after gunmen take dozens of children hostage.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4098412.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 08:30:22 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 18:37:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Burma prison system condemned
Message-ID: <20050616_153022_085036.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Burma prison system condemned **
Burma is holding hundreds of political prisoners in harsh jail conditions, Amnesty International says.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4096618.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 08:32:49 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 18:40:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bush snubbed on 'terror book' law
Message-ID: <20050616_153249_035903.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bush snubbed on 'terror book' law **
US legislators vote to end the right to inspect library and bookshop records, in a blow to President Bush's anti-terror laws.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4098886.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 08:36:50 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 18:44:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Lottery double shocks US granny
Message-ID: <20050616_153650_056079.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Lottery double shocks US granny **
A 55-year-old US grandmother wins $1m on a lottery, her second jackpot bonanza in five months.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4098322.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun 15 22:47:08 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jun 15 19:24:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] L.A. Times report on documents showing Bush/Blair Iraq
	deception
Message-ID: <200506160224.j5G2OXAt006811@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0615-01.htm
THE WORLD
New Memos Detail Early Plans for Invading Iraq
British officials believed the U.S. favored military force a year 
before the war, documents show.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer

June 15, 2005

LONDON ? In March 2002, the Bush administration had just begun to 
publicly raise the possibility of confronting Iraq. But behind the scenes, 
officials already were deeply engaged in seeking ways to justify an 
invasion, newly revealed British memos indicate.

Foreshadowing developments in the year before the war started, 
British officials emphasized the importance of U.N. diplomacy, which 
they said might force Saddam Hussein into a misstep. They also 
suggested that confronting the Iraqi leader be cast as an effort to 
prevent him from using weapons of mass destruction or giving them to 
terrorists.

The documents help flesh out the background to the formerly top-
secret "Downing Street memo" published in the Sunday Times of 
London last month, which said that top British officials were told eight 
months before the war began that military action was "seen as 
inevitable." President Bush and his main ally in the war, British Prime 
Minister Tony Blair, have long maintained that they had not made up 
their minds to go to war at that stage.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth," Bush said last week, 
responding to a question about the July 23, 2002, memo. "Both of us 
didn't want to use our military. Nobody wants to commit military into 
combat. It's the last option."

Publication of the Downing Street memo at the height of Britain's 
election campaign at first garnered little notice in U.S. media or other 
British newspapers. But in the weeks that followed, anger has grown 
among war critics, who contend that the document proves the Bush 
administration had already decided on military action, even while U.S. 
officials were saying that war was a last resort.

The new documents indicate that top British officials believed that by 
March 2002, Washington was already leaning heavily toward toppling 
Hussein by military force. Condoleezza Rice, the current secretary of 
State who was then Bush's national security advisor, was described as 
enthusiastic about "regime change."

Although British officials said in the documents that they did not think 
Iraq's weapons programs posed an immediate threat and that they 
were dubious of any claimed links between the Iraqi government and 
Al Qaeda, they indicated that they were willing to join in a campaign to 
topple Hussein as long as the plan would succeed and was handled 
with political and legal care.

The documents contain little discussion about whether to mount a 
military campaign. The focus instead is on how the campaign should 
be presented to win the widest support and the importance for Britain 
of working through the United Nations so an invasion could be seen as 
legal under international law.

Michael Smith, the defense writer for the Times of London who 
revealed the Downing Street minutes in a story May 1, provided a full 
text of the six new documents to the Los Angeles Times.

Portions of the new documents, all labeled "secret" or "confidential," 
have appeared previously in two British newspapers, the Times of 
London and the Telegraph. Blair's government has not challenged their 
authenticity.

They cover a period when reports had begun appearing that the Bush 
administration was forming plans to go after Hussein in the next phase 
of its "war on terrorism." A Feb. 10, 2002, article in the Los Angeles 
Times, for instance, said that the U.S. was considering action against 
Hussein that might require a massive number of U.S. troops.

Published accounts, including those by the Washington Post's Bob 
Woodward and former U.S. counter-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, 
said that Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld began 
focusing on Iraq soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New 
York and the Pentagon.

In his Jan. 29, 2002, State of the Union address, Bush described Iraq, 
Iran and North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."

The documents present a picture of a U.S. government fed up with the 
policy of containing Iraq, skeptical of the U.N. and focused on ousting 
Hussein.

Blair's advisors were weighing how Britain could participate in a war. 
The need to establish a policy on Iraq led to a flurry of meetings 
between senior U.S. and British officials and internal British 
government memos in advance of a Bush-Blair summit in April 2002 at 
the president's ranch near Crawford, Texas. (According to one of the 
subsequent documents that has been leaked, a British Cabinet briefing 
paper written in July 2002, Blair gave Bush a conditional commitment 
at the Texas summit to support military action to remove Hussein.)

In one memorandum, dated March 14, 2002, and labeled "secret ? 
strictly personal," Blair's chief foreign policy advisor, David Manning, 
described to the prime minister a dinner he had had with Rice.

"We spent a long time at dinner on Iraq," wrote Manning, now the 
British ambassador to the U.S. "It is clear that Bush is grateful for your 
[Blair's] support and has registered that you are getting flak. I said that 
you would not budge in your support for regime change but you had to 
manage a press, a Parliament and a public opinion that was different 
from anything in the States. And you would not budge either in your 
insistence that, if we pursued regime change, it must be very carefully 
done and produce the right result. Failure was not an option."

The memo went on to say:

"Condi's enthusiasm for regime change is undimmed. But there were 
some signs, since we last spoke, of greater awareness of the practical 
difficulties and political risks
. From what she said, Bush has yet to 
find answers to the big questions:

?  How to persuade international opinion that military action against 
Iraq is necessary and justified;

?  What value to put on the exiled Iraqi opposition;

?  How to coordinate a US/allied military campaign with internal 
opposition (assuming there is any);

?  What happens the morning after?"

Manning told Blair that given Bush's eagerness for British backing, the 
prime minister would have "real influence" on the public relations 
strategy, on the issue of encouraging the United States to go first to 
the United Nations and on any U.S. military planning.

Manning said it could prove helpful if Hussein refused to allow renewed 
U.N. weapons inspections.

"The issue of weapons inspectors must be handled in a way that would 
persuade Europe and wider opinion that the U.S. was conscious of the 
international framework, and the insistence of many countries on the 
need for a legal basis. Renewed refusal by Saddam to accept 
unfettered inspections would be a powerful argument," Manning wrote 
Blair.

Four days after the Manning memo, Christopher Meyer, then the 
British ambassador in Washington, wrote to Manning about a lunch he 
had with Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the U.S. deputy secretary of Defense 
and a leading proponent in the administration of confronting Hussein. 
Meyer said in the memo that he had told Wolfowitz that U.N. pressure 
and weapons inspections could be used to trip up Hussein.

"We backed regime change," he wrote, "but the plan had to be clever 
and failure was not an option. It would be a tough sell for us 
domestically, and probably tougher elsewhere in Europe."

Meyer wrote that he had argued that Washington could go it alone if it 
wanted to. "But if it wanted to act with partners, there had to be a 
strategy for building support for military action against Saddam. I then 
went through the need to wrong-foot Saddam on the inspectors and 
the [U.N. Security Council resolutions] and the critical importance of 
the [Middle East peace process] as an integral part of the anti-Saddam 
strategy. If all this could be accomplished skillfully, we were fairly 
confident that a number of countries would come on board."

Another memo, from British Foreign Office political director Peter 
Ricketts to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on March 22, 2002, bluntly 
stated that the case against Hussein was weak because the Iraqi 
leader was not accelerating his weapons programs and there was 
scant proof of links to Al Qaeda.

"What has changed is not the pace of Saddam Hussein's WMD 
programs, but our tolerance of them post-11 September," Ricketts 
wrote. "Attempts to claim otherwise publicly will increase skepticism 
about our case
.

"U.S. scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda is so 
far frankly unconvincing," he said.

Ricketts said that other countries such as Iran appeared closer to 
getting nuclear weapons, and that arguing for regime change in Iraq 
alone "does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and 
Saddam." That was why the issue of weapons of mass destruction 
was vital, he said.

"Much better, as you [Straw] have suggested, to make the objective 
ending the threat to the international community from Iraqi WMD 
before Saddam uses it or gives it to terrorists," he said. A U.N. Security 
Council resolution demanding renewal of weapons inspections, he 
says, would be a "win/win."

"Either [Hussein] against all the odds allows Inspectors to operate 
freely, in which case we can further hobble his WMD programs, or he 
blocks/hinders, and we are on stronger grounds for switching to other 
methods," he wrote.

The arguments that Iraq had illegal, hidden weapons of mass 
destruction, programs to develop more of them, and that it might give 
them to terrorists were to become some of the Bush administration's 
chief reasons for the war. When no weapons were found, the 
administration blamed faulty intelligence and said the war still was 
justified because it ended Hussein's brutal dictatorship and allowed an 
emerging democratic government.

In November 2002, the U.S. and Britain managed to get a toughly 
worded resolution through the Security Council that reintroduced arms 
inspectors into Iraq for the first time since 1998. However, it fell short 
of authorizing the use of force against Hussein's government.

Straw, writing to Blair on March 25, 2002, expressed concern about a 
lack of support among members of Parliament from the governing 
Labor Party.

"Colleagues know that Saddam and the Iraqi regime are bad," he 
wrote. "But we have a long way to go to convince them as to: The 
scale of the threat from Iraq, and why this has got worse recently; what 
distinguishes the Iraqi threat from that of e.g. Iran and North Korea so 
as to justify military action; the justification for any military action in 
terms of international law; and whether the consequences really would 
be a compliant, law-abiding replacement government.

"Regime change per se is no justification for military action; it could 
form part of the method of any strategy, but not a goal," he said. 
"Elimination of Iraq's WMD capacity has to be the goal."

The new documents also include an earlier 10-page options paper, 
dated March 8, 2002, from the overseas and defense secretariat of the 
Cabinet Office, sketching out options for dealing with Iraq. The thrust 
of the memo was that the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after 
the 1991 Persian Gulf War were likely to fail, and that, in any case, the 
U.S. had already given up on them.

"The U.S. has lost confidence in containment," the document said. 
"Some in government want Saddam removed. The success of 
Operation Enduring Freedom [the military code name for the U.S.-led 
invasion of Afghanistan], distrust of U.N. sanctions and inspection 
regimes, and unfinished business from 1991 are all factors.

"Washington believes the legal basis for an attack already exists. Nor 
will it necessarily be governed by wider political factors. The U.S. may 
be willing to work with a smaller coalition than we think desirable," it 
said.

The paper said the British view was that any invasion for the purpose 
of regime change "has no basis under international law."

The best way to justify military action, it said, would be to convince the 
Security Council that Iraq was in breach of its post-Gulf War 
obligations to eliminate its store of weapons of mass destruction.

The document appeared to rule out any action in Iraq short of an 
invasion.

"In sum, despite the considerable difficulties, the use of overriding 
force in a ground campaign is the only option that we can be confident 
will remove Saddam and bring Iraq back into the international 
community," it said.


-- 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 16 10:05:55 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 15 20:13:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US data back Fed policy on rate increases
Message-ID: <BED6FF83.20C75%michael@michaelbutler.com>

This may mean the Feds will start priming the pump again-not raising rates.
M
 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
US data back Fed policy on rate increases
>By Andrew Balls and Christopher Swann in Washington
>Published: June 15 2005 14:19 | Last updated: June 16 2005 00:52
>>

Inflation dropped in May while industrial production rebounded, government
reports said, supporting the Federal Reserve's forecast of contained
inflation and healthy economic growth.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, its occasional roundup of anecdotal
evidence from across its 12 districts, also released on Wednesday, sounded a
reassuring note on inflation pressures.

Consumer price inflation fell by 0.1 per cent in May, the first decline in
10 months, helped by a 2 per cent decline in energy prices. The core CPI,
excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.1 per cent, less than
the consensus forecast of a 0.2 per cent increase.

The data signalled that inflation was stabilising, with the CPI up 2.8 per
cent in the 12 months to May, compared with 3.5 per cent in the 12 months to
April. The core rate rose by 2.2 per cent over the same period, unchanged
from April. This followed similar signs from the producer price index that
inflation pressures may have peaked.

The Beige Book characterised retail price inflation in the period from
mid-May to the end of last month as modest, and overall pricing pressures as
moderate.

Several districts noted concerns over high fuel, transportation and building
material costs. But rather than highlighting increased pricing power, the
report said businesses were finding it hard to pass on all of the raw
material price increases, in part because of competition from imports.

>
>>
>Fed keeps nerve over tighter monetary policy
>>
>>     
>

The Federal Reserve is set to raise its target interest rate further as low
market-determined long-term rates and the buoyant housing market reinforce
its resolve to tighten monetary policy.
Go there
>
>

Industrial production rose by 0.4 per cent, twice the consensus forecast,
which more than reversed April's 0.3 per cent decline. The rise was driven
by an 0.6 per cent jump in factory output, as lower utility sector output
held down the overall increase.

Separately, the Fed's survey of manufacturing activity in New York this
month pointed to a rebound after a weak May. Steven Wieting, economist at
Citigroup in New York, said recent data readings and surveys about June
activity pointed to ?trend-like? growth in the economy, in spite of monthly
volatility. Economists typically describe the economy's potential rate at
31?4-31?2 per cent.

Treasury bonds, which had sold off following the industrial production
report, and stocks, which had weakened as the oil price rose to a two-month
high, recovered their losses after the Beige Book report.

The dollar was lower after a Treasury Department report said capital inflows
into the US were too low to cover the trade deficit, in April, for the
second consecutive month.

Fed policymakers forecast growth at close to the economy's trend rate and
well-behaved inflation, underpinning its belief that it can continue to
raise the federal funds rate at a measured pace. The Fed is widely expected
to raise the rate another quarter point to 31?4 per cent when it meets later
this month, and futures markets price in a rate of 33?4 per cent by year
end.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9cf7c3d2-dd9e-11d9-a42f-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
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     EMAIL THIS | Close
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 16 10:11:46 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 15 20:19:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Opec raises price target to $50 a barrel
Message-ID: <BED700E2.20C77%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Opec raises price target to $50 a barrel
>By Kevin Morrison and Javier Blas in Vienna
>Published: June 15 2005 18:19 | Last updated: June 15 2005 18:19
>>

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries unofficially raised
its price target on Wednesday to more than $50 a barrel, citing firm demand
growth, refining bottlenecks and lack of economic damage from high oil
prices.

Opec ministers agreed to add 500,000 barrels a day to the official quota
from July 1 to take it to 28m b/d and in line with real output, and raise
quotas by the same amount over the summer if prices increase by at least $2
more above current levels.

Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, Opec president and Kuwait's oil minister, said
the new Opec basket of export crudes would have to remain above $50 a barrel
for at least seven days before Opec ministers would start discussing any
increase in the quota.

The new basket, which comes into effect on Thursday, is about $48 a barrel.

For the new basket to increase above $50 a barrel, this would translate to
US and European benchmark crudes of about $57-$58 a barrel or near the
record nominal levels reached in April.

?The prices are not going to be lower,? said Rafael Ramirez, the Venezuelan
oil minister. Energy analysts shared the bullish view on prices. ?They
[Opec] have just raised their price target, it is no longer around $50, but
somewhere closer to the mid $50s,? said Roger Diwan, director of PFC Energy
the Washington-based consultancy.

Opec's quota increase did little to calm oil market concerns about whether
supply would keep pace with the strong oil demand forecast for this winter.

US benchmark crude jumped by as much as $1.70 to $56.70 a barrel following
the Opec decision and data showing the second decline in a row of US crude
inventories.

With most Opec countries producing at or very close to full capacity, any
increase in supply is expected to come from Saudi Arabia, the world's
largest exporter of oil. An Opec official familiar with Saudi Arabia said he
expected it to increase output if the second quota increase goes ahead.

Saudi Arabia claims it has another 1.5m b/d in production capacity on top of
its current output of 9.5m b/d, but it has not sustainably produced more
than 10m b/d since the early 1980s.

Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia oil minister, said the kingdom's spare capacity was
largely made up of low quality oils, known as heavy and sour crudes, which
many refineries cannot use.

Opec ministers deflected any blame for the high oil price on to bottlenecks
in the global petroleum refining sector.

?The conference noted that world crude oil prices remain high and volatile
as a result of concern about a lack of effective global oil refining
capacity,? the cartel said. ?For a long time, there was no investment in the
refining sector,? said Sheikh Sabah, who added that Kuwait and other Opec
members were all planning to increase refining capacity over the next five
years. Sheikh Sabah also said the cartel intended to add another 1m b/d to
oil production capacity by the end of the year to take total capacity of the
cartel to 32m b/d.

This compares to the expected demand for Opec oil of about 30.6m b/d.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1d68034a-ddbf-11d9-a42f-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=_ftaler
t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
ym_ftymarc_ic_ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=1.html
 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 10:54:03 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 21:01:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bird flu found in Indonesian man
Message-ID: <20050616_175403_048054.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bird flu found in Indonesian man **
A farm worker in Sulawesi tests positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the first Indonesian to do so.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4098058.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 16 12:47:13 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 15 22:54:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Congressmen probe Iraq war memo
Message-ID: <20050616_194713_039336.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Congressmen probe Iraq war memo **
US Democrats investigate a UK memo suggesting President Bush decided on the Iraq war eight months in advance.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4101420.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 16 17:33:10 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 16 03:40:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush's problems, CBS poll
Message-ID: <000801c572d4$25a8f470$6727e440@Harold>

How he got re-elected will always be a puzzle, his performance rating is at an all time low.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/16/eveningnews/main702480.shtml

Pretty much no-body likes him (except right wing christen fanatics and corporate power puppies) and it is only 6 months after re-election!

Later H
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 16 19:43:47 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 05:51:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight
Message-ID: <BED786F3.20CE0%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight
    By Vicki Allen
    Reuters

    Thursday 16 June 2005

    Washington - U.S. Senate Democrats rejected a Republican compromise over
John Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador on Thursday and cited a British
report backing their view that the Bush administration hyped intelligence on
Iraq before the 2003 invasion.

    Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said the
Senate would hold a procedural vote on Monday to try to break the deadlock
on Bolton. Democrats said they had enough votes to block the nomination, but
Republicans hoped they would be viewed as obstructionists.

    Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demanded a full accounting of whether
Bolton exaggerated assessments of several countries' weapons programs, a key
issue in the long-stalled nomination.

    "All over the news the last few days has been concerns about weapons of
mass destruction by virtue of the memo that was discovered," the Nevada
Democrat said, referring to the so-called "Downing Street memo."

    The July 2002 memo, prepared for Prime Minister Tony Blair, said
President Bush had already decided to invade Iraq and intelligence was being
made to fit that policy.

    "Concerns about this administration hyping intelligence and Great
Britain hyping intelligence cannot be dismissed lightly," Reid said, adding
that it "is no small matter for us to learn whether Mr. Bolton was a party
to other efforts to hype intelligence."

    Bush and his aides, including Bolton, justified the invasion by saying
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were a threat to the United States, but
no such weapons have been found.

    Bolton, the top U.S. diplomat for arms control and a fierce critic of
the United Nations, is a favorite of conservatives and failure to get him
confirmed would be a setback for Bush.

    Procedural Vote

    White House spokesman Scott McClellan said "some of the Democratic
leaders who have already voted against John Bolton are not interested in a
reasonable compromise. They are simply interested in continuing with stall
tactics."

    Republicans would need to pick up two more Democrats in the 100-seat
chamber to get the 60 votes required to end debate on Bolton and go to a
confirmation vote, if they kept all of the senators they had in a previous
vote.

    If they can get beyond the procedural hurdle, Republicans, who hold a
55-45 Senate majority, are confident they will have the simple majority
needed to confirm Bolton.

    Bush could appoint Bolton during Congress' July 4th holiday recess if
the Senate remains deadlocked. That appointment would last through the end
of this Senate session in 2006.

    But a recess appointment would be viewed as a political retreat.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a key Bolton backer, said he had not
heard that suggested by administration officials.

    In a bid to get more support, Senate Republicans tried to act as
intermediaries to get some information on Bolton that Democrats are
demanding, but the administration has refused to turn it over.

    Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said on Wednesday he
confirmed with U.S. Intelligence Director John Negroponte that key officials
known to have had confrontations with Bolton over intelligence assessments
were not mentioned in classified National Security Agency intercepts Bolton
had sought.

    Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said that should answer Democrats'
questions on whether Bolton sought the intercepts to spy on or punish
bureaucratic rivals. Critics have accused Bolton of bullying subordinates.

    But Democrats said they still did not have internal e-mails and memos
leading up to testimony Bolton gave on Syria's weapons, and the information
on the intercepts was inadequate.

 

From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun 16 17:24:55 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 05:52:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iran struggles for democracy while U.S. smirks and
	threatens
Message-ID: <200506161252.j5GCqE8K007737@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

--> If you pass this comment along to others -- periodically but not
repeatedly -- please explain that Commentaries are a premium sent to
Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet and that to learn more folks can consult ZNet
at http://www.zmag.org 


Today's commentary:
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-06/15solomon.cfm

==================================

ZNet Commentary
Letter From Tehran: In Washington's Cross-Hairs June 15, 2005
By Norman Solomon 


Washington keeps condemning Iran's government and making thinly veiled
threats. But in Iran, many people are in the midst of challenging the
country's rulers, in the streets and at the ballot box.

The June 17 election for president could be a turning point or a hollow
spectacle -- no one knows which -- but the Bush administration is eagerly
trashing the whole thing. "The United States has not waited for the first
ballot to be cast before dismissing Iran's presidential election as
rigged," Agence France Presse reported over the weekend.

But Iran's election is not rigged. There is a fierce electioneering battle
underway, with some significant differences between candidates. Meanwhile,
hindered rather than helped by the bellicose statements from Washington,
courageous Iranian activists have begun a new wave of actions against the
status quo of theocracy.

On June 12, in front of the University of Tehran, nearly a hundred
courageous women sat down to demonstrate for human rights in a society
where women literally and figuratively are compelled to sit at the back of
the bus. "Stop Bias Against Women," said one handheld sign. "Stop
violation," said another. And: "Freedom."

Across the wide vehicle-choked street, several hundred Iranian men and
women of all ages quickly gathered to augment the demonstration, one of
the only such public protests in recent years. "Political prisoners should
be free," they chanted. A sign declared: "First Democracy, Then We Will
Continue Living."

Some of the Iranian people who most strongly oppose the government's
theocracy are boycotting the election. Others will vote, primarily for
Mostafa Moin, the most popular candidate at the reform edge of the
spectrum. He's in sync with the current president, Muhammad Khatami,
"termed out" after eight years in office. Khatami wasn't able to do much
to undermine the power of highly conservative clerics. Yet many young
people, who have faced extremely puritanical strictures, say that life in
Iran has become a bit less stifling in recent years.

The widely respected icon and hack Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, positioned
midway on the spectrum of candidates, has been making noises that are not
only somewhat conciliatory toward the United States but also indicate that
he favors a move away from current restrictive pressures on media and
personal freedom. He might just be blowing smoke to appeal to the youth
vote, but he clearly realizes that many in the nation's large population
of young people are especially eager for such changes.

Several of the eight presidential candidates are hardline theocrats.
Whether their outlook will prevail after the ballots are cast June 17 (or
in the runoff scheduled for two weeks later if no candidate gets more than
50 percent in the first round) remains to be seen. So does Iran's path
after this historic crossroads that could lead to more fundamentalist
repression or progress for elements of democracy in Iranian society.

As I've learned more about what's at stake here for Iranian people, I've
become more angry at the deceptive rhetoric coming out of Washington. 
When
President Bush and his aides call Iran's presidential election
meaningless, it is wishful thinking. Some of the Bush neocons have the
delusion that they can overthrow the Iranian regime with plenty of
missiles. But the real means for displacing Iran's theocratic rulers with
democratic processes are grassroots efforts of the sort taking root in
Iran right now.

Evidently, the Bush administration would prefer that Iran's presidential
election be won by the most reactionary theocratic forces in the country.
Many of Bush's policymakers have a fantasy that involves seeing Iran
changed with military force. And a more reasonable Iranian president could
make Bush's agenda-setting for warfare more difficult.

We should remember that the Bush team has much nicer things to say about
the far-more-repressive government in Saudi Arabia. And a few weeks ago,
Laura Bush -- with her husband's endorsement -- proclaimed Egypt's sham
election "reforms" to be an inspiration. Iran's election process is very
flawed, but it includes real aspects of democracy. Compared to the current
Saudi or Egyptian electoral setups, Iran is a beacon of hope for the
region.

The Washington officials who warn of Iran's nuclear intentions fail to
mention that the U.S. government has been encouraging the spread of
nuclear power plants for five decades. From an environmental standpoint,
Iran (like all nations) is ill-advised to develop nuclear power. But
there's no evidence it is anywhere near developing nuclear weapons. And
the Bush administration, with a solid track record of winking at Israel's
hundreds of atomic bombs and lying about WMDs in Iraq, is in no credible
position to lecture about Iranian nuclear activities.

Bombast from the U.S. government helps to strengthen the hand of hardline
Iranian "theologues." For them, a missile strike against Iran would be a
godsend.

While in Washington there are fervent dreams of a military assault on
Iran, many people in Iran have boundless dreams of creating a society that
embraces human rights. Americans who want to help them should challenge
the dominant rhetoric of American media and politics that is now setting
an agenda for war on Iran.

Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy,
is the author of the new book "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death," which became available this week. For
information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 16 19:48:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 05:56:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deadly Immunity     By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Message-ID: <BED7881D.20CE4%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Deadly Immunity
    By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
    Salon.com

    Thursday 16 June 2005

    A Salon/Rolling Stone joint investigation.

    When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused
autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data - and
to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic.


    
(Image: Salon.com)
    
    In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials
gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in
Norcross, Ga. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded
farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The
agency had issued no public announcement of the session - only private
invitations to 52 attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC
and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the
World Health Organization in Geneva, and representatives of every major
vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis
Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials
repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would
be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they
left.

    The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to
discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the
safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and
young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who
had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of
100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines - thimerosal
- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of
other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what
I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the
staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal
and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism.
Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional
vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -
in one case, within hours of birth - the estimated number of cases of autism
had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166
children.

    Even for scientists and doctors accustomed to confronting issues of life
and death, the findings were frightening. "You can play with this all you
want," Dr. Bill Weil, a consultant for the American Academy of Pediatrics,
told the group. The results "are statistically significant." Dr. Richard
Johnston, an immunologist and pediatrician from the University of Colorado
whose grandson had been born early on the morning of the meeting's first
day, was even more alarmed. "My gut feeling?" he said. "Forgive this
personal comment - I do not want my grandson to get a thimerosal-containing
vaccine until we know better what is going on."

    But instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the
vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at Simpsonwood
spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging
data. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information
Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations
about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry's bottom line.

    "We are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any
lawsuits," said Dr. Robert Brent, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont
Hospital for Children in Delaware. "This will be a resource to our very busy
plaintiff attorneys in this country." Dr. Bob Chen, head of vaccine safety
for the CDC, expressed relief that "given the sensitivity of the
information, we have been able to keep it out of the hands of, let's say,
less responsible hands." Dr. John Clements, vaccines advisor at the World
Health Organization, declared flatly that the study "should not have been
done at all" and warned that the results "will be taken by others and will
be used in ways beyond the control of this group. The research results have
to be handled."

    In fact, the government has proved to be far more adept at handling the
damage than at protecting children's health. The CDC paid the Institute of
Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal,
ordering researchers to "rule out" the chemical's link to autism. It
withheld Verstraeten's findings, even though they had been slated for
immediate publication, and told other scientists that his original data had
been "lost" and could not be replicated. And to thwart the Freedom of
Information Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine records over to a
private company, declaring it off-limits to researchers. By the time
Verstraeten finally published his study in 2003, he had gone to work for
GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal
and autism.

    Vaccine manufacturers had already begun to phase thimerosal out of
injections given to American infants - but they continued to sell off their
mercury-based supplies of vaccines until last year. The CDC and FDA gave
them a hand, buying up the tainted vaccines for export to developing
countries and allowing drug companies to continue using the preservative in
some American vaccines - including several pediatric flu shots as well as
tetanus boosters routinely given to 11-year-olds.

    The drug companies are also getting help from powerful lawmakers in
Washington. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in
contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, has been working to immunize
vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the
parents of injured children. On five separate occasions, Frist has tried to
seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents - including the
Simpsonwood transcripts - and shield Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal,
from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist quietly slipped a rider known
as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill, the company
contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on
bioterrorism. Congress repealed the measure in 2003 - but earlier this year,
Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny
compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders.
"The lawsuits are of such magnitude that they could put vaccine producers
out of business and limit our capacity to deal with a biological attack by
terrorists," says Andy Olsen, a legislative assistant to Frist.

    Even many conservatives are shocked by the government's effort to cover
up the dangers of thimerosal. Rep. Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana,
oversaw a three-year investigation of thimerosal after his grandson was
diagnosed with autism. "Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines is
directly related to the autism epidemic," his House Government Reform
Committee concluded in its final report. "This epidemic in all probability
may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the
switch regarding a lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal, a
known neurotoxin." The FDA and other public-health agencies failed to act,
the committee added, out of "institutional malfeasance for self protection"
and "misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry."

    The story of how government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to
hide the risks of thimerosal from the public is a chilling case study of
institutional arrogance, power and greed. I was drawn into the controversy
only reluctantly. As an attorney and environmentalist who has spent years
working on issues of mercury toxicity, I frequently met mothers of autistic
children who were absolutely convinced that their kids had been injured by
vaccines. Privately, I was skeptical. I doubted that autism could be blamed
on a single source, and I certainly understood the government's need to
reassure parents that vaccinations are safe; the eradication of deadly
childhood diseases depends on it. I tended to agree with skeptics like Rep.
Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California, who criticized his colleagues on
the House Government Reform Committee for leaping to conclusions about
autism and vaccinations. "Why should we scare people about immunization,"
Waxman pointed out at one hearing, "until we know the facts?"

    It was only after reading the Simpsonwood transcripts, studying the
leading scientific research and talking with many of the nation's preeminent
authorities on mercury that I became convinced that the link between
thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood neurological disorders is real.
Five of my own children are members of the Thimerosal Generation - those
born between 1989 and 2003 - who received heavy doses of mercury from
vaccines. "The elementary grades are overwhelmed with children who have
symptoms of neurological or immune-system damage," Patti White, a school
nurse, told the House Government Reform Committee in 1999. "Vaccines are
supposed to be making us healthier; however, in 25 years of nursing I have
never seen so many damaged, sick kids. Something very, very wrong is
happening to our children." More than 500,000 kids currently suffer from
autism, and pediatricians diagnose more than 40,000 new cases every year.
The disease was unknown until 1943, when it was identified and diagnosed
among 11 children born in the months after thimerosal was first added to
baby vaccines in 1931.

    Some skeptics dispute that the rise in autism is caused by
thimerosal-tainted vaccinations. They argue that the increase is a result of
better diagnosis - a theory that seems questionable at best, given that most
of the new cases of autism are clustered within a single generation of
children. "If the epidemic is truly an artifact of poor diagnosis," scoffs
Dr. Boyd Haley, one of the world's authorities on mercury toxicity, "then
where are all the 20-year-old autistics?" Other researchers point out that
Americans are exposed to a greater cumulative "load" of mercury than ever
before, from contaminated fish to dental fillings, and suggest that
thimerosal in vaccines may be only part of a much larger problem. It's a
concern that certainly deserves far more attention than it has received -
but it overlooks the fact that the mercury concentrations in vaccines dwarf
other sources of exposure to our children.

    What is most striking is the lengths to which many of the leading
detectives have gone to ignore - and cover up - the evidence against
thimerosal. From the very beginning, the scientific case against the mercury
additive has been overwhelming. The preservative, which is used to stem
fungi and bacterial growth in vaccines, contains ethylmercury, a potent
neurotoxin. Truckloads of studies have shown that mercury tends to
accumulate in the brains of primates and other animals after they are
injected with vaccines - and that the developing brains of infants are
particularly susceptible. In 1977, a Russian study found that adults exposed
to much lower concentrations of ethylmercury than those given to American
children still suffered brain damage years later. Russia banned thimerosal
from children's vaccines 20 years ago, and Denmark, Austria, Japan, Great
Britain and all the Scandinavian countries have since followed suit.

    "You couldn't even construct a study that shows thimerosal is safe,"
says Haley, who heads the chemistry department at the University of
Kentucky. "It's just too darn toxic. If you inject thimerosal into an
animal, its brain will sicken. If you apply it to living tissue, the cells
die. If you put it in a petri dish, the culture dies. Knowing these things,
it would be shocking if one could inject it into an infant without causing
damage."

    Internal documents reveal that Eli Lilly, which first developed
thimerosal, knew from the start that its product could cause damage - and
even death - in both animals and humans. In 1930, the company tested
thimerosal by administering it to 22 patients with terminal meningitis, all
of whom died within weeks of being injected - a fact Lilly didn't bother to
report in its study declaring thimerosal safe. In 1935, researchers at
another vaccine manufacturer, Pittman-Moore, warned Lilly that its claims
about thimerosal's safety "did not check with ours." Half the dogs Pittman
injected with thimerosal-based vaccines became sick, leading researchers
there to declare the preservative "unsatisfactory as a serum intended for
use on dogs."

    In the decades that followed, the evidence against thimerosal continued
to mount. During the Second World War, when the Department of Defense used
the preservative in vaccines on soldiers, it required Lilly to label it
"poison." In 1967, a study in Applied Microbiology found that thimerosal
killed mice when added to injected vaccines. Four years later, Lilly's own
studies discerned that thimerosal was "toxic to tissue cells" in
concentrations as low as one part per million - 100 times weaker than the
concentration in a typical vaccine. Even so, the company continued to
promote thimerosal as "nontoxic" and also incorporated it into topical
disinfectants. In 1977, 10 babies at a Toronto hospital died when an
antiseptic preserved with thimerosal was dabbed onto their umbilical cords.

    In 1982, the FDA proposed a ban on over-the-counter products that
contained thimerosal, and in 1991 the agency considered banning it from
animal vaccines. But tragically, that same year, the CDC recommended that
infants be injected with a series of mercury-laced vaccines. Newborns would
be vaccinated for hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth, and 2-month-old
infants would be immunized for haemophilus influenzae B and
diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis.

    The drug industry knew the additional vaccines posed a danger. The same
year that the CDC approved the new vaccines, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of
the fathers of Merck's vaccine programs, warned the company that
6-month-olds who were administered the shots would suffer dangerous exposure
to mercury. He recommended that thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when
used on infants and children," noting that the industry knew of nontoxic
alternatives. "The best way to go," he added, "is to switch to dispensing
the actual vaccines without adding preservatives."

    For Merck and other drug companies, however, the obstacle was money.
Thimerosal enables the pharmaceutical industry to package vaccines in vials
that contain multiple doses, which require additional protection because
they are more easily contaminated by multiple needle entries. The larger
vials cost half as much to produce as smaller, single-dose vials, making it
cheaper for international agencies to distribute them to impoverished
regions at risk of epidemics. Faced with this "cost consideration," Merck
ignored Hilleman's warnings, and government officials continued to push more
and more thimerosal-based vaccines for children. Before 1989, American
preschoolers received only three vaccinations - for polio,
diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and measles-mumps-rubella. A decade later,
thanks to federal recommendations, children were receiving a total of 22
immunizations by the time they reached first grade.

    As the number of vaccines increased, the rate of autism among children
exploded. During the 1990s, 40 million children were injected with
thimerosal-based vaccines, receiving unprecedented levels of mercury during
a period critical for brain development. Despite the well-documented dangers
of thimerosal, it appears that no one bothered to add up the cumulative dose
of mercury that children would receive from the mandated vaccines. "What
took the FDA so long to do the calculations?" Peter Patriarca, director of
viral products for the agency, asked in an e-mail to the CDC in 1999. "Why
didn't CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations when they rapidly
expanded the childhood immunization schedule?"

    But by that time, the damage was done. Infants who received all their
vaccines, plus boosters, by the age of 6 months were being injected with
levels of ethylmercury 187 times greater than the EPA's limit for daily
exposure to methylmercury, a related neurotoxin. Although the vaccine
industry insists that ethylmercury poses little danger because it breaks
down rapidly and is removed by the body, several studies - including one
published in April by the National Institutes of Health - suggest that
ethylmercury is actually more toxic to developing brains and stays in the
brain longer than methylmercury.

    Officials responsible for childhood immunizations insist that the
additional vaccines were necessary to protect infants from disease and that
thimerosal is still essential in developing nations, which, they often
claim, cannot afford the single-dose vials that don't require a
preservative. Dr. Paul Offit, one of CDC's top vaccine advisors, told me, "I
think if we really have an influenza pandemic - and certainly we will in the
next 20 years, because we always do - there's no way on God's earth that we
immunize 280 million people with single-dose vials. There has to be
multidose vials."

    But while public-health officials may have been well-intentioned, many
of those on the CDC advisory committee who backed the additional vaccines
had close ties to the industry. Dr. Sam Katz, the committee's chair, was a
paid consultant for most of the major vaccine makers and shares a patent on
a measles vaccine with Merck, which also manufactures the hepatitis B
vaccine. Dr. Neal Halsey, another committee member, worked as a researcher
for the vaccine companies and received honoraria from Abbott Labs for his
research on the hepatitis B vaccine.

    Indeed, in the tight circle of scientists who work on vaccines, such
conflicts of interest are common. Rep. Burton says that the CDC "routinely
allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on
intellectual advisory committees that make recommendations on new vaccines,"
even though they have "interests in the products and companies for which
they are supposed to be providing unbiased oversight." The House Government
Reform Committee discovered that four of the eight CDC advisors who approved
guidelines for a rotavirus vaccine laced with thimerosal "had financial ties
to the pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of
the vaccine."

    Offit, who shares a patent on the vaccine, acknowledged to me that he
"would make money" if his vote to approve it eventually leads to a
marketable product. But he dismissed my suggestion that a scientist's direct
financial stake in CDC approval might bias his judgment. "It provides no
conflict for me," he insists. "I have simply been informed by the process,
not corrupted by it. When I sat around that table, my sole intent was trying
to make recommendations that best benefited the children in this country.
It's offensive to say that physicians and public-health people are in the
pocket of industry and thus are making decisions that they know are unsafe
for children. It's just not the way it works."

    Other vaccine scientists and regulators gave me similar assurances. Like
Offit, they view themselves as enlightened guardians of children's health,
proud of their "partnerships" with pharmaceutical companies, immune to the
seductions of personal profit, besieged by irrational activists whose
anti-vaccine campaigns are endangering children's health. They are often
resentful of questioning. "Science," says Offit, "is best left to
scientists."

    Still, some government officials were alarmed by the apparent conflicts
of interest. In his e-mail to CDC administrators in 1999, Paul Patriarca of
the FDA blasted federal regulators for failing to adequately scrutinize the
danger posed by the added baby vaccines. "I'm not sure there will be an easy
way out of the potential perception that the FDA, CDC and
immunization-policy bodies may have been asleep at the switch re: thimerosal
until now," Patriarca wrote. The close ties between regulatory officials and
the pharmaceutical industry, he added, "will also raise questions about
various advisory bodies regarding aggressive recommendations for use" of
thimerosal in child vaccines.

    If federal regulators and government scientists failed to grasp the
potential risks of thimerosal over the years, no one could claim ignorance
after the secret meeting at Simpsonwood. But rather than conduct more
studies to test the link to autism and other forms of brain damage, the CDC
placed politics over science. The agency turned its database on childhood
vaccines - which had been developed largely at taxpayer expense - over to a
private agency, America's Health Insurance Plans, ensuring that it could not
be used for additional research. It also instructed the Institute of
Medicine, an advisory organization that is part of the National Academy of
Sciences, to produce a study debunking the link between thimerosal and brain
disorders. The CDC "wants us to declare, well, that these things are pretty
safe," Dr. Marie McCormick, who chaired the IOM's Immunization Safety Review
Committee, told her fellow researchers when they first met in January 2001.
"We are not ever going to come down that [autism] is a true side effect" of
thimerosal exposure. According to transcripts of the meeting, the
committee's chief staffer, Kathleen Stratton, predicted that the IOM would
conclude that the evidence was "inadequate to accept or reject a causal
relation" between thimerosal and autism. That, she added, was the result
"Walt wants" - a reference to Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of the National
Immunization Program for the CDC.

    For those who had devoted their lives to promoting vaccination, the
revelations about thimerosal threatened to undermine everything they had
worked for. "We've got a dragon by the tail here," said Dr. Michael Kaback,
another committee member. "The more negative that [our] presentation is, the
less likely people are to use vaccination, immunization - and we know what
the results of that will be. We are kind of caught in a trap. How we work
our way out of the trap, I think is the charge."

    Even in public, federal officials made it clear that their primary goal
in studying thimerosal was to dispel doubts about vaccines. "Four current
studies are taking place to rule out the proposed link between autism and
thimerosal," Dr. Gordon Douglas, then-director of strategic planning for
vaccine research at the National Institutes of Health, assured a Princeton
University gathering in May 2001. "In order to undo the harmful effects of
research claiming to link the [measles] vaccine to an elevated risk of
autism, we need to conduct and publicize additional studies to assure
parents of safety." Douglas formerly served as president of vaccinations for
Merck, where he ignored warnings about thimerosal's risks.

    In May of last year, the Institute of Medicine issued its final report.
Its conclusion: There is no proven link between autism and thimerosal in
vaccines. Rather than reviewing the large body of literature describing the
toxicity of thimerosal, the report relied on four disastrously flawed
epidemiological studies examining European countries, where children
received much smaller doses of thimerosal than American kids. It also cited
a new version of the Verstraeten study, published in the journal Pediatrics,
that had been reworked to reduce the link between thimerosal and autism. The
new study included children too young to have been diagnosed with autism and
overlooked others who showed signs of the disease. The IOM declared the case
closed and - in a startling position for a scientific body - recommended
that no further research be conducted.

    The report may have satisfied the CDC, but it convinced no one. Rep.
David Weldon, a Republican physician from Florida who serves on the House
Government Reform Committee, attacked the Institute of Medicine, saying it
relied on a handful of studies that were "fatally flawed" by "poor design"
and failed to represent "all the available scientific and medical research."
CDC officials are not interested in an honest search for the truth, Weldon
told me, because "an association between vaccines and autism would force
them to admit that their policies irreparably damaged thousands of children.
Who would want to make that conclusion about themselves?"

    Under pressure from Congress, parents and a few of its own panel
members, the Institute of Medicine reluctantly convened a second panel to
review the findings of the first. In February, the new panel, composed of
different scientists, criticized the earlier panel for its lack of
transparency and urged the CDC to make its vaccine database available to the
public.

    So far, though, only two scientists have managed to gain access. Dr.
Mark Geier, president of the Genetics Center of America, and his son, David,
spent a year battling to obtain the medical records from the CDC. Since
August 2002, when members of Congress pressured the agency to turn over the
data, the Geiers have completed six studies that demonstrate a powerful
correlation between thimerosal and neurological damage in children. One
study, which compares the cumulative dose of mercury received by children
born between 1981 and 1985 with those born between 1990 and 1996, found a
"very significant relationship" between autism and vaccines. Another study
of educational performance found that kids who received higher doses of
thimerosal in vaccines were nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed
with autism and more than three times as likely to suffer from speech
disorders and mental retardation. Another soon-to-be-published study shows
that autism rates are in decline following the recent elimination of
thimerosal from most vaccines.

    As the federal government worked to prevent scientists from studying
vaccines, others have stepped in to study the link to autism. In April,
reporter Dan Olmsted of UPI undertook one of the more interesting studies
himself. Searching for children who had not been exposed to mercury in
vaccines - the kind of population that scientists typically use as a
"control" in experiments - Olmsted scoured the Amish of Lancaster County,
Penn., who refuse to immunize their infants. Given the national rate of
autism, Olmsted calculated that there should be 130 autistics among the
Amish. He found only four. One had been exposed to high levels of mercury
from a power plant. The other three - including one child adopted from
outside the Amish community - had received their vaccines.

    At the state level, many officials have also conducted in-depth reviews
of thimerosal. While the Institute of Medicine was busy whitewashing the
risks, the Iowa Legislature was carefully combing through all of the
available scientific and biological data. "After three years of review, I
became convinced there was sufficient credible research to show a link
between mercury and the increased incidences in autism," says state Sen. Ken
Veenstra, a Republican who oversaw the investigation. "The fact that Iowa's
700 percent increase in autism began in the 1990s, right after more and more
vaccines were added to the children's vaccine schedules, is solid evidence
alone." Last year, Iowa became the first state to ban mercury in vaccines,
followed by California. Similar bans are now under consideration in 32 other
states.

    But instead of following suit, the FDA continues to allow manufacturers
to include thimerosal in scores of over-the-counter medications as well as
steroids and injected collagen. Even more alarming, the government continues
to ship vaccines preserved with thimerosal to developing countries - some of
which are now experiencing a sudden explosion in autism rates. In China,
where the disease was virtually unknown prior to the introduction of
thimerosal by U.S. drug manufacturers in 1999, news reports indicate that
there are now more than 1.8 million autistics. Although reliable numbers are
hard to come by, autistic disorders also appear to be soaring in India,
Argentina, Nicaragua and other developing countries that are now using
thimerosal-laced vaccines. The World Health Organization continues to insist
thimerosal is safe, but it promises to keep the possibility that it is
linked to neurological disorders "under review."

    I devoted time to study this issue because I believe that this is a
moral crisis that must be addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, our
public-health authorities knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to
poison an entire generation of American children, their actions arguably
constitute one of the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine.
"The CDC is guilty of incompetence and gross negligence," says Mark Blaxill,
vice president of Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization concerned about the
role of mercury in medicines. "The damage caused by vaccine exposure is
massive. It's bigger than asbestos, bigger than tobacco, bigger than
anything you've ever seen." It's hard to calculate the damage to our country
- and to the international efforts to eradicate epidemic diseases - if Third
World nations come to believe that America's most heralded foreign-aid
initiative is poisoning their children. It's not difficult to predict how
this scenario will be interpreted by America's enemies abroad. The
scientists and researchers - many of them sincere, even idealistic - who are
participating in efforts to hide the science on thimerosal claim that they
are trying to advance the lofty goal of protecting children in developing
nations from disease pandemics. They are badly misguided. Their failure to
come clean on thimerosal will come back horribly to haunt our country and
the world's poorest populations.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is senior attorney for the Natural Resources
Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper and president of
Waterkeeper Alliance. He is the co-author of The Riverkeepers.

 

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 16 19:51:09 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 05:58:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 'The Boat Is Sinking' By Aida Edemariam The Guardian UK
Message-ID: <BED788AD.20CE8%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Also see below:    
Margaret Carlson | Bush Says 'What, Me Worry?' on Global Warming    ?

    Go to Original

    'The Boat Is Sinking'
    By Aida Edemariam
    The Guardian UK

    Wednesday 15 June 2005

    As our appetite for oil hastens climate change, who will speak out for
the alternatives? One possible champion is Lord Ron Oxburgh, the
distinguished geologist who also happens to be chairman of Shell. He tells
Aida Edemariam why the time for complacency is over.

    When Lord Ron Oxburgh visited the Hay festival a couple of weeks ago he
arrived during a spell of weather best described as unsettled. A
record-breakingly warm Friday was followed on Saturday by a wild, gusting
wind and, in the festival marquees, a great howling and a flapping of
canvas.

    The lighting rigs creaked with the strain, and pictures of Hay,
projected on to screens behind the performers, bucked and swayed; it was a
glimpse of how it must feel to sail a boat into a storm, and an almost too
appropriate backdrop to chief government scientist David King's calm laying
out of the basic facts of climate change: that since the industrial period
carbon dioxide levels have risen from 270 parts per million (classical for
all previous warm periods) to 379ppm today, and are rising at 2ppm per year.
In 10 years' time they will be at 400ppm; at 500ppm, Greenland's ice will
melt entirely - it's already receding by 10 metres a year - and the sea
level will rise, drowning coastal cities and entirely changing the contours
of the earth. Most scientists now agree that unless we stabilise the earth's
atmosphere by 2050, there will be no way to halt the disaster.

    Oxburgh, the non-executive chairman of Shell in the UK, on the dias with
Greenpeace executive director Stephen Tindale, listened to King with
increasing impatience, his abundant black eyebrows knitting restlessly under
windblown white hair. As soon as he decently could, he grabbed the
microphone, strode to the front of the stage and launched into his speech,
contemptuous of the lectern, glancing only occasionally at his notes,
leaning in towards the audience as if, like an evangelist, he wanted to pick
everyone up and shake sense into them, just as the wind was shaking the
tent. "We have roughly 45 years. And if we start NOW, not in 10 or 15 years'
time, we have a chance of hitting those targets. But we've got to start now.
We have no time to lose."

    We meet later but, returning to the speech, I suggest to Oxburgh that
there is a certain inconsistency to his position. He heads one of the
biggest petrochemical multinationals in the world; a multinational,
moreover, whose recent track record includes an attempt to scupper the
decommissioned Brent Spar oil platform; a series of North Sea gas leaks;
struggles in the Niger Delta with the Ogoni tribe, who believe Shell's
riches are being acquired at their expense; failure to halt the execution by
the Nigerian government of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who campaigned for the Ogoni; oil
spills and ground-level flaring in the Delta. The Climate Justice Programme
has called this practice "environmental racism", as it seems only to happen
in developing countries; Oxburgh, somewhat unconvincingly, insists the
locals appreciate the flares as a heat source for drying fish.

    And then there was the unfortunate moment last year when Shell announced
it was downgrading the size of its oil reserves by 20%, greatly upsetting
its investors. Shell was subsequently investigated by the US Securities and
Exchange Commission, and Oxburgh's predecessor lost his job - though in 2004
Shell somehow also posted the biggest profit of any British company ever:
?9.3bn. So if the logical solution to the trouble we're in is to stop using
oil, surely Oxburgh's comrades at Shell aren't too happy with him? "I think
most of the people I work with talk in the same way. Though they might not
talk about it so publicly." Also, many of them are, principally,
businessmen; "the difference is, I have worked for a lot of my life as a
research scientist. And if I don't say it, who's going to?"

    Oxburgh always wanted to be a scientist, but despite the support of his
parents, who had themselves left school at 14, his teachers steamrollered
him into classics at Oxford. After five terms he'd had enough, so he looked
around and saw that the head of the geology department was also the man who
had climbed furthest up Everest (this was before Edmund Hillary), "and I
guess because I was a climber" he joined the geology department. "Geology
was an incredibly boring subject in some ways, but for the fact that it got
you out into the mountains." At Oxford he and his friends climbed every
building they could, the prize being the crumbling cupola of its historic
library, the Radcliffe Camera. There were no indoor climbing walls, so they
practised on the mantelpieces in their rooms. He's 70 now, and doesn't climb
any longer, but he loves orienteering, gleeful that it allows you to rely on
your wits rather than physical fitness, and thus to beat people far younger
than yourself.

    Shell made him his first job offer after he had finished a PhD at
Princeton, where he made major contributions to the discovery of plate
tectonics. But they wanted to wait until he had done military service; when
the military rejected him, Oxford offered him a short teaching contract. He
stayed for 18 years. Since then he has taught at Cambridge, been Rector of
Imperial College London and was chief scientist at the MoD during the six
years in which Russia imploded, the Berlin Wall came down, and the first
Iraq war began. Now a KBE and crossbench life peer who sits on the House of
Lords select committee on science and technology, he joined Shell as a
non-executive director in 1996. He is tough, but approachable; he gives the
impression of idealism, and smilingly refuses to be drawn into any
criticisms of his company.

    But Oxburgh also has a reputation for independence and, in these last
two months before he retires from the chairmanship, a fierce need to talk
about the future. "Look, Shell is an energy company, not an oil company, and
the fact is that neither Shell nor any other energy company is going to be
doing business in the same way in 25 years' time." Already Shell "can't
actually make enough solar panels at the moment to satisfy demand". So far
it has spent $1.5bn, more than any other company, he says, on renewables.
(To put this in context, the cost of getting one oilfield up and running can
reach $10bn, though funding can come from a variety of sources.)

    But these are early days for biofuels and renewable energy, and early
days too for a method many including Oxburgh tout as a possible eureka:
carbon sequestration, which involves trapping the CO2 produced by burning
fossil fuels and storing it, usually underground, in the cavities where the
oil, natural gas, or coal came from in the first place. It's a possible
option in the North Sea and in the US, but more difficult in India and
China, where abundant cheap brown coal produces relatively high levels of
CO2 but where there are few obvious places to store it.

    Which brings up another, potentially far greater, problem. As Oxburgh
points out, China, India, Brazil and Mexico are rapidly emerging markets,
and "as countries grow and become more prosperous, they use more energy. It
is a sad fact that if these countries experience the perfectly legitimate
growth in GDP [gross domestic product] that they have a right to expect, and
they do so in the same energy-inefficient way that we have seen our
prosperity grow, then I think we are wasting our time. Because, frankly, the
numbers of people are so large, and the rate of change is so great, that
there will be simply no hope of meeting our targets by 2050." China, for
example, "is opening a new, old-fashioned, dirty, full-sized power station
at the rate of one a fortnight." (The developing world, not surprisingly,
will be most affected by climate change: Africa is forecast to get warmer at
double the rate of anywhere else and, says David King, will soon be feeling
the effects of climate change at a level rivalling the effects of the HIV
epidemic.)

    This is the sort of issue that must be dealt with at government level,
and governments are notoriously blind beyond the next election, not to
mention worried about upsetting powerful corporations. Yet just a couple of
weeks ago Shell and 12 other signatories, including BP, sent an open letter
to Tony Blair, in which they pointed out that "governments tend to feel
limited in their ability to introduce new policies for reducing emissions
because they fear business resistance, while companies are unable to take
their investments in low-carbon solutions to scale because of lack of
long-term policies," and urged immediate action. Oxburgh advocates that
government uses the controls at its disposal: "Regulate biofuels. Or
subsidise. Or tax" - any incentive really, but "what we don't want to see is
in two years' time the government simply becoming bored with climate change
after we've invested a lot of our shareholders' money. Remember, those
shareholders are pension funds and other similar organisations." The
prospect of big business forcing government to regulate it would be funny,
if it weren't so serious.

    Meanwhile, the price of oil is high at $55 a barrel, and the oil
companies don't see it falling substantially in the near future. At the
current rate of progress, says Oxburgh, "we are going to be really quite
dependent on fossil fuels for another 50 years. And nothing is going to slow
the world economy more, and inhibit our control of the greenhouse gas
problem, than a world recession. So, fundamentally, what we are trying to do
worldwide is to make sure that we have enough of a supply of oil and gas."
Paradoxically, the high price of oil is also good for renewable energy, as
it forces the speedier development of alternatives, and Oxburgh just views
this as a further business opportunity: corn ethanol, to take the example of
a biofuel currently in use, currently costs nearly as much as oil.

    Shell, therefore, is in no trouble. But the planet is, and Oxburgh sees
no point in mincing words. "The boat is sinking, and we have to use
everything that we possibly can."

 

    Go to Original

    Bush Says 'What, Me Worry?' on Global Warming
    By Margaret Carlson
    Bloomberg.com

    Wednesday 16 June 2005

    I always wonder if the president really doesn't know things or if he's
found ignorance so useful he's made it his strategy of choice.

    Here's a Yale University graduate with better grades than Mr. Know It
All, John Kerry, yet George W. Bush entertains a theory of intelligent
design that says the earth isn't 4.5 billion years old but was, in
geological terms, born yesterday, suggests that cures from embryonic stem
cells are a cruel hoax of those unconcerned about life in a petri dish, and
believes that record-setting heat is good for baseball.

    When his vice president says the insurgency in Iraq is in its last
throes, who is Bush going to believe: Dick Cheney or his own eyes? The
president is smart. He's just not curious, especially when acknowledging the
facts would require him to do something.

    Bush's most stunning lack of curiosity concerns global warming. The heat
wave this spring, prairie droughts, melting glaciers - all flukes to him.

    Bush is always awaiting yet another study to prove a link between
greenhouse gases and global warming because the one in his hands isn't good
enough. To make sure he didn't get a study that would force him to act, Bush
hired Philip Cooney, the former lobbyist for the American Petroleum
Institute.

    To the Heart

    Like the cattlemen regulating meat inspections, mining executives over
at the Interior Department and drug salesman at the FDA, Cooney took his
private war against government regulation public to the heart of the
administration as chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental
Quality.

    It all worked beautifully. Scientists would issue a study, and Cooney,
with his blue pencil in hand, would happily doctor it up. Insert a few words
like "significant" and "fundamental" just before "uncertainties" and, voila,
you turn a study that links greenhouse gases to a hotter planet into one
that has significant and fundamental doubts about it.

    No wonder Cooney got mash notes from the Competitive Enterprise
Institute. CEI - heavily funded by Exxon Mobil - thanked him for consulting
with them, unlike that closet greenie Christie Todd Whitman at EPA who never
did. Whitman gave up on having as much influence as Cooney and left her post
early, making moot CEI's wish that she be fired.

    Pressing Need

    Last Friday, Cooney left too. Just two days after the New York Times
reported on his editorial climate changes, Cooney discovered a pressing need
to spend more time with his family. After one weekend of that, he discovered
a pressing need to work at Exxon.

    It's a fitting place. According to The Guardian of London, which says it
got hold of briefing papers prepared for Undersecretary of State Paula
Dobriansky, the administration wanted her to thank Exxon executives for
their "active involvement" in setting climate change policy and to ask what
policies they'd like to see in the future.

    Unlike former CIA director George Tenet, who sexed up intelligence to
make a slam dunk case for invading Iraq, the guy who de-sexed climate change
intelligence did not need a Medal of Freedom dangled in front of him to turn
off the lights.

    Turning Point

    Years from now, if we aren't all swimming to work, we may look back on
Cooney's departure as the moment Bush had to give up his denial.

    Bush stands nearly alone as he goes off to the G-8 meeting in Scotland
next month. Former Bush lap dog, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, has pushed
action on global warming near the top of the agenda.

    Ten scientific academies around the world have in unison with our
National Academy of Sciences called for action on global warming. California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, no girlie man in earth shoes, said last
week, "The debate is over, we know the science, we see the threat" and "the
time for action is now."

    In 2003, the Senate gave polluters a pass. Now it looks as if a
cap-and-trade system to lessen emissions might be adopted as part of the
energy bill. Bush's allies in industry, with the exception of Exxon, are
deserting him, realizing that controls are not only inevitable but in the
long run efficient. Even the CEO of Chevron likes breathing.

    When Bush spokesman Scott McClellan was asked on Wednesday whether
Cooney's quick move to Exxon didn't suggest the White House had a "shill for
the oil industry driving environmental policy," McClellan offered no
alternative explanation but denied the charge hotly enough to cause
considerable warming in the press room. The White House long ago learned not
to let facts slow you down.

    Margaret Carlson, who was a columnist and deputy Washington bureau chief
for Time magazine, is a columnist for Bloomberg News.

 


From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 16 20:23:21 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 06:31:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: The Gospel On Gay Marriage
Message-ID: <20050617032321.920E3B809A@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
The Gospel On Gay Marriage
http://www.alternet.org/story/22241

Before dismissing the religious right,Â progressives may find it helpful to learn more about them -- particularly that group the media lump together as 'the evangelicals.'
-------------------------------------

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 20:25:18 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 16 06:32:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <007501c572ec$30386de0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

It is true that these obnoxious viewpoints are being taught to, and ingrained by, young children.  In this regard, although I know you (and Lyle) hate it when I cite or quote Scripture, I think in this case it might be useful as a "counter" to these obnoxious beliefs.  As you know, one of our favorite sayings is "What would Jesus do?"  However, too few people really consider what this means, or how to apply it.  Let me offer Scripture that counters each point below.  Again, I do not disagree that these obnoxious positions are being espoused and indoctrinated.  I offer the following simply to show how sadly apostate and "off-base" these positions are vis-a-vis what Scripture actually says:

1.  All gay people must die.  They are an abomination to the Lord.  If we cannot kill them outright, the least we should be able to do is ruin their lives and businesses in every way possible, run them out of town, and hopefully some day in the future export them to Africa or somewhere to just get such filth out of our presence.  We don't normally refer to them as gays or lesbians, but rather as c*cksuckers and muff munchers.  These 2 terms seem to go over with the Children much bigger than using the regular terms normally affiliated to this group of people in general American society.

True, Scripture (both Old and New Testament) considers homosexuality a "sin."  However, Jesus taught that we are to love all people, regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.  After all, He "consorted" almost exclusively with prostituted, homosexuals, publicans, tax collectors - the most reviled and hated of society.  And three of the most important things He taught were: "Judge not, lest ye be judged in equal measure," "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," and "Take the log out of your own eye before you take the mote out of another's."

2.  Anyone who is not a Republican, there is something wrong with them.  If it is at all possible in the future to either eliminate them or ship them to Africa with all the c*cksuckers and muff munchers, that would please us. (This includes just about everyone you can think of who is not a Republican in America, which still composes basically a majority of us.)  If we cannot eliminate them or ship them to Africa with you know who, then we can at least ruin their entire lives and businesses also.  That will at least be something good in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat.  Indeed, he fell somewhere between socialist and communist.  If He had any socio-economic or political teaching, it was reflected in this passage from Acts 4:34-35: "Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need."  That is, "From each, according to his ability to give; to each, according to his need" - the basic principles of Marxist economics.

3.  Anyone who is not a Christian, well, it would certainly be nice if we could pack them up as well, unless we can convert them, and eliminate them also, or pack them off to Africa, or at least ruin their lives and businesses as well if they do not cooperate.  There remains plenty of room for all sorts of good and necessary deeds in the eyes of the Lord.

True, Christians have a mandate to "bring the Gospel" in an attempt to "bring people to Christ."  However, they are to do this the way Jesus did: humbly, lovingly, patiently - offering the Gospel to all, but allowing each person to accept or reject it as they wish, without judgment or condemnation.  Jesus preached everywhere, offering the Gospel to anyone who wanted to listen, but not forcing any one to.  And allowing each person to accept or reject His teachings, without judgment or condemnation.  And when He sent out the apostles and disciples, He told them specifically to "go to every house" and "preach the Gospel to all nations," but if someone did not want to hear, then simply "shake the dust from your feet," and walk on.  That is, not to ram it down anyone's throat, or condemn anyone for not listening.

4.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not a Christian.

The Scripture says (at 2 Cor 6:14): "Do not be unequally yoked together [i.e., married] with unbelievers."  Although it is true that the passage goes on to denigrate non-believers, this statement is actually quite logical and sensible from any faith-based perspective, not just a Christian one: if one is going to live a faith-based life - of any faith - there are likely to be contentions in the marriage if the other person does not share that faith.

5.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not the same race as you.

Poppycock.  Miriam (Moses' wife) was black.  So were quite a few notable women (all married) in the Old Testament.  Besides, Jesus was not "white" (i.e., Anglo-Saxon).  He was a Palestinian semite, which means he probably had olive- or even dark-olive-colored skin, much like most desert Arabs.

6.  The Lord is moving into politics, business, education, and etc, and you will be The New Leaders of this vast new enlightening of both America and The World.  If you cannot convert anyone and everyone to who you are now and will be in The Future, crush them like an eggshell.  The Lord is great and mighty.

Scripture says otherwise: "No one engaged in [spiritual] warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this [temporal] life, that [i.e., so] he may please him [i.e., Christ] who enlisted him as a soldier."  A Christian's first focus should be the spiritual world, and the spiritual warfare that goes on around us [i.e., not in the temporal world] all the time.  And if one is engaged in that "warfare," then they are wasting their [spiritual] energy by engaging in "the affairs of this life."  Those Christians who "get it" bascially straddle the two worlds, but their focus is on the spiritual first, and the temporal second.  Some Christians - particularly Jehovah's Witnesses - cite this passage vis-a-vis their belief that Christians should not engage themselves in "worldly" things at all; e.g., JW's do not participate in politics, either by voting or supporting (or not supporting) any particular socio-political issue.

7.  Blackballing, slander, hearsay, and malicious gossip are allright in the sight of the Lord if that winds up being the only way you have of dealing with someone finally who is Not One Of Us.  It's ok to destroy All The Evil People, again, if they will not cooperate with The Great Work.

Boy, did they get this one wrong!  Setting aside the Commandment that "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness," there are more admonishments against gossip and slander in the New Testament than there are on any other "personal" issue except sexual immorality.  Let me just cite a couple:

-"And besides they learn to be idle...and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not."  (1 Tim 5:13)
-"Whoever spreads slander is a fool" (Prov. 10:18)
-"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  (Eph 4:31)

8.  All drugs are bad for any reason at all times.  Anyone who uses them must be devil worshippers.  If you need them, sure, prescription drugs, take all you want.  Take your ritalin in school as well, it will help heal your mind and aid in your study of the scriptures.

Although there are no specific proscriptions in Scripture, there are two schools of thought here, which may not be entirely mutually exclusive.  One school of thought is that, since our "breath" is given to us by God, and since our body is the "temple" in which the Holy Spirit resides, one "defiles" the "temple" and adversely affects the "breath" God gave us when one smokes or ingests any substance that unnecessarily alters our bio-chemistry.  (Yes, food and other necessary ingestibles also alter our bio-chemistry, but they do so in order to keep us alive.)  The other school of thought - and one which I have heard "preached" at many a jay-day festival - is that, in Genesis, God gave Adam (and thus all of humanity) dominion over the earth, and told us to partake of what it offers.  Since He did not say, "Partake of all that is here - except don't smoke that plant, or eat that particular mushroom," etc., then, at least with regard to "naturally occurring" drugs (as opposed to "refined" or synthesized drugs like heroin, cocaine, LSD, etc.), there should be no proscription against them.  Again, I don't believe the two schools are necessarily mutually exclusive, but I do not have the wisdom to find the "overlap."

9.  Anyone who questions any of the teachings, rulings, or actions of the church, our government, or our military, is a traitor to America.  They are to be dealt with like any of the above listed profiles of those lower than us.

Let's see....this one should be easy.  "Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's."  I also refer back to #3, and my comments thereon.

10.  If it takes removing a forest, a lake, a species, or something to build a strip mall, hotel, prison, or mega-church, that's allright.  People like the treehugging, pot smoking, liberal, long haired, c*cksuckers and muff munchers just do not get that it is our time, it is your time, the work of the Lord is at hand, we will rule in Education, Government, Religion, Society, AND Business.  All revolutions and rumors of misguided heretical fake freedoms are dead.  It is A Corporate World now.  The Kingdom Of God is finally at hand.  You will be his new handmaidens and servants.  Go forth, multiply, prosper, crush anyone who opposes you like an egg shell.

There seem to be two, maybe three, separate things here.  First, environmentalism.  No question here: the Scripture states definitively that we are to be "stewards" of the earth.  Stewards do not rape, pillage, plunder, pollute or destroy.  Second, civil liberties and freedoms vs. corporately-controlled government.  This has an interesting (and I believe relevant) sidebar.  Most of us know that when the Jews were granted the release of one prisoner for Passover, they chose Barabbas - the Anti-Roman freedom fighter - over Jesus, the one they thought was going to lead them to "revolution," but turned out to be peace-loving, and thus, in their eyes, a wimp (LOL).  And yet...Barabbas had little or no effect on Rome, while Jesus had an effect that none could have foreseen.  However, setting that aside, I believe Jesus was probably a seemingly dichtomous combination of "law and order" man (at least in as much as temporal society was concerned) and a supporter of what we woud now call "civil liberties" within a framework of some socio-politco-economic structure.  However, I have no Scripture to support this view, so it is entirely my own.  Third, as for "go forth, multiply, prosper, crush anyone who opposes you like an eggshell," I think Jesus' non-violent civil disobedience vis-a-vis Pilate and the Sanhedrin is proof enough that He would not support such a bizarre view.

11.  100,000 dead Iraqi Civilian men women and children, 1 million dead Iraqi Children by American sanctions, that's allright.  God works in mysterious ways.  They made 2 mistakes, and the Lord has and is punishing them, they turned away from the Lord Jesus and his Father, and they all attacked the World Trade Centers.  Forget them, you'll just have nightmares, pray for the loan for the new Christian strip mall to come through.

Personally, Jesus does a fine job of speaking for Himself in this regard (Matt 4:38-39, 43-44):

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also...You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

There is nothing in the context in which this statement is made that would suggest anything other than a literal interpretation.  This was not an allegory or a metaphor.  It is actually almost in the nature of a "command."  It is also only one of many passages that underlies Jesus' position re violence of any type, and His philosophy of non-violence (which Gandhi and others used to such profound effect).

So...

While it is (sadly) true that too many children are being indoctrinated with unloving, unforgiving, and ultimately un-Christian views based on out-of-context Scripture, some of us center-left evangelicals don't subscribe to that program, and have more than enough Scripture not only to challenge that program, but to provide a much more loving, humble, forgiving and accepting form of Christianity.

Peace.
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From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 16 20:56:39 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 16 07:04:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] STRANGE Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <20050616.205648.22795.127456@webmail33.nyc.untd.com>

http://www.sojo.net/

Ian,

Your work here is going far above and beyond-you should be commended for your patience; taking time and thought, and building perspective with Cheesburger.

I like this web group- "Sojourners, Faith,Politics and Culture".
They are putting far-right Christian thinking into the tank. Thousands of fed-up faith practicing individuals are moving into their ever-widening circles, receiving benefit. 

Their efforts are to promote the 'goodness' of Christ's work, not hatred, nor vengeance, or aggression.

As always, it is not what I believe in, but the need for faithful followers of a religion, belief and/or practice, to promote edification, unification, and a genuine out-pouring of true emotion for understanding and longevity within the human experience.


Lyle K'ang

Please note: message attached


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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 16 21:41:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 16 07:48:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] STRANGE Things Christians Teach Children
References: <20050616.205648.22795.127456@webmail33.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <00a401c572f6$c8ee2a20$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Lyle:

Thank you for your kind words.  I appreciate them more than you know.

I have been a member of Sojourners for over a year.  And I have met and spoken with Jim Wallis, who truly "gets it" in a way so many others don't.  Indeed, at the risk of seeming to lack humility, when I first heard Jim speak (at a forum last year), he kept saying things that I had been saying for years; i.e., I realized we were what can only be called "kindred spirits."  And when he read my first note to him (just prior to meeting him) - noting some of the things I have said, and positions I have taken vis-a-vis the intersection of faith and politics - he agreed that we share an awful lot of things.  (We even shared a very joke-y moment when we almost simultaneously referred to ourselves as "lone voices crying in the wilderness" with respect to the evangelical community.)

Jim has worked "behind the scenes" in a number of major ways.  The two most recent were: he was part of an interfaith "team" that drafted an alternative proposal for how to remove Saddam from power without undertaking an illegal, aggressive, unprovoked, pre-emptive war.  He and the "team" presented this to Tony Blair just eight weeks prior to the start of the war.  And althouth Blair expressed both interest and support, he admitted that plans were likely to far along for the proposal to have had any effect.  Had they presented the proposal two months earlier, it is possible that it might have had some effect (though, with the new "memo" that surfaced about Bush's plans to remove Saddam, this may be a moot point).

Second, Jim, in his role as "convener" of "Call to Renewal" (the largest interfaith anti-poverty group in the world), was part of a "team" that presented an anti-powerty proposal to a number of presidents, prime ministers, etc., including Tony Blair.  Less than six months later, Blair, announcing the agenda for the next G-8 summit (which is was England's turn to chair) declared that poverty would be among the top two or three issues "pushed" by England.

The more one gets to know about Jim Wallis, the more one realizes that this guy is a (quiet) powerhouse - and, more importantly, a person who puts his money, time, energy and ideas where his mouth is.

Hope all is well with you, and that you are peaceful.

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 11:56 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] STRANGE Things Christians Teach Children


  http://www.sojo.net/

  Ian,

  Your work here is going far above and beyond-you should be commended for your patience; taking time and thought, and building perspective with Cheesburger.

  I like this web group- "Sojourners, Faith,Politics and Culture".
  They are putting far-right Christian thinking into the tank. Thousands of fed-up faith practicing individuals are moving into their ever-widening circles, receiving benefit. 

  Their efforts are to promote the 'goodness' of Christ's work, not hatred, nor vengeance, or aggression.

  As always, it is not what I believe in, but the need for faithful followers of a religion, belief and/or practice, to promote edification, unification, and a genuine out-pouring of true emotion for understanding and longevity within the human experience.


  Lyle K'ang

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Cheeseburger:

  It is true that these obnoxious viewpoints are being taught to, and ingrained by, young children.  In this regard, although I know you (and Lyle) hate it when I cite or quote Scripture, I think in this case it might be useful as a "counter" to these obnoxious beliefs.  As you know, one of our favorite sayings is "What would Jesus do?"  However, too few people really consider what this means, or how to apply it.  Let me offer Scripture that counters each point below.  Again, I do not disagree that these obnoxious positions are being espoused and indoctrinated.  I offer the following simply to show how sadly apostate and "off-base" these positions are vis-a-vis what Scripture actually says:

  1.  All gay people must die.  They are an abomination to the Lord.  If we cannot kill them outright, the least we should be able to do is ruin their lives and businesses in every way possible, run them out of town, and hopefully some day in the future export them to Africa or somewhere to just get such filth out of our presence.  We don't normally refer to them as gays or lesbians, but rather as c*cksuckers and muff munchers.  These 2 terms seem to go over with the Children much bigger than using the regular terms normally affiliated to this group of people in general American society.

  True, Scripture (both Old and New Testament) considers homosexuality a "sin."  However, Jesus taught that we are to love all people, regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.  After all, He "consorted" almost exclusively with prostituted, homosexuals, publicans, tax collectors - the most reviled and hated of society.  And three of the most important things He taught were: "Judge not, lest ye be judged in equal measure," "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," and "Take the log out of your own eye before you take the mote out of another's."

  2.  Anyone who is not a Republican, there is something wrong with them.  If it is at all possible in the future to either eliminate them or ship them to Africa with all the c*cksuckers and muff munchers, that would please us. (This includes just about everyone you can think of who is not a Republican in America, which still composes basically a majority of us.)  If we cannot eliminate them or ship them to Africa with you know who, then we can at least ruin their entire lives and businesses also.  That will at least be something good in the eyes of the Lord.

  Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat.  Indeed, he fell somewhere between socialist and communist.  If He had any socio-economic or political teaching, it was reflected in this passage from Acts 4:34-35: "Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need."  That is, "From each, according to his ability to give; to each, according to his need" - the basic principles of Marxist economics.

  3.  Anyone who is not a Christian, well, it would certainly be nice if we could pack them up as well, unless we can convert them, and eliminate them also, or pack them off to Africa, or at least ruin their lives and businesses as well if they do not cooperate.  There remains plenty of room for all sorts of good and necessary deeds in the eyes of the Lord.

  True, Christians have a mandate to "bring the Gospel" in an attempt to "bring people to Christ."  However, they are to do this the way Jesus did: humbly, lovingly, patiently - offering the Gospel to all, but allowing each person to accept or reject it as they wish, without judgment or condemnation.  Jesus preached everywhere, offering the Gospel to anyone who wanted to listen, but not forcing any one to.  And allowing each person to accept or reject His teachings, without judgment or condemnation.  And when He sent out the apostles and disciples, He told them specifically to "go to every house" and "preach the Gospel to all nations," but if someone did not want to hear, then simply "shake the dust from your feet," and walk on.  That is, not to ram it down anyone's throat, or condemn anyone for not listening.

  4.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not a Christian.

  The Scripture says (at 2 Cor 6:14): "Do not be unequally yoked together [i.e., married] with unbelievers."  Although it is true that the passage goes on to denigrate non-believers, this statement is actually quite logical and sensible from any faith-based perspective, not just a Christian one: if one is going to live a faith-based life - of any faith - there are likely to be contentions in the marriage if the other person does not share that faith.

  5.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not the same race as you.

  Poppycock.  Miriam (Moses' wife) was black.  So were quite a few notable women (all married) in the Old Testament.  Besides, Jesus was not "white" (i.e., Anglo-Saxon).  He was a Palestinian semite, which means he probably had olive- or even dark-olive-colored skin, much like most desert Arabs.

  6.  The Lord is moving into politics, business, education, and etc, and you will be The New Leaders of this vast new enlightening of both America and The World.  If you cannot convert anyone and everyone to who you are now and will be in The Future, crush them like an eggshell.  The Lord is great and mighty.

  Scripture says otherwise: "No one engaged in [spiritual] warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this [temporal] life, that [i.e., so] he may please him [i.e., Christ] who enlisted him as a soldier."  A Christian's first focus should be the spiritual world, and the spiritual warfare that goes on around us [i.e., not in the temporal world] all the time.  And if one is engaged in that "warfare," then they are wasting their [spiritual] energy by engaging in "the affairs of this life."  Those Christians who "get it" bascially straddle the two worlds, but their focus is on the spiritual first, and the temporal second.  Some Christians - particularly Jehovah's Witnesses - cite this passage vis-a-vis their belief that Christians should not engage themselves in "worldly" things at all; e.g., JW's do not participate in politics, either by voting or supporting (or not supporting) any particular socio-political issue.

  7.  Blackballing, slander, hearsay, and malicious gossip are allright in the sight of the Lord if that winds up being the only way you have of dealing with someone finally who is Not One Of Us.  It's ok to destroy All The Evil People, again, if they will not cooperate with The Great Work.

  Boy, did they get this one wrong!  Setting aside the Commandment that "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness," there are more admonishments against gossip and slander in the New Testament than there are on any other "personal" issue except sexual immorality.  Let me just cite a couple:

  -"And besides they learn to be idle...and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not."  (1 Tim 5:13)
  -"Whoever spreads slander is a fool" (Prov. 10:18)
  -"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  (Eph 4:31)

  8.  All drugs are bad for any reason at all times.  Anyone who uses them must be devil worshippers.  If you need them, sure, prescription drugs, take all you want.  Take your ritalin in school as well, it will help heal your mind and aid in your study of the scriptures.

  Although there are no specific proscriptions in Scripture, there are two schools of thought here, which may not be entirely mutually exclusive.  One school of thought is that, since our "breath" is given to us by God, and since our body is the "temple" in which the Holy Spirit resides, one "defiles" the "temple" and adversely affects the "breath" God gave us when one smokes or ingests any substance that unnecessarily alters our bio-chemistry.  (Yes, food and other necessary ingestibles also alter our bio-chemistry, but they do so in order to keep us alive.)  The other school of thought - and one which I have heard "preached" at many a jay-day festival - is that, in Genesis, God gave Adam (and thus all of humanity) dominion over the earth, and told us to partake of what it offers.  Since He did not say, "Partake of all that is here - except don't smoke that plant, or eat that particular mushroom," etc., then, at least with regard to "naturally occurring" drugs (as opposed to "refined" or synthesized drugs like heroin, cocaine, LSD, etc.), there should be no proscription against them.  Again, I don't believe the two schools are necessarily mutually exclusive, but I do not have the wisdom to find the "overlap."

  9.  Anyone who questions any of the teachings, rulings, or actions of the church, our government, or our military, is a traitor to America.  They are to be dealt with like any of the above listed profiles of those lower than us.

  Let's see....this one should be easy.  "Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's."  I also refer back to #3, and my comments thereon.

  10.  If it takes removing a forest, a lake, a species, or something to build a strip mall, hotel, prison, or mega-church, that's allright.  People like the treehugging, pot smoking, liberal, long haired, c*cksuckers and muff munchers just do not get that it is our time, it is your time, the work of the Lord is at hand, we will rule in Education, Government, Religion, Society, AND Business.  All revolutions and rumors of misguided heretical fake freedoms are dead.  It is A Corporate World now.  The Kingdom Of God is finally at hand.  You will be his new handmaidens and servants.  Go forth, multiply, prosper, crush anyone who opposes you like an egg shell.

  There seem to be two, maybe three, separate things here.  First, environmentalism.  No question here: the Scripture states definitively that we are to be "stewards" of the earth.  Stewards do not rape, pillage, plunder, pollute or destroy.  Second, civil liberties and freedoms vs. corporately-controlled government.  This has an interesting (and I believe relevant) sidebar.  Most of us know that when the Jews were granted the release of one prisoner for Passover, they chose Barabbas - the Anti-Roman freedom fighter - over Jesus, the one they thought was going to lead them to "revolution," but turned out to be peace-loving, and thus, in their eyes, a wimp (LOL).  And yet...Barabbas had little or no effect on Rome, while Jesus had an effect that none could have foreseen.  However, setting that aside, I believe Jesus was probably a seemingly dichtomous combination of "law and order" man (at least in as much as temporal society was concerned) and a supporter of what we woud now call "civil liberties" within a framework of some socio-politco-economic structure.  However, I have no Scripture to support this view, so it is entirely my own.  Third, as for "go forth, multiply, prosper, crush anyone who opposes you like an eggshell," I think Jesus' non-violent civil disobedience vis-a-vis Pilate and the Sanhedrin is proof enough that He would not support such a bizarre view.

  11.  100,000 dead Iraqi Civilian men women and children, 1 million dead Iraqi Children by American sanctions, that's allright.  God works in mysterious ways.  They made 2 mistakes, and the Lord has and is punishing them, they turned away from the Lord Jesus and his Father, and they all attacked the World Trade Centers.  Forget them, you'll just have nightmares, pray for the loan for the new Christian strip mall to come through.

  Personally, Jesus does a fine job of speaking for Himself in this regard (Matt 4:38-39, 43-44):

  "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also...You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

  There is nothing in the context in which this statement is made that would suggest anything other than a literal interpretation.  This was not an allegory or a metaphor.  It is actually almost in the nature of a "command."  It is also only one of many passages that underlies Jesus' position re violence of any type, and His philosophy of non-violence (which Gandhi and others used to such profound effect).

  So...

  While it is (sadly) true that too many children are being indoctrinated with unloving, unforgiving, and ultimately un-Christian views based on out-of-context Scripture, some of us center-left evangelicals don't subscribe to that program, and have more than enough Scripture not only to challenge that program, but to provide a much more loving, humble, forgiving and accepting form of Christianity.

  Peace.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 16 21:59:31 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 16 08:08:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] STRANGE Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <20050616.215954.22795.127956@webmail33.nyc.untd.com>

...thank you-
a fighting spirit, needs to take occasional breaks, the time to find his center for peace. Mine comes and goes-I cannot be everlasting-not just yet-though we try.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


-------------- next part --------------
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 16 22:07:13 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Thu Jun 16 08:12:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000501c572fa$6d7fa700$9325b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Strange Things Christians Teach Children



First, I am not a biblical scholar, wish I was, but no such luck, neither
are a majority of Christians apparently either, especially anything
resembling indepth scholarship such as interpretation differences,
compilation of the bible etc.

I am more steeped in about 8 different musical instruments in about 8 varied
styles, and am more vaguely well-known for dangling my penis in the faces of
10's of thousands of people in America and abroad in a rock musical over a
period of years, protesting wars and atrocities in various magazines and
newspapers, and having illicit video copies circulating the globe of me
having premarital relations with one-legged porno stars in open-windowed
west village apartments before Pamela and Tommy Lee were exploring their
sexuality.  All in all, various things no longer bother me, as I have grown
a tendency to tell various people upon various occasions, hey, it's like
sticking a needle in the eye of a blind man and then asking him if it hurts.

I feel nothing.

And then, of course, I found myself back home here from my travels, looked
around, decided I would "stand up for the people, environment, and etc", and
began writing articles, letters to the editor, etc in public here, after
doing various researches on various matters, raking various personages,
institutions, and actions across the veritable coals.

As of lately, very lately, the actual Christians have now taken to calling
my just simple =questioning= of anything "biblical" as Blasphemy, to my
face, in public.  Hey, we can't all be Madonna I guess.  Questioning is,
apparently, just not allowed in a document written by men but "Inspired By
The Holy Spirit".  It is "Absolute".  It is "The Law".

Complete unavailable to "Be Questioned".  Completely "Unprovable", and to be
taken "Completely Upon Faith Alone" (as none of us were there thousands of
years ago when it was written", but nevertheless, Blasphemy Itself to
question it for a millisecond.  It's cool when one reads about such things
in books.  It's a different kind of exhilirating experience when one
actually lives it oneself, and is called such things to one's face, in one's
little home town.  Praise Jesus and pass the daggers, there just aren't
enough in my back yet.

You "Have Faith" that "It is all True" or, bingo, you are Not One Of Us, and
therefore, from guess where, The Devil himself, of course.  Lucky me.  Lucky
earth.  Galileo eat your heart out, we live in Modern America.

For that, I have paid, and paid dearly, but, of course, paying is sometimes
in the viewers eyes, as I still feel like a dead man with someone sticking a
needle in my eye asking me if it hurts.  I fought 5,000 acre landfills on
top of our only source of drinking water, giant medical waste burning
incinerators, golf courses in a place where most people can't afford even a
golf ball, etc etc etc.  It was not pretty.  Different people from joe blow
to the banks were calling me every name in the book, making up every lie in
the world from child molestation to drug dealing heroin to elementary
children to being a communist to being you name it, all lies, all for
fighting things like 5,000 acre landfills.  No person's life nor reputation
is sacred when money and business are involved, at least that is one great
worthless lesson I have learned here on this side of hell.  I even had the
Christians extorting my mother At Church to come home after services and
repeat methodically "Son, maybe you should stop writing all those articles
in the newspaper, you're going to get me and your daddy in trouble...".

On one hand, I love Christians, as I love all the rest of the religions and
their believers (Something most Christians, for the most part, simply Can
Not Do, especially since The Scriptures COMMAND them to convert every ant on
earth).

On the other hand, for some of them, God just did not make a big enough
toilet for me to flush them all down into.

You're now dealing with about 1 BILLION of them, a =great= proportion of
which are teaching The Children many things on that "List" I began, besides
many more things, and I just seriously believe that there are probably just
as many "center left" people able to reverse this horrible "Trend" as there
are people currently existing that can also wave their hand and reverse
global warming, ever-growing pollution, and graft in politics.

You certainly have your work cut out for you.

It is "The Modern World".  Things like "what would Jesus do...?" are no
longer asked in these vast ever-widening circles of
political-corporate-christianity.

They wouldn't "turn the other cheek" if you were Jesus himself reprimanding
them for their complete insanity and inhumanity to mankind.

You're dealing with a vicious army, just like say the columbian etc drug
lords, except with bibles in their hands.

They just do not take "No" for an answer.

There is no compromise.  There is no debate.  There is no give and take.
There are no prisoners taken.

And their Children are set to "take over the world" and rule over our
Children who have a stupid tendency to pause in various instances and ask
such foolish things such as "what would Jesus do..?" or "turn the other
cheek".

These people's Children are poised to eat our Children.  And everything we
and they believe in, stand for, or even died for, even including Jesus
Christ himself.

If they have to kill everyone on this planet to get them to convert to Their
Way, they will, eventually, from all looks of things, have no problem
whatsoever with that.

That "history is repeating itself", i.e. such things as The Crusades, is no
longer a question in my mind.

What to do about it is.

Again, imho, there are just not enough center-left, left, or center-right,
or whatever, in existence to "combat" such an emerging army.

They remain the people who in various circumstances will climb to the
tallest box, yell the loudest, threaten the most, and stab anyone who gets
in their way in the back and destroy them if it actually comes to the point
where Their Way is threatened of not being fullfilled.

Since they are now moving into Government, Education, Politics, Etc (they've
been there for a while now), I doubt seriously if anything like "think
tanks" etc are going to do more than a flyswatter would do to Godzilla or
Rodan.

Although "The Scriptures" might surely run askew of their current
indoctrination curriculum of these many Children, that is not going to do
anything to "change their minds" about their plans, methods, or outcomes of
their actions either.

We need a new game plan, kids.

You have a zillion Children coming up, armed with heads full of biblical
bullshit, investing in the stock market, capitalizing on other people's
misfortunes and "missed opportunities", stepping into jobs and niches in
government, politics, the judiciary, education, the schools, the churches,
society and The Business World, quite willing to trample anyone and anything
to death that gets in their way of Fullfilling The Word Of God.

That, currently, comprises about five-sixths of the current global
population which is currently Their Target, for either Conversion, or
Obliteration.

And they're not even out of their teen years yet.

All in all, imho, in this moment and the future, in this particular given
set of literally real circumstances, we are going to need a miracle to even
just Survive them.

If you personally know anyone sitting on the right hand side of the throne
of God, NOW is the time to call in your markers.

Tomorrow is simply too late.




Cheeseburger

.

From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 16 22:20:10 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 16 08:28:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <20050616.222021.22795.128049@webmail33.nyc.untd.com>


"Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name, Chessburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the crowds together?

Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.

A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.

She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation. 

What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too indigenous people. 

Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take up the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Re:  Strange Things Christians Teach Children



First, I am not a biblical scholar, wish I was, but no such luck, neither
are a majority of Christians apparently either, especially anything
resembling indepth scholarship such as interpretation differences,
compilation of the bible etc.

I am more steeped in about 8 different musical instruments in about 8 varied
styles, and am more vaguely well-known for dangling my penis in the faces of
10's of thousands of people in America and abroad in a rock musical over a
period of years, protesting wars and atrocities in various magazines and
newspapers, and having illicit video copies circulating the globe of me
having premarital relations with one-legged porno stars in open-windowed
west village apartments before Pamela and Tommy Lee were exploring their
sexuality.  All in all, various things no longer bother me, as I have grown
a tendency to tell various people upon various occasions, hey, it's like
sticking a needle in the eye of a blind man and then asking him if it hurts.

I feel nothing.

And then, of course, I found myself back home here from my travels, looked
around, decided I would "stand up for the people, environment, and etc", and
began writing articles, letters to the editor, etc in public here, after
doing various researches on various matters, raking various personages,
institutions, and actions across the veritable coals.

As of lately, very lately, the actual Christians have now taken to calling
my just simple =questioning= of anything "biblical" as Blasphemy, to my
face, in public.  Hey, we can't all be Madonna I guess.  Questioning is,
apparently, just not allowed in a document written by men but "Inspired By
The Holy Spirit".  It is "Absolute".  It is "The Law".

Complete unavailable to "Be Questioned".  Completely "Unprovable", and to be
taken "Completely Upon Faith Alone" (as none of us were there thousands of
years ago when it was written", but nevertheless, Blasphemy Itself to
question it for a millisecond.  It's cool when one reads about such things
in books.  It's a different kind of exhilirating experience when one
actually lives it oneself, and is called such things to one's face, in one's
little home town.  Praise Jesus and pass the daggers, there just aren't
enough in my back yet.

You "Have Faith" that "It is all True" or, bingo, you are Not One Of Us, and
therefore, from guess where, The Devil himself, of course.  Lucky me.  Lucky
earth.  Galileo eat your heart out, we live in Modern America.

For that, I have paid, and paid dearly, but, of course, paying is sometimes
in the viewers eyes, as I still feel like a dead man with someone sticking a
needle in my eye asking me if it hurts.  I fought 5,000 acre landfills on
top of our only source of drinking water, giant medical waste burning
incinerators, golf courses in a place where most people can't afford even a
golf ball, etc etc etc.  It was not pretty.  Different people from joe blow
to the banks were calling me every name in the book, making up every lie in
the world from child molestation to drug dealing heroin to elementary
children to being a communist to being you name it, all lies, all for
fighting things like 5,000 acre landfills.  No person's life nor reputation
is sacred when money and business are involved, at least that is one great
worthless lesson I have learned here on this side of hell.  I even had the
Christians extorting my mother At Church to come home after services and
repeat methodically "Son, maybe you should stop writing all those articles
in the newspaper, you're going to get me and your daddy in trouble...".

On one hand, I love Christians, as I love all the rest of the religions and
their believers (Something most Christians, for the most part, simply Can
Not Do, especially since The Scriptures COMMAND them to convert every ant on
earth).

On the other hand, for some of them, God just did not make a big enough
toilet for me to flush them all down into.

You're now dealing with about 1 BILLION of them, a =great= proportion of
which are teaching The Children many things on that "List" I began, besides
many more things, and I just seriously believe that there are probably just
as many "center left" people able to reverse this horrible "Trend" as there
are people currently existing that can also wave their hand and reverse
global warming, ever-growing pollution, and graft in politics.

You certainly have your work cut out for you.

It is "The Modern World".  Things like "what would Jesus do...?" are no
longer asked in these vast ever-widening circles of
political-corporate-christianity.

They wouldn't "turn the other cheek" if you were Jesus himself reprimanding
them for their complete insanity and inhumanity to mankind.

You're dealing with a vicious army, just like say the columbian etc drug
lords, except with bibles in their hands.

They just do not take "No" for an answer.

There is no compromise.  There is no debate.  There is no give and take.
There are no prisoners taken.

And their Children are set to "take over the world" and rule over our
Children who have a stupid tendency to pause in various instances and ask
such foolish things such as "what would Jesus do..?" or "turn the other
cheek".

These people's Children are poised to eat our Children.  And everything we
and they believe in, stand for, or even died for, even including Jesus
Christ himself.

If they have to kill everyone on this planet to get them to convert to Their
Way, they will, eventually, from all looks of things, have no problem
whatsoever with that.

That "history is repeating itself", i.e. such things as The Crusades, is no
longer a question in my mind.

What to do about it is.

Again, imho, there are just not enough center-left, left, or center-right,
or whatever, in existence to "combat" such an emerging army.

They remain the people who in various circumstances will climb to the
tallest box, yell the loudest, threaten the most, and stab anyone who gets
in their way in the back and destroy them if it actually comes to the point
where Their Way is threatened of not being fullfilled.

Since they are now moving into Government, Education, Politics, Etc (they've
been there for a while now), I doubt seriously if anything like "think
tanks" etc are going to do more than a flyswatter would do to Godzilla or
Rodan.

Although "The Scriptures" might surely run askew of their current
indoctrination curriculum of these many Children, that is not going to do
anything to "change their minds" about their plans, methods, or outcomes of
their actions either.

We need a new game plan, kids.

You have a zillion Children coming up, armed with heads full of biblical
bullshit, investing in the stock market, capitalizing on other people's
misfortunes and "missed opportunities", stepping into jobs and niches in
government, politics, the judiciary, education, the schools, the churches,
society and The Business World, quite willing to trample anyone and anything
to death that gets in their way of Fullfilling The Word Of God.

That, currently, comprises about five-sixths of the current global
population which is currently Their Target, for either Conversion, or
Obliteration.

And they're not even out of their teen years yet.

All in all, imho, in this moment and the future, in this particular given
set of literally real circumstances, we are going to need a miracle to even
just Survive them.

If you personally know anyone sitting on the right hand side of the throne
of God, NOW is the time to call in your markers.

Tomorrow is simply too late.




Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 16 22:32:58 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Thu Jun 16 08:38:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000b01c572fe$065c5060$9325b7d8@baby1>

Strange Things Christians Teach Children




=========
4.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not a Christian.

The Scripture says (at 2 Cor 6:14): "Do not be unequally yoked together
[i.e., married] with unbelievers."  Although it is true that the passage
goes on to denigrate non-believers, this statement is actually quite logical
and sensible from any faith-based perspective, not just a Christian one: if
one is going to live a faith-based life - of any faith - there are likely to
be contentions in the marriage if the other person does not share that
faith.
==========




I'm going to have to state that on this particular one, as with several
other matters, things addressed from "faith-based perspectives" tends to
skewer things like Love and The Heart into tiny irreparable shreds.

My mother was a Baptist, my father a Catholic, they lived together almost 60
years.

I'm rather tired of "Mandates", both scripturally, governmental, societical,
political, corporate, militaristic, you name it.

"Mandates", at this late date in my mind, even seasoned with "well-proven
time-tested logic and sensibleness", tends to make me puke.

And, in many instances, they remain one of the prime reasons the
circumstances on this planet often resemble the ring inside my urinal.

Various peoples' various PERSONAL or GROUP MIND "logic" and "sensibleness"
continues to be the cause of millions of unwarranted deaths across the
planet.

As well as intolerable suffering.

Not "marrying outside one's faith" not being an exception.

But then again, I've always had a problem distinguishing "Good Advice" from
"Lemming Soup".






Cheeseburger

.

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 16 22:49:18 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Thu Jun 16 08:54:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <001101c57300$4e796520$9325b7d8@baby1>

Strange Things Christians Teach Children



===========
"Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the crowds
together?
==========


James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.

:)

I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc, there
were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.



=========
Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
=========


Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.



==========
A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to
earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.

She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not
need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.

What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
indigenous people.

Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the
dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take up
the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
===========



We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects, regardless
of our colors, circumstances, etc.

It was only a matter of time.

It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of various
things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.

Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually they
hunger for Absolute Godness over others.

The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
people now and then squeak up in protest.

Those they have for dessert.

The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
cannibalistic vampires.

They feed off of everyone and everything available.

And their hunger is never satisfied.

Lucky for us they never saw me coming.




Cheeseburger

.

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun 16 22:56:01 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun 16 09:03:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV2E0421F69EF607E3CFCD0ABF40@phx.gbl>

Hi Lyle..... maybe it is just late and I am not thinking straight but what is BLM..?.. I feel like I know but cannot think of it just now so help me out.... :-)

thanks and love,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Lyle K'ang
Sent: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:20:10 -0700
To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children


"Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name, Chessburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the crowds together?

Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.

A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.

She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation. 

What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too indigenous people. 

Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take up the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Re:  Strange Things Christians Teach Children



First, I am not a biblical scholar, wish I was, but no such luck, neither
are a majority of Christians apparently either, especially anything
resembling indepth scholarship such as interpretation differences,
compilation of the bible etc.

I am more steeped in about 8 different musical instruments in about 8 varied
styles, and am more vaguely well-known for dangling my penis in the faces of
10's of thousands of people in America and abroad in a rock musical over a
period of years, protesting wars and atrocities in various magazines and
newspapers, and having illicit video copies circulating the globe of me
having premarital relations with one-legged porno stars in open-windowed
west village apartments before Pamela and Tommy Lee were exploring their
sexuality.  All in all, various things no longer bother me, as I have grown
a tendency to tell various people upon various occasions, hey, it's like
sticking a needle in the eye of a blind man and then asking him if it hurts.

I feel nothing.

And then, of course, I found myself back home here from my travels, looked
around, decided I would "stand up for the people, environment, and etc", and
began writing articles, letters to the editor, etc in public here, after
doing various researches on various matters, raking various personages,
institutions, and actions across the veritable coals.

As of lately, very lately, the actual Christians have now taken to calling
my just simple =questioning= of anything "biblical" as Blasphemy, to my
face, in public.  Hey, we can't all be Madonna I guess.  Questioning is,
apparently, just not allowed in a document written by men but "Inspired By
The Holy Spirit".  It is "Absolute".  It is "The Law".

Complete unavailable to "Be Questioned".  Completely "Unprovable", and to be
taken "Completely Upon Faith Alone" (as none of us were there thousands of
years ago when it was written", but nevertheless, Blasphemy Itself to
question it for a millisecond.  It's cool when one reads about such things
in books.  It's a different kind of exhilirating experience when one
actually lives it oneself, and is called such things to one's face, in one's
little home town.  Praise Jesus and pass the daggers, there just aren't
enough in my back yet.

You "Have Faith" that "It is all True" or, bingo, you are Not One Of Us, and
therefore, from guess where, The Devil himself, of course.  Lucky me.  Lucky
earth.  Galileo eat your heart out, we live in Modern America.

For that, I have paid, and paid dearly, but, of course, paying is sometimes
in the viewers eyes, as I still feel like a dead man with someone sticking a
needle in my eye asking me if it hurts.  I fought 5,000 acre landfills on
top of our only source of drinking water, giant medical waste burning
incinerators, golf courses in a place where most people can't afford even a
golf ball, etc etc etc.  It was not pretty.  Different people from joe blow
to the banks were calling me every name in the book, making up every lie in
the world from child molestation to drug dealing heroin to elementary
children to being a communist to being you name it, all lies, all for
fighting things like 5,000 acre landfills.  No person's life nor reputation
is sacred when money and business are involved, at least that is one great
worthless lesson I have learned here on this side of hell.  I even had the
Christians extorting my mother At Church to come home after services and
repeat methodically "Son, maybe you should stop writing all those articles
in the newspaper, you're going to get me and your daddy in trouble...".

On one hand, I love Christians, as I love all the rest of the religions and
their believers (Something most Christians, for the most part, simply Can
Not Do, especially since The Scriptures COMMAND them to convert every ant on
earth).

On the other hand, for some of them, God just did not make a big enough
toilet for me to flush them all down into.

You're now dealing with about 1 BILLION of them, a =great= proportion of
which are teaching The Children many things on that "List" I began, besides
many more things, and I just seriously believe that there are probably just
as many "center left" people able to reverse this horrible "Trend" as there
are people currently existing that can also wave their hand and reverse
global warming, ever-growing pollution, and graft in politics.

You certainly have your work cut out for you.

It is "The Modern World".  Things like "what would Jesus do...?" are no
longer asked in these vast ever-widening circles of
political-corporate-christianity.

They wouldn't "turn the other cheek" if you were Jesus himself reprimanding
them for their complete insanity and inhumanity to mankind.

You're dealing with a vicious army, just like say the columbian etc drug
lords, except with bibles in their hands.

They just do not take "No" for an answer.

There is no compromise.  There is no debate.  There is no give and take.
There are no prisoners taken.

And their Children are set to "take over the world" and rule over our
Children who have a stupid tendency to pause in various instances and ask
such foolish things such as "what would Jesus do..?" or "turn the other
cheek".

These people's Children are poised to eat our Children.  And everything we
and they believe in, stand for, or even died for, even including Jesus
Christ himself.

If they have to kill everyone on this planet to get them to convert to Their
Way, they will, eventually, from all looks of things, have no problem
whatsoever with that.

That "history is repeating itself", i.e. such things as The Crusades, is no
longer a question in my mind.

What to do about it is.

Again, imho, there are just not enough center-left, left, or center-right,
or whatever, in existence to "combat" such an emerging army.

They remain the people who in various circumstances will climb to the
tallest box, yell the loudest, threaten the most, and stab anyone who gets
in their way in the back and destroy them if it actually comes to the point
where Their Way is threatened of not being fullfilled.

Since they are now moving into Government, Education, Politics, Etc (they've
been there for a while now), I doubt seriously if anything like "think
tanks" etc are going to do more than a flyswatter would do to Godzilla or
Rodan.

Although "The Scriptures" might surely run askew of their current
indoctrination curriculum of these many Children, that is not going to do
anything to "change their minds" about their plans, methods, or outcomes of
their actions either.

We need a new game plan, kids.

You have a zillion Children coming up, armed with heads full of biblical
bullshit, investing in the stock market, capitalizing on other people's
misfortunes and "missed opportunities", stepping into jobs and niches in
government, politics, the judiciary, education, the schools, the churches,
society and The Business World, quite willing to trample anyone and anything
to death that gets in their way of Fullfilling The Word Of God.

That, currently, comprises about five-sixths of the current global
population which is currently Their Target, for either Conversion, or
Obliteration.

And they're not even out of their teen years yet.

All in all, imho, in this moment and the future, in this particular given
set of literally real circumstances, we are going to need a miracle to even
just Survive them.

If you personally know anyone sitting on the right hand side of the throne
of God, NOW is the time to call in your markers.

Tomorrow is simply too late.




Cheeseburger



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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 17 03:25:11 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 13:32:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <12109563.1119003911376.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Where's The Apology?
 
 By E. J. Dionne Jr.
 
 We are entitled to our moral, ethical and philosophical commitments. We are not entitled to our own facts.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 17 03:25:57 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 13:33:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31259684.1119003957918.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Saving Project Iraq
 
 By David Ignatius
 
 As bad as things are in Iraq, there is every possibility that they could get worse in coming months. That's not a rationale for pulling U.S. troops out; quite the opposite, in my view. But it does argue for the Bush administration to think more creatively about how to craft a sustainable strategy...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 17 03:27:23 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 13:34:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <18484970.1119004043577.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 From Bush, Mideast Words to Act On
 
 By Zbigniew Brzezinski and William B. Quandt
 
 The statement President Bush delivered  at the conclusion of his recent meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deserves serious attention. It has been much discussed by the Israeli press but drew  scant commentary in the U.S. media. The president, in his formal presentation, declared that...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 17 03:28:35 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 13:36:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <20500406.1119004115435.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan
 
 By Juliet Eilperin
 
 Bush administration officials working behind the scenes have succeeded in weakening key sections of a proposal for  to curb climate change, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
 
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 17 04:51:57 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 16 14:59:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rand; China closing in on US military
Message-ID: <000801c57332$f96e1f70$2e27e440@Harold>

Rand article is thought to have been released so the Pentagon can ask for more monies........

http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20050616-075717-2182r.htm

H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 06:43:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 16 16:51:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
References: <000b01c572fe$065c5060$9325b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <001901c57342$9b623eb0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

I don't disagree with anything you have said here.  However, I would point 
out that although your father and mother were of different "denominations" 
(one a Catholic, the other a Protestant), they were, in fact, of the same 
"faith": Christian (whether practicing or not).  Thus, you prove my point: 
at some level, their shared faith added to their marital stability so that 
they were able to stay together for 60 years.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 1:32 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children


> Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>
>
>
>
> =========
> 4.  Never date nor marry anyone who is not a Christian.
>
> The Scripture says (at 2 Cor 6:14): "Do not be unequally yoked together
> [i.e., married] with unbelievers."  Although it is true that the passage
> goes on to denigrate non-believers, this statement is actually quite 
> logical
> and sensible from any faith-based perspective, not just a Christian one: 
> if
> one is going to live a faith-based life - of any faith - there are likely 
> to
> be contentions in the marriage if the other person does not share that
> faith.
> ==========
>
>
>
>
> I'm going to have to state that on this particular one, as with several
> other matters, things addressed from "faith-based perspectives" tends to
> skewer things like Love and The Heart into tiny irreparable shreds.
>
> My mother was a Baptist, my father a Catholic, they lived together almost 
> 60
> years.
>
> I'm rather tired of "Mandates", both scripturally, governmental, 
> societical,
> political, corporate, militaristic, you name it.
>
> "Mandates", at this late date in my mind, even seasoned with "well-proven
> time-tested logic and sensibleness", tends to make me puke.
>
> And, in many instances, they remain one of the prime reasons the
> circumstances on this planet often resemble the ring inside my urinal.
>
> Various peoples' various PERSONAL or GROUP MIND "logic" and "sensibleness"
> continues to be the cause of millions of unwarranted deaths across the
> planet.
>
> As well as intolerable suffering.
>
> Not "marrying outside one's faith" not being an exception.
>
> But then again, I've always had a problem distinguishing "Good Advice" 
> from
> "Lemming Soup".
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 06:57:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:05:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
References: <000501c572fa$6d7fa700$9325b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <002701c57344$90edc880$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Again, I do not disagree with 99% of what you say here.

I would only point out that, while there may be comparatively few 
"center-left" Christians who "get" what Jesus wa actually about (rather than 
using Scripture out of context to support unloving, unforgiving and thus 
un-Christian viewpoint, which they are indoctrinating their children with), 
an individual can often only "change the world" one person at a time.  True, 
some fortunate ones get the chance to potentially change multitudes, 
depending on their ability to reach the masses.

However, whether it is center-left Christians, anti-war protestors, 
environmental activitists, etc., the old adage "think globally, act locally" 
still applies, and this often requires changing one person at a time.

True, the numbers are against us.  And maybe those rabid right-wing 
religious zealots are multiplying faster than we can ever catch up.  And 
maybe their "power base" is such that they can (and often do) "have us for 
dessert."

But this does not mean that we should give up "fighting the good fight" and 
valiantly and diligently attempting to change things for the better (which 
you obviously do, and kudos for your equally rabid activism!).  After all, 
were it true that the "minority" NEVER "beats" the seemingly unbeatable 
"system," we would not have "won" the "wars" re child labor, women's right 
to vote, civil rights, exiting Vietnam, etc.

I fully understand your feeling that the 800-pound gorilla is only getting 
heavier, while "we" - those who care, those who see the damage, those who 
want to change and improve life for everyone - seemingly become weaker, or 
more apathetic, or whatever.  And I agree that, at least sometimes, it seems 
pretty damn hopeless.

However, whether a result of synchronicity, providence or coincidence, 
"miracles" do occur: events occur, circumstances change, and, as a result, 
"we" realize victories, sometimes fought for with heavy casualties, and 
sometimes almost without effort.

So...

By all means, maintain your skepticism, even, to a small degree (because 
otherwise it will consume you), your cynicism.  But NEVER give up hope. 
Because we simply do not know what tomorrow will bring - and it is as likely 
to be in "our" favor as in "theirs."

Peace.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 1:07 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children


> Re:  Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>
>
>
> First, I am not a biblical scholar, wish I was, but no such luck, neither
> are a majority of Christians apparently either, especially anything
> resembling indepth scholarship such as interpretation differences,
> compilation of the bible etc.
>
> I am more steeped in about 8 different musical instruments in about 8 
> varied
> styles, and am more vaguely well-known for dangling my penis in the faces 
> of
> 10's of thousands of people in America and abroad in a rock musical over a
> period of years, protesting wars and atrocities in various magazines and
> newspapers, and having illicit video copies circulating the globe of me
> having premarital relations with one-legged porno stars in open-windowed
> west village apartments before Pamela and Tommy Lee were exploring their
> sexuality.  All in all, various things no longer bother me, as I have 
> grown
> a tendency to tell various people upon various occasions, hey, it's like
> sticking a needle in the eye of a blind man and then asking him if it 
> hurts.
>
> I feel nothing.
>
> And then, of course, I found myself back home here from my travels, looked
> around, decided I would "stand up for the people, environment, and etc", 
> and
> began writing articles, letters to the editor, etc in public here, after
> doing various researches on various matters, raking various personages,
> institutions, and actions across the veritable coals.
>
> As of lately, very lately, the actual Christians have now taken to calling
> my just simple =questioning= of anything "biblical" as Blasphemy, to my
> face, in public.  Hey, we can't all be Madonna I guess.  Questioning is,
> apparently, just not allowed in a document written by men but "Inspired By
> The Holy Spirit".  It is "Absolute".  It is "The Law".
>
> Complete unavailable to "Be Questioned".  Completely "Unprovable", and to 
> be
> taken "Completely Upon Faith Alone" (as none of us were there thousands of
> years ago when it was written", but nevertheless, Blasphemy Itself to
> question it for a millisecond.  It's cool when one reads about such things
> in books.  It's a different kind of exhilirating experience when one
> actually lives it oneself, and is called such things to one's face, in 
> one's
> little home town.  Praise Jesus and pass the daggers, there just aren't
> enough in my back yet.
>
> You "Have Faith" that "It is all True" or, bingo, you are Not One Of Us, 
> and
> therefore, from guess where, The Devil himself, of course.  Lucky me. 
> Lucky
> earth.  Galileo eat your heart out, we live in Modern America.
>
> For that, I have paid, and paid dearly, but, of course, paying is 
> sometimes
> in the viewers eyes, as I still feel like a dead man with someone sticking 
> a
> needle in my eye asking me if it hurts.  I fought 5,000 acre landfills on
> top of our only source of drinking water, giant medical waste burning
> incinerators, golf courses in a place where most people can't afford even 
> a
> golf ball, etc etc etc.  It was not pretty.  Different people from joe 
> blow
> to the banks were calling me every name in the book, making up every lie 
> in
> the world from child molestation to drug dealing heroin to elementary
> children to being a communist to being you name it, all lies, all for
> fighting things like 5,000 acre landfills.  No person's life nor 
> reputation
> is sacred when money and business are involved, at least that is one great
> worthless lesson I have learned here on this side of hell.  I even had the
> Christians extorting my mother At Church to come home after services and
> repeat methodically "Son, maybe you should stop writing all those articles
> in the newspaper, you're going to get me and your daddy in trouble...".
>
> On one hand, I love Christians, as I love all the rest of the religions 
> and
> their believers (Something most Christians, for the most part, simply Can
> Not Do, especially since The Scriptures COMMAND them to convert every ant 
> on
> earth).
>
> On the other hand, for some of them, God just did not make a big enough
> toilet for me to flush them all down into.
>
> You're now dealing with about 1 BILLION of them, a =great= proportion of
> which are teaching The Children many things on that "List" I began, 
> besides
> many more things, and I just seriously believe that there are probably 
> just
> as many "center left" people able to reverse this horrible "Trend" as 
> there
> are people currently existing that can also wave their hand and reverse
> global warming, ever-growing pollution, and graft in politics.
>
> You certainly have your work cut out for you.
>
> It is "The Modern World".  Things like "what would Jesus do...?" are no
> longer asked in these vast ever-widening circles of
> political-corporate-christianity.
>
> They wouldn't "turn the other cheek" if you were Jesus himself 
> reprimanding
> them for their complete insanity and inhumanity to mankind.
>
> You're dealing with a vicious army, just like say the columbian etc drug
> lords, except with bibles in their hands.
>
> They just do not take "No" for an answer.
>
> There is no compromise.  There is no debate.  There is no give and take.
> There are no prisoners taken.
>
> And their Children are set to "take over the world" and rule over our
> Children who have a stupid tendency to pause in various instances and ask
> such foolish things such as "what would Jesus do..?" or "turn the other
> cheek".
>
> These people's Children are poised to eat our Children.  And everything we
> and they believe in, stand for, or even died for, even including Jesus
> Christ himself.
>
> If they have to kill everyone on this planet to get them to convert to 
> Their
> Way, they will, eventually, from all looks of things, have no problem
> whatsoever with that.
>
> That "history is repeating itself", i.e. such things as The Crusades, is 
> no
> longer a question in my mind.
>
> What to do about it is.
>
> Again, imho, there are just not enough center-left, left, or center-right,
> or whatever, in existence to "combat" such an emerging army.
>
> They remain the people who in various circumstances will climb to the
> tallest box, yell the loudest, threaten the most, and stab anyone who gets
> in their way in the back and destroy them if it actually comes to the 
> point
> where Their Way is threatened of not being fullfilled.
>
> Since they are now moving into Government, Education, Politics, Etc 
> (they've
> been there for a while now), I doubt seriously if anything like "think
> tanks" etc are going to do more than a flyswatter would do to Godzilla or
> Rodan.
>
> Although "The Scriptures" might surely run askew of their current
> indoctrination curriculum of these many Children, that is not going to do
> anything to "change their minds" about their plans, methods, or outcomes 
> of
> their actions either.
>
> We need a new game plan, kids.
>
> You have a zillion Children coming up, armed with heads full of biblical
> bullshit, investing in the stock market, capitalizing on other people's
> misfortunes and "missed opportunities", stepping into jobs and niches in
> government, politics, the judiciary, education, the schools, the churches,
> society and The Business World, quite willing to trample anyone and 
> anything
> to death that gets in their way of Fullfilling The Word Of God.
>
> That, currently, comprises about five-sixths of the current global
> population which is currently Their Target, for either Conversion, or
> Obliteration.
>
> And they're not even out of their teen years yet.
>
> All in all, imho, in this moment and the future, in this particular given
> set of literally real circumstances, we are going to need a miracle to 
> even
> just Survive them.
>
> If you personally know anyone sitting on the right hand side of the throne
> of God, NOW is the time to call in your markers.
>
> Tomorrow is simply too late.
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 06:59:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:06:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iranians Vote After a Campaign of Violence
	and Moderation
Message-ID: <20050617135922.1A1F79FC5F@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 17, 2005
Iranians Vote After a Campaign of Violence and Moderation
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Iran's campaign season was defined by moderate, reform based platforms and yet was also marred by extraordinary violence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/international/middleeast/17cnd-iran.html?ex=1119672000&en=e0ae851fe9e379f2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 06:59:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:06:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in
	Poll
Message-ID: <20050617135910.6329D249D2C@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 17, 2005
Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll
By ROBIN TONER and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about Social Security reform, Americans are in a season of political discontent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/politics/17poll.html?ex=1119672000&en=dd4224deccf2a9f4&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:01:02 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:08:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Lobbying From Within
Message-ID: <20050617140102.B9FF213B734@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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It occurs to me that this may be one of, if not the, issues of our time. It may be "spitting in the wind," but a move to make all lobbying illegal - since it is little more than influence peddling - would be a good start to seriously reforming the way government works. Peace.


OPINION | June 17, 2005
Editorial: Lobbying From Within

The public has little protection against the machinations of lobbyists who are invited into government and given the levers of power.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17fri1.html?ex=1119672000&en=468374da1896dd60&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:01:03 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:08:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iran's Sham Democracy
Message-ID: <20050617140103.305E513B76B@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 17, 2005
Editorial: Iran's Sham Democracy

Today's presidential election in Iran is an affront to true democracy, just as the past record of the front-running contender is an affront to true moderation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17fri2.html?ex=1119672000&en=95bac5fa060d2381&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:01:12 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:08:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Wake-Up Vote in the House
Message-ID: <20050617140112.2B634A0FD3@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 17, 2005
Editorial: A Wake-Up Vote in the House

The House has finally heeded the public's growing fears for their liberties under the Patriot Act's sweeping police powers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17fri3.html?ex=1119672000&en=37244650fd6941a0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:01:52 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:09:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: As Toyota Goes ...
Message-ID: <20050617140152.5D73A249CA9@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 17, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: As Toyota Goes ...
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Having Toyota take over General Motors would not only be in America's economic interest, it would also be in America's geopolitical interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17friedman.html?ex=1119672000&en=b21f7c70aa5eec21&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:04:41 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:12:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers
Message-ID: <20050617140441.4162D11F89D@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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Cheeseburger: Is this providentially apropos, or what?! Peace.


OPINION | June 17, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers
By JOHN C. DANFORTH
It is important for those of us who are considered moderates to make the case that we have strongly held Christian convictions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17danforth.html?ex=1119672000&en=c14d5622af0320cf&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:16:20 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:23:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Problem With the War in Iraq (10
	Letters)
Message-ID: <20050617141620.6F6DA13B7C6@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 17, 2005
The Problem With the War in Iraq (10 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/l17iraq.html?ex=1119672000&en=4514586f28226d58&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:18:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:25:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Protestors Storm Kyrgyz Gov't Headquarters
Message-ID: <20050617141807.BBF84237054@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL | June 17, 2005
Protestors Storm Kyrgyz Gov't Headquarters
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Several hundred unarmed supporters of a presidential hopeful who was denied registration in next month's election stormed the Kyrgyz government headquarters on Friday, in the largest protest to grip the Central Asian country since the March uprising that ousted its former leader.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Kyrgyzstan-Protest.html?ex=1119672000&en=c09d952f734e745a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:19:28 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:26:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Steep Cut Proposed for Public Broadcasting
Message-ID: <20050617141928.27A5711F89D@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 17, 2005
Steep Cut Proposed for Public Broadcasting
By STEPHEN LABATON
The House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that would slash spending for public television and radio nearly in half.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/politics/17broadcast.html?ex=1119672000&en=e8ba83aa3a8c3c9c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 07:22:04 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 16 17:29:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Senate Makes Environment the Focus of
	Energy Bill
Message-ID: <20050617142204.92B04249C36@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 17, 2005
Senate Makes Environment the Focus of Energy Bill
By CARL HULSE
Heading toward a collision with the House and White House, the Senate sought to put an environmentally friendly stamp on its energy legislation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/politics/17energy.html?ex=1119672000&en=bf32b5e175f78c65&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun 16 21:20:50 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:12:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Action Alert (Colombia) and a History Lesson (Wars kill
	Empires)
Message-ID: <200506170212.j5H2C9oJ009494@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Do the good deed, then educate yourself....

---------

ACTION ALERT:   Colombia: No more "fuel for the fire"

Urge members of Congress to create an opening for peace by supporting an 
amendment to cut military aid to Colombia. Take action now - before the June 
27 vote. 

+ Click here to fax a message to your members of Congress 
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/peaceincolombia/gn3w3ez0556mbe?

Time is up for Plan Colombia. This U.S./Colombia policy expires in 2005, but 
the administration is asking Congress to approve an additional $742 million to 
renew the failed plan. Until there is a plan that can bring hope for Colombia, we 
reject additional funding for futile military strategies. 

In 2000 Colombian Mennonite Church leaders wrote a letter to North American 
churches to raise awareness of Colombia's internal conflict and the massive 
U.S. military "aid" package to Colombia legislated that year. Now Ricardo 
Esquivia, president of the Commission of Restoration, Life and Peace of the 
Evangelical Council of Colombian Churches, and Colombian Mennonite Church 
President Peter Stucky write, "[F]ive years have passed since we sent you early 
warning of the negative effects the military aid sent by the U.S. government to 
the Colombian government would have on the people and nation of Colombia. 

"It pains us to confirm that our prophetic words...have been fatally fulfilled. "The 
military aid sent to the Colombian government by the U.S. government through 
the so-called 'Plan Colombia' has been more than throwing kindling on the fire. 
It's been like gasoline enflaming the fire that consumes the Colombian society, 
prolonging and multiplying its lethal effects. [Plan Colombia] has not helped to 
stop the war, but rather has contributed to its growth." 

+ Click here to tell Congress to cut military aid to Colombia 
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/peaceincolombia/gn3w3ez0556mbe?

-----------------


Today's commentary:
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-05/30landau.cfm

==================================

ZNet Commentary
Lessons From Vietnam: Wars Kill Empires As Well As People June 06, 2005 By 
Saul Landau 

In 2005, the United States has become Communist Vietnam's single-largest
trading partner. Vietnam's products permeate U.S. stores. But the "Vietnam
War trauma" remains central to U.S. politics. Note how the Vietnam service
record of presidential candidates became a contentious issue in the 2004
elections. People don't overcome traumas unless they understand them.

Since public education provides citizens with minimal context, we rely on
mass media to reach into its collective attic and drag out "Fall of
Saigon" stories. However, when the commercial press pushes the anniversary
method of history teaching, the public tends to divorce rather than engage
with its past connections. 

Personal anecdotes overwhelm analysis. Relatives of dead soldiers weep at
Washington's Vietnam Wall; others relive battles and deaths of comrades.
Few media presentations offer the past as a way to learn for the future. 

As the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan continue down their bloody
paths, we should study the lessons of The Vietnam War. Vietnamese refer to
that period between the early 1960s and April 1975 as "The American
Phase." They suffered periods of foreign domination by Chinese, Japanese
and French occupiers who, unlike the Americans, learned the painful lesson
of trying to subdue and occupy that land.

U.S. leaders adamantly refuse to learn that some people, like Koreans,
Vietnamese and Iraqis, for examples, do not submit to force and brutality.
How to teach that simple lesson? Teachers will have shared the experience
of trying to educate students who have not ingested their own history.
Instead of inculcating historical context from first grade on, U.S.
students learn a kind of patriotic mythology disguised with words like
"unbiased" - as if along with critiques of U.S. behavior in Vietnam - or
Iraq - one had to present the good side of torture, mass murder and the
napalming of villages.

A Voice of America reporter sympathized with U.S. historians who "have
struggled for years to find a fair and balanced way to teach students
about the Vietnam War - and the atrocities committed there by U.S.
soldiers" (Maura Jane Farrelly, April 28, 2005 ).

"Fair and balanced" sound discordant in the era of Fox News and CNN.
Teachers should show students news clips of the inglorious U.S. retreat
from Saigon in April 1975. Military helicopters took off from the Embassy
with desperate Vietnamese clients clinging to them and falling to the
ground. 

The high school texts don't tell that story. Steve Jackson, an Indiana
University of Pennsylvania Political Science professor, found that
students in his Introduction to American Politics course "have little if
any knowledge about the Vietnam War and its lessons. He finds that
appalling, especially in light of the U.S.'s current involvement in Iraq."
(Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 28, 2005).

Gore Vidal calls this syndrome "The United States of Amnesia." As
memorials abound and the media teemed with veterans recalling fallen
comrades and anecdotes of combat, many school boards want history taught
as lessons of right and wrong in which our leaders might make mistakes,
but don't do evil. 

As a result, my college students don't know that the U.S. military dropped
more bombs on Southeast Asia than they did in World War Two. General
Curtis LeMay, wanted to bomb Vietnam "back to the Stone Age." How
Christian! 

Despite overwhelming military superiority, the U.S. lost in Vietnam. When
American forces departed in 1975, the U.S. puppet army in Saigon "had over
three times as much artillery, twice as many tanks and armored cars, 1,400
aircraft and a virtual monopoly of the air and "a two-to-one superiority
of combat troops" (Kolko, Anatomy of War: Vietnam, the US and the Modern
Historical Experience." See Counterpunch April 30, 2005).

Seven years earlier, the North Vietnamese lost a major battle and won the
war. In late January 1968, the armies of the North and National Liberation
Front of the South staged an armed uprising during Tet, the Vietnamese
holiday. General Giap and the other Hanoi leaders had decided that the
levels of casualties exacted by massive U.S. artillery shelling and
bombing had become intolerable. Giap's quick military victory plan called
for coordinated attacks on targets near the South Vietnam border to lure
U.S. troops away from the cities, where dramatic assaults took place by
Viet Cong (the pro Communist forces in the South and by regular North
Vietnamese troops who had infiltrated South Vietnam's urban areas). Giap
predicted that such bold and large scale initiatives would inspire
citizens to revolt against the puppet South Vietnamese government. The
fall of this U.S.-backed regime would remove the last pretext for
occupation and the Americans would withdraw.

The puppet government, however, didn't fall. U.S. forces took about 1,100
casualties and many more wounded, but then retaliated, inflicting heavy
casualties on Giap's troops - some 35,000 killed and 60,000 wounded. But
Giap's plan did lead to an unanticipated victory in the propaganda war.
One TV news clips showed Viet Cong fighting their way inside the
heavily-guarded U.S. Embassy in Saigon, thus dramatizing the gap between
official statements of optimism about the enemy's weakness and the real
battlefield facts.

The Tet Offensive thus revealed the absurdity of President Lyndon
Johnson's boasts of how much "the enemy" had been permanently weakened.
The fact that the offensive took place after repeated official assurances
of impending victory - seeing light at the end of the tunnel, according to
Defense Secretary McNamara - so undermined the war propagandists' efforts
that public opinion swayed convincingly against the war. Despite their
immense losses, the North Vietnamese won the propaganda war.

Seven years after Tet, the TV public saw images of U.S. embassy officials
burning documents and U.S. money to prevent the rapidly advancing
Communists from getting them. These pictures and the commentaries that
accompanied them induced disgust and doubt in the wisdom of U.S. leaders.
Three years later, if doubts persisted about the duplicity of U.S.
officials, Daniel Ellsberg, a former national security official, released
a massive archive of documents that the New York Times printed. The
thousands of documents in the Pentagon Papers confirmed that the
government had lied and covered up important facts about the origins of
the war. They also showed that the United States had made little
"progress" in winning the "hearts and minds" of Vietnam's people. The
Pentagon Papers also revealed that Lyndon Johnson had lied repeatedly and
that neither he nor any other official had devised a plan to end the war
and leave. The credibility gap between government and people became
unbridgeable.

Most Americans don't remember or know why the United States intervened and
then got deeper into Vietnam. Its leaders had not learned from Korea,
where another tough Asia foe fought U.S. troops to a bloody standstill.
Bush has repeated the murderous scenario in Iraq. In each war, the U.S.
killing machine slaughtered many more natives than Americans. In Vietnam,
Lyndon Johnson confessed to his National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy
that he didn't "think it's worth fighting for." But he continued to send
hundreds of thousands of troops to kill and die - and ultimately lose.

On May 1, the paper of record featured a particularly foolish account.
Stephen J. Morris of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced
International Studies blamed anti-war lobbying for convincing Congress to
cut funding, thus assuring the Communist victory in Vietnam. How many of
the NY Times readers will recall the instant collapse of the militarily
superior, U.S.-trained South Vietnamese army when they had to fight? How
many will remember that the United States invented South Vietnam in 1955
as a way to avert a national electoral victory by President Ho Chi Minh?
Or that rampant corruption characterized all the U.S.-picked regimes. How
many will know that the U.S. chose Catholics to rule a predominantly
Buddhist population? Morris' sour grapes scenario belies the facts: South
Vietnam in early 1975 showed all the signs of decomposition.

The Times does not print historian Gabriel Kolko's vital lessons.
"Successive administrations in Washington have no capacity whatsoever to
learn from past errors. Total defeat in Vietnam 30 years ago should have
been a warning to the U.S.: Wars are too complicated for any nation, even
the most powerful, to undertake without grave risk. They are not simply
military exercises in which equipment and firepower is decisive, but
political, ideological, and economic challenges also. The events of South
Vietnam 30 years ago should have proven that." (Counterpunch, April 30,
2005)

In Iraq, Bush repeats Lyndon Johnson's sinful stupidity of wasting a
surplus on military and security madness. Congress' new budget froze
domestic spending, but not military and "security" funding. Bush's
advisers should read him Pat Buchanan's lines from A Republic, Not an
Empire:  "?
all the empires had disappeared. How did they perish? By war -
all of them." 

Landau's new book is THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA: HOW CONSUMERS HAVE 
REPLACED
CITIZENS AND HOW WE CAN REVERSE THE TREND. He directs Digital Media 
at Cal
Poly Pomona University's College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences and
is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.



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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun 16 21:21:35 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:12:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Head in the Sand
Message-ID: <200506170212.j5H2Cemw009507@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Published on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 by the Boston Globe
Head in the Sand
by Robert Kuttner
 
Somewhere in a parallel universe, real leaders in a country very much 
like our own are dealing with real problems. Imagine what America 
might be like if our top officials were addressing the genuine 
challenges that confront us.

Domestically, the president might have responded to the 9/11 attacks 
by calling for equality of sacrifice, as presidents have done in every 
other wartime emergency. Instead, our president pushed through a 
succession of upscale tax cuts and urged people to go out and shop.

In the parallel universe, the American leader is serious about securing 
our country. Here, it fell to the opposition party to demand that 
something as basic as airline security not be left to private, minimum-
wage contractors. Nearly three years after 9/11, America's ports and 
other vital infrastructure are still sitting ducks. While the Department of 
Homeland Security played Keystone Kops with color-coded alerts that 
seemed suspiciously timed to alarm the public in an election year, the 
different agencies that were merged into one are still working on how 
to communicate with each other.

In that other universe, the president surely would have enlisted 
America's allies to combat terrorism. Had war between the United 
States and Iraq come, it would have come with the full participation of 
the world community, so that Iraq's reconstruction and the burden of 
keeping it secure would have been broadly shared instead of falling 
upon American taxpayers and GIs.

One can imagine a whole to-do list of the president's national priorities:

Repairing American democracy. American citizens still have no 
assurance that their votes will be accurately counted. Big money is 
crowding out citizen participation in politics more grotesquely than 
ever. More ominously, our ability to decide to rise up and throw the 
rascals out is being eroded by partisan trickery.

Fixing our retirement system. Corporate pension funds have been 
allowed to become dangerously underfunded. The public Social 
Security system will need an overhaul to match it to longer lifespans. In 
our parallel universe, both parties would work together to make the 
necessary, fairly minor, adjustments. In this universe, the ideological 
goal of privatizing the system blocks fixing it.

Keeping America healthy. Our present system, which wastes at least 
25 percent of all premium dollars on paper-shuffling, claims 
processing, and profit, hurts doctors and patients, the insured and 
uninsured, alike. An administration of grown-ups would get serious 
about getting everyone covered, preserving free choice of doctor and 
hospital and getting rid of parasitic middlemen.

Dealing with global climate change. With serious people running the 
country, nothing would be a higher priority, because global warming 
will irrevocably change the planet. In that parallel universe, leaders are 
investing seriously in clean, carbon-free energy. Here, our leaders and 
their oil company brethren are in drill-deeper denial.

Saving the economy. In our imaginary parallel universe, leaders are 
reversing the huge dependence of the United States on foreign 
borrowing and the endless public deficits that are starving public 
services. Here, starving public services is a deliberate ideological 
strategy. Leaders make dire threats against China one moment and 
gratefully accept its loans the next. Meanwhile, American jobs continue 
to flow outward to nations with peon wages while the administration's 
corporate allies cheer.

Giving every child a chance. High-stakes testing won't equalize life 
chances if poor kids don't come to school ready to learn. In that 
parallel universe, the nation is investing seriously in early-childhood 
education.

Using science to the fullest. In a generation, scientific advances could 
prevent or cure most of the scourges that ravage Africa as well as 
diseases amenable to stem-cell breakthroughs, such as Parkinson's 
and Alzheimer's, ALS, and viral plagues such as AIDS. In that parallel 
America, leaders are providing the funding for public research, being 
generous with help to Africa, and wrestling with genuine ethical 
dilemmas such as the limits of cloning. In this universe, while real 
menaces like avian flu are on our doorstep, religious fundamentalists 
and drug companies dictate science policy.

In a decade, historians will ponder how the American people could 
possibly have reelected a president who lives in a fantasy world and 
who is doing such damage to the real world.

The poet e.e. cummings wrote, at the end of a fine poem lamenting the 
condition of humankind, ''Listen, there's a hell of a good universe next 
door. Let's go." We, alas, don't have that option. We have to bring 
sanity to the world we are living in.

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect.

? 2005 Boston Globe

###


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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 09:21:02 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:28:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Important Petition
Message-ID: <BED8467E.20D2B%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Dear Friends & Colleagues,


On NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Tottenberg announced that if the Supreme
Court supports Congress, it will, in effect, be the end of the National
Public Radio (NPR), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Public
Broadcasting System (PBS). PBS, NPR and the arts are facing major cutbacks
in funding. In spite of the efforts of each station to reduce spending costs
and streamline their services, some government officials believe that the
funding currently going to these programs is too large a portion of funding
for something which is seen as not worthwhile.
This is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile expenditure of
$1.12/year of their taxes. The only way that our representatives can be
aware of the base of support for PBS and funding for these types of programs
is by making our voices heard.
Please add your name to this list and forward it to friends who believe in
what this stands for. This list will be forwarded to the President and the
Vice President of the United States. This petition is being passed around
the Internet. Please add your name to it so that funding can be maintained
for NPR, PBS, and the NEA.
HOW TO SIGN:
IT'S EASY:
First SELECT all of the text in this message, then COPY and PASTE it into a
new email (DO NOT FORWARD).
ADD your name to the bottom of the list and SEND it to everyone in your
list.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT DUPLICATES.
This is being sent to several people at once to add their names to the
petition. It won't matter if many people receive the same list as THE NAMES
ARE BEING MANAGED.
If you decide not to sign, please don't kill it. Send it to the email
address listed here:
wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu <mailto:wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu>
If you happen to be the 150th, 200th, 250th, etc., signer of this petition,
please forward a copy to the above address. This way we can keep track of
the lists and organize them.
Send this to everyone you know, and help us to keep these programs alive.
Thank you!
1401 Ian Brister,
NewYork, NY 10011
1402 John Cardoni NYC, NY 10009
1403 Rob Jackson Westport, CT 06880
1404 Donna Jackson Westport, CT 06880
1405 John R. Finegan, Weston, CT 06883
1404 Valerie FineganWeston, CT 06883
1405 Roni Zimmer Ridgefield, CT 06877
1406 Marki Knopp, Telluride, CO 81435
1407 Julie Houck, Telluride, CO 81435
1408 Joanne Losse, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
1409 Sue Shilling, North Wales, PA 19454 1410 Joan Violante, Lansdale, PA
19446
1411 Mary JoCoblentz, Richland, WA 99352
1412 Katherine Hardy, Bellingham, WA 98225
1413 John T. HardyBellingham, WA 98225
1414 Rotha L. Miles, Bellingham, WA 98226
1415 John C. Miles, Bellingham, WA 98226
1416 Brad Tuininga, Bellingham, WA 98225
1417 Adam Lorio, Bellingham, WA 98225
1418 ReneeTommila, Portland, OR 97217
1419 Kristin Anderson, Bellingham, WA 98225 1420 Jill Cermele,
MountainLakes, NJ 07046
1421 Robert Cermele, NewYork, NY 10021
1422 Nancy Atlas, New York, NY10021
1423 Joseph Newirth, NewYork, NY 10022
1424 Beth Dorfman, Rego Park, NY 11374
1425 Jenny Putnam,Brooklyn, NY 11220
1426 Amy Rosenthal, Brooklyn, NY 11217
1427 Amy Menell, Boulder, CO 80302
1428 Sharon Breslau, Bearsville, NY 12409
1429 Chuck Cornelis, Bearsville, NY 12409 1430 Joyce Culver,NewYork, NY
10025
1431 Susan Dooley, MillerPlace, NY 11764
1432 Stella Russell, Hilton Head, SC 29928
1433 Arthur L. Friedman,Rego Park, NY 11374
1444 Tracey Simon, Oceanside, NY
1157 1445 Jessica Ley, Locust Valley, NY 11560
1446 Suzanne Ponzini, Port Washington, NY 11050
1447 Jackie Kelly, Port Washington, NY 11050
1448 Jonathan Fields, NewYork, NY 10022
1449 Betsy Davis, Kendall Park, NJ 08824 1450 Catherine Nash, Rowayton, CT
06853
1451 Shaun Jackson, Rowayton, CT 06853
1452 Marti Grubb, Berkeley, CA
1453 Betsy Cotton , Berkeley, CA 94705
1454 Alison Dilworth, Philadelphia, PA 19147
1455 patti Dilworth, NewYork, NY 10002
1456 Steve Osman
1457 John Gonnella
1458 Carol Gonnella
1459 Baldo Lucaroni
1460 Indi Lucaroni
1461 Edward Lucaroni
1462 C. S. White, Ketchum, ID 83340
1463 Rebekah Sullivan
1464 Jim Mindling, Weston, CT 06883
1465 Diana Heisinger, Weston, CT 06883
1466 Nancy Eisenbud, Golden, Colorado 80401
1467 Marina Poling, Fort Collins, CO 80525
1468 Deborah Davis, Fort Collins, CO 80521
1469 Selene, Lafayette, CO 80026
1470 Twinkle Saltzman, Boulder,CO 80301
1471 Carol Kenney, Marblehead,MA 01945
1472 blaine ellis san francisco,ca
1473 ellen koment santafe NM
1474 Mario Quilles, Santa FeNM
1475 Christine Jager, Greenbrae, CA
1476 Bryan Hendon, San Anselmo, CA
1477 Michael C. Borse, Petaluma, CA
1478 Richard A. Moeller, Petaluma, CA
1479 Arthur F. Schanche, MD, Los Angeles, CA 90068 1480 Constance Moffatt,
Culver City, CA 90232
1481 Danita Fleck, San Jose, CA
1482 Terry Thompson, Milpitas, CA 95035
1483 Steven Sicular, S. San Francisco, CA 94080
1484 Nancy Reynolds, 539Edgecliff Way, Redwood City, CA 94062 1485Laurel
Nomura, 6194 Blossom Ave,San Jose, CA 95123
1486 Ken Davis, 1911Tweed Place, Anacortes, WA 98221
1487 Nigel Llewellyn-Smith, 2687 W 29th Ave, Eugene, OR 97405
1488 Ken Murchison, 1006 Jennifers Meadows Ct, Danville, CA 94506
1489 Nicole Barbounis, 959 Padua Way, Livermore, CA 94550 1490 Maria
Pavlick-Larsen, San Jose, CA 95126
1491 David Middleton Hayward, CA 94541
1492 Anne Mueller, Portland, OR 97218
1493 Lee Howard, Portland, OR 97214
1494 Janice Howard, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
1495 Terry Fontenot, Louisville, KY 40205
1496 Nancy Fontenot, Louisville, KY 40205
1497 Gisela De Domenico, Oakland, CA 94602
1498 Lorin Alder, Lincoln, VT 05443
1499 kerrie boodt, tempe, AZ 85281
1500 Lauren Manning, OH 45227
1501 Colin Taylor, OH 44321
1502 Claire Smither, KY 40206
1503 Bob Smither, Jr. KY 40206
1504 Cindy Plappert, KY 40204
1505 Alan Plappert, KY 40204
1506Lindsey Ronay,KY 40205
1507 Norma Gaskey, KY 40220
1508 Robert Lawrence, KY 40205
1509 Gail Bonnell, KY 40202
1510 Donna Edgar, KY 40241
1511 Donna Woods, KY 40204
1512 Judy Atwood, Woodstock, NY 12498
1513 George Nicholson, Bearsville, NY 12409
1514 Robert LuPone Athens, NY
1515 Mary Knox, New York, NY 10282
1516 Nelsena Burt Spano, New York, NY 10011
1517 Ralph Spano, New York, NY 10011
1518 Lisa Gulisano, Nutley, NJ 07110
1519 Philip Hickey, Bloomfield, NJ 07003 1520 Sarah Hickey, Coopersburg, PA
18036
1521 Mark Buettler, Brooklyn, NY 11211
1522 Kyle Luker, Manhatten, NY 10021
1523 Carrie Yaeger, Manhattan, NY 10019
1524 Jennifer Sydney, Chicago, IL 60613
1525 Wendy MacLeod, Gambier, OH 43022
1526 Charles H. Thorne, New York, NY 10022
1527 Alisa C. Thorne, New York, NY 10022
1528 Alex M. Davitt, Rye, NY 10580
1529 Bronagh Mclaughlin, Nyack, NY 10960 1530 Pamela Berget Sorota,
Columbia, MD 21044
1531 Susand G Ferguson, Tucson, AZ 85737
1532 Betty G. Feinberg, Tucson, AZ 85747
1531 Everett J. Wyers, Tucson, AZ 85747
1532 Lenom T. Wyers, Tucson, AZ 85747
1533Bernadine Klein, Tucson, AZ 85743
1534 Sharon Dvorkin-Solotky Tucson,AZ 85743
1535 Hyman Solotky Tucson,AZ 85743
1536 Edlynne Sillman, Tucson, Az 85743
1537 Joan Martay, Portland, Me. 04103
1538 Jean Beal, Portland, ME 04103
1539 Jane Beal, Cambridge, MA 02138
1540 Cindy Houston, Burlington, VT 05401
1541 Sarah Grose, Manchester, CT 06040
1542 Franny Bluhm, East Jordan, MI 49727
1543 Ken Bluhm, East Jordan, MI 49727
1544 Abbey Carter, Columbus, OH 43209
1545 Thomas Kelly, Columbus, OH 43212
1546 Brenda Arnold. Columbus, OH 43214
1547 Dena Hartmann, Worcester, MA 01604
1548 D'Orsi Bosca, Springfield, OH 45503
1549 Caro-Gray Bosca, Boston,Ma 02115
1550 Louisa Paige, Boston, MA 02116
1551 Kathryn Corbin, Milton, MA 02186
1552 Pat Warner, Wellesley, MA 02482
1553 Doug Anderson, Palm Beach, FL 33480
1554   Dale Anderson, Palm Beach, FL 33480
1555 Andy Bronfman, NY, NY, 10021
1556 Jill Collier Indyk, Pittstown, NJ, 08867
1557 Harvey Krueger, NY, NY 10021
1558 Howard Rosenman, LA, CA 90069
1559  Don Roos, L.A., CA  90210

1560  Dan Bucatinsky, L.A., CA  90210

1561   Joan Stein, LA, CA  90046
1562   Barbara Howard,CA, 90068
1563    Michael Butler, CA 90069



 



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 09:44:48 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:52:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US defends stance on climate change
Message-ID: <BED84C10.20D34%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
US defends stance on climate change
>By Fiona Harvey in Washington and Clive Cookson in London
>Published: June 16 2005 19:46 | Last updated: June 16 2005 19:46
>>

The US on Thursday played down differences on climate change with the other
Group of Eight industrialised nations, amid claims by environmental
campaigners that a leaked ?plan of action? showed the US was blocking
progress in the run up to next month's Gleneagles summit.

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, has made tackling climate change a
priority for the UK's G8 presidency but the June 14 version of the
Gleneagles declaration appears weaker in several respects than previous
drafts.

Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, told the
Financial Times: ?I think the emphasis here should be on the fact that we
have common goals, common objectives, common actions that bring us together.
This commonality of goals, objectives and actions outweighs the differences
that we might have.?

However, although the US has entered into a range of bilateral and
multilateral agreements with several countries on actions to tackle climate
change, Ms Dobriansky indicated that a similar multilateral agreement with
the G8 nations would not be on the table for the Gleneagles talks.

Instead, the US wanted to see the summit result in ?enhancement of energy
security, the reduction of air pollution, improvements of health, and . . .
the advancement of economic growth?, she said.

>
>>
>Spreading deserts and dust storms put millions in peril
>>
>>     
>

An increase in the area of land covered by desert is threatening to make
refugees of millions of people and send dust storms across the oceans.
Go there
>
>
Unlike the other G8 nations, the US has rejected the UN-brokered Kyoto
protocol that requires developed countries to cut their emissions of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Amid fears that the US might try to
weaken any statement from the G8 on the scientific basis for climate change,
she said: ?Science is an issue that is integrated into all [our] activities
[on climate change].?

Last week, the national science academies of all G8 countries and three
developing countries issued an unprecedented joint statement saying that the
scientific case for climate change caused by human action justified strong
concern over the issue, and measures should be taken immediately to combat
the problem.

Ms Dobriansky said: ?I know that they [officials of the G8] are working
through aspects of this issue [of the science] and focusing very much on how
we can come together and take action.?

However in the June 14 draft of the Gleneagles text, almost all scientific
statements about the impact of climate change are in square brackets meaning
that they have been challenged by at least one G8 member. There are no
commitments on funding research nor targets for reducing emissions of carbon
dioxide. Ms Dobriansky said some of the key areas of common ground included
assisting developing countries to gain access to ?clean? technologies that
would help avoid or mitigate the use of fossil fuels.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 09:49:46 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:57:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US backs Japan but not Germany for UN place
Message-ID: <BED84D3A.20D37%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
US backs Japan but not Germany for UN place
>By Guy Dinmore in Washington and agencies
>Published: June 16 2005 21:58 | Last updated: June 17 2005 06:30
>>

The US on Thursday declared its position in the debate over expansion of the
United Nations Security Council by backing Japan and one or two other states
for permanent membership, while effectively excluding Germany and Brazil.

The administration's formal announcement followed months of speculation amid
a high-stakes diplomatic poker game that had been dominated so far by a
united proposal set out by the ?Group of Four? Germany, India, Brazil and
Japan.

Japan?s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Friday that his government
had focused on its cooperation with the three countries and sought
Washington?s understanding.

?We are grateful for the support, but we have agreed on a plan with
[Germany, Brazil and India]?, Hiroyuki Hosoda, Japan?s chief cabinet
secretary, also said at a press briefing on Friday.

The US position puts it at odds with many of its closest allies. But while
it may not command sufficient support to pass in the UN General Assembly,
where a two-thirds majority of all member states is required, it could be
enough to deny the Group of Four, and possibly lead to deadlock and keeping
the status quo.

Nicholas Burns, under-secretary of state, made it clear the US opposed the
Group of Four proposal, which he described as a ?big bang expansion? that
would cripple the effectiveness of the Security Council.

The four states have proposed permanent seats for themselves and two African
states to be decided, plus six more non-permanent members. The council is
currently composed of five permanent members with veto rights, and 10
rotating members with two-year terms.

Mr Burns said the US was ?likely to support two or so? more permanent
members, plus ?two or three? non-permanent members, taking the council to
a total of 19 or 20. This more modest increase would keep the council an
effective body, he argued.

Mr Burns reiterated long-standing US support for Japan, but said no position
had been taken on others.

Diplomats in Washington and at the UN said it was an open secret that the
Bush administration was opposed to Germany, because of its recent active
opposition to the US, particularly over the Iraq war and the International
Criminal Court.

India is widely believed to be favoured by the US, plus probably one African
state.

Next week the US will open debate on establishing criteria that new members
would have to meet, Mr Burns said. The list included size of economy and
population, military capacity and contributions to UN peacekeeping,
standards of democracy and human rights, size of contributions to the UN,
and records on counter-terrorism and non-proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.

There should also be a geographical balance, he said. This would apparently
eliminate Germany. The UK and France are already permanent members, although
they also support the Group of Four.

Suspicions that the US would be content to preserve the status quo were
heightened by its insistence that Security Council expansion only follow
progress in a whole package of reforms of the world body.

The US places budget and management reform first.

? Gerhard Schr?der, the German chancellor, made securing a permanent
Security Council seat a priority of his foreign policy early in his second
term, but the likelihood of success has receded amid opposition, mainly from
the US and China, Bertrand Benoit reports from Berlin.

The Christian Democratic Union, the largest opposition party, which is
billed as the likely winner of a general election due in September, has said
it would not pursue the goal of a permanent seat once in power.

>
>
>
 
 
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 09:51:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 16 19:58:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Letter
Message-ID: <006a01c5735c$c33fa200$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

In response to former Sen. John Danforth's excellent Op-Ed in today's NY Times (sent to you with my other NTY picks for today), I have sent the following letter.

Peace.

-------------

From: Ian 
To: letters@nytimes.com 
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 12:46 PM
Subject: Letter


As an evangelical minister, all I can say to former Sen. John Danforth's excellent - and important - piece is "Amen!" (Op-Ed, June 17).

By narrowing the conversation on "moral values" to a few hot-button issues - and then proclaiming that they have the definitively "correct" Christian position on those issues - not only does the Christian Right display a dangerous self-righteousness, but they ignore the fact that "moral values" encompasses a much wider range of issues, including poverty, homelessness, war, and the environment.

The ten basic precepts of Jesus' ministry were love, peace, forgiveness, humility, compassion, patience, charity, service, selflessness and truth.  Yet by taking Scripture out of context to support unloving and unforgiving views, the Christian Right fails to truly answer the question, "What would Jesus do?," and actually apply the ten precepts of His ministry.

Rev. Ian Alterman
New York City

Note:  The writer is pastor of Spirit Fellowship Ministries.
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 09:55:43 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 20:03:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Week in economics: Tale of two housing markets
Message-ID: <BED84E9F.20D39%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Week in economics: Tale of two housing markets
>By Christopher Swann in Washington
>Published: June 16 2005 23:24 | Last updated: June 16 2005 23:24
>>

This week has been in part a tale of two housing markets. One - the US
market - continues to surge, regardless of mounting fears of overheating
among economists. The second - the British housing market - appears to have
turned a corner and is finally succumbing to realism.

Earlier in the week data showed that estate agents and surveyors in the UK -
long bullish about the prospects for the housing market - had turned down
beat.

A survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors showed that in May 49
per cent more estate agents reported house prices had fallen over the past
three months than said prices were rising. This was the weakest reading
since 1992, when the housing market was at a low ebb.

Many economists argued that the outlook was not as gloomy as these figures
suggest.

The survey provides a measure of breadth rather than depth. If all estate
agents believed that prices were going down - but only by 0.0001 per cent -
the series would still give the impression of Armageddon in the housing
market.

Deutsche Bank argues that it makes much more sense to look another figure by
RICS - the sales to stock ratio - which is slightly more encouraging. Estate
agents sold 29 per cent of the stock on their books over the past three
months. This is consistent with a stabilisation of prices but not a fall and
is well above the 11 per cent level seen in 1992.

So far there is little sign of sanity returning to the US housing market.
Although the US housing market overall is less overheated that the UK's,
Economy.com, the consultancy, estimates that around half US houses are too
expensive.

Figures this week suggested that the market continues to power forward.
Housing starts, the number of new constructions started during the May, held
steady at an annualised 2.01m units. Actual housing completions rose to
2.07m annualised - the fastest pace since 1973.

Some economists believe that the US still has plenty of steam left and that
the bubble will inflate further.

Overall, however, economic news from the US has been mixed. Inflation fell
by 0.1 per cent in May - the first decline in 10 months. Core prices -
excluding volatile food and energy - rose by 0.1 per cent - less than had
been expected by analysts.

Economists believe that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue to raise
rates but may be able to call a halt to the tightening cycle earlier than
previously thought.

This attitude was reinforced by slightly weaker than expected retail sales
figures.

In the UK, meanwhile, inflation data was somewhat less benign than expected.
The headline rate has held steady at 1.9 per cent. But the core rate has
climbed from 1.4 per cent to 1.6 per cent.

Earlier in the week, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England,
voiced concern over price pressures on the horizon

His first concern was was that the recent wave of immigration from the new
Eastern European members of the EU would soon come to an end. This increased
the labour supply by 120,000 between May 2004 and March 2005. If the rate of
growth of the labour supply slows, then wage pressures may intensify. Mr
King is also worried by the fast increase in broad money supply.

Economists believe this is partly being driven partly by high house prices,
forcing first time buyers to take on higher debt burdens relative to their
incomes. Finally, import prices have also been strong.

Deutsche Bank argues that these worries may be somewhat overstated and they
suggest that mounting price pressures will be offset by lower overall
demand.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 10:01:50 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 20:09:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Sharia bank law hinders Muslim integration
Message-ID: <BED8500E.20D3C%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
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Sharia bank law hinders Muslim integration
>By Tim Parks
>Published: June 16 2005 20:06 | Last updated: June 16 2005 20:06
>>

In medieval Christendom lending money at interest was banned. Offenders were
guaranteed a place in hell. Today, sharia law imposes the same ban. For one
of the world?s three great religions, something as ordinary as a mortgage is
a sin. ?Worse than rape,? say the websites of various Islamic banks. ?Worse
than adultery with 36 women,? the prophet Mohammed is reported to have said.

To lend money at a profit without being damned, Christian bankers played
with currency exchanges. It was possible to borrow 100 florins in Florence,
promising to repay it in pounds in London in three months? time. A complex
system of exchange-rate fixing guaranteed a return. Banks thus became
international rather than local and financed short-term trade rather than
capital investment. For centuries the economy of Europe was skewed.

Today?s Islamic banks cannot take cover in exchange rates. They rely mostly
on so-called Murabaha deals, where the bank buys, for example, a house on
behalf of a client who promises to purchase it over a period of time at the
same price. No interest. But while purchasing it he pays rent to live in the
house. On an Islamic chat line, Zoahib from California complains: ?If at the
end I?m paying the ?Islamic financing? company three times the value of the
house, how is that different from other lenders??

Commenting on the performance of Bahrain?s Islamic banks, Imtiaz Uddin Ahmad
of the University of Maryland remarks that the preponderance of Murabaha
deals makes for short-term investments that are safe and lucrative but does
little to develop the country?s economy.

So why insist on the ban? It is not about protecting the poor, since that
could be achieved by stipulating a maximum interest rate. To get a grip on
the way the Islamic world is developing in reaction to the west, it is
important to understand what is at stake.

In the Inferno, Dante lumped the money lenders together with the sodomites
and blasphemers. All three sins were contro natura, against nature. It was
unnatural for men to have sex with men, unnatural to curse your creator and
unnatural to make a living without ?toiling?, since God created ?toil? to
complete man?s nature.

The insistence on work is crucial. A man?s work in the medieval world was
his social station in a static hierarchy. But money-lending altered things.
A man could borrow money, set up a business, change his station in life.
Everything became more fluid.

Purist Islam seeks to maintain a traditional social hierarchy that the west
has long abandoned. Deny people the right to borrow easily and with a clear
conscience and you put a big spoke in the wheels of social change.

There is more. If the real nature of financial transactions is constantly
being disguised, an unhealthy culture of euphemism results. Language drifts
away from reality, and anxiety and guilt follow. Crucially, people are not
sure whether they are sinning or not.

In an emblematic move, to make amends for ?possible wrongdoing?, the 15th
century banker Cosimo De? Medici invested a fortune in rebuilding the
monastery of San Marco in Florence. Before doing so he insisted that the lax
order of Silvestrine monks using the building be replaced with the stricter
Dominicans. To cleanse its guilt, big money goes to the fundamentalists.
This can be dangerous.

In modern Islam, the culture of euphemism, anxiety and guilt is definitely
there, but the larger environment is different. When Christian businessmen
eventually discovered in humanism a set of liberal values that lay outside
the black and white of religion?s revealed truth, they were breaking new
ground. Today, Islam finds these convenient positions occupied by a culture
it opposes. To liberalise would be surrender, not discovery.

Over the past 20 years, as the confrontation between the west and Islam has
intensified, Muslims have actually reinforced their ban on interest-bearing
loans. The first purist Islamic banks opened in the mid-1970s. There are now
more than 200 transacting businesses worth $500bn annually. To compete with
western banks, they stress that taking and paying interest is indeed worse
than rape.

The loan ban has thus begun to function, like the strict rules on sexual
behaviour, as another brake on the integration of Muslims into the western
societies in which they live. Ironically, the very rule that reinforces
their identity inhibits economic development and diminishes their power in
the larger community.
>
>The writer is author of Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics and Art in
>Fifteenth-century Florence (Profile)
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From hhoward at pcmagic.net  Fri Jun 17 10:04:32 2005
From: hhoward at pcmagic.net (Henry Howard)
Date: Thu Jun 16 20:12:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "I'm Taking the Liberty of Defending Civil Liberties"
Message-ID: <42B302A0.3090506@pcmagic.net>

Hi, my wonderful HAIR friends, it's been a long time since I've 
contributed anything to your discussion list, but I read it all the 
time. You are all some truly amazing people: I only wish HAIR had been 
able to do that national tour again, it's more timely and necessary than 
ever, and its beautiful humanism is all that stands between us and 
global disaster and despair.

I wanted to share with everyone a poem I recently wrote, after months of 
effort and trying to get the right theme, about the attacks on civil 
liberties, and why it is so essential to our survival to resist them in 
all their forms--and especially to stand with those people under 
constant attack for their ethnicity, having been savagely stereotyped as 
"terrorists" or "enemy combatants" by an administration determined to 
divide every living human being into catagories of "them" against "us." 
Well, I stand unequivocally with the people of the world's "us," not 
this illegal, kill-crazy administration. Keep up the fight, and do let 
me know of any HAIR productions near L.A.!
Peace,

Henry


I?M TAKING THE LIBERTY OF DEFENDING CIVIL LIBERTIES

As the twin towers groaned and fell,
Our civil liberties began to crumble with them,
Almost as fast as the downward maelstrom
Of twisted metal and shattered lives.

An urgent cry went up across the land:
?The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!?
And in a midnight ride worthy of Paul Revere,
Congress signed a bill called the Patriot Act
Which few had even read,
But it must have been okay because the President said
It would protect us from all enemies,
Foreign and domestic.

Suddenly each of us could be the ?enemy:?
People with dark skin and different accents,
Students reading ?Silent Spring? in airport lounges,
Lawyers clinging to the lost American ideal
Of representation for all,
Librarians forced to monitor reading lists and thought processes,
So Big Brother could create lists of deportees and detainees
And declare thought itself illegal.

Suddenly the youth with the full backpack and long hair,
And the Lebanese shopkeeper whose moustached smile
Had greeted customers for two generations,
Became one and the same:
Lurking members of ?sleeper cells,?
An army of bogeymen drilled into us by the news
Until our brains went to sleep.

Our Commander-In-Chief took command
Of the good ship ?Paranoia,?
And at first I, too, kept my head down
While bombs rained down on distant lands,
And innocent Muslims disappeared in my own.

At first they came for five thousand Arabs, Muslims and South Asians,
But I did not speak up because I wasn?t Arab, or Muslim, or South Asian.
I was a White American, with nothing to worry about.


Then they came for the students, already protesting a war that had 
barely begun,
But I did not speak up because I was long out of school
And happily traded college picket signs for chic suburban shopping lines.

Then they came for the librarians,
But I did not speak up because I was watching so much t.v,.
I had forgotten how to read.

Then they came for the lawyers,
But I did not speak up because I had failed out of law school twice,
And wanted nothing to do with the whole profession.

Then they finally came for me,
But a strange thing happened: I woke up,
Before there was no one left to speak up.

You see, I am indeed a White American,
With an uncomfortable awareness of
The power and privilege my skin color grants me.

But I am also that Arab shopkeeper,
Whose shoe store is next to the Jewish pickle stand,
Which is squeezed between the Indonesian restaurant
And the Filipino market,
Across the street from the blue-and-white tiled mosque,
Down the block from the law office offering free assistance in Spanish.

I am also a Jewish American,
With an awareness of history.
When my Arab and Muslim and South Asian neighbors
Are rounded up and ?disappeared,?
I remember the Nazi ?Night and Fog? decree,
In which all who opposed the regime
Were marked to simply ?disappear, as though into night and fog.?

Today they are secretly put on planes, and flown light-years
 From their homes and loved ones;
But I see them so clearly,
In their thousands aboard the cattle trains,
Chugging through the darkness on rusty tracks
To the darkest places on earth,
Lit only by the iron furnace
That blazes fierce against the night sky.

For now, at least, the iron furnace has not yet been remade.
But new barracks have sprung up in concentration camps
Guarded by the Stars and Stripes,
And the electric fences are kept well-tended
And fully charged.

Today I am an L.A. high school student
Who spelled ?Iraq? wrong on a Geography test
But led a walkout of a thousand,
Against a war his Principal tried not to talk about.

Today I am that Kansas librarian,
Who with a reassuring smile
Refused to report a single title
Checked out by worried visitors,
And even kept ?The Wizard Of Oz?
On her shelves,
Though some parents accused her of supporting witchcraft.

And I am that lawyer,
Convicted of supporting terrorism,
Because she dared to believe
That the words of her client were protected
On both sides of the glass wall meant to divide them.

For all those people,
I am waking up and standing beside them.
I don?t need another 5,000
Arabs, Muslims and South Asians detained
And disappeared
To remind me that I could be next.

I don?t need another hundred thousand
Slaughtered Iraqi civilians to remind me
That Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11;
I don?t need another dollar-a-gallon rise at the gas pump
To remind me that spilling oceans of blood to protect rivers of oil
Will make my heart bleed forever.

I will remain neither silent nor still.
In the name of the rounded up and detained,
The disappeared and murdered,
The bombed and melted and tortured,
I am taking the liberty of defending civil liberties.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 17 10:07:43 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 16 20:15:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] To give or forgive
Message-ID: <BED8516F.20D40%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Click here to find out more!

        
            Articles by subject: Topics: Economics
    


ECONOMICS FOCUS

Economics focus

To give or forgive
Jun 16th 2005
>From The Economist print edition


The G8 wants to wipe clean the debts of impoverished nations. Erasing
poverty will be harder

MISERS may be disliked, but usurers are despised. This may explain the
remarkable success of the long-running campaign by churches, charities and
celebrities to have the debts of poverty-stricken countries written off.
Even when aid budgets were especially tight?roughly speaking, from 1993 to
2001?the campaign shamed the governments of the G7 rich nations into
cancelling much of their bilateral debt. Reluctant to give money to poor
countries, rich countries' governments became equally chary of collecting
debts from them.

On June 11th, the debt-relief campaign won another triumph. At a meeting in
London hosted by Gordon Brown, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer and a
strong advocate of debt relief, the finance ministers of the G8 (the G7 plus
Russia) agreed to cancel all the debts that 18 heavily indebted poor
countries owe to three multilateral lenders, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The beneficiaries are Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia and 14 African
countries. The debts in question have a face value of about $40 billion, on
which an annual average of $1 billion-1.5 billion is paid in debt service.
Nine other countries may benefit within a few years, and a further 11 would
be eligible if their governments were not so inept and corrupt.

To understand how the London agreement works, you have to follow the money.
Next year, for example, Rwanda was due to pay at least $4.5m in debt service
to the Bank and the AfDB and a further $2.9m to the IMF. Assuming the G8
proposal is passed and implemented promptly, Rwanda will no longer need to
do that. However, the loans or grants it receives from the Bank and the AfDB
in 2006 will be ?adjusted? (ie, cut) by $4.5m, the same amount it saves on
servicing its debts to them. So in the first instance it will have just
$2.9m extra?the money it would have paid to the IMF?to spend on health care,
education and so forth.

Some?notably, America?would have been happy to leave it at that. But at
Britain's insistence, the new agreement goes further. The G8 acknowledges
that, by freeing Rwanda and its sort of their debts, it is depriving the
Bank, Fund and AfDB of loan revenue. The IMF will have to take the loss on
the chin. But the Bank and the AfDB will be reimbursed. The two can then
pass this new money on to poor countries, as they see fit. Rwanda might well
see some of this extra money, but it need not.

There is one last twist in the money trail: from where will the G8 countries
get the money to refund the Bank and the AfDB? They could raise it from
their taxpayers. They could divert it from funds already allocated to their
own aid budgets. Or they could deduct it from money they might otherwise
have given the Bank and the AfDB. Their donations to the Bank have already
been settled for the next three years, so any such diversion will be easy to
spot in the short term. But in the future, there will be no way to know how
much the G8 would have given the Bank in the absence of 100% debt relief. So
one cannot know whether the money promised in London will come in addition
to, or instead of, the money they would have given anyway.

Give and take

There is thus less to the London agreement than first meets the eye. Rich
countries are often accused of giving with one hand and taking with the
other. That said, in general, what donors take in debt repayments, they give
back several times over in aid. Mozambique, for example, paid $71.8m on its
debts in 2003. But the aid it received from all donors, multilateral and
bilateral, amounted to about 14 times that figure. Admittedly, that includes
the value of debt relief itself, and Mozambique's experience is extreme. But
on average, reports the Bank, in the 1990s the heavily indebted poor
countries received about twice as much in aid as they paid in debt service.

In a recent article*, Raghuram Rajan, chief economist at the IMF, teases out
the implications of these two-way flows. Suppose a country pays $100m a year
in debt service, but receives $200m in aid. How does its situation differ
from a debt-free country that receives $100m in aid a year? The annual net
inflow of money is the same; only the stock of liabilities differs.

Under certain circumstances, Mr Rajan notes, this stock of debts can cast a
shadow over a country's prospects. It may deter private investment, because
investors fear the government will overtax their profits to repay its
creditors. A lack of investment will stunt growth, further diminishing the
country's ability to service its debt. Debt relief is then in the interest
of creditors and debtors alike. It will increase the real value of the
creditors' claims, because it restores the confidence of investors and thus
the economy's ability to meet its obligations.

However, Mr Rajan doubts the relevance of this idea to the beneficiaries of
the G8's proposal. There are many reasons why private investors might be
deterred from an impoverished African country: corruption, insecure property
rights, fragmented markets, lousy infrastructure. Debt is the least of them.

Mr Brown sees debt relief as but one step in increasing the resources that
are made available to fight poverty. Aid budgets have already been rising;
and Mr Brown and Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, are pushing for
another big increase in aid at the Gleneagles G8 summit in July. But Mr
Brown's American counterpart, John Snow, sees debt relief as the last turn
in a long-running ?cycle of lend and forgive?. Efforts to ease Africa's
official debts date back at least as far as 1987. Since then, Mr Snow points
out, donors have repeatedly lent poor countries fresh money to help repay
old loans gone sour. This month's deal should go some way to achieving Mr
Snow's objective. But it will do little by itself to secure Mr Brown's.

* ?
Debt Relief and Growth?. Finance and Development, June 2005.



Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 17 11:03:35 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 16 21:11:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The American forces lied to the Britsh,
	they used Naplam in Iraq
Message-ID: <000801c57366$e40bbc80$493fe440@Harold>

The American forces can no longer be trusted, they have lied just to often.

Napalm has been used 30 odd times by the marines !!

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=647397

Shame

H

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun 17 11:47:18 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 16 21:54:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Kyrgyz forces break up protests
Message-ID: <20050617_184718_053722.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Kyrgyz forces break up protests **
Police retake government headquarters in Kyrgyzstan's capital, after it was stormed by hundreds of protesters.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4102294.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun 17 12:18:37 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 16 22:26:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: 'Teleporting' over the internet
Message-ID: <20050617_191837_066490.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** 'Teleporting' over the internet **
Computer scientists in the US are developing a system which could let people "teleport" a solid 3D model of themselves.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4102018.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 15:20:32 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Fri Jun 17 01:28:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell
Message-ID: <020101c5738a$c6d97bb0$6e436c42@hotprojects>


----- Original Message ----- 
From: richard haase 
To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


i saw you
i too am a born again christian
but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
youre not all that goyish lol
thats a joke guys
no offense meant please dont crucify me
whoops
( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
richard in the project pit

peace love
( joking joking )
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Fri Jun 17 15:59:14 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Fri Jun 17 02:06:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Enabling Evil 
Message-ID: <QjdHMkdPTyFbPEc+NCosNzY0MDE4@Dragon>

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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun 17 21:53:28 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 17 07:59:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000901c573c1$ac2f71c0$2325b7d8@baby1>

Strange Things Christians Teach Children




========
I don't disagree with anything you have said here.  However, I would point
out that although your father and mother were of different "denominations"
(one a Catholic, the other a Protestant), they were, in fact, of the same
"faith": Christian (whether practicing or not).  Thus, you prove my point:
at some level, their shared faith added to their marital stability so that
they were able to stay together for 60 years.
=========



You're speculating again.

You can't ask either of them as they're both in heaven.  Just like all the
people who wrote the bible (among other things) are not here to ask them
"Hey, did any of you guys make any of that stuff up..?"

The basis of your speculation comes from the odds, and facts, that often
when 2 people who enter into marriage "like the same things", whether it be
religion, a color, carpet weaving, or snow skiing, the odds are that they
will always have something "in common" that is mutually beneficial to both
them individually and going toward keeping their marriage together etc.

That well may be, but I was trying to point out that I think that telling
Children, or even Adults for that matter, that it is "better to date and
marry someone of your own religion", for *any* reason, much less "so things
will go more smooth in your marriage from both within and from without
coming from exterior forces" or somesuch, is pure crap imho to begin with,
but to also base it on scriptural readings from a book written 2,000 years
ago where the same God who was "inspiring" those various writings was also
out giving the same people he made wander the deserts for 40 years the
go-ahead to kill all the men, women, children and animals in a certain land
simply because they wanted the real estate for their own personal use, is
even more pure crapola, imhb, in my humble book.

This is the same "inspiring humans through the holy spirit to write the
scriptures" God who ordered anyone who was gay to be stoned to death, anyone
who slept with their neighbors wife to be stoned to death, and the list goes
on and on and on.

I really have a tendency to believe that very many Christians alive today
will simply toss the Old Testament in the trash bin simply because it is
outdated compared to the kinder gentler God person Jesus and his Teachings.

Which is one reason, to me, why it is so easy for so many Christians to
manipulate just about any conversation in the world, at least when it
pertains to "the word of god", as although Humans, to some extent, have
actually become more morally compassionate with their own Laws as time
passed on, the Old Testament is still to this very day considered nothing
short of The Law itself, New Testament or no New Testament.

I still have problems with some Christians actually trying to convince me in
this modern day and time that the old God of the Old Testament is actually
still the same God of the New Testament, only that Jesus calmed his
rashness, quirks, and fits of mass murder and genocide in the Old Testament
down a bit, or else he saw a shrink between the Old Testament and the New
Testament, was prescribed a bit of Prozac or something, and has been taking
it regularly.

That the old God of the Old Testament who was so viciously cruel, murderous,
and merciless, but he was God after all and had created everything including
Man, and was all powerful and could destroy you by blinking, is still the
same "Heavenly Father" of this compassionate, gentle, humble, caring,
healing dude named Jesus who showed up on the scene, only continues to
indicate to me that even Gods have faults, fits of rages, vengeance, oodles
of punishments for crimes even Man no longer puts people to death for (at
least in some places), and was prone to killing millions of men women and
children just for real estate and resources and location location location.

If I didn't know any better, I would have to guess that the God of the Old
Testament was a Bush as well.

But I'm getting off the point of a document that part of it was written
thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, then the last part of it
was written two thousand years ago, which outlines mainly the life and times
of some people called The Israelis, which God, even though he declared them
as his Chosen People, hated so much because they were so evil, that he
punished them all through the bible, as they were doing just about every
incredible evil known to God and invented some he never even figured on, and
eventually almost wiped them out completely.

Yet many Christians today, who adopted a lot of their religion from the part
of the document that was written only about 2,000 years ago, are still bound
by the wisdom, merits, and commandments, etc, one being to go forth and
convert every ant and their hairdresser to their religion, and then now and
then they find something they like, that makes sense to them at least, and
they call it a "preferrment" or somesuch, rather than even A Commandment,
and next thing I know, it's sucking up light from my life, at least, like a
black hole sucks up solar systems.

Next thing I know, 50 years from now or something, little things like "It's
a good idea not to date or marry anyone who is not a Christian" will be
written into the American Constitution for all I know.

It's already written into "Society", so what am I complaining about...

It wasn't that long ago, at least once upon a time in America, that if you
were caught dating or marrying anyone not of the same color, both of you
were taken to a tree and hung until dead.

And that if you were married to someone not of the same religion as you, it
was not only a scandal, but, as everyone in town knew, your marriage would
soon be torn asunder on the rocks, or so they prayed dilligently for to
happen each night before they went to sleep to dream of angels and the
promised land.

Sure, even I will admit that, hey, if you go to the same church, are the
same color in a marriage, both like movies, snowskiing, or embroidery, etc,
things very well might go easier for you, in both your marriage and in
society, especially if you happen to be two uneducated backward insecure
indocrinated beyond belief imbeciles.

But the first time I ever find myself actually *giving* someone that
ludicrous advice, I will stick my finger down my throat so I can vomit up
whatever kind of bullshit that got down there and made me say such crapola.

Geez, if everyone who got married got together with someone of another
religion, half of the religious problems of the entire world would be solved
in 3 days.

It's the continued, century after century after century, "well-tried advice"
that has created the vast chasms of bigotry, religious hatred, ignoramus
prejudices, etc etc etc that sprang from the womb of Religion that to this
very day makes most of us complete idiots in not only our viewpoints but how
we live our ridiculous prejudiced lives in the first place.

And "try not to date or marry anyone of another religion" is right up there
high on the totem pole smiling its ass off as if nothing is wrong whatsoever
with its dogma written proudly across its forehead.

With all the rest of the Good Advice.

True, there is some extremely Good Advice strewn between the pages of a mass
murdering God in the Old Testament and the new improved Jesus Son in the New
Testament who for all I know might have been just one of 10 little 8 year
olds who drew straws as to who was going to be The Christ and was trained by
a bunch of guys in the desert named the Essenes.

And I try to, in my ignomius dark planes, actually try to follow some of
that stuff.  Some of it actually makes sense.

How people use it today, sometimes, even many thousands or just only about
2,000 years later, makes me wanna barf on my goldfish.

My father, incidentally, never went to church down here except maybe once or
twice, the rest of his life he worked his ass off and came and went back to
work ad infinitum.  And mother was always harrassing him to go to church.
I'm sure the peer pressure of American Christians (or whatever American
religios) was quite intense, since "most people went to church as married
couples etc", it was tradition, it was God's Law, it was and remains Pure
Dogma.

Not pure common sense.

I asked my father one day why he didn't go to church.

He replied something like "Son, I went to church for a while with your
mother, but I sat there in that church, and I looked around, and I saw all
the prominent businessmen, bankers, etc, who the Friday or Saturday night
before were out getting dead drunk, fucking their neighbor's wives, cheating
anyone they could out of anything they could day and night throughout the
entire previous week, sitting there singing Hymn #128, and I wanted to puke.
They do all that crap, then sit there like pious good men on Sunday morning,
and they mainly do it just because it's good to go to church because it
helps you with your Business Matters.  If I want to commune with God, son, I
can go out and sit under that tree in the backyard, look up, and me and God
are just fine..."


Except for ludicrously and amazingly actually getting worse, nothing
whatsoever on Earth has changed yet.


And the road to Hell remains strewn with good intentions.






Cheeseburger

.

From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 21:53:54 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 08:03:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell
Message-ID: <20050617.215422.16134.140980@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>

...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

How about Michael picking the spot.

Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

No offense-no defense, just meet.


Lyle K'ang

Please note: message attached


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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun 17 22:00:06 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 17 08:05:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000f01c573c2$99a36880$2325b7d8@baby1>

Strange Things Christians Teach Children




I'm sorry, a Correction:

"I really have a tendency to believe that very many Christians alive today
will simply toss the Old Testament in the trash bin simply because it is
outdated compared to the kinder gentler God person Jesus and his Teachings."

should have read:

"I really have a tendency to believe that NOT very many Christians alive
today
will simply toss the Old Testament in the trash bin simply because it is
outdated compared to the kinder gentler God person Jesus and his Teachings."



Cheeseburger

.

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 17 22:06:39 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Fri Jun 17 08:14:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell
References: <20050617.215422.16134.140980@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <002701c573c3$8315fb40$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Lyle:

An interesting proposition, to say the least.  But are you really ready for all the possible outcomes?  LOL.

Actually, I finally met a couple of civics the last time Michael came to NY.  Didn't have much time to chat, but it was fun to put a face to the name and writing.

I suppose I would be willing to travel as far as anyone, though I think (and not for prejudicial reasons) that any such meeting should be in the U.S., possibly mid-country (Chicago, maybe?).  Even our Central and South American friends could get here.  It would be toughest for our European, Asian and African friends.  Perhaps they could have a separate get-together?

The possibilities are endless.  I'd offer my home, but I think Cheeseburger would have a cow...LOL

Anyway, if you have any good ideas, by all means share them.  As an aside, I think Michael is getting a big kick out of this...Maybe we should make him pay all travel expenses.  What say ye?

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:53 AM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell


  ...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

  How about Michael picking the spot.

  Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

  No offense-no defense, just meet.


  Lyle K'ang

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: richard haase 
  To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
  Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


  i saw you
  i too am a born again christian
  but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
  youre not all that goyish lol
  thats a joke guys
  no offense meant please dont crucify me
  whoops
  ( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
  richard in the project pit

  peace love
  ( joking joking )


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 22:35:54 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 08:44:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Letter from Lyle
Message-ID: <20050617.223603.16134.141141@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>

Why do I need to be reminded to be kind, benevolent, compassionate, and loving..?

Unless, I am a total moron, which I am far from, no one needs to remind us what second nature means.

Unless, we are guilt ridden ourselves, with a need for the world to 'see' us always in some-kind of light, do-gooder-position; trying to persuade the world or others, that you or we, are good people.

It is as though, we continue to say to others: I am a good person, Ian and look what I do to prove my self to my God, that I am.

The only deficit that I see-is the lack of humility and arrogance always waits for its turn.

You see, one must carry-on, forgive and have the built-in compassion, without telling the world, "Hey look Mom, what I'm doing" syndrome. To right their own station in life-is actually a worthy task.

I don't care about this man you call Jesus (not offensive, but actually laying it out-can I do that?). I care about the times, man-kind myself included, called on his name throughout the ages, the wars, the slaughters, 10,000 years or more, and HE continues man's weakness to wage war in his name...or man continues in God's name. What a misfit, what a joke-this man called Jesus. God hides away-gave us our turn; we run with the ball-it's our turn. How well did you do today Ian.

Peace-is man's conception after revulsion from the devastation of too many wars, dead children, and bodies left un-whole. Peace is not a Jesus's thing or a God thing-it's a man's thing to come to closure, forgiveness, to grasp the very last hope of decency.

If HE is man and man is HE-then HE is ALMIGHTY too late to convene for man's sufferings, indignation and OUR attempt to worship HIM with undertones, that they (us), themselves will indeed receive feedback, deliverance and dance a thousand dances in a joyous reunion.

I believe-WE as students of a large classroom, have much to learn, give, and offer-yet WE are always giving up, in the name of a HIGHER BEING.

In that LIGHT, WE will never reach our full potential for compassionate understanding. What remains is constant lip service, left to a few moderators to translate, to reminde what it takes to be a man, a woman,  or a human being. 

Forget that! I know what I am and the GOOD works that I sow-never you mind, what YOU think I should know. How about, WE KNOW IT ALL ALREADY...

The catch, to do it-to forsake ALL evil and do GOOD-without someone telling you what is good or bad...Don't YOU know what compassion is all about?

Should I preach too you about what your heart should be and feel like when you actually feel at one with a bird, a dog, or a goose? Do you feel at one with a shark, a tortoise, or a squirrel?

Climbing up the food chain-do you sometimes feel at one with another man or women without sex or for that matter, even after sex.

Have you ever felt as one with a homosexual, a straight man, a lesbian or for that matter, any human creaTURE ON THIS PLANET OR OTHERS.

What I would like to know, is how many times, WE fail at counting our many blessings given to us as dwellers on this fine planet.

Finally, when WE get off; one by one, will we ask ourselves if we really knew what we were doing, and what were we supposed to accomplish, back then?

Lyle K'ang


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 22:54:29 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 09:04:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange THINGS Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <20050617.225519.16134.141208@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>


Why is that? Cheeseburger.

Have you thought this through, CHEESEBURGER? 

It's obvious in your on-going discussions with Ian that you are proposing a reality that has its foundations in human vulnerability.

The more of us that fail to reach any of our premeditated goals, become ripe for violence, persuasion and hypnotic suggestions.

So why is it a surprise, when the least of us, even the uneducated but as a matter of conscious, even the educate, tend to sway towards arrogance on these situations?

It is a mere fact that self-esteem plays a major part in these reactions.

Doesn't take much-no degree needed-just thinking, developing, an growing-thinking, expanding thought-thinking, conclusions; even the ignorant one is more apt to kill for Jesus and his only witness is his emotional instability; society preaches to him about just 'causes and Christian beliefs.

Oh, yes, faith without works is dead. Depends, what 'DEAD' are we both talking about?

I believe that you and I have a global responsibility to curb wasteful practices of genocide, arrogance, and self-righteousness. 

In other words, to make this discussion crystal clear, we have the ability and power to 'push' people away from self-pity and destruction-to move them away from hurtful ways and heart-filled hate.


Lyle K'ang
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Strange Things Christians Teach Children




I'm sorry, a Correction:

"I really have a tendency to believe that very many Christians alive today
will simply toss the Old Testament in the trash bin simply because it is
outdated compared to the kinder gentler God person Jesus and his Teachings."

should have read:

"I really have a tendency to believe that NOT very many Christians alive
today
will simply toss the Old Testament in the trash bin simply because it is
outdated compared to the kinder gentler God person Jesus and his Teachings."



Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 23:01:18 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 09:10:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell
Message-ID: <20050617.230125.16134.141221@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>

Michael has paid too many expenses...and is having a cow, now that we brought this up.

Mid-some place sounds like a hoot.

It has to be in a special place, like where most people wouldn't feel afraid. Some 'blacks' (city folks), are actually afraid of the forests or deserts.

WOW! we could have a collection; pass the plate-give out door prizes, and laugh till we vomit or cry because we've discovered our likeness.


Lyle K'ang

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 23:09:13 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 09:18:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians TEACH Children
Message-ID: <20050617.230941.16134.141244@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>


...have you the time for the bubble burster?

All it takes is money, invitations, a stage, lighting, and a good-damn-good sound system with black-white girls singing in the back-ground, while one professes to be close to zee God, actually gets into his/her role (minister or cattle-caller), and let's lose the good-job of acting.

Get it-ACTING!

'By God, Harriet, did you hear that man and 'see' his face-he was a glow dear!' 

All that is and ever was, is charisma-an actor's tool, an actor's ability. 




Lyle Kekahi K'ang

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Again, I do not disagree with 99% of what you say here.

I would only point out that, while there may be comparatively few 
"center-left" Christians who "get" what Jesus wa actually about (rather than 
using Scripture out of context to support unloving, unforgiving and thus 
un-Christian viewpoint, which they are indoctrinating their children with), 
an individual can often only "change the world" one person at a time.  True, 
some fortunate ones get the chance to potentially change multitudes, 
depending on their ability to reach the masses.

However, whether it is center-left Christians, anti-war protestors, 
environmental activitists, etc., the old adage "think globally, act locally" 
still applies, and this often requires changing one person at a time.

True, the numbers are against us.  And maybe those rabid right-wing 
religious zealots are multiplying faster than we can ever catch up.  And 
maybe their "power base" is such that they can (and often do) "have us for 
dessert."

But this does not mean that we should give up "fighting the good fight" and 
valiantly and diligently attempting to change things for the better (which 
you obviously do, and kudos for your equally rabid activism!).  After all, 
were it true that the "minority" NEVER "beats" the seemingly unbeatable 
"system," we would not have "won" the "wars" re child labor, women's right 
to vote, civil rights, exiting Vietnam, etc.

I fully understand your feeling that the 800-pound gorilla is only getting 
heavier, while "we" - those who care, those who see the damage, those who 
want to change and improve life for everyone - seemingly become weaker, or 
more apathetic, or whatever.  And I agree that, at least sometimes, it seems 
pretty damn hopeless.

However, whether a result of synchronicity, providence or coincidence, 
"miracles" do occur: events occur, circumstances change, and, as a result, 
"we" realize victories, sometimes fought for with heavy casualties, and 
sometimes almost without effort.

So...

By all means, maintain your skepticism, even, to a small degree (because 
otherwise it will consume you), your cynicism.  But NEVER give up hope. 
Because we simply do not know what tomorrow will bring - and it is as likely 
to be in "our" favor as in "theirs."

Peace.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 1:07 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach Children


> Re:  Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>
>
>
> First, I am not a biblical scholar, wish I was, but no such luck, neither
> are a majority of Christians apparently either, especially anything
> resembling indepth scholarship such as interpretation differences,
> compilation of the bible etc.
>
> I am more steeped in about 8 different musical instruments in about 8 
> varied
> styles, and am more vaguely well-known for dangling my penis in the faces 
> of
> 10's of thousands of people in America and abroad in a rock musical over a
> period of years, protesting wars and atrocities in various magazines and
> newspapers, and having illicit video copies circulating the globe of me
> having premarital relations with one-legged porno stars in open-windowed
> west village apartments before Pamela and Tommy Lee were exploring their
> sexuality.  All in all, various things no longer bother me, as I have 
> grown
> a tendency to tell various people upon various occasions, hey, it's like
> sticking a needle in the eye of a blind man and then asking him if it 
> hurts.
>
> I feel nothing.
>
> And then, of course, I found myself back home here from my travels, looked
> around, decided I would "stand up for the people, environment, and etc", 
> and
> began writing articles, letters to the editor, etc in public here, after
> doing various researches on various matters, raking various personages,
> institutions, and actions across the veritable coals.
>
> As of lately, very lately, the actual Christians have now taken to calling
> my just simple =questioning= of anything "biblical" as Blasphemy, to my
> face, in public.  Hey, we can't all be Madonna I guess.  Questioning is,
> apparently, just not allowed in a document written by men but "Inspired By
> The Holy Spirit".  It is "Absolute".  It is "The Law".
>
> Complete unavailable to "Be Questioned".  Completely "Unprovable", and to 
> be
> taken "Completely Upon Faith Alone" (as none of us were there thousands of
> years ago when it was written", but nevertheless, Blasphemy Itself to
> question it for a millisecond.  It's cool when one reads about such things
> in books.  It's a different kind of exhilirating experience when one
> actually lives it oneself, and is called such things to one's face, in 
> one's
> little home town.  Praise Jesus and pass the daggers, there just aren't
> enough in my back yet.
>
> You "Have Faith" that "It is all True" or, bingo, you are Not One Of Us, 
> and
> therefore, from guess where, The Devil himself, of course.  Lucky me. 
> Lucky
> earth.  Galileo eat your heart out, we live in Modern America.
>
> For that, I have paid, and paid dearly, but, of course, paying is 
> sometimes
> in the viewers eyes, as I still feel like a dead man with someone sticking 
> a
> needle in my eye asking me if it hurts.  I fought 5,000 acre landfills on
> top of our only source of drinking water, giant medical waste burning
> incinerators, golf courses in a place where most people can't afford even 
> a

> golf ball, etc etc etc.  It was not pretty.  Different people from joe 
> blow
> to the banks were calling me every name in the book, making up every lie 
> in
> the world from child molestation to drug dealing heroin to elementary
> children to being a communist to being you name it, all lies, all for
> fighting things like 5,000 acre landfills.  No person's life nor 
> reputation
> is sacred when money and business are involved, at least that is one great
> worthless lesson I have learned here on this side of hell.  I even had the
> Christians extorting my mother At Church to come home after services and
> repeat methodically "Son, maybe you should stop writing all those articles
> in the newspaper, you're going to get me and your daddy in trouble...".
>
> On one hand, I love Christians, as I love all the rest of the religions 
> and
> their believers (Something most Christians, for the most part, simply Can
> Not Do, especially since The Scriptures COMMAND them to convert every ant 
> on
> earth).
>
> On the other hand, for some of them, God just did not make a big enough
> toilet for me to flush them all down into.
>
> You're now dealing with about 1 BILLION of them, a =great= proportion of
> which are teaching The Children many things on that "List" I began, 
> besides
> many more things, and I just seriously believe that there are probably 
> just
> as many "center left" people able to reverse this horrible "Trend" as 
> there
> are people currently existing that can also wave their hand and reverse
> global warming, ever-growing pollution, and graft in politics.
>
> You certainly have your work cut out for you.
>
> It is "The Modern World".  Things like "what would Jesus do...?" are no
> longer asked in these vast ever-widening circles of
> political-corporate-christianity.
>
> They wouldn't "turn the other cheek" if you were Jesus himself 
> reprimanding
> them for their complete insanity and inhumanity to mankind.
>
> You're dealing with a vicious army, just like say the columbian etc drug
> lords, except with bibles in their hands.
>
> They just do not take "No" for an answer.
>
> There is no compromise.  There is no debate.  There is no give and take.
> There are no prisoners taken.
>
> And their Children are set to "take over the world" and rule over our
> Children who have a stupid tendency to pause in various instances and ask
> such foolish things such as "what would Jesus do..?" or "turn the other
> cheek".
>
> These people's Children are poised to eat our Children.  And everything we
> and they believe in, stand for, or even died for, even including Jesus
> Christ himself.
>
> If they have to kill everyone on this planet to get them to convert to 
> Their
> Way, they will, eventually, from all looks of things, have no problem
> whatsoever with that.
>
> That "history is repeating itself", i.e. such things as The Crusades, is 
> no
> longer a question in my mind.
>
> What to do about it is.
>
> Again, imho, there are just not enough center-left, left, or center-right,
> or whatever, in existence to "combat" such an emerging army.
>
> They remain the people who in various circumstances will climb to the
> tallest box, yell the loudest, threaten the most, and stab anyone who gets
> in their way in the back and destroy them if it actually comes to the 
> point
> where Their Way is threatened of not being fullfilled.
>
> Since they are now moving into Government, Education, Politics, Etc 
> (they've
> been there for a while now), I doubt seriously if anything like "think
> tanks" etc are going to do more than a flyswatter would do to Godzilla or
> Rodan.
>
> Although "The Scriptures" might surely run askew of their current
> indoctrination curriculum of these many Children, that is not going to do
> anything to "change their minds" about their plans, methods, or outcomes 
> of
> their actions either.
>
> We need a new game plan, kids.
>
> You have a zillion Children coming up, armed with heads full of biblical
> bullshit, investing in the stock market, capitalizing on other people's
> misfortunes and "missed opportunities", stepping into jobs and niches in
> government, politics, the judiciary, education, the schools, the churches,
> society and The Business World, quite willing to trample anyone and 
> anything
> to death that gets in their way of Fullfilling The Word Of God.
>
> That, currently, comprises about five-sixths of the current global
> population which is currently Their Target, for either Conversion, or
> Obliteration.
>
> And they're not even out of their teen years yet.
>
> All in all, imho, in this moment and the future, in this particular given
> set of literally real circumstances, we are going to need a miracle to 
> even
> just Survive them.
>
> If you personally know anyone sitting on the right hand side of the throne
> of God, NOW is the time to call in your markers.
>
> Tomorrow is simply too late.
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 17 23:20:04 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 09:29:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
Message-ID: <20050617.232048.16134.141271@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>


YES, GOOD THOUGHTS.

I believe they feast on the young, enjoy the aged as well. Their despicable nature casts an even darker cloud of 'eating' the corpses and their belief is that it is as delicious as fresh kill.


Lyle 

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Strange Things Christians Teach Children



===========
"Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the crowds
together?
==========


James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.

:)

I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc, there
were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.



=========
Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
=========


Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.



==========
A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to
earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.

She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not
need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.

What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
indigenous people.

Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the
dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take up
the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
===========



We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects, regardless
of our colors, circumstances, etc.

It was only a matter of time.

It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of various
things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.

Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually they
hunger for Absolute Godness over others.

The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
people now and then squeak up in protest.

Those they have for dessert.

The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
cannibalistic vampires.

They feed off of everyone and everything available.

And their hunger is never satisfied.

Lucky for us they never saw me coming.




Cheeseburger

.

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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 18 02:45:36 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 17 12:51:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange THINGS Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <000c01c573ea$7c564fe0$1d25b7d8@baby1>



Strange THINGS Christians Teach Children



======
Why is that? Cheeseburger.

Have you thought this through, CHEESEBURGER?
=======


Well, I think I have.  But I'm reading on, as your post is interesting.



======
It's obvious in your on-going discussions with Ian that you are proposing a
reality that has its foundations in human vulnerability.
======


Its foundations lay not only in human vulnerability, but the exploitation
thereof as well, which is a given of course.  Just reminding myself.



=======
The more of us that fail to reach any of our premeditated goals, become ripe
for violence, persuasion and hypnotic suggestions.
========


True.



======
So why is it a surprise, when the least of us, even the uneducated but as a
matter of conscious, even the educate, tend to sway towards arrogance on
these situations?
=======


That's a very good description of certain facets of it.



=======
It is a mere fact that self-esteem plays a major part in these reactions.
========


Therein lay the immense power of selflessness exhibited or taught by such
"personalities" as Jesus, Buddha, etc etc etc, imho.  As you've already
alluded to, such things as ego, vanity, etc, always "were the devil's
favorite sin".   (See reference "The Devil's Advocate", Pacino, Keanu
Reeves).  Therein also lay the immense centuries-old conspiracy to hang such
luminaries on trees, shoot them in the head, or etc etc etc.



========
Doesn't take much-no degree needed-just thinking, developing, an
growing-thinking, expanding thought-thinking, conclusions; even the ignorant
one is more apt to kill for Jesus and his only witness is his emotional
instability; society preaches to him about just 'causes and Christian
beliefs.
=========


Production for Use.  (See reference "His Girl Friday", Rosalind Russell).
What we have here is a failure, to communicate.  (See reference "Cool Hand
Luke", Paul Newman), or rather an inability to reach the world en masse to
shed knowledge on the endless canyons of ignorance and/or rather
non-information.



========
Oh, yes, faith without works is dead. Depends, what 'DEAD' are we both
talking about?
========


There are more doors to death available when a hand is just not there, for
one reason or another, to pick up the still living from the dust.



=====
I believe that you and I have a global responsibility to curb wasteful
practices of genocide, arrogance, and self-righteousness.
======


True.  At least to that particular point of view and way of thinking,
perspective.  To others, a good steak, a fuck, and cheaper gasoline makes
their millenium.  To others, a million dead babies remains their idol.
Those are the ones still with nuclear weapons etc and all our money we pay
them each year, among other "people and countries".  (See reference Dr.
Strangelove, Peter Sellers).  You address "ability" next, as do I.



=======
In other words, to make this discussion crystal clear, we have the ability
and power to 'push' people away from self-pity and destruction-to move them
away from hurtful ways and heart-filled hate.
========



Depends upon the context.  "We", at this particular time and space, if we
actually *do* "possess the ability and power to...", for some odd reason are
not exercising that ability, or else its results would be extraordinarily
noticeable.  True, we see on various levels this or that "redemption from
dark rooms", but saving the world one at a time continues to kill me.

Someone has to figure out some way for *everyone, all at once" to be "pushed
away from self-pitry and destruction to move them away from hurtful ways and
heart-filled hate" etc.

Or at least to be able to provide a roadmap, in all languages.

The rate of saving the world remains far exceeded by the rate of the
destruction of the world, that of course includes all its living
inhabitants.

That remains a problem.

That's why, imho, to me, such silly little things as being able to deliver a
simple little piece of paper with at least the bare minimum of Truth and
Information to as many people globally in their own languages at least 2 to
4 times a year remains worth more than all the cash one could get from
selling all the natural resources of the planet for a thousand years.

If one cannot completely, and soon, reverse the centuries-old manipulations,
conspiracies, etc, that have finally culminated, with the extra-added
attraction of vast technological advances which have not all proven to be
that beneficial to like all the life on earth, and free ALL the nations from
the continuing enslavements of mind, body, time, spirit, thought, etc, we
might as well just slit our own wrists, for without that reversal, we is all
toast.  (See reference "Legend", Tom Cruise and the guy who starred in Rocky
Horror Picture Show whose name I have just suddenly forgotten).

"Ability" sometimes seems to appear dependent upon whom one is, where one is
standing, and what cards one is holding in their hands.

True, we as humans do possess varying degrees of "ability and power to...",
both individually and collectively, and, yes, here I am as well, still
protesting in verse", yet, I look into my crystal ball, and, again, the rate
of destruction appears to be beating the crap out of the rate of
"redemption".  Still.  As usual.

To even convince many of "the masses" of the vast extent of, the rate of,
and the importance of *immediately* addressing "all the many destructions"
people witness (the ones they catch) each day on this planet, is a task
which so far has not been fullfilled completely.

And, again, imho, without those "Masses", against "The Powers That Be", the
ones apparently endlessly taking us all to hell in a handbasket while making
out like bandits at the banks etc so to speak, any "Ability" is ENORMOUSLY
hindered in its humanitarian etc endeavors.

And so, the bottom line is what...?  I dunno...  I'm on food stamps...  All
this thinking hurts my brain sometimes...  :|  The bottom line is that
without being able to Mass Communicate, effectively and on a regular basis,
with "The Masses" themselves, the outcome of the fact of the rate of
destruction of the earth constantly outdistancing the rate of redemption of
the earth, combined with the sheer complete inability of whomever to
communicate across the board with "The Masses", then "The Masses", and all
the rest of us, well, the forecast is not encouraging, at least, with that
SIMPLE MATH, such a simple crunching of numbers, imho, we are in deep shit.

And the fact that one of the most important thoughts of a huge proportion of
"The Masses" in say America at this time is whether to buy yogurt or jello
at the supermarket, we are in even deeper shit than even some of the most
optimistic and pessimistic among us all ever imagined in our wildest
nightmares.

Oh well, despite my ramblings, The Rehearsal is over, this if for all the
marbles, there is no "Next Time".

Time is up.

Please insert The Complete Ability To Communicate With The Masses for 3 more
minutes of a guarantee of Life Itself not disappearing from this planet in
the near future.

Thank you.



beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep........  (See
reference "The President's Analyst", "In Like Flint", Jame Coburn).






Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 18 04:29:20 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 17 14:36:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <24099630.1119094160585.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

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 40 Million Credit Card Numbers Hacked
 
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 In the largest security breach of its kind, MasterCard says all credit card brands are affected, including 13.9 million cards bearing the MasterCard label. Significant numbers of Visa and Discover cards are also potentially involved
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 18 04:30:35 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 17 14:38:08 2005
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 18 04:31:46 2005
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 Views That Facts Can't Shake
 
 By Ellen Goodman
 
 BOSTON -- The medical examiners delivered their autopsy report in the most matter-of-fact tone. Terri Schiavo's brain had atrophied to half the normal size for a woman her age. Her eyes, the focus of that famous videotape, saw nothing. She was blind.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 18 04:33:12 2005
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 No American 'Gulag'
 
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 Several days ago I received a telephone call from an old friend who is a longtime Amnesty International staffer. He asked me whether I, as a former Soviet "prisoner of conscience" adopted by Amnesty, would support the statement by Amnesty's executive director, Irene Khan, that the Guantanamo Bay...
 
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 The Filibuster: A Tool for Good and Bad
 
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Date: Fri Jun 17 16:41:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Moving Forward by Falling Back
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OPINION | June 18, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Moving Forward by Falling Back
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 06:43:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:50:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Series of Quakes in California Foreshadow a
	Big One. Or Not.
Message-ID: <20050618134309.81B8383CF7@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 18, 2005
Series of Quakes in California Foreshadow a Big One. Or Not.
By DEAN E. MURPHY and NICK MADIGAN
With four sizeable temblors since Sunday, Californians turned to seismologists for answers and a little comfort.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/national/18quake.html?ex=1119758400&en=4acb82789b9378fd&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 06:43:21 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:50:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iowa Governor Will Give Felons the Right to
	Vote
Message-ID: <20050618134321.4A66183CCF@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

NATIONAL | June 18, 2005
Iowa Governor Will Give Felons the Right to Vote
By KATE ZERNIKE
Gov. Tom Vilsack's order will end what advocates for voting rights had called one of the most restrictive disenfranchisement laws in the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/national/18iowa.html?ex=1119758400&en=5aa14551bb7925c1&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 06:44:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:51:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: G-8 Draft on Global Warming Is Weakened at
	U.S. Behest
Message-ID: <20050618134407.0949E13B6D2@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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Here we go again...


WASHINGTON | June 18, 2005
G-8 Draft on Global Warming Is Weakened at U.S. Behest
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The Bush administration has succeeded in removing language calling for prompt action to control global warming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/politics/18climate.html?ex=1119758400&en=2c0342387024fde8&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 06:45:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:52:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: House Votes to Set Conditions on U.N. to
	Avoid Cut in Dues
Message-ID: <20050618134513.89B2B83C94@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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What outrageous chutzpah!!


WASHINGTON | June 18, 2005
House Votes to Set Conditions on U.N. to Avoid Cut in Dues
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
The House passed a bill that would cut by half the dues paid by the U.S. to the United Nations unless the organization overhauled its operations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/politics/18nations.html?ex=1119758400&en=3c6c7d386889da84&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 06:46:49 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:54:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Official Had Aide Send Data to White House
Message-ID: <20050618134649.E1D5011F898@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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!


ARTS / TELEVISION | June 18, 2005
Official Had Aide Send Data to White House
By STEPHEN LABATON
E-mail messages show that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's chairman consulted a White House official shortly before she joined the corporation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/arts/television/18broa.html?ex=1119758400&en=bca44e5c0f5e3f56&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 07:21:57 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Fri Jun 17 17:29:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
References: <20050617.232048.16134.141271@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <00fe01c57411$15a15d90$6e436c42@hotprojects>

yes theyre the ones who poison the wells
i told you it wasnt us jews
of course the problem is with christians not with christ
with organized not true christianity
i am a jew and a born again christian like ian
( by the way if you ever saw ian you would giggle at the thought of him as a
christian; no offence intended ian; he looks like the bastard son of woody
allen; although i do not mean to cast any aspersions on ian or his soul or
to question the genuiness of his faith; its just viscually funny;
i envisioned ian to be a wasp with blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes )
lol
anyway
ive babbled enough for one fifteen minute segment
peace to everyone
all love
anything above said in good faith and with humor
please dont get offended
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:20 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN


>
> YES, GOOD THOUGHTS.
>
> I believe they feast on the young, enjoy the aged as well. Their
despicable nature casts an even darker cloud of 'eating' the corpses and
their belief is that it is as delicious as fresh kill.
>
>
> Lyle
>
> -- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
> Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>
>
>
> ===========
> "Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
> Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the
crowds
> together?
> ==========
>
>
> James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.
>
> :)
>
> I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
> Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc, there
> were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.
>
>
>
> =========
> Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
> =========
>
>
> Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.
>
>
>
> ==========
> A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
> children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to
> earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.
>
> She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not
> need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.
>
> What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
> indigenous people.
>
> Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the
> dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take
up
> the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
> ===========
>
>
>
> We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects, regardless
> of our colors, circumstances, etc.
>
> It was only a matter of time.
>
> It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of
various
> things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.
>
> Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually they
> hunger for Absolute Godness over others.
>
> The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
> people now and then squeak up in protest.
>
> Those they have for dessert.
>
> The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
> populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
> cannibalistic vampires.
>
> They feed off of everyone and everything available.
>
> And their hunger is never satisfied.
>
> Lucky for us they never saw me coming.
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 07:23:51 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Fri Jun 17 17:31:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell
References: <20050617.215422.16134.140980@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <017f01c57411$59de3cd0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

i do not want to go to prison
i am too pretty to go to prison\
and i aint pretty
( i mean you either have to have a shakespeare fetish or dig clowns to think im cute; thats my look; it runs the gammet from shakespeare to bozo )
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:53 AM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell


  ...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

  How about Michael picking the spot.

  Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

  No offense-no defense, just meet.


  Lyle K'ang

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: richard haase 
  To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
  Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


  i saw you
  i too am a born again christian
  but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
  youre not all that goyish lol
  thats a joke guys
  no offense meant please dont crucify me
  whoops
  ( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
  richard in the project pit

  peace love
  ( joking joking )


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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  Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun 17 20:32:15 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:20:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Nail It to the White House Door 
Message-ID: <200506180220.j5I2K5wM012281@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


Nail It to the White House Door 
By William Rivers Pitt 
t r u t h o u t | Perspective 
Wednesday 15 June 2005 
Almost five hundred years ago, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five 
Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, initiating a sequence of 
events which forever altered the geometry of global religion, politics 
and power. Luther's Theses began with the words, "Out of love for the 
truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be 
discussed at Wittenberg." 
Another document is going to be nailed to another door on 
Thursday, June 16th. This door opens not to a church, but to the White 
House. This document is freighted with hard truths, stern demands 
and nearly a million names. This document, once nailed up, likewise 
carries with it all the possibilities of change. 
Very slowly, and after an embarrassing gap of silence from the news 
media, the American people have come to hear about the Downing 
Street Minutes. This document, once confidential but leaked by a 
British version of Deep Throat, describes in plain language the manner 
in which the Bush and Blair administrations planned to manipulate their 
way into an invasion of Iraq. The Minutes describe how intelligence 
and facts were being fixed around the policy of invasion, and that a 
pretense for war had to be manufactured in order to paint a veneer of 
legitimacy over what everyone involved knew was a patently illegal 
military action. 
Subsequent secret documents have followed the release of the 
Downing Street Minutes, further exposing the lies, distortions and 
moral convolutions put forth by the offices of Bush and Blair in their 
rush to war. According to these documents, which have been verified 
as genuine by the British government, the decision to invade Iraq was 
made as early as April 2002, months before anyone in America or 
Britain became aware that such an act was even being considered. 
This April 2002 decision was made between Bush and Blair at a 
summit in Crawford, Texas. The fact that the decision to invade had 
been made so early shatters all the mealy-mouthed protestations of 
Bush and his people, who spent those months before the attack 
preaching peace and international cooperation while sharpening their 
knives behind closed doors. 
One document, a briefing paper partnered with the Downing Street 
Minutes, states bluntly that British officials knew an invasion would be 
illegal, but had no choice but to figure out a way to frame it as legal, 
because Bush was going into Iraq no matter what and would use 
British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia to do so. This would make 
Britain complicit in the invasion even if they decided not to send troops, 
and so it was "necessary to create the conditions" which would make it 
legal. 
How does one go about creating the conditions for legality? By 
framing facts and intelligence around the policy, of course. The word 
"Lie" does not appear in any of the released documents, but the need 
to lie, the decision to lie, in order to justify war permeates every word. 
This document also exposes the Bush administration's rhetorical 
nonsense about "supporting the troops" by describing how their war 
plans did anything but. In a section of this briefing paper titled 
"Benefits/Risks," the authors wrote, "Even with a legal base and a 
viable military plan, we would still need to ensure that the benefits of 
action outweigh the risks. A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a 
protracted and costly nation-building exercise. As already made clear, 
the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point." 
Virtually silent. 1,706 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq 
thanks to the virtual silence of the Bush administration, for a total of 
1,891 "Coalition" soldiers dead. Multiply that number by at least ten to 
count the wounded and maimed. Twenty-five American soldiers have 
been killed in the last week alone. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians 
have been killed and wounded, and the car bombs continue to explode 
on a daily basis. 
The decision to make war at all costs, the decision to lie about the 
reasons for going to war, the massive trans-Atlantic effort to make an 
illegal act appear legal, and the astounding fact that more effort went 
into manufacturing a political pretext for invasion than went into 
planning for the invasion and aftermath, all of this led us into the 
horror-show that is this occupation. 
The American military has all but conceded the fact that this war is 
lost. "I think the more accurate way to approach this right now is to 
concede that this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists 
and the terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military 
options or military operations," Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, chief 
American military spokesman in Iraq, said last week. "It's going to be 
settled in the political process." There are no more viable military 
options. The war is lost. It is going to be settled in the political process. 
So be it. 
On Thursday, June 16th, Rep. John Conyers will hold a hearing to 
investigate and expose the facts revealed by the release of the 
Downing Street Minutes and the other documents. A variety of 
witnesses will be called to describe the contents of these documents, 
and to describe what has been done to Iraq, and to us all, by this 
administration. Lurking in the corners of the hearing will be a phrase - 
"High Crime" - that aptly describes what has taken place. 
The Conyers hearing will be held on Thursday at 2:30pm EST in 
room HC-9 in the Capitol Building in Washington DC. This is a small 
room, so any overflow of public viewers will be directed to the 
Wasserman Room in the headquarters of the Democratic National 
Committee. 
At 5:00pm EST, a rally will take place in Lafayette Park, at the gates 
of the White House. Rep. Conyers will speak, along with Ambassador 
Joseph Wilson and Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in Iraq in 
May 2003, as Bush was unfurling his "Mission Accomplished" banner. 
The hearing and rally have been organized by the After Downing Street 
coalition, a collection of more than 120 organizations and news outlets 
that came together for the purpose of nailing the facts of the Downing 
Street Minutes to the White House door. 
That, just before the opening of the rally on Thursday, is exactly 
what will happen. Several weeks ago, Rep. Conyers published a letter 
demanding answers from the Bush administration regarding the 
Minutes. That letter has been signed by more than one hundred 
Congresspeople, and by nearly a million American citizens. Rep. 
Conyers will personally deliver this letter and all those signatures to the 
White House on Thursday. 
Jawaharlal Nehru, who with Mahatma Gandhi successfully freed 
India from British colonial rule, once said, "A moment comes, which 
comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, 
when an age ends, and when the sound of a nation, long suppressed, 
finds utterance." 
Thursday, June 16th, may see such a moment come to pass. It has 
been a long time coming, and so much remains to be done if the 
terrible damage of these last years is to be repaired. But a moment is 
before us. Let us see where this moment takes us. 


William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally 
bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush 
Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.


------
-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun 17 21:26:12 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:21:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] One Nation, Uninsured
Message-ID: <200506180221.j5I2LC3K012294@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

The New York Times - June 13, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html

One Nation, Uninsured

By PAUL KRUGMAN 

Harry Truman tried to create a national health insurance system. Public
opinion was initially on his side: Jill Quadagno's book "One Nation,
Uninsured" tells us that in 1945, 75 percent of Americans favored national
health insurance. If Truman had succeeded, universal coverage for
everyone, not just the elderly, would today be an accepted part of the
social contract.

But Truman failed. Special interests, especially the American Medical
Association and Southern politicians who feared that national insurance
would lead to racially integrated hospitals, triumphed.

Sixty years later, the patchwork system that evolved in the absence of
national health insurance is unraveling. The cost of health care is
exploding, the number of uninsured is growing, and corporations that still
provide employee coverage are groaning under the strain.

So the time will soon be ripe for another try at universal coverage.
Public opinion is already favorable: a 2003 Pew poll found that 72 percent
of Americans favored government-guaranteed health insurance for all.

But special interests will, once again, stand in the way. And the big
debate among would-be reformers is how to deal with those interests,
especially the insurance companies. These companies played a secondary
role in Truman's failure but have since become a seemingly invincible
lobby.

Let's ignore those who believe that private medical accounts - basically
tax shelters for the healthy and wealthy - can solve our health care
problems through the magic of the marketplace. The intellectually serious
debate is between those who believe that the government should simply
provide basic health insurance for everyone and those proposing a more
complex, indirect approach that preserves a central role for private
health insurance companies.

A system in which the government provides universal health insurance is
often referred to as "single payer," but I like Ted Kennedy's slogan
"Medicare for all." It reminds voters that America already has a highly
successful, popular single-payer program, albeit only for the elderly. It
shows that we're talking about government insurance, not
government-provided health care. And it makes it clear that like Medicare
(but unlike Canada's system), a U.S. national health insurance system
would allow individuals with the means and inclination to buy their own
medical care.

The great advantage of universal, government-provided health insurance is
lower costs. Canada's government-run insurance system has much less
bureaucracy and much lower administrative costs than our largely private
system. Medicare has much lower administrative costs than private
insurance. The reason is that single-payer systems don't devote large
resources to screening out high-risk clients or charging them higher fees.
The savings from a single-payer system would probably exceed $200 billion
a year, far more than the cost of covering all of those now uninsured.

Nonetheless, most reform proposals out there - even proposals from liberal
groups like the Century Foundation and the Center for American Progress -
reject a simple single-payer approach. Instead, they call for some
combination of mandates and subsidies to help everyone buy insurance from
private insurers.

Some people, not all of them right-wingers, fear that a single-payer
system would hurt innovation. But the main reason these proposals give
private insurers a big role is the belief that the insurers must be
appeased.

That belief is rooted in recent history. Bill Clinton's health care plan
failed in large part because of a dishonest but devastating lobbying and
advertising campaign financed by the health insurance industry - remember
Harry and Louise? And the lesson many people took from that defeat is that
any future health care proposal must buy off the insurance lobby.

But I think that's the wrong lesson. The Clinton plan actually preserved a
big role for private insurers; the industry attacked it all the same. And
the plan's complexity, which was largely a result of attempts to placate
interest groups, made it hard to sell to the public. So I would argue that
good economics is also good politics: reformers will do best with a
straightforward single-payer plan, which offers maximum savings and,
unlike the Clinton plan, can easily be explained.

We need to do this one right. If reform fails again, we'll be on the way
to a radically unequal society, in which all but the most affluent
Americans face the constant risk of financial ruin and even premature
death because they can't pay their medical bills.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun 17 21:27:34 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:22:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Corporate crime vs stealing candy bar: What to Say to
	Jack and Jim?
Message-ID: <200506180222.j5I2M2TP012308@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

What to Say to Jack and Jim?

By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

We were in an empty West Virginia courtroom last night with two young boys
-- let's call them Jack and Jim -- ages 10 and 8.

Time for homeschooling -- Justice 101.

Let's say Jack that you go into Jim's candystore and steal a chocolate
bar.

Jim calls the police.

The prosecutor charges Jack with theft.

Jack will be charged and brought to trial in this courtroom.

The prosecutor will sit at this table over here.

What's this over here?

This is the witness stand.

The prosecutor will call Jim as a witness.

Jim will testify that Jack stole the candy bar.

Over in this box sit 12 of Jack's fellow citizens.

They will hear the evidence.

Behind this bench over here sits the judge.

The judge will determine what evidence gets to the jury.

After the jury hears the evidence, they will walk back into this room,
close the door, and decide whether Jack is guilty or not.

After reaching a verdict, the jurors will file back into the jury box and
tell the judge of their decision.

If the verdict is guilty, the judge will hand down his sentence.

Jack will go to jail.

His reputation will be in tatters.

His life destroyed.

No more play group.

No more swimming in the creek.

No more candy bars.

That was last night's lesson.

This morning, we awake to a front-page Wall Street Journal article
reporting that KPMG -- one of the nation's big four accounting firms -- is
facing criminal charges for the aggressive marketing of abusive tax
shelters that cost the federal government $1.4 billion in lost revenue.

A November 2003 Senate report found that "KPMG devoted substantial
resources to and obtained significant fees from 
 potentially abusive and
illegal tax shelters 
 costing the U.S. Treasury billions."

According to the Journal, last year, the Internal Revenue Service told a
federal court that KPMG "falsely asserts that it has never developed, sold
or promoted a tax shelter" and that KPMG tried for years to delay or
conceal evidence behind sometimes false claims of legal privilege.

Here's the first sentence from the article, written by Journal reporter
John R. Wilke:

"Federal prosecutors have built a criminal case against KPMG LLP for
obstruction of justice and the sale of abusive tax shelters, igniting a
debate among top Justice Department officials over whether to seek an
indictment -- at the risk of killing one of the four remaining big
accounting firms."

KPMG issued a statement yesterday saying that it "takes full
responsibility for the unlawful conduct by former KPMG partners" during
the period under investigation by the Justice Department. KPMG said it has
taken actions "to ensure that this type of conduct does not occur again,"
including "firm-wide structural, cultural and governance reforms."

In the wake of the criminal prosecution of Arthur Andersen, which drove
the accounting firm out of business, federal prosecutors increasingly have
shied away from criminally prosecuting big firms.

Increasingly, federal prosecutors look to what impact a criminal
prosecution will have on the firm.

First came the deferred prosecution agreement -- that's where
prosecutors file an indictment on the condition that the company behave
itself for a period of years, usually two.

If things are in order after two years, the indictment is dropped.

Slate wiped clean.

No record of indictment.

No conviction.

Then came the no prosecution agreement -- prosecutors agree not to bring
an indictment on the condition that the company change the way it does
business.

With the Supreme Court's reversal of the Andersen conviction, combined
with a number of high-profile white-collar crime not guilty verdicts,
prosecutors find themselves on the defensive.

As a result, increasingly, corporations are being deemed -- too big to
indict and convict.

And it appears that KPMG is now working out another in this series of
corporate sweetheart deals with the Justice Department.

What to say to Jack and Jim about this?

Jack, if you are charged with stealing a candy bar from Jim's candy
store, go to the prosecutor and show him today's Wall Street Journal.

Tell the prosecutor to take into consideration the collateral
consequences of the prosecution.

Jack will be shunned by his peers.

No more play group.

No more swimming in the creek.

No more candy bars.

Please prosecutor please.

Give me the same deal that you gave KPMG.

No indictment.

No conviction.

I'll be good.

I'll give back the candy bar.

I'll change my ways.

Promise.

Pretty please?


Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter, <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com>. Robert Weissman is
editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor,
<http://www.multinationalmonitor.org>. Mokhiber and Weissman are
co-authors of On the Rampage: Corporate Predators and the Destruction of
Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

This article is posted at:
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2005/000207.html>

-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sat Jun 18 09:42:42 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:50:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] "I'm Taking the Liberty of Defending Civil Liberties"
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV96FEDABE93A2CF2BEDE54ABF70@phx.gbl>


N-I-C-E going Henry.... :-)

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Henry Howard
Sent: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:04:32 -0700
To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
Subject: [Mb-civic] "I'm Taking the Liberty of Defending Civil Liberties"

Hi, my wonderful HAIR friends, it's been a long time since I've 
contributed anything to your discussion list, but I read it all the 
time. You are all some truly amazing people: I only wish HAIR had been 
able to do that national tour again, it's more timely and necessary than 
ever, and its beautiful humanism is all that stands between us and 
global disaster and despair.

I wanted to share with everyone a poem I recently wrote, after months of 
effort and trying to get the right theme, about the attacks on civil 
liberties, and why it is so essential to our survival to resist them in 
all their forms--and especially to stand with those people under 
constant attack for their ethnicity, having been savagely stereotyped as 
"terrorists" or "enemy combatants" by an administration determined to 
divide every living human being into catagories of "them" against "us." 
Well, I stand unequivocally with the people of the world's "us," not 
this illegal, kill-crazy administration. Keep up the fight, and do let 
me know of any HAIR productions near L.A.!
Peace,

Henry


IM TAKING THE LIBERTY OF DEFENDING CIVIL LIBERTIES

As the twin towers groaned and fell,
Our civil liberties began to crumble with them,
Almost as fast as the downward maelstrom
Of twisted metal and shattered lives.

An urgent cry went up across the land:
The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!
And in a midnight ride worthy of Paul Revere,
Congress signed a bill called the Patriot Act
Which few had even read,
But it must have been okay because the President said
It would protect us from all enemies,
Foreign and domestic.

Suddenly each of us could be the enemy:
People with dark skin and different accents,
Students reading Silent Spring in airport lounges,
Lawyers clinging to the lost American ideal
Of representation for all,
Librarians forced to monitor reading lists and thought processes,
So Big Brother could create lists of deportees and detainees
And declare thought itself illegal.

Suddenly the youth with the full backpack and long hair,
And the Lebanese shopkeeper whose moustached smile
Had greeted customers for two generations,
Became one and the same:
Lurking members of sleeper cells,
An army of bogeymen drilled into us by the news
Until our brains went to sleep.

Our Commander-In-Chief took command
Of the good ship Paranoia,
And at first I, too, kept my head down
While bombs rained down on distant lands,
And innocent Muslims disappeared in my own.

At first they came for five thousand Arabs, Muslims and South Asians,
But I did not speak up because I wasnt Arab, or Muslim, or South Asian.
I was a White American, with nothing to worry about.


Then they came for the students, already protesting a war that had 
barely begun,
But I did not speak up because I was long out of school
And happily traded college picket signs for chic suburban shopping lines.

Then they came for the librarians,
But I did not speak up because I was watching so much t.v,.
I had forgotten how to read.

Then they came for the lawyers,
But I did not speak up because I had failed out of law school twice,
And wanted nothing to do with the whole profession.

Then they finally came for me,
But a strange thing happened: I woke up,
Before there was no one left to speak up.

You see, I am indeed a White American,
With an uncomfortable awareness of
The power and privilege my skin color grants me.

But I am also that Arab shopkeeper,
Whose shoe store is next to the Jewish pickle stand,
Which is squeezed between the Indonesian restaurant
And the Filipino market,
Across the street from the blue-and-white tiled mosque,
Down the block from the law office offering free assistance in Spanish.

I am also a Jewish American,
With an awareness of history.
When my Arab and Muslim and South Asian neighbors
Are rounded up and disappeared,
I remember the Nazi Night and Fog decree,
In which all who opposed the regime
Were marked to simply disappear, as though into night and fog.

Today they are secretly put on planes, and flown light-years
 From their homes and loved ones;
But I see them so clearly,
In their thousands aboard the cattle trains,
Chugging through the darkness on rusty tracks
To the darkest places on earth,
Lit only by the iron furnace
That blazes fierce against the night sky.

For now, at least, the iron furnace has not yet been remade.
But new barracks have sprung up in concentration camps
Guarded by the Stars and Stripes,
And the electric fences are kept well-tended
And fully charged.

Today I am an L.A. high school student
Who spelled Iraq wrong on a Geography test
But led a walkout of a thousand,
Against a war his Principal tried not to talk about.

Today I am that Kansas librarian,
Who with a reassuring smile
Refused to report a single title
Checked out by worried visitors,
And even kept The Wizard Of Oz
On her shelves,
Though some parents accused her of supporting witchcraft.

And I am that lawyer,
Convicted of supporting terrorism,
Because she dared to believe
That the words of her client were protected
On both sides of the glass wall meant to divide them.

For all those people,
I am waking up and standing beside them.
I dont need another 5,000
Arabs, Muslims and South Asians detained
And disappeared
To remind me that I could be next.

I dont need another hundred thousand
Slaughtered Iraqi civilians to remind me
That Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11;
I dont need another dollar-a-gallon rise at the gas pump
To remind me that spilling oceans of blood to protect rivers of oil
Will make my heart bleed forever.

I will remain neither silent nor still.
In the name of the rounded up and detained,
The disappeared and murdered,
The bombed and melted and tortured,
I am taking the liberty of defending civil liberties.



_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic


From dekuyper at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun 18 08:49:26 2005
From: dekuyper at sbcglobal.net (Gerald Gerald)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:52:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Oldie, but still good ..
Message-ID: <200506180252.j5I2qZTY012396@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Subject: Two Boys


A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were
excessively
mischievous.  They were always getting into trouble
and their parents knew that, if any mischief occurred
in their town, their sons were probably involved.

The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had
been successful in disciplining children, so she asked
if he would speak with her boys.  The clergyman
agreed, but asked to see them individually.  So the
mother sent her 8-year-old in first that morning, with
the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat
the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is
God?"

The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response,
sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide eyed.
So the clergyman repeated the question in an even
sterner tone, "Where is God?"

Again the boy made no attempt to answer.  So the
clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his
finger in the boy.s face and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran
directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the
door behind him.  When his older brother found him in
the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied,


"We are in BIG trouble this time, dude. God is missing
- and they think WE did it!"

From jameshburns at webtv.net  Sat Jun 18 09:47:41 2005
From: jameshburns at webtv.net (Jim Burns)
Date: Fri Jun 17 19:55:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Something Kind of Wonderful
In-Reply-To: mb-civic-request@islandlists.com's message of Fri, 17 Jun 2005
	19:50:19 -0700
Message-ID: <13593-42B4502D-5723@storefull-3274.bay.webtv.net>

 
Can it really be this easy to be a superhero, if 
for only a moment? 

:-) 

At no cost, save seconds, you can, remarkably, help save the rain
forest, just by clicking-- 

http://www.therainforestsite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites 

At the page, you just click on the center button, that says, hmm, "Click
Me." 

Sponsors pay for buying property. 

Really. 

(The website gambles on people seeing the 
ads...) 

But this takes just a few seconds a day, quicker, if you have DSL, or
whatever they call it, nowadays-- 

And, while maybe not a free lunch-- 

Is quite lovely. 

Best, Jim 

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 18 10:38:03 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 17 20:45:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Congressman Conyers Hammers the Washington Post
Message-ID: <BED9AA0B.20DCE%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Congressman Conyers Hammers the Washington Post
    By Congressman John Conyers
    t r u t h o u t | Letter

    Friday 17 June 2005

    Mr. Michael Abramowitz, National Editor;
    Mr. Michael Getler, Ombudsman;
    Mr. Dana Milbank

    The Washington Post
    1150 15th Street, NW
    Washington, DC 20071

    Dear Sirs:

    I write to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank's June
17 report, "Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War," which purports
to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum,
the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth,
and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under
difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious
subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up
to war. The fact that this was the Post's only coverage of this event makes
the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.

    In an inaccurate piece of reporting that typifies the article, Milbank
implies that one of the obstacles the Members in the meeting have is that
"only one" member has mentioned the Downing Street Minutes on the floor of
either the House or Senate. This is not only incorrect but misleading. In
fact, just yesterday, the Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid, mentioned it
on the Senate floor. Senator Boxer talked at some length about it at the
recent confirmation hearing for the Ambassador to Iraq. The House Democratic
Leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently signed on to my letter, along with 121 other
Democrats asking for answers about the memo. This information is not
difficult to find either. For example, the Reid speech was the subject of an
AP wire service report posted on the Washington Post website with the
headline "Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight". Other similar
mistakes, mischaracterizations and cheap shots are littered throughout the
article.

    The article begins with an especially mean and nasty tone, claiming that
House Democrats "pretended" a small conference was the Judiciary Committee
hearing room and deriding the decor of the room. Milbank fails to share with
his readers one essential fact: the reason the hearing was held in that
room, an important piece of context. Despite the fact that a number of other
suitable rooms were available in the Capitol and House office buildings,
Republicans declined my request for each and every one of them. Milbank
could have written about the perseverance of many of my colleagues in the
face of such adverse circumstances, but declined to do so. Milbank also
ignores the critical fact picked up by the AP, CNN and other newsletters
that at the very moment the hearing was scheduled to begin, the Republican
Leadership scheduled an almost unprecedented number of 11 consecutive floor
votes, making it next to impossible for most Members to participate in the
first hour and one half of the hearing.

    In what can only be described as a deliberate effort to discredit the
entire hearing, Milbank quotes one of the witnesses as making an
anti-semitic assertion and further describes anti-semitic literature that
was being handed out in the overflow room for the event. First, let me be
clear: I consider myself to be friend and supporter of Israel and there were
a number of other staunchly pro-Israel members who were in attendance at the
hearing. I do not agree with, support, or condone any comments asserting
Israeli control over U.S. policy, and I find any allegation that Israel is
trying to dominate the world or had anything to do with the September 11
tragedy disgusting and offensive.

    That said, to give such emphasis to 100 seconds of a 3 hour and five
minute hearing that included the powerful and sad testimony (hardly
mentioned by Milbank) of a woman who lost her son in the Iraq war and now
feels lied to as a result of the Downing Street Minutes, is incredibly
misleading. Many, many different pamphlets were being passed out at the
overflow room, including pamphlets about getting out of the Iraq war and
anti-Central American Free Trade Agreement, and it is puzzling why Milbank
saw fit to only mention the one he did.

    In a typically derisive and uninformed passage, Milbank makes much of
other lawmakers calling me "Mr. Chairman" and says I liked it so much that I
used "chairmanly phrases." Milbank may not know that I was the Chairman of
the House Government Operations Committee from 1988 to 1994. By protocol and
tradition in the House, once you have been a Chairman you are always
referred to as such. Thus, there was nothing unusual about my being referred
to as Mr. Chairman.

    To administer his coup-de-grace, Milbank literally makes up another
cheap shot that I "was having so much fun that [I] ignored aides' entreaties
to end the session." This did not occur. None of my aides offered entreaties
to end the session and I have no idea where Milbank gets that information.
The hearing certainly ran longer than expected, but that was because so many
Members of Congress persevered under very difficult circumstances to attend,
and I thought - given that - the least I could do was allow them to say
their piece. That is called courtesy, not "fun."

    By the way, the "Downing Street Memo" is actually the minutes of a
British cabinet meeting. In the meeting, British officials - having just met
with their American counterparts - describe their discussions with such
counterparts. I mention this because that basic piece of context, a simple
description of the memo, is found nowhere in Milbank's article.

    The fact that I and my fellow Democrats had to stuff a hearing into a
room the size of a large closet to hold a hearing on an important issue
shouldn't make us the object of ridicule. In my opinion, the ridicule should
be placed in two places: first, at the feet of Republicans who are so afraid
to discuss ideas and facts that they try to sabotage our efforts to do so;
and second, on Dana Milbank and the Washington Post, who do not feel the
need to give serious coverage on a serious hearing about a serious matter -
whether more than 1700 Americans have died because of a deliberate lie.
Milbank may disagree, but the Post certainly owed its readers some coverage
of that viewpoint.

    Sincerely,

    John Conyers, Jr.

 

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 18 10:39:45 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 20:49:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange THINGS Christians Teach Children
Message-ID: <20050618.104020.16134.143946@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>


Sad thing happened today-not that we came about, full-circle, it's the fact that ONLY the media and those huge churches have at their disposal the means to communicate to record numbers.



Lyle 

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:



Strange THINGS Christians Teach Children



======
Why is that? Cheeseburger.

Have you thought this through, CHEESEBURGER?
=======


Well, I think I have.  But I'm reading on, as your post is interesting.



======
It's obvious in your on-going discussions with Ian that you are proposing a
reality that has its foundations in human vulnerability.
======


Its foundations lay not only in human vulnerability, but the exploitation
thereof as well, which is a given of course.  Just reminding myself.



=======
The more of us that fail to reach any of our premeditated goals, become ripe
for violence, persuasion and hypnotic suggestions.
========


True.



======
So why is it a surprise, when the least of us, even the uneducated but as a
matter of conscious, even the educate, tend to sway towards arrogance on
these situations?
=======


That's a very good description of certain facets of it.



=======
It is a mere fact that self-esteem plays a major part in these reactions.
========


Therein lay the immense power of selflessness exhibited or taught by such
"personalities" as Jesus, Buddha, etc etc etc, imho.  As you've already
alluded to, such things as ego, vanity, etc, always "were the devil's
favorite sin".   (See reference "The Devil's Advocate", Pacino, Keanu
Reeves).  Therein also lay the immense centuries-old conspiracy to hang such
luminaries on trees, shoot them in the head, or etc etc etc.



========
Doesn't take much-no degree needed-just thinking, developing, an
growing-thinking, expanding thought-thinking, conclusions; even the ignorant
one is more apt to kill for Jesus and his only witness is his emotional
instability; society preaches to him about just 'causes and Christian
beliefs.
=========


Production for Use.  (See reference "His Girl Friday", Rosalind Russell).
What we have here is a failure, to communicate.  (See reference "Cool Hand
Luke", Paul Newman), or rather an inability to reach the world en masse to
shed knowledge on the endless canyons of ignorance and/or rather
non-information.



========
Oh, yes, faith without works is dead. Depends, what 'DEAD' are we both
talking about?
========


There are more doors to death available when a hand is just not there, for
one reason or another, to pick up the still living from the dust.



=====
I believe that you and I have a global responsibility to curb wasteful
practices of genocide, arrogance, and self-righteousness.
======


True.  At least to that particular point of view and way of thinking,
perspective.  To others, a good steak, a fuck, and cheaper gasoline makes
their millenium.  To others, a million dead babies remains their idol.
Those are the ones still with nuclear weapons etc and all our money we pay
them each year, among other "people and countries".  (See reference Dr.
Strangelove, Peter Sellers).  You address "ability" next, as do I.



=======
In other words, to make this discussion crystal clear, we have the ability
and power to 'push' people away from self-pity and destruction-to move them
away from hurtful ways and heart-filled hate.
========



Depends upon the context.  "We", at this particular time and space, if we
actually *do* "possess the ability and power to...", for some odd reason are
not exercising that ability, or else its results would be extraordinarily
noticeable.  True, we see on various levels this or that "redemption from
dark rooms", but saving the world one at a time continues to kill me.

Someone has to figure out some way for *everyone, all at once" to be "pushed
away from self-pitry and destruction to move them away from hurtful ways and
heart-filled hate" etc.

Or at least to be able to provide a roadmap, in all languages.

The rate of saving the world remains far exceeded by the rate of the
destruction of the world, that of course includes all its living
inhabitants.

That remains a problem.

That's why, imho, to me, such silly little things as being able to deliver a
simple little piece of paper with at least the bare minimum of Truth and
Information to as many people globally in their own languages at least 2 to
4 times a year remains worth more than all the cash one could get from
selling all the natural resources of the planet for a thousand years.

If one cannot completely, and soon, reverse the centuries-old manipulations,
conspiracies, etc, that have finally culminated, with the extra-added
attraction of vast technological advances which have not all proven to be
that beneficial to like all the life on earth, and free ALL the nations from
the continuing enslavements of mind, body, time, spirit, thought, etc, we
might as well just slit our own wrists, for without that reversal, we is all
toast.  (See reference "Legend", Tom Cruise and the guy who starred in Rocky
Horror Picture Show whose name I have just suddenly forgotten).

"Ability" sometimes seems to appear dependent upon whom one is, where one is
standing, and what cards one is holding in their hands.

True, we as humans do possess varying degrees of "ability and power to...",
both individually and collectively, and, yes, here I am as well, still
protesting in verse", yet, I look into my crystal ball, and, again, the rate
of destruction appears to be beating the crap out of the rate of
"redemption".  Still.  As usual.

To even convince many of "the masses" of the vast extent of, the rate of,
and the importance of *immediately* addressing "all the many destructions"
people witness (the ones they catch) each day on this planet, is a task
which so far has not been fullfilled completely.

And, again, imho, without those "Masses", against "The Powers That Be", the
ones apparently endlessly taking us all to hell in a handbasket while making
out like bandits at the banks etc so to speak, any "Ability" is ENORMOUSLY
hindered in its humanitarian etc endeavors.

And so, the bottom line is what...?  I dunno...  I'm on food stamps...  All
this thinking hurts my brain sometimes...  :|  The bottom line is that
without being able to Mass Communicate, effectively and on a regular basis,
with "The Masses" themselves, the outcome of the fact of the rate of
destruction of the earth constantly outdistancing the rate of redemption of
the earth, combined with the sheer complete inability of whomever to
communicate across the board with "The Masses", then "The Masses", and all
the rest of us, well, the forecast is not encouraging, at least, with that
SIMPLE MATH, such a simple crunching of numbers, imho, we are in deep shit.

And the fact that one of the most important thoughts of a huge proportion of
"The Masses" in say America at this time is whether to buy yogurt or jello
at the supermarket, we are in even deeper shit than even some of the most
optimistic and pessimistic among us all ever imagined in our wildest
nightmares.

Oh well, despite my ramblings, The Rehearsal is over, this if for all the
marbles, there is no "Next Time".

Time is up.

Please insert The Complete Ability To Communicate With The Masses for 3 more
minutes of a guarantee of Life Itself not disappearing from this planet in
the near future.

Thank you.



beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep........  (See
reference "The President's Analyst", "In Like Flint", Jame Coburn).






Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 18 10:45:04 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 20:53:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???
Message-ID: <20050618.104541.16134.143991@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>

...meet in person not prison Richard; unless I cramp your style, conjure feelings of inadequacy-hateful, vengeful wrath-then yes, I would be a prison to some but....I am not one of those, I'm a clown too.


Lyle 

Please note: message attached


-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/alternative
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 18 10:48:13 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 20:57:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
Message-ID: <20050618.104844.16134.144007@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>


I'm laughing so loud (not at Ian's expense), at your satire and prose...spontaneous I might add and equally jovial.


Lyle

-- "richard haase" <hotprojects@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
yes theyre the ones who poison the wells
i told you it wasnt us jews
of course the problem is with christians not with christ
with organized not true christianity
i am a jew and a born again christian like ian
( by the way if you ever saw ian you would giggle at the thought of him as a
christian; no offence intended ian; he looks like the bastard son of woody
allen; although i do not mean to cast any aspersions on ian or his soul or
to question the genuiness of his faith; its just viscually funny;
i envisioned ian to be a wasp with blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes )
lol
anyway
ive babbled enough for one fifteen minute segment
peace to everyone
all love
anything above said in good faith and with humor
please dont get offended
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:20 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN


>
> YES, GOOD THOUGHTS.
>
> I believe they feast on the young, enjoy the aged as well. Their
despicable nature casts an even darker cloud of 'eating' the corpses and
their belief is that it is as delicious as fresh kill.
>
>
> Lyle
>
> -- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
> Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>
>
>
> ===========
> "Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
> Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the
crowds
> together?
> ==========
>
>
> James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.
>
> :)
>
> I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
> Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc, there
> were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.
>
>
>
> =========
> Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
> =========
>
>
> Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.
>
>
>
> ==========
> A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
> children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming to
> earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.
>
> She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not
> need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.
>
> What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
> indigenous people.
>
> Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the
> dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take
up
> the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
> ===========
>
>
>
> We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects, regardless
> of our colors, circumstances, etc.
>
> It was only a matter of time.
>
> It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of
various
> things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.
>
> Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually they
> hunger for Absolute Godness over others.
>
> The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
> people now and then squeak up in protest.
>
> Those they have for dessert.
>
> The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
> populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
> cannibalistic vampires.
>
> They feed off of everyone and everything available.
>
> And their hunger is never satisfied.
>
> Lucky for us they never saw me coming.
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 18 10:53:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 17 21:01:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese, Ian, Lyle
Message-ID: <BED9ADB9.20DD1%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Yes, it would be nice to get together.
Until then, Ian said it "Never give up Hope"
Michael

From dekuyper at sbcglobal.net  Fri Jun 17 12:23:30 2005
From: dekuyper at sbcglobal.net (Gerald Gerald)
Date: Fri Jun 17 21:33:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...
Message-ID: <200506180433.j5I4XHxQ012693@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Bounce this around!
 
Great Tip....Who woulda thought?

 
1.  My mail carrier told me that the US Postal service
sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a
sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep
yellow jackets away.

 
Use them all the time when playing baseball and
soccer. I use it when I am working outside. It really
works. The yellow jackets just veer around you. And
all this time you've! just been putting Bounce in the
dryer!

 
2.  It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near
them.

 
3.  It also repels mice. Spread them around foundation
areas, or in trailers, cars that are sitting and it
keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

 
4.  It takes the odor out of books and photo albums
that don't get opened too often.

 
5.  Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a
belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

 
6.  Eliminates static electricity from your television
(or computer) screen. Since Bounce is designed to help
eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen
with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from
resettling.

 
7.  Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a
sheet of Bounce.

 
8.  Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual
sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.

 
9.  Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

 
10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded
needle through sheet of Bounce before beginning to
sew.

 
11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet
of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

 
12. Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of
Bounce under the front seat.

 
13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a
sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight,
and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently
weakens the bond between the food.

 
14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets.. Place a sheet of
Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

 
15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of
Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

 
16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds.
Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust
from resettling.

 
17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A
used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack
cloth.

 
18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an
individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry
bag or hamper. 
Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce
in your shoes or sneakers overnight.

 
19. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to
keep the bees away.

 
20. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent
before folding and storing them. Keeps them smelling
fresh.


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 18 11:29:13 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 17 21:36:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Dean, His Democrats, and Mr. Bush's War
Message-ID: <BED9B609.20DDC%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Dean, His Democrats, and Mr. Bush's War
    By Steve Weissman
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Wednesday 15 June 2005

    Why do Democratic Party leaders and their friends in the mass media
spend so much time attacking Howard Dean? And why do so many of us who
oppose Mr. Bush's war in Iraq now shower Dr. Dean with praise, even love,
despite his reluctance to join with us in opposing the continuing presence
in Iraq of American troops?

    Answers to both questions focus on the current fight among Democrats
over the direction the party should take.

    Those who've led the party in past years never wanted Dean to win the
chairmanship. They prefer the status quo and feel indebted to the major
financial contributors, who have little interest in seeing the party resume
its traditional role as a true champion of the poor and middle classes.

    Dean is now confirming the old leaders in their worst fears. He is
attempting to weaken the influence of the big donors by raising money in
small increments over the Internet, much as he did in his own campaign for
president. He is also revitalizing state and local party groups, giving more
clout to grassroots activists, many of whom want the party to come out
strongly against the war.

    Unlike the Old Guard, Dean understands two key dynamics needed for the
Democrats to win elections. The party must engage the passion and conviction
of the grassroots activists. And it must reach out to millions of people who
no longer believe that politicians of either party fight for the interests
of average working families.

    "People want us to fight," Dean told the party's executive committee.
"We are here to fight."

    The Old Guard fear that the party will get out of their control and are
naturally fighting back. The conflict has grown so severe that three major
fund-raisers quit the Democratic National Committee, one of them citing
"strategic differences."

    At least for now, most of the differences are over style and political
dynamics. The bluestocking Dean might at times sound like a populist, but he
remains a centrist Democrat and fiscal conservative. And, like most leading
Democrats, he argues that the United States must stay in Iraq no matter how
much our presence there fuels greater conflict.

    "Now that we're there, we're there and we can't get out," he told the
Minnesota ACLU on April 20 of this year. "The president has created an
enormous security problem for the United States where none existed before.
But I hope the president is incredibly successful with his policy now that
he's there."(1)

    Many of us who want to bring the troops home believe that Dean is dead
wrong, and we will continue to tell him so. But that's just the point. By
revitalizing the party's base and reducing the power of big money, he is
giving us an increased chance to make our arguments and move the party in
our direction.

    This is an opening we cannot afford to ignore. Activists like the
Progressive Democrats of America have already gotten several state party
organizations to come out strongly against the war, and the battle has only
just begun.

    In time, Dr. Dean may join the anti-war movement. But, even if doesn't,
he needs and deserves our support in his fight to keep the Democratic Party
open and democratic.

    -------

    (1) "Howard Dean Warns of Danger in Iraq Pullout," Minneapolis
Star-Tribune, April 21, 2005.

 

From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 12:25:43 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Fri Jun 17 22:33:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???
References: <20050618.104541.16134.143991@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <008201c5743b$8535b870$6e436c42@hotprojects>

lyle not deep old and didnt switch to stronger glaSSES
before reading computer
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:45 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???


  ...meet in person not prison Richard; unless I cramp your style, conjure feelings of inadequacy-hateful, vengeful wrath-then yes, I would be a prison to some but....I am not one of those, I'm a clown too.


  Lyle 

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  i do not want to go to prison
  i am too pretty to go to prison\
  and i aint pretty
  ( i mean you either have to have a shakespeare fetish or dig clowns to think im cute; thats my look; it runs the gammet from shakespeare to bozo )
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Lyle K'ang 
    To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:53 AM
    Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell


    ...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

    How about Michael picking the spot.

    Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

    No offense-no defense, just meet.


    Lyle K'ang

    Please note: message attached





----------------------------------------------------------------------------



    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: richard haase 
    To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
    Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


    i saw you
    i too am a born again christian
    but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
    youre not all that goyish lol
    thats a joke guys
    no offense meant please dont crucify me
    whoops
    ( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
    richard in the project pit

    peace love
    ( joking joking )


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    Mb-civic mailing list
    Mb-civic@islandlists.com
    http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
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  Mb-civic@islandlists.com
  http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20050618/d3941b7f/attachment.htm
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 18 12:28:29 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 17 22:36:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Surprise, Surprise VERY DISTURBING
In-Reply-To: <1a3.35f0dc89.2fe5c8a1@aol.com>
Message-ID: <BED9C3ED.20DEA%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Tom, 
Thanks
Michael
------ Forwarded Message
From: TSawyer456@aol.com
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 14:57:37 EDT
To: TSawyer456@aol.com
Subject: Surprise, Surprise

 
Surprise, Surprise
 - or - 
Are There No  Books These People Won't Cook?
 
The true US Military death-toll in Iraq:
Not, as Rumsfeld et al tell us, 1700.
The real number is 9000+
 
_Click here:  TBRNews.org_ (http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1661.htm)
 
Tom
_www.ThomasBSawyer.com_ (http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/)


------ End of Forwarded Message

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 18 12:33:42 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 17 22:43:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Surprise, Surprise VERY DISTURBING
Message-ID: <20050618.123400.17473.145559@webmail28.nyc.untd.com>


f_kg,damn these people for killing my brothers and sisters.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com> wrote:
Tom, 
Thanks
Michael
------ Forwarded Message
From: TSawyer456@aol.com
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 14:57:37 EDT
To: TSawyer456@aol.com
Subject: Surprise, Surprise

 
Surprise, Surprise
 - or - 
Are There No  Books These People Won't Cook?
 
The true US Military death-toll in Iraq:
Not, as Rumsfeld et al tell us, 1700.
The real number is 9000+
 
_Click here:  TBRNews.org_ (http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1661.htm)
 
Tom
_www.ThomasBSawyer.com_ (http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/)


------ End of Forwarded Message

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 13:56:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sat Jun 18 00:04:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
References: <20050617.232048.16134.141271@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
	<00fe01c57411$15a15d90$6e436c42@hotprojects>
Message-ID: <005801c57448$3ef2e420$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Richard:

Usually, even a "bastard son" has two parents.  If Woody is one, then who's 
the other?

However, for those who have not met me, an easier way to picture me is to 
find a photo of George Gershwin in his 30s or 40s and put a pair of glasses 
on him.  Dead ringer.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "richard haase" <hotprojects@nyc.rr.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 10:21 AM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN


> yes theyre the ones who poison the wells
> i told you it wasnt us jews
> of course the problem is with christians not with christ
> with organized not true christianity
> i am a jew and a born again christian like ian
> ( by the way if you ever saw ian you would giggle at the thought of him as 
> a
> christian; no offence intended ian; he looks like the bastard son of woody
> allen; although i do not mean to cast any aspersions on ian or his soul or
> to question the genuiness of his faith; its just viscually funny;
> i envisioned ian to be a wasp with blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes )
> lol
> anyway
> ive babbled enough for one fifteen minute segment
> peace to everyone
> all love
> anything above said in good faith and with humor
> please dont get offended
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com>
> To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:20 AM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
>
>
>>
>> YES, GOOD THOUGHTS.
>>
>> I believe they feast on the young, enjoy the aged as well. Their
> despicable nature casts an even darker cloud of 'eating' the corpses and
> their belief is that it is as delicious as fresh kill.
>>
>>
>> Lyle
>>
>> -- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
>> Strange Things Christians Teach Children
>>
>>
>>
>> ===========
>> "Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
>> Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the
> crowds
>> together?
>> ==========
>>
>>
>> James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.
>>
>> :)
>>
>> I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
>> Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc, there
>> were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.
>>
>>
>>
>> =========
>> Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
>> =========
>>
>>
>> Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.
>>
>>
>>
>> ==========
>> A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
>> children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming 
>> to
>> earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.
>>
>> She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did not
>> need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.
>>
>> What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
>> indigenous people.
>>
>> Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling the
>> dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to take
> up
>> the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
>> ===========
>>
>>
>>
>> We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects, 
>> regardless
>> of our colors, circumstances, etc.
>>
>> It was only a matter of time.
>>
>> It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of
> various
>> things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.
>>
>> Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually 
>> they
>> hunger for Absolute Godness over others.
>>
>> The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
>> people now and then squeak up in protest.
>>
>> Those they have for dessert.
>>
>> The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
>> populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
>> cannibalistic vampires.
>>
>> They feed off of everyone and everything available.
>>
>> And their hunger is never satisfied.
>>
>> Lucky for us they never saw me coming.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheeseburger
>>
>> .
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 13:58:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sat Jun 18 00:06:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...
References: <200506180433.j5I4XHxQ012693@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
Message-ID: <006401c57448$86724430$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Gerald:

Maybe...maybe...  But have you ever looked at the "ingredients" on the side 
of the box?  "Bounce" has more chemicals than Cool Whip.  Is that really 
what you want to use to clean pans, etc.?  Or even have on or near your body 
for prolonged periods?  It would be like wearing a rag soaked in Baygon to 
avoid roaches...

Anyway, thanks for the tips...LOL

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 3:23 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...


> Bounce this around!
>
> Great Tip....Who woulda thought?
>
>
> 1.  My mail carrier told me that the US Postal service
> sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a
> sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep
> yellow jackets away.
>
>
> Use them all the time when playing baseball and
> soccer. I use it when I am working outside. It really
> works. The yellow jackets just veer around you. And
> all this time you've! just been putting Bounce in the
> dryer!
>
>
> 2.  It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near
> them.
>
>
> 3.  It also repels mice. Spread them around foundation
> areas, or in trailers, cars that are sitting and it
> keeps mice from entering your vehicle.
>
>
> 4.  It takes the odor out of books and photo albums
> that don't get opened too often.
>
>
> 5.  Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a
> belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
>
>
> 6.  Eliminates static electricity from your television
> (or computer) screen. Since Bounce is designed to help
> eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen
> with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from
> resettling.
>
>
> 7.  Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a
> sheet of Bounce.
>
>
> 8.  Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual
> sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.
>
>
> 9.  Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
>
>
> 10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded
> needle through sheet of Bounce before beginning to
> sew.
>
>
> 11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet
> of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.
>
>
> 12. Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of
> Bounce under the front seat.
>
>
> 13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a
> sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight,
> and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently
> weakens the bond between the food.
>
>
> 14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets.. Place a sheet of
> Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.
>
>
> 15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of
> Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.
>
>
> 16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds.
> Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust
> from resettling.
>
>
> 17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A
> used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack
> cloth.
>
>
> 18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an
> individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry
> bag or hamper.
> Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce
> in your shoes or sneakers overnight.
>
>
> 19. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to
> keep the bees away.
>
>
> 20. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent
> before folding and storing them. Keeps them smelling
> fresh.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 14:10:42 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Sat Jun 18 00:18:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???
References: <20050618.104541.16134.143991@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <003401c5744a$30597c60$8a03ca44@CowBox>

Richard relax I am also a clown, but then again I tend to believe we are all clowns in our own way let alone "gypsies' the 60's revovlution always had a basic foundation, we would always 'move'  & "follow the music" & believe in hope.

Peace
Robin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:45 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???


  ...meet in person not prison Richard; unless I cramp your style, conjure feelings of inadequacy-hateful, vengeful wrath-then yes, I would be a prison to some but....I am not one of those, I'm a clown too.


  Lyle 

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  i do not want to go to prison
  i am too pretty to go to prison\
  and i aint pretty
  ( i mean you either have to have a shakespeare fetish or dig clowns to think im cute; thats my look; it runs the gammet from shakespeare to bozo )
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Lyle K'ang 
    To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:53 AM
    Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell


    ...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

    How about Michael picking the spot.

    Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

    No offense-no defense, just meet.


    Lyle K'ang

    Please note: message attached





----------------------------------------------------------------------------



    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: richard haase 
    To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
    Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


    i saw you
    i too am a born again christian
    but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
    youre not all that goyish lol
    thats a joke guys
    no offense meant please dont crucify me
    whoops
    ( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
    richard in the project pit

    peace love
    ( joking joking )


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    Mb-civic mailing list
    Mb-civic@islandlists.com
    http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Mb-civic mailing list
  Mb-civic@islandlists.com
  http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
-------------- next part --------------
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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 14:29:50 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Sat Jun 18 00:37:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...
References: <200506180433.j5I4XHxQ012693@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
	<006401c57448$86724430$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
Message-ID: <001201c5744c$dc29f180$8a03ca44@CowBox>

I tend to believe we should all wipe our ass with clean "napkins" no mater 
what.:)

Later on
Robin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...


> Gerald:
>
> Maybe...maybe...  But have you ever looked at the "ingredients" on the 
> side of the box?  "Bounce" has more chemicals than Cool Whip.  Is that 
> really what you want to use to clean pans, etc.?  Or even have on or near 
> your body for prolonged periods?  It would be like wearing a rag soaked in 
> Baygon to avoid roaches...
>
> Anyway, thanks for the tips...LOL
>
> Peace.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
> To: "G. Cooper" <dekuyper@sbcglobal.net>
> Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 3:23 PM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Useful stuff maybe ...
>
>
>> Bounce this around!
>>
>> Great Tip....Who woulda thought?
>>
>>
>> 1.  My mail carrier told me that the US Postal service
>> sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a
>> sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep
>> yellow jackets away.
>>
>>
>> Use them all the time when playing baseball and
>> soccer. I use it when I am working outside. It really
>> works. The yellow jackets just veer around you. And
>> all this time you've! just been putting Bounce in the
>> dryer!
>>
>>
>> 2.  It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near
>> them.
>>
>>
>> 3.  It also repels mice. Spread them around foundation
>> areas, or in trailers, cars that are sitting and it
>> keeps mice from entering your vehicle.
>>
>>
>> 4.  It takes the odor out of books and photo albums
>> that don't get opened too often.
>>
>>
>> 5.  Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a
>> belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
>>
>>
>> 6.  Eliminates static electricity from your television
>> (or computer) screen. Since Bounce is designed to help
>> eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen
>> with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from
>> resettling.
>>
>>
>> 7.  Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a
>> sheet of Bounce.
>>
>>
>> 8.  Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual
>> sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.
>>
>>
>> 9.  Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
>>
>>
>> 10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded
>> needle through sheet of Bounce before beginning to
>> sew.
>>
>>
>> 11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet
>> of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.
>>
>>
>> 12. Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of
>> Bounce under the front seat.
>>
>>
>> 13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a
>> sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight,
>> and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently
>> weakens the bond between the food.
>>
>>
>> 14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets.. Place a sheet of
>> Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.
>>
>>
>> 15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of
>> Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.
>>
>>
>> 16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds.
>> Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust
>> from resettling.
>>
>>
>> 17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A
>> used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack
>> cloth.
>>
>>
>> 18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an
>> individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry
>> bag or hamper.
>> Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce
>> in your shoes or sneakers overnight.
>>
>>
>> 19. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to
>> keep the bees away.
>>
>>
>> 20. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent
>> before folding and storing them. Keeps them smelling
>> fresh.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic 

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:17:38 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:25:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - IRAN TO HOLD RUNOFF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
Message-ID: <20050618231738.557671B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
IRAN TO HOLD RUNOFF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
WebPosted Sat Jun 18 10:46:15 2005

---Iranian officials will hold a runoff vote after no one came out the
clear winner in Friday's presidential election.

As expected, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the frontrunner,
came out ahead, but failed to win enough votes for an outright victory.

Rafsanjani won nearly 21 per cent of the vote to clinch first place,
while Tehran's hardline conservative mayor, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, ended up
in second place with 19.5 per cent.

 FROM JUNE 17, 2005: Runoff likely in Iran vote The two will face
 each other in the Islamic republic's first runoff election on
 Friday, June 24.

Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric and former parliamentary speaker,
came in third.

There's speculation that U.S. President George W. Bush influenced the
high turnout by sharply criticizing the elections as undemocratic,
angering many Iranians.

Bush said the voting was designed to keep power in the hands of a few
rulers "through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements
of democracy."

Iran's ruling mullahs permitted seven candidates to run for office. Voter
turnout was 67 per cent, despite a boycott drive by dissidents, according
to the state-run media.

Officials kept polling stations open four hours past the scheduled
closing times to clear the lineup of voters.

Rafsanjani, a cleric who was president from 1989 to 1997, has been
described as a moderate and a pragmatist who has close ties to the
clerical elite but still wants to strengthen relations with
Western nations.

Ahmedinejad is credited with sprucing up a rundown area of Tehran. He
reportedly had the support of Iran's most conservative factions,
including the Revolutionary Guards.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:18:56 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:26:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - FALUN GONG WANTS OTTAWA TO CHECK CLAIMS OF
	CHINESE SPIES IN CANADA
Message-ID: <20050618231856.A42781B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@synpatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
FALUN GONG WANTS OTTAWA TO CHECK CLAIMS OF CHINESE SPIES IN CANADA
WebPosted Fri Jun 17 17:56:17 2005

--- Canadian members of the spiritual group Falun Gong are appealing to
the Canadian government to investigate alleged spying and harassment by
Chinese intelligence agents.

        Last week two Chinese diplomats in Australia defected with files
        indicating that the Chinese government has a network of spies
        infiltrating Falun Gong in Canada.

        Chinese Embassy officials in Ottawa deny the charge.

        But Canadian Falun Gong members say some of the files contain
        personal information that could only have been compiled on
        Canadian soil.

        At a news conference on Parliament Hill Friday morning Falun Gong
        representatives said the intelligence files smuggled out of China
        only confirm what they've known for a long time.

        Intelligence documents released earlier by the U.S. pro-democracy
        organization Freedom House revealed that a special unit of
        Chinese intelligence called the 610 Office has been spying on
        overseas Falun Gong members since 1999.

Montreal resident Ying Zhu says when she went back to China to visit her
mother recently, she was arrested by agents of China's Public Security
Bureau and held for 33 days.

She says in addition to trying to recruit her to spy on Falun Gong
members in Canada they demanded she give them detailed information on
friends listed in her phone book.

        "When I refused they told me they knew everything about every
        Falun Gong practitioner in Montreal," she said.

Montreal accountant Wey Dun Gwang says he's received threats from
people he believes to be agents working out of the Chinese Consulate.
"They said, 'You'd better not practise Falun Gong or your life will be
in danger.'"

        In the House of Commons Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay
        challenged the government to crack down on Chinese espionage,
        calling the Liberals "gutless on the issue of Canadian
        sovereignty."

Public Security Minister Anne McLellan insisted the government is taking
the allegations seriously.

She said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service "is well aware of the
allegations and I can reassure you CSIS is doing everything necessary."

But the Falun Gong practitioners say a year ago they gave the government
a report detailing illegal surveillance and intimidation by Chinese
agents operating on Canadian soil, but nothing happened.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:20:34 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC Arts)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:28:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC Arts - NEIL YOUNG PERFORMS AT MEMORIAL FOR HIS FATHER
Message-ID: <20050618232034.2F8781B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC ARTS
at http://www.cbc.ca/arts
____________________________________________________
NEIL YOUNG PERFORMS AT MEMORIAL FOR HIS FATHER
WebPosted Fri Jun 17 13:30:08 2005

---Canadian rock legend Neil Young performed Thursday at a memorial
service for his father, Scott Young.

The service, held in a Kingston, Ont., funeral home, saw the singer
perform one song in honour of his father, who died Sunday.

RELATED STORY: Journalist, author Scott Young dies

Young is known for such well-known tunes as Old Man , Heart of Gold and
Helpless . The song he dedicated to his father is a new composition.

"I remember him with a lot of love in my heart," the singer said
after the service as he stepped into a black van along with other
family members.

Young was one of a small group of invited guests who attended the hour-
long memorial.

His father, a renowned journalist and author, married three times and had
seven children and stepchildren.

Bob, the eldest of Young's sons, said his father had been a supportive
figure who encouraged his children to blaze their own trails.

"I think that my brother's success, and what he's done as a
singer/songwriter, is largely attributable to the support that he got
from my parents," Bob Young told the Canadian Press. "And some of that
support was critical."

He also said he appreciated how his father stuck by him when he was
charged with drug offences in the 1980s.

"It was valuable to me to have somebody close that was in my
corner," he noted.

Scott Young started his career as a writer at the Winnipeg Free Press. He
would go on to be a correspondent for CP, as well as an acclaimed sports
columnist. He wrote more than 40 books, some of them about sports figures
such as Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe and broadcaster Foster Hewitt. His
series of hockey-related books for children encouraged many sports-mad
youngsters to crack open a book for the first time.

Guy Ferguson, a friend of Young's for 30 years, called his death "a great
loss for Canadian literature."

In 1984, Young published Neil and Me , a volume about his relationship
with his rock-star son, who has had success both as a solo artist and as
a member of bands like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Buffalo
Springfield.

It is said that Neil Young's first musical abilities were encouraged when
his father gave him a ukulele for Christmas in 1958. His parents split up
not too long after that.

Neil Young was in the news earlier this year when he survived a
brain aneurysm, which prevented him from playing at the Juno Awards
in Winnipeg.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:21:55 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:29:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CHINESE DETAINEES ATTEMPT SUICIDE
Message-ID: <20050618232155.8D95D1B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CHINESE DETAINEES ATTEMPT SUICIDE
WebPosted Sat Jun 18 15:25:26 2005

---Thirteen Chinese nationals were undergoing treatment Saturday after
slashing their wrists and other body parts at a Sydney detention centre.

A 41-year-old woman appeared to be the most seriously injured. A refugee
advocate told the Sun-Herald newspaper she cut her wrists.

Another woman, 51, was also taken to hospital with heart problems. She
fainted after witnessing the suicide attempt.

In another section of Villawood, 12 Chinese men cut themselves in what's
been described as an act of solidarity with the woman.

The self-mutilation protest came a day after the Australian government
announced it would change its immigration detention policy, allowing
families with children to be released into the community and a review of
all detainee cases after two years.

Refugee advocate Jamal Daoud told the Age newspaper the group was
distressed that the government's softening of its detention policy would
not set them free.

Sydney Uniting Church refugee advocate Frances Milne, who visits the
Villawood centre weekly, says all the detainees are in a high state
of anxiety.

The immigration department has confirmed that 25 Chinese detainees at
Villawood, and another group at the Baxter centre in South Australia,
were separated from other detainees last month and interviewed by Chinese
officials.

The department would not say whether Saturday's incident at Villawood was
connected.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:23:05 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:31:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - FORMER LEBANON PM KILLED BY TRUCK BOMB,
	PROBE REVEALS
Message-ID: <20050618232305.1502C1B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
FORMER LEBANON PM KILLED BY TRUCK BOMB, PROBE REVEALS
WebPosted Fri Jun 17 06:40:35 2005

---A truck bombing caused the explosion that killed Lebanon's former
prime minister Rafik Hariri and 20 others in February, a United Nations-
mandated investigation into the assassination has concluded.

Detlev Mehlis, a top German prosecutor who is leading the investigation,
told a news conference that the Feb. 14 explosion in downtown Beirut in
the midst of Hariri's motorcade was "without any reasonable doubt above
the ground."

Some had suspected that explosives were buried underneath the street,
which would suggest a government-backed plot because digging up the
street would have required permits.

Mehlis told reporters he did not know if the truck was stationary or
moving when it blew up.

Mehlis and his team of experts arrived in Beirut in late May to begin
their investigation. His team has at least three months to continue the
investigation.

The probe follows a UN Security Council unanimous vote authorizing the
investigation. A UN fact-finding team criticized the Lebanese probe into
the killing, saying evidence had been removed, ignored or planted.



 FROM APR. 7, 2005: UN to set up inquiry into Lebanese PM's death


The death of Hariri set off international anger and massive anti-Syrian
protests, as millions of Lebanese blamed Syria for the attack. Syria says
it wasn't involved.

The protests and international pressure led Syria to withdraw its troops
from Lebanon.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:24:03 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sat Jun 18 02:31:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. SOLDIER CHARGED IN KILLING OF 2
	COMMANDERS
Message-ID: <20050618232403.7A4811B695@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
U.S. SOLDIER CHARGED IN KILLING OF 2 COMMANDERS
WebPosted Fri Jun 17 10:20:41 2005

---A 37-year-old U.S. staff sergeant stationed near Baghdad has been
charged with the murder of his two commanders in the first suspected case
of a soldier killing his superiors in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, a supply specialist, has been charged with
two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito
and 1st Lieut. Louis Allen. He is being held at a military detention
facility in Kuwait.

Esposito and Allen were the top two commanders of Martinez's unit.

The military initially concluded that Esposito and Allen were killed by
enemy fire when a mortar round struck a window on the side of the
building the two were in. But forensic evidence ruled that out.

Martinez is alleged to have used an explosive device, possibly a grenade,
in the attack, according to sources. He joined the New York Army National
Guard in December 1990 and was deployed to Iraq in May 2004.

The alleged "fragging" &#8211; a term used to refer to soldiers killing
their superiors &#8211; occurred near Tikrit at Forward Operating Base
Danger, one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces that has been converted
into army barracks.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 18 16:57:18 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sat Jun 18 03:04:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Canada condems Iranian election in advance
Message-ID: <000801c57461$78d93e00$5f27e440@Harold>

Of the 1000 odd Iranian delegates, most were not aloud to go forward, especially the women delegates!.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050618/wl_canada_afp/canadairanvote;_ylt=Ah2NruwS8b7FUgaCkL8lYGhp9L4F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Later H
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 18 17:00:47 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (HS)
Date: Sat Jun 18 03:08:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'
Message-ID: <20050619_000047_044268.harry.sifton@sympatico.ca>

HS saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
The world is still more backward than you think. 

Peace 

** Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism' **
A nun dies after being left bound to a cross for three days by convent members who say she was possessed.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4107524.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 18 17:12:59 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun 18 03:20:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Coming soon: Googling the truth
Message-ID: <20050619001259.289A77E55@herring.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from HS:

I do not think so!
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Coming soon: Googling the truth
Web giant pours cash into race for discerning search technology
Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Saturday June 18 2005
The Guardian


What does the truth look like? Google, the company last week confirmed as the biggest media firm on the planet, rather hopes that it reads something like this: WO 2005/029368.

That's the number of one of several patents filed in the US recently by the Californian internet giant. According to that patent, Google is for the first time planning to rank news stories according to their accuracy and reliability as well as their topicality.

Google, and its heavyweight competitors, are pouring billions of dollars and thousands of staff hours into trying to ensure that when you search on the internet, you receive not only exactly the information you want, but also information that is true.

During the early days of the internet boom, it was predicted that search engines would gradually lessen in importance as users latched on to their favourite sites. But the opposite has proved true, with Google and its competitors becoming the way into the web for eight in 10 web users, according to Ask Jeeves.

Google News, an offshoot that emerged directly from the company's policy of allowing its 2,700 staff to spend a fifth of their time on their own projects, links to 4,500 sources from around the world and has become a key source of traffic for the internet arms of traditional media giants. But it makes no claim for the sources' veracity or accuracy.

Now Google is looking to develop technologies that factor in the amount of important coverage produced by a source, the amount of traffic it attracts, circulation statistics, staff size, breadth of coverage and number of global operations.

A Google spokeswoman said the company did not discuss individual patents but pointed out that its news service was "evolving all the time".

But Jim Hedger, the search engine optimisation manager of Canadian company Stepforth, says that "Google is in the midst of sweeping changes to the way it operates". After the posting of the patents, he wrote: "It isn't really a search engine in the fine sense of the word anymore ... It is more of an institution, the ultimate public-private partnership."

The company, famously founded in a garage by students Larry Page and Sergey Brin just seven years ago and now valued at over $80bn (&#163;43.8bn), recently revealed that it will pour $500m into developing new technologies this year alone.

It's not just Google that is pouring cash into discovering the internet's equivalent of the Holy Grail. Competitors Microsoft, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves are also spending huge sums to employ armies of developers working around the clock to develop new versions of the complex algorithms that power search engines.

Charlene Li, a technology analyst from Forrester Research, said in a recent report that the search engine market was in a huge period of development and change. "As MSN launches its new search engine and players like Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, A9 and a slew of startups continue to innovate, ... the market remains open to big shifts," she said.

Tony Macklin, vice president of European product development at Ask Jeeves, added that the difference between competitors was now "more about brand than technology".

Google is notoriously secretive about its algorithms - the online equivalent of the recipe for Coca Cola.

The company insists its only motive is to help users make sense of the morass of information on the web. But some worry about the cultural influence of everything being filtered through the Google lens, particularly if it emerges as the arbiter of "truth" on the web.

In France, Google's plans to digitise 15m books from Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and the New York Public Library immediately raised the kind of ire once directed at the perceived cultural imperialism of Disney. The head of the French National Library, Jean-Noel Jeanneney, writing in Le Monde, called the plans "confirmation of the risk of crushing American domination in the way future generations conceive the world".

But experts in search technology say that such objectors are shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted. "The technology already makes quality judgments on things all the time - that's the nature of a search engine. No matter what they do, they'll always come in for criticism," contended Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch.

Mr Macklin said the Ask Jeeves technology already contained a bias towards more authoritative sites for its results.

Mr Sullivan said another dimension would be added to the debate once search technology started second guessing users' preferences by analysing their online activity and even their hard drives. Microsoft is planning to put tools based around a concept known as "implicit query" in its next version of Windows, due to be launched next year.

"It will be interesting to see when they make that further jump into modifying the results based on your behaviour. People don't think about the fact they have a search profile, but they do," said Mr Sullivan. "You'll do the same search and suddenly realise it's different to your friend's because you've got different histories. It will be a problem for some people. But if it's useful, people will believe in it and use it."

As religious leaders will attest, belief in your version of the truth largely depends on faith. Google's company motto remains "don't be evil". How long before that becomes "the way, the truth and the life"?

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 17:29:21 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Sat Jun 18 03:37:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???
References: <20050618.104541.16134.143991@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
	<003401c5744a$30597c60$8a03ca44@CowBox>
Message-ID: <008b01c57465$f0675570$6e436c42@hotprojects>

yeah but all i have to do is pull out my hair at the sides 
and i look just like bozo
i mean i am a clown
it is not nominal
i am silly
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robin McNamara 
  To: mb-hair@islandlists.com ; mb-civic@islandemail.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 5:10 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???


  Richard relax I am also a clown, but then again I tend to believe we are all clowns in our own way let alone "gypsies' the 60's revovlution always had a basic foundation, we would always 'move'  & "follow the music" & believe in hope.

  Peace
  Robin
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Lyle K'ang 
    To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:45 PM
    Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???


    ...meet in person not prison Richard; unless I cramp your style, conjure feelings of inadequacy-hateful, vengeful wrath-then yes, I would be a prison to some but....I am not one of those, I'm a clown too.


    Lyle 

    Please note: message attached





----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    i do not want to go to prison
    i am too pretty to go to prison\
    and i aint pretty
    ( i mean you either have to have a shakespeare fetish or dig clowns to think im cute; thats my look; it runs the gammet from shakespeare to bozo )
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Lyle K'ang 
      To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
      Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:53 AM
      Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Fw: ian stop being jerry falwell


      ...this is too much fun. We ALL need to meet in person. 

      How about Michael picking the spot.

      Give us time to get there, raise money-sit down, eye-to-eye and rank each other.

      No offense-no defense, just meet.


      Lyle K'ang

      Please note: message attached





--------------------------------------------------------------------------



      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: richard haase 
      To: mb-hair@islandlists.com 
      Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 6:19 PM
      Subject: ian stop being jerry falwell


      i saw you
      i too am a born again christian
      but youre a jew like me i saw you ian
      youre not all that goyish lol
      thats a joke guys
      no offense meant please dont crucify me
      whoops
      ( putting his foot deeper and deeper )
      richard in the project pit

      peace love
      ( joking joking )


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


      _______________________________________________
      Mb-civic mailing list
      Mb-civic@islandlists.com
      http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic



----------------------------------------------------------------------------


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    Mb-civic@islandlists.com
    http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 18 17:30:04 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Sat Jun 18 03:37:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
References: <20050617.232048.16134.141271@webmail10.nyc.untd.com>
	<00fe01c57411$15a15d90$6e436c42@hotprojects>
	<005801c57448$3ef2e420$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>
Message-ID: <00a401c57466$09ccf380$6e436c42@hotprojects>

mishbuchah
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN


> Richard:
>
> Usually, even a "bastard son" has two parents.  If Woody is one, then
who's
> the other?
>
> However, for those who have not met me, an easier way to picture me is to
> find a photo of George Gershwin in his 30s or 40s and put a pair of
glasses
> on him.  Dead ringer.
>
> Peace.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "richard haase" <hotprojects@nyc.rr.com>
> To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 10:21 AM
> Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
>
>
> > yes theyre the ones who poison the wells
> > i told you it wasnt us jews
> > of course the problem is with christians not with christ
> > with organized not true christianity
> > i am a jew and a born again christian like ian
> > ( by the way if you ever saw ian you would giggle at the thought of him
as
> > a
> > christian; no offence intended ian; he looks like the bastard son of
woody
> > allen; although i do not mean to cast any aspersions on ian or his soul
or
> > to question the genuiness of his faith; its just viscually funny;
> > i envisioned ian to be a wasp with blonde hair and cornflower blue
eyes )
> > lol
> > anyway
> > ive babbled enough for one fifteen minute segment
> > peace to everyone
> > all love
> > anything above said in good faith and with humor
> > please dont get offended
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com>
> > To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:20 AM
> > Subject: [Mb-civic] Strange Things Christians Teach CHILDREN
> >
> >
> >>
> >> YES, GOOD THOUGHTS.
> >>
> >> I believe they feast on the young, enjoy the aged as well. Their
> > despicable nature casts an even darker cloud of 'eating' the corpses and
> > their belief is that it is as delicious as fresh kill.
> >>
> >>
> >> Lyle
> >>
> >> -- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
> >> Strange Things Christians Teach Children
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ===========
> >> "Tomorrow is simply to late..." how true. What is your real name,
> >> Cheeseburger? I use to play 'Claude' in HAIR. Have we entertained the
> > crowds
> >> together?
> >> ==========
> >>
> >>
> >> James Charles Magilicutty Armbrewster Cheeseburger the third.
> >>
> >> :)
> >>
> >> I was in a different rock musical other than HAIR dangling my penis.
> >> Although HAIR was the most well-known one for dangling penises etc,
there
> >> were a few other obscure ones touring now and then here and there.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> =========
> >> Your exploits were and still needed. We attack from all sides.
> >> =========
> >>
> >>
> >> Insert Cheeseburger's imitation of Tarzan's war yell here.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ==========
> >> A Yakima Indian recently told the BLM on Indian Affairs that she 'hears
> >> children playing and her need for her tribe to make ready, their coming
> >> to
> >> earth to gain human bodies, so rightfully theirs'.
> >>
> >> She made reference to her vision as a justification, that the BLM did
not
> >> need to unregister their tribe as a sovereign nation.
> >>
> >> What f_ck'n gall, those blasphemous, white mother-f-c-k'n men-do too
> >> indigenous people.
> >>
> >> Oh hell, I'm at peace again-just a moment lapse of insanity battling
the
> >> dragons that never leave...waiting for the next batch of warriors to
take
> > up
> >> the torch and 'fight against the crusades'.
> >> ===========
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> We is all indigenous at this late date, in some vague respects,
> >> regardless
> >> of our colors, circumstances, etc.
> >>
> >> It was only a matter of time.
> >>
> >> It never ceases to amaze me that people with "power" at "The Top" of
> > various
> >> things time and time again eventually turn to eating their own.
> >>
> >> Power, Control, Authority, just never is enough for them.  Eventually
> >> they
> >> hunger for Absolute Godness over others.
> >>
> >> The only problem they have with that is that here and there some little
> >> people now and then squeak up in protest.
> >>
> >> Those they have for dessert.
> >>
> >> The more I look at this world, the more it literally seems like it is
> >> populated by "some" people at The Top who are nothing less than
> >> cannibalistic vampires.
> >>
> >> They feed off of everyone and everything available.
> >>
> >> And their hunger is never satisfied.
> >>
> >> Lucky for us they never saw me coming.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheeseburger
> >>
> >> .
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Mb-civic mailing list
> >> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> >> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Mb-civic mailing list
> >> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> >> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Mb-civic mailing list
> > Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> > http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From TSawyer456 at aol.com  Sat Jun 18 18:28:20 2005
From: TSawyer456 at aol.com (TSawyer456@aol.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 05:03:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Misrepresentation
Message-ID: <200506181203.j5IC3hZV013848@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

To the Editor(s):
 
Brian Harring, at TBR.org (_http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1661.htm_ 
(http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1661.htm) )  is reporting that he has 
documentation that DOD has been counting only the  military deaths that have taken place 
on the ground in Iraq -- not those wounded  who have died enroute to military 
hospitals, nor in the hospitals. He reports  that the total combat-related 
deaths may come to 7,000 more than are being  reported. I believe it is the NY 
Times' duty to investigate and report this, and  I respectfully urge you to do so.
 
Sincerely,
Thomas  B. Sawyer
25301 malibu Road, 
Malibu, CA 90265
310.456.8766
_www.ThomasBSawyer.com_ (http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/) 
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 18 21:35:57 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 18 07:41:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese, Ian, Lyle
Message-ID: <000701c57488$64520bc0$df25b7d8@baby1>

Cheese, Ian, Lyle


=======
Yes, it would be nice to get together.
=======



Cheeseburger leans back in his easy chair, takes another long toke of some
Acapulco Gold he's been saving for 40 years, and thinks...  He pictures
himself walking into a MB Civic reunion somewhere in LA perhaps, as he
enters the room he hears calliope music coming from the corner, some guy who
looks like George Gershwin with glasses and a blble under his arm is playing
"Hail to the Chef", a takeoff on the usual song in honor of Dom Deloise, in
another corner at a table is some guy pulling his hair out to the sides then
smoothing it back down then pulling it out to the sides then smoothing it
back down yelling "Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!  Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!", in
another corner is another clown wearing big clown shoes stuffing a roll of
Bounce in his mouth then pulling it out yelling "Ants!!  No ants!!  Ants!!
No ants!!", in another corner on a table is a 3 dimensional image of Leonard
Peltier next to a computer screen with someone sitting there whispering
"See, I told you we would get you out somehow...", in another corner is some
guy who has fashioned a set of drums from old vegetable cans and is beating
them over and over like there is no tomorrow, each time someone tries to
stop him, he pulls out a gun and shoots them, at another table are a couple
of people from Florida having a hushed discussion in low tones "What do you
mean there are no Cubans in LA?  I thought there would be Cubans in LA."
"Yeah, I thought so too.  Michael said there were Cubans in LA."  "I'm
homesick."  "Yeah, me too...", at another table is some guy standing there
dangling his penis at everyone who goes by, Cheeseburger goes and sits near
him, pulls out his guitar, and quietly begins to strum a forgotten tune, at
last, he is finally home, the cricket eventually steps up to the microphone
at the podium, taps it, yells "Is this thing on!!" and goes into his
routine....  "Yeah, I flew all the way from Texas to get here, boy, are my
arms tired, ba da bing...!!  Yeah, I love playing the palace, 800 clowns and
a dangling penis, ba da bing...!!", Cheese watches as two small children
wearing masks enter the room, walk slowly up to the podium, whisper "Where
the fuck have you been?" to the cricket, grab him and throw him in a little
makeshift cage and slowly edge toward the door, Cheese wonders where all
these people have been all his life, if he only had some costumes and a
stage somewhere, he just knows he could make a hit play out of it....  He
takes another toke off the Acapulco Gold, leans back in his easy chair,
closes his eyes, and laughs to himself quietly, he knows if he shows up at
the reunion the FBI will follow him there, he must have a costume to elude
them, he gets up from his chair, walks into the bathroom, and stares in the
mirror....  "Death warmed over..." he mutters.  Sure, he'll go as that,
nobody will ever suspect.  He sits back in his easy chair, takes another
toke of Acapulco Gold, and wonders if Bounce really keeps away vampires and
demons, he thanks his lucky stars he no longer lives in Rumania, the phone
rings, it's Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney, and Fallwell, begging Cheese to get them
into the reunion somehow...  Cheese laughs, calls them all fuckers, and
hangs up the phone.  He knows he'll have to have his number changed again in
the morning.  Until then, though, he still has plenty of Acapulco Gold and
plenty of time to pick out his wardrobe, the phone rings again, it's the
cricket whispering in a muffled voice begging Cheese to come save him,
Cheese takes another toke, exhales, and whispers "Where are you?", the
cricket replies "I don't know, it's dark, it's wet, and it smells", Cheese
suddenly remembers that he thought the cricket was dead and flushed him down
the toilet, he gets up from his easy chair, goes into the bathroom, lifts
the lid to the toilet, and finds a despondent cricket clinging for life to
the side of the bowl with one hand and holding his cell phone in the other,
"Asshole" Cheese mutters, "Asshole" the cricket replies, "Wanna toke...?",
"Sure...", Cheese and the cricket sit back in the easy chair, smoking the
Acapulco Gold, they fall asleep in each other's arms dreaming of reunions in
far away lands with a bunch of clowns, "I hope to god they're gonna have
some food there..." they both mutter in the ether as their stomachs growl...

:|



.

From jefbek at mindspring.com  Sat Jun 18 22:18:08 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Sat Jun 18 08:27:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Surprise, Surprise VERY DISTURBING
In-Reply-To: <BED9C3ED.20DEA%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <BEDA4E20.8FA%jefbek@mindspring.com>

Michael,
Words can not fully express how frustrated this makes me! But I'm not
surprised! I do feel we are on the verge of exposing this criminal Bush and
his thugs. I have been enjoying reading the Mb postings. I tried to
contribute an article but wasn't sure how to do it. I'd like to contribute
this article today:

http://www.profindpages.com/news/2005/06/18/MN987.htm
The whole world is watching!

Jef

"Evil prevails when good men do nothing" -Edmund Burke

On 6/18/05 12:28 PM, "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com> wrote:

> Tom, 
> Thanks
> Michael
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: TSawyer456@aol.com
> Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 14:57:37 EDT
> To: TSawyer456@aol.com
> Subject: Surprise, Surprise
> 
> 
> Surprise, Surprise
> - or - 
> Are There No  Books These People Won't Cook?
> 
> The true US Military death-toll in Iraq:
> Not, as Rumsfeld et al tell us, 1700.
> The real number is 9000+
> 
> _Click here:  TBRNews.org_ (http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1661.htm)
> 
> Tom
> _www.ThomasBSawyer.com_ (http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/)
> 
> 
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 19 03:25:24 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sat Jun 18 13:33:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] More secret memo's that won't go away...
Message-ID: <000801c574b9$36c79b30$5727e440@Harold>

The British papers and AP have gotten their hands on more secret memo's about Blair's concerns and support for War.

http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050618/w061831A.html

It looks more and more like a grudge between the Bush's and Sadam at America's expense!

Later, H
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 19 06:04:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:12:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <337868.1119186288091.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Possible Court Nominees Pose a Quandary for Bush
 
 By Peter Baker
 
 President Bush's advisers are focusing their search for a new Supreme Court justice on a trio of candidates who could present the president with a choice that would help shape his legacy -- pick a reliable conservative to anchor the court for decades or go for history by naming the first Hispanic...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 19 06:06:27 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:14:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <30230074.1119186387511.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 A Senator's Shame
 
 By Eric Pianin
 
 In the early 1940s, a politically ambitious butcher from West Virginia named Bob Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the "Grand Dragon" for...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 19 06:07:04 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:14:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <16039074.1119186425221.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Unease Over Iraq Becoming an Issue for 2006
 
 By Dan Balz
 
 President Bush's policy in Iraq faces growing criticism in Congress, and now it is figuring into the early stages of the 2006 midterm elections. Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) launched his campaign for the Senate last week with a television commercial saying it's time to figure out how to......
 
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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 19 06:09:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:17:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <5480830.1119186592721.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 A must read -
Peace, Love, Liberty, Happiness -
Bill
 
 Emmett Till and a Legacy of Grace
 
 By George F. Will
 
 ALSIP, Ill. -- In a cemetery here, a few miles southwest of Chicago's city limits, Simeon Wright, 62, a trim, articulate semiretired pipe fitter, and a deacon of the Church of God in Christ, recently attended a ceremony at an unquiet grave. The gravestone has a weatherproof locket with a photograph...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061701215.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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Arlington, VA 22201 

© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 19 06:11:16 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:18:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <17997862.1119186676652.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Whether This War Was Worth It
 
 By Robert Kagan
 
 Serious scholars still debate whether the Civil War was necessary, never mind the more obvious "wars of choice" such as World War I, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, the Korean War, wars in Vietnam and Kosovo, and the Persian Gulf War. To a certain brand of American isolationist, even...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061701217.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 06:13:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sat Jun 18 16:20:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese, Ian, Lyle
References: <000701c57488$64520bc0$df25b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <009b01c574d0$a1ef20b0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Wow!  Bravo!!  Kudos!!  Kleig lights!!  Confetti!!!

Time for you to "write the book," as it were.  You are (and always have 
been) a superb writer.

One minor correction.  "Hail to the Chief" is not in my musical vocabulary. 
More like The Beatles or Elton John.  Still, I'm flattered...LOL

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 12:35 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese, Ian, Lyle


> Cheese, Ian, Lyle
>
>
> =======
> Yes, it would be nice to get together.
> =======
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger leans back in his easy chair, takes another long toke of some
> Acapulco Gold he's been saving for 40 years, and thinks...  He pictures
> himself walking into a MB Civic reunion somewhere in LA perhaps, as he
> enters the room he hears calliope music coming from the corner, some guy 
> who
> looks like George Gershwin with glasses and a blble under his arm is 
> playing
> "Hail to the Chef", a takeoff on the usual song in honor of Dom Deloise, 
> in
> another corner at a table is some guy pulling his hair out to the sides 
> then
> smoothing it back down then pulling it out to the sides then smoothing it
> back down yelling "Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!  Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!", 
> in
> another corner is another clown wearing big clown shoes stuffing a roll of
> Bounce in his mouth then pulling it out yelling "Ants!!  No ants!!  Ants!!
> No ants!!", in another corner on a table is a 3 dimensional image of 
> Leonard
> Peltier next to a computer screen with someone sitting there whispering
> "See, I told you we would get you out somehow...", in another corner is 
> some
> guy who has fashioned a set of drums from old vegetable cans and is 
> beating
> them over and over like there is no tomorrow, each time someone tries to
> stop him, he pulls out a gun and shoots them, at another table are a 
> couple
> of people from Florida having a hushed discussion in low tones "What do 
> you
> mean there are no Cubans in LA?  I thought there would be Cubans in LA."
> "Yeah, I thought so too.  Michael said there were Cubans in LA."  "I'm
> homesick."  "Yeah, me too...", at another table is some guy standing there
> dangling his penis at everyone who goes by, Cheeseburger goes and sits 
> near
> him, pulls out his guitar, and quietly begins to strum a forgotten tune, 
> at
> last, he is finally home, the cricket eventually steps up to the 
> microphone
> at the podium, taps it, yells "Is this thing on!!" and goes into his
> routine....  "Yeah, I flew all the way from Texas to get here, boy, are my
> arms tired, ba da bing...!!  Yeah, I love playing the palace, 800 clowns 
> and
> a dangling penis, ba da bing...!!", Cheese watches as two small children
> wearing masks enter the room, walk slowly up to the podium, whisper "Where
> the fuck have you been?" to the cricket, grab him and throw him in a 
> little
> makeshift cage and slowly edge toward the door, Cheese wonders where all
> these people have been all his life, if he only had some costumes and a
> stage somewhere, he just knows he could make a hit play out of it....  He
> takes another toke off the Acapulco Gold, leans back in his easy chair,
> closes his eyes, and laughs to himself quietly, he knows if he shows up at
> the reunion the FBI will follow him there, he must have a costume to elude
> them, he gets up from his chair, walks into the bathroom, and stares in 
> the
> mirror....  "Death warmed over..." he mutters.  Sure, he'll go as that,
> nobody will ever suspect.  He sits back in his easy chair, takes another
> toke of Acapulco Gold, and wonders if Bounce really keeps away vampires 
> and
> demons, he thanks his lucky stars he no longer lives in Rumania, the phone
> rings, it's Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney, and Fallwell, begging Cheese to get 
> them
> into the reunion somehow...  Cheese laughs, calls them all fuckers, and
> hangs up the phone.  He knows he'll have to have his number changed again 
> in
> the morning.  Until then, though, he still has plenty of Acapulco Gold and
> plenty of time to pick out his wardrobe, the phone rings again, it's the
> cricket whispering in a muffled voice begging Cheese to come save him,
> Cheese takes another toke, exhales, and whispers "Where are you?", the
> cricket replies "I don't know, it's dark, it's wet, and it smells", Cheese
> suddenly remembers that he thought the cricket was dead and flushed him 
> down
> the toilet, he gets up from his easy chair, goes into the bathroom, lifts
> the lid to the toilet, and finds a despondent cricket clinging for life to
> the side of the bowl with one hand and holding his cell phone in the 
> other,
> "Asshole" Cheese mutters, "Asshole" the cricket replies, "Wanna toke...?",
> "Sure...", Cheese and the cricket sit back in the easy chair, smoking the
> Acapulco Gold, they fall asleep in each other's arms dreaming of reunions 
> in
> far away lands with a bunch of clowns, "I hope to god they're gonna have
> some food there..." they both mutter in the ether as their stomachs 
> growl...
>
> :|
>
>
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:01:24 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:09:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iran Moderate Says Hard-Liners Rigged
	Election
Message-ID: <20050619150124.E1069A0FBC@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

They seem to be having the same problem we have here in the U.S....


INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 19, 2005
Iran Moderate Says Hard-Liners Rigged Election
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
The third-place finisher said he was being cut out of next week's runoff vote, throwing the race for Iran's presidency into turmoil.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/international/middleeast/19iran.html?ex=1119844800&en=56597d31bf1705ce&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:01:45 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:09:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Two Top Guns Shoot Blanks
Message-ID: <20050619150145.127F011F80C@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 19, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Two Top Guns Shoot Blanks
By FRANK RICH
The boundary between reality and fiction has been blurred by show business, the news business and government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/opinion/19rich.html?ex=1119844800&en=349c5e483523c0fa&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:02:34 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:10:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: What Makes Bill Frist Run?
Message-ID: <20050619150234.D076C83DB7@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 19, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: What Makes Bill Frist Run?
By DAVID BROOKS
Majority Leader Bill Frist seems not so much the leader of the Senate conservatives, but someone who is playing the role.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/opinion/19brooks.html?ex=1119844800&en=fc426ebb716063f8&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:03:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:10:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Decline of Middlebrow Culture (8
	Letters)
Message-ID: <20050619150308.A0490A0F78@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 19, 2005
The Decline of Middlebrow Culture (8 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/opinion/l19brooks.html?ex=1119844800&en=74157b39a583cdb0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:04:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:12:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Taliban Attack Afghan Officials
Message-ID: <20050619150422.510FBA0FD3@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

They're ba-a-a-ck!


INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 19, 2005
Taliban Attack Afghan Officials
By CARLOTTA GALL
Taliban fighters attacked and overran the administration offices and police station of a remote district in southern Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/international/asia/19afghan.html?ex=1119844800&en=53e1d986b0524732&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:06:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:14:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Lawmakers Trying Again to Divide Ninth
	Circuit
Message-ID: <20050619150653.A6AFD13B73B@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 19, 2005
Lawmakers Trying Again to Divide Ninth Circuit
By JONATHAN D. GLATER
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers nine Western states, has issued some rulings to the dismay of conservatives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/politics/19court.html?ex=1119844800&en=4437730e589b8b84&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:07:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:14:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Halliburton Is Given New Prison Contract
Message-ID: <20050619150722.A3D2024AF8B@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

No surprise here...


WASHINGTON | June 19, 2005
Halliburton Is Given New Prison Contract
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, has been awarded $30 million to build a 220-bed prison for terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon announced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/politics/19gitmo.html?ex=1119844800&en=332b09316ca682c4&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:13:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:21:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Rejects Withdrawal
Message-ID: <20050619151322.62A63249BFC@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

ALERT!! This website version of the article omits (deliberately?) an entire CRITICAL quote from Pres. Bush that appears in the print version. That quote reads as follows: "Some may disagree with my decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but all of us can agree that the world's terrorists have now made Iraq a central front in the war on terror." Thus, Bush clearly infers that Iraq was NOT a "central front in the war on terror" UNTIL the U.S. invaded.


WASHINGTON | June 19, 2005
Bush Rejects Withdrawal
By REUTERS
President Bush tried to counter growing impatience with the war by calling it a "vital test" for American security.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/politics/19bush.html?ex=1119844800&en=6351cbcf44b16175&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:14:21 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:21:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Web Hoax, Transformed
Message-ID: <20050619151421.5D4B983D53@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WEEK IN REVIEW | June 19, 2005
A Web Hoax, Transformed
By AMY HARMON
In a classically surreal Internet moment, an e-mail campaign to save PBS that turned into a hoax has suddenly become true again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/weekinreview/19spam.html?ex=1119844800&en=47a3c312faf73312&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:17:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:24:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: What's Their Real Problem With Gay
	Marriage? (It's the Gay Part)
Message-ID: <20050619151710.01305249D23@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

MAGAZINE | June 19, 2005
What's Their Real Problem With Gay Marriage? (It's the Gay Part)
By RUSSELL SHORTO
Maryland's anti-gay-marriage crusaders share this with organizers nationwide: They say they are fighting a disease.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/magazine/19ANTIGAY.html?ex=1119844800&en=899ed95d73eb6601&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 08:17:57 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 18 18:25:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Choose: More Troops in Iraq Will (Help)
	(Hurt)
Message-ID: <20050619151757.4546624AE26@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WEEK IN REVIEW | June 19, 2005
Choose: More Troops in Iraq Will (Help) (Hurt)
By JOHN F. BURNS
At home, politicians are calling for an exit strategy. In Iraq, members of the thinly stretched military want more combat power.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/weekinreview/19burns.html?ex=1119844800&en=88ffb0dd3023b437&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 09:29:48 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 18 19:37:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese's latest
Message-ID: <BEDAEB8C.20E34%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Cheese,
Loved your description of the great gathering with Ian and Lyle, et al
Michael

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 09:32:43 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 18 20:37:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Jef's Surprise
Message-ID: <BEDAEC3B.20E36%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Jef.
It came out well and thanks for the input.
Michael

From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun 18 17:49:44 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 20:37:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Environmental shennanigans
Message-ID: <200506190337.j5J3bc4U015619@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

GET ME REWRITE!
Bush official edited gov't climate-change reports to play up uncertainty

Philip Cooney, a former top oil lobbyist now serving as chief of staff for
President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality, edited scientific
government reports on climate change to exaggerate the appearance of
uncertainty and doubt, according to documents obtained by The New York
Times. Cooney, a lawyer by trade, has no scientific training. Rick Piltz,
a senior associate in the government office that coordinates climate
research (and someone who does have scientific training), resigned in
protest and is now represented by the nonprofit Government Accountability
Project, which released draft reports with Cooney's handwritten edits.
Meanwhile, separate documents from White House deliberations on climate
policy (specifically Kyoto) from 2001 to 2004 reveal that ExxonMobil -- or
rather, the Global Climate Coalition, a trade lobbying group it dominated
-- was heavily involved in said deliberations. Exxon had previously denied
lobbying on Kyoto. "[Bush] rejected Kyoto in part based on input from [the
Global Climate Coalition]," says one briefing note. Oops!

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 08 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5156>

straight to the source: The Guardian, John Vidal, 08 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5157>


Warming up

Yesterday, national science academies from 11 nations cosigned a letter to
the world's leaders, making an unprecedented joint statement: Global
warming is almost certainly caused by human activity; it's the biggest
risk we've ever faced as a species; please #$&!*% do something about it.
Signatories include science organizations from every member of the G8
group of industrialized nations, plus Brazil, China, and India, the three
leading greenhouse-gas emitters in the developing world. The agitated
scientists released the statement a month ahead of the G8's July summit,
where summit leader U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair will push for a strong,
unified statement on climate change. What's more, they spoke up on the
very day that Blair was meeting with President Bush -- a tireless advocate
of, uh, studying the problem more -- in Washington, D.C. Known for his
indifference toward international opinion, Bush was no doubt relieved that
at least the U.S. National Academy of Sciences never signs on to these
things ... oh, wait, this time it did. 

straight to the source: The Independent, Steve Connor, 08 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5158>


BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR
San Francisco named most sustainable city; Houston least

San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Berkeley, Calif., and Seattle took the top
four spots in a new ranking of 25 U.S. cities based on sustainability
practices. Bay Area green group SustainLane created the list after
scrutinizing the metropolises based on 12 criteria, including air quality,
transportation, green building, and land use. Detroit was second to last
and Houston the big loser -- "The city was built on oil and it shows,"
said the report. "Portland and San Francisco and other cities are really
achieving things that are incredible," said SustainLane's Warren
Karlenzig, pointing in particular to their efforts to expand use of
renewable energy. Though Karlenzig says the group's efforts were aimed at
"celebrat[ing] cities' successes" and providing a means by which city
officials and citizens could compare their green efforts, some took the
rankings a bit more seriously. Said No. 2-ranked Portland's mayor Tom
Potter, "[L]et's throw down a green gauntlet."

straight to the source: The Portland Tribune, Jennifer Anderson, 03 Jun
2005 <http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5151>

straight to the source: SustainLane U.S. City Rankings
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5152>


BETWEEN A BUSH AND A WARMED PLACE
G8 climate statement edited into submission to appease U.S.

An action plan on climate change being prepared for July's G8 summit has
been substantially weakened in the lead-up to the meeting, the latest
leaked draft anemic even by the not-terribly-strenuous standards of, uh,
the last leaked draft. References to "setting ambitious targets and
timetables" for cutting globe-warming emissions and calls for funding of
R&D into clean technologies and fuels have been expunged from the
document, and a statement about the world's top scientists calling for
action has been marked with square brackets, meaning the text is
controversial and may be dumped. On the other hand, "zero-carbon" nuclear
power is explicitly endorsed. Some suspect the edits are concessions by
U.K. Prime Minister and G8 meeting host Tony Blair to his ally-cum-daddy
President Bush. But Blair may ultimately be forced to choose between
keeping Bush on board and leading the rest of the G8 industrialized
nations in cooling the planet. Says one climate activist, "The twin
targets of trying to get something done on climate change and getting
George Bush to sign up to it just don't go together." 

straight to the source: Reuters, Jeremy Lovell, 15 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5224>

straight to the source: Reuters, Jeremy Lovell, 16 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5223>


June 16, 2005

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE RIPS AMTRAK 

The House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation
yesterday sent America reeling backwards on the nation's
pressing need for mass transit. Its members voted to slash
funding for Amtrak by 54 percent, to a new low of $550 million
-- a move that almost completely ensures bankruptcy for the
nationwide rail service. 

At the same time, funding levels for aviation and highway
spending would be increased by 6.4% and 5.4%. [1] 

The subcommittee members said its action would "fully support
rail service for 4 out of 5 riders or 80% of Amtrak's
ridership..." But the Administration's own Department of
Transportation inspector general, testified that "intercity
passenger rail needs federal funding between $1.4 billion and
$1.5 billion, plus [a continuation of] existing state
contributions, in order to maintain the status quo" -- and even
this would not be enough "to move the system to a
state-of-good-repair." [2] 

The committee used misleading examples to justify the Amtrak
cuts. Citing the route between Orlando and Los Angeles, the
committee pointed to low airfares between destinations -- but
neglected the fact that the majority of riders on the
Orlando-Los Angeles line are riding between intermediate points,
which lack convenient air service. [3] 

"Practically speaking, there is no difference between the
President's $0 budget and the $550 million that the U.S. House
offered Amtrak today," said Colin Peppard, transportation policy
coordinator for Friends of the Earth. "Amtrak cannot survive on
either. Both numbers are simply a recipe for bankrupting a
system that is more fuel efficient and less polluting than autos
and airplanes." 

Automobiles cause about half the smog and other hazardous air
pollutants in the U.S., as well as consuming almost two-thirds
of the oil used annually; airports in Los Angeles, Chicago, and
the District of Columbia are among the nation's top 10
industrial air pollution sources. [4] 

### 

SOURCES: 
[1] National Association of Railroad Passengers press release,
Jun. 15, 2005, http://ga3.org/ct/B71g7oM1Km3G/.
[2] Ibid. 
[3] Ibid. 
[4] Factsheet: Amtrak, Energy, and the Environment, Friends of
the Earth. 


PUT A LIAR IN YOUR TANK
White House official who edited climate reports moves to Exxon

Philip Cooney, the White House official (and former oil-industry lobbyist)
recently outed for watering down government climate-change reports, has
left his position in the Bush administration to take a new job at ... wait
for it ... ExxonMobil. Now, we know what you're thinking, but you've got
it all wrong. His sudden departure is "completely unrelated" to the
controversy over his editing of research reports, said a White House
spokesflack. His new job at Exxon, which the company declined to describe,
is no doubt also completely unrelated to his willingness to fudge climate
science -- an activity that Exxon has elevated to an art form. ExxonMobil
CEO Lee Raymond is unapologetic about his position that anthropogenic
global warming is a myth and that his company will not be wasting time or
money on clean energy technologies like wind and solar. Cooney should fit
right in. Said David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council,
"Perhaps he won't even notice he has changed jobs."

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 15 Jun 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5209>

straight to the source: The News & Observer, Associated Press, H. Josef
Hebert, 14 Jun 2005 <http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=5211>

new in Gristmill: Lee Raymond, going down with the ship
<http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2005/6/14/115419/991>


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sat Jun 18 17:50:59 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun 18 20:37:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call
Message-ID: <200506190337.j5J3bct9015622@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/227497_paynter08.html

When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white letters 
USMC on their caller ID soon spelled, "Don't answer the phone!"

Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to Axel as soon 
as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his 
17th birthday cake. And soon it was nearly impossible to get the 
seekers of a few good men off the line.

With early and late calls ringing in their ears, Marcia tried using call 
blocking. And that's when she learned her first hard lesson. You can't 
block calls from the government, her server said. So, after pleas to 
"Please stop calling" went unanswered, the family's "do not answer" 
order ensued.

But warnings and liquid crystal lettering can fade. So, two weeks ago 
when Marcia was cooking dinner Axel goofed and answered the call. 
And, faster than you can say "semper fi," an odyssey kicked into action 
that illustrates just how desperate some of the recruiters we've read 
about really are to fill severely sagging quotas.

Let what we learned serve as a warning to other moms, dads and 
teens, the Cobbs now say. Even if your kids actually may want to join 
the military, if they hope to do it on their own terms, after a deep breath 
and due consideration, repeat these words after them: "No," "Not now" 
and "Back off!"

"I've been trained to be pretty friendly. I guess you might even say I'm 
kind of passive," Axel told me last week, just after his mother and older 
sister had tracked him to a Seattle testing center and sprung him on a 
ruse.

The next step of Axel's misadventure came when he heard about a 
cool "chin-ups" contest in Bellingham, where the prize was a free 
Xbox. The now 18-year-old Skagit Valley Community College student 
dragged his tail feathers home uncharacteristically late that night. And, 
in the morning, Marcia learned the Marines had hosted the event and 
"then had him out all night, drilling him to join."

A single mom with a meager income, Marcia raised her kids on the 
farm where, until recently, she grew salad greens for restaurants.

Axel's father, a Marine Corps vet who served in Vietnam, died when 
Axel was 4.

Clearly the recruiters knew all that and more.

"You don't want to be a burden to your mom," they told him. "Be a 
man." "Make your father proud." Never mind that, because of his own 
experience in the service, Marcia says enlistment for his son is the last 
thing Axel's dad would have wanted.

The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for the Folklife 
Festival and Axel was home alone, two recruiters showed up at the 
door.

Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was feeling frazzled and worn 
down by then. The sergeant was friendly but, at the same time, 
aggressively insistent. This time, when Axel said, "Not interested," the 
sarge turned surly, snapping, "You're making a big (bleeping) 
mistake!"

Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another recruiter 
showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the restaurant where Axel 
works. And before Axel, an older cousin and other co-workers knew or 
understood what was happening, Axel was whisked away in a car.

"They said we were going somewhere but I didn't know we were going 
all the way to Seattle," Axel said.

Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities, the recruiters told 
him.

He could pursue his love of chemistry. He could serve anywhere he 
chose and leave any time he wanted on an "apathy discharge" if he 
didn't like it. And he wouldn't have to go to Iraq if he didn't want to.

At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened in the motel and fed 
a little something. Twelve hours later, without further sleep or food, he 
had taken a battery of tests and signed a lot of papers he hadn't gotten 
a chance to read. "Just formalities," he was told. "Sign here. And here. 
Nothing to worry about."

By then Marcia had "freaked out."

She went to the Burlington recruiting center where the door was open 
but no one was home. So she grabbed all the cards and numbers she 
could find, including the address of the Seattle-area testing center.

Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she high-tailed it south, 
frantically phoning Axel whose cell phone had been confiscated "so he 
wouldn't be distracted during tests."

Axel's grandfather was in the hospital dying, she told the people at the 
desk. He needed to come home right away. She would have said just 
about anything.

But, even after being told her son would be brought right out, her 
daughter spied him being taken down a separate hall and into another 
room. So she dashed down the hall and grabbed him by the arm.

"They were telling me I needed to 'be a man' and stand up to my 
family," Axel said.

What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.

Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called the recruiters, Axel's 
signed papers and his cell phone were in the mail.

My request to speak with the sergeant who recruited Axel and with the 
Burlington office about recruitment procedures went unanswered.

And so should your phone, Marcia Cobb advised. Take your own 
sweet time. Keep your own counsel. And, if you see USMC on caller 
ID, remember what answering the call could mean.

Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 
Call her at 206-448-8392 or send e-mail to 
susanpaynter@seattlepi.com.

? 1998-2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 19 11:35:39 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sat Jun 18 21:43:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	George Welle's, WWII  Nagasaki papers to be published ...
Message-ID: <000a01c574fd$b3be7ac0$a427e440@Harold>

A carbon copy of George Weller's censored report on the "wasteland" of Nagasaki have been found by his son.

http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050619/w061915A.html

After dropping The Bomb, no reporters where allowed in the zone, Weller went in disguised as a US Colonel a month later...

Later H
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From lyve at netzero.com  Sun Jun 19 13:22:13 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 18 23:31:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheese, Ian, Lyle
Message-ID: <20050619.132304.10964.152159@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>


...it's pure gold...


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Cheese, Ian, Lyle


=======
Yes, it would be nice to get together.
=======



Cheeseburger leans back in his easy chair, takes another long toke of some
Acapulco Gold he's been saving for 40 years, and thinks...  He pictures
himself walking into a MB Civic reunion somewhere in LA perhaps, as he
enters the room he hears calliope music coming from the corner, some guy who
looks like George Gershwin with glasses and a blble under his arm is playing
"Hail to the Chef", a takeoff on the usual song in honor of Dom Deloise, in
another corner at a table is some guy pulling his hair out to the sides then
smoothing it back down then pulling it out to the sides then smoothing it
back down yelling "Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!  Bozo!!  No, Shakespeare!!", in
another corner is another clown wearing big clown shoes stuffing a roll of
Bounce in his mouth then pulling it out yelling "Ants!!  No ants!!  Ants!!
No ants!!", in another corner on a table is a 3 dimensional image of Leonard
Peltier next to a computer screen with someone sitting there whispering
"See, I told you we would get you out somehow...", in another corner is some
guy who has fashioned a set of drums from old vegetable cans and is beating
them over and over like there is no tomorrow, each time someone tries to
stop him, he pulls out a gun and shoots them, at another table are a couple
of people from Florida having a hushed discussion in low tones "What do you
mean there are no Cubans in LA?  I thought there would be Cubans in LA."
"Yeah, I thought so too.  Michael said there were Cubans in LA."  "I'm
homesick."  "Yeah, me too...", at another table is some guy standing there
dangling his penis at everyone who goes by, Cheeseburger goes and sits near
him, pulls out his guitar, and quietly begins to strum a forgotten tune, at
last, he is finally home, the cricket eventually steps up to the microphone
at the podium, taps it, yells "Is this thing on!!" and goes into his
routine....  "Yeah, I flew all the way from Texas to get here, boy, are my
arms tired, ba da bing...!!  Yeah, I love playing the palace, 800 clowns and
a dangling penis, ba da bing...!!", Cheese watches as two small children
wearing masks enter the room, walk slowly up to the podium, whisper "Where
the fuck have you been?" to the cricket, grab him and throw him in a little
makeshift cage and slowly edge toward the door, Cheese wonders where all
these people have been all his life, if he only had some costumes and a
stage somewhere, he just knows he could make a hit play out of it....  He
takes another toke off the Acapulco Gold, leans back in his easy chair,
closes his eyes, and laughs to himself quietly, he knows if he shows up at
the reunion the FBI will follow him there, he must have a costume to elude
them, he gets up from his chair, walks into the bathroom, and stares in the
mirror....  "Death warmed over..." he mutters.  Sure, he'll go as that,
nobody will ever suspect.  He sits back in his easy chair, takes another
toke of Acapulco Gold, and wonders if Bounce really keeps away vampires and
demons, he thanks his lucky stars he no longer lives in Rumania, the phone
rings, it's Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney, and Fallwell, begging Cheese to get them
into the reunion somehow...  Cheese laughs, calls them all fuckers, and
hangs up the phone.  He knows he'll have to have his number changed again in
the morning.  Until then, though, he still has plenty of Acapulco Gold and
plenty of time to pick out his wardrobe, the phone rings again, it's the
cricket whispering in a muffled voice begging Cheese to come save him,
Cheese takes another toke, exhales, and whispers "Where are you?", the
cricket replies "I don't know, it's dark, it's wet, and it smells", Cheese
suddenly remembers that he thought the cricket was dead and flushed him down
the toilet, he gets up from his easy chair, goes into the bathroom, lifts
the lid to the toilet, and finds a despondent cricket clinging for life to
the side of the bowl with one hand and holding his cell phone in the other,
"Asshole" Cheese mutters, "Asshole" the cricket replies, "Wanna toke...?",
"Sure...", Cheese and the cricket sit back in the easy chair, smoking the
Acapulco Gold, they fall asleep in each other's arms dreaming of reunions in
far away lands with a bunch of clowns, "I hope to god they're gonna have
some food there..." they both mutter in the ether as their stomachs growl...

:|



.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sun Jun 19 13:24:47 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 18 23:33:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] richard in prison???
Message-ID: <20050619.132509.10964.152176@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>

...see you at the bozo show.


Lyle 

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Sun Jun 19 14:21:52 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sun Jun 19 00:31:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rand; China closing in on US military
Message-ID: <20050619.142252.10964.152525@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>

Don't empower the administration-they're going to try anyway to get it all. 

I tend to believe this line more than the article itself:

"The newspaper said the report had probably been leaked to the public to increase support for higher budget allocations for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies." 

Sure China is getting stronger in military buildup, aerospace, GDP. Let them in; discussions, negotiations, win-win...but...so let's bomb 'em, is Bush's ultimate form of strategy. What out for the 'chicken-hawk'.

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Sun Jun 19 14:45:42 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Sun Jun 19 00:53:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rand; China closing in on US military
References: <20050619.142252.10964.152525@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <001301c57518$3e32f900$8a03ca44@CowBox>

Hey Lyle 

China & North Korea are minimum in "cahoots" with this whole nuclear thing & that is pretty frightening in the overall scheme of things.

Later on
Robin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: harry.sifton@sympatico.ca ; mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:21 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Rand; China closing in on US military


  Don't empower the administration-they're going to try anyway to get it all. 

  I tend to believe this line more than the article itself:

  "The newspaper said the report had probably been leaked to the public to increase support for higher budget allocations for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies." 

  Sure China is getting stronger in military buildup, aerospace, GDP. Let them in; discussions, negotiations, win-win...but...so let's bomb 'em, is Bush's ultimate form of strategy. What out for the 'chicken-hawk'.

  Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
  http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Rand article is thought to have been released so the Pentagon can ask for more monies........

  http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20050616-075717-2182r.htm

  H


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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 15:12:19 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 01:20:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Relatives of Some Troops Killed in Iraq Seek Hearings on
	Downing Street Memo By Leo Shane III Stars and Stripes 
Message-ID: <BEDB3BD3.20E7A%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Also see below:    
In a Military Stronghold, a War Hawk Circles Back    ?
Capital Times | Time for an Exit Strategy    ?

    Go to Original

    Relatives of Some Troops Killed in Iraq Seek Hearings on Downing Street
Memo
    By Leo Shane III
    Stars and Stripes

    Friday 17 June 2005

    Washington - Several parents of soldiers killed in Iraq visited Capitol
Hill on Wednesday to ask for congressional hearings on the Downing Street
memo, which one mother called President Bush's "Watergate."

    Critics say the document, which contains minutes from a meeting in July
2002 between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and top aides, shows that
Bush was determined to go to war with Iraq and ignored evidence that showed
the country had no weapons of mass destruction.

    "Military action was now seen as inevitable," the memo reads. "Bush
wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the
conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being
fixed around the policy."

    The memo was first revealed by the Sunday Times of London in May.
Earlier this month, both Bush and Blair dismissed the accusations, saying
that the war in Iraq was justified because Saddam Hussein was ignoring
international law.

    But members of Military Families Speak Out, whose members are relatives
of troops killed in Iraq, said Congress must investigate whether the
president lied to the country to justify military action.

    "This war was based on lies and deception," said Celeste Zappala of
Philadelphia, whose son was killed in April 2004 while providing security
for investigators searching for WMD. "The only way we can understand how
we've come to this disastrous position is to find out what the truth is."

    The group, which has frequently criticized the administration, met with
congressmen and left flyers petitioning for a full investigation at the
offices of Republican House leaders.

    "I envy the parents who support this war, because if I did I'd sleep
better," said Dianne Davis Santorello, a Pennsylvania resident whose son was
killed in August 2004. "But I don't sleep well. My son died for a lie."

    She said the Downing Street memo would "bring down the house of cards"
if lawmakers choose to investigate it, and compared it to the Watergate
scandal which eventually forced President Richard Nixon from office.

    Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., said if true the allegations in the memo
are "shameful" and told the parents, "Those who are responsible should be
held accountable."

    "This clearly wasn't a war of necessity; it was a war of choice," he
said.

    The group also petitioned lawmakers to set a specific date for the full
withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and other
Republicans who last month supported an unsuccessful measure to mandate an
exit date were presented with a certificate of thanks from the group.

    Jones, who plans to introduce similar legislation on Thursday, said he
was "heartsick" at the families' loss and pledged to help them in their
efforts.

    Also on Thursday, Democrats have planned a meeting concerning the memo,
to be followed by a rally outside the White House.

 

    Go to Original

    In a Military Stronghold, a War Hawk Circles Back
    By Paul Richter
    The Los AngelesTimes

    Sunday 19 June 2005

    Jacksonville, NC - With its sprawling military bases and huge population
of military retirees, eastern North Carolina has believed in the Iraq war,
and sacrificed for it, like few other regions.

    But as summer heat has settled over the piney lowlands in recent days, a
debate has unexpectedly come to life about a U.S. mission that is two years
old and counting.

    New doubts and divisions have come into view.

    It started this month, when Republican Rep. Walter B. Jones, an original
supporter of the war, said he had lost confidence in the effort and would
sponsor legislation calling on the administration to more clearly define
how, and when, it intended to bring the war to a close.

    Coming from the staunch conservative who renamed French fries "freedom
fries" on congressional menus, the announcement shocked many.

    Back home, his change of heart brought denunciations and stirred trouble
for Jones within his local Republican Party.

    But it also became clear that others in Nor
th Carolina's 3rd Congressional District were uneasy about the war, for one
reason or another.

    Service members' families, watching violence surge, fear it will drag on
indefinitely. Others worry it is damaging the military - or that it has been
prosecuted foolishly.

    Jones "was right to go after the administration," said retired Marine
Col. Jim Van Riper, a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm who supported the
U.S. presence in Iraq but faulted the war plan. "Rumsfeld and the neo-cons
have fouled it up from the beginning."

    The debate is occurring in a place where support for the military is
apparent to the most casual visitor. The highways around Jacksonville, near
the entrance to the Marines' huge Camp Lejeune, are lined with car
dealerships, military surplus stores, barber shops and other businesses
festooned with American flags. Signs urge Americans: "Honk for the Troops"
and "Pray for Our Heroes."

    As tobacco farming has declined in recent decades, the military has
become more important as a part of the local economy. About 60,000 retirees
live in the 3rd District, which in addition to Camp Lejeune is home to the
Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base,
and New River Marine Corps Air Station.

    But these days, residents' anxieties, as well as their pride, are near
the surface.

    In the steamy parking lot of Jacksonville's Wal-Mart, Christy May, the
wife of a Marine serving in Iraq, loads plastic summertime toys for her kids
into the trunk of her car. She said she thought it would be a mistake to set
a fixed time for withdrawal.

    "History shows that it wouldn't make sense for us to walk away all of a
sudden," said May, 42, of Jacksonville.

    But she also acknowledges that she and her husband, a supply and
logistics specialist, are split over whether the United States should be
there at all. May is particularly anxious on this day, because her husband
told her that insurgents had blown up his unit's communications hardware,
forcing the Marines to travel by ground convoy rather than in aircraft. "I'm
really worried about him today," she said.

    Nearby, Kerri Hassell of Jacksonville, a 32-year-old single mother of
three, said she was worried about the effect the war had on a number of
close friends who were Marines, including one who was godfather to her
children. She said she knew three young Marines who were about to leave the
service. All have doubts about continuing the war, she said.

    "Every one wants it to end," said Hassell, a community college student
with a hairdressing business. "They don't know why they're over there."

    In her view, "the government uses the word 'terror' and it just sends us
all into a frenzy."

    At the same time, the many in the area who support a continued U.S.
effort have been outspoken, and the debate has seeped into local levels of
government.

    Joe McLaughlin, a former Army Ranger who sits on the Onslow County Board
of Commissioners, has proposed having the county board officially declare
its opposition to a fixed withdrawal date. He is pressing to have the board
vote on the issue at a meeting Monday.

    "The worst thing we can do is to announce that we're going to pull out
by a certain date," said McLaughlin.

    Tuesday, McLaughlin called for Jones to resign his post over his
proposal; later in the week, he reconsidered and withdrew that request.

    McLaughlin's stance split the county commissioners. The board's
chairman, Lionell Midgett, argued that picking a fight with Jones could
backfire when the area needed federal money for dredging a wetland or help
in fighting a proposal to cut back military facilities.

    Martin Aragona Sr., the county Republican chairman, said he had been
polling members of a key party committee to decide how to respond to Jones'
proposal. He said all those he'd reached wanted to take a position strongly
opposing Jones. "This is not the time to be second-guessing the commander in
chief," Aragona said.

    Retired Army Maj. Gen. Hugh R. Overholt, who practices law in nearby New
Bern, describes himself as a strong supporter of Jones who "has some
concerns" about setting a fixed date for withdrawing from Iraq.

    But Overholt, a former judge advocate general of the Army, said he was
concerned about what the fight had been doing to the military, both the
reserves and the active-duty force.

    "I'm very concerned about our force," he said. The administration should
do what's required and "get it over as soon as possible."

    The signs of anxiety in North Carolina's military heartland come at a
time when national polls suggest that more Americans are turning against the
war as the insurgency flares and costs to taxpayers show little sign of
abating.

    Meanwhile, a U.S. Congress that has been reluctant to challenge the
administration on the war is suddenly pressing for answers. Jones was joined
last week by a bipartisan group in favor of a proposal that would require
the White House to submit a plan for withdrawal by the end of the year and
to begin troop reductions by October 2006.

    In some ways, Jones' own history shows what makes the issue so tough for
people in his district.

    The son of a 14-term House member, Jones has built his congressional
career in large part on advocacy for the military. He voted to authorize the
war, displays pictures of the dead outside his Capitol Hill office, and has
written condolence letters to the families of hundreds of service members.
The anguish of the families was a major reason he turned against the war.

    "After 2 1/2 years, it's right to take a fresh look," he told reporters
Thursday. "We have a right to ask, 'What are the goals?' "

    The doubts are part of the discussion in other parts of Jones' district,
including the resorts on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, an area that
includes many wealthy areas and newcomers from the North. Sometimes,
arguments here head in a different direction.

    Jack Ubert, a retiree from Amityville, N.Y., who owns a home on the
beach in well-off Emerald Island, N.C., admires Jones for "taking a pretty
tough stance." Yet he fears that in the end the United States will "probably
not win anything" from the Iraq fight - "like in Vietnam."

    "Saddam deserves whatever he gets," said Ubert, but added: "I was never
sure why we had to go in there and dictate to them. It's just like with
nuclear weapons: We think we're the only ones who should have them. We want
to make all the rules."

    The debate is intensifying in North Carolina, as it is in other parts of
the country.

    "Members are hearing more from people who are patriotic and really want
to see this thing turn out right, but are worried about how long it's going
to go on," said Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.). "They don't see that light at the
end of the tunnel."

    Some congressional strategists said that while they still didn't expect
large numbers of Republicans to break with the president over the war, there
was a palpable nervousness as members looked to next year's midterm
elections and worried that opinion might be shifting.

    Lawmakers want the administration to lay out specific goals they can
point to as a way to reassure uneasy constituents, said one Republican
strategist.

    "You're hearing from some members, 'We don't know what these [upcoming]
milestones and markers are,' " said David Winston, a GOP pollster who
advised the congressional Republican leader. What they are seeking is "not
so much an exit strategy, but the sequence of things that are going to move
us closer to safety and security."

    While the public's deepening pessimism is beyond dispute, it is not
clear whether the country has reached a turning point, as it did with the
Vietnam War in 1968.

    Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the
Press, said polls were showing that people were paying close attention to
developments in Iraq, and that the number of people who preferred withdrawal
was steadily rising.

    "What I see in Iraq is a steady drip, drip, drip of eroding support for
the war as the casualties mount and the instability continues," Kohut said.

    Yet he noted that Pew research showed that 52% said the troops should
stay, and he said the polls could still move i
n a more favorable direction. Other polls are more pessimistic.

    "I don't think opinion is entrenched," Kohut said. "There is still a
public capacity to rethink Iraq."

    In North Carolina, public opinion is anything but entrenched. Andrew
deGrandpr?, city editor of the Daily News of Jacksonville, said that
although the city's bonds with the military made it distinctive, the
sentiments resembled the uneasy national conversation.

    "I think deep down this place is a lot like any other in America, and
people have been debating the war and the human cost that's being paid,"
DeGrandpr? said. "Nobody wants to back out  but these questions are out
there."

    -------

    Times staff writer Tyler Marshall in Washington contributed to this
report.

 

    Go to Original

    Time for an Exit Strategy
    Capital Times | Editorial

    Friday 17 June 2005

    When Wisconsin Democrats gathered for their state convention last
weekend, they officially joined a growing national movement for ending the
U.S. occupation of Iraq.

    The resolution passed by the convention was short and to the point:

    * WHEREAS, the "War of Terror" began with an attack on the bases of
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and

    * WHEREAS, the "War on Terror" transmuted into an illegal, immoral,
unnecessary invasion and occupation of Iraq, overthrow of the Iraqi
government and attempts to create a new constitutional regime;

    * THEREFORE, RESOLVED, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin calls for
termination of the occupation at the earliest possible time with the
withdrawal of American troops, coupled with the creation of an international
body that can assist the Iraqi people in freely and peacefully determining
their own future, and that we participate in multilateral reconstruction.

    Of course, critics of the grass-roots Democrats who passed the
resolution would have you believe that this is just partisan carping at a
Republican president.

    But that's just a political smoke screen developed in an attempt to mute
criticism of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and
Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld.

    Sixty percent of Americans, according to recent polling, favor a
responsible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. And Democrats aren't the
only ones following the will of the people.

    In Washington, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who
was one of the top proponents of the war when he believed President Bush's
claims about weapons of mass destruction, joined a group of colleagues
Thursday in introducing a House resolution calling for the president to
announce by year's end a plan for withdrawal of U.S. troops, and to begin
executing that plan by Oct. 1, 2006. Fellow Republican Rep. Ron Paul of
Texas is a co-sponsor, along with Democratic Reps. Neil Abercrombie of
Hawaii and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. A number of other House Republicans have
indicated that they will support some sort of resolution calling for an exit
strategy.

    U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has introduced a Senate bill calling on
the administration to identify its goals in Iraq and to offer a plan and
timetable for achieving those goals and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

    "We owe our brave servicemen and women a concrete timetable for
achieving clear goals, not vague, open-ended commitments," says Feingold.
"Having a timetable for the transfer of sovereignty and having a timetable
for Iraqi elections have resulted in real political and strategic
advantages. Having a timetable for the withdrawal of troops should be no
different."

 


From michael at intrafi.com  Sun Jun 19 15:35:44 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 01:43:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush, Out in the Cold
Message-ID: <19660852.1119220544952.JavaMail.turbine@s76>

This story was sent to you by: michael butler

--------------------
Bush, Out in the Cold 
--------------------


June 19 2005

By this time, believing that global warming is only a theory is akin to saying the same thing about evolution. And just as creationists shouldn't be allowed to remake schools' curriculum on fossils, naysayers on climate change cannot hide from the damage caused by fossil fuels. Both areas of study are backed by robust evidence accepted by scientists around the world. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-warm19jun19,0,599357.story 

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 15:37:13 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 01:44:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] New US Move to Spoil Climate Accord
Message-ID: <BEDB41A9.20E84%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    New US Move to Spoil Climate Accord
    By Mark Townsend
    The Observer UK

    Sunday 19 June 2005

    Extraordinary efforts by the White House to scupper Britain's attempts
to tackle global warming have been revealed in leaked US government
documents obtained by The Observer.

    These papers - part of the Bush administration's submission to the G8
action plan for Gleneagles next month - show how the United States, over the
past two months, has been secretly undermining Tony Blair's proposals to
tackle climate change.

    The documents obtained by The Observer represent an attempt by the Bush
administration to undermine completely the science of climate change and
show that the US position has hardened during the G8 negotiations. They also
reveal that the White House has withdrawn from a crucial United Nations
commitment to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions.

    The documents show that Washington officials:

    * Removed all reference to the fact that climate change is a 'serious
threat to human health and to ecosystems';
    * Deleted any suggestion that global warming has already started;
    * Expunged any suggestion that human activity was to blame for climate
change.

    Among the sentences removed was the following: 'Unless urgent action is
taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic
development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible
long-term changes to our climate and oceans.'

    Another section erased by the White House adds: 'Our world is warming.
Climate change is a serious threat that has the potential to affect every
part of the globe. And we know that ... mankind's activities are
contributing to this warming. This is an issue we must address urgently.'
The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, has dismissed the
leaking of draft communiques on the grounds that 'there is everything to
play for at Gleneagles.' However, there is no doubt that many UK officials
have become exasperated by the Bush administration's refusal to accept the
basic principle that climate change is happening now and is due to man's
activities.

    Earlier this month, the senior science academies of the G8 nations,
including the US National Academy of Science, issued a statement saying that
evidence of climate change was clear enough to compel their leaders to take
action. 'There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is
occurring,' they said.

    It is now clear that this advice has been completely ignored by Bush and
his advisers. 'Every year, it (local air pollution) causes millions of
premature deaths, and suffering to millions more through respiratory
disease,' reads another statement removed by Washington.

    Washington also appears to be unsympathetic towards the plight of
Africa, the other priority singled out by Blair for the G8 Summit in
Gleneagles.

    The documents reveal how the Bush administration has pulled out of
financial pledges to fund a network of regional climate centres throughout
Africa which were designed to monitor the unfolding impact of global
warming.

    'Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Arctic are particularly vulnerable to
climate variability and are starting to experience the impacts,' reads
another excerpt rejected by the US.

    Other crucial schemes ditched by the US include the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) set up to help developing states develop economically while
controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

    According to the documents, the American government has reneged on plans
to 'ensure that the CDM executive board is adequately funded by the end of
2005.'

 

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun 19 16:07:37 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun 19 02:15:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ANTI-SYRIAN SLATE POISED FOR WIN IN LEBANESE
	VOTE
Message-ID: <20050619230737.871621B697@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ANTI-SYRIAN SLATE POISED FOR WIN IN LEBANESE VOTE
WebPosted Sun Jun 19 12:34:16 2005

---A Lebanese opposition alliance appeared to have swept the final round
of elections on Sunday, giving it a parliamentary majority to end decades
of Syrian control over its Middle East neighbour.

A partial count that had not been verified by officials found the
opposition winning in all 28 seats being contested on Sunday.

The vote for the 128-member parliament had been staggered by region over
four weekends.

A worker with opposition coalition leader Saad al-Hariri said the group
was headed toward a landslide victory in Sunday's balloting.

"We'll easily get the 21 seats necessary for the parliament majority,"
the Hariri worker said.

A candidate and pro-Syrian former minister agreed his slate appeared to
have lost.

"What we feared is happening. I think the north has been divided along
sectarian lines," Suleiman Franjieh told Lebanese television.

There was no immediate response from a third contender, Christian ex-
general Michel Aoun.

The unofficial turnout was about 49 per cent, according to television
reports after the polls closed.

Hariri's anti-Syrian slate, mostly Sunni Muslim, is poised for its first
parliamentary majority since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, includes
right-wing Christians and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in his coalition.

 Three main political blocs

Their standings in the legislature coming into Sunday's balloting were 44
seats for Hariri, 35 for the pro-Syrian Shia Muslim groups Amal and
Hizbollah, and 21 seats for Aoun.

Aoun had a surprisingly strong showing in last week's voting. The former
general who lost a war against Syria in 1989 only last month returned
from exile in France to join Hariri's crusade. But rejection from
Hariri's camp pushed him to go it alone.

Hariri drew strength from widespread anti-Syrian feeling after people
believed to be Syria-sponsored agents killed his father Feb. 14.

 Voting along sectarian lines expected

Protests and global pressure then forced Syria to remove its troops from
Lebanon. But the anti-Syrian sentiment has been fractured at the polls as
factions compete for power.

There were about 680,000 eligible voters across the country's north.
People younger than 21 or in the armed forces were not permitted to vote.

Polling station security was heavy as opposing candidates accused each
other of intimidation and buying votes. Lebanon has slightly more Muslims
than Christians and balloting was expected to follow sectarian lines.

"I voted for Aoun because he is clean," said Nabil Mubarak in the largely
Christian town of Batroon.

While in Sunni-dominated Tripoli, Abdul Majid Basheer said he supported
Hariri because he "represents moderation in Lebanon."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun 19 16:09:03 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun 19 02:17:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - MYANMAR DISSIDENT MARKS 60TH BIRTHDAY UNDER
	HOUSE ARREST
Message-ID: <20050619230903.1EEB21B697@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
MYANMAR DISSIDENT MARKS 60TH BIRTHDAY UNDER HOUSE ARREST
WebPosted Sun Jun 19 17:09:34 2005

---Dissident Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 60th birthday Sunday as she has
many of the past 16 years, under military confinement in her decaying
home in the Myanmar capital of Yangon.

                              INDEPTH: The
                           prisoner of Rangoon

But supporters of the pro-democracy leader at home and abroad celebrated
her as a flicker of hope to end more than four decades of military rule
in Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma.

Several hundred supporters met at the offices of her National League for
Democracy party with several foreign diplomats to applaud the release of
10 doves and 61 balloons. They marked the 10 years she has been locked up
and the start to her 61st year.

A separate group of about 12 party members wearing T-shirts with her
photo above the phrase "Set her free" released another flock of 61 doves
at a downtown temple.

Police detained them until they removed the shirts.

"Religious ceremonies and other quiet ceremonies are being held all over
the country," Nan Khin Htwe Myint, a 68-year-old party official, said.

But elsewhere in the country, which has been ruled by the military since
1962, supporters were warned not to celebrate the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate's birthday.



 FROM JUNE 14, 2005: Thai minister says Suu Kyi could be released
 from detention

Suu Kyi is confined under tight security to a run-down house with a front
yard overgrown like a jungle. She is believed to be in good health, but
her only visitors are a woman who cooks and her daughter. Doctors have
not visited since last year.

Radio and state-run television and newspapers are permitted, but not
satellite television to view international channels.

Overseas, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said in a letter that
Suu Kyi's "message of nonviolence" promoting democracy "in the face of
the junta's brutal repression &#8230; inspires people around the world."

In Britain, the spokesman for the London-based Burma Campaign said
global interest had become "quite pathetic" since Suu Kyi's latest
arrest in May 2003.

"We are trying to use the opportunity of Suu Kyi's 60th birthday to
galvanize public opinion and politicians into finally taking some action
on Burma," Mark Farmaner said.



 FROM DEC. 16, 2004: Junta imposes new restrictions on Suu Kyi

The current military junta has ruled since crushing a pro-democracy
uprising in 1988. Elections were allowed two years later but the generals
refused to transfer control after Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi praised her "brave battle for
democracy," former Philippines President Corazon Aquino said she prayed
for Suu Kyi's freedom, and activists in neighbouring Malaysia, Thailand
and Bangladesh issued calls for her release.

The global celebration was aimed to mirror efforts on Nelson Mandela's
70th birthday in 1988 to have him released from apartheid-era jail in
South Africa. Myanmar's mission in Washington was to receive 6,000
birthday cards.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 17:37:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 03:45:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Memos Show British Fretting over Iraq War By Thomas
	Wagner     The Associated Press 
Message-ID: <BEDB5DE9.20E90%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Memos Show British Fretting over Iraq War
    By Thomas Wagner
    The Associated Press

    Saturday 18 June 2005

    When Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser dined with
Condoleezza Rice six months after Sept. 11, the then-U.S. national security
adviser didn't want to discuss Osama bin Laden or al-Qadir. She wanted to
talk about "regime change" in Iraq, setting the stage for the U.S.-led
invasion more than a year later.

    President Bush wanted Blair's support, but British officials worried the
White House was rushing to war, according to a series of leaked secret
Downing Street memos that have renewed questions and debate about
Washington's motives for ousting Saddam Hussein.

    In one of the memos, British Foreign Office political director Peter
Ricketts openly asks whether the Bush administration had a clear and
compelling military reason for war.

    "U.S. scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and al-Qaida is so far
frankly unconvincing," Ricketts says in the memo. "For Iraq, `regime change'
does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam."

    The documents confirm Blair was genuinely concerned about Saddam's
alleged weapons of mass destruction, but also indicate he was determined to
go to war as America's top ally, even though his government thought a
pre-emptive attack may be illegal under international law.

    "The truth is that what has changed is not the pace of Saddam Hussein's
WMD programs, but our tolerance of them post-11 September," said a typed
copy of a March 22, 2002 memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press and
written to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

    "But even the best survey of Iraq's WMD programs will not show much
advance in recent years on the nuclear, missile or CW/BW (chemical or
biological weapons) fronts: the programs are extremely worrying but have
not, as far as we know, been stepped up."

    Details from Rice's dinner conversation also are included in one of the
secret memos from 2002, which reveal British concerns about both the
invasion and poor postwar planning by the Bush administration, which critics
say has allowed the Iraqi insurgency to rage.

    The eight memos - all labeled "secret" or "confidential" - were first
obtained by British reporter Michael Smith, who has written about them in
The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times.

    Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained
the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying
the originals.

    The AP obtained copies of six of the memos (the other two have
circulated widely). A senior British official who reviewed the copies said
their content appeared authentic. He spoke on condition of anonymity because
of the secret nature of the material.

    The Sunday Times this week reported that lawyers told the British
government that U.S. and British bombing of Iraq in the months before the
war was illegal under international law. That report, also by Smith, noted
that almost a year before the war started, they began to strike more
frequently.

    The newspaper quoted Lord Goodhart, vice president of the International
Commission of Jurists, as backing the Foreign Office lawyers' view that
aircraft could only patrol the no-fly zones to deter attacks by Saddam's
forces.

    Goodhart said that if "the purpose was to soften up Iraq for a future
invasion or even to intimidate Iraq, the coalition forces were acting
without lawful authority," the Sunday Times reported.

    The eight documents reported earlier total 36 pages and range from
10-page and eight-page studies on military and legal options in Iraq, to
brief memorandums from British officials and the minutes of a private
meeting held by Blair and his top advisers.

    Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert who teaches at Queen Mary College, University
of London, said the documents confirmed what post-invasion investigations
have found.

    "The documents show what official inquiries in Britain already have,
that the case of weapons of mass destruction was based on thin intelligence
and was used to inflate the evidence to the level of mendacity," Dodge said.
"In going to war with Bush, Blair defended the special relationship between
the two countries, like other British leaders have. But he knew he was
taking a huge political risk at home. He knew the war's legality was
questionable and its unpopularity was never in doubt."

    Dodge said the memos also show Blair was aware of the postwar
instability that was likely among Iraq's complex mix of Sunnis, Shiites and
Kurds once Saddam was defeated.

    The British documents confirm, as well, that "soon after 9/11 happened,
the starting gun was fired for the invasion of Iraq," Dodge said.

    Speculation about if and when that would happen ran throughout 2002.

    On Jan. 29, Bush called Iraq, Iran and North Korea "an axis of evil."
U.S. newspapers began reporting soon afterward that a U.S.-led war with Iraq
was possible.

    On Oct. 16, the U.S. Congress voted to authorize Bush to go to war
against Iraq. On Feb. 5, 2003, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
presented the Bush administration's case about Iraq's weapons to the U.N.
Security Council. On March 19-20, the U.S.-led invasion began.

    Bush and Blair both have been criticized at home since their WMD claims
about Iraq proved false. But both have been re-elected, defending the
conflict for removing a brutal dictator and promoting democracy in Iraq.
Both administrations have dismissed the memos as old news.

    Details of the memos appeared in papers early last month but the news in
Britain quickly turned to the election that returned Blair to power. In the
United States, however, details of the memos' contents reignited a
firestorm, especially among Democratic critics of Bush.

    It was in a March 14, 2002, memo that Blair's chief foreign policy
adviser, David Manning, told the prime minister about the dinner he had just
had with Rice in Washington.

    "We spent a long time at dinner on Iraq," wrote Manning, who's now
British ambassador to the United States. Rice is now Bush's secretary of
state.

    "It is clear that Bush is grateful for your (Blair's) support and has
registered that you are getting flak. I said that you would not budge in
your support for regime change but you had to manage a press, a Parliament
and a public opinion that was very different than anything in the States.
And you would not budge either in your insistence that, if we pursued regime
change, it must be very carefully done and produce the right result. Failure
was not an option."

    Manning said, "Condi's enthusiasm for regime change is undimmed." But he
also said there were signs of greater awareness of the practical
difficulties and political risks.

    Blair was to meet with Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on April 8,
and Manning told his boss: "No doubt we need to keep a sense of perspective.
But my talks with Condi convinced me that Bush wants to hear your views on
Iraq before taking decisions. He also wants your support. He is still
smarting from the comments by other European leaders on his Iraq policy."

    A July 21 briefing paper given to officials preparing for a July 23
meeting with Blair says officials must "ensure that the benefits of action
outweigh the risks."

    "In particular we need to be sure that the outcome of the military
action would match our objective... A postwar occupation of Iraq could lead
to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise. As already made clear,
the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point."

    The British worried that, "Washington could look to us to share a
disproportionate share of the burden. Further work is required to define
more precisely the means by which the desired end state would be created, in
particular what form of government might replace Saddam Hussein's regime and
the time scale within which it would be possible to identify a successor."

    In the March 22 memo from Foreign Office political director Ricketts to
Foreign Secretary Straw, Ricketts outlined how to win public and
parliamentary support for a war in Britain: "We have to be convincing that:
the threat is so serious/imminent that it is worth sending our troops to die
for; it is qualitatively different from the threat posed by other
proliferators who are closer to achieving nuclear capability (including
Iran)."

    Blair's government has been criticized for releasing an intelligence
dossier on Iraq before the war that warned Saddam could launch chemical or
biological weapons on 45 minutes' notice.

    On March 25 Straw wrote a memo to Blair, saying he would have a tough
time convincing the governing Labour Party that a pre-emptive strike against
Iraq was legal under international law.

    "If 11 September had not happened, it is doubtful that the U.S. would
now be considering military action against Iraq," Straw wrote. "In addition,
there has been no credible evidence to link Iraq with OBL (Osama bin Laden)
and al-Qaida."

    He also questioned stability in a post-Saddam Iraq: "We have also to
answer the big question - what will this action achieve? There seems to be a
larger hole in this than on anything."


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 19 19:02:50 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 05:10:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] House prices  After the fall
Message-ID: <BEDB71DA.20EA8%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

House prices

After the fall
Jun 16th 2005
>From The Economist print edition


Soaring house prices have given a huge boost to the world economy. What
happens when they drop?


PERHAPS the best evidence that America's house prices have reached dangerous
levels is the fact that house-buying mania has been plastered on the front
of virtually every American newspaper and magazine over the past month. Such
bubble-talk hardly comes as a surprise to our readers. We have been warning
for some time that the price of housing was rising at an alarming rate all
around the globe, including in America. Now that others have noticed as
well, the day of reckoning is closer at hand. It is not going to be pretty.
How the current housing boom ends could decide the course of the entire
world economy over the next few years.

This boom is unprecedented in terms of both the number of countries involved
and the record size of house-price gains. Measured by the increase in asset
values over the past five years, the global housing boom is the biggest
financial bubble in history (see article). The bigger the boom, the bigger
the eventual bust.

Throughout history, financial bubbles?whether in houses, equities or tulip
bulbs?have continued to inflate for longer than rational folk believed
possible. In many countries around the globe, house prices are already at
record levels in relation to rents and incomes. But, as demonstrated by
dotcom shares at the end of the 1990s, some prices could yet rise even
higher. It is impossible to predict when prices will turn. Yet turn they
will. Prices are already sliding in Australia and Britain. America's housing
market may be a year or so behind.

Many people protest that house prices are less vulnerable to a meltdown.
Houses, they argue, are not paper wealth like shares; you can live in them.
Houses cannot be sold as quickly as shares, making a price crash less
likely. It is true that house prices do not plummet like a brick. They tend
to drift downwards, more like a brick with a parachute attached. But when
they land, it still hurts. And there is a troubling similarity between the
house-price boom and the dotcom bubble: investors have been buying houses
even though rents will not cover their interest payments, purely in the
expectation of large capital gains?just as investors bought shares in
profitless firms in the late 1990s, simply because prices were rising.

Homes as cash machines

One other big difference between houses and shares is more cause for concern
than comfort: people are much more likely to borrow to buy a house than to
buy shares. In most countries, the recent surge in house prices has gone
hand-in-hand with a much larger jump in household debt than in previous
booms. Not only are new buyers taking out bigger mortgages, but existing
owners have increased their mortgages to turn capital gains into cash which
they can spend. As a result of such borrowing, housing booms tend to be more
dangerous than stockmarket bubbles, and are often followed by periods of
prolonged economic weakness. A study by the IMF found that output losses
after house-price busts in rich countries have, on average, been twice as
large as those after stockmarket crashes, and usually result in a recession.

The economic damage this time could be worse than in the past because house
prices are more likely to fall in nominal, not just real terms. Not only do
houses in many countries look more overvalued than at previous peaks, but
with inflation so low, prices would have to stay flat for at least a decade
to bring real prices back to long-run average values. Most important of all,
in many countries this house-price boom has been driven far more by
investors than in the past, and if prices start to dip, they are more likely
to sell than owner-occupiers. In America this could mean the first fall in
average house prices since the Great Depression. Owners who have been using
their home like an ATM to extract cash, or who were relying on rising house
prices to provide them with a comfortable pension, will suddenly realise
that they need to start saving the old-fashioned way?by spending less of
their income.

The Fed frets

The lesson from recent experience in Australia, Britain and the Netherlands
is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, a big rise in interest rates is
not necessary to make house prices falter. This is bad news for America.
Even if prices there initially just flatten rather than fall, this will hurt
consumer spending as the impulse to borrow against capital gains disappears.
It is by encouraging such borrowing that rising house prices have given a
bigger boost to America's economy than elsewhere. Two-fifths of all American
jobs created since 2001 have been in housing-related sectors such as
construction, real-estate lending and broking. If house prices actually
fall, this boost will turn into a substantial drag.

No wonder that the Federal Reserve is starting, belatedly, to fret about
house prices. By holding interest rates low for so long after equities
crashed, the Fed helped to inflate house prices. This prevented a deep
recession, but it may have merely delayed the needed economic adjustments.
Ideally, the Fed should have tried to cool the housing boom by raising
interest rates sooner and by giving clear verbal warnings to buyers, as
Britain's and Australia's central banks have done. Even now some stern words
from Alan Greenspan, the Fed's chairman, could restrain more house-price
inflation.

Of course, by the time American prices begin to fall, probably sometime next
year, they will not be Mr Greenspan's headache. He will have retired and
someone else will be in his job. If weaker house prices push the economy
towards recession, the awkward truth is that America's policymakers will
have much less room to manoeuvre than they did after the stockmarket bubble
burst. Short-term interest rates of only 3% leave less scope for cuts. In
2000, America had a budget surplus. Today it has a large deficit, ruling out
big tax cuts.

The whole world economy is at risk. The IMF has warned that, just as the
upswing in house prices has been a global phenomenon, so any downturn is
likely to be synchronised, and thus the effects of it will be shared widely.
The housing boom was fun while it lasted, but the biggest increase in wealth
in history was largely an illusion.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun 19 21:25:06 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 07:32:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Small World, Big Stakes
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From barbarasiomos38 at MSn.com  Sun Jun 19 21:27:57 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at MSn.com (barbarasiomos38@MSn.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 07:35:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Who Blew the Leads?
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun 19 21:29:34 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (barbarasiomos38@msn.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 07:37:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Three big shots, eight very big shows. Bob Geldof, Bono
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:36:00 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (Biil Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 19 13:44:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] AIDS drugs hit roadblock in Africa
Message-ID: <200506201036.GAA15477@mailhost.boston.com>

 

____________________________________________________________

The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: AIDS drugs hit roadblock in Africa 
Date:     June 20, 2005

"PRETORIA -- African nations are refusing to accept US Food and Drug
Administration approval of generic AIDS drugs, delaying the delivery of
the less costly medicine to patients, according to US, UN, African, and
drug company officials."
____________________________________________________________

To see this recommendation, click on the link below or cut and paste it
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http://www.boston.com:80/news/world/africa/articles/2005/06/20/aids_drugs_hit_roadblock_in_africa

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:52:55 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 14:00:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <11321383.1119264775281.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Israel Agrees To Demolish Its Settlers' Gaza Homes
 
 By Glenn Kessler and Scott Wilson
 
 Rice says Israelis and Palestinians pledge to coordinate plans and "ensure that disengagement proceeds smoothly, without violence."
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:54:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 14:02:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 Watergate and the Two Lives of Mark Felt
 
 By Michael Dobbs
 
 Unlike many of the heroes and villains of the Watergate saga, W. Mark Felt defies easy pigeonholing; he is alternately presented as a courageous whistleblower and a symbol of overreaching ambition.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:56:13 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 14:03:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 Policy Shifts Felt After Bolton's Departure From State Dept.
 
 By Peter Baker  and Dafna Linzer
 
 For years, a key U.S. program intended to keep Russian nuclear fuel out of terrorist hands has been frozen by an arcane legal dispute. As undersecretary of state, John R. Bolton was charged with fixing the problem, but critics complained he was the roadblock.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:57:58 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 14:05:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 Pills for The Poor
 
 By Sebastian Mallaby
 
 Little by little, the world is coming around to two self-evidently good proposals to improve global health. But there's a third, equally great proposal to which nobody pays attention. The contrast shows how corporate preferences, including largely irrational corporate preferences, distort policy...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 20 03:59:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 14:07:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <26169662.1119265187612.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 A 'Sorry' Excuse From Cochran
 
 By William Raspberry
 
 Anybody who claims to understand Mississippi has probably never spent much time there. I'm back in my home state fairly frequently these days, and every visit leaves me both hopeful and despairing.
 
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:02:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:09:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Anti-Syrian Alliance Claims Victory in
	Lebanese Election
Message-ID: <20050620120207.728C6120008@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 20, 2005
Anti-Syrian Alliance Claims Victory in Lebanese Election
By JOHN KIFNER
An anti-Syrian alliance led by the son of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri won at least 21 of 28 parliamentary seats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/international/middleeast/20lebanon.html?ex=1119931200&en=d123c8cfcdb15db3&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:02:11 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:09:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Lost Credit Data Improperly Kept,
	Company Admits
Message-ID: <20050620120211.41A34A0FD8@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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Typical...


TECHNOLOGY | June 20, 2005
Lost Credit Data Improperly Kept, Company Admits
By ERIC DASH
The chief of CardSystems Solutions said the company should not have been retaining consumer records lost to the thieves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/technology/20credit.html?ex=1119931200&en=67f0c6c3b4094dfb&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:03:26 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:11:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Someone Else's Child
Message-ID: <20050620120326.C3F7724AF81@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 20, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Someone Else's Child
By BOB HERBERT
The number of influential American officials who have children in uniform in Iraq is minuscule. It's easy to be macho when you have nothing at risk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/opinion/20herbert.html?ex=1119931200&en=0773a62e9ea8e434&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:03:50 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:11:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Not All Christians Are Conservative (5
	Letters)
Message-ID: <20050620120350.EF57583DC0@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 20, 2005
Not All Christians Are Conservative (5 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/opinion/l20danforth.html?ex=1119931200&en=8f007d007983b2cd&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:04:23 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:12:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iranian Reform Party Hints That It Will
	Support Insider
Message-ID: <20050620120423.8053C2371CD@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 20, 2005
Iranian Reform Party Hints That It Will Support Insider
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
The reform party of Iran hinted that it would throw its support behind the former two-term president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a runoff presidential vote this week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/international/middleeast/20iran.html?ex=1119931200&en=7610276a58a602f1&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:06:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:13:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Libraries Say Yes,
	Officials Do Quiz Them About Users
Message-ID: <20050620120608.3F1FE24AE92@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 20, 2005
Libraries Say Yes, Officials Do Quiz Them About Users
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
A new study commissioned by the American Library Association adds grist to the growing debate in Congress over the government's counterterrorism powers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20patriot.html?ex=1119931200&en=5d11ee8a8abf09fd&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:07:30 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:15:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush's Road Gets Rougher
Message-ID: <20050620120730.DA3C33AE3BF@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 20, 2005
News Analysis: Bush's Road Gets Rougher
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
The president's political authority appears to be ebbing, even within his own party, where members of Congress are increasingly if sporadically going their own way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20assess.html?ex=1119931200&en=db891be310d73c95&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 05:11:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 15:18:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Billy Jack Is Ready to Fight the Good Fight
	Again
Message-ID: <20050620121105.2F30A13B72B@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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Bravo, Billy!


MOVIES | June 20, 2005
Billy Jack Is Ready to Fight the Good Fight Again
By SHARON WAXMAN
Tom Laughlin, who was known for representing society's downtrodden in "Billy Jack," is determined to take on the establishment again, and this time his concerns are not so terribly different.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/movies/20jack.html?ex=1119931200&en=1444b4cf7c1d5265&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 10:36:58 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 20:44:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Clinton adds voice to criticism of Guant
	=?iso-8859-1?q?=E1?= namo
Message-ID: <BEDC4CCA.20F10%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Clinton adds voice to criticism of Guant?namo
>By Lionel Barber and Paul Taylor in New York
>Published: June 19 2005 23:53 | Last updated: June 20 2005 00:17
>>

Bill Clinton has become the most prominent figure so far to add his voice to
criticisms of the US prison camp at Guant?namo Bay in Cuba.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the former president called for
the camp, set up to hold suspected terrorists, to ?be closed down or cleaned
up?.

Mr Clinton joined critics at home and abroad who have singled out the
indefinite detention of prisoners without trial and widespread reports of
human rights violations at Guant?namo. ?It is time that there are no more
stories coming out of there about people being abused,? he said.

Mr Clinton said the test for judging whether harsh treatment of terrorist
suspects was justified was whether it challenged the ?fundamental nature? of
American society. If the answer is Yes, you have already given the
terrorists a profound victory.?

The Bush administration has been rocked by criticism of prisoner abuse at
Guantanamo Bay, which holds more than 500 prisoners, most of them captured
in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr Bush has said that he might be willing to
explore alternatives to the detention centre.

>
>>
>Optimist with plans for making the world a better place
>>
>>     
>

The Clinton Global Initiative will be shorter and more focused than Davos
and easily accessible to all the world leaders in New York for the UN's
September general session.
Go there
>
>

The Guant?namo detainees have been classified as ?unlawful enemy combatants?
rather than prisoners of war and are therefore not subject to the Geneva
Convention or to US law. The US military has admitted to using coercive
interrogation techniques on prisoners but denied that these amount to
torture.

Mr Clinton said uniformed US military personnel had been ?very outspoken?
about abuses at Guant?namo and elsewhere.

Aside from moral issues, there were two practical objections to the US
military abusing prisoners, he said. ?If we get a reputation for abusing
people it puts our own soldiers much more at risk and second, if you rough
up somebody bad enough, they'll eventually tell you whatever you want to
hear to get you to stop doing it.? Mr Clinton was careful to avoid
criticising the administration on the issue of indefinite detention. In
three or four cases, his own administration had resorted to a US law that
allows suspected terrorists to be held beyond the normal length of time
without trial, if bringing an indictment or trial would compromise
intelligence sources.

?It sounds so reasonable but you're the guy that is in prison and you are
not guilty, you could be held there three, four, five years and there has to
be some limit to that,? he said.

>
>>
>Interview transcript: Bill Clinton
>>
>>     
>

The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Lionel Barber and
Paul Taylor of the Financial Times on June 17 with former US president Bill
Clinton at his home in Chappaqua, New York.
Go there
>
>

Amnesty International stoked controversy over Guant?namo Bay by calling it
?the gulag of our time?, however it was criticised for drawing a comparison
between US military prison and Soviet-era labour camps.

Last week, Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, got into similar hot water for
comparing American interrogation techniques to those employed by Hitler and
Stalin's regimes. He later issued a clarification.

During the interview Mr Clinton also discussed his role as special United
Nations representative on tsunami relief and the Clinton Global Initiative,
his plan to bring together politicians and business people to discuss
solutions to some of the world's most intractable problems.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 10:42:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 20:50:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Optimist with plans for making the world a better place
Message-ID: <BEDC4E25.20F11%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Optimist with plans for making the world a better place
>By Lionel Barber and Paul Taylor
>Published: June 19 2005 23:53 | Last updated: June 19 2005 23:53
>>

Former president Bill Clinton is running late, leaving Seamus, his chocolate
Labrador, to pad his way around his home in suburban Chappaqua to greet
visitors.

A cushion on a chair in the living room reads: ?My target in life is to be
the kind of person my dog thinks I am.? Eventually, a trim-looking Mr
Clinton appears, dressed in a red polo shirt and beige slacks, coffee cup in
hand.

Soon he is talking rapidly and passionately about his role as special United
Nations representative on tsunami relief and about the Clinton Global
Initiative his plan to bring together leading politicians and business
people to discuss solutions to some of the world's toughest problems.

The meeting, due to take place in New York in mid-September, sounds
suspiciously like a re-run of the Davos World Economic Forum, the global
elite's annual talkathon in the Swiss mountains. But Mr Clinton demurs. ?We
don't need two Davoses. That's not what this about.?

He adds: ?I am not one of the Davos bashers. I think on balance it's been a
huge net plus.? But on the other hand, ?people are occasionally frustrated
because they are not asked to do anything?.

The Clinton Global Initiative will be shorter and more focused than Davos
and easily accessible to all the world leaders in New York for the UN's
September general session. Participants will be asked to pledge specific
action in one of four areas: the escape from poverty, forging a partnership
between the developed and developing world; religion, conflicts and
reconciliation in the 21st century; climate change; and enhancing
governance.

?That's the difference between this and Davos. I tell people if you just
want to talk, don't come. If you want to talk and learn about these issues
and then, at the end, make a commitment, come because we're going to check
and see if you did it.?

Mr Clinton, ever the can-do optimist, says the opportunity for change is
ready to be seized. ?I figure if we could do this every year for a decade
with somewhere between 500 and 1,200-1,500 people over the course of a
decade, we could really change the world.?

In the world according to Clinton, three seismic non-economic shifts have
occurred s
>
>>
>Interview transcript: Bill Clinton
>>
>>     
>

The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Lionel Barber and
Paul Taylor of the Financial Times on June 17 with former US president Bill
Clinton at his home in Chappaqua, New York.
Go there
>
>
ince the fall of the Berlin Wall that now need to be exploited.

First, more than half the world's people live under governments they voted
for, for the first time in history, ?a truly astonishing statistic,
considering the fact that China is a quarter of the world's population?.

Second, the internet has had explosive growth as a tool of communication.
One example was the Sars epidemic, when Chinese youth ?raised holy hell? on
the internet and forced the government to admit to a health disaster.
Another example was the worldwide response to the Asian tsunamis. ?About 30
per cent of American households gave something and over half of them gave
over the internet.?

The third big development since 1989 is the huge expansion of
non-governmental organisations, known previously in the US as charitable
foundations. He cites the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is
spending a billion dollars on health in India and Africa.

?All three of these things have basically evolved the power and shaped the
common good into the hands of ordinary citizens.?

Mr Clinton jokes that Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, tapped him to
help to raise money for the Asian tsunami effort because his sweet-talk and
contacts meant he could get ?blood out of a turnip?. But his role is deadly
serious and goes well beyond fundraising.

The tsunami relief effort offers a test of international resolve to
instigate change, beyond the clean-up in stricken countries such as
Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It means tackling ethnic and religious conflict but
also building better homes, schools, hospitals and roads and to diversify
their economies. ?To me that's the most thrilling thing of all.?

Mr Clinton pays tribute to Tony Blair and the British-led effort to offer
debt relief to impoverished nations. And he wants to drive home to the
private sector the importance of trade and investment and debt relief and
the role of aid.

Not for the first time during the interview, he returns to defend his record
in office as a p
>
>>
>Clinton slams Guant?namo Bay
>>
>>     
>

Bill Clinton has become the most prominent figure so far to add his voice to
criticisms of the US prison camp at Guant?namo Bay in Cuba.
Go there
>
>
romoter of free trade. He singles out the North American Free Trade
Agreement with Mexico and the trade pact with Jordan. ?I still think I'm
basically a free trader.?

On governance, he concedes that corruption in developing countries is a
serious problem but adds: ?I would say capacity, or lack of capacity, is a
bigger problem than corruption and often leads to corruption.?

By capacity, he means the lack of talented, well-educated people to make a
difference. ?I don't know how many new democracies I've been to in my
relatively brief period of time since the fall of the Berlin Wall since I
was president and afterwards where I thought they had a good, honest
president, bright, committed and maybe 20 to 25 able people helping.?

Mr Clinton says that aside from political leaders such as Mr Blair,
President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and King Abdullah of Jordan, he has
commitments from ?hundreds and hundreds? of business leaders to attend the
inaugural Initiative event.

Among those who have signed up are Rupert Murdoch, News International's
chairman, and Dick Parsons, TimeWarner's chief executive. Google and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are both sponsoring the event.

Time is running short. An aide, who has been anxiously looking at his watch,
is now hovering over Mr Clinton. The former president takes one more
question on Guant?namo Bay. Then he reluctantly winds up, fixing his
visitors with a firm handshake as if to check whether they are the latest
converts to his cause.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
ym_ftymarc_ic_ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=1.html
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 11:10:16 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:18:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Policy Shifts Felt after Bolton's Departure from State
	Dept. By Peter Baker and Dafna Linzer     The Washington Post
Message-ID: <BEDC5498.20F19%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Policy Shifts Felt after Bolton's Departure from State Dept.
    By Peter Baker and Dafna Linzer
    The Washington Post

    Monday 20 June 2005

    For years, a key U.S. program intended to keep Russian nuclear fuel out
of terrorist hands has been frozen by an arcane legal dispute. As
undersecretary of state, John R. Bolton was charged with fixing the problem,
but critics complained he was the roadblock.

    Now with Bolton no longer in the job, U.S. negotiators report a
breakthrough with the Russians and predict a resolution will be sealed by
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at an international
summit in Scotland next month, clearing the way to eliminate enough
plutonium to fuel 8,000 nuclear bombs.

    The prospective revival of the plutonium disposal project underlines a
noticeable change since Bolton's departure from his old job as arms control
chief. Regardless of whether the Senate confirms him as U.N. ambassador
during a scheduled vote today, fellow U.S. officials and independent
analysts said his absence has already been felt at the State Department.

    Without the hard-charging Bolton around, the Bush administration not
only has moved to reconcile with Russia over nuclear threat reduction but
also has dropped its campaign to oust the chief of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) and made common cause with European allies in offering
incentives to Iran to persuade it to drop any ambitions for nuclear weapons.

    Bolton had also resisted using the so-called New York channel for
communications with North Korea, a one-on-one meeting used sporadically
through Bush's presidency and most recently revived in May. And fellow U.S.
officials said Bolton had opposed a new strategic opening to India offering
the prospect of sharing civilian nuclear technology, a move made in March.

    For some of Bolton's fans, the changes appear worrisome, signs perhaps
that the Bush administration may water down some of its most principled
stands without a vocal advocate in the inner policymaking circle. But for
many arms-control advocates and even fellow diplomats, Bolton's departure is
a welcome relief and an opportunity to restore a more pragmatic approach to
international relations.

    "Throughout his career in the first Bush administration, he was always
playing the stopper role for a lot of different issues and even when there
was obvious interest by the president in moving things forward, Bolton often
found ways of stopping things by tying the interagency process in knots,"
said Rose Gottemoeller, a Clinton administration official who worked on
nonproliferation issues. "That's the situation we're seeing dissipate now."

    "He was such a dominant player, he really did take people out of
action," said George Perkovich, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. "Nobody was going to go toe-to-toe with him because
they knew the president loved him."

    Whether the shifting policies reflect Bolton's absence or his absence
reflects shifting policies remains a point of debate. When she took over as
secretary of state in January, Condoleezza Rice moved to sideline Bolton and
reverse some of his approaches, U.S. officials said. By proposing him for
the United Nations, she effectively moved him out of the policymaking center
at the department's Foggy Bottom headquarters.

    "It's less a question of these decisions being taken because John was no
longer in the policy loop," said Robert J. Einhorn, who was assistant
secretary of state for nonproliferation at the beginning of the Bush
presidency. "It's that John was no longer in the Washington-based
policymaking loop because the second Bush administration wants to adopt a
different approach to dealing with the rest of the world."

    Still, other specialists cautioned against overstating the extent of the
changes since Bolton's departure and noted that he was always acting in
concert with the president's broad wishes. "He was a lightning rod because
of his strong and blunt statements," said Daryl G. Kimball, executive
director of the Arms Control Association, an advocacy organization. "But
this Bush administration is not going to become the Adlai Stevenson
administration just because John Bolton has left the State Department."

    The shift in Bolton's role occurred shortly after Bush named Rice as his
second-term secretary of state. As the administration's point man
confronting Iran's nuclear program, Bolton had blocked U.S. support for a
European bid to negotiate a settlement with Tehran, arguing that such talks
would legitimize Iran's clerical regime without stopping any secret weapons
development.

    But Bolton was shut out of Iran after Rice's ascension, according to two
U.S. officials, and his policy was reversed. In early January, officials
from France, Britain and Germany flew secretly to Washington for a
brainstorming session on Iran. Bolton was not invited, European diplomats
said. Instead, they met with Elliott Abrams of the National Security
Council.

    "We weren't the ones who wanted to keep the meeting secret," one
European diplomat said. "It was the American side that didn't want him
there."

    In March, after Bush met with the leaders of France and Germany, Rice
announced that the United States would support the European bid to offer
Iran incentives such as the right to apply for World Trade Organization
membership and to buy badly needed airplane parts in exchange for stopping
any weapons program.

    "When a draft of the announcement was circulated through the interagency
process," one U.S. official said, "Bolton's office wasn't on the list" of
people asked to approve the wording.

    Bolton's departure also ultimately spelled the end of the
administration's campaign against Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director
general leading nuclear inspections in Iran. Administration officials said
the effort was primarily Bolton's crusade despite significant internal
disagreement about investing time and energy in the effort.

    Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Rice's predecessor,
Colin L. Powell, told a Senate committee in April that Bolton went "out of
his way to bad-mouth" ElBaradei and "to make sure that everybody knew that
the maximum power of the United States would be brought to bear against them
if he were brought back in."

    But the campaign backfired and the administration had to drop the effort
this month after gathering no significant support.

    The nuclear dispute with Russia attracted less public attention but
proved important internally. A program designed to dispose of 68 tons of
weapons-grade plutonium stalled in 2003 when agreements expired and the Bush
administration would not renew them unless they included stronger language
holding Russia accountable for any nuclear accidents in its territory and
protecting U.S. contractors building disposal facilities from liability,
even in the case of premeditated actions. Russia refused, and the Bolton-led
talks went nowhere for two years.

    Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici
(R-N.M.), one of the architects of the plutonium program, grew incensed that
such a technical impasse could hold up a program of "global importance." He
showed up at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee last year to berate
Bolton on the matter.

    "I submit that Mr. John Bolton, who has been assigned to negotiate this,
has a very heavy responsibility" for the impasse, Domenici said at the
hearing. "And I hate to say that I am not sure to this point that he's up to
it."

    Rice pressed for the issue to be fixed, leading to a new framework that
the two sides hope to ratify at the Group of Eight summit in Scotland in
July. "I'm pleased," Domenici said, "because I'm finally getting some very
positive feedback."

 

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 11:16:28 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:24:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Buttonwood  An odd time to be rising
Message-ID: <BEDC560C.20F1D%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Buttonwood

An odd time to be rising
Jun 14th 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


Europe?s share prices are rising smartly even though Europe itself seems to
be falling apart


DOES it strike anyone else as odd that European shares are jumping ahead
these days? The future of the euro, perhaps even of Europe, looks more than
a bit uncertain. Each new economic statistic is soggier than the last. Yet
France?s CAC 40 has risen by 1.7% since its citizens voted against the
proposed European constitution, and it touched a three-year high en route.
Frankfurt?s DAX has gone up by 3.5% and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 by
3.1%. America?s S&P 500, meanwhile, has risen by a mere 0.2% and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average has slipped by 0.2%. Looking at total returns,
which include dividends along with share-price movements, the pattern is the
same. And so it has been since before the beginning of the year.

At first glance this looks like another conundrum. Economic growth in the
euro area is likely to be just 1.4% this year, according to the European
Central Bank, and most expect the forecast to be cut again before long. Of
the zone?s biggest economies, Italy is in flat-out recession, while France
and Germany are barely growing, with unemployment of around 10%. Britain,
outside the euro area, has enjoyed good economic growth, but house prices
are now trending down and consumer spending is slowing. Across the Atlantic,
by contrast, the United States is growing at about 3.5% and unemployment is
just over 5%. So, why are European shares doing so well?

The first answer is that they aren?t, exactly. As the chart below shows,
translated into dollars, European shares have done roughly the same as
American shares. The dollar has strengthened by over 12% this year against
the euro, and is likely to strengthen further as the gap between American
and European short-term rates increases.

This means that foreign investors in euro-area shares have seen some of
their profits lost in translation. But the strong euro had been a millstone
around the necks of Europe?s exporters: Italy, of all places, became a net
importer of shoes last year. The weaker euro brings hope of export-led
growth. Among the higher-flying European shares these days, points out James
Barty, head of tactical asset allocation at Deutsche Bank in London, are
those that are most sensitive to exchange-rate moves. These include
Richemont, a luxury-goods maker, whose stock has risen by 13% over the past
month, and capital-goods manufacturers such as SKF, which is up by 7.5%.

A recent shift in expectations about interest rates is another part of the
answer. As recently as a couple of months ago, their likely direction seemed
to be upwards in America and undecided in Europe. Investors now seem to
reckon that the Fed will soon find lower growth a greater threat than higher
inflation and stop hiking interest rates?though a rise looks virtually
certain later this month. Ten-year Treasuries have recently flirted with
yields below 4%. In Europe the ECB is being pressed to cut short rates, and
most expect the Bank of England to lower rates.

When bond yields fall (ie, bond prices rise) and look likely to stay down,
shares tend to look undervalued by comparison?and investors rush in. This is
happening, to some degree, in both America and Europe. But there is a
difference. Europe?s shares are relatively cheaper than American ones to
start with, and its bonds are dearer. Yields on ten-year German Bunds, for
example, are 93 basis points lower than the yield on ten-year Treasuries.
Euro-area shares, meanwhile, are selling for 13 times forecast 2005
earnings, on figures from Deutsche Bank, while S&P 500 shares are trading at
price-earnings (p/e) multiples of 16. So the comparison between dividend
yields and bond yields favours shares even more in Europe than it does in
America.

It is a bit misleading to compare share indices across boundaries, because
their sectoral composition can be quite different. Europe, for example, is
reckoned lighter in growth stocks than America, so some argue that it is
logical for the index to reflect lower p/e multiples. Stripping out sectoral
differences, however, Mislav Matejka, head of European equity strategy at
J.P. Morgan Chase, finds that European shares (excluding health care) sell
at a 15% discount to American shares.

Is that discount justified? Probably not. True, share prices are supposed to
reflect expectations about future profits, and long-term trends favour
America. Productivity is increasing faster there than in Europe and its
working-age population is decreasing more slowly, so a growth gap of some
magnitude is likely to continue. But Europe has the edge in two respects.


First, European firms are better placed to react to their common dilemma:
competition from emerging countries with low wages and high investment
rates, which is also pushing up commodity prices. With virtually full
employment in America, companies cannot squeeze labour costs to compensate;
in fact, unit labour costs are rising. In the euro area, where unemployment
is high, companies can continue to lean on real wages. In addition, while
companies on both sides of the Atlantic have healthy balance sheets after a
couple of years of paying down debt, European firms deleveraged more, says
Luca Silipo, an economist at IXIS CIB in Paris. European profits should
therefore be more robust, despite lacklustre economies, and so should
shares. Indeed, they have been since mid-2004, reckon the team at IXIS CIB.

The second point is that, for all its deservedly bad press, Europe?s
monetary union has done some of what it was supposed to do: make companies
streamline and become more competitive. Germany is the main example of a
country where some tough restructuring has taken place. The current wave of
mergers and acquisitions, which has boosted the share prices of European
firms in recent days, is one sign that whatever the politicians think Europe
has much to gain from consolidation. The ?15.4 billion bid for German bank
HVB by Italy?s UniCredit, agreed on Sunday, is Europe?s biggest cross-border
banking takeover but it will not be the last one.

So should we all race out and buy Siemens shares? If you believe that the
Fed is about to hang up its rate-hiking jersey, then yes, for a bit. But
some of the cannier heads are not so sure. Rolf Elgeti of ABN AMRO warns
that there is a ?significant possibility? that the market is wrong, and that
the Fed will keep raising rates on signs of continued inflationary pressure.
If so, equities could see severe setbacks. And David Bowers of Merrill Lynch
points out that if the euro is weak because markets sniff the end of
restructuring in Europe, or equities look cheap because of lower interest
rates that tell us deflation may be returning, these are hardly positive
signs for an asset class that depends on growth.

At the end of the day, big companies are ever less anchored to the domestic
economy in which they are domiciled anyway. Siemens sells more than half its
products outside Germany; Nokia is a play not on Finland but on global
demand for mobile phones. So Buttonwood?s answer is to look for long-term
investment in anything that is yield-sensitive and selling at fair value
(among utilities, oil and gas, telecoms, insurance), and for short-term
investment among potential takeover candidates?and it doesn?t much matter
whether you buy it in America or in Europe.

Send comments on this article to Buttonwood (Please state whether you are
happy for your comments to be published)

Read more Buttonwood columns at www.economist.com/buttonwood


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 20 11:19:31 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:27:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Destroying PBS
Message-ID: <20050620181931.81E4AB8083@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Destroying PBS
http://www.alternet.org/story/22262

A Bush-appointed political operative says he'll erase bias at PBS ... by inserting bias.
-------------------------------------

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun 20 11:19:57 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:27:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] I thought you would be interested to read this article
	from The Times
Message-ID: <200506201819.j5KIJvB06518@php-web3.wpng.newsint.co.uk.>



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1660300,00.html
                 British bombing raids were illegal, says Foreign Office 
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun 20 11:26:24 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:34:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Nagasaki bomb story gets out,
	60 years on
Message-ID: <20050620182624.EA11CAE3F@mullet.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Nagasaki bomb story gets out, 60 years on
Kenji Hall
Monday June 20 2005
The Guardian


Censored stories written by an American journalist who sneaked into Nagasaki soon after it was razed by a US atomic bomb have surfaced six decades later. They describe a "wasteland of war" and the city's radiation-sickened inhabitants. 

The national Mainichi newspaper this month began serialising George Weller's stories and photographs for the first time since they were lost 60 years ago. After hiring a rowing boat, catching trains and later posing as a US army colonel, Weller, an award-winning reporter for the now-defunct Chicago Daily News, slipped into the devastated city in early September 1945.  

It was about a month after the two A-bomb strikes - the first in Hiroshima and the second in Nagasaki - that led to Tokyo's surrender, ending the war. Weller, who died in 2002, was the first foreign journalist to set foot in the bombed city, which General Douglas MacArthur, head of the US occupation in Japan, had designated off-limits to reporters.  

Carbon copies of Weller's stories, running to about 25,000 words, along with more than two dozen photos were discovered by his son, Anthony, last summer at Weller's apartment in Rome.  

Though he skirted American authorities to get into Nagasaki, Weller submitted his reports to the censors. His stories infuriated Gen MacArthur so much that he ordered their suppression, and the originals were never returned.  

About 70,000 people were killed in the Nagasaki blast. The writer's son told the Mainichi he thought wartime officials wanted to hush up stories about radiation sickness and feared his father's reports would sway American public opinion against building an arsenal of nuclear bombs.  

The first batch of stories were finished just as a delegation of American scientists was to visit the city to test for radiation. In a September 8 1945 dispatch, Weller walked through the city - which he described as a "wasteland of war" - and found evidence to back the claims of radiation fallout being reported by American radio.  

Though thousands of burn victims had died within a week of the attack, doctors were stumped by "this mysterious 'disease X' " that sickened and killed many Japanese as well as allied soldiers freed from prison camps a month later. One woman at a hospital "lies moaning with a blackish mouth stiff as though with lockjaw and unable to utter clear words", Weller wrote.  

The next day, he met a Japanese doctor and X-ray specialist who thought the bomb had showered the population with harmfully high levels of beta and gamma radiation. But nobody could say for sure.  

Weller was 95 when he died in December 2002 at his home in San Felice Circeo, Italy, south of Rome.  

He won the Pulitzer journalism prize, and covered the French Indo-China war in south-east Asia as well as the second world war in Europe. 

Read George Weller's reports from Nagasaki here.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 20 11:27:20 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:35:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush's Environment Chief: From the Oil Lobby to the
	White House to ExxonMobil
Message-ID: <20050620182720.26282.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

michael  ( michael@intrafi.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Bush's Environment Chief: From the Oil Lobby to the White House to ExxonMobil
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/20/1328225
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


The Bush administration worked behind the scenes altering White House and G8 documents to downplay the impact of climate change. White House Council on Environmental Quality chief of staff Phillip Cooney repeatedly edited government climate reports. He used to work for the American Petroleum Institute and now he's left the White House to work for ExxonMobil. We speak to the New York Times reporter who broke the story. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/20/1328225

From ean at sbcglobal.net  Sun Jun 19 21:57:00 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sun Jun 19 21:37:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Robert Fisk: reaction to Hollywood Crusades movie in
	Lebanese theater
Message-ID: <200506200437.j5K4bAhC018567@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


Why Ridley Scott?s story of the Crusades struck such a chord in a Lebanese
cinema

Saturday, 4th June 2005, by Robert Fisk

http://tinyurl.com/brgfv
Long live Ridley Scott. I never thought I?d say this. Gladiator had a
screenplay that might have come from the Boy?s Own Paper. Black Hawk 
Down
showed the Arabs of Somalia as generically violent animals. But when I
left the cinema after seeing Scott?s extraordinary sand-and-sandals epic
on the Crusades, Kingdom of Heaven, I was deeply moved - not so much by
the film, but by the Muslim audience among whom I watched it in Beirut.

I know what the critics have said. The screenplay isn?t up for much and
Orlando Bloom, playing the loss-of-faith crusader Balian of Ibelin, does
indeed look - as The Independent cruelly observed - like a backpacker
touring the Middle East in a gap year.

But there is an integrity about its portrayal of the Crusades which, while
fitting neatly into our contemporary view of the Middle East - the
moderate crusaders are overtaken by crazed neo-conservative barons while
Saladin is taunted by a dangerously al-Qa?ida-like warrior - treats the
Muslims as men of honour who can show generosity as well as ruthlessness
to their enemies.

It was certainly a revelation to sit through Kingdom of Heaven not in
London or New York but in Beirut, in the Middle East itself, among Muslims
- most of them in their 20s - who were watching historical events that
took place only a couple of hundred miles from us. How would the audience
react when the Knights Templars went on their orgy of rape and
head-chopping among the innocent Muslim villagers of the Holy Land, when
they advanced, covered in gore, to murder Saladin?s beautiful, chadored
sister? I must admit, I held my breath a few times.

I need not have bothered. When the leprous King of Jerusalem - his face
covered in a steel mask to spare his followers the ordeal of looking at
his decomposition - falls fatally ill after honourably preventing a battle
between Crusaders and Saracens, Saladin, played by that wonderful Syrian
actor Ghassan Massoud - and thank God the Arabs in the film are played by
Arabs - tells his deputies to send his own doctors to look after the
Christian king.

At this, there came from the Muslim audience a round of spontaneous
applause. They admired this act of mercy from their warrior hero; they
wanted to see his kindness to a Christian.

There are some things in the film which you have to be out here in the
Middle East to appreciate. When Balian comes across a pile of crusader
heads lying on the sand after the Christian defeat at the 1187 battle of
Hittin, everyone in the cinema thought of Iraq; here is the nightmare I
face each time I travel to report in Iraq. Here is the horror that the
many Lebanese who work in Iraq have to confront. Yet there was a wonderful
moment of self-deprecation among the audience when Saladin, reflecting on
his life, says: "Somebody tried to kill me once in Lebanon."

The house came down. Everyone believed that Massoud must have inserted
this line to make fun of the Lebanese ability to destroy themselves and -
having lived in Lebanon 29 years and witnessed almost all its tragedy - I
too founds tears of laughter running down my face.

I suppose that living in Lebanon, among those crusader castles, does also
give an edge to Kingdom of Heaven. It?s said that Scott originally wanted
to film in Lebanon (rather than Spain and Morocco) and to call his movie
Tripoli after the great crusader keep I visited a few weeks ago. One of
the big Christian political families in Lebanon, the Franjiehs, take their
name from the "Franj", which is what the Arabs called the crusaders. The
Douai family in Lebanon - with whom the Franjiehs fought a bitter battle,
Knights Templar-style, in a church in 1957 - are the descendants of the
French knights who came from the northern French city of Douai.

Yet it is ironic that this movie elicited so much cynical comment in the
West. Here is a tale that - unlike any other recent film - has captured
the admiration of Muslims. Yet we denigrated it. Because Orlando Bloom
turns so improbably from blacksmith to crusader to hydraulic engineer? Or
because we felt uncomfortable at the way the film portrayed "us", the
crusaders?

But it didn?t duck Muslim vengeance. When Guy de Lusignan hands the cup 
of
iced water given him by Saladin to the murderous knight who slaughtered
Saladin?s daughter, the Muslim warrior says menacingly: "I did not give
you the cup." And then he puts his sword through the knight?s throat.
Which is, according to the archives, exactly what he did say and exactly
what he did do.

Massoud, who is a popular local actor in Arab films - he is known in the
Middle East as the Syrian Al Pacino - in reality believes that George Bush
is to blame for much of the crisis between the Muslim and Western world.
"George Bush is stupid and he loves blood more than the people and music,"
he said in a recent interview. "If Saladin were here he would have at
least not allowed Bush to destroy the world, especially the feeling of
humanity between people."

Massoud agreed to play Saladin because he trusted Scott to be fair with
history. I had to turn to that fine Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf to
discover whether Massoud was right. Maalouf it was who wrote the seminal
The Crusades through Arab Eyes, researching for his work among Arab rather
than Crusader archives. "Too fair," was his judgement on Kingdom of
Heaven.

I see his point. But at the end of the film, after Balian has surrendered
Jerusalem, Saladin enters the city and finds a crucifix lying on the floor
of a church, knocked off the altar during the three-day siege. And he
carefully picks up the cross and places it reverently back on the altar.
And at this point the audience rose to their feet and clapped and shouted
their appreciation. They loved that gesture of honour. They wanted Islam
to be merciful as well as strong. And they roared their approval above the
soundtrack of the film.

So I left the Dunes cinema in Beirut strangely uplifted by this
extraordinary performance - of the audience as much as the film. See it if
you haven?t. And if you do, remember how the Muslims of Beirut came to
realise that even Hollywood can be fair. I came away realising why -
despite the murder of Beirut?s bravest journalist on Friday - there
probably will not be a civil war here again. So if you see Kingdom of
Heaven, when Saladin sets the crucifix back on the altar, remember that
deafening applause from the Muslims of Beirut.



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun 20 13:27:05 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 19 23:34:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Solar sail gets ready for launch
Message-ID: <20050620_202705_020272.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Solar sail gets ready for launch **
The first solar sail spacecraft will be launched on Tuesday to demonstrate  an elegant way to power interplanetary probes.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4110912.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 12:11:02 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 19 23:54:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What Is Really Obscene
Message-ID: <BEDC62D6.20F26%michael@michaelbutler.com>

 What Is Really Obscene

Michael Butler's Blog

http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html


From TSawyer456 at aol.com  Mon Jun 20 13:26:36 2005
From: TSawyer456 at aol.com (TSawyer456@aol.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 02:23:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
Message-ID: <200506200923.j5K9NWoR019068@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

 
 
In a message dated 6/20/05 12:12:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time,  
michael@michaelbutler.com writes:

What Is  Really Obscene

Michael Butler's Blog



Amen, Michael:
 
The conservatives ask us to look around at the wonders of our "free market  
economy." Free, my ass. Would that there were a way to measure the success of  
the system without their having kept us in a permanent (manufactured)  state 
of war since 1945.  
 
What continues to boggle is the capacity for denial in our society, eg:  
58,000 poor schmucks killed -- and what, 100,000+ wounded? -- in Vietnam -- for  
absolutely nothing more than to keep the wartime economy going. Oh, and BTW, we 
 KILLED 3.5 million Southeast Asians in the bargain. 
 
But hey, we self-righteously took a continent away from the natives with  the 
belief in "manifest destiny." And going further back, there were the  
Crusades, etc., etc., etc.
 
I am, as I've probably mentioned before, profoundly ashamed of this  country, 
and what we have become. But maybe I should simply be ashamed of my  species, 
whose sole nobility resides in the art it has created. And sadly, I  don't 
see things changing for the better. We seem unable to learn from our  mistakes...
 
All  best,
Tom
_www.ThomasBSawyer.com_ (http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/) 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 20 17:35:19 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 03:43:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. SPENDING ON IRAQ MAY SOON SURPASS KOREAN
	WAR BUDGET
Message-ID: <20050621003519.100E91B699@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
U.S. SPENDING ON IRAQ MAY SOON SURPASS KOREAN WAR BUDGET
WebPosted Mon Jun 20 14:28:15 2005

---Lawmakers in the United States were scheduled to vote on Monday to
approve $45 billion US in additional funding for operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, making the recent Middle East foray more expensive than the
entire Korean War.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress has approved $350 billion, mostly
for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The amount, which includes $82 billion approved last month, is equal
to the total amount in today's dollars spent on the Korean conflict
from 1950-53.

More than 54,000 U.S. troops were killed and 103,000 wounded in that
conflict when the U.S.-led United Nations force pushed back a North
Korean invasion into South Korea.

Monday's bill before the House of Representatives would give the Pentagon
a total of $364 billion, about a three per cent increase, for its
operations for the 2006 budget year that begins Oct. 1.

The proposed budget includes a 3.1 per cent wage increase for soldiers in
order to induce more recruits.

The latest tap on the war chest comes when support for the war continues
to dip: 60 per cent favour at least a partial pullout of U.S. forces,
according to a Gallup poll.

An Associated Press-Ipsos Reid poll put support for President George W.
Bush's handling of the war at 41 per cent, a new low.

The war in Iraq has killed 1,720 U.S. troops and wounded more than
12,000.

Bush told a White House news conference on Monday that young Americans in
Iraq weighed heavily on his mind.

"I think about Iraq every day. Every single day, because I understand we
have kids in harm's way," he said.

To those who have lost family members overseas he said: "One, we're not
going to leave them &#8211; not going to allow their mission to go in
vain. And two, we will complete the mission, and the world will be better
off for it."

For the first time last week, several lawmakers from Republican and
Democrat parties presented a resolution to the House that would require
Bush by year's end to announce a withdrawal plan. It would have to start
by Oct. 1, 2006.

Bush aides have dismissed a timetable, saying Iraqi troops need
strengthening first and that any announcement would encourage rebels to
wait until the coalition leaves.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 20 17:36:34 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 03:44:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - KU KLUX KLAN A 'PEACEFUL' GROUP: MURDER TRIAL
	WITNESS
Message-ID: <20050621003634.18DB01B699@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
KU KLUX KLAN A 'PEACEFUL' GROUP: MURDER TRIAL WITNESS
WebPosted Mon Jun 20 12:38:36 2005

---The Ku Klux Klan is a "peaceful organization" that did a lot of good
in Mississippi over the years, a defence witness said Monday as testimony
wrapped up in a triple-murder trial dating back to 1964.

A ripple went through the courtroom in Philadelphia, Miss., as former
mayor Harlan Majure made that statement.

Majure, who was mayor in the 1990s, also said the part-time preacher
accused of organizing the slaying of three young civil rights workers was
a good man.

 FROM JUNE 13, 2005: 'Mississippi Burning' jurors start arriving


Edgar Ray Killen, 80, faces life in prison if he is convicted in the
deaths of James Chaney, who was black, and his white colleagues Andrew
Goodman and Michael Schwerner.

The three were in Philadelphia to investigate the burning of a church
used to register black voters in the segregated state when they were
ambushed by a gang of Ku Klux Klan members.

Their bodies were found more than six weeks later.

The case was made famous in the 1988 film, Mississippi Burning.

Killen was the only man ever indicted on state murder charges in the
case, but he was never brought to trial on those charges.

Because of a hung jury, he was acquitted on federal charges of
interfering with the three victims' civil rights, though a handful of
other Klan members were convicted.

After Majure's testimony Monday, the nine white and three black jurors
listened to closing arguments from both the prosecution and defence.

"How much time is enough that murder is not a crime anymore?" asked
prosecutor Jim Hood. "How much time should pass before we say it's OK
to murder?"

But Killen's lawyer told the jurors that there was not enough evidence
to convict his client, whom he admitted was once a member of the Ku
Klux Klan.

"He's not charged with being a member of the Klan, he's charged with
murder," said James McIntyre.

The jurors began their deliberations later Monday afternoon.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 20 17:39:21 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 03:47:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - OIL HITS NEW HIGH, FLIRTS WITH $60 US
Message-ID: <20050621003921.5B07E1B699@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
OIL HITS NEW HIGH, FLIRTS WITH $60 US
WebPosted Mon Jun 20 08:57:21 2005

---The price of oil seemed to flirt with $60 US a barrel on Monday as
futures traders pushed crude oil for next-month delivery to yet another
record high, $59.52.

The immediate factors included the kidnapping of six oil workers in
Nigeria, the biggest African producer, where oil flows periodically are
threatened by instability and strife, the Associated Press reported from
Singapore.

The new record price, up $1.03 from Friday's close, was reached in
afternoon trading in New York. Oil futures eventually closed the Monday
session at $59.37 US a barrel, up 90 cents.

"The previous worry was $50-a-barrel oil, and the market has shrugged
that off," Andre Bakhos, president of broker Princeton Financial Group of
North Brunswick, N.J., told Reuters. "Now oil is rising toward the next
hurdle level, which is $60."

Adjusted for inflation, prices remain well below their 1980 peak of more
than $90 a barrel in current dollars. But they're high enough to threaten
many economies with a slowdown, an outcome that even the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries wants to avoid.

OPEC, whose members prefer steady revenue flows and fear a slump in
demand for oil, has been trying to talk down prices by raising an
official production ceiling, a move made less effective by the fact that
it already was pumping more than the officially permitted volumes.

Apart from long-term fears that world oil production has peaked, factors
in the current situation include continuing violence in Iraq, which has
failed to regain pre-invasion output levels, a possible strike by oil
workers in Norway and concern that refineries will be unable to keep up
with demand in the latter part of this year.

"Bulls believe the only thing that can cool the market is an erosion in
demand, but so far there are no signs of this," Energyintel analyst
Matt Piotrowski told the Associated Press. "They also focus on OPEC's
recent meeting as reinforcing the belief that the organization cannot
cool prices."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 20 17:41:18 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 03:49:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ARCTIC SHOREBIRD'S FALLING NUMBERS SPARK
	CONCERNS
Message-ID: <20050621004118.1A0161B699@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ARCTIC SHOREBIRD'S FALLING NUMBERS SPARK CONCERNS
WebPosted Mon Jun 20 12:24:18 2005

---The number of shorebirds seems to be dwindling in the Arctic, causing
potential harm to the eco-system, say scientists who are keeping count.

Research teams with the Canadian Wildlife Service are currently working
in both the Queen Maud Gulf Bird Sanctuary in Nunavut and the Mackenzie
Delta in the N.W.T. to survey breeding shorebirds such as plovers and
sandpipers that aren't hunted.

Scientists are counting shorebirds, which make up more than half the bird
species breeding in the Arctic, to determine their population.



FROM JUNE 2, 2005: U.S. bait industry poses threat to shore birds The
Red Knot shorebird population alone has plummeted from 30,000 to
15,000 birds, said Vicky Johnston, a shorebird biologist with the
wildlife service.

"If it dwindles down to extinction then I think we're all poorer because
of that. They enrich our lives," she said.

"They're part of the food web: They feed a lot of the bird predators,
they feed Arctic foxes and also they are part of the web of life in
that they eat primarily insects. And if you don't like mosquitoes, you
should like shorebirds because shorebird young eat mosquitoes and other
flying insects."

Shorebird surveys conducted on migration routes suggest nearly 80 per
cent of Canadian shorebird species are in decline, the wildlife service
website says.

Since scientists know little about the birds or their habitat, a 10-year
research project across the North aims to fill in the gaps in knowledge.

Researchers hope to: Estimate the population of breeding shorebirds
across the Arctic. Map where the birds are. Find the best habitat for
each species.

This year's work will wrap up in July.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Mon Jun 20 18:20:56 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Mon Jun 20 04:28:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Contracted Security Firms break laws....
Message-ID: <000801c575ff$7c7e9d30$4c27e440@Harold>

US contracted security firms break laws........

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050620/passenger_screening.html?.v=1

This is such as mess, profiteers/opportunists at large ........ it is all about making money .........

Later H
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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 18:42:53 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Mon Jun 20 04:50:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What Is Really Obscene
References: <BEDC62D6.20F26%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <003801c57602$8ad404d0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

you couldnt be more right
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "SPECIAL from Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 3:11 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] What Is Really Obscene


> What Is Really Obscene
> 
> Michael Butler's Blog
> 
> http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 20 18:47:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun 20 04:59:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
References: <BEDC62D6.20F26%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <200506201159.j5KBxRsw019352@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Michael:

According to numerous reports this week, Americans are finally waking up to 
the truth about the war in Iraq, and between young people who refuse to go 
and parents who are worried about sending them, the U.S. military cannot 
recruit new cannon fodder.  So to add to your sad but true litany, one has 
to ask: Who is going to use all the new weapons the U.S. military is so 
hard-up to create?

Also, to add some things both large and small to your "obscene" list:

-It is obscene that almost 2/3 of the population of this planet lives on 
less than $2 per day.  Two-thirds!  Almost four billion people!!! 
(Consider: If you have money in a bank account, money in a wallet, and spare 
change in a dish or jar, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthiest 
people...)

-It is obscene that 70% of the world's population does not have food, 
clothing and shelter simultaneously.

-It is obscene that 8% of the people in the world own or control 89% of the 
wealth of the entire planet.

-It is obscene that the packaging from ONE DAY'S consumption of McDonald's 
products worldwide fills 100 tractor-trailers.

-It is obscene that our planet is polluted by over 111 BILLION 
non-biodegradable cigarette butts per year.

-It is obscene that the U.S. government will not  permit the use of 
marijuana even for scientifically proven medical reasons, but not only 
permits cigarettes (which kill 500,000 per year in the U.S. alone) to remain 
legal, but actually SUBSIDIZES the tobacco industry!

-It is obscene - indeed, beyond obscene; it is arrogant and 
proto-totalitarian in the extreme - for the U.S. to refuse to pay its U.N. 
dues unless the U.N. abides by almost 100 rules dictated by the U.S.!

...I could go on.  Ian to the "rulers" of planet earth - is anyone 
listening?  Is this thing on?

Peace?

Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "SPECIAL from Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 3:11 PM
Subject: What Is Really Obscene


> What Is Really Obscene
>
> Michael Butler's Blog
>
> http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
>
>
> 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 18:56:29 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 05:04:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: What Is Really Obscene
In-Reply-To: <42B72FFA.5080401@cox.net>
Message-ID: <BEDCC1DD.20F5C%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Marsha,
We just keep doing what we must which is continuing to speak out until we
are heard.
Michael

------ Forwarded Message
From: Marsha <marsha.erman@cox.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:07:06 -0500
To: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Subject: Re: What Is Really Obscene

Michael Butler wrote:

> What Is Really Obscene
>
>Michael Butler's Blog
>
>http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html
>
>
>
>
>  
>
Dear Michael,
Exactly right. What is so sad to me are the millions of people , like
you and me, who know these facts to be true but seem utterly powerless
to effect any change.  Save the whales, sure. Try to lobby about all the
trees they're cutting down in Oregon, o.k., great.  Good  people take on
local issues and try to reverse the damage here or there, but it's like
worrying about the effects of lead poisoning residue to your health from
the bullet when you've been shot and are on the street bleeding to
death.  It reminds me of a story I saw on CNN a few weeks ago.  One of
the religious-right maniac senators { I can't remember which one
anymore- they're all starting to look alike to me.} was ranting about
some true comment made by one of the good guys.  I wish I could remember
the issue but I don't.  What I do remember was that it was a true
statement exposing some God-awful thing the U.S. was doing . He called
the good guy irresponsible for making the statement { because it showed
the Bush "Jihad" for what it was}. He denied the accusation {of course}
and compared it to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. We don't want
the public to panic, right?  Clearly this would be an immoral and
insane thing to do if the theater was not on fire.  However if the
theater IS on fire, it would be the correct thing to do.  And, hey, the
theater IS on fire.  THE WHOLE DAMNED GLOBAL THEATER IS ON FIRE.  Will
anyone escape?  Are we doomed?
On Eminem's CD "The Eminem Show", the first song is about "white
America". In this song he refers to "this democracy of hypocracy" and
calls the United States of America " these Divided States of
Embaressment".  So sad.  So true. But what can we do? What can we do?

 


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.7.9/23 - Release Date: 6/20/2005


------ End of Forwarded Message

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 19:00:37 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 05:08:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: What Is Really Obscene
In-Reply-To: <BEDCC2BF.20F5E%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <BEDCC2D5.20F5F%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:00:15 -0700
To: Linda Hassler <lindahassler@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: What Is Really Obscene

Linda,
We just continue to beat the tocsin until we are finally heard. Recall how
long it took for the Vietnam War to be shut down.
Michael
-- Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only
thing that ever has.   Margaret Mead





> Michael, I have enjoyed your last two blog postings. Of course, I
> agree. Things have gotten REALLY BAD. Let us talk of solutions. Let me
> know your thoughts on why the students no longer seem to care enough
> about politics to make rallies - to protest. And of course, neither do
> we adults. But then, adults usually are co-opted into the very
> environment they decry.
> 
> What is your opinion of why there are no protesters that we can see?
> What about the media that doesn't ask the right questions? Do you think
> they simply can't get close enough to the president to ask these
> things? I understand from a Memphis media man that the White House
> press corps is so controlled that their questions must be submitted
> BEFORE the conferences with the president, and we already know the
> current administration 'loaded' the room with at least one imposter...
> that non-media man who was in their employ.
> 
> Leslie, Tucker, and Tucker's wife Amy were in New York City with me
> June 10-14 (I was there from the 7th), and I asked about contacting
> you. Leslie said you weren't going to be there. We got together for the
> first time with my kids' first cousin (one of three from a
> Hassler-Keating marriage of long ago) who lives in Louisianna now but
> was visiting her father in the city.
> 
> Let me hear from you, please, regarding HOW we get our freedom back
> from these tight-fisted demagogues. And answers to the questions of
> where the protests are. Are we too beaten down? Afraid to death of the
> Bush crowd?
> 
> Linda
> 

------ End of Forwarded Message

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 20 19:09:21 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 05:17:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
In-Reply-To: <14113640.1119300535666.JavaMail.lesliehassler@mac.com>
Message-ID: <BEDCC4E1.20F61%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Leslie,

That article I posted a few days ago on the Civic List. It is really a bad
story, just one of so many. I also sent it on to the kids.
I have seriously thought of spending a lot of time outside the USA. Canada,
Mexico and Argentina are much in mind. Also if Michael Dailey gets the Oahu
project together it would be tough to beat that area.
On the other hand I do not want to give up the struggle. We won over Vietnam
War and can win over Iraq. It is going to take a lot of work which will not
come from the politicos nor the media but from us, the people.

XO Michael
--Those who have experienced altered forms of consciousness, by whatever
means, never forget that space in which they have been. Now that they have
learned how to function within the system, it is time they act to run it. MB




> 
> Hey Michael,
> 
>    This is a very good article and it gets better and more intense the further
> you read. Thought your son or anyone with small children would be especially
> interested to read it.
> 
> Leslie
> 
> 
> 
> ummmm...this is very scary.  this country is clearly on a one-way track
> to doom.  we're not only KNOWINGLY poisoning our own, but we're
> poisoning the poor and impoverished of the entire world under the guise
> of global and domestic aide and betterment...and all because the rich
> white men controling this country are deathly afraid of losing the
> ridiculous amount of power and money they already have...and all at the
> risk of destroying happiness and peace for coming generations AND the
> protection of this nation from global powers that might not look kindly
> on this country's selfishness and greed.
> 
> Wanna move to Canada with me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7395411
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I urge you to read this story.  Unfortunately, ABC cancelled the TV clips at
> the last minute, because they claimed the story was too "politically
> controversial", which, to anyone who has been following this story, simply
> means that they weren't willing to risk losing the millions of dollars of
> revenue they receive each year from the vaccine manufacturers.  Apparently,
> they are reconsidering airing the interviews on today's nightly news or 20/20,
> but I'm not holding my breath.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                                  leslie hassler studio
>                                 211 west 20th street
>                              new york city, n.y. 10011
>                                www.lesliehassler.com
>                                      212-645-7971

From ean at sbcglobal.net  Mon Jun 20 21:36:18 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 08:24:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] They Died So Republicans Could Take the Senate 
Message-ID: <200506201524.j5KFOOmr019889@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

They Died So Republicans Could Take 
the Senate 

by Thom Hartmann 
Richard Nixon authorized the Watergate burglary and subsequent 
cover-up to advance his own political ambitions. Because Nixon's lies 
were done for the craven purpose of getting and holding political 
power, his lies - in the minds of the majority of the members of 
Congress - were elevated to the level of impeachable "high crimes and 
misdemeanors." 
Bill Clinton had sex in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, but 
Congress concluded he'd lied about it to maintain political power. 
Another impeachable crime. 
The real scandal of the Downing Street Memos, with the greatest 
potential to leave the Bush presidency in permanent disgrace, is their 
implication that lies may have been put forward to help Bush, 
Republicans, and Blair politically. If Bush lied to gain and keep political 
power, precedent suggests he and his collaborators in the 
administration may even be vulnerable to impeachment. 
Conservatives say the Bush claims of WMD and "mushroom clouds" 
were a "lie of ignorance." Condoleezza Rice periodically does the talk-
show circuit and repeats the "lie of ignorance" myth. "The entire world 
thought Saddam had WMD," she and other Bush representatives 
suggest over and over again. "We had bad intelligence." 
This is a lie to cover up a more damaging lie. "The entire world" was, in 
fact, watching and listening to Hans Blix, who was telling us that he 
couldn't find any evidence of WMD - or any other sort of threat - in 
Iraq. Most of our allies were convinced that Saddam did not have 
WMD, or that if he did have some small stockpiles left they were so 
insignificant and degraded that they were irrelevant. This is why the 
only permanent member of the UN Security Council to join us in 
attacking Iraq was Blair's UK: China, France, and Russia didn't believe 
Iraq represented a threat to them, to us, or even to its neighbors. 
Nonetheless, Bush keeps trying to push this lie-to-cover-up-a-lie. In his 
June 19, 2005 radio address, he suggested that the Saudis who flew 
the planes into the World Trade Center were actually Iraqis. "We went 
to war because we were attacked," he said, hoping Americans' 
memories are short. 
US media pundits, knowing the "WMD lie" and the "Saddam attacked 
us" lie for what they are, mostly suggest that Bush's use of WMD and 
terrorism to justify invading Iraq was a "lie of convenience." The implicit 
assumption is that Bush did this because of a "greater good"; that even 
though he lied, he was doing so to advance America's interests. This 
helps pundits to feel like they're part of an in-crowd elite who know 
what's best for America, even if they can't tell the children - er - 
citizens. 
The "lie of convenience" is based on the neocon argument that the US 
needed a "footprint" in the Middle East to both secure our oil supplies 
and provide military security to Israel. But it ignores the many nations 
in the region where we now have military bases (some huge), the 
power and ability of our navy, and the power of Israel's military. And it 
doesn't explain how our getting bogged down in Iraq could possibly 
advance our interests at home or around the world. 
Often included in the "lie of convenience" mix is the PNAC suggestion 
that for America to be safe, we must forcefully project military power all 
over the world and hold decisive control of the world's largest oil 
supplies. This flies in the face of most of America's history, starting 
with George Washington's farewell address warning against "foreign 
entanglements." It's not only un-American, but is the assumption used 
throughout history to justify empires, and in every single case has 
ended up bleeding dry those empires, consigning them to painful 
contraction or total collapse. 
And neither the "lie of convenience" nor the "lie of ignorance" were 
demonstrably the reasons why Bush invaded Iraq. 
So why then did George W. Bush lie us into invading and occupying 
Iraq? 
We know that Bush wanted to massively cut taxes on his corporate 
sponsors and people, like himself, with substantial inherited fortunes. 
He wanted to weaken government protections of the environment, 
children, the poor, the elderly, the ozone layer, and our nation's forests. 
He wanted his oil-rig and mining-interest friends to have more access 
to public lands. 
We know he wanted to undo Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal by 
stripping the American workplace (particularly government and 
schools) of unions, rolling back "socialist" unemployment and Social 
Security programs, and eliminating SEC and tort restraints on 
predatory corporate behavior. He'd even campaigned on this platform - 
particularly Social Security privatization - back in 1978 when he 
unsuccessfully ran for Congress from Texas. 
We know he wanted to increase the police power of the federal 
government, gut the First and Fourth Amendments, and thus create a 
"safe and orderly nation" of people under constant surveillance, who 
never question those in power. 
We know he wanted to give billions of our tax dollars to churches he 
approved of, and bring their leaders into the halls of government. He 
wanted to pass laws incorporating religious dogma about when human 
life begins, what is appropriate sexuality, and free churches to use tax-
exempt dollars to influence politics. 
It was an ambitious agenda. In order to bring about this 
neoconservative paradise, Bush knew he'd need considerable political 
capital. And that kind of capital didn't come from his being selected as 
President by the Supreme Court. 
Such political capital - such raw political power - would only come, he 
believed, by his becoming a "war president." 
Bush wasn't the first to realize how war strengthened a president in 
power, although the Founders saw it as a danger rather than an 
opportunity. 
On April 20, 1795, James Madison wrote, "Of all the enemies to public 
liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises 
and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; 
from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and 
taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the 
domination of the few." 
Reflecting on war's impact on the Executive Branch of government, 
Madison continued his letter about the dangerous and intoxicating 
power of war for a president. 
"In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive [President] is 
extended," he wrote. "Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and 
emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, 
are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same 
malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of 
fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of 
war...and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by 
both. 
"No nation," he concluded, "could preserve its freedom in the midst of 
continual warfare." 
But freedom wasn't the goal of George W. Bush or his 
neoconservative Republican colleagues. It was political power. And 
they were willing to lie us into a war to achieve it. 
Writer Russ Baker noted in October, 2004, that Mickey Herskowitz, the 
man Bush had originally hired to write his autobiography ("A Charge To 
Keep: My Journey To The White House"), told Baker that George Bush 
was planning his Iraq invasion - to seize and hold political power for 
himself and the Republican Party - during his first presidential election 
campaign. 
"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," Herskowitz told Baker. 
"It was on his mind. He [Bush] said to me: 'One of the keys to being 
seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he 
said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the 
Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to 
invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to 
get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have 
a successful presidency." 
Bush lied, and Americans died. And continue to die. But politically - at 
least so far - it has worked out well for Bush. 
It was a lie of political expediency, with the war resolution carefully 
timed just before the 2002 elections to help the Republicans take back 
the Senate. 
It was echoed and amplified and repeated over and over again to help 
him and other Republicans get elected in 2004. 
It wasn't a war for oil - cheap oil was just a useful secondary benefit. 
It wasn't a war against terrorism - that was just a convenient excuse. 
It wasn't a war to enrich Bush's and Cheney's cronies - those were just 
pleasant by-products. 
It wasn't a war to show Poppy Bush that Junior was more of a man 
than him - that was just a personal bonus for Dubya. 
It was, pure and simple, well planned years in advance, a war to 
solidify Bush and the Republican Party's political capital. 
It was a war for political power. That had to be first. Everything else - 
oil, profits, ongoing PATRIOT Act powers, easy manipulation of the 
media - all could only come if political power was seized and held 
through at least two decisive election cycles. 
The Bush administration lied us into an invasion to get and keep 
political power. It's that simple. 
The same reason Richard Nixon authorized Watergate and then lied 
about the cover-up. The same reason Nixon lied about his "secret 
plan" to get out of Vietnam. 
When Americans - and the US media - finally realize that Bush's lie 
was just to get "political capital," to increase the "discretionary power of 
the President" so he could undo Roosevelt's New Deal and seal power 
across all three branches of government for his Party, they will turn on 
him and his Republican co-conspirators. 
If it comes out in the open before the election of 2006, Republicans 
could even lose the House and the Senate, which would virtually 
guarantee investigations of the many other crimes of the Bush 
administration. (For example, "bribery" is one of two crimes cited in the 
Constitution as grounds for impeachment - and the Big 
Pharma/Medicaid and Big Tobacco/lawsuit settlement cases may 
qualify.) 
Probably the only two things that could slow down the American 
electorate's growing realization of the magnitude and horror of Bush's 
political lies would be another attack on America or a new Bush-led 
war into Syria, Iran, or North Korea. 
Bush has already shown, by lying us into Iraq, that he's at least 
capable of the latter. As Jefferson wrote in a letter to James Madison 
on February 8th 1776, "It should ever be held in mind that insult and 
war are the consequences of a lack of respectability in the national 
character." 
And already the cons are working the talk-show circuit, threatening the 
US with a new attack, and recommending we strike now at Iran or 
Syria. "Be afraid. Be aggressive. Give us more political power." 
But if Jefferson was right when he said that the best defense of 
democracy was an informed electorate, there is still a small window of 
opportunity for the American press to do the job they've been so 
carefully avoiding these past five years. 
Instead of just reporting that the Downing Street Minutes and memos 
exist, they can highlight them against the timeline of Bush repeatedly 
lying during those days before the war. They can quote him saying that 
he had no plans for war, was working toward peace, and only wanted 
Congressional authorization to avoid a war, and point out that this was 
all after - months after - his administration had told the British that war 
was a sure thing. 
Lying, in other words, to get us to go along with an invasion that would 
cement in Republican control of the Congress and the White House, 
and, thus, also the courts. Lying for nothing more than "political 
capital." 
Let us hope our Fourth Estate is up to the task. 
Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored 
Award-winning best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated 
daily progressive talk show and a morning progressive talk show on 
KPOJ in Portland, Oregon. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent 
books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection," 
"We The People," "The Edison Gene", and "What Would Jefferson 
Do?
                                 ###

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 03:37:06 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 13:44:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <16535538.1119350226758.JavaMail.wlogic@sane6>

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 Democrats Block Vote On Bolton
 
 By Charles Babington and Jim VandeHei
 
 The Senate on Monday refused for a second time to confirm John R. Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, prompting his supporters to urge President Bush to bypass Congress and give the controversial nominee a recess appointment.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 03:38:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 13:46:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 GOP Congressman Calls Democrats Anti-Christian
 
 By Mike Allen
 
 Business on the floor of the House was halted for 45 minutes yesterday after Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.) accused Democrats of "denigrating and demonizing Christians," prompting a furious protest from across the aisle.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 03:40:22 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 13:48:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
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 How Cheney Fooled Himself
 
 By E. J. Dionne Jr.
 
 President Bush planted the seeds of the destruction of his Iraq policy before the war started. Salvaging the venture will require an unprecedented degree of candor and realism from a White House that was never willing to admit -- even to itself -- how large an undertaking it was asking the American...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 03:42:11 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 13:49:55 2005
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 The Heat Is On  In Guantanamo
 
 By Eugene Robinson
 
 If you're in the sleepy town of Guantanamo with an afternoon to kill, as I once found myself, you can get a taxi driver to take you out to an overlook from which one can glimpse parts of America's oldest overseas naval base, shimmering in the convection-oven midday heat that bakes the life out of...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 03:44:10 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 13:51:53 2005
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 There's Progress in Iraq
 
 By Kofi Annan
 
 Today I am traveling to Brussels to join representatives of more than 80 governments and institutions in sending a loud and clear message of support for the political transition in Iraq.
 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun 21 05:20:36 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 15:28:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ANTI-SYRIAN POLITICIAN KILLED IN BOMBING
Message-ID: <20050621122036.D92441B69B@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
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____________________________________________________
ANTI-SYRIAN POLITICIAN KILLED IN BOMBING
WebPosted Tue Jun 21 04:46:22 2005

---A politician highly critical of Syria was killed by a bomb Tuesday in
Lebanon, a day after an anti-Syrian opposition won a majority in
parliament.

George Hawi, a Christian who often spoke out against Damascus meddling in
Lebanon's affairs, died instantly as he rode in his car through the Wata
Musaitbi neighbourhood of Beirut.

The bomb was apparently placed under the passenger seat of Hawi's
Mercedes and was detonated by remote control, security sources told
Reuters. The driver apparently escaped serious injuries.

Hawi, a former Communist Party chief, became the second prominent anti-
Syrian figure to be killed this month.

On June 2, Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, known for writing columns
highly critical of Syria, was killed when a bomb placed in his car
exploded in Beirut.

"We are stunned," Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters. "With every
achievement by the Lebanese state, we see that there are those who want
to target security and send messages of this sort."



 FROM JUNE 20, 2005: Anti-Syrian slate wins Lebanese election

Hawi's killing comes as the anti-Syrian coalition led by Saad Hariri, the
son of former Lebanon prime minister Rafik Hariri, earned a majority of
72 seats in the 128-member legislature.

Rafik Hariri was killed in a truck bomb in February.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun 21 05:22:03 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 20 15:30:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - 1ST KUWAITI WOMAN MP SWORN IN 
Message-ID: <20050621122203.D332169AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
1ST KUWAITI WOMAN MP SWORN IN 
WebPosted Mon Jun 20 10:33:20 2005

---Islamist and conservative politicians shouted in protest as
Massouma al-Mubarak, Kuwait's first woman member of parliament, was
sworn in on Monday.

The ceremony followed last month's legislation giving women the
right to vote.

Mubarak, the new planning minister and minister of state for
administrative development affairs, is the only member of the minority
Shia Muslim community in the 16-member cabinet.

"It's a great day for Kuwaiti women who have struggled and persevered
persistently to gain their full political rights," Mubarak, 57, told
parliament after being sworn in.

"In my name and in the name of Kuwait's women &#8230; we greatly
appreciate the honest efforts exerted in support of the legitimate
demands of Kuwaiti women," she said.

Islamist and conservative MPs opposed to the legislation shouted during
her speech.

They claim Mubarak's appointment is unconstitutional, saying she failed
to register on a voters' list, which is a requirement to become a
cabinet minister.

But Mubarak couldn't register because the legislation giving women the
right to vote hadn't been passed.

The prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, defended the
appointment of Mubarak.

"I would like to tell you that I am not registered, if there is a law
against this, then we [unregistered cabinet members] will all have to
walk out of this parliament," he said.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 21 06:03:01 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:10:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Black Market in Stolen Credit Card Data
	Thrives on Internet
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TECHNOLOGY | June 21, 2005
Black Market in Stolen Credit Card Data Thrives on Internet
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
Despite years of security improvements, credit card and bank account numbers are boldly hawked on the Internet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/technology/21data.html?ex=1120017600&en=8f5abea4fbfee4df&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:12:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Guant=E1namo=27s_Long?=
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OPINION | June 21, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Guantánamo's Long Shadow
By ANTHONY LEWIS
The United States has led the way in fighting for human rights, but mistreating prisoners makes the world see our moral claims as hypocrisy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/opinion/21lewis.html?ex=1120017600&en=e5a2a8165aa57eb2&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:16:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Public Broadcasting Monitor Had Worked at
	Center Founded by Conservatives
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WASHINGTON | June 21, 2005
Public Broadcasting Monitor Had Worked at Center Founded by Conservatives
By STEPHEN LABATON
The decision by Kenneth Y. Tomlinson to secretly retain the monitor is one issue under investigation by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's inspector general.
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From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:19:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Indians Suing Over Royalties Offer a $27.5
	Billion Settlement
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NATIONAL | June 21, 2005
Indians Suing Over Royalties Offer a $27.5 Billion Settlement
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, June 20 (AP) - American Indians suing the Interior Department for more than a century's worth of lost royalties said on Monday that they were willing to settle for $27.5 billion if Congress agreed not to draw the money from other Indian programs.
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 21 06:14:23 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:22:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Some Politics May Be Etched in the Genes
Message-ID: <20050621131423.5F86EA101A@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

I'm not sure why, but this gives me the willies...


SCIENCE | June 21, 2005
Some Politics May Be Etched in the Genes
By BENEDICT CAREY
A team of political scientists is arguing that people's gut-level reaction to social issues is strongly influenced by genetic inheritance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/science/21gene.html?ex=1120017600&en=eefb7fae45a1227f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Tue Jun 21 06:45:53 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Mon Jun 20 16:53:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
Message-ID: <BAY107-F346E87F305396C195D4347B8E80@phx.gbl>


     Michael     Thank goodness you have the correct attitude about "we the 
people."   Margaret Meade also understood the value of ordinary people 
making a stand for what is right and just in our world.  The fantasy of 
"escapism" is always part of the human quality.   Oceans are crossed, 
discoveries of magnitude are made.......but for change , one must stand, 
proud, brave and  outspoken to gather around concerned people who eventually 
will make the differance.  In the 60's we said  "hang in there"       I 
certainly hope that you will.     Marylouise

>From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: Leslie Hassler <lesliehassler@mac.com>
>CC: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
>Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:09:21 -0700
>
>Leslie,
>
>That article I posted a few days ago on the Civic List. It is really a bad
>story, just one of so many. I also sent it on to the kids.
>I have seriously thought of spending a lot of time outside the USA. Canada,
>Mexico and Argentina are much in mind. Also if Michael Dailey gets the Oahu
>project together it would be tough to beat that area.
>On the other hand I do not want to give up the struggle. We won over 
>Vietnam
>War and can win over Iraq. It is going to take a lot of work which will not
>come from the politicos nor the media but from us, the people.
>
>XO Michael
>--Those who have experienced altered forms of consciousness, by whatever
>means, never forget that space in which they have been. Now that they have
>learned how to function within the system, it is time they act to run it. 
>MB
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Hey Michael,
> >
> >    This is a very good article and it gets better and more intense the 
>further
> > you read. Thought your son or anyone with small children would be 
>especially
> > interested to read it.
> >
> > Leslie
> >
> >
> >
> > ummmm...this is very scary.  this country is clearly on a one-way track
> > to doom.  we're not only KNOWINGLY poisoning our own, but we're
> > poisoning the poor and impoverished of the entire world under the guise
> > of global and domestic aide and betterment...and all because the rich
> > white men controling this country are deathly afraid of losing the
> > ridiculous amount of power and money they already have...and all at the
> > risk of destroying happiness and peace for coming generations AND the
> > protection of this nation from global powers that might not look kindly
> > on this country's selfishness and greed.
> >
> > Wanna move to Canada with me?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7395411
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I urge you to read this story.  Unfortunately, ABC cancelled the TV 
>clips at
> > the last minute, because they claimed the story was too "politically
> > controversial", which, to anyone who has been following this story, 
>simply
> > means that they weren't willing to risk losing the millions of dollars 
>of
> > revenue they receive each year from the vaccine manufacturers.  
>Apparently,
> > they are reconsidering airing the interviews on today's nightly news or 
>20/20,
> > but I'm not holding my breath.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >                                  leslie hassler studio
> >                                 211 west 20th street
> >                              new york city, n.y. 10011
> >                                www.lesliehassler.com
> >                                      212-645-7971
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 08:49:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 18:57:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <4056460.1119368987902.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Personal Message:
 Breaking story from Washington Post.
Peace, Love, Freedom, Happiness -
Bill
 
 Democrats Block Vote On Bolton
 
 By Charles Babington  and Jim VandeHei
 
 The Senate on Monday refused for a second time to confirm John R. Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, prompting his supporters to urge President Bush to bypass Congress and give the controversial nominee a recess appointment.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062000402.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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© 2004 The Washington Post Company


From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 21 08:51:29 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Jun 20 18:59:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <3017513.1119369090061.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Indian Leaders Seek to Settle Lawsuit Over Leasing of Land
 
 By Evelyn Nieves
 
 The official battle of the Indian trust fund accounts began nine years ago, when the largest class-action lawsuit against the federal government asked the courts to answer the question that residents of Indian country had been asking officials for decades: How much money had the U.S. government...
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001162.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 08:52:24 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 19:00:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Key vote lost by pro-whaling bloc
Message-ID: <20050621_155224_079441.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Key vote lost by pro-whaling bloc **
Pro-whaling nations lost a fourth vote at the International Whaling Commission meeting - one which could have led to a resumption of commercial whaling.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4114368.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 08:53:10 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 19:00:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bolton denied Senate vote again
Message-ID: <20050621_155310_084108.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Bolton denied Senate vote again **
US Democrats manage to stall a vote on President Bush's nominee for UN envoy for a second time.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4113574.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 09:06:57 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 19:14:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Iran gears up for tense run-off
Message-ID: <20050621_160657_055826.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Iran gears up for tense run-off **
Iran's reformers and hardliners square up ahead of Friday's unprecedented second round presidential election vote.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4114566.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 09:38:53 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 19:46:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: In pictures: Versace art auction
Message-ID: <20050621_163853_018342.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** In pictures: Versace art auction **
The estate of slain fashion designer Gianni Versace is auctioning some of his art collection in London and New York.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/in_pictures/4112626.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 21 09:52:42 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 20:15:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Red & Blue states to divide!
In-Reply-To: <20050621030425.15559.qmail@web50404.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <BEDD93EA.20F79%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Jim Rado 
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:04:25 -0700 (PDT)
To: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Subject: Fwd: Red & Blue states to divide!


Note: forwarded message attached.

Michael good blogs - I thought you had to see the
attachement...it's what you could call a totally
entertaining idea...j


       

------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------- next part --------------
An embedded message was scrubbed...
From: Ira Landgarten <iraland@earthlink.net>
Subject: Red & Blue states to divide!
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 00:21:57 -0400
Size: 4278
Url: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20050621/25089238/attachment.eml
From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Tue Jun 21 10:18:06 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Mon Jun 20 20:25:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Red & Blue states to divide!
In-Reply-To: <BEDD93EA.20F79%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F296462686701A5B9F37EACB8E80@phx.gbl>




      Merci!  Jim Rado.........What FUN!!!!   Michael will be our Governor!  
     Marylouise

>From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>, HAIR List <mb-hair@islandlists.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Red & Blue states to divide!
>Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:52:42 -0700
>
>
>------ Forwarded Message
>From: Jim Rado
>Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:04:25 -0700 (PDT)
>To: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Subject: Fwd: Red & Blue states to divide!
>
>
>Note: forwarded message attached.
>
>Michael good blogs - I thought you had to see the
>attachement...it's what you could call a totally
>entertaining idea...j
>
>
>
>
>------ End of Forwarded Message
>
><< message3.txt >>
>_______________________________________________
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>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 21 10:38:33 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 20:46:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Oil pushed to near $60 level
Message-ID: <BEDD9EA9.20FB3%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Oil pushed to near $60 level
>By Kevin Morrison and Javier Blas in London
>Published: June 20 2005 19:03 | Last updated: June 20 2005 19:03
>>

Oil prices rose close to $60 a barrel on Monday on the threat of an oil
workers strike in Norway, the world's third largest oil exporter, and
deepening market worries about the lack of refining capacity.

The rise to a new nominal high forced the Organisation of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries to consider a new increase in its output ceiling, less
than a week after it increased production by 500,000 barrels a day to 28m
barrels a day. A decision could be made as early as next week.

?We could see prices rise up to $65 [a barrel] if the [Norwegian] strike
goes ahead,? said Deborah White, senior economist energy at Soci?t? G?n?rale
in Paris.

The oil price has risen about $4 or 7 per cent since the Opec meeting when
oil ministers put the blame for high oil prices on constraints in the
refinery sector.

Energy analysts interpreted Opec's comments to mean that the cartel was
unable to reduce oil prices because even if it increased supply, refineries
would still have problems meeting demand. Opec officials have acknowledged
that their strategy could have backfired.

>
>>
>Oil demand puts petroleum price into danger zone
>>
>>     
>

The relentless rise in the oil price over the past seven years towards $60
is a result of the constraints in the supply of oil as global demand has
accelerated, fuelled by strong global economic growth in recent years.
Go there
>
>

?With no obvious supply-side constraint on oil price rises, only a collapse
in demand growth can offer the necessary downward pressure,? said the Centre
for Global Energy Studies, the energy research group.

Should prices rise above $60 a barrel a key technical level energy analysts
predict the high price may still not slow demand or curb economic growth.

?The market is targetting higher and higher prices until we see a demand or
supply response,? said Adam Siemiski, chief energy economist at Deutsche
Bank in New York.

?We are in a new trading range of $55 to $65 [a barrel] instead of $45 to
$55,? said Roger Diwan, managing director of PFC Energy, the
Washington-based consultants. Benchmark US crude futures hit a high of
$59.23 a barrel on Monday and are priced to remain above $60 from September
to April amid concerns that the supply and demand balance will be tight over
the winter period when consumption is at a peak. The futures contract for
August delivery the most heavily traded on Monday hit $60.

Oil demand is expected to rise by 1.8m barrels a day this year.

>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6c75204a-e1b5-11d9-9460-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
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     EMAIL THIS | Close
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 21 10:42:32 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 20:50:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hedge fund folds after over-reaching in US
Message-ID: <BEDD9F98.20FB5%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Hedge fund folds after over-reaching in US
>By James Drummond in London
>Published: June 20 2005 20:20 | Last updated: June 20 2005 20:20
>>

A London-based hedge fund has told investors it is folding due to poor
returns, in a further indication of the difficult trading conditions facing
the $1,000bn (?548bn) hedge fund industry.

Bailey Coates? Cromwell Fund, which at one time had up to $1.3bn in funds
under management, told investors over the weekend that they should redeem
their holdings. Bailey Coates, which was founded two years ago by
specialists in European stocks, over-reached itself in the US.

Returns for the year are flat, according to composite indices, and a number
of funds have closed. Other well-known funds are performing badly.

California-based Marin Capital, a convertible bond arbitrage fund, said last
week it was returning funds to investors because of a lack of opportunities,
while in Singapore, Aman Capital, a macro fund, said it had ceased trading
after sustaining losses in derivatives.

     >
>>
>Stars fail to shine Requires subscription>
>>
>>
>

Hedge funds>
The timing could not be more acute. Just as the Financial Services Authority
is about to float the idea of retail investors having more access to hedge
funds, along comes a salutary warning of the risks involved. Go there
Requires subscription>
>
>
A number of other funds managed by well-known names such as GLG and Vega are
also down in the year to date.

However, in a vote of confidence in the sector, RAB Capital, one of two
listed UK hedge fund managers, said yesterday it was acquiring a specialist
competitor.

RAB, which has about $2bn in assets, said that it was acquiring Cross Asset
Management, an event-driven fund which specialises in merger arbitrage, for
a total of about ?9.5m in cash and stock.

Philip Richards, a co-founder of RAB, said Cross had achieved consistent
returns of 10 per cent a year.

He said the valuation had been arrived at by looking at RAB's enterprise
value and assets under management and applying comparable valuations to
Cross.

"The hedge fund world is a tough world where people expect decent returns.
If those returns are not delivered managers will pay the price.

"But it is a huge extrapolation to say that it is all over in hedge funds.
The truth is that funds which perform well continue to attract capital," Mr
Richards said.

Cross was founded in 1998 and has more than $200m in assets. Mr Richards
said that nearly all of his funds were positive in the year to date, despite
a rocky April and May.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 21 10:48:06 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 20:55:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Gaza pull-out does not reward terror
Message-ID: <BEDDA0E6.20FB9%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
A Gaza pull-out does not reward terror
>By Dennis Roth and David Makovsky
>Published: June 20 2005 20:27 | Last updated: June 20 2005 20:27
>>

On Tuesday Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli and Palestinian
leaders, will hold their second summit in five months. Mindful of the recent
admonition of Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to co-ordinate their
steps on Israeli disengagement from Gaza, they will focus on ensuring a
smooth withdrawal of Israeli troops. If nothing else, the recent increase in
violent incidents in both the West Bank and Gaza should help cement the
teetering ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis.

For Mr Sharon, violent attacks against Israelis in these regions are further
eroding public support for his decision to evacuate Gaza, a decision that
once enjoyed the backing of nearly 70 per cent of the Israeli public and has
now seen a double-digit decline.

At a time when most Israelis continue to view the settlement of 8,000
settlers among 1.3m Palestinians in Gaza as a liability rather than an
asset, why the slide in support? Besides the surge in violence, there are
several explanations. First, the reality of having to remove recalcitrant
settlers from their homes is making the public uneasy as the date for
disengagement approaches. Second, the continuing settler campaign against
disengagement is making greater inroads within Mr Sharon?s ruling Likud
Party. Third, while there is recognition that Mr Abbas, unlike Yassir
Arafat, his predecessor, is against violence, Israelis appear increasingly
concerned about Mr Abbas? approach of trying to co-opt rather than confront
Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction. Israelis see Hamas acting with
growing confidence, believing it can both amass weapons and participate in
parliamentary elections in order to gain leverage.

But, perhaps, the criticism taking the greatest toll on Mr Sharon?s support
is that his withdrawal plan rewards the terrorists and will only invite more
terror. Terror should not be seen as paying off, but this argument is wrong.
Technically speaking, the terror has come from the West Bank and not Gaza.
Nearly 100 suicide bombers infiltrated into Israel during the intifada, only
two of them from Gaza. And, it is Gaza that Israel is leaving, not the West
Bank.

Politically speaking, Mr Abbas ? who consistently railed against the
?militarisation? of the intifada over the last few years ? won an electoral
mandate as he campaigned against violence. Palestinians endorsed his
platform ? which is hardly vindication of the intifada in their eyes. And,
the fact that Hamas, whose leaders were killed in the intifada, never made
Gaza disengagement an objective, is another reminder that this is hardly a
victory for them.

Finally, and most importantly, Israel?s disengagement is about securing
Israel?s future as a Jewish, democratic state and not holding it hostage to
Palestinian behaviour. According to Sergio Della Pergolla, Israel?s leading
demographer, by 2010 if Israel remains in the West Bank and Gaza, there will
be more Arabs than Jews living in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. In such
circumstances, a minority will be controlling a majority. Gaza disengagement
as a first step to a two-state solution can forestall that possibility.
Otherwise, if the Jews are a minority, the new talking point will be ?one
man, one vote, one state? among Israelis and Palestinians will become a
euphemism for the destruction of Israel. The best ?prize? for Hamas, and the
true reward for terror, would be achieving its dream, a one state solution.

Critics of the Gaza disengagement do not have an answer to the demographic
time bomb. They are right to question the risks ? what happens, for example,
if a Hamas still committed to Israeli?s destruction comes to dominate in
Gaza? The Israelis, the Palestinian Authority and the international
community must have real answers.

Ultimately, Gaza disengagement will be the prism through which to look at
the future of revived peacemaking. Palestinians have the opportunity to
prove to the world and Israelis that they can govern themselves and fulfil
their obligations, including on security. Making Gaza work is essential to
being able to demonstrate that what works for Gaza can also be applied to
the West Bank.

Mr Abbas, for his part, must not flinch from preventing Hamas from amassing
arms or torpedoing the ceasefire. The international community must help him
by delivering on aid pledges, while the US, as Ms Rice urged, must actively
work with both sides to meet Israeli concerns about security and Palestinian
concerns about access into and out of Gaza after the withdrawal.

Mr Sharon can also do his part. Without letting Mr Abbas off the hook on his
security responsibilities, he can emphasise Israel?s stake in Mr Abbas?
success. And, in Israel, he can directly take on those who say his policy is
a reward for terror. He has a good case. Leaving Gaza is Israel?s choice,
and it can provide a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Dennis Ross, a former US Middle East envoy, and David Makovsky are fellows
at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Mr Ross is author of The
Missing Peace (FSG) and Mr Makovsky is author of Engagement Through
Disengagement (Washington Institute)
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 21 11:10:00 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 20 21:17:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fresh blow to Bush on Bolton nomination
Message-ID: <BEDDA608.20FBF%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Fresh blow to Bush on Bolton nomination
>By Demetri Sevastopulo and Holly Yeager in Washington
>Published: June 21 2005 00:36 | Last updated: June 21 2005 00:50
>>

The Bush administration on Monday suffered another blow in its campaign to
install John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations after Democrats
again blocked a Senate vote on his nomination.

In a 54-38 vote, Republicans failed for the second time in a month to secure
the 60 votes needed to end debate on Mr Bolton's nomination. Democrats have
vowed to block a vote on the nomination until the White House releases
information that could shed light on whether the former undersecretary of
state for arms control skewed intelligence.

Pat Roberts, a Republican chairman of the intelligence committee,
acknowledged that the vote meant the White House would face a ?pretty tough
climb? getting the Senate to approve Mr Bolton.

The setback raises the prospect that President George W. Bush may give Mr
Bolton a recess appointment presidential approval of an official while the
Senate is in recess which would allow him to serve at the UN until January
2007.

Asked before the vote on Monday whether he would consider a recess
appointment, Mr Bush sidestepped the question, saying the Senate ?ought to
approve John Bolton?. Mr Roberts and George Allen, a Virginia Republican
senator who strongly backs Mr Bolton, acknowledged that a recess appointment
would weaken his standing at the UN.

The White House has accused Democrats of blocking the nomination for
political reasons. ?The Democratic leadership is not interested in more
information,? said Scott McClellan, White House spokesman.

The Democrats want to know whether Mr Bolton obtained the names of US
officials contained in National Security Agency intercept transcripts in
order to spy on his colleagues.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 13:04:22 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 23:12:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Iraq's treasures still being looted
Message-ID: <20050621_200422_007185.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Iraq's treasures still being looted **
Iraq's precious antiquities are being systematically looted for private collectors and resources to halt the trade are limited, finds the BBC's James Menendez.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4114906.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 21 13:41:38 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 20 23:49:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Repatriated child jockeys return
Message-ID: <20050621_204138_012340.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
3000 more remain behind

** Repatriated child jockeys return **
A group of 22 Pakistani children who worked as camel jockeys in the UAE return to Pakistan.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4114966.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Tue Jun 21 14:39:56 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Tue Jun 21 00:47:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Klansman found guilty of manslaughter in '64 slayings
 - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV3B7CD96EF761A781064B5ABE80@phx.gbl>

WoW!!!!    I never thought this would really happen... but it has... they nailed this guy after all of these years for killing three Civil Rights workers..... Ever see the film Mississippi Burning? This is the creep who ordered the killings of the three college students who went south to help register voters.

peace,
barbara

Barbara Siomos <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> has sent you the following web link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8290795/



From lyve at netzero.net  Tue Jun 21 08:06:28 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 21 02:44:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <20050621.080705.23303.174540@webmail35.nyc.untd.com>


Porter Goss, CIA Chief said recently that he knows where Osama Bin 
Laden is, Pakistan, but,Goss says, we can't go after him because we  
respect the "sovereignty" of a foreign nation.  Pakistan, where 
Richard Pearl, Wall Street Journal reporter,was decapitated by Al 
Queda, receives  billions in U.S. aid each year.  The President said 
after 9/11 we would attack any nation that harbored Bin Laden. 

Dick Cheney said the terrorists in Iraq are on the cusp of collapse, 
that we are winning.
 In 2003 he said it would be weeks rather than months.  Republican 
Senator, Chuck Hegel says that we are losing the war in Iraq, the 
administration is disconnected from reality and should be straight   
with the American people.

Condoleeza Rice said this weekend that the administration prior to 
the war told the American people that the Iraq war 
was "generational".  In 2003  Cheney said it would be weeks rather 
than months.  President Bush said " Mission Accomplished" after 
troops entered Baghdad.  Now he says  we will stay the course in Iraq 
until "the mission is accomplished."

The classified British Downing Street Memos released May 1, 2005  by 
the conservative Sunday Times Britian said that the U.S. was 
determined to go to war in July of 2003 and that we were "fixing" the intelligence to justify removing Saddam.  

The President said that Saddam was not connected to the 9/11 or Al Queda.  Now he says we attacked Iraq because of the terrorist attack of 9/11.

Dorothy, Wizard behind the curtain at OZ is Karl Rove.

(Above message sent to Yakima Herald-Republic today.)

Lyle 
From lyve at netzero.net  Tue Jun 21 08:08:53 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 21 02:44:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
Message-ID: <20050621.080916.23303.174583@webmail35.nyc.untd.com>


Yes, Michael-good enough for me, good enough for you. 
As they said, "KEEP ON TRUCK'IN".


Lyle Kekahi K'ang

-- "Mary Louise smn" <marylouiseparis@hotmail.com> wrote:

     Michael     Thank goodness you have the correct attitude about "we the 
people."   Margaret Meade also understood the value of ordinary people 
making a stand for what is right and just in our world.  The fantasy of 
"escapism" is always part of the human quality.   Oceans are crossed, 
discoveries of magnitude are made.......but for change , one must stand, 
proud, brave and  outspoken to gather around concerned people who eventually 
will make the differance.  In the 60's we said  "hang in there"       I 
certainly hope that you will.     Marylouise

>From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: Leslie Hassler <lesliehassler@mac.com>
>CC: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
>Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:09:21 -0700
>
>Leslie,
>
>That article I posted a few days ago on the Civic List. It is really a bad
>story, just one of so many. I also sent it on to the kids.
>I have seriously thought of spending a lot of time outside the USA. Canada,
>Mexico and Argentina are much in mind. Also if Michael Dailey gets the Oahu
>project together it would be tough to beat that area.
>On the other hand I do not want to give up the struggle. We won over 
>Vietnam
>War and can win over Iraq. It is going to take a lot of work which will not
>come from the politicos nor the media but from us, the people.
>
>XO Michael
>--Those who have experienced altered forms of consciousness, by whatever
>means, never forget that space in which they have been. Now that they have
>learned how to function within the system, it is time they act to run it. 
>MB
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Hey Michael,
> >
> >    This is a very good article and it gets better and more intense the 
>further
> > you read. Thought your son or anyone with small children would be 
>especially
> > interested to read it.
> >
> > Leslie
> >
> >
> >
> > ummmm...this is very scary.  this country is clearly on a one-way track
> > to doom.  we're not only KNOWINGLY poisoning our own, but we're
> > poisoning the poor and impoverished of the entire world under the guise
> > of global and domestic aide and betterment...and all because the rich
> > white men controling this country are deathly afraid of losing the
> > ridiculous amount of power and money they already have...and all at the
> > risk of destroying happiness and peace for coming generations AND the
> > protection of this nation from global powers that might not look kindly
> > on this country's selfishness and greed.
> >
> > Wanna move to Canada with me?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7395411
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I urge you to read this story.  Unfortunately, ABC cancelled the TV 
>clips at
> > the last minute, because they claimed the story was too "politically
> > controversial", which, to anyone who has been following this story, 
>simply
> > means that they weren't willing to risk losing the millions of dollars 
>of
> > revenue they receive each year from the vaccine manufacturers.  
>Apparently,
> > they are reconsidering airing the interviews on today's nightly news or 
>20/20,
> > but I'm not holding my breath.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >                                  leslie hassler studio
> >                                 211 west 20th street
> >                              new york city, n.y. 10011
> >                                www.lesliehassler.com
> >                                      212-645-7971
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! 
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_______________________________________________
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From lyve at netzero.net  Tue Jun 21 15:12:19 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 21 02:45:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Klansman found guilty of manslaughter in '64 slaying
	s - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com
Message-ID: <20050621.151229.157.180377@webmail26.nyc.untd.com>


"The state of Mississippi was complicit in these crimes and all the crimes that occurred, and that has to be opened up."


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Barbara Siomos" <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> wrote:
WoW!!!!    I never thought this would really happen... but it has... they nailed this guy after all of these years for killing three Civil Rights workers..... Ever see the film Mississippi Burning? This is the creep who ordered the killings of the three college students who went south to help register voters.

peace,
barbara

Barbara Siomos <barbarasiomos38@msn.com> has sent you the following web link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8290795/



_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun 21 18:51:47 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun 21 07:09:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Deep Throat is no hero
Message-ID: <200506211409.j5LE9AZS022455@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/02/opinion/edeileen.php
International Herald Tribune         June 3, 2005

Deep Throat is no hero
By Eileen McNamara

The Boston Globe
Boston - Those looking for a hero will not find one in W. Mark Felt.

The former FBI official who is Deep Throat has a legacy that includes his
felonious abuse of the Fourth Amendment as much as it does his anonymous
championship of the First.

The man who says he leaked details to The Washington Post of the Nixon
administration's coverup of the break-in at the Watergate headquarters of
the Democratic Party is the same man who authorized illegal break-ins
targeting antiwar activists.

Felt's commitment to the Bill of Rights in 1973 was as selective as his
family's motives in 2005 are self-serving. In an article to be published
in the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine, the Felts' lawyer says the
family thought there might be some money in revealing the identity of
American journalism's most famous anonymous source before the death of the
91-year-old FBI retiree.

"I believe that Mark Felt is one of America's greatest secret heroes,"
John O'Connor writes in a piece that makes only glancing reference to
Felt's illegal Vietnam-era activities. "Deep in his psyche, it is clear to
me, he still has qualms about his actions, but he also knows that historic
events compelled him to behave as he did."

Do those qualms just apply to Felt's revelations to The Washington Post
about corruption in the Nixon White House or also to Felt's authorization
of illegal wiretaps and warrantless searches of the homes of the relatives
and friends of members of a radical antiwar group, the Weather
Underground? Does he have the same reservations about his own abuse of
power as he had about that of G. Gordon Liddy?

Does he think that America's intelligence agencies, as well as its
executive branch, ought to respect the civil liberties of all American
citizens?

Felt is in fragile health, with a failing memory. O'Connor writes that
Felt and Bob Woodward met for lunch in 1999 and have spoken several times
in recent years.

For the sake of history, one hopes that Woodward asked the former No. 2
man in the FBI to reflect on the full range of his experience in the
agency, so Americans will one day be able to put all of his actions in
context.

Felt and his fellow FBI man Edward Miller were convicted in 1980 of
conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens by
authorizing illegal break-ins and wiretaps of people connected to
suspected domestic bombers. In an ironic twist worthy of Hollywood - and
the administration of President George W. Bush - Felt justified his
actions as a protection of national security.

The jury disagreed, sending Felt and Miller the same message that was
communicated so dramatically by Deep Throat's leaks to The Washington
Post: No man is above the law.

Perhaps it is Hollywood that is to blame for the disillusionment that set
in this week as word of Deep Throat's identity circulated. Human nature
and the movies abhor ambiguity.

We Americans like our heroes pure in spirit. We want Hal Holbrook, the
actor who portrayed Deep Throat in the film "All the President's Men." His
only celluloid vice was a flair for the melodramatic and an unhealthy
dependence on nicotine.

We want Deep Throat to be a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Instead, he could be a functionary in the U.S. Justice Department of John
Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales.

At Felt's trial in 1980, it was revealed that the illegal wiretaps and
searches that he had authorized did not yield any information useful in
the capture or prosecution of members of the Weather Underground. The U.S.
Constitution, in other words, was abused to no end.

When President Ronald Reagan pardoned Felt and Miller in 1981, he cited
the pardons given to Vietnam draft evaders.

"We can be no less generous to two men who acted on high principle to
bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation," Reagan
said.

The more things change ...

(Eileen McNamara's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.)


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
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   ---   George Orwell


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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun 21 18:50:35 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun 21 07:12:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Beginning of the End? + Message from John Conyers
Message-ID: <200506211411.j5LEBsZL022467@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Tue Jun 21 18:50:35 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Jun 21 07:27:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Beginning of the End? + Message from John Conyers
Message-ID: <200506211427.j5LERADe022516@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

The Beginning of the End?
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Nation
June 19, 2005
"We see this as the beginning of the end," said Tom
Andrews, a former Democratic representative from
Maine who is executive director of the antiwar group
Win Without War. "It's the very beginning of a new
wave of activism on this war. There's a real sense
that something is beginning to move." --Los Angeles
Times, Friday June 17, 2005
Earlier that day, a friend and longtime antiwar
activist left me a voice mail message. Just ten days
earlier he told me that he was more depressed about
our politics than at anytime in the last 40 years.
"Hello, this is..." he said. "I was in Washington
yesterday at the rally and at the Conyers hearings.
And since I laid a heavy statement on you last week,
I just wanted to make a correction. It's finally
over. My despair is over. Something has happened
these last ten days that has revived the antiwar
issue. It has to do with public opinion polls and
casualties and Republicans like Walter Jones and more
Democrats standing up. I won't say how optimistic I
am. But something is coming together--you can feel
it."
You can feel it.
*Every day brings news of public opinion turning
against the occupation-- and the President's conduct
of the war. Last week, a Washington Post- ABC News
poll showed that for the first time since the war
began, more than half of the public believes the US
invasion has not made the US more secure; and nearly
40 percent described the situation there now as
analagous to the Vietnam War. A new Gallup survey
finds that almost 60 percent of Americans say the US
should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq,
the largest number in that category ever. And for the
first time, most Americans say they would be "upset"
if President Bush sent more troops. Gallup also found
that 56 percent now feel the war was "not worth it,"
and 73 percent consider the number of casualties
unacceptable.
* Every day brings news of more Democrats coming
forward, standing up and introducing "exit
strategy" resolutions. (Though, as of yet,
leadership isn't coming from the leadership.) Lynn
Woolsey forced a Congressional vote on bipartisan
legislation that would have asked Bush to submit a
plan to Congress explaining the outlines of an exit
strategy from Iraq. Senator Russell Feingold has
introduced a nonbinding resolution calling on the
Bush Administration to set specific goals for
leaving Iraq.
In the House, the International Relations Committee
last week voted overwhelmingly, 32 to 9, to call on
the White House to develop and submit a plan to
Congress for establishing a stable government and
military in Iraq that would "permit a decreased US
presence" in the country. Congresswomen Maxine Waters
(D/CA)--along with 41 Congressional progressives,
including Woolsey, John Lewis, Charles Rangel, Jim
McGovern, Rush Holt, Marcy Kaptur and Jan
Schakowsky--has just formed the "Out of Iraq
Congressional Caucus." Its sole purpose, Waters says,
"is to be the main agitators in the movement to bring
our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan." And Rep
John Conyers' impassioned efforts to bring attention
to the Downing Street Memo--on Thursday he held
hearings on Capitol Hill and then delivered to the
White House letters that contained the names of more
than 560,000 Americans demanding answers to questions
raised by the British memo-- has reenergized and
refocused opposition to the war.
While the Administration and its allies in Congress
are trying to make it seem as if these new
initiatives merely reflect Democrats' reading of the
polls, I say--bring it on. Let's welcome more
Democrats-- and sane Republicans--giving legislative
expression and voice to the majority of Americans who
want to see our Iraq policy changed. (In fact,
according to the recent Gallup poll, Congress appears
to be lagging behind the public on the issue: Some 72
percent of Democrats, 65 percent of independents and
41 percent of Republicans say they favor a partial or
complete withdrawal.)
*Every day brings news of another Republican signing
on to the bipartisan resolution introduced last
Thursday by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)--the man who
brought us "Freedom Fries"--and Neil Abercrombie (D-
Hawaii). That resolution calls for the Bush
Administration to announce a plan for the withdrawal
of all US forces from Iraq by the end of the year and
to initiate the plan as soon as possible. Maverick
Congressman Ron Paul (R/Texas) is already a sponsor,
Jim Leach (R/ Iowa) signed on Friday and Howard Coble
(R/North Carolina) is considering adding his
signature. (With 2006 midterms fast approaching, more
Republicans will be hearing from constituents who are
growing uneasy about the war. And more GOP members up
for reelection may start sounding like Jones, who
said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopolous
last weekend that he votes his conscience first, his
constituents second, and his party third. )
But much hard and grinding organizing work remains
ahead.
On Monday afternoon, Abercrombie and others are going
to sit down with Congressman Jones and other House
members to discuss options to advance the resolution
and build activism against the war.
They'll be supported by a national coalition, that
includes Win Without War, MoveOn.org, The National
Council of Churches, True Majority, Sojourners,
Working Assets and the National Organization of
Women, which is planning a grassroots outreach
campaign encouraging Members of Congress to sign onto
the newly introduced bipartisan resolution.
These organizations are going to be concentrating on
those members of Congress who should be particularly
susceptible to constituent demand about the war. (As
Tom Andrews of the invaluable Win Without War group
says, "Take it from one who has been there, in
Congress loyalty to one's party leaders and president
stops at the 'waters edge' of the voters at home.")
"A prairie fire of activism has started," Andrews
argues. "Our job now is to fan these flames and get a
conflagration of opposition spreading across the
country. We are working with our member groups as
well as others on a range of action options to build
momentum over the next several months. These will
include a major action in Washington in September
with what I hope will include a complementary
Internet based component. Between those marching in
DC and those joining through the Internet around the
country I am certain that we could have a million
Americans demonstrating against the Bush war in
September."
The combination of dropping poll numbers, the
grinding images of chaos and violence in Iraq, the
daily news of young Americans dying in what seems a
senseless war and the increasingly active and visible
opposition of constituents is bad news for the
president and his Congressional allies.
This really can be the beginning of the end of a
disastrous war and a bankrupt national security
strategy.
 http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=3614
***
Dear Friend:

Thank you for signing the Downing Street Minutes letter to the president. I
personally delivered your letter to the White House last Thursday.

Your participation in this issue has made a difference. The mainstream media
has been very slow to report on this British Intelligence document claiming
that evidence was being "fixed" to support the lead up to war against Iraq.

Yet, the neither the media nor President Bush could ignore the massive
groundswell of interest demonstrated by the more than 560,000 individuals
who joined you in signing this letter.

On Thursday, I led a hearing about the Downing Street Minutes to receive
testimony from former Ambassador Joe Wilson, 27-year CIA veteran Ray
McGovern, constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz, and Cindy Sheehan, who lost
her son in Iraq.

Despite desperate attempts by Republicans to disrupt the proceedings, 32
Members of Congress attended this hearing. We were forced to use a cramped
room in the basement of the Capitol little bigger than a closet, even though
plenty of larger hearing rooms were available. The Republican Leadership
also scheduled votes for nearly two straight hours in an unprecedented
attempt to limit the ability of Democratic Members of Congress to
participate in this hearing.???????

Thanks to your help, and the more than 560,000 individuals who signed this
letter, the mainstream media felt compelled to cover this event. The room
was packed with television cameras and there was significant coverage in
national newspapers and radio networks. After the hearing I hand delivered
the list of signatures along with a letter to the president signed by 122
Members of Congress demanding answers, and led a rally outside the White
House. 

We still have much more to do to make President Bush answer the questions
raised by the Downing Street Minutes. Much work remains for us to bring this
issue to the attention of all Americans.

Visit my website at http://johnconyers.com  <http://johnconyers.com/> to
find out what additional steps we are taking and how you can help on this
issue of vital constitutional importance.

Please forward this email to friends who want to sign the letter to the
president and help get the truth out.
<http://updates3.email.newsdispatcheronline.com/passalong.asp?msgID=237902&f
rom_userID=67846952>

Sincerely, 

Congressman John Conyers, Jr
-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, option D
(up to 3 emails/day).? To be removed, or to switch options (option A -
1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - up to 3x/day)
please reply and let us know!? If someone forwarded you this email and you
want to be on our list, send an email to ean@sbcglobal.net and tell us which
option you'd like.
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
?? ---?? George Orwell


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From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Wed Jun 22 00:21:36 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Wed Jun 22 00:21:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
Message-ID: <BAY107-F21806AB35C20A16A1614D0B8EB0@phx.gbl>




       Michael          To quote you from your BLOG       "Surely no God 
could be obscene enough to create this."   I offer the following  quote.


Abraham Lincoln      "That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of 
freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth."


Stand tall    Be brave     Hang in there    Keep on Truck-In          
Marylouise





>From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>Subject: RE: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
>Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 15:08:53 GMT
>
>
>Yes, Michael-good enough for me, good enough for you.
>As they said, "KEEP ON TRUCK'IN".
>
>
>Lyle Kekahi K'ang
>
>-- "Mary Louise smn" <marylouiseparis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>      Michael     Thank goodness you have the correct attitude about "we 
>the
>people."   Margaret Meade also understood the value of ordinary people
>making a stand for what is right and just in our world.  The fantasy of
>"escapism" is always part of the human quality.   Oceans are crossed,
>discoveries of magnitude are made.......but for change , one must stand,
>proud, brave and  outspoken to gather around concerned people who 
>eventually
>will make the differance.  In the 60's we said  "hang in there"       I
>certainly hope that you will.     Marylouise
>
> >From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
> >Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
> >To: Leslie Hassler <lesliehassler@mac.com>
> >CC: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> >Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: What Is Really Obscene
> >Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:09:21 -0700
> >
> >Leslie,
> >
> >That article I posted a few days ago on the Civic List. It is really a 
>bad
> >story, just one of so many. I also sent it on to the kids.
> >I have seriously thought of spending a lot of time outside the USA. 
>Canada,
> >Mexico and Argentina are much in mind. Also if Michael Dailey gets the 
>Oahu
> >project together it would be tough to beat that area.
> >On the other hand I do not want to give up the struggle. We won over
> >Vietnam
> >War and can win over Iraq. It is going to take a lot of work which will 
>not
> >come from the politicos nor the media but from us, the people.
> >
> >XO Michael
> >--Those who have experienced altered forms of consciousness, by whatever
> >means, never forget that space in which they have been. Now that they 
>have
> >learned how to function within the system, it is time they act to run it.
> >MB
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Hey Michael,
> > >
> > >    This is a very good article and it gets better and more intense the
> >further
> > > you read. Thought your son or anyone with small children would be
> >especially
> > > interested to read it.
> > >
> > > Leslie
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ummmm...this is very scary.  this country is clearly on a one-way 
>track
> > > to doom.  we're not only KNOWINGLY poisoning our own, but we're
> > > poisoning the poor and impoverished of the entire world under the 
>guise
> > > of global and domestic aide and betterment...and all because the rich
> > > white men controling this country are deathly afraid of losing the
> > > ridiculous amount of power and money they already have...and all at 
>the
> > > risk of destroying happiness and peace for coming generations AND the
> > > protection of this nation from global powers that might not look 
>kindly
> > > on this country's selfishness and greed.
> > >
> > > Wanna move to Canada with me?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7395411
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I urge you to read this story.  Unfortunately, ABC cancelled the TV
> >clips at
> > > the last minute, because they claimed the story was too "politically
> > > controversial", which, to anyone who has been following this story,
> >simply
> > > means that they weren't willing to risk losing the millions of dollars
> >of
> > > revenue they receive each year from the vaccine manufacturers.
> >Apparently,
> > > they are reconsidering airing the interviews on today's nightly news 
>or
> >20/20,
> > > but I'm not holding my breath.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  leslie hassler studio
> > >                                 211 west 20th street
> > >                              new york city, n.y. 10011
> > >                                www.lesliehassler.com
> > >                                      212-645-7971
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Mb-civic mailing list
> >Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> >http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE!
>http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Wed Jun 22 02:40:36 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Wed Jun 22 02:38:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] It's a messy little world,
	but someone's got to stumble bravely through it to the graveyard...
Message-ID: <000701c5770e$724996c0$1b25b7d8@baby1>

It's a messy little world, but someone's got to stumble bravely through it
to the graveyard...




Ok, I say forget everything and crap on their heads.

I don't know if I can be brought up on international charges for using the
term "crap on their heads" yet, but I'm sure the legislation is not far off.

You wanna save the world.  Ok, who are you dealing with..?  All the people
with the bullets, the organization, the equipment, the manpower, the law,
and everything else they possess prevent this from being a great place to
live.

They own just about everything.  A "million dead babies in Iraq from
American sanctions" means *absolutely nothing* to them.  Their individual
and collective brunches remain intact and undisturbed by such minor
considerations.

You have a secretary of defense who makes statements like "It's a hard world
out there, there's bad people out there, and they do bad things, and
sometimes you just have to do bad things to deal with them".

This was not bravery in the face of the oblivion of "those who would destroy
us".  Rather, it remains nothing short of Empire Talk.

You're dealing with An Empire.  Of insane people.  Ruthless
million-billion-zillionaires.  They command countries, armies, congresses,
everything, including every penny that passes through your life.

They don't care if you live or die, and they own the process of Law now even
over your heads.

If you don't find some way to impeach them, bring them up for trials, and
throw their sorry *sses in prison, and some time soon, you can just about
sit around with million person internet/ground protests, plans, strategies,
etc, in regards to "Iraq etc exit strategy plans", and the construction on
the 14 permanent American military bases poised for among other reasons to
protect oil pipeline flow in that region isn't even going to stop to read
about what the Empire did about it all.  It's just going to keep on growing.

The people currently at the top of this, our messy world, here in America
among other places, are in so deep, if they hesitate for a second, they will
lose everything.  Which remains the prime reason for my pessimism about
projected expectations in another direction other than the current insanity
happening.

One particular Event to organize, protest, etc, is scheduled for September.
The projection on the street was that America would invade Iran sometime in
June.  There's still one week left.

That may all just be hogwash hearsay, but if the currently documented
actions of people like Rumsfeld, Cheny, Rice, Bush, etc etc etc & Gang are
any indication of RESOLVE in the face of the saner voices in America
speaking against the madness they have wrought and perpetuate endlessly,
then I bet everyone here, lemme see how much I got, ok, I bet everyone here
at least 8 cents, that the day you hear of any realistice "exit strategy"
from that region, will be the day The Middle East runs out of oil.

I love Diplomacy.  Especially within one's own country, and for such
necessary reasons.

But there comes a time when you must decide whether extended Diplomacy
toward "exit strategy etc ad infinitum" in dealing with people who really do
not care if you live or die and currently have all the laws of the land to
back them up to do whatever they want to with you, The Middle East, or the
man in the moon, is working or not.

Again, there are still a gazillion bad guys out there, and there remain no
current plans to stop construction on 14 permanent American military bases
in Iraq etc at the current time or anytime in the near future.

True, true, stranger miracles have happened, if, as someone has mentioned,
the "Democrats" might one day retake the Congress, Presidency, etc, and that
America will "finally see a positive reversal of fortune" both here and
abroad, ever occurs, it will be strange to witness.

What has been built by the "Republicans", really *is* nothing short of
Corporate etc tyranny.

And I hear someone say that they do NOT have all the laws of America on
their side to be able to spread all this madness willy nilly.  If they do
NOT, then where are the trials...?

You're stuck in a takeover of The United States of America by whoever
basically wishes to rule from the top of such a deathocracy, with no
revolution.

You're screwed.

Living through one of the most dark periods ever of this country with only
signatures and shouts at the devil to cling to.

Will they work..?  Will they not work...?

I got 8 cents riding on the whole enchilada.

They poison your air, water, children, people, everything, with mercury,
lead, stuff in vaccines that make babies sick, they try to cover it up, they
lead you into unjust wars, our people die, their civilians die, the numbers
are staggering, wait a moment, deja vu, we've been here before, VietNam all
over, with an oil twist, in 2008 if the "Democrats" win, it will be a
miracle, they screw the entire nation, legally, rights-wise,
environmentally, economically, they make out like bandits, century after
century, they finally get a lot of cool technology, and they can fry your
brain with the push of a button, and we got our air force screaming to let
us put weapons in space to protect us from the bad guys in the world, Putin
is turning the clock back to Stalin, China and India are monsters coming out
swinging, everything in WalMart and everywhere else already says China on
the bottom (by the way, I don't like having to turn my hour knob and alarm
knob to the left to wind them, before they Chinese got hold of them, they
all turned to the right to wind), they're passing legislation left and right
to snoop on library books, internet accesses, rights in the toilet, the list
gets covered now and then, yes, more regularly it seems lately, of what they
have, are, and continue to do to America and all of us who live here,
stacking the judiciary, shredding FBI documents in Saudi Arabia, stamping
everything classified, top secret, military secret, national security, etc.

You're been taken over.

Permanently.

And so you're going to get together in September and shout very loudly.

I know this whole thing sounds very pessimistic, I'm actually trying to be
optimistic about the entire mess, but I can sometimes look at just one
person and tell what they had for breakfast a million years ago, and looking
around at the circle, the whole thing, just for a millisecond, if this isn't
The Official Take-Over, and "it's already all over but the shouting", as
construction continues on 14 permanent military bases in Iraq etc basically
to protect oil pipelines as they continue to make out like bandits at the
expense of billions of U.S. taxpayers money, thousands of G.I.'s lives, and
100,000 or so of unarmed Iraqi men women and children's lives, the ruination
of our economy in certain aspects, then although I really could use the
money, and yet on the other hand I *really* hope all the shouting works,
finally, I still selfishly hope there is a whole bunch of you out there
reading this, because at 8 cents a pop, I'm most likely going to clean up.

The prod us like cattle into an auction ring, opening gate after gate after
gate in a maze which they have created and control, and we bay like cattle
as we drop like flies from their actions, their giggles, and their smiles.

They're killing us.  All of us.  Inch by inch.

And what do I get..?   Diplomacy and Channels.

You don't control your government, you don't control your military, even
your own Media has betrayed you, and they have The Law on their side as they
do it to you.

Yes, by all means, put anything in front of me, I will sign it, if you want,
I will go to my window and yell "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to
take it anymore", put a sign in my hand I will march down the street so they
can get my photo.

And something close to an actual half of Americans still believe the entire
"Republican Spiel", all the lies, all the bs, all the deception, all the
tyranny, everything.

They salute it each morning.  I march, I write, I sign, I shout, and half of
America gets up each morning and still salutes The Bullshit.

And 25 million of them were "christian folk" who voted these jerks back into
office last year.

If this indeed is "the revolution", and something indeed is "beginning to
move, I can feel it", sure, count me in.

I'll be right there beside you.

Yet, personally, in the face of The Machine that these thugs have
collectively created, you DO certainly appear to have your work cut out for
you.

We're dealing with people though, who even go to extreme measures,
manipulating even the Supreme Court, just to be able to coverup the minutes
of Energy meetings etc.

YOU pay for EVERYTHING in this country.

The day you FORGOT that, was the day they took over the entire thing.

You ALLOWED them to simply wave their hands and make any meeting, minutes,
words, plans, knowledge, etc, off limits to The People Of America Who Pays
For Everything With Their Taxes To Keep It Running.

That was a fatal mistake.

I can only hope your revolution is as timely as my words.

There will possibly come a time, however, when all you can hear in your mind
is "Hey, I say forget everything and just crap on their heads".

At that point, it will no longer be humor or a joke, it will be your last
alternative left available to you.  And your country.

And the world.

They prod us in the back, from so many angles, all through our lives,
marching us relentlessly to the graveyard like so many cattle to the
slaughter.

And someone pokes me on the shoulder and says "Come on, Cheese, shout,
shout...!!"

I wish you well.  All of you.  I wish all the "movements" well.  I wish all
the strides, strategies, and etc's well.  I wish "the revolution to retake
America from Traitors" well.  Extremely well.

But, please, in your fervor, in your bravery, in your sacrifice, etc,
remember you are dealing with people to whom paltry things like a million
dead children is just more tang in their hot sauce on their tacos.

They love it.

They don't care if you live or die.  Any of you.  Not for one second.

I hope to God you have an immense voice.

And I hope I lose my 8 cents bet.

If I don't see any of them on trial in American courtrooms any time soon,
however, I still eerily feel I inadvertently stand to be someone with a lot
of pennies in my pocket walking down the street in some ghost country they
once called the land of the Free.

Ignore me, just call it a hunch.

My bullhorn against all their weapons, personnel, bullets, technology, laws,
lies, deceits, tyrannies, spies, rights removal, coverups, "25 million
christian voters", 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, etc, and with my own
tax money paying for it all, and my own Media stabbing me in the back
endlessly.

Nevermind, I feel better already.

I'm still going to crap on their heads, though.  They've been doing it to
us, for centuries.  And it, unfortunately, remains the only thing they
actually understand.  More's the pity.  Separating a country and a people
from its soul never has been pretty.  Neither has having to watch it and
live through it.  Today apparently is no exception.

When you wake up in something you were taught was Free, at least to some
extent, and realize it has been literally taken over by a bunch of thugs who
literally  just  do  not  care  if you live or die, and that you've been
"shouting" for eons, and they just shoot the people who shout the loudest,
year after year, decade after decade, century after century, you finally
realize you are no more than a hooved animal being driven relentlessly to
its own death.

What right have you to fight it.....

Lay down.  Submit.  You will be assimilated.  Learn to enjoy it.  You have
for centuries.


What's suddenly so different about today.......?







Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:10:58 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:11:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <28263460.1119438658675.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 The Road to Riches Is Called K Street
 
 By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
 
 To the great growth industries of America such as health care and home building add one more: influence peddling. The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101632.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
 Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:11:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:11:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <13023765.1119438712664.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Jack Kilby, Touching Lives on Micro and Macro Scales
 
 By T.R. Reid
 
 For decades after Jack St. Clair Kilby got the revolutionary idea that has enhanced daily life for almost everybody on Earth, people used to tell the inventor of the microchip that he deserved a Nobel Prize. He always scoffed at the notion. "Those big prizes are for the advancement of...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:12:39 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:12:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31570136.1119438759294.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Democrats Press Bush Harder  On Iraq
 
 By Charles Babington and Dan Balz
 
 Congressional Democrats, after months of sporadic and often tepid critiques of the administration's handling of the Iraq war, are sharpening their criticisms and demanding that President Bush say more about the mission's difficulties and his plans for surmounting them.
 
 To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101474.html?referrer=emailarticle
 
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:13:20 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:13:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <31629380.1119438800245.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

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 Durbin Apologizes for Remarks on Abuse
 
 By Shailagh Murray
 
 Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) yesterday offered a tearful apology on the Senate floor for comparing the alleged abuse of prisoners by American troops to techniques used by the Nazis, the Soviets and the Khmer Rouge, as he sought to quell a frenzy of Republican-led criticism.
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:14:01 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:14:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <1266177.1119438842025.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 Give This 'Attic' A Story To Tell
 
 By Anne Applebaum
 
 According to its director, the Smithsonian's Museum of American History needs new plumbing, new wiring and better lighting. So desperately does the building require renovation, in fact, that there is talk of shutting the whole place down for a year or two, of bringing in some fresher architecture,...
 
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 22 04:14:57 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (swiggard@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Jun 22 04:15:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A washingtonpost.com article from: swiggard@comcast.net
Message-ID: <21981194.1119438897114.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5>

You have been sent this message from swiggard@comcast.net as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com 
 
 No One to Demonize
 
 By Harold Meyerson
 
 In the absence of an antiwar movement, the American people have turned against the war in Iraq. Those two facts, I suspect, are connected.
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:16:41 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:16:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Former Klansman Guilty of Manslaughter in
	1964 Deaths
Message-ID: <20050622161641.6611B9FC6B@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

NATIONAL | June 22, 2005
Former Klansman Guilty of Manslaughter in 1964 Deaths
By SHAILA DEWAN
Edgar Ray Killen was convicted on the 41st anniversary of the deaths of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/national/22civil.html?ex=1120104000&en=2abb21be6c0c8ba0&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:19:19 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:19:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Car Bomb Kills Another Anti-Syria
	Politician in Beirut
Message-ID: <20050622161919.390739FBF1@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 22, 2005
Car Bomb Kills Another Anti-Syria Politician in Beirut
By JOHN KIFNER
The second car bomb in three weeks exploded hours after a new Parliament with an anti-Syrian majority formally took office.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/international/middleeast/22lebanon.html?ex=1120104000&en=7727fb4a1deda06b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:20:51 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:20:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush Wants a New Effort for Bolton in the
	Senate
Message-ID: <20050622162051.6AB80249BB7@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

WASHINGTON | June 22, 2005
Bush Wants a New Effort for Bolton in the Senate
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Some Republicans urged the appointment of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations when Congress recesses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/22bolton.html?ex=1120104000&en=51cccd0979943225&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:22:31 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:22:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Democrats Call for Firing of Broadcast
	Chairman
Message-ID: <20050622162231.08DAA3AE3A1@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 22, 2005
Democrats Call for Firing of Broadcast Chairman
By STEPHEN LABATON
Some Democrats are concerned that the head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is injecting partisan politics into public radio and television.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/national/22broadcast.html?ex=1120104000&en=c14cacf305a0842a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:23:31 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:23:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Abu Ghraib, Rewarded
Message-ID: <20050622162331.ED1CE249CF1@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 22, 2005
Editorial: Abu Ghraib, Rewarded

The Bush administration has not only refused to face the problem of prisoner abuse squarely, but it is also enabling a pervasive lack of accountability.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed1.html?ex=1120104000&en=a3745e5ff137779c&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:24:41 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:24:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Extending Democracy to Ex-Offenders
Message-ID: <20050622162441.5830911F8C7@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 22, 2005
Editorial: Extending Democracy to Ex-Offenders

The laws that strip ex-offenders of the right to vote across the United States are the shame of the democratic world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed3.html?ex=1120104000&en=b32032fac69c37ce&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:29:28 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:29:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Run, Dick, Run
Message-ID: <20050622162928.5C8ABA0F67@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 22, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Run, Dick, Run
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
In part because President Bush has no heir apparent, his second term is drifting aimlessly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html?ex=1120104000&en=eb06cc380fec7378&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 09:31:48 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 09:31:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hope and Gloom Out West
Message-ID: <20050622163148.5A6B3A0F76@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 22, 2005
Guest Columnist: Hope and Gloom Out West
By PATRICIA NELSON LIMERICK
The American West is the native home of hope - and the second home of tension, conflict, regret, dismay, gloom and bitterness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22limerick.html?ex=1120104000&en=cfa0ba5446b3fc34&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 10:22:06 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 10:22:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Don't Dismiss Downing Street
Message-ID: <20050622172206.B79EDB808F@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Don't Dismiss Downing Street
http://www.alternet.org/story/22282

I don't know if these memos represent an impeachable offense. But they strike me as a hell of lot worse than anything Richard Nixon ever contemplated.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 10:23:39 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 10:23:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Yucking It Up In the Post
Message-ID: <20050622172339.C5654B808D@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Yucking It Up In the Post
http://www.alternet.org/story/22278

Dana Milbank used the valuable real estate of the Washington Post -- its only coverage of the Downing St. Memo -- to mock Rep. John Conyers and his 'hearty band of playmates.'
-------------------------------------

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 22 10:39:11 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 22 10:39:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Buttonwood  S&L redux
Message-ID: <BEDEF04F.2106B%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Buttonwood

S&L redux

Jun 21st 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


Who should be responsible for honouring the promises that companies make to
their workers?


BUTTONWOOD is not exactly counting the grey hairs yet. But in the unlikely
event that her children ever finish their hugely expensive education, it
would be nice to think that she could hang up her keyboard one day and
devote herself to Sudokus. The way company pension funds are going?and The
Economist?s is better than most?that day looks increasingly remote.

It?s not just the headline problem-kids?MG Rover, the British carmaker that
went bust this year stranding 5,000 workers; America?s United Airlines,
which tossed its 120,000 workers at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
(PBGC) in May and ran, in the biggest pension default in history; or General
Motors, borrowing to pay the pensions of workers as it fights for its life.
The issue is broader.

Pension plans depend on company contributions and investment returns for
their funding. Actuaries? assessments of mortality rates give a guide to
future liabilities. Bond yields provide the discount rate that broadly
determines what current assets the plans must hold in order to meet those
liabilities. The situation has been dire all round. Returns on investment
have been lower than expected. Bond yields have been too, thus swelling the
amount of current assets plans must hold. Beneficiaries are living longer
than anyone thought they would.

True, companies could have spent more of their recent record profits topping
up their pension plans and less of them pleasing shareholders with dividend
increases and share buybacks. But they have at least been paying more in.
Employer contributions have shot up in Britain; last year, for example,
firms contributed ?25.6 billion ($47 billion), compared with ?20.9 billion
the previous year, and a steady level of around ?7 billion in the 1990s
(almost all of the money goes to defined-benefit schemes). The trouble is
that liabilities have shot up faster.

In Britain, defined-benefit pension funds of FTSE 350 firms were around ?70
billion short of where new international accounting standards say they
should have been at the end of May, on figures from Watson Wyatt, a firm of
actuaries. A broader definition of full funding puts the shortfall at ?197
billion. Pension legislation enacted in 2003 and 2004 has broadly tightened
funding, but these baked-in deficits are huge and so is the anxiety they
generate. The only worry that is not yet on many lips is that taxpayers
might have to underwrite the Pension Protection Fund if too many pension
schemes go into default.

Not so in America, where people are speaking openly of a taxpayer bail-out
to rival the rescue of America?s savings-and-loan (S&L) sector in the late
1980s. The pensions insured with the PBGC showed a shortfall of almost $354
billion at the end of the last fiscal year, compared with $279 billion a
year earlier. If the deficits of less underfunded plans are rolled in, the
total shortfall is more than $450 billion. The PBGC had a $23.3 billion
deficit last year in its main programme. Premiums do not keep pace with
expected claims, still less reduce the accumulated shortfall. An independent
think-tank, the Centre on Federal Financial Institutions (COFFI), said this
week that the PBGC needs an infusion of $92 billion in today's dollars to
meet its future obligations.

And the problem can only get worse. America?s defined-benefit schemes tend
to be more concentrated than Britain?s in the unionised and industrial
sectors that have been most buffeted by competition of one sort or another
lately. Delta Airlines threatens to follow US Airways and United Airlines
into bankruptcy and pension default. Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler have among
them hundreds of thousands of pensionable employees and retired workers.
More generally, the number of those receiving benefits is increasing, while
the number of active workers in defined-benefit schemes is falling. This
adds to the pressure.
    

What is worrying about the latest numbers is that we are seeing them towards
the end of a period of strong economic growth and corporate profitability,
neither of which is likely to continue

Companies and asset managers have tended to take a laid-back approach to
pension underfunding, relying on the markets to right things as they often
have before. What is worrying about the latest numbers is that we are seeing
them towards the end of a period of strong economic growth and corporate
profitability, neither of which is likely to continue. John Mauldin, an
investment consultant, calculated in a recent column that total portfolio
returns over the next ten years were likely to be around 5%, far less than
the 8-9% projected by most funds. He reckoned that the total shortfall in
America could be somewhere between $500 billion and $750 billion. And that
is without counting companies? promises to provide health care to employees
and retired workers. Nicholas Colas at Rochdale Research, an independent
firm, calls these obligations a bigger problem than pensions because they
are neither funded nor insured.

There are a couple of weird circularities here. Most of the burden of
filling these gaps will fall on the companies themselves, which will depress
their profits. That, in turn, will depress share prices, which will make it
harder to achieve adequate investment returns. And if asset managers turn en
masse to bonds with long maturities to match their assets and liabilities
more precisely, which is necessary especially for older plans, that will
raise bond prices, depress bond yields and increase the present value of
assets they must hold?again, widening the pensions gap. They could, of
course, look to other asset classes that pay higher or ?absolute? returns
(hedge funds of funds, private equity, property) and many are doing so. But
?alternative? assets do not typically account for more than one-tenth of the
total portfolio, in part because they are labour-intensive to manage.

This is all looking dark, if not necessarily as bad as the S&L meltdown,
which cost taxpayers $128 billion. It is especially bleak because it is
forcing societies to establish difficult priorities. These ?legacy costs?
are, in a sense, the debt that the new economy owes the old one. But no one
wants to pay it.

Should workers just be forced to accept the bad hand that fate dealt them?
That looks rash as well as unfair: in America, the workers who would be thus
left to their own devices fall disproportionately in swing electoral states
such as Michigan, Ohio and Florida. Should a company?s current shareholders
bear the brunt? If so, more firms than ever will close their defined-benefit
schemes (in America, only about a fifth of all workers are covered by one
now) and the investment risk inherent in saving for retirement will fall on
the untrained individual. Or the taxpayer could foot the bill?but both
America and Britain (indeed, most governments in most places) are printing
money as it is. As COFFI?s Douglas Elliott says, ?All the choices are ugly.?

Send comments on this article to Buttonwood (Please state whether you are
happy for your comments to be published)

Read more Buttonwood columns at www.economist.com/buttonwood


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at intrafi.com  Wed Jun 22 10:49:13 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 10:49:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bill Moyers: "The Radical Right Wing is Very Close to
	Achieving a Longtime Goal of Undermining the Independence of
	Public Broadcasting"
Message-ID: <20050622174913.13139.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

michael  ( michael@intrafi.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Bill Moyers: "The Radical Right Wing is Very Close to Achieving a Longtime Goal of Undermining the Independence of Public Broadcasting"
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/22/1347234
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


With the increasing politicization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the threat of funding cuts in Congress, public media in this country is facing a serious crisis. We spend the hour with legendary journalist Bill Moyers - the subject of much of the pressure brought by CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson. Moyers says, "I think we're at a moment in American history that is unique. I think we are in danger of losing our democracy because of the domination, the monopoly of power being exercised by the huge economic interests, both directly and indirectly. In public broadcasting we need to get back to the revolutionary spirit of dissent and courage that brought us into existence in the first place, and this country does, too." [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/22/1347234

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 22 10:51:25 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 22 10:51:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] OECD study shows scant reduction in farm subsidies
Message-ID: <BEDEF32D.21073%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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OECD study shows scant reduction in farm subsidies
>By Raphael Minder in Brussels, Frances Williams in Geneva and James Blitz in
London
>Published: June 21 2005 20:47 | Last updated: June 21 2005 23:55
>>

Subsidies to farmers in rich countries scarcely budged over the past decade,
a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
showed on Tuesday.

It said subsidies made up 30 per cent of OECD farmers' incomes on average
last year, the same as in 1995, when new rules negotiated in the Uruguay
trade talks came into effect. Most subsidies are still linked to production,
the most trade-distorting form of support, the OECD added.

The European Union led the table for producer subsidies last year with
$133bn, nearly half the total OECD support of $280bn. Japan was next with
$49bn, with the US just behind at $46.5bn. The US was one of three countries
where farm support increased in 2004. The 18 per cent increase in US support
was by far the largest. In contrast, EU subsidies have been declining.

Reforms have failed to touch products such as rice and sugar, where
subsidies account for up to three-quarters of market value. This is likely
to raise fears in the Doha round of trade talks that leading subsidisers are
not prepared to open markets to imports from the developing world.

The European Commission is overhauling its sugar subsidy system, which has
helped inflate the EU sugar price to three times the world market price.

Mariann Fischer Boel, Brussels agriculture commissioner, proposed a 39 per
cent cut in the guaranteed EU price, which is seen as a test of the bloc's
willingness to stop dumping and open its market.

Mrs Fischer Boel says in Wednesday's FT that the overhaul should help
silence critics who argue that ?the EU sugar regime has been the epitome of
everything they feel is wrong with the Common Agricultural Policy?.

In the US, sugar farmers are leading the fight against a trade agreement
with Central America, fearing that even a small increase in imports could
undermine domestic price supports. Cotton producers face a reduction in
subsidies following a World Trade Organisation ruling earlier this year in a
case brought by Brazil.

The OECD findings will provide ammunition for Tony Blair, UK prime minister,
who on Tuesday offered to give up Britain's ?4.6bn ($5.6bn) rebate from the
EU budget if farm subsidies were radically cut.

Britain takes over the EU's presidency on July 1. Mr Blair is trying to
avoid the impression of intransigence, having been blamed by France and
Germany for the collapse of last week's EU budget summit.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 22 11:21:58 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 22 11:22:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Swiss rail network grinds to halt
Message-ID: <20050622_182158_011035.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Swiss rail network grinds to halt **
Switzerland's rail network leaves 100,000 people stranded after a power surge halts all trains.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4121072.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 22 11:36:19 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 22 11:36:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US spy plane crashes in SW Asia
Message-ID: <20050622_183619_098283.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US spy plane crashes in SW Asia **
A US Air Force U-2 spy plane has crashed in south-west Asia killing the pilot, the US military says, but the location has not been revealed.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4119344.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From lindahassler at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun 22 12:11:44 2005
From: lindahassler at sbcglobal.net (Linda Hassler)
Date: Wed Jun 22 12:13:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fwd: Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election? 
Message-ID: <6435940da7aa9fa29f92f2a1e799644c@sbcglobal.net>

Here's a June 16th article from The Free Press that was also posted on 
www.truthout.org/ for us. From Linda Hassler
Subject: Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061805Z.shtml

?Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?
  ????By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
  ????The Free Press

  ????Thursday 16 June 2005

The following text is the Introduction to the 767 page: Did George W. 
Bush Steal America's 2004 Election? Essential Documents.

  ????This volume of documents is meant to provide you, the reader, with 
evidence necessary to make up your own mind.

  ????Few debates have aroused more polarized ire. But too often the 
argument has proceeded without documentation. This volume of crucial 
source materials, from Ohio and elsewhere, is meant to correct that 
problem.

  ????Amidst a bitterly contested vote count that resulted in 
unprecedented action by the Congress of the United States, here are 
some news accounts that followed this election, which was among the 
most bitterly contested in all US history:

  * ?? Despite repeated pre-election calls from officials across the 
nation and the world, Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, who also 
served as Ohio's co-chair for the Bush-Cheney campaign, refused to 
allow non-partisan international and United Nations observers the 
access they requested to monitor the Ohio vote. While such access is 
routinely demanded by the US government in third world nations, it was 
banned in the American heartland.
  * ?? A post-election headline from the Akron Beacon Journal cites a 
critical report by twelve prominent social scientists and 
statisticians, reporting: "Analysis Points to Election ?Corruption': 
Group Says Chance of Exit Polls Being So Wrong in '04 Vote is 
One-in-959,000."
  * ?? Citing "Ohio's Odd Numbers," investigative reporter Christopher 
Hitchens, a Bush supporter, says in Vanity Fair: "Given what happened 
in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and common sense 
cry out for a court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines."
  * ?? Paul Krugman of the New York Times writes: "It's election night, 
and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, 
mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's 
campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge 
that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at 
computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.

  ????When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger 
demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and 
election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data 
that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the 
electronic records.

  ????This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent 
election in Riverside County, California..."

  * ?? Hundreds of Ohio African-American voters give sworn testimony 
that they were harassed, intimidated, deprived of voting machines, 
given faulty ballots, confronted with malfunctioning machines and hit 
with a staggering range of other problems that deprived them of votes 
that were destined for John Kerry, votes that might have tipped the 
Ohio outcome.
  * ?? A team of high-powered researchers discover results in three 
southern Ohio counties where an obscure African-American candidate for 
the state Supreme Court somehow outpolls John Kerry, a virtually 
impossible outcome indicating massive vote fraud costing Kerry 
thousands of votes.
  * ?? Up until 11pm Eastern time on election night, exit polls show 
John Kerry comfortably leading George Bush in Florida, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania and New Mexico, giving him a clear victory in the 
Electoral College, and a projected national margin of some 1.5 million 
votes. These same exit polls had just served as the basis for 
overturning an election in Ukraine, and are viewed worldwide as a 
bedrock of reliability. But after midnight the vote count mysteriously 
turns, and by morning George W. Bush is declared the victor.

  ????There is far far more...enough, indeed, to result in massive court 
filings, unprecedented Congressional action and a library full of 
documents leading to bitter controversy over the 2004 election, 
especially in Ohio.

  ????In this volume, we have attempted to present many of the most 
crucial of those documents.

  ????Do they prove that George W. Bush stole the US presidential 
election of 2004?

  ????Should John Kerry rather than Bush have been certified by the 
Electoral College on January 6, 2005?

  ????Historians will be debating that for centuries. What follows are 
some of the core documents they will use in that debate:

  The most hotly contested evidence comes most importantly from Ohio, 
whose 20 electoral votes decided the election. But it also comes from 
other key swing states - especially Florida and New Mexico - where exit 
polls and other evidence raise questions about the officially certified 
vote tallies in favor of Bush.

  ????As mentioned, this book presents the most crucial documents 
indicating how this bitterly contested election was actually decided.

  ????But it is also this book's purpose to memorialize the successful 
grassroots campaign by voting rights advocates that forced an historic 
Congressional challenge on the floors of the US Senate and House. 
Acting on an 1887 law that grew out of the stolen election of 1876, a 
concerned constituency called into question before Congress the 
electoral votes of an entire state for the first time in US history.

  ????Brought forth by US Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and by 
Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), the Ohio electoral 
delegation challenge was the product of a unique grassroots campaign 
whose work is also documented here. As the New York Times described it, 
"In many ways, the debate came about because of the relentless efforts 
of a small group of third-party activists, liberal lawyers, Internet 
muckrakers and civil rights groups, who have been arguing since 
Election Day that the Ohio vote was rigged for Mr. Bush."

  ????The research and writing in this book has focussed on Ohio, where 
we have been collectively reporting on electoral politics for more than 
three decades.

  ????While the alleged irregularities, frauds and illegalities that 
transpired here in 2004 have probably generated the most thorough 
documention of any state, important parallel assertions have arisen in 
other states around the country, most importantly Florida and New 
Mexico.

  ????As journalists and researchers with deep roots in Columbus, the 
state capitol, we warned of serious problems developing in how Ohio's 
2004 balloting was being administered even before the actual votes were 
cast.

  ????Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell who oversaw the 
Ohio election, is an outspoken, extremely controversial partisan who 
also served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign, a conflict of 
interest that aroused much anger.

  ????In his dual role, Blackwell seemed to replay the part of Florida 
Secretary of State Katherine Harris. In 2000 Harris also served as 
co-chair of the state's Bush-Cheney campaign while administering the 
election that first gave them the White House. In both cases, Harris 
and Blackwell termed the elections "highly successful."

  ????But were these "successes" defined in terms of their public 
servant roles as Secretaries of State? Or were they defined in terms of 
their partisan roles as campaign co-chairs for George W. Bush?

  ????In this volume's first three documents, we reproduce articles 
published before November 2, 2004. Widely distributed throughout the 
Internet weeks before the election, they warned that a wide range of 
abuses stemming from Secretary Blackwell's office and other sources had 
already tainted the outcome of the upcoming Ohio vote.

  ????On Election Day, these warnings seemed tragically prophetic. The 
balloting throughout Ohio was riddled with a staggering array of 
irregularities, apparent fraud and clear illegalities. Many of the 
questions focused on electronic voting machines whose lack of official 
accountability and a reliable paper trail had been in the news since 
the bitterly contested election of 2000, four years earlier. (Similar 
questions also arose in Georgia in 2002, where Democratic candidates 
for Governor and US Senate had substantial leads in the major polls 
right up to election day, only to lose by substantial margins).

  ????The most widely publicized Ohio problems came as predominantly 
African-American precincts turned up suspiciously short of voting 
machines. Inner-city voters waited three hours on average and up to 
seven hours, according to election officials and to sworn testimony of 
local residents. Many voters stood in the cold rain to cast their 
ballots while nearby white Republican suburbs suffered virtually no 
delays. The wait at liberal Kenyon College, located in Knox County, 
Ohio, was eleven hours, while voters at a nearby conservative Bible 
school could vote in five minutes.

  ????To this day no one can definitively tell how many citizens, seeing 
the long lines, went home or to work or to take care of their children, 
thus losing their right to vote.

  ????But long waits were hardly the only problems predominantly 
Democratic voters encountered on Election Day. Selective harassment by 
partisan poll "inspectors," provisional ballot manipulations, missing 
registration records, denial of absentee ballots, absentee ballots 
pre-punched for Bush, faulty computer screens reflecting votes for Bush 
that were meant for Kerry, apparently deliberate misinformation 
regarding polling locations, inadequate poll worker training in 
predominantly Democratic precincts, and much much more threw scores of 
polling places into serious disarray.

  ????In two heated public post-election hearings, attended by a 
thousand central Ohioans, several hundred angry voters testified - 
under oath - on the details of the irregularities that quickly led to 
the widespread belief that the election had been stolen. Their 
testimony got virtually no mainstream media coverage. But the verbatim 
essence of their sworn affidavits appears in this book.

  ????Like the elections of 2000 and 2002, much of the doubt about the 
election of 2004 continues to center on the counting of votes, 
especially on electronic voting machines.

  ????About 15% of Ohio's ballots were cast on computerized devices that 
left no paper trail. With more than 5.7 million votes cast in a state 
yielding an official margin for Bush of less than 117,000 votes, a 
skewed vote count on those machines alone could have made the 
difference for George W. Bush.

  ????Sworn testimony recorded in public hearings in Columbus, 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Warren cast serious doubt on how 
those voting machines performed. In Warren, voters pressing Kerry's 
name on electronic screens repeatedly saw Bush's name light up. In 
predominantly Democratic Lucas County, Diebold Opti-scan machines broke 
down early in the day and were never fixed, denying thousands - mostly 
Democrats - their right to vote.

  ????Reports surfacing in other precincts verified that technicians 
dismantled key electronic machines before a recount could be certified. 
Election officials in Franklin County (where Columbus is located) 
reported that 77 of their machines malfunctioned on Election Day, 
virtually all of them in heavily Democratic precincts. Inner city 
precincts in Cincinnati and Cleveland had all-too-familiar 
Florida-style problems with their punch card machines.

  ????To date, there has been no credible, independent audit of these 
machines, not in Ohio or in any other state. In Ohio, Secretary of 
State Blackwell issued an order in the weeks following the election 
that all 2004 election records, paper and electronic, were to be sealed 
from public access and inspection. As of this book's publication date, 
those records remain unobtainable.

  ????The controversy surrounding the voting machines remains extremely 
fierce in part because major manufacturers such as Diebold, ES&S, 
Triad, and others are controlled by partisan Republican companies with 
secret proprietary software. This unfortunate lack of transparency 
calls all US elections into question.

  ????In a highly publicized controversy, Diebolt principal Walden 
O'Dell, a resident of central Ohio, pledged in a 2003 GOP fundraising 
letter to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to George W. Bush, leaving the 
indelible suspicion that he might do it fraudulently. US Senator Chuck 
Hagel (R-NE) is a principle in another major voting machine company, 
ES&S, on which many millions of votes were cast in 2004. Hagel was 
elected and re-elected in balloting that relied on ES&S machines. Such 
apparent conflicts of interest have left the poisonous impression that 
America's right to cast a ballot in secret has been transcended by a 
private partisan company's right to count votes in secret.

  ????In fact, the question of electronic voting machines remains the 
single largest "black hole" in the entire electoral process. Nationwide 
at least 30% of the votes in 2004 were cast on such "black box" 
machines, more than enough to have tipped the balance in the popular 
vote from John Kerry to George W. Bush.

  ????Despite the intense battle over this election and the scrutiny it 
has received worldwide, it is virtually certain there will never be a 
clear answer as to how many votes cast on those machines really went to 
which candidate. The 3.5 million-vote margin claimed by George W. Bush 
in the 2004 election remains unverifiable and, at best, forever 
suspect.

  ????In reaction, GOP operatives have put forth three major arguments 
to defend a Bush victory.

  ????First, they argue that in Ohio and elsewhere, county election 
boards are bi-partisan, meaning Democrats would have had to accede to 
any theft of an election. This book provides a verbatim interview from 
William Anthony, Democratic election board member in Ohio's Franklin 
County. Among other things, Anthony confirms that Blackwell had the 
power to remove any election board member, including Democrats, whose 
actions displeased him. Anthony and other Ohio election board members 
confirm that Blackwell in fact made at least one such threat in the 
lead-up to the 2004 election. And that Blackwell specifically denied 
central Ohioans access to paper ballots, a decision that might well 
have affected the overall outcome.

  ????Republicans also argue that exit polls were wrong because 
Republicans failed to respond to them throughout the country on 
election day. They also say a late surge of evangelical voters in 
Florida and elsewhere overwhelmed the polling data, and that social 
issues prompted tens of thousands of core Democrats to drop their 
long-standing party loyalties and to vote for George W. Bush where in 
2000 they had voted by wide margins for Al Gore.

  ????These assertions remain unsupported by hard data. A number of 
documents in this book indicate they could not be true. And in large 
part as a result of these refutations, the movement demanding further 
scrutiny of the national vote continued to gain momentum in the weeks 
and months after the election.

  ????Amidst the bitter controversy that was voiced in Ohio's 
post-election public hearings, unprecedented national attention began 
to focus on what may or may not have happened here. In late November, 
the Reverend Jesse Jackson let it be known he had serious questions 
about the conduct of the Ohio balloting.

  ????In a series of visits Jackson rallied an African-American 
community that felt it had been deprived of its vote. A former cohort 
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jackson compared the grassroots campaign for 
voter justice in Ohio to the civil rights marches of the 1950s and 
1960s. Terming the campaign here "a bigger deal than Selma," Jackson 
likened what happened in Ohio 2004 to the deprivation of black voting 
rights throughout the Jim Crow South dating to the 1890s.

  ????As a grassroots movement grew within the state - and across the 
nation - to demand a recount, Jackson enlisted the support of 
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Tubbs Jones. While a citizens 
movement demanded to know what Ohio had to hide, Secretary of State 
Blackwell dragged his feet on the recount. He used a wide range of 
legal and bureaucratic maneuvers that deprived the public of meaningful 
scrutiny prior to the convening of the Electoral College, which 
Blackwell had long since proclaimed would go for Bush.

  ????The grassroots efforts coalesced into two legal actions. On the 
morning of December 13, at the federal courthouse in Columbus, suits 
were filed on behalf of candidates from the Green and Libertarian 
Parties, demanding that the Ohio Electors not be seated until a full 
investigation of both the balloting and the recount could be conducted. 
Meanwhile, the convenors of the citizens' post-election hearings 
assembled a legal team to file two election challenge lawsuits, Moss v. 
Bush, and Moss v. Moyer, at Ohio's Supreme Court.

  ????Rev. Bill Moss, a former member of the Columbus School Board, was 
the lead plaintiff in the suits, filed against George W. Bush and 
Thomas Moyer, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Small donor 
contributions from across the country financed both actions.

  ????Later that morning, Rep. Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the 
House Judiciary Committee, convened a public forum on voting 
irregularities in Ohio that was covered by C-SPAN. Conyers had already 
taken testimony at a hearing in Washington. Now he was joined by Rep. 
Jones and Congressman Ted Strickland (D-OH), Congresswoman Maxine 
Waters (D-CA), Congressman Jerome Nadler (D-NY) and others at the 
Columbus City Council Chambers. The hearing had originally been called 
for the Statehouse, but Republicans there denied the Congressional 
delegation a room.

  ????Taking additional testimony from Ohioans who were denied their 
right to vote, Conyers' City Hall hearing also heard from national 
election experts. While they testified, Republican Electors cast their 
ballots around the corner at the statehouse, votes that would, as 
Blackwell predicted, give the election to George W. Bush.

  ????In the wake of these new hearings, and with growing momentum built 
by Jackson, Jones, Conyers and others, a truly national movement arose 
to demand a new look at what had happened on November 2. With an almost 
total blackout on all coverage from the mainstream media, the vast bulk 
of the information was spread through FreePress.org. The Free Press 
articles were in turn picked up by CommonDreams.org, Truthout.org and 
other democracy-minded internet outlets. Co-authors Fitrakis, Wasserman 
and Rosenfeld appeared on Air America Radio Shows hosted by Laura 
Flanders, Randi Rhodes, Stephanie Miller, and Marty Kaplan, as well as 
Pacifica Radio, NPR, independent radio stations and with Amy Goodman on 
the Democracy Now TV network.

  ????But by and large, the fact that the story spread at all was a 
tribute to the ability of the Internet to operate independently from 
the major media, whose scant coverage of what happened in Ohio was 
almost uniformly hostile to the idea that anything could have gone 
seriously wrong.

  ????On January 3, 2005, Rev. Jackson hosted a rally in downtown 
Columbus at which Rep. Jones officially announced that she would 
formally question the seating of the Ohio Electoral delegation on 
January 6. The challenge would come through a law passed by Congress in 
1887 in response to the Republican theft of the 1876 election.

  ????That year the New York Democratic Samuel Tilden outpolled the Ohio 
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes by about 250,000 votes. But the 
Republican Party manipulated the electoral votes in Florida and other 
states.

  ????After a tense five-month stand-off, a deal was cut and Hayes 
became president. In exchange, the GOP ended Reconstruction by pulling 
the last federal troops out of the defeated south, leaving millions of 
freed slaves to the mercies of Jim Crow segregation and a system 
designed to deprive them of their right to vote, a Constitutional 
violation not seriously challenged until the civil rights movement of 
the 1950s and 1960s.

  ????The 1887 law provided that at the formal request of a Senator and 
a Representative, the two houses of Congress would debate separately 
for two hours the legitimacy of seating a specified state's delegation 
to the Electoral College.

  ????In 2000, members of the Congressional Black Caucus rose to 
challenge the Florida delegation. But Vice President Al Gore, who was 
presiding over the Senate at the time, recognized no senator willing to 
join them.

  ????As of January 3, 2005, no US senator had stepped forward to join 
Rep. Jones. The next day a busload of activists left from Columbus for 
an overnight "freedom ride" to Washington. As they arrived the morning 
of January 5, the burgeoning "Election Protection" coalition staged a 
media briefing at the National Press Club, finally generating major 
global media coverage, including ABC's Nightline. Throughout that day, 
and the next, Rev. Jackson, with Fitrakis and others in tow, lobbied 
the Congress, providing in-depth briefings for key Democratic senators, 
including the newly installed Democratic leadership and former first 
lady Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

  ????On January 6, at a morning rally across from the White House, Rev. 
Jackson announced that Senator Boxer would join Rep. Tubbs Jones in 
questioning the seating of the Republican delegation from Ohio to the 
Electoral College.

  ????Boxer's historic decision was greeted with loud cheers from the 
Election Protection coalition. In her California re-election campaign, 
Boxer had been America's third-leading vote-getter, behind Kerry and 
Bush. But extremely harsh personal attacks spewed from Rep. Tom DeLay 
(D-TX) and the Republican leadership in the Congress and in Ohio. Much 
of the Ohio media, which had ignored the story since election day, 
jumped in with personal attacks on Rep. Tubbs Jones and the voting 
rights activists.

  ????As the day progressed, public rallies accompanied the 
Congressional debate, much of which we have reproduced here. Then the 
two chambers re-convened, certified the Ohio delegation - and George W. 
Bush was given a disputed second term.

  ????But the historic controversy over the 2004 election has not ended.

  ????At its core remain unanswered questions surrounding the actions of 
Secretary of State Blackwell, the fine print of election procedure and 
vote counting, as well as the still unresolved exit poll controversy 
and the nature of electronic voting.

  ????Up until 11pm Eastern Standard Time, the major election-day exit 
polls showed John Kerry winning the national election. But in nine of 
eleven swing states, including Florida and Ohio, massive, unexplained 
shifts gave Bush the election.

  ????Nationwide what appeared to be a victory for Kerry by about 1.5 
million votes suddenly became a 3.5 million margin for Bush.

  ????As shown in the documents here, the hard realities of such a shift 
remain unexplained.

  ????In the months after the election, dozens of polling experts and 
statisticians have scrutinized every corner of the public exit polling 
data as it stacks up against the official vote counts. The major 
pollsters and their national media clients still refuse to release the 
raw data. The consensus, as shown here, is that the reversal of Kerry's 
fortunes late on election night was in essence a statistical 
impossibility, with the odds at roughly 1 in 950,000. According to 
these experts, John Kerry should have been inaugurated in January, 
2005.

  ????These exit poll analyses have been generally ignored but not 
disputed by the mainstream press. In early 2005, two major pollsters 
issued statements saying that their initial work was in error, and that 
they had somehow "under-interviewed" Republican voters, thereby skewing 
their findings toward the Democrats.

  ????But such denials are simply not credible in the eyes of a broad 
spectrum of independent experts. As shown in the documents here, nearly 
all the "errors" in the polling were somehow in Bush's favor. The odds 
against the reversals that were shown in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania 
alone are in the hundreds-of-thousands to one; according to experts 
such as the University of Illinois's Ron Baiman, nationwide the odds 
approach 150 million to one.

  ????Ironically, just prior to the 2004 US election, similar exit polls 
led to the reversal of a presidential election in Ukraine, where mass 
demonstrations forced a re-vote. The challenger's "defeat" in the first 
voting ran so clearly counter to the exit polls that a second vote was 
forced, which he won.

  ????The Bush administration supported the revote in the Ukraine. But 
there was no parallel reversal here.

  ????The drama in Ohio continues. In early 2005, Secretary of State 
Blackwell issued a fundraising letter congratulating himself for 
delivering Ohio to George W. Bush. The letter contained an illegal 
solicitation of corporate money, and was withdrawn as a "mistake."

  ????Blackwell was not indicted. But the letter enhanced the widespread 
suspicion that Blackwell abused his position as Secretary of State to 
wrongfully deliver Ohio, and the White House, to George W. Bush.

  ????In January 2005, Blackwell initiated an attempt by Ohio Attorney 
General James Petro to sanction four attorneys who sued to get to the 
bottom of what had happened on Election Day, 2004. Bob Fitrakis, Cliff 
Arnebeck, Susan Truitt and Peter Peckarsky were named as attorneys to 
be sanctioned at the pleasure of the Ohio Supreme Court, which is 
dominated by Republicans. Petro's brief essentially argues that there 
were no irregularities in the 2004 Ohio election and the Moss v. Bush 
and Moss v. Moyer filings were "meritless" and "frivolous." Chief 
Justice Thomas Moyer, who is cited in the second filing, refused to 
recuse himself, and appointed himself to rule on the Moss v. Bush case 
against the very lawyers who filed against him in Moss v. Moyer.

  ????Meanwhile, Blackwell escalated his own campaign for Governor of 
Ohio, to be decided in primary and general elections he would 
administer as Secretary of State. As the prime candidate of the 
fundamentalist far-right, Blackwell planned to follow in the footsteps 
of Florida's Katherine Harris, who was rewarded with a safe 
Congressional seat after delivering her state - and the presidency - to 
Bush in 2000.

  ????As the documents in the final chapter and appendix to this book 
show, the bitter controversy over the vote count in Ohio has been 
mirrored in other key states around the US.

  ????The outcome in Florida 2004 remains in many ways as severely 
challenged as in 2000. Serious questions have erupted in New Mexico, 
where every precinct that used electronic scanning devices went for 
Bush, no matter what its demographic make-up or party proclivities. As 
Kerry noted in a conference call involving Jackson, Fitrakis and 
Arneback, it was not the Democrat or Republican, Hispanic or Anglo, 
rich or poor make-up of a precinct that decided the outcome in New 
Mexico, it was the presence of opti-scan vote counters.

  ????Similar new concerns have since surfaced in Maryland and elsewhere.

  ????Like the production of this book, the "Election Protection" 
campaign that grew from the Ohio grassroots has been unaided by either 
the Ohio Democratic Party, the Kerry campaign or any other candidate, 
or the major media. But it has coalesced into a nationwide movement for 
meaningful reform. Based in grassroots organizing and independent 
internet outlets like FreePress.org, they may be our only lifeline to 
any hope for the future of democracy.

  ????The Democratic representatives who stood up on January 6 are 
pursuing election reform at the federal level. It remains to be seen 
how that plays out.

  ????But the bitter controversy over Ohio 2004, like that over Florida 
2000 and Georgia 2002, rings like a fire bell for the future of 
democracy.

  ????Four decades after the 1965 signing of the National Voting Rights 
Act, and nearly fourteen decades after 1869 passage of the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guaranteeing freed 
slaves the right to vote, millions of Americans and citizens worldwide 
believe that our electoral process is still vulnerable to manipulation, 
fraud and theft.

  ????We believe the documents in this book form the most complete 
record so far of what really happened in Ohio and elsewhere immediately 
before, during and after the election of 2004. Some have been edited to 
avoid excessive repetition. All are accompanied by citations meant to 
guide you to original documents in their entirety, as well as to other 
sources providing a variety of perspectives.

  ????Many who are discontent with how this election was conducted now 
argue for federal standards to apply to all future elections. There are 
a wide range of additional reforms being proposed on all sides of the 
political spectrum.

  ????But few would disagree with the proposition put forth by Thomas 
Jefferson that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And that free 
elections demand aggressive, informed, relentless protection.

  ????We hope this volume will facilitate informed decisions about how 
that can be done in the future.

  ??-------
  
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun 22 15:56:59 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Wed Jun 22 15:57:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] ABCNEWS.com: Religious Insensitivity Cited at Academy
Message-ID: <31447436.1119481019621.JavaMail._WDIGSvc0406@abctvbar02>

You have received this ABCNEWS.com mail from:

harry.sifton@sympatico.ca

What I found interesting in this ABC report was that the lawyer for "Family Values" said that this could cause a Anti-Christen backlash if investigated? The spin makes me sick.......

Religious Insensitivity Cited at Academy
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=872707
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 22 16:26:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:26:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] It's a messy little world,
	but someone's got to stumble bravely through it to the graveyard...
References: <000701c5770e$724996c0$1b25b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <006501c57781$c686b290$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger (and all):

By sheer coincidence (?), just before reading your e-mail I was listening to 
the second disc of The Beatles' White Album, on which is the song 
"Revolution," and I heard the lyrics in a whole new way.  I print them here, 
and comment quickly below:

"You say you want a revolution, well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution, well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution, well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution, well, you know
We're all doing what we can

But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution, well, you know We all want to change 
your head
You tell me it's the institution, well, you know
You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right"

--------

Unless I am very much mistaken, in much of this song John is being flip and 
sarcastic - i.e., while "on the surface" it seems like a "call" to 
revolution and "support" for it, the subtext is almost the opposite - like 
saying "SURE you're gonna change anything" (ha-ha) or "right - you REALLY 
think you're going to have any effect?"

Think about that, and re-read the lyrics with that in mind, and I believe 
even Lennon would not find your missive "pessimistic," but rather (and, of 
course, extremely sadly) realistic.

P.S.  The U.S. Congress is about to pass legislation making desecration of 
the flag a crime.  It has already passed the House, and is likely - for the 
first time - to pass the Senate, where it has, until now, been quashed.  If 
it passes in the Senate, it will then have to be ratified by 38 of the 50 
states.  However, since all 50 states already have regulations against 
"debasing" the flag, it looks like a slam dunk to become a permanent 
amendment to the Constitution.  Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/22cnd-flag.html

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 5:40 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] It's a messy little world,but someone's got to stumble 
bravely through it to the graveyard...


> It's a messy little world, but someone's got to stumble bravely through it
> to the graveyard...
>
>
>
>
> Ok, I say forget everything and crap on their heads.
>
> I don't know if I can be brought up on international charges for using the
> term "crap on their heads" yet, but I'm sure the legislation is not far 
> off.
>
> You wanna save the world.  Ok, who are you dealing with..?  All the people
> with the bullets, the organization, the equipment, the manpower, the law,
> and everything else they possess prevent this from being a great place to
> live.
>
> They own just about everything.  A "million dead babies in Iraq from
> American sanctions" means *absolutely nothing* to them.  Their individual
> and collective brunches remain intact and undisturbed by such minor
> considerations.
>
> You have a secretary of defense who makes statements like "It's a hard 
> world
> out there, there's bad people out there, and they do bad things, and
> sometimes you just have to do bad things to deal with them".
>
> This was not bravery in the face of the oblivion of "those who would 
> destroy
> us".  Rather, it remains nothing short of Empire Talk.
>
> You're dealing with An Empire.  Of insane people.  Ruthless
> million-billion-zillionaires.  They command countries, armies, congresses,
> everything, including every penny that passes through your life.
>
> They don't care if you live or die, and they own the process of Law now 
> even
> over your heads.
>
> If you don't find some way to impeach them, bring them up for trials, and
> throw their sorry *sses in prison, and some time soon, you can just about
> sit around with million person internet/ground protests, plans, 
> strategies,
> etc, in regards to "Iraq etc exit strategy plans", and the construction on
> the 14 permanent American military bases poised for among other reasons to
> protect oil pipeline flow in that region isn't even going to stop to read
> about what the Empire did about it all.  It's just going to keep on 
> growing.
>
> The people currently at the top of this, our messy world, here in America
> among other places, are in so deep, if they hesitate for a second, they 
> will
> lose everything.  Which remains the prime reason for my pessimism about
> projected expectations in another direction other than the current 
> insanity
> happening.
>
> One particular Event to organize, protest, etc, is scheduled for 
> September.
> The projection on the street was that America would invade Iran sometime 
> in
> June.  There's still one week left.
>
> That may all just be hogwash hearsay, but if the currently documented
> actions of people like Rumsfeld, Cheny, Rice, Bush, etc etc etc & Gang are
> any indication of RESOLVE in the face of the saner voices in America
> speaking against the madness they have wrought and perpetuate endlessly,
> then I bet everyone here, lemme see how much I got, ok, I bet everyone 
> here
> at least 8 cents, that the day you hear of any realistice "exit strategy"
> from that region, will be the day The Middle East runs out of oil.
>
> I love Diplomacy.  Especially within one's own country, and for such
> necessary reasons.
>
> But there comes a time when you must decide whether extended Diplomacy
> toward "exit strategy etc ad infinitum" in dealing with people who really 
> do
> not care if you live or die and currently have all the laws of the land to
> back them up to do whatever they want to with you, The Middle East, or the
> man in the moon, is working or not.
>
> Again, there are still a gazillion bad guys out there, and there remain no
> current plans to stop construction on 14 permanent American military bases
> in Iraq etc at the current time or anytime in the near future.
>
> True, true, stranger miracles have happened, if, as someone has mentioned,
> the "Democrats" might one day retake the Congress, Presidency, etc, and 
> that
> America will "finally see a positive reversal of fortune" both here and
> abroad, ever occurs, it will be strange to witness.
>
> What has been built by the "Republicans", really *is* nothing short of
> Corporate etc tyranny.
>
> And I hear someone say that they do NOT have all the laws of America on
> their side to be able to spread all this madness willy nilly.  If they do
> NOT, then where are the trials...?
>
> You're stuck in a takeover of The United States of America by whoever
> basically wishes to rule from the top of such a deathocracy, with no
> revolution.
>
> You're screwed.
>
> Living through one of the most dark periods ever of this country with only
> signatures and shouts at the devil to cling to.
>
> Will they work..?  Will they not work...?
>
> I got 8 cents riding on the whole enchilada.
>
> They poison your air, water, children, people, everything, with mercury,
> lead, stuff in vaccines that make babies sick, they try to cover it up, 
> they
> lead you into unjust wars, our people die, their civilians die, the 
> numbers
> are staggering, wait a moment, deja vu, we've been here before, VietNam 
> all
> over, with an oil twist, in 2008 if the "Democrats" win, it will be a
> miracle, they screw the entire nation, legally, rights-wise,
> environmentally, economically, they make out like bandits, century after
> century, they finally get a lot of cool technology, and they can fry your
> brain with the push of a button, and we got our air force screaming to let
> us put weapons in space to protect us from the bad guys in the world, 
> Putin
> is turning the clock back to Stalin, China and India are monsters coming 
> out
> swinging, everything in WalMart and everywhere else already says China on
> the bottom (by the way, I don't like having to turn my hour knob and alarm
> knob to the left to wind them, before they Chinese got hold of them, they
> all turned to the right to wind), they're passing legislation left and 
> right
> to snoop on library books, internet accesses, rights in the toilet, the 
> list
> gets covered now and then, yes, more regularly it seems lately, of what 
> they
> have, are, and continue to do to America and all of us who live here,
> stacking the judiciary, shredding FBI documents in Saudi Arabia, stamping
> everything classified, top secret, military secret, national security, 
> etc.
>
> You're been taken over.
>
> Permanently.
>
> And so you're going to get together in September and shout very loudly.
>
> I know this whole thing sounds very pessimistic, I'm actually trying to be
> optimistic about the entire mess, but I can sometimes look at just one
> person and tell what they had for breakfast a million years ago, and 
> looking
> around at the circle, the whole thing, just for a millisecond, if this 
> isn't
> The Official Take-Over, and "it's already all over but the shouting", as
> construction continues on 14 permanent military bases in Iraq etc 
> basically
> to protect oil pipelines as they continue to make out like bandits at the
> expense of billions of U.S. taxpayers money, thousands of G.I.'s lives, 
> and
> 100,000 or so of unarmed Iraqi men women and children's lives, the 
> ruination
> of our economy in certain aspects, then although I really could use the
> money, and yet on the other hand I *really* hope all the shouting works,
> finally, I still selfishly hope there is a whole bunch of you out there
> reading this, because at 8 cents a pop, I'm most likely going to clean up.
>
> The prod us like cattle into an auction ring, opening gate after gate 
> after
> gate in a maze which they have created and control, and we bay like cattle
> as we drop like flies from their actions, their giggles, and their smiles.
>
> They're killing us.  All of us.  Inch by inch.
>
> And what do I get..?   Diplomacy and Channels.
>
> You don't control your government, you don't control your military, even
> your own Media has betrayed you, and they have The Law on their side as 
> they
> do it to you.
>
> Yes, by all means, put anything in front of me, I will sign it, if you 
> want,
> I will go to my window and yell "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to
> take it anymore", put a sign in my hand I will march down the street so 
> they
> can get my photo.
>
> And something close to an actual half of Americans still believe the 
> entire
> "Republican Spiel", all the lies, all the bs, all the deception, all the
> tyranny, everything.
>
> They salute it each morning.  I march, I write, I sign, I shout, and half 
> of
> America gets up each morning and still salutes The Bullshit.
>
> And 25 million of them were "christian folk" who voted these jerks back 
> into
> office last year.
>
> If this indeed is "the revolution", and something indeed is "beginning to
> move, I can feel it", sure, count me in.
>
> I'll be right there beside you.
>
> Yet, personally, in the face of The Machine that these thugs have
> collectively created, you DO certainly appear to have your work cut out 
> for
> you.
>
> We're dealing with people though, who even go to extreme measures,
> manipulating even the Supreme Court, just to be able to coverup the 
> minutes
> of Energy meetings etc.
>
> YOU pay for EVERYTHING in this country.
>
> The day you FORGOT that, was the day they took over the entire thing.
>
> You ALLOWED them to simply wave their hands and make any meeting, minutes,
> words, plans, knowledge, etc, off limits to The People Of America Who Pays
> For Everything With Their Taxes To Keep It Running.
>
> That was a fatal mistake.
>
> I can only hope your revolution is as timely as my words.
>
> There will possibly come a time, however, when all you can hear in your 
> mind
> is "Hey, I say forget everything and just crap on their heads".
>
> At that point, it will no longer be humor or a joke, it will be your last
> alternative left available to you.  And your country.
>
> And the world.
>
> They prod us in the back, from so many angles, all through our lives,
> marching us relentlessly to the graveyard like so many cattle to the
> slaughter.
>
> And someone pokes me on the shoulder and says "Come on, Cheese, shout,
> shout...!!"
>
> I wish you well.  All of you.  I wish all the "movements" well.  I wish 
> all
> the strides, strategies, and etc's well.  I wish "the revolution to retake
> America from Traitors" well.  Extremely well.
>
> But, please, in your fervor, in your bravery, in your sacrifice, etc,
> remember you are dealing with people to whom paltry things like a million
> dead children is just more tang in their hot sauce on their tacos.
>
> They love it.
>
> They don't care if you live or die.  Any of you.  Not for one second.
>
> I hope to God you have an immense voice.
>
> And I hope I lose my 8 cents bet.
>
> If I don't see any of them on trial in American courtrooms any time soon,
> however, I still eerily feel I inadvertently stand to be someone with a 
> lot
> of pennies in my pocket walking down the street in some ghost country they
> once called the land of the Free.
>
> Ignore me, just call it a hunch.
>
> My bullhorn against all their weapons, personnel, bullets, technology, 
> laws,
> lies, deceits, tyrannies, spies, rights removal, coverups, "25 million
> christian voters", 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, etc, and with my 
> own
> tax money paying for it all, and my own Media stabbing me in the back
> endlessly.
>
> Nevermind, I feel better already.
>
> I'm still going to crap on their heads, though.  They've been doing it to
> us, for centuries.  And it, unfortunately, remains the only thing they
> actually understand.  More's the pity.  Separating a country and a people
> from its soul never has been pretty.  Neither has having to watch it and
> live through it.  Today apparently is no exception.
>
> When you wake up in something you were taught was Free, at least to some
> extent, and realize it has been literally taken over by a bunch of thugs 
> who
> literally  just  do  not  care  if you live or die, and that you've been
> "shouting" for eons, and they just shoot the people who shout the loudest,
> year after year, decade after decade, century after century, you finally
> realize you are no more than a hooved animal being driven relentlessly to
> its own death.
>
> What right have you to fight it.....
>
> Lay down.  Submit.  You will be assimilated.  Learn to enjoy it.  You have
> for centuries.
>
>
> What's suddenly so different about today.......?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun 22 16:29:33 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:29:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: Earth Policy News - Wild Fish Catch Hits Limits
Message-ID: <000701c57782$4169e540$633fe440@Harold>

FYI

Harry


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elizabeth Mygatt" <emygatt@earth-policy.org>
To: <harry.sifton@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 3:51 PM
Subject: Earth Policy News - Wild Fish Catch Hits Limits


> Eco-Economy Indicator - FISH CATCH
> Copyright Earth Policy Institute 2005
> June 22, 2005
>
> Eco-Economy Indicators are twelve trends that the Earth Policy Institute
> tracks to measure progress in building an eco-economy. The world fish
> catch is a measure of the productivity and health of the oceanic ecosystem
> that covers 70 percent of the earth's surface. The extent to which world
> demand for seafood is outrunning the sustainable yield of fisheries can be
> seen in shrinking fish stocks, declining catches, and collapsing
> fisheries.
>
> WILD FISH CATCH HITS LIMITS-
> Oceanic Decline Offset by Increased Fish Farming
> by Janet Larsen
>
> After decades of growth, the reported global wild fish catch peaked in
> 2000 at 96 million tons and fell to 90 million tons in 2003, the last year
> for which worldwide data are available. The catch per person dropped from
> an average of 17 kilograms in the late 1980s to 14 kilograms in 2003-the
> lowest figure since 1965. As fishing fleets expanded and as fish-finding
> and harvesting technologies became more efficient, the world's fishers
> have systematically gone after their catch at greater depths and in more
> remote waters.
>
>
> For entire text see http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Fish/2005.htm
> For data see http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Fish/Fish_data.htm
>
> For an index of Earth Policy Institute resources related to Fish and
> Aquaculture see http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Fish/index.htm
>
> And for more analysis regarding the pressure on oceanic fish stocks, see
> Chapter 3 of Lester Brown's ECO-ECONOMY: Building an Economy for the
> Earth, at  http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Eco/index.htm
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to public as: harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
> leave-public-1356419E@lists.earth-policy.org
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 22 16:29:49 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:30:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: No. 2 and No. 3 Movie Theater Chains Plan
	to Merge
Message-ID: <20050622232949.0BEB5A0F6D@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Some of my friends and I began boycotting Loew's theaters after The Carlyle Group bought a 25% interest in them. However, now that the two largest chains are merging, we are going to have to boycott almost every theater in Manhattan. So much for movie-going! Thank God for videos! Peace.


BUSINESS / MEDIA & ADVERTISING | June 22, 2005
Market Place: No. 2 and No. 3 Movie Theater Chains Plan to Merge
By JENNIFER BAYOT
AMC Entertainment is merging with the Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation, in what some analysts described as a show of faith in moviegoing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/business/media/22place.html?ex=1120104000&en=56ece45159aa7b1b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun 22 16:30:27 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:30:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Top 10 Articles From the Past 2 Weeks 
Message-ID: <000c01c57782$619ab5b0$633fe440@Harold>

@Times - Inside NYTimes.com Newsletter


     
     
      
           Wednesday, June 22, 2005 
           
           
           
            Here are the 10 Most Read Articles on NYTimes.com from the past two weeks (as of 11 a.m. ET, June 22). 

            1. Frank Rich: Don't Follow the Money
            Published: June 12, 2005
            And now the great Watergate cover-up of 2005. 

            2. A Dogged TV Reporter Defends Herself in the Jackson Case
            By LOLA OGUNNAIKE, Published: June 16, 2005
            Diane Dimond, the veteran television reporter, is well aware of what her tombstone will read: "Here lies Diane 'You Know, the One Who Covered Michael Jackson' Dimond." 

            3. Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell
            By DAVID COLMAN, Published: June 19, 2005
            With more gay men dressing down and straight men flaunting their looks, gaydar has been rendered as outmoded as Windows 2000. 

            4. Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming
            By ANDREW C. REVKIN, Published: June 8, 2005
            A White House official repeatedly edited climate reports in ways that play down links between emissions and global warming. 

            5. Paul Krugman: Losing Our Country
            Published: June 10, 2005
            Almost every one of the administration's domestic policies seems intended to accelerate our march back to the robber baron era. 

            6. Grisly Effect of One Drug: 'Meth Mouth'
            By MONICA DAVEY, Published: June 11, 2005
            Unlike other drugs, methamphetamine seems to be taking a unique and horrific toll inside its users' mouths. 

            7. Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll
            By ROBIN TONER and MARJORIE CONNELLY, Published: June 17, 2005
            Pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about Social Security reform, Americans are in a season of political discontent. 

            8. Angela Whitiker's Climb
            By ISABEL WILKERSON, Published: June 12, 2005
            Angela Whitiker has gone from welfare statistic to middle class. She and her oldest son were profiled in The Times in 1993. 

            9. Michael Jackson Is Acquitted on All Counts in Molestation Case
            By JOHN M. BRODER, Published: June 13, 2005
            The complete acquittal ends a nearly four-month trial that featured 140 witnesses whose testimony painted Michael Jackson as either pedophile or Peter Pan. 

            10. A Muslim Woman, a Story of Sex
            By ALAN RIDING, Published: June 20, 2005
            "The Almond" is a semi-autobiographical exploration of sexual freedom by a woman living in a traditional Arab society.  
      


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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 22 16:39:14 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:39:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - GIANT SNAPPLE FLOODS NEW YORK SQUARE
Message-ID: <20050622233914.D85A969AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
GIANT SNAPPLE FLOODS NEW YORK SQUARE
WebPosted Wed Jun 22 16:04:02 2005

---An attempt to erect a 16-tonne ice pop in a New York square froze
traffic and created a sticky situation for the company behind the stunt.

The soft-drink maker Snapple tried to get into the Guinness World
Records book by installing the 7½-metre confection in downtown Manhattan
on Tuesday.

As a construction crane began to haul it upright, a pink tide of kiwi-strawberry-
flavoured fluid spread across Union Square.

The slush forced pedestrians to flee for higher ground. Firefighters
closed off several roads, fearing that vehicles and bicycles could slip.

"What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept coming," Stuart Claxton
of the Guinness Book of World Records told the New York Daily News.

 'What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept coming.' "It was quite
 a lot of fluid. On a hot day like this, you have to move fast."

The frozen treat had to be fully standing to beat the world record, set
in Holland in 1997 by a 6½-metre, nine-tonne ice pop.

Snapple called off the stunt while the ice pop was only partially lifted,
fearing that it would collapse in the 27 C heat.

The company was trying to get publicity for a new line of frozen treats
called Snapple on Ice.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 22 16:45:24 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:45:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - POLICE ARREST 16 WITH TIES TO HELLS ANGELS
Message-ID: <20050622234524.CADEC69AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
POLICE ARREST 16 WITH TIES TO HELLS ANGELS
WebPosted Wed Jun 22 14:17:41 2005

---Police have arrested 16 people linked to the Hells Angels after a
two-year joint investigation into biker gangs in eastern Ontario and
western Quebec.

The arrests were made on Monday near Kingston, about 180 kilometres east
of Toronto, and other towns in eastern Ontario.

Those arrested include four men from Kingston, four from Gatineau, Que.,
and one from Ottawa. They face organized crime, conspiracy and drug
trafficking charges.

Some of the accused face up to 14 years in jail, if convicted. Bail
hearings were held on Tuesday.

In announcing the arrests on Wednesday, police near Kingston displayed
bags of marijuana, crack cocaine and other illegal drugs seized during
the investigation, worth an estimated street value of $1,000,000.

The RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and officers from several municipal
forces in eastern Ontario and the Outaouais region of western Quebec took
part in the operation, dubbed Project Dante.

It's the second time Ontario police have targeted biker gangs this month.

Earlier raids across the province led to the arrest of two Hells Angels
members and about a dozen associates.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 22 16:49:35 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 22 16:49:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CANADA'S NET LIABILITY TO FOREIGNERS LOWEST
	IN 20 YEARS
Message-ID: <20050622234935.92D6769AFB@nmweb09.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CANADA'S NET LIABILITY TO FOREIGNERS LOWEST IN 20 YEARS
WebPosted Wed Jun 22 10:39:03 2005

---Canada's net liability to foreigners continued its long-term downward
trend in the first quarter of this year, falling to its lowest level in
20 years, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.

The drop of 10.4 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2004 to $162.3
billion was the biggest quarterly decline on record, the agency said.

The liability represented just 12.2 per cent of Canada's annual gross
domestic product, compared with 42.3 per cent in 1995.

"The decline in net liability occurred because the value of Canada's
assets abroad has been increasing, on average, at a much faster pace than
our foreign liabilities," Statistics Canada said.

"In addition, foreigners investing in Canada have been acquiring stocks
faster than bonds, parallel to the reduction of government debt. Canadian
stocks held by non-residents more than doubled in the last 10 years as a
proportion of total liability," it said.

The value of international assets reached $983.3 billion in the first
quarter, an increase of 2.9 per cent, while international liabilities
rose a modest 0.8 per cent to $1,145.6 billion.

The agency said Canadian direct investment abroad reached $452.6 billion,
up 1.7 per cent from the end of last year.

At the same time, foreign direct investment in Canada increased by 1.6
per cent to $371.5 billion, with almost two-thirds of it coming from the
United States.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From herzogje at adelphia.net  Wed Jun 22 15:26:28 2005
From: herzogje at adelphia.net (John Herzog)
Date: Wed Jun 22 19:04:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: SOCIAL SECURITY HUMOR...
Message-ID: <200506230204.j5N24Lb5025401@dune.islandtechnologies.net>



STRENGTHENING SOCIAL SECURITY

Decades of study by Americas's most brilliant conservative economists/banking executives 
have devised four ultra-viable CURES to the impending retirement apocalypse.

CHOOSE NOW!  THESE ARE AMERICA'S ONLY OPTIONS!





OPTION A: "WALL STREET WAGER"


OPTION B: "RETIREMENT ROULETTE"


OPTION C: "A WHOLE SLOTTA SECURITY"


OPTION D: "SCRAPS FROM CRAPS"

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 22 19:40:19 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 22 19:40:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: China oil firm bid to buy Unocal
Message-ID: <20050623_024019_078692.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** China oil firm bid to buy Unocal **
China National Offshore Oil offers $18.5bn in cash for US firm Unocal to try to outbid ChevronTexaco's merger plan.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4121830.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 22 19:42:21 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 22 19:42:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Body's own 'cannabis' helps pain
Message-ID: <20050623_024221_083453.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Body's own 'cannabis' helps pain **
A cannabis like chemical produced naturally in the brain aids pain relief, researchers suggest.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4119346.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Wed Jun 22 21:27:55 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Wed Jun 22 21:26:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re:  Durbin Apologizes for Remarks on Abuse
Message-ID: <000701c577ab$ee76c040$5925b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Durbin Apologizes for Remarks on Abuse



========
Durbin Apologizes for Remarks on Abuse

By Shailagh Murray

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) yesterday offered a tearful apology on the
Senate floor for comparing the alleged abuse of prisoners by American troops
to techniques used by the Nazis, the Soviets and the Khmer Rouge, as he
sought to quell a frenzy of Republican-led criticism.

 To view the entire article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101654.html?referrer=emailarticle
=========




CheeseComments:


1.  Please, everyone, try to figure out some way to put an actual HEADLINE
in the titles of your posts, even if it makes no sense whatever, it saves
some of us oodles of repetitive reading.

2.   Fuck the right wing.  Fuck the people who forced Durbin to apologize.
They're scum, they're complicit, and Durbin was right to begin with.

3.  It never ceases to amaze me to watch right wing thugs, whether
politicians, media people, or etc, take something that is TRUE to begin
with, such as an actual comparison of atrocities AMERICANS have dealt
against people in this MODERN AGE to the similar atrocities others have
committed in the past, and begin an INSTANT CAMPAIGN to not only DISCREDIT
THE ACTUAL TRUTH but the bringer of such TRUTH as well.

Let's go over some of it, though, even for people like The Jewish Defense
League, whomever, to straighten their asses out as they shit out their own
streamlined versions of PROPAGANDA for whatever individual and collective
reasons they always find useful to do it for.

1.  A Jew (it could have easily not just been a Jew, but a Homosexual,
Gypsy, or just Another Free Thinker) gets gassed to death in the Nazi camps.

2.  An Iraqi gets beaten to death in an American camp.

Go ahead, point out the difference.  I'm waiting.

1.  A Lithuanian girl gets raped, mutilated, and shot in the head by
Stalin's heros.

2.  An Iraqi girl gets raped, mutilated, and shot in the head by American
heros.

Go ahead, point out the difference.  I'm waiting.

1.  Pol Pot lines up the 3 heads of a village in Cambodia or somewhere, and
shoots them all in the head.

2.  The American Military drops several huge bombs on "suspected terrorists"
in Iraq, and wipes out several generations of people at a wedding party, all
the men, women, and children, dead with their eyeballs hanging out and their
heads blown to little bloody bits.

Go ahead, point out the difference.  I'm waiting.

1.  The Nazis pass by a group of people on the road, are in a good mood, and
machine gun them all to death.

2.  The American Military drops Napalm bombs, now outlawed by most countries
except the USA who refuses to sign or abide by various treaties including
any that could ever hold them accountable in international crimes courts for
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, on entire villages of Iraqis, levels Fallujah to
the ground almost, and shoots clergymen in taxis clinging to bibles, and
explain it all later as "gee, we thought they had guns, etc etc, ad nauseum,
etc".

Go ahead, point out the differences.  I'm waiting.

I'm going to be waiting A LONG FUCKING TIME before anyone on Earth can
actually tell me THE DIFFERENCES between what THE NAZIS, STALIN, POL POT,
ETC did, and what THE AMERICANS have done and CONTINUE TO DO TO THIS VERY
DAY.

Other than the FACT that no AMERICANS INSIDE IRAQ movies have been made YET
like all the movies about all the atrocities the Nazis, Pol Pot, etc have
done.

A WAR CRIMES death is a WAR CRIMES death, whether it was 60 years ago done
by THE NAZIS, STALIN, POL POT, etc, or is being done TODAY by THE AMERICANS
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

And for that Democratic Senator to be cow-towed into APOLOGIZING for
pointing out AMERICAN WAR CRIMES, for actually having the balls to SPEAK THE
FUCKING TRUTH, is the actual crime itself to begin with.

Fuck all those Right Wing Congressmen, ALL your fucking irresponsible Right
Wingers, all the Right Wing bloggers, all the Right Wing radio etc
commentators, you're ALL now FIRMLY complicit in WAR CRIMES committed by
AMERICA itself.

That you continue to FIRMLY stand your ground and DEMAND apologies from
Americans who DARE to point out the actual TRUTH of WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN
YOUR NAME AND WITH YOUR OWN BLESSING, continues to show what pure
unadulterated soulless cocksuckers you will always remain until the end of
time and beyond.



Anything  ====ELSE====  you ASSHOLE AMERICAN RIGHT WING WAR CRIMINALS AND
YOUR SUPPORTERS just HAVE to know about REALITY, just give me a holler, the
day I will apologize for telling THE TRUTH, will be the day you blow your
own ass off by mistaking it for a barbecue pit.





Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 04:14:33 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 04:15:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pharmaceuticals in Waterways Raise Concern
Message-ID: <42BA9999.9020109@comcast.net>

Pharmaceuticals in Waterways Raise Concern
Effect on Wildlife, Humans Questioned
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A03
Academics, state officials and environmental advocates are starting to 
question whether massive amounts of discarded pharmaceuticals, which are 
often flushed down the drain, pose a threat to the nation's aquatic life 
and possibly to people.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201988.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 04:15:27 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 04:16:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The FBI's Mississippi Myopia
Message-ID: <42BA99CF.2050901@comcast.net>

The FBI's Mississippi Myopia
By Ron Carver

Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A27
The nation watched this month as the trial of Klansman Edgar Ray Killen 
forced the white citizens of Philadelphia, Miss., to come to terms with 
their history. But Killen's manslaughter conviction in the 1964 killing 
of three young civil rights workers should be a time for all Americans 
to confront our complicity in Southern-style segregation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202013.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 04:19:53 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 04:21:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senate Rejects Greenhouse Gas Limits
Message-ID: <42BA9AD9.2010609@comcast.net>

Senate Rejects Greenhouse Gas Limits
By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A08
The Senate yesterday rejected a measure calling for mandatory limits on 
emissions linked to global warming, siding with the Bush 
administration's position that the restrictions would cost jobs, drive 
industry overseas and run up consumers' energy bills.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202061.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 04:21:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 04:23:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senate Democrat Offers Pledge on Bolton Vote
Message-ID: <42BA9B47.50305@comcast.net>

Senate Democrat Offers Pledge on Bolton Vote
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A04
The White House renewed its insistence yesterday that the Senate confirm 
John R. Bolton to be U.N. ambassador, but key senators said they see no 
evidence of a plan to make it happen.
With the Senate having voted twice to sustain a filibuster against 
Bolton, the Bush administration and congressional leaders appeared to 
assign each other the responsibility of breaking the three-month 
impasse. Several senators said they do not understand why President Bush 
is demanding Bolton's approval without presenting a strategy for picking 
up the handful of needed Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201336.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 04:23:28 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 04:24:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hospitals cut costs for uninsured - The Boston Globe
Message-ID: <42BA9BB0.1060802@comcast.net>

Hospitals cut costs for uninsured
2 networks plan discounts of 15-50%

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff  |  June 23, 2005

Two of the state's largest hospital networks, Partners HealthCare and 
UMass Memorial Health Care, will no longer routinely charge uninsured 
patients full ''sticker price" for medical care, but instead will offer 
15 to 50 percent discounts, in some cases as much as the mark-downs 
large health insurers receive.

The goals are to provide a price break for uninsured patients who earn 
too much money to qualify for state assistance and to make collecting 
payments from them easier. The new policies come at a time when 
hospitals across the US face criticism and lawsuits over aggressive 
billing methods and for routinely charging the uninsured far more for 
treatment than they do health insurers.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/23/hospitals_cut_costs_for_uninsured/
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 23 05:56:11 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 23 05:56:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senate uses fear to strike down / reject greenhouse gas
	limits
Message-ID: <001a01c577f2$f1a28c80$5f27e440@Harold>

Fear works in many wonderful ways for the present administration. The rejection of the amendment for putting a cap on greenhouse gas producers was based on lose of jobs, economic fallouts, drive industry oversees and increase energy costs........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062200465_pf.html

Later H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:16:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:16:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Obfuscating Intolerance
Message-ID: <20050623131615.2FB472371C5@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 23, 2005
Editorial: Obfuscating Intolerance

A Pentagon inquiry's finding of no overt religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy strains credibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/opinion/23thu2.html?ex=1120190400&en=33558caff9789b20&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:16:31 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:16:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iraq and the Polls
Message-ID: <20050623131631.DC87383C95@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 23, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Iraq and the Polls
By DAVID BROOKS
It's important we don't pass judgment prematurely on the overall trajectory of the war in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/opinion/23brooks.html?ex=1120190400&en=c966a3556d1efcb0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:17:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:17:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	NYTimes.com: Science, Religion and Stem Cells (5 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050623131713.AE89911F80C@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying..


OPINION | June 23, 2005
Science, Religion and Stem Cells (5 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/opinion/l23cuomo.html?ex=1120190400&en=1fda1c4e8fc2db43&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:18:41 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:18:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: New Colombia Law Grants Concessions to
	Paramilitaries
Message-ID: <20050623131841.13CA283DDA@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / AMERICAS | June 23, 2005
New Colombia Law Grants Concessions to Paramilitaries
By JUAN FORERO
A disarmament plan approved by Colombia's Congress provides concessions to paramilitary commanders accused of atrocities and cocaine trafficking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/americas/23colombia.html?ex=1120190400&en=ff7943903f2878fc&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:18:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:19:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Upstart in Iran Election Campaigns as
	Champion of Poor
Message-ID: <20050623131856.C0D0883DBB@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 23, 2005
Upstart in Iran Election Campaigns as Champion of Poor
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
The mayor of Tehran has attracted a following by presenting himself as a sort of Islamic Robin Hood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/middleeast/23iran.html?ex=1120190400&en=3ff2c94f71239297&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:19:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:20:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Rice Urges Egyptians and Saudis to
	Democratize
Message-ID: <20050623131948.AB2F23AE592@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 21, 2005
Rice Urges Egyptians and Saudis to Democratize
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
A blunt challenge to the United States's closest allies in the Arab world was delivered Monday by the secretary of state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/international/middleeast/21rice.html?ex=1120190400&en=707bd9204206365d&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:22:27 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:22:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Arrests Follow Searches in Medical
	Marijuana Raids
Message-ID: <20050623132227.86BF424AEC1@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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And the proto-totalitarian crackdown begins...


NATIONAL | June 23, 2005
Arrests Follow Searches in Medical Marijuana Raids
By DEAN E. MURPHY
Federal agents executed search warrants at three medical marijuana dispensaries as part of a broad investigation into marijuana trafficking in San Francisco.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/national/23marijuana.html?ex=1120190400&en=11ad59bdae9a7e46&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:22:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:23:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: House Backs Ban on Flag Burning
Message-ID: <20050623132244.3800B83DF0@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 23, 2005
House Backs Ban on Flag Burning
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
A proposed amendment would enable Congress to prohibit the destruction or debasement of the American flag without violating free speech rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23flag.html?ex=1120190400&en=56e818f5f34adbcc&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:23:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:23:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: In Ohio Vote, Woes, Yes, Fraud, No
Message-ID: <20050623132322.C4CA1249DA2@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 23, 2005
In Ohio Vote, Woes, Yes, Fraud, No
By JAMES DAO
A five-month study for the Democratic National Committee found that more than one in four Ohio voters experienced problems at the polls last fall.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23voting.html?ex=1120190400&en=2ff564c1a5fec435&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 06:23:44 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:23:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Rove Criticizes Liberals on 9/11
Message-ID: <20050623132344.7714683E09@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 23, 2005
Rove Criticizes Liberals on 9/11
By PATRICK D. HEALY
Karl Rove came to the heart of Manhattan to rhapsodize about the decline of liberalism in politics, saying Democrats responded weakly to Sept. 11.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23rove.html?ex=1120190400&en=70735aba2186cbee&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From newsletter at villagevoice.com  Wed Jun 22 20:40:30 2005
From: newsletter at villagevoice.com (Village Voice Newsletter)
Date: Thu Jun 23 06:36:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Today's Voice: The Queer Issue
Message-ID: <20050623034030.63074.qmail@www3.villagevoice.com>

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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 23 07:20:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 23 07:21:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBS News Article from William Swiggard
Message-ID: <200506231420.j5NEKhBp002355@web135.bc.cbsig.net>

Dear MB-CIVIC,

(Optional)

Parents 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/21/politics/main703379.shtml
CBS News Online

Your friend,
William Swiggard
swiggard@comcast.net
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 23 09:24:58 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:25:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US pledges food aid to North Korea
Message-ID: <BEE0306A.21126%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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US pledges food aid to North Korea
>By Guy Dinmore in Washington
>Published: June 23 2005 03:00 | Last updated: June 23 2005 03:00
>>

Several million North Koreans struggling to stave off famine will receive
food from the US this year, the Bush administration announced on Wednesday,
declaring that its continued aid was humanitarian and not tied to progress
in ending the communist state's nuclear weapons programme.

The US pledged 50,000 tonnes for this year, the same as in 2004, to be
distributed by the World Food Programme. Nonetheless, the UN agency remains
far short of its goal of supplying a total of 500,000 tonnes.

With North Korea facing its worst crisis since famine in the 1990s killed
2m-3m people, the UN food agency had urged the US to double its
contribution.

"It is a humanitarian act based on need and not based on political
considerations and not linked to six-party talks," said Adam Ereli, State
Department spokesman. However, analysts said Washington was calculating that
its initiative could lead to a breakthrough in the diplomatic stalemate by
giving Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, the opportunity to decide to
return to the negotiating table after a year-long absence.

If North Korea maintained its refusal, the analysts said, the US would be in
a stronger moral position to abandon the six-party process and take a
tougher line with sanctions.

"We desperately need the food now," said Anthony Banbury, Asia director for
the WFP.

The US announcement came on the same day as two prominent Americans revealed
that while visiting Pyongyang in November 2002, Mr Kim gave them a letter
for US President George W. Bush in which he offered to "find a way to
resolve the nuclear issue" if the US recognised North Korean sovereignty and
pledged non-aggression.

Writing in the Washington Post, Donald Gregg, a former ambassador, and Don
Oberdorfer, a former Post diplomatic correspondent, said the Bush
administration "spurned engagement" with North Korea because it was "deep in
secret planning and a campaign of public persuasion" to invade Iraq.

Asked to respond by reporters, Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman,
replied: "I'm just not interested in ploughing that old ground."

North Korea's economic crisis is deepening. Reforms have distorted prices
and food supplies, causing great disparities between pensioners who receive
35 cents a month as well as inadequate rations, and those few rich enough to
buy a Mercedes.

The WFP has downgraded its estimate of this year's harvest. Because of
shortfalls in donations, the UN agency can only feed 3.6m North Koreans on
rations reduced by a half, out of an estimated vulnerable population of
6.5m.

Japan was the largest donor to North Korea through the WFP last year,
followed by South Korea and the US. China is the single largest supplier of
food, but contributes directly.

Pyongyang has recently signalled a willingness to return to the nuclear
talks hosted by China, but on the condition that the US make the right
gestures, including a show of "respect".

Jack Pritchard, an analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a
former US envoy to the negotiations, said a new US pledge of food was a
smart way of getting Mr Kim to re-engage while strengthening the moral
position of the US.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 23 09:25:15 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:25:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'
Message-ID: <20050623_162515_034268.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit' **
UN investigators accuse the US of foot dragging over human rights checks at Guantanamo Bay.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4123200.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 23 09:25:47 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:25:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Rumsfeld: US not losing Iraq war
Message-ID: <20050623_162547_025578.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Rumsfeld: US not losing Iraq war **
Donald Rumsfeld tells senators the US is not "losing the war" and refuses to set a timetable for withdrawing troops.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4123808.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 23 09:26:38 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:26:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Nun urges UK help on Tibet rights
Message-ID: <20050623_162638_015291.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Nun urges UK help on Tibet rights **
Former prisoner Ngawang Sangdrol calls on the UK government to do more to improve rights in Tibet.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4122794.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 23 09:26:40 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:26:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush calls for more nuclear power plants
Message-ID: <BEE030D0.21128%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Bush calls for more nuclear power plants
>By Caroline Daniel in Washington
>Published: June 22 2005 20:46 | Last updated: June 23 2005 00:03
>>

George W. Bush on Wednesday made the first visit by a sitting US president
to a nuclear plant since the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, and
declared: ?It is time for this country to start building nuclear power
plants again.?

His comments were intended to provide momentum to the energy bill that has
been stalled in Congress for four years. Mr Bush has demanded an energy bill
be sent to him to sign by August 1, and senators yesterday expressed
confidence of meeting that deadline.

Energy policy has moved to the top of the political agenda as oil prices
have hit $59 a barrel, and by Mr Bush's desire to show progress on domestic
policy.

The president has been one of the strongest advocates of nuclear power as a
means to reduce US dependence on foreign oil.

?There is a growing consensus that more nuclear power will lead to a
cleaner, safer nation yet America has not ordered a nuclear plant since the
1970s,? Mr Bush said during a visit to a nuclear plant in Calvert Cliffs,
Maryland.

?By contrast, France has built 58 nuclear plants in the same period of time.
China now has eight nuclear plants in the works,? he said.

Senator Pete Domenici from New Mexico predicted this week that nuclear
energy was ?experiencing American renaissance, similar to the global
renaissance that prompted France to rely on nuclear power for 80 per cent of
its energy?.

Nuclear power provides 20 per cent of US electrical generating capacity but
Mr Bush is promoting a $1.1bn (?908m, ?604m) initiative to help build new
plants.

Eliot Brenner, spokesman at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said: ?The
rule of thumb is that given the rise in demand, to hold at 20 per cent over
a 20-year period, we would need as many as 100 new plants.?

Against a backdrop of polls that question whether the president is
addressing the everyday concerns of Americans, Mr Bush acknowledged the
impact of high fuel on ?working families?.

He used the wide-ranging speech to focus on his domestic agenda, and revived
his twin themes of delivering ?economic security? and creating an ?ownership
society?.

Acknowledging criticism of lack of progress on reforming Social Security,
the pension entitlement, he said: ?I tell you one thing I am making progress
on: the overwhelming number of Americans understand we have a problem.?

A Pew Research Center poll concluded recently that high fuel prices ?lead
the public's list of economic problems, with 85 per cent of Americans citing
gas prices as a very big or big problem for the US economy?.

On Wednesday the US Senate defeated an effort by Senators John McCain and
Joseph Lieberman to impose mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions and
supported the White House view of keeping limits voluntary.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 23 09:28:35 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:28:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?=8CChina=B9s_century=B9?=
	is still a long march 	away
Message-ID: <BEE03143.21129%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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?China?s century? is still a long march away
>By Arthur Kroeber
>Published: June 22 2005 20:25 | Last updated: June 22 2005 20:25
>>

Every few months seems to bring fresh news of a Chinese company buying up a
piece of some famous European or American manufacturer. Last year it was
TCL, the Chinese television maker, acquiring control of the television
business of Thomson SA, the French electronics company. Then Lenovo, the
Chinese computer maker, bought IBM?s personal computer business. Earlier
this month, Siemens of Germany paid BenQ, a Taiwanese company, to take over
its ailing mobile telephone business. And this week, Haier, China?s top
appliance maker, announced a $1.3bn offer for Maytag, the troubled US white
goods maker.

More such deals are likely as western companies discover the difficulty of
competing with China?s rock-bottom manufacturing costs. This will cause many
to trumpet ? or decry ? the coming ?Chinese century.?

But what these transactions really show is how far off the ?Chinese century?
is. When they take over moribund western manufacturers, Chinese companies do
so on far less favourable terms than their Taiwanese cousins. This reflects
serious weaknesses in Chinese companies.

In the Lenovo and TCL takeover deals last year, the Chinese companies
acquired established (if unprofitable) foreign brands and distribution
channels by selling their equity very cheaply. TCL acquired Thomson?s TV
assets for virtually no cash down, but Thomson retained a one-third stake in
the TV business with an option to convert it into TCL shares. Lenovo paid
IBM $1.75bn in combined cash and debt-assumption and also gave IBM a 19 per
cent stake in Lenovo.

In both deals, the western companies got out of unprofitable business lines
at no cost and gained a low-cost option enabling them to profit if the
Chinese companies managed to turn the businesses round. Both deals were
excellent bargains for the western companies. For the Chinese buyers, they
had the air of a desperate gamble.

The BenQ-Siemens deal is different. Siemens is getting out of the
mobile-handset business at a fairly stiff price, and gaining only a token
share in any turnround that BenQ may engineer. Siemens will pay BenQ ?250m
($305m) to take the unit off its hands, and an additional ?50m for a 2.5 per
cent stake in BenQ. In addition, BenQ gains rights to all patents held by
the Siemens mobile handset unit. By contrast, when TCL acquired Thomson?s TV
business, the highest-value bit ? tube production ? was left out of the
deal.

In short, the Taiwanese company was in the driver?s seat, while the Chinese
ones were taken for a ride. Why? The main reason is that Taiwanese companies
have hard-earned strengths that translate into a real international
competitive advantage. This is not so in China: for all the ballyhoo about
?manufacturing competitiveness?, China?s big manufacturing companies are
trading groups that have exploited temporary arbitrage opportunities.

The chief strength of Taiwanese electronics makers is supply-chain
management. Taiwanese equipment manufacturers rely on dense networks of
highly specialised component suppliers. Both these suppliers and the
ultimate assemblers such as BenQ operate on fast turnround times and high
flexibility. This enables the Taiwanese companies to bring new designs to
market rapidly and to move into new product lines as electronic gadgets are
invented. Since the mid-1990s, the Taiwanese have added to these advantages
by moving most low-end production to China, where labour costs are lower.

Companies such as TCL and Lenovo, by contrast, prospered mainly because of
low purchasing power and inefficiencies in the Chinese market. They offered
ultra-cheap versions of desirable electronic items when most Chinese could
not afford the higher quality but more expensive foreign models.

But as China?s markets liberalise and its consumers grow richer, these
advantages vanish and profits shrink. Because of low profit margins,
companies such as TCL and Lenovo cannot afford the research and development
capacity that became an enduring competitive advantage for their Japanese
and Korean predecessors. And because they are essentially arbitrageurs, they
have not developed the manufacturing and supply-chain management efficiency
of their Taiwanese competitors.

China has both dynamism and a powerful comparative advantage in
manufacturing. But its entrepreneurial companies are immature and hamstrung
by government policies that favour state-owned behemoths and hinder private
companies. The Chinese century is still a few decades away.

The writer is managing editor of China Economic Quarterly
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 23 09:37:26 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:37:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Brazil is yielding farms that can feed the world
Message-ID: <BEE03356.2112C%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Brazil is yielding farms that can feed the world
>By Alan Beattie
>Published: June 22 2005 20:25 | Last updated: June 22 2005 20:25
>>

A tapestry hangs on the wall in the capacious office of Celso Amorim,
Brazil?s foreign minister. Based on a chart drawn by a 15th-century Italian
explorer, it shows an inverted map of the world ? the southern hemisphere is
on top.

Brazil?s farmers, backed by a pugnacious diplomatic and legal campaign by
business and political leaders such as Mr Amorim, are similarly turning the
world of agricultural trade on its head. The European Union this week
proposed deep cuts in the price it guarantees its own sugar farmers. The US
is due by the end of next week to announce reduced support for cotton
growers. Both retreats follow actions initiated by Brazil at the World Trade
Organisation.

While farm products are a small part of the picture ? 10 per cent of global
merchandise trade ? the vast numbers of farmers among the WTO?s largely
developing-country membership, combined with the highly contentious issue of
rich nations? agricultural subsidies, make Brazil a pivotal nation in the
future of world trade.

Brazil is to agriculture what India is to business offshoring and China to
manufacturing: a powerhouse whose size and efficiency few competitors can
match. Despite facing one of the highest agricultural tariffs in the western
hemisphere ? an average 30 per cent is levied by the nations that import its
produce ? the country is the world?s largest or second largest exporter of
sugar, soyabeans, orange juice, coffee, tobacco and beef and is rapidly
building a strong position in products such as cotton, chicken and pork.

Brazil has the largest agricultural trade surplus in the world ? $34bn or 5
per cent of national income last year, an amount that was singlehandedly
responsible for putting the country?s overall net trade in surplus. For a
country struggling to pay down its large debt burden, agricultural export
earnings have been a godsend. Carlo Lovatelli, head of the Brazil
Agribusiness Association, says: ?Our aims are to consolidate Brazil as one
of the world?s top agricultural exporters, expand further in areas like
cotton and continue to demand access.?

There is certainly scope for expansion. On top of its 62m hectares (153m
acres) of arable land, Brazil has an estimated 170m hectares more in
potential ? about the same as the entire US cropland currently under
cultivation.

The land along Brazil?s coast has been farmed for generations. But the
future for Brazilian farms lies inland, in places such as the vast central
state of Mato Grosso. As recently as 30 years ago, thousands of square miles
of thinly populated cerrado, or savannah, spread from the Bolivian border to
the south to the Amazon basin in the north. Now the state?s plateaux have
been invaded by vast emerald fields of cotton and soyabean plants and
occasional stands of eucalyptus trees grown for pulp. The resemblance to US
prairie states invites a comparison invoked frequently by Mato Grosso?s
large-scale farmers, many of them relatively new arrivals from elsewhere in
Brazil or overseas. ?What is happening here now is what happened in the
American Midwest of the 1800s,? says Chris Ward, a New Zealander who has
farmed in Mato Grosso for 20 years. ?People came here not to stand still but
to win.?

Much of Brazil?s soil is in fact rather poor in nutrients, requiring heavy
fertilisation: one local saying has it that its only function is to hold the
crops upright. But the country has a near-perfect climate, especially in the
central area ? months of soaking rain in the southern summers, followed by
dry, warm winters. It also has a huge river system, low land prices and a
big reserve of cheap labour arising from large inequities of landholding and
income among its 180m population.

These traditional advantages have combined with rising investment and
government support for technology in recent years to create fearsomely
efficient farms. In sugar, for example, estimates by Brazil?s national
sugarcane institute suggest that, while the production costs of its main
export rivals have remained around $250 a tonne for a decade, average costs
in Brazil have fallen by more than one-third to $158 a tonne. It has doubled
its share of world sugar exports to more than one-third in the last 10
years. With increasing international interest in sugar-based ethanol as a
clean biofuel for engines, output is projected to increase by another 25 per
cent in the next five years.

The production of soyabeans, Brazil?s biggest export and an important
feedstuff for pigs and chickens, has grown even more quickly amid a rapid
globalisation of the soyabean market. The recent legalisation of genetically
modified soya in Brazil ? farmers say the industry was riddled with GM seeds
smuggled in from Argentina in any case ? is likely to mean further gains in
output and profitability.
>

By no means everything is in the farmers? favour. They face high interest
rates, a rising currency and, for many, tortuous journeys along thousands of
kilometres of rutted roads for their produce to reach the coastal ports.

Carlos Augustin, the owner of a 30,000-hectare cotton and soyabean farm in
the heart of Mato Grosso, says that Brazilian cotton farmers can achieve a
yield as good as or better than their American counterparts, while adding:
?You may have lower land and machinery prices on one side but you have
higher freight, travel and finance costs on the other.? These extra burdens,
he reckons, lose him 9-15 cents of the 60 cents a pound his cotton gets on
world markets, bringing it perilously close to the break-even price.

If Brazil?s government succeeds in bringing down interest rates through its
fiscal stringency, and finds enough money to update infrastructure, its
farmers will be even more competitive.

However good its productivity, no country, certainly not one as populous as
Brazil, is going to become rich growing and exporting nothing but basic
commodities ? especially since their prices tend to be in long-term relative
decline. Even Mato Grosso?s astonishing rise in output has left it
contributing a little over 1 per cent to national income. But Brazil is also
beginning to move up the value chain.

Osler Desouzart, a former executive in the chicken industry and now with OD
Consulting, which advises poultry exporters, says: ?There is no money in
producing animal protein. But there is lots of money in marketing and
distributing animal products.?

In Europe, the destination for one-third of Brazil?s chicken exports, many
food companies have sourced from and invested in Brazilian production. More
and more of the value added in the production chain is going to Brazil,
helped by an unusual EU tariff structure that imposes import taxes of around
75 per cent on raw chicken but only about 10 per cent on cooked or processed
chicken. The chicken tikka masala that is sold in UK supermarkets often has
its spices added on site in Brazil before being deep-frozen and shipped.

Brazil?s traditional commodity exports and its newer value-added produce are
creating tensions around the world. As has happened with Chinese
manufactured goods and particularly textiles, the rapid rise of a low-cost
competitor raises cries of unfair competition from elsewhere. In a study of
Brazil?s trade policy published late last year, the WTO concluded that
government support to agriculture was modest. But that is not the view of
its embattled competitors, particularly those in the rich countries.

Luther Markwart, chairman of the American Sugar Alliance, says that,
contrary to the WTO?s assessment, Brazil?s success is based on unfair
competition. ?Brazil used subsidies, a government-run ethanol programme and
appallingly low labour and environmental standards to become the world?s
largest sugar producer,? he says. Mr Markwart reckons that Brazilian
regulatory backing for ethanol ? all cars in Brazil run on either pure
ethanol or an ethanol-petrol mixture ? is worth about $1bn a year.

In Europe, farmers have similar complaints. Peter Bradnock, chief executive
of the British Poultry Council, says that lower Brazilian environmental and
labour standards contribute to its poultry being about half the price of
that produced in Europe. ?Technologically we can raise chickens as well as
they can,? he says. ?But they are lower cost, and a part of that reflects
the regulatory standards within which we have to operate.?

Mr Bradnock says that officials and regulators in countries such as Brazil
and Thailand have an ?export vocation?: they will do everything they can, he
maintains, to ensure that regulation does not get in the way of pumping out
yet more exports.

But he admits it is almost impossible to argue that these advantages violate
WTO rules. Complaints about unfair competition meanwhile go unheeded by the
strong Brazilian political consensus in favour of expanding farm trade.
>

Nowhere is the alliance between politics and agribusiness more evident than
in Mato Grosso, where a clique of large farmers and politicians dominates
the state. Mato Grosso?s governor is Blairo Maggi, scion of Maggi Group, a
large agribusiness. In the face of criticism that farming in such areas
benefits only the rich, Mr Maggi argues that Mato Grosso has no alternative
to the model of big farms that pump out cheap commodities.

?Small properties in Mato Grosso do not have economic viability,? he says.
?This has to be a scale economy, like the automotive industry. You cannot
plant corn, soyabeans or cotton without large properties that can be
competitive on the world market. Globalisation has occurred in world
farming.?

He sees no objection to investment in Brazilian farming by multinationals
such as Cargill, from whom many Brazilian farmers borrow money to buy their
inputs. He stresses the vast acreage that is still ?available for production
without destroying the Amazon?.

Even the national administration of Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva, the
president, which had long links with poor and landless farmers, has
supported big agribusiness. Roberto Rodrigues, agriculture minister, is
himself a farmer ? though the horses, fenced fields and rolling countryside
around his idyllic eco-friendly sugarcane farm in S?o Paulo state recall the
verdancy of Virginia rather than the plains of the Midwest.

He speaks regretfully of the ?social exclusion? that saw 200,000 small
farmers leave the land in S?o Paulo following the liberalisation and
concentration of agriculture in the early 1990s, points out that around
one-fifth of the Brazilian government?s subsidised credit goes to small
farmers and insists that the slow pace of land reform under Mr Lula da
Silva?s government reflects a shortage of money, not a lack of political
will.

But Mr Rodrigues has a strong ambition for agribusinesses to expand, in
crops such as sugar. For him, the turning point was in attending the world
agricultural expo in Tulare, California, in the mid-1990s and realising the
potential for vast gains in productivity by mechanising agriculture. ?Now,
wherever you go in Brazil, we have our own agricultural shows,? he says. ?I
don?t want to sell litres of ethanol abroad ? I want to sell rivers.?

Astute tactics highlight the role of the WTO

As the power of Brazil?s farmers has grown on world markets, so its
politicians? energetic lobbying against agricultural subsidies and
protectionism in the rich world has paid dividends.

Nevertheless some accuse the Brazilians of overreaching themselves or of
negotiating in their own interests rather than those of developing countries
as a whole.

Particularly prominent are the two cases that Brazil successfully brought to
the World Trade Organisation?s disputes panel. The panel ruled that
subsidies for cotton in the US and sugar in Europe broke WTO rules and
distorted world trade. These high-profile victories, the first to aim at
rich countries? farm subsidies, forced the issue up the international
agenda.

Pedro de Camargo Neto, a combative former agriculture ministry official
regarded as the progenitor of the sugar and cotton cases, says that the
demonstration effect of the litigation was as important as the actual
remedies ordered by the WTO. ?I had this idea of using cases as a
communication tool,? he says.

He chose cotton rather than soyabean because although Brazil has many more
soyabean than cotton farmers, the damage from the US?s subsidy regime was
much more obvious. ?Then we wanted a case against Europe for balance, and
chose sugar.?

Mr de Camargo Neto thinks that other countries should now pick up the baton:
Uruguay could bring a case against the US rice support, for example, or
Argentina against European dairy payments.

Few other developing countries have Brazil?s capacity to bring cases, which
can be expensive and complex, to the WTO.

To overcome the bureaucracy of the process, Brazil set up a think-tank
headed by Marcos Jank, a trade expert who headed Brazil?s agricultural
negotiating team at the WTO ministerial meeting in Canc?n, Mexico, in 2003.
A team of dedicated Brazilian economists, help from sympathetic US academics
and a high-powered US legal team helped bring victory.

Brazil?s leadership role goes beyond litigation. Just before the talks in
Canc?n, Brazil convened the Group of 20 poor countries to negotiate on
agricultural issues within the WTO, and became one of the so-called ?five
interested parties? (along with the US, European Union, Australia and India)
charged with pushing the talks along last year.

But there are suspicions that Brazil, by focusing so heavily on agricultural
subsidies and market access in the rich countries, is pushing its own
interests while ostensibly speaking on behalf of the developing world.

In particular, while the WTO cotton case may also benefit west African
cotton producers by raising the world price, the sugar case may hurt
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) growers, which are granted special
access to the high-price markets of Europe.

As Mr Jank says: ?Brazil led the developing world with the cotton case, but
with the sugar case a lot of the ACP countries were closer to Europe.?

Mr de Camargo Neto admits that litigation is a blunt tool: ?We cannot solve
all the problems of development with a trade case.?

Such concerns have not diminished Brazil?s enthusiasm for seeking to
represent the developing world. Celso Amorim, the country?s influential
foreign minister, says that divisions between developing countries ?are
invented by bureaucrats in Brussels?.

Brazil has tried to bridge divides by giving help to Caribbean sugar
producers to build ethanol plants, softening the blow of falling export
earnings from Europe.

?I don?t want to steal anybody?s show,? Mr Amorim says. ?Brazil is not
dictating the direction of the WTO negotiations. Everything we do is by
consultation.?

>
>
>
 
 
 
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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Wed Jun 22 22:46:29 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:39:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Support bipartisan move in Congress to withdraw +
	Baghdad Burning + throes
Message-ID: <200506231639.j5NGdXw5027332@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Here is an action alert from Council for a Livable World, followed 
(thanks to Ed Pearl) by the latest report from "Riverbend" the young 
woman blogger in Baghdad, and a little exchange with W.'s press 
secretary....

TELL CONGRESS WE NEED TO WITHDRAW FROM IRAQ

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=21255568&url_nu
m=1&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/clw/campaign.jsp
?campaign_KEY=892


In the current edition of U.S. News and World Report, Senator Chuck 
Hagel (R-NE) comments that in Iraq ?things aren't getting better; 
they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected 
from reality.? Even more importantly, he also notes that ?more and 
more of my colleagues up here are concerned.?

As we wrote to you last week, Representatives Abercrombie (D-HI) 
and Jones (R-NC) have proposed a resolution calling for President 
Bush to draft a plan for withdrawal that would bring soldiers home 
starting in October 2006. The resolution now has a total of 18 co-
sponsors, including both Democrats and Republicans. The bipartisan 
nature of the resolution is important. For the first time, members of 
President Bush?s own party are questioning his policy in Iraq. 

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SPONSOR THE 
ABERCROMBIE-JONES RESOLUTION

There is a growing belief among the public and politicians on both 
sides of the aisle that the situation in Iraq has been handled 
disastrously by the Administration. Clearly, the time has come for a 
serious debate about planning our withdrawal from Iraq ? and some 
elected officials from both parties have begun to assert their 
constitutional responsibilities. 

Our presence in Iraq has already cost the American people 
dearly.Over 1,700 soldiers have been killed and over 12,000 
wounded; the most recent spending bill has pushed the cost of the war 
over $200 billion. Deadly attacks against American and Iraqi security 
forces continue on a daily basis and the occupation by American 
troops provides insurgents with a constant stream of new recruits.

Iraq has become a quagmire, but the Bush administration refuses to 
consider drafting any sort of a plan for withdrawal. We owe it to our 
troops to begin laying out a plan to bring them home.

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SPONSOR THE 
ABERCROMBIE-JONES RESOLUTION


-----


Baghdad Burning


... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and
souls can mend... Tuesday, June 21, 2005

General Update...
The cousin, his wife S. and their two daughters have been houseguests
these last three days. They drove up to the house a couple of days ago
with several bags of laundry. "There hasn't been water in our area for
three days." The cousins wife huffed as she dragged along a black plastic
bag of dirty clothes. "The water came late last night and disappeared
three hours later. what about you?" Our water had not been cut off
completely, but it came and went during the day.

Water has been a big problem in many areas all over Baghdad. Houses
without electric water pumps don't always have access to water. Today it
was the same situation in most of the areas. They say the water came for a
couple of hours and then disappeared again. We're filling up plastic
containers and pots just to be on the safe side. It is not a good idea to
be caught without water in the June heat in Iraq.

"I need to bathe the children and wash all these clothes," S. called to me
as the older of the little girls and I hauled out their overnight bag.
"And the sheets- you know nothing has been washed since last weeks ajaja."
We call a dust storm an "ajaja" in Iraq. I don't think there's a proper
translation for that word. Last week, a few large ajajas kept Baghdad in a
sort of pale yellow haze. What happens when an ajaja settles on the city
is that within a couple of hours, the air becomes heavy and thick with
beige powdery sand. Visibility decreases during these dust storms and it
often becomes difficult to drive or see out the window.

On such occasions, we rush about the house shutting windows tightly in a
largely futile attempt to keep dust out of the house. For people with
allergies or asthma- it's a nightmare. The only thing that alleviates the
situation somewhat is air conditioning. The air feels a little less dusty
when there's an air conditioner pumping cool air into the room.

One dust storm last week was so heavy, E. slept for a couple of hours
during its peak and woke up with little beige-tipped lashes from the dust
that had settled on his face while he was dozing. You can even taste the
dust in the food sometimes. These storms can last anywhere from a few
hours to several days.

After the ajaja is over and the air has cleared somewhat, we begin the
cleaning process. By this time, the furniture is all covered with a light
film of orangish dirt, the windows are grimy, and the garden, driveway and
trees all look like they have recently emerged from a sea of dust. We
spend the days after such storms washing, wiping, polishing and beating
dust out of the house.

"I've been dying to wash the curtains and sheets since the ajaja." S.
breathed, pulling out dusty curtains from the plastic bag. She paused
suddenly, a horrific idea occurring to her, "You have water, right?
Right?" We had water, I assured her. I didn't mention, however, that there
had been no electricity for the better part of the morning and the
generator was providing only enough for the refrigerator, television and a
few lights. The standard washing machine consumed too much water and
electricity- we would have to use the little 'National' washing tub, or
'diaper machine' as my mother called it.

The pale yellow plastic washing tub is a simple device that is designed to
hold a few liters of water and to swish around said water with a few
articles of clothing tossed in and some detergent. Next, the clothes have
to be removed from the soapy water and rinsed separately in clean water,
then hung to dry. While it conveniently uses less water than the standard
washing machine, there is also a risk factor involved- a sock or
undershirt is often sacrificed to the little plastic blade that swishes
around the water and clothes.

We spent some of yesterday and a good portion of today washing clothes,
rinsing them and speculating on how our ancestors fared without washing
machines and water pumps.

The electrical situation differs from area to area. On some days, the
electricity schedule is two hours of electricity, and then four hours of
no electricity. On other days, it's four hours of electricity to four or
six hours of no electricity. The problem is that the last couple of weeks,
we don't have electricity in the mornings for some reason. Our local
generator is off until almost 11 am, and the house generator allows for
ceiling fans (or "pankas"), the refrigerator, television and a few other
appliances. Air conditioners cannot be turned on and the heat is
oppressive by 8 am these days.

Detentions and assassinations, along with intermittent electricity, have
also been contributing to sleepless nights. We're hearing about raids in
many areas in the Karkh half of Baghdad in particular. On the television
the talk about 'terrorists' being arrested, but there are dozens of people
being rounded up for no particular reason. Almost every Iraqi family can
give the name of a friend or relative who is in one of the many American
prisons for no particular reason. They aren't allowed to see lawyers or
have visitors and stories of torture have become commonplace. Both Sunni
and Shia clerics who are in opposition to the occupation are particularly
prone to attacks by "Liwa il Theeb" or the special Iraqi forces Wolf
Brigade. They are often tortured during interrogation and some of them are
found dead.

There were also several explosions and road blocks today. It took the
cousin an hour to get to work, which was only twenty minutes away before
the war. Now, he has to navigate between closed streets, check points, and
those delightful concrete barriers rising up everywhere. It is especially
difficult to be caught in traffic and that happens a lot lately. Baghdad
has been cut up into sections and several of them may be found to be off
limits immediately after an explosion or before a Puppet meeting. The
least pleasant situation is to be caught in mid-day traffic, on a crowded
road, in the heat- waiting for the next bomb to go off.

What people find particularly frustrating is the fact that while Baghdad
seems to be falling apart in so many ways with roads broken and pitted,
buildings blasted and burnt out and residential areas often swimming in
sewage, the Green Zone is flourishing. The walls surrounding restricted
areas housing Americans and Puppets have gotten higher- as if vying with
the tallest of date palms for height. The concrete reinforcements and road
blocks designed to slow and impede traffic are now a part of everyday
scenery- the road, the trees, the shops, the earth, the sky. and the ugly
concrete slabs sometimes wound insidiously with barbed wire.

The price of building materials has gone up unbelievably, in spite of the
fact that major reconstruction has not yet begun. I assumed it was because
so much of the concrete and other building materials was going to
reinforce the restricted areas. A friend who recently got involved working
with an Iraqi subcontractor who takes projects inside of the Green Zone
explained that it was more than that. The Green Zone, he told us, is a
city in itself. He came back awed, and more than a little bit upset. He
talked of designs and plans being made for everything from the future US
Embassy and the housing complex that will surround it, to restaurants,
shops, fitness centers, gasoline stations, constant electricity and water-
a virtual country inside of a country with its own rules, regulations and
government. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Republic of the Green
Zone, also known as the Green Republic.

"The Americans won't be out in less than ten years." Is how the argument
often begins with the friend who has entered the Green Republic. "How can
you say that?" Is usually my answer- and I begin to throw around numbers-
2007, 2008 maximum. Could they possibly want to be here longer? Can they
afford to be here longer? At this, T. shakes his head- if you could see
the bases they are planning to build- if you could see what already has
been built- you'd know that they are going to be here for quite a while.

The Green Zone is a source of consternation and aggravation for the
typical Iraqi. It makes us anxious because it symbolises the heart of the
occupation and if fortifications and barricades are any indicator- the
occupation is going to be here for a long time. It is a provocation
because no matter how anyone tries to explain or justify it, it is like a
slap in the face. It tells us that while we are citizens in our own
country, our comings and goings are restricted because portions of the
country no longer belong to its people. They belong to the people living
in the Green Republic.

- posted by river @ 3:21 AM

***

http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/

Monday, June 20, 2005

'LAST THROES' . . . UH-HUH

Need some entertainment on a Monday morning? How about ABC chief
White House correspondent Terry ("Bulldog") Moran, right, questioning
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan the other day? I don't know
which to admire more, Moran's tenacity or his sense of humor. As reported
by Editor & Publisher, here's how that went:

MORAN: Scott, is the insurgency in Iraq in its "last throes"?

McCLELLAN: Terry, you have a desperate group of terrorists in
Iraq that are doing everything they can to try to derail the transition to
democracy. The Iraqi people have made it clear that they want a free and
democratic and peaceful future. And that's why we're doing everything we
can, along with other countries, to support the Iraqi people as they move
forward ...

MORAN: But the insurgency is in its last throes?

McCLELLAN: The Vice President talked about that the other day --
you have a desperate group of terrorists who recognize how high the stakes
are in Iraq. A free Iraq will be a significant blow to their ambitions.

MORAN: But they're killing more Americans, they're killing more
Iraqis. That's the last throes?

McCLELLAN: Innocent -- I say innocent civilians. And it doesn't
take a lot of people to cause mass damage when you're willing to strap a
bomb onto yourself, get in a car and go and attack innocent civilians.
That's the kind of people that we're dealing with. That's what I say when
we're talking about a determined enemy.

MORAN: Right. What is the evidence that the insurgency is in its
last throes?

McCLELLAN: I think I just explained to you the desperation of
terrorists and their tactics.

MORAN: What's the evidence on the ground that it's being
extinguished?

McCLELLAN: Terry, we're making great progress to defeat the
terrorist and regime elements. You're seeing Iraqis now playing more of a
role in addressing the security threats that they face. They're working
side by side with our coalition forces. They're working on their own.
There are a lot of special forces in Iraq that are taking the battle to
the enemy in Iraq. And so this is a period when they are in a desperate
mode.

MORAN: Well, I'm just wondering what the metric is for measuring
the defeat of the insurgency.

McCLELLAN: Well, you can go back and look at the Vice
President's remarks. I think he talked about it.

MORAN: Yes. Is there any idea how long a "last throe" lasts for?





-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 07:10:20 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:40:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Britain warns...
In-Reply-To: <051B493F-94B3-4A23-8099-5EADEE54B59A@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231640.j5NGeIoQ027370@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

    
------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:08:01 -0400
Subject: Britain warns...

INTERESTING ARTICLE:


"Don't pin hopes for reform on Rafsanjani, Britain warns..."


"Many in the Foreign Office believe that the Iranian regime is "dying" and
are pushing for the Government to "align" itself more with calls for change.
Options being discussed include increasing the number of hours broadcast by
the BBC Persian service, and supporting the creation of a Persian-language
satellite TV station."

 
URL: 
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/22/wiran22.xml




------ End of Forwarded Message

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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 07:26:22 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:49:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Iran's youth stunned into action
In-Reply-To: <86C04FDE-D992-4BA2-A3E2-F8E8D9F0D8D1@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231649.j5NGnhlj027385@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Michael,  Read the profile of this candidate.  Regards,  Reza
------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:34:37 -0400
Subject: Iran's youth stunned into action

Dear Friends,

I just spoke with someone who had a call from Tehran. The fear instilled
into everyone of a 'Taliban-style' Ahmadinejad presidency, has taken over
!?Many who did not vote, amongst all ages, will do so this Friday, and
that's what was the plan? all along, in my humble opinion ! The 2nd round
was?for-seen and planned, in order to show the world the high voter turn-out
and legitimize the winner and prove? what a 'democracy' the islamic Republic
is:


Please read:

BBC
06/22/05

Iran's youth stunned into action
By Ali Bandari 
In Tehran

Tehran's unofficial speakeasies are among the few places you can usually
find Iranian kids acting their age in the capital.
On election night, however, the atmosphere was anything but upbeat.

"I think we made a big mistake," said 18-year-old Amir, one of only five
people present, while half-heartedly sipping on a watermelon smoothie.

"Mostafa Moin [the unsuccessful reformist candidate] warned us that if we
boycotted the election we'd be paving the way for a 'dark age of
totalitarian rule'. It looks like he might have been right," he says.
>From behind the makeshift bar, an ageing stereo rocked Motown classics to
ease the tension, but the election results - to which the radio had been
tuned less than half an hour previously - still echoed around the almost
empty room.

"Earlier this evening you couldn't move in here for people crowding around
the radio for updates," said Fereydoun, 38, who owns this ghave khane, or
coffee house, on the outskirts of the city.


Most of these kids were unable to identify with a single candidate and
refused to vote in protest
Cafe owner Fereydoun
"Once they announced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was through to the second
round, people started leaving just like that. It was as if they expected him
to turn up at any moment and shut the place down."
The collection of mismatched furniture and unintentionally kitsch Western
trimmings is hardly cosmopolitan, but Fereydoun's place is a bar in every
way apart from selling alcohol - cakes and shakes are the order of the day.

It is also a pick-up joint and - now more than ever - a hushed political
forum.

Iran's future

Recent years have seen a slow erosion of restrictions among Iran's youth,
from the predominance of pop music and bright Western attire to the DJs,
drinks and even designer drugs that typify parties in the high rise palaces
of northern Tehran.

But for many, it is not enough.

"The government is fond of saying that Iran's youth represents the future of
the Islamic Republic," said Fereydoun.

"But most of these kids were unable to identify with a single candidate and
refused to vote in protest."


It was this liberal boycott - bolstered by two terms of frustrated reforms
under the outgoing President Mohammad Khatami - that many believe led to the
shock second place of ultra-conservative former-Tehran mayor Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
During an election in which the language of reform was a common and
potentially soft currency - when even conservative former police chiefs were
reinventing themselves as champions of women's rights - Mr Ahmadinejad was
the only candidate to make no attempt to appeal to reformist voters.

His campaign was characterised by a rash of extreme rhetoric. He promised to
"chop the hands off" corrupt officials and stated in May that Iran "didn't
have a Revolution in order to establish democracy".

More recently, he had the editor-in-chief of a popular Tehran daily
dismissed after he refused to let Mr Ahmadinejad use his newspaper as a
political platform.

This Friday, the hard-line conservative will contest the election in a
second round with former president and media-savvy centrist Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Mr Rafsanjani has promised to address the "legitimate demands of the young
generation", lending his support to progressive dress codes and pre-marital
relationships and pledging to ease ties with the West.

His political past is far from spotless - countless pro-reform journalists
and thinkers were arrested or "disappeared" during Mr Rafsanjani's previous
presidency - but in a toss-up with Mr Ahmadinejad, most are willing to give
him a second chance.

"I think a lot of these kids will be voting this Friday even if they didn't
yesterday," said Fereydoun.

"I certainly will be. The future of this place could depend on it."

---

URL:?http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4116218.stm


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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 07:31:32 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:50:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Warning: 'High risk' of WMD attack in decade 
In-Reply-To: <982B9488-2B7A-410F-966D-1FB5DEF2277F@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231650.j5NGopL0027395@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:42:25 -0400
Subject: Warning: 'High risk' of WMD attack in decade

CNN
06/22/05
'High risk' of WMD attack in decade

U.S. survey finds more nations will acquire nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The chance of an attack with a weapon of mass
destruction somewhere in the world in the next 10 years runs as high as 70
percent, arms experts have predicted in a U.S. survey.

Most of the more than 80 experts surveyed in the report released on Tuesday
believed one or two new countries will acquire nuclear weapons in the next
five years, with two to five countries joining the nuclear club during the
next decade.

The survey, commissioned by U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
Richard Lugar, also showed that four out of five people said their country
was not spending enough on non-proliferation efforts.

The most likely scenario for a nuclear attack would be for terrorists to use
a weapon they made themselves with material acquired on the black market,
the survey said.

"The results underscore the need to improve security around tactical nuclear
weapons and nuclear material in Russia and expand our ability to detect
transfer of weapons or materials from rogue states to terrorist
organizations," said a summary of a report outlining the survey results.

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are designed to kill large number of
people, using either nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological means.

In 1991, in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, Republican Lugar and
former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn initiated a program to combat the
proliferation threat posed by former Soviet states.

In an introduction to the report he commissioned, Lugar said the success of
that program proves the spread of WMD can be stopped by building
"extraordinary international relationships."

He said establishing a "worldwide system of accountability" for WMD could
prevent terrorists from acquiring such weapons.

"Even if we succeed spectacularly at building democracy around the world,
bringing stability to failed states and spreading economic opportunity
broadly, we will not be secure from the actions of small, disaffected groups
that acquire weapons of mass destruction," Lugar said.

"Everything is at risk if we fail in this one area."

Rogue states

Following the September 11 attacks on America, U.S. President George W. Bush
made a bid to crack down on regimes who sponsor terrorists.

In 2002 Bush labeled pre-war Iraq, Iran and North Korea as part of an "axis
of evil."

"By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and
growing danger," he said at the time.

The United States went to war against Iraq in 2003, claiming leader Saddam
Hussein was maintaining clandestine stockpiles of nerve gas, biological
weapons and secret nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Washington has also been trying to get North Korea to come to the table to
curb its nuclear ambitions. In February this year, Pyongyang said it
possessed nuclear weapons.

Bush has also said that Iran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.
Tehran says its program is purely for the production of energy.

'Dirty bomb'

The survey found that the most significant risk of a WMD attack was from a
radiological weapon, or a so-called "dirty bomb," in which radioactive
material is put into a conventional explosive device.

The next highest risk was of an attack with a chemical or biological weapon,
with a nuclear attack judged least likely.

However, when the risks were combined to determine the probably of an attack
with any form of WMD, the survey put the chances as high as 50 percent over
the next five years, with the probability increasing to as high as 70
percent over the next decade.

Among the experts who participated in the survey were Nunn; retired Gen.
Norman Schwarzkopf; former defense secretaries William Cohen and Frank
Carlucci; former CIA Director James Woolsey; former National Security
Adviser Richard Allen; former Iraq chief weapons inspector Richard Butler;
former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott; and David Kay, who led the
hunt for WMD in Iraq after the fall of Saddam.

---

URL:?http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/21/wmd.threat/index.html


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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 07:37:42 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:51:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: The FEAR Factor
In-Reply-To: <67176FCD-8A7A-4878-A552-1E5835240E5B@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231651.j5NGpchg027406@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:58:22 -0400
Subject: The FEAR Factor

... and this is the reason to vote for the 'lesser of 2 evils' and that's
exactly what will happen to prove what a 'democracy' the IRI is:

CNN
06/22/05


Conservatives support Tehran mayor

Anti-West forces unite with Iranian presidency within reach

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The ultraconservative political newcomer seeking Iran's
presidency is helped along by powerful patrons -- including the military
guardians of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the son of the nation's supreme
leader.

Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inner circle suggests some of Iran's most
radical and anti-Western factions have concentrated their influence ahead of
this week's head-to-head vote against self-styled moderate Ayatollah Hashemi
Rafsanjani.

Already, accusations of vote-rigging during last week's first-round election
have arisen against some of Ahmadinejad's allies, particularly the elite
Revolutionary Guards and hard-line civilian vigilantes that work alongside
them.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, however, closed the door on
any further complaints and cleared the way for Friday's run-off.

The far-reaching influence of Ahmadinejad's backers could be a crucial boost
against Rafsanjani, who held the presidency from 1989-97 and is widely
considered more receptive to greater contacts with the West and possible
dialogue with the United States.

A victory by Ahmadinejad -- a former Revolutionary Guard commander who has
held only appointed posts -- would consolidate hard-line control over the
highest elected branches: the presidency and parliament. It would also give
the non-elected ruling theocracy a freer hand to roll back social freedoms
gained under outgoing President Mohammad Khatami since 1997.

Ahmadinejad's top allies are Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, and Ayatollah Ahmad
Jannati, leader of the powerful Guardian Council, according to a senior
official within the theocracy. The official spoke on condition he not be
named because of rules preventing members of the theocracy from commenting
directly on election issues.

Iranian press reports also have placed Mojtaba Khamenei and Jannati at the
heart of Ahmadinejad's surprise No. 2 finish in last Friday's first round.
Neither responded to interview requests by The Associated Press. Campaign
officials for Ahmadinejad refused to provide names of prominent supporters.

Khamenei's son normally stays far from the public eye, but he's been seen in
recent days visiting Ahmadinejad's campaign headquarters in Tehran. He would
offer Ahmadinejad a direct link to the supreme leader, whose hand-picked
bloc of Islamic clerics holds near-absolute authority over every aspect of
Iranian life.

Jannati, too, is close to the pinnacle of power.

As head of the 12-member Guardian Council, he holds the political reins of
Iran. The council must clear all candidates for the presidency and
parliament. For the presidential race, just eight men -- and only one clear
liberal -- were permitted to run from more than 1,000 hopefuls. One
hard-liner dropped out before the vote.

Jannati's influence is extended by his frequent appearances leading Friday
prayers at Tehran University, which are broadcast nationwide. He has
described the United States as "bloodthirsty" and said its Islamic allies
committed acts of "treason against all Muslims."

And he has objected to any serious concessions over Iran's nuclear program.
Washington claims Iran may be seeking to develop nuclear arms. Iran says its
planned nuclear reactor is only for energy.

Another firebrand cleric, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, is considered a possible
favorite for the key Culture Ministry post if Ahmadinejad is elected. The
ministry control extends to the arts, publications and the cinema -- which
have been allowed significantly broader horizons under Khatami.

But the limits of the presidency also have been evident.

Khatami could do nothing as the ruling clerics closed dozens of pro-reform
newspapers and journals since the late 1990s. On Monday, a judicial order
shut down the daily Eqbal newspaper, which had supported reformists.

Yazdi -- a regular pre-sermon speaker at Tehran University prayers --
doesn't shy from calling on attacks to enforce an austere version of Islam.

In 2003, he said Islamic rules must be respected even if "violence is needed
to enforce it." He backed the 1989 decree by the founder of the Islamic
Revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to kill British author
Salman Rushdie for perceived insults to Islam. In 1998, the Iranian
government declared it would not support the fatwa, or religious edict, but
it still is considered in effect among some radical groups.

Yazdi also called international conventions on women's rights "an insult" to
Islamic values and has accused the foreign media of being on the payroll of
the CIA and other agencies.

Ayatollah Abolqasem Khazali -- another cleric active in Ahmadinejad's
campaign -- once urged his followers to kill pro-reform writers and
activists and told Muslims: "If the enemy does not attack you, you should
attack them."

Ahmadinejad was picked in 2003 as Tehran's mayor by the conservative-led
municipal council. Its head, Mahdi Chamran, has emerged as a close political
adviser and brings a strong nationalist element to the campaign. His late
brother, Mostafa, was a hero of the 1980-88 war with Iraq.

On Tuesday, Chamran tried to dismiss fears that Ahmadinejad would bring back
the rigid Islamic codes that gripped Iran in the 1980s.

"Opponents ... issue statements that Taliban are on the way or that he will
segregate men and women in elevators, universities and other places,"
Chamran said. "It's not true."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
---

URL:?http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/21/iran.mayor.circle.ap/inde
x.html


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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 07:50:41 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:54:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	FW: The hell with both of you (not my words, but I agree)
In-Reply-To: <09182973-2944-4F5F-B351-EF3B69AA8848@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231653.j5NGrv1R027419@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 02:19:27 -0400
Subject: The hell with both of you (not my words, but I agree)

The hell with both of you

I would not choose between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad just as I would not
choose between two Nazis


Shokooh
June 22, 2005
iranian.com

It is difficult to be politically apathetic in Tehran these days. The New
York Times had prepared me for the beautiful girls on rollerblades passing
out Rafsanjani bumper stickers. Blogs readied me for small, undisturbed
protests. Entering the airport brought on the realization that things are
different during elections in Iran -- soldiers smile, passport control
officers wish you a happy visit, customs agents are on vacation.

Nothing, but nothing, could prepare me for the slick propaganda on
television. It seems some of the nations brightest directors have worked
together to produce what is arguable among the world's best campaign media.
Round table discussions blend into gorgeous scenery from the corners of Iran
which blend into shots of women in chadors hugging women in tight tunics
under signs that scream "Together!"

All set to music that would make the most nonbelieving person weep.
Interviews dominate all channels all evening. Questions about politics,
questions about culture, questions about the economy, even questions about
(GAGSP!) relations with the United States. Everyone talks politics, thinks
politics, even drives politics -- it's a wonder anyone can drive with all
but 4 inches of windshields covered with "HASHEMI 2005" bumper stickers.

Against the backdrop of so much advertising, naturally, the question arises:
to vote or not to vote? I haven't missed an American election since turning
18. I read my voter information pamphelet and take notes. I arrive at the
polls prepared and early. I even wear the ridiculous "I voted!" sticker all
day long. I write my Senator. I donate to my party. I even watch the
conventions. How can a self-described politico boycott an election?
Especially in the face of the onslaught of propaganda? Simple. I have a long
memory.

I am not voting in these Iranian Selections for the same reason why I
wouldn't have voted in Apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany. Because in
such a state, the mere participation in elections is a vote of confidence
and faith in the system. Between two pro-Apartheid candidates, I would
choose NEITHER. Between two Nazis, I would stay home and plot against them.
And between two supporters, defenders, and engineers of the murderous
Islamic Republic of Iran, which is responsible for the arrest, torture, and
murder of countless individuals whose only crime has been to work for my
freedom, I say the hell with both of you.

How can I cast a vote for any candidate when all have been hand-selected
with an eye on their passionate belief in the Islamic Republic? How can I
cast a vote for a system that holds thousands of political prisoners in
torture chambers? How can I cast a vote for a system whose streets are home
to hundreds of thugs, above the law, beyond logic, who hold in their hands
the destiny of any woman who crosses their path when they are in a bad mood?

How can I cast a vote for a system in which nearly 50 candidates are set
aside for no reason other than gender? How can I participate when that
participation indicates approval, cohesion, and faith? I have been here one
week and already three newspapers have been closed!

Freedom to wear lipstick is not progress. Neither is my tight manteau or my
barely-existent roosari. It is an insult to the intelligence of all Iranians
to try and fool us with such "freedoms" or to get us to the polls in the
fear that we will lose such "freedoms." I am not a child to be motivated by
candy. This regime wears voter participation like a badge. They use it to
justify their existence, defend their methods, and feed their mad hold on
power. I will not allow them to use me, or my vote.
---

URL:?http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2005/June/Shokooh/index.html



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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 23 08:00:47 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:56:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Unfair Elections
In-Reply-To: <32474C2C-DD45-4EDD-A8C0-04991EA10F18@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506231656.j5NGu190027442@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Michael,  The Post said the same BS when Khatami was running.  They must
think everyone is gullible like the Western media when it comes to the
Mullahs and Iranian elections.  Reza
------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 09:51:19 -0400
Subject: Unfair Elections

Washington Post

Unfair Elections

Thursday, June 23, 2005; A26


IT HAS BECOME a truism among those who promote and observe the development
of new democracies that elections alone do not make democracy. Without other
characteristics of democracy -- free press, free speech, the right to form
political parties -- elections can even be counterproductive, since they
give spurious legitimacy to "winners." In a noteworthy speech this week in
Cairo, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice underlined this point, rightly
telling the Egyptians that if they want their coming elections to be
considered legitimate, "opposition groups must be free to assemble, and to
participate, and to speak to the media. Voting should occur without violence
or intimidation. And international election monitors and observers must have
unrestricted access to do their jobs." That her Egyptian counterpart,
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, immediately felt obliged to insist that
his country's elections would be "free, fair and transparent" proves that
this kind of rhetoric has its uses. At the very least, Mr. Gheit's words can
be recalled to him as Egypt's elections unfold.

This brings us, however, to the odd case of Iran, where, by the standards
Ms. Rice laid out, elections are not legitimate at all. True opposition
candidates are not allowed to run for office. Elected officials are not
meaningful figures anyway, since they are subordinate to religious leaders.
The outcome is usually predetermined. When there is some conflict -- as
there appears to be in advance of the final round of the current
presidential election -- it is more likely to represent a battle within the
ruling elite than a popular struggle. It is even possible that the current
turmoil has been deliberately stirred up by a regime that wants to persuade
the millions of Iranians who boycotted the first round to return to the
polls. The front-runner, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is styling himself a
"reformer" fighting against a "conservative," although, in his previous
tenure as president, he was responsible for massive human rights violations,
repression and no meaningful "reform" whatsoever.

Nevertheless, there is a sliver of a silver lining in the fact that the
regime is so anxious to make itself appear democratic, to its own people and
to the outside world. During this election campaign, posters were
deliberately printed in English, with the hope that they would be
photographed by foreign reporters. Mr. Rafsanjani is suddenly promising
money, student loans and even drug rehabilitation services to young
Iranians, aiming to attract them to the polls in the second round. The more
loudly the regime insists that its legitimacy is based on "democracy," the
more loudly Iranians might well insist in the future that this "democracy"
become authentic. Neither Iranians nor Americans should be fooled by the
charade. But both should take comfort in democratic procedures increasingly
being seen as a requirement for legitimacy, even in the most despotic parts
of the world.

? 2005 The Washington Post Company
---

URL:?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR20050
62201996.html?referrer=email&referrer=email


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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 23 10:47:23 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 23 10:47:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Scorned wife sells Lotus for 50p
Message-ID: <20050623_174723_099152.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Scorned wife sells Lotus for 50p **
A Birmingham DJ's wife sells his luxury sports car over the internet in revenge for him propositioning a glamour model on-air.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4122842.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From TSawyer456 at aol.com  Thu Jun 23 09:53:32 2005
From: TSawyer456 at aol.com (TSawyer456@aol.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 10:56:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Snapshots From the South
Message-ID: <200506231737.j5NHboew027575@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Skipped content of type multipart/related
From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 23 10:57:10 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 23 10:57:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Galloway fires G8 march warning
Message-ID: <20050623_175710_010391.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Galloway fires G8 march warning **
The MP George Galloway says G8 protesters "won't be denied" their right to march past the summit in Gleneagles.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/4123172.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun 23 11:18:20 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun 23 11:18:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The FBI's Mississippi Myopia
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV8F3204E665714C393D9D7ABEA0@phx.gbl>

Bill...

Thanks for sending this, although I read the Washington Post I missed this... Startling isn't it? It makes me so angry this had to happen.

peace

From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 23 11:43:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael)
Date: Thu Jun 23 11:42:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <200506231843.j5NIhh9X016953@thor.thenation.com>

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 23 15:37:45 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 23 15:38:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Tips for a healthy brain
Message-ID: <000801c57844$2f88a240$a227e440@Harold>

sounds right, work it and it will be there for you

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting.aspx?contentid=828559b547574415955ee11dd2ec7870&show=True&number=6&showbyline=False&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc

I think I will make an effort to memorize/learn more poetry.

H
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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Thu Jun 23 16:05:56 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:06:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Petition on Cuba travel
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV6495FCC792E436F1E7AB7ABEA0@phx.gbl>

I just signed a petition calling for the freedom to travel to Cuba, and I'd like you to help me make our message to Congress even stronger. Please follow the link below to sign the petition, which will be delivered to lawmakers, initially before important votes on travel at the end of June, and again in October when the Cuba travel amendment will be in danger of being removed by congressional leadership from the final bill.  Your signature helps support a more just and rational U.S. policy toward Cuba-- a country that is our neighbor and is no threat to us.  Please forward the link along to others, too! Thanks for your help. Here's the link to the petition: http://www.lawg.org/tools/petition.htm


From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Thu Jun 23 16:28:01 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:28:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. NOT LOSING IRAQ WAR, RUMSFELD INSISTS
Message-ID: <20050623232801.A23FF1B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
U.S. NOT LOSING IRAQ WAR, RUMSFELD INSISTS
WebPosted Thu Jun 23 15:07:09 2005

---U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld came under attack at a Senate
hearing Thursday, weathering calls for his resignation as he insisted
the military shouldn't set a deadline for withdrawing American troops
from Iraq.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat, condemned as "gross
errors and mistakes" in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq. He demanded
Rumsfeld step down.

"In baseball, it's three strikes, you're out. What is it for the
Secretary of Defense?" Kennedy asked at the fractious Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing.

"Isn't it time for you to resign?" he asked.

"I've offered my resignation to the president twice," Rumsfeld fired
back, adding that President George W. Bush didn't accept his offer.
"That's his call."

Rumsfeld and other military leaders were appearing before the
committee in Washington to field questions on the future of the U.S.
campaign in Iraq.

The Defence Secretary rejected calls from some senators that the military
set a timetable to pull troops out of Iraq, calling it a "mistake" that
would "throw a lifeline to terrorists."

"Timing in war is never predictable. There are never guarantees," he
said. "Those who say we are losing this war are wrong. We are not."

More foreign fighters than 6 months ago: top general

However, Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. forces in the Persian
Gulf, testified that the Iraqi insurgency isn't weakening.

"I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there
were six months ago. In terms of the strength of the insurgency, I would
say it is the same as it was."

 RELATED STORY: Baghdad rocked by series of deadly car bombs

Democrats and even some Republicans openly criticized the U.S. campaign
in Iraq, where more than 1,700 Americans have died since U.S.-led troops
invaded in March of 2003.

The Bush administration has repeatedly said that the militants in Iraq
are being beaten. Last month, Vice President Dick Cheney said in an
interview that the insurgency was in its "last throes."

However, militant attacks have continued to take a heavy toll,
particularly on Iraqi security troops. Hundreds of civilians have been
killed since a Shia-led government formed two months ago.

In the United States, public skepticism is climbing as the costs of the
occupation spiral.

"Public support in my state is turning," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a
Republican from South Carolina. "People are beginning to question.

"And I don't think it's a blip on the radar screen. We have a chronic
problem on our hands."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Thu Jun 23 16:29:08 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:29:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CANADIAN OPINION OF U.S. DROPPING,
	POLL SUGGESTS
Message-ID: <20050623232908.5AF9D1B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CANADIAN OPINION OF U.S. DROPPING, POLL SUGGESTS
WebPosted Thu Jun 23 16:26:01 2005

---An increasing number of Canadians have a negative opinion about their
southern neighbours, calling them "greedy, violent and rude," suggests a
new survey.

About 66 per cent of Canadians have a favourable opinion of Americans,
down from 78 per cent in 2002, according to a Pew Research Center poll
released on Thursday.

The Washington-based research company surveyed roughly 17,000 people in
16 countries, including Canada and the United States.

A majority of Canadians (more than 60 per cent) feel Americans are
"greedy, violent and rude" and a minority said Americans are "immoral."

On the positive side, more than 76 per cent of Canadians feel
Americans are "hardworking and inventive," but less than half feel
they are "honest."

About 59 per cent of Canadians reported a positive opinion of the United
States as a country, down from 72 per cent three years ago. Canadians
rated countries like France, Germany and Japan higher than the U.S.

Of the 16 countries polled in the survey, six said a majority of their
people had a positive opinion of the U.S. They were the U.S., Canada,
Great Britain, Russia, Poland and India.

Of the 500 Canadians surveyed, 75 per cent said the re-election of U.S.
President George W. Bush made them feel more negative toward their
southern neighbour.

"The magnitude of America's image problem is such that even popular U.S.
policies have done little to repair it," said the report.

 Americans believe U.S. disliked

The survey results suggest Americans are aware of how their country is
perceived, with 69 per cent of Americans polled saying their country is
"generally disliked" by other countries.

By contrast, 94 per cent of Canadians polled believe their country is
well-liked.

The survey, which was co-chaired by former U.S. secretary of state
Madeleine Albright, took place from May 6-11, 2005. The margin of error
is plus or minus four percentage points, 95 per cent of the time.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Thu Jun 23 16:32:27 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:32:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - TORTURE AT GUANTANAMO BAY: UN INVESTIGATORS
Message-ID: <20050623233227.88F691B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
TORTURE AT GUANTANAMO BAY: UN INVESTIGATORS
WebPosted Thu Jun 23 10:02:48 2005

---There are reliable reports of prisoners being tortured at the U.S.
base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, United Nations human rights investigators
said Thursday.

They say many of the allegations come from declassified United States
government documents.

The investigators also accused the U.S. of stalling on their request to
visit foreign detainees to check on their condition. They made their
request in April.

While Washington has allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross
to visit Guantanamo, it says it is still considering the UN's request.

Red Cross investigators report their findings only to the
detaining power.

The UN human rights experts said they want to visit the base because of
"information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture,
cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention,
violations of their right to health and their due process rights."

Washington says it is holding 520 men in Guantanamo, most of whom were
captured in Afghanistan during the fall of the Taliban regime in late
2001. Only four have been charged.

Human rights activists say it's unacceptable that many of those arrested
since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. have been held for more than
three years without charges and often incommunicado.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Thu Jun 23 16:33:53 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:34:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CITIES CAN SEIZE LAND FOR PRIVATE
	DEVELOPMENTS: U.S. TOP COURT
Message-ID: <20050623233353.E8CB21B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CITIES CAN SEIZE LAND FOR PRIVATE DEVELOPMENTS: U.S. TOP COURT
WebPosted Thu Jun 23 16:36:22 2005

---The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that local governments may take
people's homes and businesses against their will to make room for private
developments such as shopping malls and hotels.

The ruling squeaked past on Thursday by a vote of 5-4, with one
dissenting judge warning that it would give "disproportionate influence
and power" to the rich.

A group of Connecticut residents had been fighting to stop the city of
New London from destroying their homes so that a private company could
build an office complex.

Under the Fifth Amendment, governments can seize private property if the
land is for "public use."

Lawyers for the homeowners argued that the amendment only applies to
projects that are more clearly for public use, such as roads, hospitals
and schools.

Their critics said a small group of homeowners could block urban renewal
developments that would give the city more jobs and more tax revenues.


Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote for the majority in the court's
ruling, said local officials know better than federal judges whether a
development project will benefit a community.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development plan that it
believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including
&#8211; but by no means limited to &#8211; new jobs and increased tax
revenue," Stevens wrote.

"It is not for the courts to oversee the choice of the boundary line nor
to sit in review on the size of a particular project area."

Stevens said states could pass extra laws to restrict developments and
protect individual property rights.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who opposed the ruling, argued that
municipal governments shouldn't have unlimited power to seize private
property to suit wealthy developers.

"The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate
influence and power in the political process, including large
corporations and development firms."

The homeowners are entitled to compensation for their homes, but had been
refusing to move.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 23 16:47:09 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Thu Jun 23 16:47:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] More Canadians and other Countries have negative view of
	US, : Poll (Madeline Albright co chaired poll)
Message-ID: <002701c5784d$e17fef40$a227e440@Harold>

This survey was co-chaired by Madeline Albright, former US Secretary of State, and the Pew Research Centre

http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1119540097808_114949297?hub=topstories

Not looking good for my friends south of the boarder!

A general ignorance of the real world by Americans at large has led to this. Education, open mindedness and tolerance/understanding/respect of other cultures/politics/economies is paramount, right wing "imposed" ethics are immoral and destructive to the global community!

Point to make, China favours better in poll http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-international-attitudes,0,6672617,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Helen Thomas was right 5 years ago, Bush is the worst/most harmful/morally corrupt President ever in the history of the USA.

Later H

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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Thu Jun 23 17:22:58 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Thu Jun 23 17:23:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - NORWAY TO BUILD SEED BANK FOR KEY GLOBAL CROPS
Message-ID: <20050624002258.C15361B69F@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
NORWAY TO BUILD SEED BANK FOR KEY GLOBAL CROPS
WebPosted Thu Jun 23 19:00:42 2005

---An agricultural seed bank will be built to safeguard against the
threat of planet epidemics, climate change damage or total destruction
from war or natural disasters, Norway's government says.

Key global food supplies could be protected in case of disaster by
collecting plant seeds now and storing them at a depot on a remote Arctic
island, the country's Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Norway aims to open the seed bank next year as a way to protect the
genetic material of key food crops worldwide.

The seed bank will include copies of plant material already stored at
gene banks elsewhere in the world as a backup.

The seed bank is scheduled to open next year on Svalbard Island, about
480 kilometres north of Norway's mainland.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 23 17:33:45 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun 23 17:34:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	Guardian Unlimited: Iraq creating new breed of jihadists, says CIA
Message-ID: <20050624003345.09679A48D@mussel.gul3.gnl>

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from HS:

This is not new news, just a confirmation of. The US administration really screwed up and now is in spin mode, but spinning does not halt the problem, only makes it worse. There is 'no' way out. It is a lost war, lost cause, and will be worse than Vietnam. SNAFU
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Iraq creating new breed of jihadists, says CIA
Ewen MacAskill, Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday June 23 2005
The Guardian


The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could go on to destabilise other countries, according to a CIA report. 

The CIA believes Iraq to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida had fought in Afghanistan.  

The sobering caution came as a senior British anti-terrorism source warned that those trained in terror techniques in Iraq could use their newly-acquired skills in Britain at the end of the war.  

The CIA report, completed last month, remains classified. But a CIA source yesterday confirmed that its broad conclusions, disclosed by the New York Times yesterday, were accurate.  

The concern expressed in the CIA report contrasts with the optimism of US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld two years ago when he welcomed the prospect of Iraq as a magnet for jihadists.  

The Foreign Office and British security services are sceptical about the CIA assessment that the insurgency could spill into other countries. Security sources said that there was only a "trickle" of recruits from Britain joining the insurgency in Iraq.  

If there was to be a spill-over, Saudi Arabia is potentially vulnerable because many of the Arab fighters in Iraq originate from there. Jamal Khashoggi, media adviser to the Saudi ambassador in London, said yesterday he agreed in part with the US assessment.  

"It will be worse than Afghanistan," he said. "We are talking about a very brutal type, a very weird version of Islam in Iraq. It is very scary."  

Mr Khashoggi predicted the approach of the Saudi government towards jihadists returning from Iraq will be very different from those returning from Afghanistan and Chechnya. "Any al-Qaida coming back from Iraq will be hunted. It is not like they have gone to Chechnya and will be coming back as heroes. If they come back from Iraq and brag about it, they will be snatched by security in a day or two."  

The CIA report suggests the new breed of jihadists will be more deadly than those who fought in Afghanistan. It said that they have learned skills in urban warfare in Iraq.  

While the number of Iraq attacks have diminished, they have become more deadly. More than 1,000 Iraqis and 120 US soldiers have been killed since the new Iraqi cabinet was formed in April.  

Insurgents once again demonstrated their capacity for inflicting carnage on civilians when they detonated four cars bombs in western Baghdad last night, killing at least 23 people and injuring around 50. At least one was driven by a suicide bomber.  

Earlier a bomb attack on a US military patrol killed three civilians. It was claimed by the al-Qaida group led by Abu Musab al Zarqawi.  

There are about 200 individuals in Britain who are suspected of having received training in camps in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Senior anti-terrorist officials suggest many fewer have gone to Iraq.  

Ken Jones, the chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' terrorism committee and chief constable of Sussex, said yesterday Britain would remain a prime target.  

"There is an inevitable targeting of the United Kingdom and UK interests abroad," Mr Jones told a conference on terrorism organised by the Royal United Services Institute in London. "The threat will endure for the foreseeable future." But he added: "it is not inevitable that they will succeed."  

Mr Jones noted that those involved in terrorism no longer necessarily came from the "excluded and marginalised" but were increasingly "highly intelligent, educated young people". In past terrorist campaigns, he said, there had been a clear goal or aim. The new form of attacks required a different response.  

One of the most important ways to combat the growth of terrorism, he suggested, was by encouraging "confident communities" - a clear reference to Britain's Muslims -that would be aware of suspicious activities and would feel confident in reporting them.  

Police in Manchester were last night given another 48 hours to question a 40-year-old man of north African origin, who was arrested under the Terrorism Act on Tuesday. It is believed that the man had shared a house in Moss Side with Idris Bazis, 41, a French-Algerian with a French passport, who blew himself up in a suicide attack in Iraq in February. Anti-terrorist sources say there is no link between the Manchester arrest and recent arrests of 11 men in Spain suspected of being connected with the Iraq insurgency.  

Parents of 17 British soldiers killed in Iraq called today in a letter to The Guardian for an independent inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq.    

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From lyve at netzero.net  Thu Jun 23 15:18:35 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 23 17:43:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] update on Ohio election
Message-ID: <20050623.151912.19388.210167@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


interesting update on Ohio election process in 2004

WASHINGTON   | June 23, 2005
In Ohio Vote, Woes, Yes, Fraud, No
By JAMES DAO
A five-month study for the Democratic National Committee found that more than one in four Ohio voters experienced problems at the polls last fall. 


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.net  Thu Jun 23 15:20:18 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 23 17:44:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] House Ethics Chairman May Quit
Message-ID: <20050623.152118.19388.210188@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


You will find this interesting too.

WASHINGTON   | June 23, 2005
House Ethics Chairman May Quit, Officials Report
By PHILIP SHENON
Doc Hastings is warning that he may resign from the post because of a stalemate with Democrats over whether and how to conduct investigations of Tom DeLay. 


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 23 18:03:01 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 23 18:03:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?CNN=2Ecom_-_High_court=A0OKs_personal_?=
 =?iso-8859-1?q?property_seizures_-_Jun_23=2C_2005?=
Message-ID: <5276871.1119574981154.JavaMail.tomcat@localhost>



*Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.



Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!



 
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Title: CNN.com - High court?OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 23 21:18:49 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Thu Jun 23 21:17:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures -
	Jun 23, 2005
Message-ID: <000901c57873$d3e37ac0$d025b7d8@baby1>

CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005



======
Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!
======




CheeseComment:


I know I am not the only one who has "foreseen" this and things like this,
and, well at least sometimes, I grimace at being plagiaristic or whatever it
is called, but this is just The Beginning.

The Master Plan continues to go along smoothly.

The Pond continues to be stocked with obedient fish who flop upon command.

The People, and their miserable Rights, continue to be expendable.

What is *also* outrageous is that people like Americans continue to be
stupid enough to let assholes literally appoint a measly 9 people (The
Supreme Court) for Lifetime Terms, and then sit back and obey their every
judgement, command, and decree, no matter HOW disdainfully Un-American they
swing.

The last time I think I heard of Other People in Other Countries being that
stupid, half of them got completely eliminated off the planet, and the other
half continue to live in miserable totalitarian etc states of existence.

And there's not a g*dd*mn thing they can do about it anymore, for the most
part.

That even Americans are as stupid, or inept, as that, remains nothing short
of amazing to me.

That a Majority of Americans have the "Foresight" of a dirt clod, no longer
surprises me for an instant.

That whole old outdated Of, By, and For The People thing seemed to have been
such a great idea at one time.

That the actual "We Fight And Die To Be Free Etc" American people actually
sit on their asses as things like this continue, and will continue ad
infinitum in The Future, and don't find some way to if not at least take out
5 Supreme Court Justices and hang them from the closest tree to the White
House as an example of their simple "Love of Freedom, Truth, Justice, The
American Way, Etc", at least seriously look for a way to FINALLY BE ABLE TO
FIRE THEIR ASSES, PERMANENTLY, continues to indicate to me the universal
desire of an apparent Majority of Americans who just simply can not be
bothered to take any part whatsoever in guiding and maintaining their own
fucking country, to just sit there, on their asses, and take it on the chin
until they are so punch-drunk they can't even see straight anymore, if ever
they could.

It's just too hard, and it just takes up much much much too much of their
valuable time.

They have to go to work, go shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, butcher,
baker, candlestick maker, play, vacation, shop some more, watch some dvds,
and pick up the kids from school.

I guess they just do not give a flying frig that their own Children are
going to be FORCED to live under such a bizarre version of "Non-Freedom" in
The Future, for the rest of their miserable lives.

Or perhaps it is just that they *do* care, but they literally have no
fucking outlet whatsoever, almost, or at least it is not handed to them on a
silver platter, to express their vehemence of decisions, laws, mandates, etc
handed down from everyone in their government, etc systems, including the
now overobvious either self-serving or psychotically deluded Supreme Court
Justices.

I brought up, today, one of the posts that was put here on the MB Civic
list, the one about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs being now
steeped in literal religious intimidation, to an acquaintance of mine.

He threw me out of his house again.  And called me an "Unpatriotic Traitor"
on top of it.

Just for relating a tiny amount of simple information.

It wasn't in The Express News (the "people" that came to San Antonio, bought
both of the only 2 major newspapers in San Antonio, The Express News and The
San Antonio Light, and instantly killed The San Antonio Light after they
bought it, so there is Only One Voice in Newspaper Land in San Antonio, a
population of about 1.4 million people, not counting all the other people in
all the other little counties surrounding S.A. who depend on it as their
Only Source Of Printed News and The Gospel Truth on many occasions), so it
JUST DOES NOT EXIST and was therefore NOTHING BUT ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM
CHEESE.

Not only are their HUGE amounts of Americans out here who would LOVE to be
able to do ANYTHING about reversing this NEW AMERICAN NAZI MOVEMENT (as I
like to realistically label it) but who haven't a clue, or even the
opportunity, to put their "2 cents worth" in into *anywhere* or *anything*,
but there are also HUGE amounts of Americans out here who DON'T EVEN GET THE
NEWS THAT YOU ARE PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO READ ON THIS LIST.

EVER,    IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES.   IN, YES, RUFUS, AMERICA THE FREE.

Mull it over for a while as you're trying to gather personnel for the
revolution to retake your country from the current Traitors, including the 9
assholes on The Supreme Court, who run this nation, and are running whatever
of By, For, and Of The People you once dreamed about actually catching on
better here than fast food restaurants, straight down the toilet, and us
with it.

I also brought up the story printed here awhile ago about the "2 million
Iraqi babies killed by American-U.N. sanctions" whatever.

The guy threw me out of his house again.

He's not on The Internet.  As a Majority of Americans remain Not On The
Internet.  Statistic:  Only 15 percent of Americans who *are* On The
Internet, use it to browse News Related Websites.  Anything I tell him
coming From The Internet, he doesn't believe.

Because it wasn't printed in The Express News and it was not presented on
the **5** Television News Channels he watches every day.

Multiply him by, hmmm, at *least* a few Million Americans.

What we continue to have here is A Failure To Communicate.

A massive error on the part of Anyone trying to reverse this End Of It All
As We Visualized It.

A fatal one, actually.

And it remains extremely hard to fire up a Nation to actually take their own
country back from Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors, when not only can you
not communicate with them (like the Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors can
easily do every day to Get There Messages Across), but they don't even know
what the fuck you are talking about in the first place.

As they Just Never Fucking Ever Heard Of It.  Any Of It.  Ever.

Oh well, surely stuff all of you already know about, think about, and are
working constantly on to fix it as America is getting raped daily.

Just thought I'd briefly mention it in passing as I brought the real
important news to you that I was thrown out of a house again for spreading
tall tales emanating from the center of my conspiracy-infected mind.

Truth is so funny.

It never even exists for those who never hear it.

How utterly humorous.

Regardless, this is nothing, just The Beginning.

If you're outraged Now, you're going to fall over dead from a heart attack
when you begin to read headlines about "decisions etc" just a scant few
years from now, if even that long.

There remains one great thing about Liars, Deceivers, Self-Serving
Egomaniacs, Traitors, Etc, once they get really rolling, they never pull
their punches.

And the "revolution" can't even find a Trainer.

As funny as crap.

As fatal as arsenic.


       :|






Cheeseburger

.

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun 24 02:56:07 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 24 02:54:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <000701c578a2$f2e11700$0b25b7d8@baby1>

Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq




Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
this one, just for the curious:

1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/

2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm

3.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world


==========

Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq

Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders

By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National Evangelical
Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric guitar
and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. A
simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"

National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven new
Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two years.
Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
focus on the Bible.

"I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
understanding the Bible."

Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious landscape
of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian denominations
and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
threat to the status quo.

The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in the
context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see the
new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.

"The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a good
thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
didn't do it here for 2,000 years."

"In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
churches."

Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing presence
in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, for
example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," said
Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.

Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 50
churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined regular
Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.

While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim conversions,
not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.

Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.

During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
"evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination,
were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.

========



Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you want
to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.

I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so they
can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the self-annointed
righteous for the longest time now.

I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of fake
brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
century.

Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.

Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.





Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:01:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:03:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US general says troops question support - The Boston
 Globe - Boston.com - Nation - News
Message-ID: <42BBE820.6090108@comcast.net>

US general says troops question support
Lawmakers grill officials on Iraq

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  June 24, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The top US military commander in the Middle East warned 
yesterday that troops are questioning whether the American public 
supports the Iraq war and implored political leaders to engage in a 
frank discussion about how to keep the country behind a mission that the 
armed forces believe is ''a war worth fighting."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/24/us_general_says_troops_question_support/
From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:03:16 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:04:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democrats Call for Rove To Apologize - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BBE874.5060907@comcast.net>

Democrats Call for Rove To Apologize
He Decried Liberals' Response to 9/11

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A01

Democratic leaders angrily demanded a retraction from White House Deputy 
Chief of Staff Karl Rove yesterday after he accused liberals of 
responding with restraint and timidity to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 
11, 2001, but White House and Republican officials rallied to his 
defense and rebuffed calls for an apology.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301727.html?referrer=email
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:04:20 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:05:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short -
	Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BBE8B4.7040801@comcast.net>

Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short
2005 Deficit Angers Senate Republicans, Advocacy Groups

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A29

The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking 
inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that 
it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301888.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:05:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:07:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Party Without Ideas - Washington Post Op-Ed
Message-ID: <42BBE909.9030806@comcast.net>

A Party Without Ideas
By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A31

What has happened to the Democrats over the past few decades is best 
captured by the phrase (coined by Kevin Phillips) "reactionary 
liberalism." Spent of new ideas, they have but one remaining idea: to 
hang on to the status quo at all costs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301712.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:08:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:10:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Damaging 'Deference' - Washington Post Op-Ed
Message-ID: <42BBE9BD.3000801@comcast.net>

Damaging 'Deference'
By George F. Will

Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A31

The country is bracing for a bruising battle over filling a Supreme 
Court vacancy, a battle in which conservatives will praise "judicial 
restraint" and "deference" to popularly elected branches of government 
and liberals will praise judicial activism in defense of individual 
rights. But consider what the court did yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301420.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:10:41 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:12:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Klansman Gets 60-Year Term In '64 'Mississippi
 Burning' Case - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BBEA31.7080803@comcast.net>

Ex-Klansman Gets 60-Year Term In '64 'Mississippi Burning' Case
Killen Expresses No Remorse for Killing 3 Activists

By Emily Wagster Pettus
Associated Press
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A03

PHILADELPHIA, Miss., June 23 -- Former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen 
was wheeled before a judge Thursday, an 80-year-old relic of 
Mississippi's hate-filled past, and sentenced to 60 years in prison for 
the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301678.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Fri Jun 24 04:12:23 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Fri Jun 24 04:13:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] House Won't Cut Public Broadcasting Funds - Washington
 Post (AP Wire story)
Message-ID: <42BBEA97.6050101@comcast.net>

House Won't Cut Public Broadcasting Funds

By ANDREW TAYLOR
The Associated Press
Friday, June 24, 2005; 3:42 AM

WASHINGTON -- Public broadcasters turned back an effort to slash their 
federal subsidies by $100 million, but scores of education, labor and 
health programs still face cuts in the House.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062400198.html?nav=hcmodule
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 24 05:13:15 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Fri Jun 24 05:13:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Interrogators cite Doctors' aid at Guantanamo
Message-ID: <000801c578b6$1beaa270$7327e440@Harold>

The Doctor is in !

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24gitmo.html?ei=5094&en=0bb87618febc3438&hp=&ex=1119585600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

Later H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:37:00 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:37:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] =?iso-8859-1?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_Interrogators_Cite_Do?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?ctors=27_Aid_at_Guant=E1namo_Prison_Camp?=
Message-ID: <20050624143700.D465F249F9C@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Were any of them named "Mengele?"


WASHINGTON | June 24, 2005
Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guantánamo Prison Camp
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Military doctors provided advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, according to interrogators' accounts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24gitmo.html?ex=1120276800&en=74d6b26a39aabf28&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:37:24 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:37:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Iraqis Tallying Range of Graft in Rebuilding
Message-ID: <20050624143724.46E4913B7CC@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Halliburton, Bechtel et al do it again!


INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 24, 2005
Iraqis Tallying Range of Graft in Rebuilding
By JAMES GLANZ
The abuses range from sweetheart deals on leases to payments for construction that was never done.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/international/middleeast/24corrupt.html?ex=1120276800&en=0b4b29676eb8cb40&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:38:47 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:39:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Limits of Property Rights
Message-ID: <20050624143847.B7D15237032@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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Shame on the Times for supporting what is essentially an illegal transfer of federal or state "eminent domain" rights to private corporations...


OPINION | June 24, 2005
Editorial: The Limits of Property Rights

The Supreme Court's ruling that the city of New London, Conn., can use its power of eminent domain to spur development was a welcome vindication of cities' ability to act in the public interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24fri1.html?ex=1120276800&en=83984c4278aa703d&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:39:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:39:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: When Medical Marijuana Is Misused
Message-ID: <20050624143908.A63E5A0B0B@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 24, 2005
Editorial: When Medical Marijuana Is Misused

Those who believe that marijuana should be legally available for medical treatments have to be concerned about reports of abuses in California's medical marijuana program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24fri4.html?ex=1120276800&en=b6657e05fb26d2e7&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:39:25 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:39:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The War President
Message-ID: <20050624143925.3B7902370A6@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 24, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: The War President
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Once the media catch up with the public, we'll be able to start talking seriously about how to get out of Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24krugman.html?ex=1120276800&en=8bfb5cdc77d48abb&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:39:48 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:40:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: One Nation, Divisible
Message-ID: <20050624143948.A0929249CED@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 23, 2005
Op-Ed Contributors: One Nation, Divisible
By NORMAN ORNSTEIN and BARRY MCMILLION
There is a lot of talk about political polarization in Congress. But is it true? Well, yes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/opinion/24ornstein.html?ex=1120276800&en=83c1bc2c641059c0&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:41:07 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:41:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The State of the War: Passionate American
	Voices (13 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050624144107.28ED724AF8A@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 24, 2005
The State of the War: Passionate American Voices (13 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/l24brooks.html?ex=1120276800&en=702687b15f70537f&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:41:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:42:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Bush's Wandering Policies,
	Heir or No Heir (3 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050624144158.1BDFD83DBE@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying (2)...


OPINION | June 24, 2005
Bush's Wandering Policies, Heir or No Heir (3 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/l24friedman.html?ex=1120276800&en=54258626596b0cc9&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:44:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:45:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: U.S. General Sees No Ebb in Fight
Message-ID: <20050624144442.B250624B609@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 24, 2005
U.S. General Sees No Ebb in Fight
By DAVID S. CLOUD and ERIC SCHMITT
Gen. John P. Abizaid seemed to contradict statements by Vice President Dick Cheney that insurgents were in their "last throes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24military.html?ex=1120276800&en=3d8eaabcbad254d7&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:45:39 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:46:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: U.S. Sees Consensus That Syria Foments
	Strife in Lebanon and Iraq
Message-ID: <20050624144539.49B7CA398B@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Any bets on how quickly we invade Syria?


INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 24, 2005
U.S. Sees Consensus That Syria Foments Strife in Lebanon and Iraq
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
The comments represented an escalation of the campaign by the secretary of state to isolate Syria diplomatically.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/international/europe/24rice.html?ex=1120276800&en=8b46227959062778&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:46:00 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:46:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Poll Shows Modest Changes in Levels of
	Anti-U.S. Mood
Message-ID: <20050624144600.AE899A399A@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 24, 2005
Poll Shows Modest Changes in Levels of Anti-U.S. Mood
By BRIAN KNOWLTON, International Herald Tribune
Anti-Americanism shows modest signs of abating, although negative views persist in the Muslim world, an opinion poll indicates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24poll.html?ex=1120276800&en=e0d79907665520bb&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:47:47 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:48:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Cutting Here, but Hiring Over There
Message-ID: <20050624144747.F2CAF11F9AE@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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"Outsourcing" should be considered a vulgarity...


TECHNOLOGY | June 24, 2005
Cutting Here, but Hiring Over There
By STEVE LOHR
Even as it lays off up to 13,000 workers in Europe and the U.S., I.B.M. plans to increase its payroll in India this year by more than 14,000 workers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/technology/24blue.html?ex=1120276800&en=a2c2a3628c23234c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:49:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:49:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Biography of Senator Clinton Has a Few
	Unexpected Critics
Message-ID: <20050624144922.0BFB7A1296@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 24, 2005
Biography of Senator Clinton Has a Few Unexpected Critics
By EDWARD WYATT
A fast-selling, unflattering biography of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is drawing fire from some prominent conservative commentators, including Peggy Noonan and Bill O'Reilly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24biography.html?ex=1120276800&en=ee592bd7659efad0&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 07:51:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 07:52:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Partner Companies Fighting Over Rights to
	Avian Flu Drug
Message-ID: <20050624145158.9927F249E70@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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The public's health be damned...we want the money!


BUSINESS | June 24, 2005
Partner Companies Fighting Over Rights to Avian Flu Drug
By ANDREW POLLACK
Two drug companies are fighting over the rights to Tamiflu, an influenza drug that is viewed as the best hope for slowing a possible global pandemic of bird flu.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/business/24tamiflu.html?ex=1120276800&en=81729052bc51fb05&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 08:00:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:00:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Banner-Bearing Protester at Convention Is
	Acquitted
Message-ID: <20050624150036.F4208249E65@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

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NEW YORK REGION | June 24, 2005
Banner-Bearing Protester at Convention Is Acquitted
By ANDREW JACOBS
A Manhattan jury rejected all charges last night against a California woman who was arrested at the Republican National Convention, when she unfurled a banner criticizing President Bush during his acceptance speech.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/nyregion/24protest.html?ex=1120276800&en=546f08ca2e6fc99e&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ean at sbcglobal.net  Thu Jun 23 21:13:28 2005
From: ean at sbcglobal.net (ean@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:10:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Losing Our Country
Message-ID: <200506241510.j5OFA6ix030422@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0610-24.htm

Published on Friday, June 10, 2005 by the New York Times
Losing Our Country
by Paul Krugman
 
Baby boomers like me grew up in a relatively equal society. In the 
1960's America was a place in which very few people were extremely 
wealthy, many blue-collar workers earned wages that placed them 
comfortably in the middle class, and working families could expect 
steadily rising living standards and a reasonable degree of economic 
security.

But as The Times's series on class in America reminds us, that was 
another country. The middle-class society I grew up in no longer exists.

Working families have seen little if any progress over the past 30 
years. Adjusted for inflation, the income of the median family doubled 
between 1947 and 1973. But it rose only 22 percent from 1973 to 
2003, and much of that gain was the result of wives' entering the paid 
labor force or working longer hours, not rising wages.

Meanwhile, economic security is a thing of the past: year-to-year 
fluctuations in the incomes of working families are far larger than they 
were a generation ago. All it takes is a bit of bad luck in employment or 
health to plunge a family that seems solidly middle-class into poverty.

But the wealthy have done very well indeed. Since 1973 the average 
income of the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled, and the income 
of the top 0.1 percent has tripled.

Why is this happening? I'll have more to say on that another day, but 
for now let me just point out that middle-class America didn't emerge 
by accident. It was created by what has been called the Great 
Compression of incomes that took place during World War II, and 
sustained for a generation by social norms that favored equality, strong 
labor unions and progressive taxation. Since the 1970's, all of those 
sustaining forces have lost their power.

Since 1980 in particular, U.S. government policies have consistently 
favored the wealthy at the expense of working families - and under the 
current administration, that favoritism has become extreme and 
relentless. From tax cuts that favor the rich to bankruptcy "reform" that 
punishes the unlucky, almost every domestic policy seems intended to 
accelerate our march back to the robber baron era.

It's not a pretty picture - which is why right-wing partisans try so hard to 
discredit anyone who tries to explain to the public what's going on.

These partisans rely in part on obfuscation: shaping, slicing and 
selectively presenting data in an attempt to mislead. For example, it's a 
plain fact that the Bush tax cuts heavily favor the rich, especially those 
who derive most of their income from inherited wealth. Yet this year's 
Economic Report of the President, in a bravura demonstration of how 
to lie with statistics, claimed that the cuts "increased the overall 
progressivity of the federal tax system."

The partisans also rely in part on scare tactics, insisting that any 
attempt to limit inequality would undermine economic incentives and 
reduce all of us to shared misery. That claim ignores the fact of U.S. 
economic success after World War II. It also ignores the lesson we 
should have learned from recent corporate scandals: sometimes the 
prospect of great wealth for those who succeed provides an incentive 
not for high performance, but for fraud.

Above all, the partisans engage in name-calling. To suggest that 
sustaining programs like Social Security, which protects working 
Americans from economic risk, should have priority over tax cuts for 
the rich is to practice "class warfare." To show concern over the 
growing inequality is to engage in the "politics of envy."

But the real reasons to worry about the explosion of inequality since 
the 1970's have nothing to do with envy. The fact is that working 
families aren't sharing in the economy's growth, and face growing 
economic insecurity. And there's good reason to believe that a society 
in which most people can reasonably be considered middle class is a 
better society - and more likely to be a functioning democracy - than 
one in which there are great extremes of wealth and poverty.

Reversing the rise in inequality and economic insecurity won't be easy: 
the middle-class society we have lost emerged only after the country 
was shaken by depression and war. But we can make a start by calling 
attention to the politicians who systematically make things worse in 
catering to their contributors. Never mind that straw man, the politics of 
envy. Let's try to do something about the politics of greed.

? Copyright 2005 New York Times

###


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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 08:20:40 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:20:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democrats Demand Rove Apologize for 9/11 Remarks By
	Raymond Hernandez     The New York Times
Message-ID: <BEE172D8.211BF%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Democrats Demand Rove Apologize for 9/11 Remarks
    By Raymond Hernandez
    The New York Times

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Washington - Leading Democrats reacted furiously on Thursday to remarks
by Karl Rove that liberals had responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by wanting
to "offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," with some Democrats
calling for him to apologize or resign as a White House adviser.

    The remarks also rippled through New York political circles, putting two
top Republicans, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki, on
the defensive in the state that bore the brunt of the terror attacks in
2001.

    Mr. Rove made the comments at a fund-raiser in Manhattan on Wednesday,
saying: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared
for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare
indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

    "Conservatives saw what happened to us on 9/11 and said, 'We will defeat
our enemies,' " Mr. Rove continued at a gathering in Midtown for the
Conservative Party of New York State. "Liberals saw what happened to us and
said, 'We must understand our enemies.' "

    The remarks led to a cascade of criticism from Democratic lawmakers,
particularly in the Senate, where Republicans have sought to put the party
on the defensive for days after a leading Democratic senator, Richard J.
Durbin, compared abusive treatment of prisoners at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, to
the war crimes of the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge.

    "Karl Rove should immediately and fully apologize for his remarks or he
should resign," Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic minority
leader, said in a statement. "Dividing our country for political gain is an
insult to all Americans and to the common memory we all carry with us from
that day."

    The White House immediately rejected the Democrats' demands for an
apology, offering a strenuous defense of Mr. Rove and suggesting that his
statements had been taken out of context.

    "Karl was simply pointing out the different philosophies and different
approaches when it comes to winning the war on terrorism," said Scott
McClellan, the White House press secretary.

    "If people want to try to engage in personal attacks instead of
defending their philosophy, that's their business," Mr. McClellan continued.
"But it's important to point out the different approaches to this when it
comes to winning the war on terrorism. That's all he was doing."

    But a ranking Republican official later argued that Democrats were
blowing Mr. Rove's comments out of proportion, noting that his comments
specifically pointed out the post-Sept. 11 positions of MoveOn.org, the
filmmaker Michael Moore and former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont, not
Congressional Democrats or the party itself.

    On Thursday, Democrats seized on Mr. Rove's comments, clearly hoping to
put Republicans on the defensive by issuing harsh criticisms throughout the
day in press releases, at a hastily arranged news conferences in the Capitol
and in remarks delivered on the Senate floor.

    The parade of Democrats attacking Mr. Rove included Senators Charles E.
Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Senators Jon Corzine and
Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey; and Senators Christopher J. Dodd and
Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

    Six senators signed a letter to Mr. Rove that Mr. Schumer circulated
calling his comments "inflammatory" and divisive. The letter also chastised
Mr. Rove, saying he came into New York City to "score partisan, political
points at the expense of 3,000 victims and their families."

    At the same time, in heavily Democratic New York City, several leading
Democrats tried to use Mr. Rove's remarks against Mayor Bloomberg, a
Republican who is up for re-election this year.

    In a statement to reporters, one of the Democrats running for his job,
Council Speaker Gifford Miller, called on Mr. Bloomberg, who played host to
the Republican National Convention last summer, to "denounce" the comments
and "demand" an apology from the president.

    Mr. Bloomberg responded a few hours later with a statement that fell
short of an outright criticism, saying instead that "we owe it to those we
lost to keep partisan politics out of the discussion and keep alive the
united spirit that came out of 9/11."

    Neither Mr. Bloomberg nor any of his aides had attended the Conservative
Party dinner. But Governor Pataki was at the dinner, prompting Democrats,
most notably Mrs. Clinton, to call on him to repudiate Mr. Rove's remarks.

    Mr. Pataki, who refused to criticize Mr. Rove, responded angrily, taking
direct aim at Mrs. Clinton, who has maintained a wary truce with him since
taking office. "I think it's a little hypocritical for Senator Clinton to
call on me to repudiate a political figure's comments when she never asked
Senator Durbin to repudiate his comments," he said.

 


From peterfleming at earthlink.net  Fri Jun 24 06:29:55 2005
From: peterfleming at earthlink.net (Peter Fleming)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:21:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Parents Must Assert Rights Over School Authorities
	by Wendy McElroy
Message-ID: <200506241521.j5OFLmAp030478@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH INFORMATION
  TO KEEP KIDS OUT OF UNION CONTROLLED
     GOVERNMENT DESIGNED AND OPERATED ROOMS.
            I know, they're called schools, too.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: peterfleming@earthlink.net [mailto:peterfleming@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 7:50 AM
To: peterfleming@earthlink.net
Subject: Parents Must Assert Rights Over School Authorities by Wendy
McElroy


  <http://stats.clickability.com/t.gif?19=313&7=10> 

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 * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.	
  <http://images.clickability.com/eti/spacer.gif> 	
 	  	
 	 
One of the best articles to date on the DANGERS of government
"schooling", AND
the perfect example of the clarity found on the internet

	 	
 	  	
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<http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&et
MailToID=578789902> Authorities by Wendy McElroy* 	
 	  	  	
 
<http://www.savethis.clickability.com/st/saveThisPopupApp?clickMap=saveF
romET&partnerID=10&etMailToID=578789902> SAVE THIS link
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ailToID=578789902&partnerID=10> FORWARD THIS link	
 	
 	  	
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 08:28:33 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:28:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Oil prices touch all-time record of $60 a barrel
Message-ID: <BEE174B1.211C3%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Oil prices touch all-time record of $60 a barrel
>By Financial Times Reporters
>Published: June 23 2005 19:19 | Last updated: June 24 2005 10:09
>>

US oil futures rose above $60 a barrel for the first time amid high demand
for petrol and diesel and market worries about lack of spare refining
capacity.

The overnight price spike sent European shares sharply lower, as investors
retreated from transport stocks.

The new nominal all-time high was reached after the US Department of Energy
reported a jump in consumption that showed higher prices were not dampening
demand. Diesel consumption was up 6.9 per cent in the last four weeks
compared with the same period a year ago. Petrol demand was 2.5 per cent
higher.

?Those numbers are incredibly strong considering the high prices for both
petrol and diesel,? said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading in Chicago.

The strong demand has dented US crude oil inventories, which fell last week
for the third time in a row, in spite of the Organisations of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries pumping at its highest rate in 25 years.

"No buffer stock has been built up during the second quarter and robust
demand continues to reinforce our view of the likelihood of further price
increases," said Kevin Norrish, of Barclays Capital in London.

The price spike puts pressure on Opec to consider an increase int its
production ceiling, only a week after the raising it by 500,000 barrels a
day, to 28m.

Sheik Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, Opec president, said early this week he would
start consultations with the cartel members as soon as today for an
additional quota increase if the prices remained above $50.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/abe64008-e410-11d9-a754-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.
html
 
Click Here to Print
     EMAIL THIS | Close
 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
 
 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 08:32:38 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:32:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rafsanjani makes eve of poll privatisation pledge
Message-ID: <BEE175A6.211C5%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Rafsanjani makes eve of poll privatisation pledge
>By Gareth Smyth and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
>Published: June 23 2005 18:11 | Last updated: June 23 2005 18:11
>>

On the eve of Friday?s run-off ballot to elect a new president, Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani has appealed for support from ethnic minorities and
offered every family in Iran $11,000 worth of shares from privatised
companies.

Mr Rafsanjani, at 71 a senior figure since the 1979 Islamic Revolution,
faces a stiff challenge from Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, 49, the fundamentalist
mayor of Tehran, and is targeting those thought to be worried about Mr
Ahmadi-Nejad as president.

In letters to Kurdish and Baluchi leaders, Mr Rafsanjani promised to ?remove
the shortcomings of the past to achieve?equality of citizens? rights for
every ethnic group and religion?.

Kurds, mainly in the north-west, and Baluchis, near Pakistan, make up the
bulk of Sunni Muslims who are 10-15 per cent of Iran?s mainly Shia Muslim
population of 68m people.

Sunnis showed little support in last week?s first-round ballot for
fundamentalist candidates, including Mr Ahmadi-Nejad.

Sistan-Baluchestan province is particularly promising for Mr Rafsanjani, as
55.7 per cent voted for Mostafa Moein, the reformist candidate who has asked
supporters to back Mr Rafsanjani today.

In a televised address on Wednesday, Mr Rafsanjani also promised a
wide-ranging privatisation programme, seemingly modelled on several Eastern
European countries in the 1990s, in which shares would be distributed to all
Iranians. Each family receiving 100m rials (US$11,230) worth of state
shares, he said.

Hossein Abdeh-Tabrizi, head of the Tehran Stock Exchange, quickly backed the
plan. Some TSE brokers are nervous about an victory by Mr Ahmadi-Nejad,
although the Tehran price index (Tepix) has fallen just 25.4 points (or 0.2
per cent) since Mr Ahmadi-Nejad?s strong showing in last Friday?s first
round.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad?s aides deny reports that he considers the TSE ?gambling?,
which is not permissible in Islam.

The effect of Mr Rafsanjani?s privatisation promise is uncertain. It came
too late even for Thursday?s newspapers - the last before polling day. ?I
can?t comment because I don?t know any details,? said one broker.

Mr Rafsanjani also promised to pay the equivalent of $90-$170 per month to
the unemployed, and $79 to women who are family bread-winners.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad finished his campaign with a film showing his humble house
and the young managers he has appointed at Tehran city hall.

?Where does it say in Islam that rulers should live in palaces?? asked Mr
Ahmadi-Nejad, gently driving home the message that has resonated with poorer
Iranians.

Following complaints last week, Mojtaba Rashad, deputy interior minister, on
Thursday urged the judiciary to stop Revolutionary Guards and members of the
Basij militia from acting as supervisors in polling stations. He said this
was ruled out by a law against ?interference? by the armed forces in
elections.

? Iran said on Thursday it had arrested 26 people, including at least one
military figure, for suspected electoral violations ahead of the
presidential run-off vote, Reuters reports. Citing an Interior Ministry
statement, the official IRNA news agency said 104 cases of electoral
violations had been recorded in the first round of elections, leading to the
26 arrests.
>
>
>
 
 
 
Find this article at:
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 08:51:05 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 08:51:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Aloha
In-Reply-To: <0IIJ00LERS7T1MM8@vms048.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <BEE179F9.211CB%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: "JACK LAYTON" <jack.bette.layton@verizon.net>
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 07:21:19 -1000
To: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Subject: Aloha

Aloha Michael:

This morning's article on Brazil was most interesting.  In the 70's we spent
some time there when Jack was working with a couple of South American and
Brazilian pathology organizations, great country, wonderful people!  Your
article, "What's Really Obscene" says it all!  Unbelievable that the economy
of the planet is military!  With all our technology, we haven't changed over
the years, and now I'm 70, I realize we won't change!!  Regarding health
delivery system if corruption was removed, and the government removed and
health maintenance organizations (top heavy with administration, paper work
and para-professionals) removed, everyone could have health insurance.
There seems to be a tickle of a trend toward private practice so one goes
directly to the doctor not through gate keepers etc all of which drives up
the cost, plus the fact by the time the patient is seen by the right person,
he's so sick the whole thing costs more.

The polo souvenir magazine went to the printer yesterday, I'll send a copy
when it's printed.  We've had two great matches, and one rain out!  Ronnie
and his son, Rustan, come over every Sunday.

Hui hou,
Bette

------ End of Forwarded Message

From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 24 09:02:57 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 09:03:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Indian Leaders Offer to Settle Largest Class Action
	Lawsuit Against Federal Government in U.S. History
Message-ID: <20050624160257.28029.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

michael  ( michael@intrafi.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Indian Leaders Offer to Settle Largest Class Action Lawsuit Against Federal Government in U.S. History
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1349201
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


Prominent Native American leaders united this week in a historic effort to resolve a struggle dating back more than 100 years, offering to settle the largest class action lawsuit against the federal government in U.S. history. We speak with the lead plaintiff in the case, Elouise Cobell.
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1349201

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 09:05:15 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 09:05:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The unending war against the Taliban
Message-ID: <BEE17D4B.211CE%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

The unending war against the Taliban
Jun 23rd 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


Afghan troops have launched a big assault on Taliban insurgents, who they
fear are regrouping to attack September?s parliamentary elections. Almost
four years after the American-led invasion, Afghanistan still looks far from
pacified. European countries are sending more troops, while Afghanistan?s
government accuses Pakistan of harbouring the rebels


Get article background

THE Taliban failed to deliver on their threat to disrupt last October?s
presidential election in Afghanistan, in which voters defied the rebels and
turned out in force. The success of the American-backed Hamid Karzai in
becoming the country?s first democratically elected president is bound to
have been a blow to the Taliban?s morale. However, the rebels are far from
beaten, and Mr Karzai?s government is worried that they are regrouping to
launch attacks on the forthcoming parliamentary elections?originally due in
April but now scheduled to take place in September. So far, two candidates
have been killed in attacks blamed on the Taliban, the latest this week in
Uruzgan province.

This week, Afghan troops, reportedly backed by American helicopters and
British fighter jets, launched a big assault on Taliban insurgents near the
borders between Uruzgan and two other south-western provinces, Kandahar and
Zabul, to take back a district captured by the Taliban last week. On
Thursday June 23rd, government officials said more than 100 insurgents had
been killed so far in the operation, making it the heaviest defeat inflicted
on the Taliban in the past two years. According to Reuters news agency,
Afghan officials said troops were closing in on another group of rebels in
the area?possibly including two of the most senior Taliban leaders, Mullah
Dadullah and Mullah Brother.

Part of the Taliban rebel force is thought to have escaped across the border
into Pakistan, stoking the Afghan government?s anger at its neighbour for
allegedly harbouring the insurgents. President George Bush, concerned at
deteriorating relations between two important allies in his ?war on terror?,
spoke to the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, this week, after which
General Musharraf rang Mr Karzai to reassure him that Pakistan was not
trying to meddle in Afghan affairs.

Pakistan?s government insists it is not helping the rebels but argues that
it is impossible to seal its long border with Afghanistan. However, there
seems little doubt that pockets of support for the Taliban exist in
Pakistan, especially in the border province of Baluchistan (see map). They
may still have backing in parts of the Pakistani security establishment,
such as its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), which is
known to have helped the Taliban in the past.

Indeed, Pakistan helped the Taliban to form in the first place. The Islamist
group?s founders were militant clerics belonging to the Pushtun, a devoutly
Muslim ethnic group that straddles the border between the two countries. In
the mid-1990s, the ISI and other parts of Pakistan?s armed forces took the
clerics under their wing, helping them recruit fighters and providing the
guns, transport, training and battle plans they then used to conquer most of
Afghanistan in the civil war that followed the collapse of the former,
Soviet-backed regime.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, America and its
allies invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime, because of its
refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders sheltering
in the country. Pakistan, despite having backed the Taliban, swapped sides
and became an American ally?or at least, General Musharraf and Pakistan?s
leadership did. Some analysts believe that the Taliban is now busy
recruiting fresh members in Pakistan and sending them to fight over the
border. On Tuesday, Mr Karzai?s spokesman criticised the Pakistani
authorities for failing to arrest Taliban leaders on their territory, one of
whom, he said, had been interviewed on Pakistani television last week.

More troops needed

President Vladimir Putin of Russia complained this week that the
American-led force in Afghanistan was proving ineffective at battling the
Taliban and that terrorist training camps continued to operate there. Mr
Putin fears that Islamist rebels in the breakaway Russian republic of
Chechnya are still being sent for training in the Afghan camps. Indeed, an
Afghan official said on Thursday that at least two of the insurgents killed
in the battle in south-western Afghanistan may have been Chechens.

There is certainly an argument for reinforcing the 20,000 mainly American
troops who are helping Afghan forces hunt the insurgents. But given the even
deadlier insurgency in Iraq (see article), there is at least as strong an
argument for boosting troop levels there?and America?s military is already
over-stretched.

A separate, NATO-led force of around 8,000, the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF), has the job of improving security for the Afghan
people, though until recently its peacekeeping was largely confined to the
capital, Kabul. Last week, plans were announced to boost ISAF?s numbers by
2,000 during the parliamentary election campaign. Spain?whose new, Socialist
government pulled its troops out of Iraq in 2004 but kept them in
Afghanistan?said on Thursday it would provide 500 of the extra soldiers.
Britain, the Netherlands and Romania are also contributing to the boost in
ISAF?s strength.

One area in which Mr Karzai?s government and its foreign protectors have had
success is in repressing the growing of opium poppies in Afghanistan.
Besides flooding the world with heroin, the opium-poppy trade provides the
rebels, and Afghanistan?s troublesome warlords, with money to buy weapons
and further destabilise the country. After an upsurge in poppy cultivation
last year, surveys by Britain and the United Nations in March this year
found that renewed efforts to eradicate it seemed to be working. However, as
with the rebels themselves, there is a danger that the poppies will quickly
spring back up if the efforts to repress them are not maintained. Despite
routine assurances from the Afghan government that it is getting a grip on
the situation, all that has been seen so far are some successful battles in
a war that shows no sign of ending.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 24 09:37:25 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 09:37:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] michael visited the JohnKerry.com website and thought...
Message-ID: <200506241637.j5OGbPfC012410@mx-e.johnkerry.com>

civic list -

michael visited JohnKerry.com and thought you would find the following
link of interest:
 
      URL: http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/rove_thankyou.html 

They also said: 
------------------------------------ 
I found this page on the JohnKerry.com website very interesting, and thought you might be interested, too.  Click on the link and find out more...

 
------------------------------------

Thank you! 

JohnKerry.com 
http://www.johnkerry.com

This email is being sent on behalf of an individual user of the
JohnKerry.com system. Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. is not responsible for
the content of this invitation. We take your privacy seriously and will
not share your email address.

Paid for and authorized by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

To report abuse of this system, forward this email to webmaster@johnkerry.com
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 09:51:56 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 09:52:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Kill the Messenger, Hide the News
Message-ID: <BEE1883C.211DB%michael@michaelbutler.com>

For background, see:
Steve Weissman | Dead Messengers: How the US Military Threatens Journalists
.

    Kill the Messenger, Hide the News
    By Steve Weissman
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Wednesday 22 June 2005

    When truthout boss Marc Ash asked me earlier this year to look into the
Pentagon's killing of journalists, I didn't know what to expect. Many
reporters at the time believed that American soldiers were purposely
targeting them. But, as I soon found, the crime was larger and more
systemic.

    The 4-part investigation "Dead Messengers: How the US Military Threatens
Journalists" appeared in February and March. Readers responded positively
and in overwhelming numbers, and the series won a prestigious award from
Project Censored as one of the year's top under covered news stories.

    Everyone who worked on the story here was pleased. But none of us
celebrated. The Pentagon did not change its policies. Journalists remain at
risk. And - no surprise - the mainstream media continues to miss the story.

    As far as anyone has yet proved, no US commanding officer ever ordered a
subordinate to fire on journalists as such. Not at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel
in April 2003. Not at the highway checkpoint where soldiers wounded Italian
journalist Giuliana Sgrena and killed her Secret Service protector in March
2005. And, not anywhere else in Iraq or Afghanistan.

    How, then, did the US military end up killing journalists?

    It started with a simple decision - the Pentagon's rejection of
responsibility for the lives of journalists who choose to work independently
rather than embed themselves in a British or American military unit. Despite
repeated requests from Reuters and other major news organizations, Pentagon
officials still refuse to take a few simple steps needed to reduce the
threat to independent journalists.

    It's not all that difficult:

    * 1. The entire military must be forced to respect the work that
independent journalists do, protect them where possible, and train soldiers
to recognize the obvious differences between rocket launchers and TV
cameras.

    * 2. Commanders need to pass on information about the whereabouts of
journalists, with a direct order not to shoot at them. If commanders fail to
do so, the military must punish them.

    * 3. When soldiers do kill a journalist, the Pentagon needs to hold them
responsible, something that no military investigation has yet done.

    * 4. And the military must stop forcibly excluding journalists,
detaining them, or otherwise preventing them from reporting on its
operations, especially in unsavory situations like the destruction of
Fallujah. 

    One other problem needs urgent attention. Military intelligence
regularly monitors the uplink equipment that reporters use to transmit their
stories and communicate by satellite phone. But, as the BBC's Nik Gowing
discovered, the electronic intelligence mavens make no effort to distinguish
between journalistic communications and those of enemy forces. All the
sensing devices do is look for electronic traffic between the monitored
uplinks and known enemies.

    In Gowing's view, this led the Americans to order a rocket attack on the
Kabul office of the Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, whose journalists kept
regular contact with the Taliban as part of their journalistic coverage.

    No military believes in free speech or a free press. Every general wants
to control every possible element of the battlefield, including what the
folks back home see and hear about what their troops are doing. To the
military, too much honesty quickly becomes "hostile information." No one
should expect the generals to change their attitudes.

    Change must start from outside. No country claiming to be a democracy
can allow its armed forces to control the flow of information, as the US
military now tries to do, even at the cost of killing journalists. If
Congress, the media, and the American people allow the Pentagon to prevent
"hostile information," we will never get the news we need to evaluate
whether a military action like the ongoing occupation of Iraq is truly worth
killing, dying, and paying for.

 

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 09:56:38 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 09:56:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Road to Riches Is Called K Street
Message-ID: <BEE18956.211DD%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    The Road to Riches Is Called K Street
    By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
    The Washington Post

    Wednesday 22 June 2005

    Lobbying firms hire more, pay more, charge more to influence government.

    To the great growth industries of America such as health care and home
building add one more: influence peddling.

    The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled
since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their
new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent. Only a few other
businesses have enjoyed greater prosperity in an otherwise fitful economy.

    The lobbying boom has been caused by three factors, experts say: rapid
growth in government, Republican control of both the White House and
Congress, and wide acceptance among corporations that they need to hire
professional lobbyists to secure their share of federal benefits.

    "There's unlimited business out there for us," said Robert L.
Livingston, a Republican former chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee and now president of a thriving six-year-old lobbying firm.
"Companies need lobbying help."

    Lobbying firms can't hire people fast enough. Starting salaries have
risen to about $300,000 a year for the best-connected aides eager to "move
downtown" from Capitol Hill or the Bush administration. Once considered a
distasteful post-government vocation, big-bucks lobbying is luring nearly
half of all lawmakers who return to the private sector when they leave
Congress, according to a forthcoming study by Public Citizen's Congress
Watch.

    Political historians don't see these as positive developments for
democracy. "We've got a problem here," said Allan Cigler, a political
scientist at the University of Kansas. "The growth of lobbying makes even
worse than it is already the balance between those with resources and those
without resources."

    In the 1990s, lobbying was largely reactive. Corporations had to fend
off proposals that would have restricted them or cost them money. But with
pro-business officials running the executive and legislative branches,
companies are also hiring well-placed lobbyists to go on the offensive and
find ways to profit from the many tax breaks, loosened regulations and other
government goodies that increasingly are available.

    "People in industry are willing to invest money because they see
opportunities here," said Patrick J. Griffin, who was President Bill
Clinton's top lobbyist and is now in private practice. "They see that they
can win things, that there's something to be gained. Washington has become a
profit center."

    Take the example of Hewlett-Packard Co. The California computer maker
nearly doubled its budget for contract lobbyists to $734,000 last year and
added the elite lobbying firm of Quinn Gillespie & Associates LLC. Its goal
was to pass Republican-backed legislation that would allow the company to
bring back to the United States at a dramatically lowered tax rate as much
as $14.5 billion in profit from foreign subsidiaries.

    The extra lobbying paid off. The legislation was approved and
Hewlett-Packard will save millions of dollars in taxes. "We're trying to
take advantage of the fact that Republicans control the House, the Senate
and the White House," said John D. Hassell, director of government affairs
at Hewlett-Packard. "There is an opportunity here for the business community
to make its case and be successful."

    The Republicans in charge aren't just pro-business, they are also
pro-government. Federal outlays increased nearly 30 percent from 2000 to
2004, to $2.29 trillion. And despite the budget deficit, federal spending is
set to increase again this year, especially in programs that are prime
lobbying targets such as defense, homeland security and medical coverage.

    In addition, President Bush has signed into law five major tax-cut bills
over the past four years. His administration has also curtailed regulation.
Over the past five years, the number of new federal regulations has declined
by 5 percent, to 4,100, according to Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., a vice president
of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The number of pending regulations
that would cost businesses or local governments $100 million or more a year
has declined even more, by 14.5 percent to 135 over the period.

    Companies have had to redouble their lobbying merely to keep track of it
all. "Much of lobbying today is watching all the change that's going on in
Washington," Cigler said. "Companies need more people just to stay apprised
of what regulators are doing."

    At the same time, government activism has presented potential problems
for business. "As government grows, unless you're right there to limit it,
it can intrude in just about any industry," Livingston said. "There are
agencies that love to do things and acquire new missions. People in industry
better have good lobbyists or they're going to get rolled over."

    But whether it is to protect themselves against harm or to win more
benefits, executives and insiders say they have no choice but to hire
lobbyists who are deeply rooted in official Washington and its complexities.
"Hiring a lobbyist is part of system these days," said Kent Cooper,
co-founder of PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan compiler of lobbying and
campaign-funding information.

    Jonas Neihardt, vice president of federal government affairs for
Qualcomm Inc., the San Diego technology company, agreed: "Without
professional lobbyists I don't see how a company can monitor everything
that's going on or provide the inputs that are necessary to explain why
rules and laws have to be changed."

    The result has been a gold rush on K Street, the lobbyists' boulevard.
Quinn Gillespie has added at least 16 clients and six professionals since
its co-founder, Edward W. Gillespie, announced last November that he was
returning after a stint as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Barbour Griffith & Rogers LLC, another lobbying firm, increased the number
of lobbyists to 15, from eight in 2003.

    The owner of a large lobbying shop said that five years ago he could
hire veteran Capitol Hill staffers for $200,000 a year or less. Now the
going rate is closer to $300,000 a year and the most-sought-after aides can
expect even more. In 2002, Susan B. Hirschmann, chief of staff to House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), had so many lobbying offers that she
enlisted Robert B. Barnett, the attorney for Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), to receive and filter them.

    For retiring members of Congress and senior administration aides, the
bidding from lobbying firms and trade associations can get even more
fevered. Well-regarded top officials are in high demand and lately have
commanded employment packages worth upward of $2 million a year. Marc F.
Racicot, a former Montana governor who chaired the Republican National
Committee, will soon collect an annual salary of $1 million-plus as
president of the American Insurance Association.

    The fees that lobbyists charge clients have also risen substantially.
Retainers that had been $10,000 to $15,000 a month for new corporate clients
before President Bush took office now are $20,000 to $25,000 a month or
more, lobbyists say.

    All-Republican lobbying firms have boosted their rates the most. Fierce,
Isakowitz & Blalock and the Federalist Group report that at the end of the
Clinton administration, $20,000 a month was considered high. Now, they say,
retainers of $25,000 to $40,000 a month are customary for new corporate
clients, depending on how much work they do.

    Such fee inflation is widespread, even by newcomers. Venn Strategies
LLC, a bipartisan lobbying firm that opened in 2001, has doubled its
retainer for new clients. "When we first started, most of them came in at
$7,500 a month or $10,000 a month," said Stephanie E. Silverman, a principal
in the firm. "Now retainers are more in the $15,000- and $25,000-a-month
range."

    Corporate clients accept the extra cost as the price of success in
Washington. At the turn of the year, the American Ambulance Association
decided to step up its lobbying and switched to Patton Boggs LLP, the
Capitol Hill powerhouse, from a smaller lobbying shop across town. In the
process it boosted its lobbying budget by about a third, to more than
$300,000 a year.

    "It is essential we have a very strong presence," said Robert L. Garner,
president of the association. "It's pricey, but it's the cost of doing
business in the federal environment."

 

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 10:41:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Fri Jun 24 10:41:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
References: <000701c578a2$f2e11700$0b25b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <006e01c578e3$e9339bb0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From lyve at netzero.net  Fri Jun 24 12:45:00 2005
From: lyve at netzero.net (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 12:55:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050624.124526.10964.221215@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>


I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is going.

Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.

I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their mouths shut.

As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed or started a criminal offense.

If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.

Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun 24 13:00:18 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 24 12:58:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <000901c578f7$59bad980$3e25b7d8@baby1>

Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq



========
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist
Islam.
=========



A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
"Christianity" short.

I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I told
to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" which she
had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing me
"Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I get on to
bigger fish.

This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques dealer
who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated "Crap,
Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
seen again..."

It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, among
other people.

It also reminds me of the Crusades.

If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus baseball
caps.

My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those who
currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like us",
they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
America for their idiocy.

You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed to
re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way Of
Life.

If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens Of
The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.

You're on your own.

Jesus slideshows and all.

My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you have
already done over here in the Land Of The Free.

That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
over here in America have already been taught.

When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, and
only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
Brothers In Christ.

Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
their Holy Books as well.

Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.

Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.

Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
Century.





Cheeseburger

.

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 24 14:35:10 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:35:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mad Cow comes back and kicks the US in the but!
Message-ID: <000701c57904$9b5a8cc0$523fe440@Harold>

This is a report of a recent Mad Cow in the US that is "not" of Canadian origin.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/24/us-madcow050624.html

Canadian cattlemen have suffered greatly from the "one" mad cow diseased animal that was exported to the US. 
It did not go into the food system!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/

The point that is not made is that it was an American company "Cargill" that was the feed supplier to the Canadian cattleman of the 1 Mad Cow.
Canadian cattlemen have lost billions of dollars because of the feed supplied by this American company. There is now a class action suit being considered against Cargill and various American producers by the Canadian cattlemen for unreasonable actions and profiteering. Welcome to free trade!! Greed can come back at you and kick you in the ass, big time.
US cattlemen have taken advantage and profited on this issue, but at the end of the day they have lost, because of their short term stupidity for $$ the US slaughter houses' have lost Canadian business. Canadian producers are now going to slaughter in Canada and ship to world markets. Before Canadian producers shipped live stock to US slaughter houses, no more, and now many many Americans (10,000 ++ ) will be out of work. All ready US slaughter houses are laying of staff. 

Oh well, to bad so sad! Greed looses' honest hard workers win.

Later H



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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Fri Jun 24 14:38:52 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:39:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - NO TIMETABLE FOR IRAQ, STRESSES BUSH
Message-ID: <20050624213852.52BA81B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
NO TIMETABLE FOR IRAQ, STRESSES BUSH
WebPosted Fri Jun 24 12:34:43 2005

---U.S. President George W. Bush assured Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-
Jaafari on Friday that there is no timetable to pull American troops from
Iraq, as military officials said a suicide bomber had killed as many as
six U.S. soldiers.

The two leaders held a joint news conference following a meeting at the
White House, where they discussed political and military strategy.

With public support for the war in Iraq dropping, Bush is under pressure
from some members of Congress to outline a timetable to remove American
soldiers from Iraq.

But Bush says the United States is committed to establishing a peaceful
and democratic Iraq.

"There are not going to be any timetables. We are there to complete a
mission," the president said. "A democratic Iraq is in the interest for
the United States and for laying the foundation for peace."

Setting a timetable would allow the enemy to wait out the U.S.,
said Bush.

Al-Jaafari made a point of thanking Bush and Americans for their support,
saying "you have given us your sons and daughters &#8230 ;this is more
precious than any other support we have received."

The Iraqi leader also announced the country's first constitution would be
written by August so it can be ratified in a referendum in the fall.

Marines killed in Fallujah

The meeting comes the same day U.S. military officials said a suicide
bomber killed at least two marines and left four others missing and
presumed dead in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Another 13 marines were injured in the Thursday night bombing. The group
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
claimed responsibility on a website.

More than 1,700 American soldiers have died since the war in Iraq started
in March 2003.

In an effort to boost sagging public support, Bush will address troops at
Fort Bragg in North Carolina during a prime-time speech next Tuesday,
which will mark one year since the U.S. handed Iraqis sovereignty of
their country.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Fri Jun 24 14:39:53 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:40:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - IRA APOLOGIZES FOR KILLING CATHOLIC GIRL,
	32 YEARS LATER
Message-ID: <20050624213953.DCEF91B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
IRA APOLOGIZES FOR KILLING CATHOLIC GIRL, 32 YEARS LATER
WebPosted Fri Jun 24 13:12:07 2005

---The IRA says it is sorry for shooting to death a Catholic girl in 1973
while attempting to ambush a British army patrol.

It made the public apology Friday after years of insisting that British
soldiers killed 14-year-old Kathleen Feeney in Londonderry, a
predominantly Catholic city in Northern Ireland.

Kathleen died from a single bullet after an IRA gunman fired on a nearby
British army patrol. The IRA initially said it had fired shots at the
troops after they killed the girl, who had been playing in the street
with friends.

According to the Derry Journal, the group now says a new internal
investigation confirms its members actually killed her.

"Our failure to publicly accept responsibility for her death until now
has only added to the hurt and pain of the Feeney family," the IRA
statement said. "The leadership of [the IRA] wish to apologize
unreservedly to the Feeney family for the death of Kathleen and for all
the grief that our actions have caused to them."

The outlawed group killed about 1,800 people from 1970-97 in an attempt
to abolish Northern Ireland as a British territory and merge with the
Republic of Ireland.

In 1997, the IRA initiated an open-ended truce as part of a peace process
that led to Northern Ireland's Good Friday accord of 1998.

The Derry Journal reported that the Feeney family, who always held the
IRA responsible for Kathleen's death, offered a brief statement.

"In memory of our parents, Kathleen and Harry Feeney, the family of
Kathleen Feeney decided to seek an unconditional apology from the
Provisional IRA for the death of their sister," the family
statement said.

"It is the family's wish that this will help bring closure."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Fri Jun 24 14:41:32 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:41:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - SRI LANKA SIGNS TSUNAMI AID PACT WITH REBELS
Message-ID: <20050624214132.9B4AE1B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
SRI LANKA SIGNS TSUNAMI AID PACT WITH REBELS
WebPosted Fri Jun 24 12:18:51 2005

---Critics are protesting a deal signed Friday by Sri Lanka's government
to share international tsunami aid with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A representative from the government, Tigers and the Muslim minority will
work together on the aid-sharing pact to disperse money to all parts of
the country.

 INDEPTH: Disaster in Asia

But the country's Buddhist clergy, a Marxist party and other critics say
the deal raises legitimacy for the group in the international community.
They also worry it will boost Tigers' separatist agenda.

Hundreds of Marxist demonstrators marched near parliament Friday to
demand that the aid-sharing plan be dropped. Police used tear gas to
break up the protest.

International donors had urged the parties to sign the deal. Many
countries consider the Tigers to be terrorists and did not want to give
them money directly.

The Sri Lankan government said the plan is a good opportunity to try and
make peace with the guerrillas.

The country continues to recover from the Dec. 26 tsunami, which killed
at least 31,000 people in both government and rebel-controlled areas.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun 24 14:45:06 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:45:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Klansman Gets 60-Year Term In '64 'Mississippi
	Burning' Case - Washington Post
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV1298FB5EC99A87CA93E031ABED0@phx.gbl>

While I get no pleasure in seeing an 80 year old man being sent to jail I still must say Hallelujah!!! IT FINALLY HAPPENED....

peace and love,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: William Swiggard
Sent: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:10:41 -0700
To: mb-civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ex-Klansman Gets 60-Year Term In '64 'Mississippi Burning' Case - Washington Post

Ex-Klansman Gets 60-Year Term In '64 'Mississippi Burning' Case
Killen Expresses No Remorse for Killing 3 Activists

By Emily Wagster Pettus
Associated Press
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A03

PHILADELPHIA, Miss., June 23 -- Former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen 
was wheeled before a judge Thursday, an 80-year-old relic of 
Mississippi's hate-filled past, and sentenced to 60 years in prison for 
the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301678.html


From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Fri Jun 24 14:51:24 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 24 14:51:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: Your calls and letters made the difference. Thank
	You.
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV11ED2BB1D2A6C8BBC3F92ABED0@phx.gbl>

We did it  PBS  WILL get their funding.

b.

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 15:16:07 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 15:16:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Ignorance on Iran May Lead to an Unwise Attack
Message-ID: <BEE1D437.2121B%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Also see below:    
Iranians Vote in Tight Presidential Run-Off    ?

    Ignorance on Iran May Lead to an Unwise Attack
    By William O. Beeman
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Tehran - The United States may still attack Iran, and for all the wrong
reasons.

    Two recent analyses, both appearing a day before the final runoff to
determine the Iranian presidency (June 23, 2005) reveal how this may happen,
and what the logic behind such an attack may be.

    The first analysis, by former United Nations nuclear arms inspector
Scott Ritter, distributed through the Al Jazeera website, claims that the
United States' assault on Iran has already begun. Ritter asserts that the
terrorist organization Mujaheddin-e Khalg (known as the MEK or MKO in the
West) is operating as a strike force under CIA direction, and that the
United States is preparing to stage military attacks from Azerbaijan.

    The second analysis appears in the Boston Globe, by Ray Takeyh, senior
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who claims that the "counter
reform" movement has led to the successful candidacy of former mayor Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in the first round of presidential elections in Iran - and
possibly in the runoff as well - is entirely the doing of Iranian chief
jurisprudent Ali Khamene'i. Takeyh's analysis echoes an infamous paper
issued by the Committee on the Present Danger - an organization of ex-Cold
Warriors that has retooled itself as an anti-terrorist organization. The
paper, issued December 20, 2004 was entitled "Iran: A New Approach" and was
authored by Mark Palmer and George Schultz. The main point of the paper was
to paint Khamene'i as a Saddam-style dictator.

    Both of these analyses have inherent flaws, but taken together they
spell something quite ominous. I'm not quite ready to believe Ritter's
pronouncement that the attack is already underway, despite the fact that
Seymour Hersh predicted that it would happen about now in "The Coming Wars,"
in The New Yorker on January 24 and 31 of this year. However, I do believe
that Ritter is reporting on a movement that significant elements in the Bush
administration want to happen, and for which they may have laid the
groundwork.

    There are a lot of random facts that lend credence to Ritter's claims.
Last year, there were fake elections in Azerbaijan. The ex-dictator of that
country, octogenarian Haidar Aliev, was rumored to have already been dead
two months before the election. The installation of his unqualified ne'er do
well son Ilham, to applause from the Bush administration, allowed the
completion of an oil pipeline from the Caspian region across former Soviet
Georgia to Turkey, bypassing Iran.

    Additionally, there have been continued contacts between Iranian
Azerbaijani separatist Mahmudali Chehregani and the Bush administration.
Moreover, there are apparently real plans for the Bush administration to
establish a military base in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the better to stage
the kind of attack on Iran about which Ritter is writing.

    There is continued administration contact and support for the MEK, and
support from a number of US senators and congresspeople. Ritter's scenario
begins to look probable if not real.

    However, Takeyh's piece (along with the paper from the Committee on the
Present Danger) is the more dangerous of the two analyses, because of its
attribution of a genuine social movement to a single person. This makes it
tempting for administration hawks of limited intelligence (of all sorts),
susceptible to the avalanche of neoconservative blather on Iranian politics,
to think that all one has to do is topple Khamene'i and the whole Islamic
Republic will fall like a house of cards. This is truly dangerous thinking,
and it is blatantly not in the long term interests of the United States or
Iran for the US Government to act upon such a flawed assumption.

    The elections took almost all Iranian analysts by surprise, because of
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's strong showing. However, this development should not
have been unforeseen.

    Iran is still engaged with internal revolutionary dialog. The original
Revolution of 1978-79 was a drive for purification of the Iranian soul as
much as anything else. This need for spiritual and moral purity was the
element that engaged the middle and upper classes in the end, encouraging
them to oust the shah against their own economic interests (something that
should not surprise Americans, given the past two presidential elections).

    The pull of the spiritual is obviously still strong in Iran, and
Ahmadinejad has been able to embody this in his image of simplicity,
humility and spirituality successfully. He further combines his image with
an economic message that promises that the fruits of the revolution - namely
the elevation of the mostazefin (downtrodden) - can still be achieved.

    Ahmadinejad's persona and his message are clearly irresistible to people
who see the original ideals of the revolution slipping away, through the
increasingly Westernized behavior and sensibilities of the salons and
boutiques of North Tehran. In short, the social forces that are driving the
Ahmadinejad supporters are real, broad, and clearly very powerful. Any
American move to attack Iran, or to try to achieve regime change through the
narrow measure of trying to topple Khamene'i or any limited group of
individuals, will fail. The Iranian public supporting Ahmadinejad and what
he represents will reject any replacement for the current government, and
the rest of the Iranian population will consider anything initiated by the
United States to be tainted.

    The day may come when Washington will finally try to understand Iran on
its own terms, but I think the world will have to wait for a very long time
for this to take place.

    William O. Beeman has been observing the Iranian presidential elections
from Tehran. He is professor of Anthropology and Director of Middle East
Studies at Brown University. His forthcoming book is The "Great Satan" vs.
the "Mad Mullahs": How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other
(Praeger).

 

    Go to Original

    Iranians Vote in Tight Presidential Run-Off
    By Edmund Blair
    Reuters

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Iranians streamed to the polls on Friday in a presidential run-off that
could toughen policy toward the West and end tentative moves toward
liberalization if a hardline candidate beats Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

    Voters stood in long lines in poor south Tehran, a stronghold of
ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has won over Iran's
religious poor with promises to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly.

    "I will vote for Ahmadinejad because he wants to cut off the hands of
those who are stealing the country's national wealth. He wants to fight
poverty, fraud and discrimination," said Rahmatollah Izadpanah, 41, queuing
in south Tehran.

    In wealthier uptown parts of the capital, Rafsanjani voters turned out
in fear Ahmadinejad would revive the strictures and purges that followed the
1979 Islamic revolution. Some polling stations were busy but many in north
Tehran were quiet at first.

    "Our freedom is at stake. I have asked all my friends to cast their
votes as early as possible," said Somayeh, 23, in a veil but with make-up
that conservatives frown upon.

    Political analysts say the election result is too close to call, with
the contest reflecting deep social divisions apparent in the Islamic
Republic's population of 67 million people.

    Rafsanjani, a cleric bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to
1997, has recast himself as a liberal with vows to preserve the reforms of
outgoing President Mohammad Khatami, who loosened Islamic social rules and
pursued detente with the West.

    "I intend to play a historic political role ... to stop the domination
of extremism," Rafsanjani, 70, said after voting.

    Ahmadinejad, 48, a surprise contender in the run-off, says ties with
Washington are not a priority. He is a staunch supporter of Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in matters of state in Iran's
system of clerical rule.

    Fears of a Purge

    "Today is the beginning of a new political era for the Iranian nation,"
Ahmadinejad said when he voted.

    Opponents fear Ahmadinejad will purge ministries and other bodies,
citing what he did to municipal bodies as Tehran mayor.

    The interior, culture and economy ministries are among those held by
Khatami-backed reformists. Bijan Zanganeh, oil minister of OPEC's second
largest producer, made his loyalties clear by turning up at a Rafsanjani
rally this week.

    Washington says the election is unfair because an unelected religious
body blocked the vast majority of would-be candidates.

    Many analysts say the US criticism may have spurred turnout in last
week's first round, helping it to reach 63 percent of the 47 million
eligible voters.

    "The more people who participate in the election, the better it will be
for the next president and for protecting Iran, and achieving our goals,"
said Khamenei, one of the first to cast a ballot in the second round.

    The run-off is between the top two of seven candidates from the first
round. It is the first time since the 1979 revolution that a presidential
poll has gone to a second vote.

    The election has exposed deep splits among Iran's mostly youthful
electorate. The minimum voting age is 15.

    Rafsanjani voters tend to be from upper and middle classes who are tired
of Iran's isolation, want more social freedom and back his plans to
liberalize the state-dominated economy.

    Ahmadinejad, a former instructor of the Basij militia, zealous guardians
of the revolution's ideals, has support among the religiously conservative
working-class, who struggle to make ends meet and for whom strict Islamic
codes are no worry.

    To them, Ahmadinejad is an outsider challenging the vested business
interests of Rafsanjani's wealthy family and others they believe have
benefited most from booming oil prices.

    Reformist candidates beaten in the first round and now backing
Rafsanjani accuse the hardline Revolutionary Guards and Basij of backing
Ahmadinejad, charges dismissed by Ahmadinejad.

    Polls are due to close at 7 p.m. (1430 GMT) but may be extended up to 11
p.m. (1830 GMT), as in the first round.

 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 15:17:29 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 15:17:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents
Message-ID: <BEE1D489.2121C%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Also see below:    
Italy: CIA Agents Indicted for Imam Abduction    ?
Rumsfeld Sued over Torture    ?

    Go to Original

    Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents
    By Aidan Lewis
    The Associated Press

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Rome - An Italian judge ordered the arrests of 13 people in the
purported CIA abduction of an imam, who then was sent to Egypt, the Milan
prosecutor's office said Friday. An Italian official said earlier the 13
were CIA officers involved in US anti-terrorism efforts.

    The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu
Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt,
where he reportedly was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale
said in a statement.

    An Italian newspaper said all 13 were American agents.

    The US Embassy in Rome and the CIA in Washington declined to comment.

    The prosecutor's statement did not name any of the suspects, give their
nationalities or mention the CIA by name, but an Italian official familiar
with the investigation confirmed newspaper reports Friday that the suspects
were working for the CIA. The official requested anonymity because he was
not authorized to release the information.

    Minale said the suspects remained at large, and Italian authorities
would ask the United States and Egypt for assistance in the case.

    Prosecutors believe the officers seized Omar as part of the CIA's
"extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror suspects are transferred
to third countries without court approval, according to reports Friday in
newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Giorno.

    The statement said Omar was attacked by two people while walking from
home to a local mosque and hustled into a white van. He was taken to Aviano,
a joint US-Italian base north of Venice; another American air base in
Ramstein, Germany; and then Cairo.

    Investigators confirmed the abduction through an eyewitness account and
other, unidentified witnesses, the statement said.

    The statement said Omar was abused by interrogators in Egypt, according
to phone calls made by Omar from Egypt to his wife and another unnamed
Egyptian citizen in April-May, 2004.

    Italian papers have reported that Omar, 42, said in the calls he was
tortured with electric shocks.

    On Friday, Corriere della Sera cited another Milan-based imam as telling
Italian authorities that Omar had been tortured in Egypt after refusing to
work in Italy as an informer.

    According to the testimony, Omar was hung upside down and subjected to
extreme temperatures and loud noise that damaged his hearing, Corriere
reported.

    Minale said the judge rejected a request for arrest warrants for six
more suspects believed to have helped prepare the operation.

    Judge Chiara Nobile ordered the arrests after investigators traced the
13 through check-in details at Milan hotels and their use of Italian cell
phones during the operation, the reports in Corriere and Il Giorno said.

    Il Giorno said the 13 were American agents, and three of them were
women.

    Minale said a judge also issued a separate arrest warrant for Omar on
terrorist charges. In that warrant, Judge Guido Salvini claimed the seizure
of Omar represented a violation of Italian sovereignty, according to Italian
news agency Apcom.

    Omar was believed to have fought alongside jihadists in Afghanistan and
Bosnia, and prosecutors were seeking evidence against him before his
disappearance, according to a report in La Repubblica newspaper last year,
which cited intelligence officials.

    The prosecutor's office said Omar was released by the Egyptians after
his interrogation but later was arrested again.

    Corriere said Italian police picked up details, including cover names,
photos, credit card details, and US addresses that the 13 had given to a
number of five-star hotels in Milan around the time of Omar's alleged
abduction.

    It said investigators also found the prepaid highway passes the 13 used
for the journey from Milan to the air base.

    The report said investigations showed the 13 ran up $144,984 in hotel
bills in Milan, and two couples took holidays in northern Italy after
delivering Omar at the Aviano air base.

 

    Go to Original

    Italy: Cia Agents Indicted for Imam Abduction
    AKI

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Milan - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for the
abduction of an Egyptian cleric in the northern city of Milan and his
transfer to Cairo, where he was then tortured until he partially lost the
use of his legs. Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was
seized near his home in Milan on 17 February 2003. His capture is part of a
controversial practice "extraordinary rendition" stepped up after the
September 11 2001 attacks. Terror suspects are picked up irrespective of
national laws and sent to third countries in what rights groups denounce as
'outsourcing torture'.

    Milan daily Corriere della Sera reports that among those issued with
arrest warrants on Thursday was the former US diplomatic consul in Milan,
Robert Seldon Lady, who was replaced unexpectedly several months ago.
Warrants were issued for ten men and three women, whose nationalities were
not specified.

    Abu Omar, had already been under surveillance by Italian police, because
of suspected links with terrorist groups. Foreign intelligence sources say
he had fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia, before his arrival in Italy in
1997.

    Two years ago, he left the house, telling his wife he was going to the
mosque nearby. But he never arrived, after being cornered in a side street
and bundled into a van.

    Nothing more was heard of him until April 20, 2004, when he called his
wife - whose phone line was still tapped - to tell her he was still alive.
Some days later, he called his friend, the Egyptian imam in Milan, Mohammed
Ridha, and told him all that had happened since he disappeared.

    He told Ridha he had been driven to an American airbase, questioned and
beaten, and the following day flown to Egypt where was handed over to the
interior ministry. If he agreed to return to Italy and work as a secret
agent, his interrogators told him, he would not be harmed.

    Rejecting this offer he was sent to Tora high security prison camp in
Egypt where he remained for more than a year. Omar told his friend he had
been so badly beaten that he could hardly move his legs and had been
tortured with electric cables.

    On April 19, 2004, Omar was unexpectedly released, on the condition that
he told no-one what had happened. However after the phone calls to his wife
and Ridha, which were reported in the Italian newspapers, he was arrested
and nothing more has been heard of him.

    Fundamental in the investigation was the use by the CIA operatives of
Italian cell phones. A total of 17 mobile phones were identified operating
in the street where Omar was seized between 12.28 and 12.33 of 17 February
2003. Some of these were found to have placed calls to the US consulate in
Milan and to a number in Virginia (where the CIA headquarters are based, at
Langley). One mobile phone was traced as being located in Cairo the next
day, the others led investigators to the luxury hotel where the group stayed
and, consequently, to the identities - or false identities - of the agents.

    Serving the arrest warrants may prove near impossible and the prospect
of extraditing CIA agents to Italy seems even more remote.

    The episode will however put the spotlight again on the controversial
'extraordinary rendition' practice. Human rights groups have strongly
criticised the sending of terror suspects to third countries where they are
tortured.

    In Italy opposition politicians are demanding explanations from the
government of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close ally of President
Bush as to whether Italian authorities were aware of what was going on.

 

    Go to Original

    Rumsfeld Sued over Torture
    By Daniel Pulliam
    GovExec.com

    Friday 24 June 2005

    A lawsuit alleging that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is responsible
for the prison torture scandal in Afghanistan and Iraq moved to federal
court Wednesday against the wishes of government lawyers representing the
Pentagon chief.

    The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human
Rights First on behalf of eight Afghani and Iraqi men who say they were
tortured while held in US prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    A panel of seven judges - the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- moved the lawsuit to the US District Court for the District of Columbia,
consolidating pretrial proceedings of four lawsuits filed by the ACLU. The
other lawsuits were filed against Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded US
forces in Iraq when the alleged abuse occurred, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinsky,
who commanded US military police forces in Iraq at the time and Col. Thomas
Pappas, who commanded US military intelligence and military police forces in
Iraq at the time.

    According to the ACLU, lawyers representing the military commanders
wanted the case tried in the Eastern District of Virginia, rather than
elevating the case to the federal level.

    "This brings us one step closer to proving in court that the legal
responsibility for the systemic abuse and torture of detainees in US custody
in Iraq and Afghanistan lies at the top of the chain of command and not at
the bottom," said a statement from Lucas Guttentag, the lawsuit's lead
counsel and director of the ACLU's Immigrant's Rights Project.

    Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan will hear the case.

    "We welcome this decision and hope that we are closer to having a
federal court reverse policy decisions that have led to torture and abuse,"
said Michael Posner, executive director of Human Rights First in the
statement.

 


From Hawaiipolo at cs.com  Fri Jun 24 13:55:06 2005
From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com (Hawaiipolo@cs.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 15:24:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
Message-ID: <200506242218.j5OMIQf7031440@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


 The Howling 
By John Cory 
t r u t h o u t | Perspective 

Friday 23 June 2005 

Sometimes I get so angry I could just spit. 

What the hell is wrong with you Democratic politicians? Why do you turn on 
each other? Why won't you stand by your own words and ideals? Why do you keep 
apologizing for telling the truth? And why can't anyone see McCain's true 
colors? Or Lieberman or Biden? 

And why in God's name do you expect folks like me to come support you after 
you turn tail and run? 

Senator Durbin apologizes, for what? Telling the truth? 

The howling banshees of the GOP and corrupt media sprout hair under a full 
moon and wail into the sky until the noise becomes unbearable for simpering 
politicians. And the jackals of right-wing power feast on the carcass of 
democracy. Warm jelly spine is such a delicacy for these carnivores. 

We know the truth out here. We will stand with anyone who stands up for us. 
Where are you? 

This GOP has the moral certitude of Errol Flynn at a convention of underage 
bargirls in Bangkok. And ethics? Please! Republicans have the ethics of - well 
- Tom Delay and Randy "Duke" Cunningham and the Ohio Coin-gOp scandal. They 
quote Stalin as a means of dealing with the judiciary or anyone who opposes 
them, but no one makes them apologize. They call Democrats traitors, and accuse 
them of aiding the enemy, while at the same time, the GOP ensures their friends 
profit from the deaths of American soldiers. There is not a corpse in this 
country that these people will not stick Uncle Dick's cheney into, in order to 
screw themselves into a frenzy of godly power. And yet, these bilious bullies 
rule the political playground? Give me a break! 

If you're a Democrat, I'll give you everything I have, money, time, whatever; 
and all you have to do is - give me my country back. All you have to do is 
stand up and face the storm. Expose these hypocrites for what they are and what 
they do in the name of America. My America. 

Let me tell you three things you could do if you really want my support. I'm 
no corporation, just a working stiff, so I will certainly understand if you 
pay me no never-mind. But if you are interested in stirring the pot and maybe 
generating a whole heap of grassroots support, here's my Three-Step Democracy 
Recovery program: 


Support John Conyers and the hearings on the Downing Street Minutes and every 
revelation that comes out of these papers. Hold Bush Co. accountable by 
making the issue public via the Internet, your own web sites, any newspaper with 
integrity (not NY Times or Washington Post - I said integrity), support liberal 
blogs at every opportunity. Put it on your answering machines.


Take a group, a LARGE group of Congressmen and Senators over to Dover Air 
Base to honor and photograph the returning dead from the war in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. Do not be deterred by MPs or civilian police, and be willing to be 
arrested for trespassing. Let the Bush administration arrest a congressional 
delegation representing the families of the fallen for daring to face the price 
America pays for Bush's War.


Rent a Jumbotron in Times Square and use the Nightline model of the Iran 
hostage crisis - remember? (Day 152 of "America Held Hostage") Only this time, the 
Jumbotron flashes the picture of our young troops with the caption: "Death 
1732 - Wound 5432 - of the Bush War." And then as an added bonus offer up this 
message on the giant screen: Let Us Pray. 


> Our Forefathers, who art in heaven, 
> How hollowed have become thy names. 
> The rule of kingdom has come, 
> The Republic is undone 
> On Earth just as they intend to do to Heaven. They give us each day, a daily 
> dread 
> And warn us about our trespasses 
> While they trespass against us - 
> We, the people. 
> 
> Oh, lead us out of wars of pre-emption, 
> And deliver us from one-party evil, 
> For we know there should be no corporate kingdom, 
> Only empowerment of the people, 
> And the glory of the common good 
> That is true Democracy 
> For ever and ever, 
> Amen.
> 
> 
 
And after you have done this - let the howling begin. I'll stand beside you. 
John Cory is a Vietnam veteran. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star 
with V device, 1969 - 1970. 
------- 
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From barbarasiomos38 at webtv.net  Fri Jun 24 15:21:39 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at webtv.net (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Fri Jun 24 15:24:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: Italian Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Officers
Message-ID: <20050624222139.EAE7BD6B2@smtpout-3203.bay.webtv.net>



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Subject: Italian Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Officers
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 24 15:37:35 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Fri Jun 24 15:37:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China buys America
Message-ID: <000901c5790d$53a3d9f0$523fe440@Harold>

Opps, the commies are at the front door and they have money. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062300321_pf.html

America's enemy has no debt, manufactures a significant percentage of American consumer goods, holds a serious percentage of US treasury bills/bonds and a lot of US real estate.. So who won the cold war? Now China is buying American energy companies. 

China has one problem, serious accounting issues and no concern/reverence for International Law. 
Yet it has a lot of American cash and America is for sale! 

A certain small/tiny group of Americans may/will capitalize on this, most won't, but it is the system that America created and is now faced with!.

The wake up call is already there, and Bush is distracting Americans with terrorism and war ........ until his tenure is up and his buddies have pocketfuls of monies. His kind are of the now generation, no thought as to the future, just now power and no concern with the legacy of the future communities domestic/global survival.
And Rice, she just loves her gig(power), her knowledge/thoughts are all wrong, but she has cart blanche as to promoting the American Way!

Later H



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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 24 16:00:44 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Fri Jun 24 16:01:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheney says Downing Street memo wrong,
	well of course' he' will say that.
Message-ID: <000801c57910$8f8a99b0$523fe440@Harold>

Another Cheney diss of, spin of reality.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

He says history will prove him right, I disagree, history is already proving him wrong. He is a power megalomaniac who is in denial and does not want to let go. He would rather take the ship down, than admit being wrong! He thinks he is a good guy, but every action he takes tells me another story, he is so arrogant, he is a bully, it is his way or the highway, he is a control freak of the utmost, and therefore  America's demise.

Later H
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Fri Jun 24 16:02:19 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Fri Jun 24 16:02:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] This Will Really Make You Burn
Message-ID: <BEE1DF0B.21223%michael@michaelbutler.com>

LBN-POLITICAL BRIEFING By KARL ROVE: (Below are excerpts of a speech
delivered by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove at the New York
State Conservative Party dinner on Wednesday. Most of the talk focused on
changes on the right that have led to the Republicans' recent national
success.): Let me now say a few words about the state of liberalism. Perhaps
the place to begin is with this stinging indictment: "Liberalism is at
greater risk now than at any time in recent American history. The risk is of
political marginality, even irrelevance . . . [L]liberalism risks getting
defined, as conservatism once was, entirely in negative terms." These are
not the words of William F. Buckley, Jr. or Sean Hannity; they are the words
of Paul Starr, co-editor of The American Prospect, a leading liberal
publication. There is much merit in what Mr. Starr writes -- though he and I
fundamentally disagree as to why liberalism is edging toward irrelevance. I
believe the reason can be seen when comparing conservatism with liberalism.
Conservatives believe in lower taxes; liberals believe in higher taxes. We
want few regulations; they want more. Conservatives measure the
effectiveness of government programs by results; liberals measure the
effectiveness of government programs by inputs. We believe in curbing the
size of government; they believe in expanding the size of government.
Conservatives believe in making America a less litigious society; liberals
believe in making America a more litigious society. We believe in
accountability and parental choice in education; they don't. Conservatives
believe in advancing what Pope John Paul II called a "culture of life";
liberals believe there is an absolute unlimited right to abortion.

From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 24 17:31:50 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Fri Jun 24 17:32:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: The Sins of Judith Miller
Message-ID: <20050625003150.D88B0B80A3@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
The Sins of Judith Miller
http://www.alternet.org/story/22301

The New York Times reporter who helped spread the fallacy that Saddam Hussein had WMD has a new beat: discrediting the United Nations.
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Fri Jun 24 17:41:29 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael)
Date: Fri Jun 24 17:40:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <200506250041.j5P0fSGC017098@thor.thenation.com>

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Fri Jun 24 17:56:04 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Fri Jun 24 17:56:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mad Cow no surprise
Message-ID: <000801c57920$ace7bd70$523fe440@Harold>

What is not being said is the supplier of the contaminated cattle feed to North America is Cargill, a US Company.

It is no surprise Canada's Prime Minister has said that Mad Cow has been found in the US with 'NO' Canadian link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050624/wl_canada_nm/canada_madcow_canada_usa_col;_ylt=An9Z9n.gUgTfJVyRXjZlfKZp9L4F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

R-Calf from Montana has stopped Canadian imports for personal gain. As`said previously, to bad, so sad, Canada will now pack it's own and put 10,000 ++ American workers in the packing industry out of business....

Later H
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 17:57:00 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Fri Jun 24 17:57:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
References: <000901c578f7$59bad980$3e25b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <009801c57920$cbc9c6c0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and 
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened" 
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits: 
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.

In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately 
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of 
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes. 
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of 
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist 
direction.

Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the 
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not, 
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a 
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?

Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out 
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a 
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a 
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a 
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if 
there are some there who want them.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
> ========
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
> =========
>
>
>
> A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
> centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
> "Christianity" short.
>
> I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
> time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I 
> told
> to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" which she
> had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
> her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
> to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
> years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
> and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing 
> me
> "Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I get on to
> bigger fish.
>
> This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques 
> dealer
> who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
> that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
> throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
> Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
> over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated 
> "Crap,
> Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
> guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
> seen again..."
>
> It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, 
> among
> other people.
>
> It also reminds me of the Crusades.
>
> If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
> this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
> wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
> civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
> Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
> righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
> Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
> proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus 
> baseball
> caps.
>
> My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
> 20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
> non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
> and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
> your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
> costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those 
> who
> currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
> jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
> front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
> toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
> that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like us",
> they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
> America for their idiocy.
>
> You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
> America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed 
> to
> re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
> endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way 
> Of
> Life.
>
> If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens 
> Of
> The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.
>
> You're on your own.
>
> Jesus slideshows and all.
>
> My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
> Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you 
> have
> already done over here in the Land Of The Free.
>
> That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
> spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
> teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
> over here in America have already been taught.
>
> When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
> mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
> as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, 
> and
> only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
> Brothers In Christ.
>
> Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
> their Holy Books as well.
>
> Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.
>
> Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
> keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
> without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.
>
> Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
> Century.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Fri Jun 24 18:05:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Fri Jun 24 18:06:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
References: <20050624.124526.10964.221215@webmail25.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <009c01c57922$0c5bd100$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Lyle:

Although I agree with you that the reasons behind why the evangelicals are 
in Iraq are wrong (i.e., had the war never occurred, they would arguably not 
be there), I simply do not see the harm in their presence.

As you point out, at a minimum the Christian church has always been on the 
"front lines" of aid in places of strife, both tangible and moral/spiritual. 
You say they should just "help rebuild and keep their mouths shut."

But what if people WANT to hear what they have to say?  Who are you to make 
their choice or decision for them?

Again, it is all in how it is done.  "Spreading the Gospel" is among the 
most primary of missions for Christians.  And if it is done properly - with 
humility, love, patience, etc. - and not "rammed down their throats," then 
ANY people - even the Iraqis - have a right to hear "the Word," and make 
personal choices as to whether to accept or reject it.

That is a form of something called "freedom."  to suggest that they should 
not even have the right to hear what evangelicals - or anyone else, for that 
matter - has to say is limiting freedom.  In America, it's called "free 
speech" and is protected by something called the Bill of Rights.

Sorry for my "indignation" here, but I really believe that you and 
Cheeseburger are losing sight of some very basic things.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


>
> I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there 
> while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is 
> going.
>
> Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but 
> it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.
>
> I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread 
> the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their 
> mouths shut.
>
> As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that 
> is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed 
> or started a criminal offense.
>
> If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not 
> sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.
>
> Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.
>
>
> Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM
> http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
>
> -- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
>
> Peace.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
> To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
>> this one, just for the curious:
>>
>> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>>
>> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>>
>> 3.
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>>
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>>
>> By Caryle Murphy
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>>
>> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National
>> Evangelical
>> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric
>> guitar
>> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen.
>> A
>> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled 
>> the
>> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>>
>> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven
>> new
>> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two
>> years.
>> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
>> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music 
>> and
>> focus on the Bible.
>>
>> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
>> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
>> understanding the Bible."
>>
>> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
>> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious
>> landscape
>> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
>> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is 
>> now
>> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian
>> denominations
>> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about 
>> a
>> threat to the status quo.
>>
>> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in
>> the
>> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at 
>> a
>> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
>> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their 
>> flocks
>> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see
>> the
>> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
>> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>>
>> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a
>> good
>> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
>> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
>> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>>
>> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
>> churches."
>>
>> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing
>> presence
>> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan,
>> for
>> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving,"
>> said
>> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
>> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>>
>> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
>> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at
>> 50
>> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined
>> regular
>> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
>> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>>
>> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
>> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim
>> conversions,
>> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>>
>> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
>> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
>> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
>> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>>
>> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no 
>> secret
>> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global 
>> relief
>> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
>> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
>> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant
>> denomination,
>> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>>
>> ========
>>
>>
>>
>> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you
>> want
>> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>>
>> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so
>> they
>> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the
>> self-annointed
>> righteous for the longest time now.
>>
>> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of
>> fake
>> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
>> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of 
>> all
>> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
>> century.
>>
>> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>>
>> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheeseburger
>>
>> .
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 19:06:20 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 19:08:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050624.190650.13413.223490@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


I thought I'd lend some energy your way Ian and Cheeseburger. It's an unbearable situation that history would repeat itself almost word for word, deed for deed, eye for an eye, and yet the poitical machine churns out untruths that they are enlighted, that we liberals are the cause of everything sour under the sun.

Those that didn't convert during the Crusades, they killed them.
100's of thousands of Christians and Kings went after Muslims and Jews-went after them to exterminate them from this earth. This was a long war, not several weeks like our administration promised. Where is Iraq heading-do you think the same way?

Why are we NOT focusing on the PNAC-it is spelled out in black and white what these murdeous folks are all about. Next up Iran, Syria-got to own the world (power) and (Christians) rule the world.

A small insignificant few were the perpetrators? I don't think so. It was the Kings, the whole church (Catholic), that condoned the massacre and continued the Crusades.

In the name of Jesus and ONE God under the heavens, we are at it again.
God, are these people at it again? The one's who thought bathing was bad while at the same time, across the world, the Hawaiian people had their own laboratories in which to do brain surgery. Yet today many whites call the Hawaiians lazy-same as they do the American Indian. Not too long after that the Church came through for heathen's sake.

You tell me who has such inferior complexes dancing around in there heads that they have to commit these actions again. 

Who the hell would convert to Christianity in the first place, if the potential converts have American Far-OUT, Right-of-Center, misguided individuals who preach and promote misdeeds.

Jesus H. Christ, we have a lot of work to do to clean up what these misfits are doing. I saw it coming about a decade ago when I heard members of another Church saying untruths about another Church. 

These evangelicals (broad sweep) are at the most part, creators of human misery, yet they belive they are touched - misguided yes. 

I'm sorry to say, that they are the accolites of this one whom we call Satin-though Hell and Heaven are void of any vertical geographic placements using earth as a center axis.

I am positive that before I leave, we will see more lynchings, burnings, and hate crimes in God's name. Such a pity to get so caught up, become overzealous beyound reproach, in the name of a God or a brother whom many call, Jesus Christ and to those enlighted one's-Jesus THE Christ-Do you have the power to promote PEACE.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and 
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened" 
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits: 
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.

In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately 
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of 
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes. 
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of 
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist 
direction.

Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the 
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not, 
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a 
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?

Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out 
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a 
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a 
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a 
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if 
there are some there who want them.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
> ========
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
> =========
>
>
>
> A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
> centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
> "Christianity" short.
>
> I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
> time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I 
> told
> to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" which she
> had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
> her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
> to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
> years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
> and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing 
> me
> "Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I get on to
> bigger fish.
>
> This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques 
> dealer
> who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
> that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
> throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
> Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
> over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated 
> "Crap,
> Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
> guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
> seen again..."
>
> It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, 
> among
> other people.
>
> It also reminds me of the Crusades.
>
> If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
> this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
> wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
> civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
> Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
> righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
> Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
> proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus 
> baseball
> caps.
>
> My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
> 20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
> non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
> and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
> your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
> costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those 
> who
> currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
> jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
> front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
> toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
> that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like us",
> they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
> America for their idiocy.
>
> You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
> America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed 
> to
> re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
> endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way 
> Of
> Life.
>
> If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens 
> Of
> The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.
>
> You're on your own.
>
> Jesus slideshows and all.
>
> My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
> Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you 
> have
> already done over here in the Land Of The Free.
>
> That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
> spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
> teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
> over here in America have already been taught.
>
> When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
> mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
> as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, 
> and
> only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
> Brothers In Christ.
>
> Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
> their Holy Books as well.
>
> Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.
>
> Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
> keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
> without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.
>
> Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
> Century.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 19:18:45 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 19:21:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050624.191913.13413.223573@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


Give me a break Ian-

How noble your sentiment but history out ranks your naivete.

If they wanted to know-I'd tell them-to be kind to each other, something that the real Jesus said-period. I'd tell them because of the size of the churches and their (churches) politics to gain favor in your eyes, they will promise any miracle, when the only miracle is you remaining free from oppression-and those that oppress are also the Churches.

Your mind will forever more lose it's freedom and ability to think; be spiritually guided by those kindren and free roaming spirits whose job it is to feed you enlightenment. Stay away-run as fast as you can-away from any Church proclaming to know, 'the way'.

Yes, you are free to worship and join whoever, where ever, but remember what I said-it is your freedom, your mind you entrust to indoctrination of the masses. You are free to lose your mind if that is what you have become. I can't tell you what or how to do it, except that you will lose a very precious part of innocense, once you do.

So, go on or tend your flock or gardens, and remember the knowledge you seek is truth. Truth is there, here, over there, under here, but never-ever, from any organized religion upon this green and brown earth.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Lyle:

Although I agree with you that the reasons behind why the evangelicals are 
in Iraq are wrong (i.e., had the war never occurred, they would arguably not 
be there), I simply do not see the harm in their presence.

As you point out, at a minimum the Christian church has always been on the 
"front lines" of aid in places of strife, both tangible and moral/spiritual. 
You say they should just "help rebuild and keep their mouths shut."

But what if people WANT to hear what they have to say?  Who are you to make 
their choice or decision for them?

Again, it is all in how it is done.  "Spreading the Gospel" is among the 
most primary of missions for Christians.  And if it is done properly - with 
humility, love, patience, etc. - and not "rammed down their throats," then 
ANY people - even the Iraqis - have a right to hear "the Word," and make 
personal choices as to whether to accept or reject it.

That is a form of something called "freedom."  to suggest that they should 
not even have the right to hear what evangelicals - or anyone else, for that 
matter - has to say is limiting freedom.  In America, it's called "free 
speech" and is protected by something called the Bill of Rights.

Sorry for my "indignation" here, but I really believe that you and 
Cheeseburger are losing sight of some very basic things.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


>
> I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there 
> while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is 
> going.
>
> Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but 
> it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.
>
> I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread 
> the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their 
> mouths shut.
>
> As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that 
> is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed 
> or started a criminal offense.
>
> If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not 
> sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.
>
> Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.
>
>
> Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM
> http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
>
> -- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
>
> Peace.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
> To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
>> this one, just for the curious:
>>
>> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>>
>> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>>
>> 3.
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>>
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>>
>> By Caryle Murphy
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>>
>> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National
>> Evangelical
>> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric
>> guitar
>> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen.
>> A
>> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled 
>> the
>> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>>
>> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven
>> new
>> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two
>> years.
>> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
>> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music 
>> and
>> focus on the Bible.
>>
>> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
>> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
>> understanding the Bible."
>>
>> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
>> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious
>> landscape
>> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
>> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is 
>> now
>> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian
>> denominations
>> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about 
>> a
>> threat to the status quo.
>>
>> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in
>> the
>> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at 
>> a
>> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
>> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their 
>> flocks
>> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see
>> the
>> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
>> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>>
>> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a
>> good
>> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
>> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
>> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>>
>> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
>> churches."
>>
>> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing
>> presence
>> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan,
>> for
>> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving,"
>> said
>> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
>> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>>
>> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
>> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at
>> 50
>> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined
>> regular
>> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
>> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>>
>> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
>> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim
>> conversions,
>> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>>
>> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
>> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
>> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
>> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>>
>> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no 
>> secret
>> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global 
>> relief
>> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
>> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
>> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant
>> denomination,
>> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>>
>> ========
>>
>>
>>
>> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you
>> want
>> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>>
>> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so
>> they
>> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the
>> self-annointed
>> righteous for the longest time now.
>>
>> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of
>> fake
>> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
>> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of 
>> all
>> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
>> century.
>>
>> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>>
>> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheeseburger
>>
>> .
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
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> 


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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 19:27:33 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 19:28:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - J
	un 23, 2005
Message-ID: <20050624.192737.13413.223649@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


This is very hard to belive but it is a truth and as hard as it is to swallow, let me remind you that hope does ride in on a big white horse.

More Americans know of what you preach, offer, and say, to be utterly the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

BUT-we await till we 'see' the whites of their eyes. Don't blow your brains out-continue being outrageous and outraged-that's what makes you precious!

Till I Die....

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005



======
Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!
======




CheeseComment:


I know I am not the only one who has "foreseen" this and things like this,
and, well at least sometimes, I grimace at being plagiaristic or whatever it
is called, but this is just The Beginning.

The Master Plan continues to go along smoothly.

The Pond continues to be stocked with obedient fish who flop upon command.

The People, and their miserable Rights, continue to be expendable.

What is *also* outrageous is that people like Americans continue to be
stupid enough to let assholes literally appoint a measly 9 people (The
Supreme Court) for Lifetime Terms, and then sit back and obey their every
judgement, command, and decree, no matter HOW disdainfully Un-American they
swing.

The last time I think I heard of Other People in Other Countries being that
stupid, half of them got completely eliminated off the planet, and the other
half continue to live in miserable totalitarian etc states of existence.

And there's not a g*dd*mn thing they can do about it anymore, for the most
part.

That even Americans are as stupid, or inept, as that, remains nothing short
of amazing to me.

That a Majority of Americans have the "Foresight" of a dirt clod, no longer
surprises me for an instant.

That whole old outdated Of, By, and For The People thing seemed to have been
such a great idea at one time.

That the actual "We Fight And Die To Be Free Etc" American people actually
sit on their asses as things like this continue, and will continue ad
infinitum in The Future, and don't find some way to if not at least take out
5 Supreme Court Justices and hang them from the closest tree to the White
House as an example of their simple "Love of Freedom, Truth, Justice, The
American Way, Etc", at least seriously look for a way to FINALLY BE ABLE TO
FIRE THEIR ASSES, PERMANENTLY, continues to indicate to me the universal
desire of an apparent Majority of Americans who just simply can not be
bothered to take any part whatsoever in guiding and maintaining their own
fucking country, to just sit there, on their asses, and take it on the chin
until they are so punch-drunk they can't even see straight anymore, if ever
they could.

It's just too hard, and it just takes up much much much too much of their
valuable time.

They have to go to work, go shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, butcher,
baker, candlestick maker, play, vacation, shop some more, watch some dvds,
and pick up the kids from school.

I guess they just do not give a flying frig that their own Children are
going to be FORCED to live under such a bizarre version of "Non-Freedom" in
The Future, for the rest of their miserable lives.

Or perhaps it is just that they *do* care, but they literally have no
fucking outlet whatsoever, almost, or at least it is not handed to them on a
silver platter, to express their vehemence of decisions, laws, mandates, etc
handed down from everyone in their government, etc systems, including the
now overobvious either self-serving or psychotically deluded Supreme Court
Justices.

I brought up, today, one of the posts that was put here on the MB Civic
list, the one about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs being now
steeped in literal religious intimidation, to an acquaintance of mine.

He threw me out of his house again.  And called me an "Unpatriotic Traitor"
on top of it.

Just for relating a tiny amount of simple information.

It wasn't in The Express News (the "people" that came to San Antonio, bought
both of the only 2 major newspapers in San Antonio, The Express News and The
San Antonio Light, and instantly killed The San Antonio Light after they
bought it, so there is Only One Voice in Newspaper Land in San Antonio, a
population of about 1.4 million people, not counting all the other people in
all the other little counties surrounding S.A. who depend on it as their
Only Source Of Printed News and The Gospel Truth on many occasions), so it
JUST DOES NOT EXIST and was therefore NOTHING BUT ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM
CHEESE.

Not only are their HUGE amounts of Americans out here who would LOVE to be
able to do ANYTHING about reversing this NEW AMERICAN NAZI MOVEMENT (as I
like to realistically label it) but who haven't a clue, or even the
opportunity, to put their "2 cents worth" in into *anywhere* or *anything*,
but there are also HUGE amounts of Americans out here who DON'T EVEN GET THE
NEWS THAT YOU ARE PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO READ ON THIS LIST.

EVER,    IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES.   IN, YES, RUFUS, AMERICA THE FREE.

Mull it over for a while as you're trying to gather personnel for the
revolution to retake your country from the current Traitors, including the 9
assholes on The Supreme Court, who run this nation, and are running whatever
of By, For, and Of The People you once dreamed about actually catching on
better here than fast food restaurants, straight down the toilet, and us
with it.

I also brought up the story printed here awhile ago about the "2 million
Iraqi babies killed by American-U.N. sanctions" whatever.

The guy threw me out of his house again.

He's not on The Internet.  As a Majority of Americans remain Not On The
Internet.  Statistic:  Only 15 percent of Americans who *are* On The
Internet, use it to browse News Related Websites.  Anything I tell him
coming From The Internet, he doesn't believe.

Because it wasn't printed in The Express News and it was not presented on
the **5** Television News Channels he watches every day.

Multiply him by, hmmm, at *least* a few Million Americans.

What we continue to have here is A Failure To Communicate.

A massive error on the part of Anyone trying to reverse this End Of It All
As We Visualized It.

A fatal one, actually.

And it remains extremely hard to fire up a Nation to actually take their own
country back from Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors, when not only can you
not communicate with them (like the Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors can
easily do every day to Get There Messages Across), but they don't even know
what the fuck you are talking about in the first place.

As they Just Never Fucking Ever Heard Of It.  Any Of It.  Ever.

Oh well, surely stuff all of you already know about, think about, and are
working constantly on to fix it as America is getting raped daily.

Just thought I'd briefly mention it in passing as I brought the real
important news to you that I was thrown out of a house again for spreading
tall tales emanating from the center of my conspiracy-infected mind.

Truth is so funny.

It never even exists for those who never hear it.

How utterly humorous.

Regardless, this is nothing, just The Beginning.

If you're outraged Now, you're going to fall over dead from a heart attack
when you begin to read headlines about "decisions etc" just a scant few
years from now, if even that long.

There remains one great thing about Liars, Deceivers, Self-Serving
Egomaniacs, Traitors, Etc, once they get really rolling, they never pull
their punches.

And the "revolution" can't even find a Trainer.

As funny as crap.

As fatal as arsenic.


       :|






Cheeseburger

.

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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Fri Jun 24 20:45:27 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Fri Jun 24 20:43:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <000c01c57938$54fe2b40$3425b7d8@baby1>

Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq



Ian wrote:


==============
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened"
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits:
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.
========


Thank you for your observation.  I try to maintain a perpetual motion of the
above 4 mentioned "traits", despite the endless onslaught of bullshitters.




=========
In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes.
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist
direction.
=========


In your directly above description, you have failed to INCLUDE the small
Fact that Christianity has currently been "higjacked" in America for
political purposes as well.  I'm sure you meant to include that, but just
inadvertently left it out.

You mentioned Islam being "hijacked", Today, but you, again, forgot to
mention Christianity being "hijacked", Today.

The reason I bring it up, again, is that it remains at the crux of the
disastrous Bush administration being re-elected, and at the heart of the
Christian Movement, all across America, Today, to "hijack" just about
everything we have ever believed in as Americans, both individually and
collectively, and has easily allowed Bush & Gang to continue their illegal
war and slaughter in The Middle East.



=========
Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not,
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?
==========


Because they have worked extremely hard for it, and I'm tired of fucking
around with them.

This is the beginning of the backlash of the revolution against Christianity
which currently holds a knife to the entire throat of the world, including
America.

I'm sorry if I am currently unable to single-handedly single out the bad
ones from the good ones.

I can preface all my statements with "Some Christians" from now on, but that
really, at this late date of Christian Destruction Of Life As We Know It,
seems like a pussy thing to do.

Both you and I know that I realize the difference between the BAD leadership
of Christianity combined with the Manipulators of Christianity, and Good
Real Christians.

The itsy bitsy tiny problem remains that NONE of them any longer recognize
anyone else but themselves as being RIGHT, about ANYTHING, for the most
part.

I'm simply returning the favor, over a centuries-old pile of dead men women
and children who aren't currently here to speak up for themselves.

Hey, what can I say, Ian, they pissed me off finally.  They've murdered more
people in God's holy name than just about any other group of people on the
entire planet, century after century.

And now I'm supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff" miraculously...?

I'll try.  However, either I'm going to have to use the word "Some" or "A
Majority Of" before the word "Christians" from now on, or else you
personally will have to supply me with the actual statistics of those
Christians who are now implicated in MASS MURDER, inadvertently or directly,
through their direct choices, or through their ignorance.

Either way, "Some", "A Minority", "Half", or "A Majority Of" Christians are
still responsible, one way or the other, for not only re-electing an
ATROCITY to the Presidency of the United States Of America, but for a HUGE
pile of dead men women and children in Iraq and other places, which they
don't even want to fucking discuss to begin with.



=========
Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if
there are some there who want them.
============



Let me face this head on for a moment here.

You are a biased Christian priest.

The direct commandment from the King James version of The Bible states
something like "go out and preach the word and convert everyone to
Christianity".

You, personally, might go out and present it on a platter, then leave the
room for the inhabitants to view for themselves in their leisure time.

The MAJORITY of Christians DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT ANYMORE.

If you believe they DO, you are lost in space.

It's A NEW WORLD ORDER, and Jesus is at the head of it, albeit being
manipulated by the Political and Religious Heads of America, and followed by
the endless stream of the Ignorant and the Faithful To The Bitter End No
Matter What Or Who Has To Die.

"A few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq...."

Funny as hell, Ian.

How could one, in a sane mind, NOT bring up The Crusades in this, and so
many other Current Event instances..............?

An impossibility.

After all, it was and remains "a few evangelicals starting churches in
America" that got us into this PURE RELIGIOUS SHIT to begin with.

And now, IN THE MIDST OF ONE OF THE GREATEST SLAUGHTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY,
Jesus' folks are gonna go over there and start to try to Bring The Word and
Convert The Heathens.

Hey, Ian, I'm sorry, but fuck 'em.

I'm surprised they were able to find Church Space inbetween all the dead men
women and children Civilians in Iraq.

Praise Jesus.  Forget the dead.

Fucking amazing.

If all those 100 FUCKING THOUSAND Civilian men women and children in Iraq
murdered by AMERICANS had been CHRISTIANS, though, it surely would have been
much better.

Now, however, they are just soulless corpses, their UNCHRISTIAN HEATHEN DARK
SOULS wandering the abyss of Limbo for the rest of eternity.

Damned for the NON-BELIEF in JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD.

Give me a fucking break.

One can only hope those Evangelicals have enough brains to open a pizza shop
over there next to their church.

They'll get a lot more CONVERTS FROM HEATHENISM.

At this sad late date of the FACT of the HARM Christianity has been allowed
to spread across THE WORLD, it becomes harder day after day NOT to just
"lump them all together".

After all they have lumped ALL THE REST OF US who DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY
BELIEVE together in the basket waiting to be burned in Hell itself.

What nice people.

:|

If my mother had not carried me as a baby in her arms into a Christian
church here in America, where I was baptized in my youth, and studied and
tutored by various people of varying understandings, I wouldn't be able to
sit here and with any authority whatsoever talk about Christianity from "The
Christian Side".

I've grown a little since those days.

And I've seen "Christianity At Work".

True, there remain SOME "Real Christians", but even THEIR ***COMMANDMENT***
from The Word Itself is to go out, preach, spread the word, and CONVERT,
and, yes, "if they don't wanna hear it, just dust the dust off yer sandals
and walk to the next town".

Sorry, Ian, they have FORGOTTEN the last part of that Commandment.

You couldn't budge their feet from a room of people who REALLY wish they
would just get the fuck out of their faces if you were Patton at the Battle
Of The Bulge or somewhere.

And if they can NOT CONVERT people, they have taken to DESTROYING everything
and everyone in and surrounding their miserable heathen lives.

Such is "Christianity Today", Ian, whether you like it, believe it, or not.

This, yes, quite true, might not be A Majority (who really knows) of
Christians Today, but it is CERTAINLY the Movers And Shakers of ALL
CHRISTIANS.

The People In Charge.  The People Calling The Shots.  The People that the
people at The Bottom are sworn and indoctrinated to Follow, no matter how
many dead bodies they have to walk over or through to Get To The Promised
Land.

This, again, is no longer "Jesus' followers bringing the word to the world
in meekness, kindness, understanding, and tolerance".

This is THE BRAND NEW ORDER.

A cult of "With Us Or Against Us".

Just like Bush's cult.

Wow, how ironic, "The Christians" actually look to Bush as both their
political and spiritual Leader at this time.

All in all, Christianity, a FAITH BASED religion, can't prove it, any of it,
just some words written in a book thousands of years ago, just like all the
other religions for the most part, taken over now in AMERICA by a bunch of
thugs.

A corporate-political venture.

Straight from Hell itself.

If I did NOT bring up "The Crusades" and "The Inquisition" in reference to
"What Is Going On With Christianity Today", I would be neglecting whatever
meager lessons that have clung to me from my early days of "Bible Reading".

What is coming out of America "These Days", both Politically, Militarily,
Corporately, and Christianityly, looks MORE LIKE THE CRUSADES AND THE
INQUISITION THAN ANYTHING ELSE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

That includes the little simple well-meaning meager Evangelicals in Iraq
sitting on top of 100 Fucking Thousand American-Murdered Civilian men women
and children, "preaching the gospel".

I rebuke them ALL in the name of Christ and God.  (You know THAT bible
verse, surely, Ian, the one about "losing one's own soul", print it here for
the curious and ignorant.)

                                      They are ruined.

It is not by my hand, they have created their own ruination

They Jews, in the old testament, were so EVIL that God Himself made them
wander the deserts until (at least He thought) all the EVIL generations had
simply died out and He could start all over again with them.

Gee, what a mistake, eh....?

I wonder what He has in store for the EVIL that has spewed forth from the
loins of "Modern Christianity".

Let's hope it's not REALLY to open up little churches on top of 100,000 dead
heathen men women and children's graves in the middle of, again and again
and again, one of the Greatest Slaughters Of The 21st Century.

But, hey, he was pretty much a vindictive Mass Murdering God in The Old
Testament, so, hmmm, who knows, maybe this ALL is just His Will.

My Common Sense, Logic, Presence Of Mind, and Discernment can only produce
one word for it ALL right about now.

"Bullshit".

Has my Anger completely obliterated any True Virtues or Good Traits in me
and my "judgement"....?

No, it hasn't.

I'm just being A Realist again.

In Public.

Where it hurts me, personally, the most to go against the grain of Insanity,
Deception, and Mass Murder.

But, hey, both The Christians AND The Devil Worshippers fear me greatly, I
just guess I have nothing left to lose.

Kind of like all the dead Heathens buried under that church in Iraq.

Some day, you will wake up, and finally realize, that MOST LIKELY, out of
the 100+? religions in the world, GOD HIMSELF did not just "CREATE ONE", and
leave the other 99 intact simply because he has a sense of humor.

Although even **I** realize and FULLY KNOW there is something "beyond this
corporeal world" (I've already personally seen some of it), and there is
INDEED a "battle of some sorts between Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil"
going on on this miserable little planet, I can simply NO LONGER ALLOW
MYSELF to believe in fairy tales.

No matter who creates them.

And, REGARDLESS, fairy tales or not fairy tales, what The Humans have
managed to do with them remains an ATROCITY within itself.

Therewith, Ian, it becomes harder and harder to separate the wheat from the
chaff, or even make reference to them in such terms.

Sure, again, we both know that I DO recognize "the differences".

Yet, again, you remain, no offense, a steeped-in-dogma biased Christian
priest.

It's almost like trying to explain to a casino owner in Vegas that his
croupiers are cheating.

He knows already.

The odds, regardless, remain firmly stacked in favor of The House.

And The People continue to lose.

You, we, all of us, are no longer dealing with "Christianity, The Great Meek
Religion", Ian.

And "that little church in Iraq" isn't part of Jesus' plans either.

And I can prove that just about as easily as you can disprove it.

In a "Faith-Based Religion", no Proof is ever required.

Ever.

For anything.

That is one small reason it continues to clash psyhotically with the Pure
Logic of my tiny little world of Sanity I continue to try to stumble bravely
through.

Dead civilians mass murdered remain dead civilians mass murdered.

An illegal war emanating from thugs and producing, again, one of the
greatest slaughters of the 21st Century remains an illegal war emanating
from thugs and producing, again, one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
Century.

And that little church, to probably MOST of ISLAM, and including even to
myself, *under the circumstances*, remains nothing short of an Abomination.

Harmless in your eyes or not.

That, of course, out of ALL of IT, remains simply the tip of the iceberg.






Cheeseburger

.

From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 21:10:42 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 21:12:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China buys America
Message-ID: <20050624.211139.13413.224400@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>

China is posed to overtake the American economy by being more American the America. Clearly, this is disguised as a friendly merger, but what lies at the heart is planning.

America plans out as far as 15 to 20 years. China plans 50 to 100 year strategic maneuvers. It is now exercising it's plan.

The article states that we Americans are worried about our supply of oil but it is not the American people that cry out, it is those monsters that need a growing supply chain to feed its appetite. The Corporations are not American any more than China's gain is for its people.

Though these corporations have incorporated in the U.S., their interest lie with their lusting, greed-driven shareholders. Collectively, none of them give a damn about the America you and I care about. The drive to produce oil by drilling, mergers, providing services; including military-commandos-soldiers of fortunes to guard the oil interests while our own government spins a tale about how such-n-such is a bad dictator or some similar story, is getting very old. By now WE THE PEOPLE should have already seen the obvious.

All the pipelines that have already been built from up North-near the Russian border, through Afghanistan and more coming elsewhere, is a testament for greed.

So, why shouldn't China buy up any American MNC (doing global) business-this is the strategy, the vision, finally THE tactical move to control and own the World....Slow, methodical, & patient cultivation of American trust is planned by the China strategy.

We now have our own 'turn-coat' Senators saying Bush wants this and we should do it-blah, blah, blah. Guess what you ignorant political ideologs, you are now China's prisoners...and NOT a shot has been fired on either side----oh, I take that back; China downed our spy craft-gave it back too us in pieces. 

Am I unpatriotic or realistic, because people like me proclaim the Communist Nation as the winner?! You decide-How about that!  


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 21:36:21 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 21:37:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheney says Downing Street memo wrong, well of course' 
	he' will say that.
Message-ID: <20050624.213625.13413.224526@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>

...when spinning your lies becomes truth, it is definetly denial. I've noticed that many brain-washed conservatives are in denial, Harold- here in my neck of the woods.

Truly-denial. Thanks.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

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From lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 22:02:21 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Fri Jun 24 22:04:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals-Your Time Is Not Your Time
Message-ID: <20050624.220307.13413.224635@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


Cheese and Ian,

Both sides have valid points to discuss-but in this light, it is the one that exercises more common sense than the other.

One of your points, has nothing to do with religion but more to do with historical fact and how during this time and dispensation, we are revisiting history.

It doesn't take much investigation to know that the cries that go to heaven are now muted, perhaps heard for the most part as an optimist but nevertheless, maybe forever muted. No response-ever!

I pity the ones who don't get it-until the cows come home, and that's a very long time.

HINT: Discuss this with your higher self-not a priest, actually ordained not by God but by man-entrust your own soul to the natural wonders which shaped the indeginous man-the early Americans and pioneers at best.

You may think, for comforts sake, that they survived, was led, by prayer and faith-perhaps true....but their belief that a 'power' would save them, was a faith that when examined, is actually a higher-self that's in the spiritual realm-past the prayers, surpassing kneeling positions (God knows your heart).

You and I are being guided by our own collective energy as we 'ohm' the universe during our separate and different modes of faith building exercises. 

The one sad point, is that I am not made proud to feel any better than you, that I can 'see' where man's hang-up is-in his religion but why men refuse to let go, to purge their minds in order to make room for 'new' information. Collective energy about 'new' information and WHAT TO DO WITH IT, once it is experienced.

Perhaps, one day-we THE PEOPLE of this planet will learn together, what a drastic mistake we have made by not learning from those camouflaged in different 'colors'. Till then-apply what Jesus or your Savior meant-the spirit of his nature and forsake what you tend to believe today-purge for humanities sake, today-empty your vessel; it is too full.

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq



Ian wrote:


==============
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened"
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits:
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.
========


Thank you for your observation.  I try to maintain a perpetual motion of the
above 4 mentioned "traits", despite the endless onslaught of bullshitters.




=========
In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes.
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist
direction.
=========


In your directly above description, you have failed to INCLUDE the small
Fact that Christianity has currently been "higjacked" in America for
political purposes as well.  I'm sure you meant to include that, but just
inadvertently left it out.

You mentioned Islam being "hijacked", Today, but you, again, forgot to
mention Christianity being "hijacked", Today.

The reason I bring it up, again, is that it remains at the crux of the
disastrous Bush administration being re-elected, and at the heart of the
Christian Movement, all across America, Today, to "hijack" just about
everything we have ever believed in as Americans, both individually and
collectively, and has easily allowed Bush & Gang to continue their illegal
war and slaughter in The Middle East.



=========
Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not,
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?
==========


Because they have worked extremely hard for it, and I'm tired of fucking
around with them.

This is the beginning of the backlash of the revolution against Christianity
which currently holds a knife to the entire throat of the world, including
America.

I'm sorry if I am currently unable to single-handedly single out the bad
ones from the good ones.

I can preface all my statements with "Some Christians" from now on, but that
really, at this late date of Christian Destruction Of Life As We Know It,
seems like a pussy thing to do.

Both you and I know that I realize the difference between the BAD leadership
of Christianity combined with the Manipulators of Christianity, and Good
Real Christians.

The itsy bitsy tiny problem remains that NONE of them any longer recognize
anyone else but themselves as being RIGHT, about ANYTHING, for the most
part.

I'm simply returning the favor, over a centuries-old pile of dead men women
and children who aren't currently here to speak up for themselves.

Hey, what can I say, Ian, they pissed me off finally.  They've murdered more
people in God's holy name than just about any other group of people on the
entire planet, century after century.

And now I'm supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff" miraculously...?

I'll try.  However, either I'm going to have to use the word "Some" or "A
Majority Of" before the word "Christians" from now on, or else you
personally will have to supply me with the actual statistics of those
Christians who are now implicated in MASS MURDER, inadvertently or directly,
through their direct choices, or through their ignorance.

Either way, "Some", "A Minority", "Half", or "A Majority Of" Christians are
still responsible, one way or the other, for not only re-electing an
ATROCITY to the Presidency of the United States Of America, but for a HUGE
pile of dead men women and children in Iraq and other places, which they
don't even want to fucking discuss to begin with.



=========
Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if
there are some there who want them.
============



Let me face this head on for a moment here.

You are a biased Christian priest.

The direct commandment from the King James version of The Bible states
something like "go out and preach the word and convert everyone to
Christianity".

You, personally, might go out and present it on a platter, then leave the
room for the inhabitants to view for themselves in their leisure time.

The MAJORITY of Christians DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT ANYMORE.

If you believe they DO, you are lost in space.

It's A NEW WORLD ORDER, and Jesus is at the head of it, albeit being
manipulated by the Political and Religious Heads of America, and followed by
the endless stream of the Ignorant and the Faithful To The Bitter End No
Matter What Or Who Has To Die.

"A few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq...."

Funny as hell, Ian.

How could one, in a sane mind, NOT bring up The Crusades in this, and so
many other Current Event instances..............?

An impossibility.

After all, it was and remains "a few evangelicals starting churches in
America" that got us into this PURE RELIGIOUS SHIT to begin with.

And now, IN THE MIDST OF ONE OF THE GREATEST SLAUGHTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY,
Jesus' folks are gonna go over there and start to try to Bring The Word and
Convert The Heathens.

Hey, Ian, I'm sorry, but fuck 'em.

I'm surprised they were able to find Church Space inbetween all the dead men
women and children Civilians in Iraq.

Praise Jesus.  Forget the dead.

Fucking amazing.

If all those 100 FUCKING THOUSAND Civilian men women and children in Iraq
murdered by AMERICANS had been CHRISTIANS, though, it surely would have been
much better.

Now, however, they are just soulless corpses, their UNCHRISTIAN HEATHEN DARK
SOULS wandering the abyss of Limbo for the rest of eternity.

Damned for the NON-BELIEF in JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD.

Give me a fucking break.

One can only hope those Evangelicals have enough brains to open a pizza shop
over there next to their church.

They'll get a lot more CONVERTS FROM HEATHENISM.

At this sad late date of the FACT of the HARM Christianity has been allowed
to spread across THE WORLD, it becomes harder day after day NOT to just
"lump them all together".

After all they have lumped ALL THE REST OF US who DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY
BELIEVE together in the basket waiting to be burned in Hell itself.

What nice people.

:|

If my mother had not carried me as a baby in her arms into a Christian
church here in America, where I was baptized in my youth, and studied and
tutored by various people of varying understandings, I wouldn't be able to
sit here and with any authority whatsoever talk about Christianity from "The
Christian Side".

I've grown a little since those days.

And I've seen "Christianity At Work".

True, there remain SOME "Real Christians", but even THEIR ***COMMANDMENT***
from The Word Itself is to go out, preach, spread the word, and CONVERT,
and, yes, "if they don't wanna hear it, just dust the dust off yer sandals
and walk to the next town".

Sorry, Ian, they have FORGOTTEN the last part of that Commandment.

You couldn't budge their feet from a room of people who REALLY wish they
would just get the fuck out of their faces if you were Patton at the Battle
Of The Bulge or somewhere.

And if they can NOT CONVERT people, they have taken to DESTROYING everything
and everyone in and surrounding their miserable heathen lives.

Such is "Christianity Today", Ian, whether you like it, believe it, or not.

This, yes, quite true, might not be A Majority (who really knows) of
Christians Today, but it is CERTAINLY the Movers And Shakers of ALL
CHRISTIANS.

The People In Charge.  The People Calling The Shots.  The People that the
people at The Bottom are sworn and indoctrinated to Follow, no matter how
many dead bodies they have to walk over or through to Get To The Promised
Land.

This, again, is no longer "Jesus' followers bringing the word to the world
in meekness, kindness, understanding, and tolerance".

This is THE BRAND NEW ORDER.

A cult of "With Us Or Against Us".

Just like Bush's cult.

Wow, how ironic, "The Christians" actually look to Bush as both their
political and spiritual Leader at this time.

All in all, Christianity, a FAITH BASED religion, can't prove it, any of it,
just some words written in a book thousands of years ago, just like all the
other religions for the most part, taken over now in AMERICA by a bunch of
thugs.

A corporate-political venture.

Straight from Hell itself.

If I did NOT bring up "The Crusades" and "The Inquisition" in reference to
"What Is Going On With Christianity Today", I would be neglecting whatever
meager lessons that have clung to me from my early days of "Bible Reading".

What is coming out of America "These Days", both Politically, Militarily,
Corporately, and Christianityly, looks MORE LIKE THE CRUSADES AND THE
INQUISITION THAN ANYTHING ELSE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

That includes the little simple well-meaning meager Evangelicals in Iraq
sitting on top of 100 Fucking Thousand American-Murdered Civilian men women
and children, "preaching the gospel".

I rebuke them ALL in the name of Christ and God.  (You know THAT bible
verse, surely, Ian, the one about "losing one's own soul", print it here for
the curious and ignorant.)

                                      They are ruined.

It is not by my hand, they have created their own ruination

They Jews, in the old testament, were so EVIL that God Himself made them
wander the deserts until (at least He thought) all the EVIL generations had
simply died out and He could start all over again with them.

Gee, what a mistake, eh....?

I wonder what He has in store for the EVIL that has spewed forth from the
loins of "Modern Christianity".

Let's hope it's not REALLY to open up little churches on top of 100,000 dead
heathen men women and children's graves in the middle of, again and again
and again, one of the Greatest Slaughters Of The 21st Century.

But, hey, he was pretty much a vindictive Mass Murdering God in The Old
Testament, so, hmmm, who knows, maybe this ALL is just His Will.

My Common Sense, Logic, Presence Of Mind, and Discernment can only produce
one word for it ALL right about now.

"Bullshit".

Has my Anger completely obliterated any True Virtues or Good Traits in me
and my "judgement"....?

No, it hasn't.

I'm just being A Realist again.

In Public.

Where it hurts me, personally, the most to go against the grain of Insanity,
Deception, and Mass Murder.

But, hey, both The Christians AND The Devil Worshippers fear me greatly, I
just guess I have nothing left to lose.

Kind of like all the dead Heathens buried under that church in Iraq.

Some day, you will wake up, and finally realize, that MOST LIKELY, out of
the 100+? religions in the world, GOD HIMSELF did not just "CREATE ONE", and
leave the other 99 intact simply because he has a sense of humor.

Although even **I** realize and FULLY KNOW there is something "beyond this
corporeal world" (I've already personally seen some of it), and there is
INDEED a "battle of some sorts between Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil"
going on on this miserable little planet, I can simply NO LONGER ALLOW
MYSELF to believe in fairy tales.

No matter who creates them.

And, REGARDLESS, fairy tales or not fairy tales, what The Humans have
managed to do with them remains an ATROCITY within itself.

Therewith, Ian, it becomes harder and harder to separate the wheat from the
chaff, or even make reference to them in such terms.

Sure, again, we both know that I DO recognize "the differences".

Yet, again, you remain, no offense, a steeped-in-dogma biased Christian
priest.

It's almost like trying to explain to a casino owner in Vegas that his
croupiers are cheating.

He knows already.

The odds, regardless, remain firmly stacked in favor of The House.

And The People continue to lose.

You, we, all of us, are no longer dealing with "Christianity, The Great Meek
Religion", Ian.

And "that little church in Iraq" isn't part of Jesus' plans either.

And I can prove that just about as easily as you can disprove it.

In a "Faith-Based Religion", no Proof is ever required.

Ever.

For anything.

That is one small reason it continues to clash psyhotically with the Pure
Logic of my tiny little world of Sanity I continue to try to stumble bravely
through.

Dead civilians mass murdered remain dead civilians mass murdered.

An illegal war emanating from thugs and producing, again, one of the
greatest slaughters of the 21st Century remains an illegal war emanating
from thugs and producing, again, one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
Century.

And that little church, to probably MOST of ISLAM, and including even to
myself, *under the circumstances*, remains nothing short of an Abomination.

Harmless in your eyes or not.

That, of course, out of ALL of IT, remains simply the tip of the iceberg.






Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From Lyve at netzero.com  Fri Jun 24 22:17:44 2005
From: Lyve at netzero.com (Lyle)
Date: Fri Jun 24 22:18:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] ...Why Is Business so HARD??: China: Overtakes & Owns
	America
Message-ID: <3884280.1119676664293.JavaMail.root@bla53.prod.google.com>

Lyle has sent you a link to a weblog: 

China Has Won!!!

Blog: ...Why Is Business so HARD??
Post: China: Overtakes & Owns America
Link: http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/2005/06/china-overtakes-owns-america.html

--
Powered by Blogger
http://www.blogger.com/

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 25 02:51:36 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 25 02:50:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Woman Accidentally Swallows Her Eyeballs While Asleep
Message-ID: <001101c5796b$7af0f340$1725b7d8@baby1>

Woman Accidentally Swallows Her Eyeballs While Asleep




Hey...  It could happen...  :|   (Accordian Judy)

hehe...

I just wanted to mention that ALL of this, all the stuff you see from news
stories to people just conversing, would make a great, very successful play.

And would at the very least, being so controversial, at the minimum appeal
to at least ONE huge part of Americans, lol.

I'm taking ideas, formats, etc now....  (I want part of the screenwriting
royalties when the movie comes out, though).

It opens with a little boy reading from some old book called The Cricket
Chronicles to a little girl in a small candlelit room.  There'll be a few
scenes like Farenheit 911 but with some real zest.  We'll have some GI's
sitting around a fire in Iraq discussing world religions and why and how
they got there as bullets and bombs shoot back and forth around them, one
Jew, one Protestant, one Buddhist, one Catholic, an Athiest, and a wounded
imbedded delirious reporter.  We can have Cheney yelling Go Fuck Yourself on
the Senate floor.  Karl Rove can finally come out of the closet since he's
now so powerful.  We'll explain how China is going to eat America.  We'll
discuss Empire, Regime, Power Madness, and lots of other things one sees
reported and talked about on this List, the vanishing environment, the
vanishing humanity, the road to freedom strewn with dead bodies, even the
treason that finally made such a play necessary, again.  We can even have
some dangling penises here and there now and then, I want to write at least
one musical number for it though....   :)

There's enough good minds, educated and knowledgeable persons, deep
thoughts, and just natural old News from here and around the globe to make
it a nonstop hit, each night will have a new report coming in to scene 3,
just to keep people interested through that scene which has always been
troublesome, lol.  And, of course, enough "socially redeeming" dialogue,
thoughts, creative ideas hanging around here to last well after their first
manned ship arrives on Mars.

Oh well, just thought this List's "flow of information etc" would make a
great play, and *great* plays always have been a good alternative to global
media blackouts and totalitarian regimes.

Now, hmmm, if we could only find a producer...

:)



For the really slow, I was just kidding about that lady's eyeballs...

:|







Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:32:56 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:34:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
Message-ID: <42BD6B18.1010009@comcast.net>

Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A23

There was no obvious political benefit in David Obey's decision to take 
on the defense of religious minorities at the Air Force Academy. Because 
he stood up for their rights on the floor of the House of 
Representatives, the Wisconsin Democrat found himself accused of 
"denigrating and demonizing Christians."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401416.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:33:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:35:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hard-Line Tehran Mayor Wins Iranian Presidency
Message-ID: <42BD6B47.4060909@comcast.net>

Hard-Line Tehran Mayor Wins Iranian Presidency
Victory Could Complicate Relations With West

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A01

TEHRAN, June 25 -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line mayor of Tehran 
who has invoked Iran's 1979 revolution and expressed doubts about 
rapprochement with the United States, won a runoff election Friday and 
was elected president of the Islamic republic in a landslide, the 
Interior Ministry announced early Saturday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401696.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:35:08 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:36:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rumsfeld Under Fire On the Hill
Message-ID: <42BD6B9C.4070607@comcast.net>

Rumsfeld Under Fire On the Hill
He Defends Effort In Iraq, Opposes Setting Pullout Date

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A01

Worry in Congress about the course of U.S. strategy in Iraq boiled over 
yesterday into a scalding attack on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld 
and some of the toughest questioning of the Pentagon leader since the 
war in Iraq began.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062302111.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:37:52 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:39:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Marriage Penalty
Message-ID: <42BD6C40.4020701@comcast.net>

Marriage Penalty

By Ruth Marcus

Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A23

Remember the 1986 Newsweek cover warning that a college-educated woman 
older than 40 had a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than of 
finding a husband? (My mother does.) Now National Journal magazine has 
come up with a 21st-century corollary: Women who work in the top ranks 
of the Bush administration are five times more likely to be single than 
their male counterparts. Delving into the demographics of 367 top 
administration officials, it found that a scant 7 percent of men were 
single -- compared with 33 percent of the women.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401415.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:41:03 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:42:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Italy Seeks Arrests of 13 in Alleged Rendition
Message-ID: <42BD6CFF.9020501@comcast.net>

Italy Seeks Arrests of 13 in Alleged Rendition

By Craig Whitlock and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A01

MILAN, June 24 -- Italian authorities said Friday they have issued 
arrest warrants against 13 American intelligence operatives, charging 
that they kidnapped a radical Islamic cleric as he walked to a mosque 
here two years ago, held him hostage at two U.S. military bases and then 
covertly flew him to Cairo. He later said he was tortured by Egyptian 
security police.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062400484.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:45:03 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:46:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Srebrenica Video Vindicates Long Pursuit by Serb Activist
Message-ID: <42BD6DEF.70901@comcast.net>

Srebrenica Video Vindicates Long Pursuit by Serb Activist

By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A15

BELGRADE -- Human rights sleuth Natasa Kandic, a wisp of a woman with a 
boyish haircut, spent hours in the cafes of Sid, a town in northern 
Serbia, listening to whispered tales of Balkan war killings. Then one 
day, she heard about the videotape.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401501.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:46:50 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:48:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Museum Adds Rich Color To Maryland's Black History
Message-ID: <42BD6E5A.2030604@comcast.net>

Museum Adds Rich Color To Maryland's Black History

By Wil Haygood
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page C01

BALTIMORE -- Artist Oletha DeVane watches as the finishing touch -- rope 
being strung around a tree branch -- is applied to her exhibit at the 
new Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and 
Culture. It's a small room and eerily darkened, portraying a life ended 
by a nighttime lynching.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401873.html
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:50:37 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:51:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: U.S. Court Backs Bush's Changes on Clean
	Air Act
Message-ID: <20050625145037.D60C111F86C@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Typical...


WASHINGTON | June 25, 2005
U.S. Court Backs Bush's Changes on Clean Air Act
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
The decision will allow plant operators to modernize without installing expensive new pollution control equipment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/politics/25enviro.html?ex=1120363200&en=2669b317a56fed25&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:50:37 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:51:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Hard-Liner Urges Reconciliation After
	Victory in Iranian Vote
Message-ID: <20050625145037.D606F83C9B@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 25, 2005
Hard-Liner Urges Reconciliation After Victory in Iranian Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Following a landslide in Iran's presidential runoff, the mayor of Tehran spoke on state-run radio in an apparent effort to ease concerns over his conservative views.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-Election.html?ex=1120363200&en=82f6a5ded8a2d43c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:50:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:51:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Three Things About Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625145055.25CA613B6D9@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 25, 2005
Editorial: Three Things About Iraq

If things are going to be turned around in Iraq, there has to be an honest discussion about what is happening there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/25sat1.html?ex=1120363200&en=d5d77316773489e2&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:50:22 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:52:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Republicans' Rabbi-in-Arms
Message-ID: <42BD6F2E.40502@comcast.net>

The Republicans' Rabbi-in-Arms
Christian Conservatives See a Soul Mate in the Man Who Stands by His 
Scandal-Ridden Friends

By Hanna Rosin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page C01

Every few weeks or so Rabbi Daniel Lapin finds a reason to fly east from 
his home in Mercer Island, Wash., near Seattle, and spend a few days 
here. He might be leading a Bible study on the Hill, having dinner with 
his "close friend" House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, breakfast with Karl 
Rove. Last year he came for a private Shabbat dinner with President 
Bush. "The president recognizes my enthusiasm for his faith," says the 
rabbi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401891.html?nav=E8
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:51:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:52:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Dining With Jeff
Message-ID: <20050625145154.27A863AE324@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 25, 2005
Guest Columnist: Dining With Jeff
By PATRICIA NELSON LIMERICK
If we could eliminate the noise in political disputes, we might find that meaningful disagreements are on a scale we can manage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/25limerick.html?ex=1120363200&en=7df2b484e4e3380a&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:52:30 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:52:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Tax Cheats at the Government Trough
Message-ID: <20050625145230.0B43224AE59@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

No surprise here...except that the figure seems kinda low...


OPINION | June 25, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: Tax Cheats at the Government Trough
By NORM COLEMAN
Some 33,000 federal contractors together owe the Internal Revenue Service more than $3.3 billion in back taxes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/25coleman.html?ex=1120363200&en=a69df1dce240b1c2&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:53:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:54:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 
	NYTimes.com: Your Private Castle, Gone Public (6 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050625145356.A91ED3AE3EA@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 25, 2005
Your Private Castle, Gone Public (6 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/l25scotus.html?ex=1120363200&en=83bdb9186b7863d9&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:56:43 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:57:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Worship, Dark and Steamy,
	for Murderers and Rapists
Message-ID: <20050625145643.0D02F3AE4F1@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 25, 2005
Religion Journal: Worship, Dark and Steamy, for Murderers and Rapists
By MAREK FUCHS
Inmates at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in northern Connecticut are able to practice Native American spirituality in a traditional Indian sweat lodge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/national/25religion.html?ex=1120363200&en=2aab8a8e66ec35ca&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 07:57:08 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 25 07:57:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: House Rejects Coverage of Impotence Pills
Message-ID: <20050625145708.01AB49FC13@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 25, 2005
House Rejects Coverage of Impotence Pills
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
The chief sponsor of the measure, Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, said that government should not pay for "lifestyle drugs."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/politics/25viagra.html?ex=1120363200&en=e29cd119ec095ed3&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 07:59:46 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 08:01:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The War President - New York Times - a MUST READ
Message-ID: <42BD7162.30304@comcast.net>

I know, I know...I'm supposed to cover the Washington Post and soul 
brother Ian is supposed to cover the New York Times, and for all I know, 
Ian (hey man - see you in September at La Mama) may be sending this 
right now...but HOT DAMN!!!! people, this one is a MUST READ!  Besides - 
my assignment from Michael as an Editor for the group was also to post 
"anything of extraordinary interest seen on the net". Well, this one is 
one of those. OK, enough apologia....READ THIS NOW, cuz Krugman is ON FIRE!

The War President
By PAUL KRUGMAN 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/paulkrugman/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 

Published: June 24, 2005


VIENNA

In this former imperial capital, every square seems to contain a giant 
statue of a Habsburg on horseback, posing as a conquering hero.

America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of 
rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny 
presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24krugman.html?ex=1120363200&en=0348d9bd294feaa6&ei=5070&emc=eta1 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24krugman.html?ex=1120363200&en=0348d9bd294feaa6&ei=5070&emc=eta1>
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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 09:34:01 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Sat Jun 25 09:34:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iran
Message-ID: <000601c579a3$b18c28b0$8a03ca44@CowBox>

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" You will be hearing that name alot, the newly elected president of Iran. Rafsanjani the so called moderate was bad enough but this guy will put Iran back into the dark ages & have no second thoughts about 
"taking on" the U. S. He is a hardliner in everyway. The mother of all battles has only just begun for us, it will make Iraq look like a cartoon.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8338115/

Peace
Robin
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 10:00:50 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 10:01:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Kerry's Letter on Downing Street Memos
Message-ID: <BEE2DBD2.21264%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Kerry's Letter on Downing Street Memos
    t r u t h o u t | Original Document/Letter

    From: U.S. Senators;
    John Kerry
    Tim Johnson
    Jon Corzine
    Jack Reed
    Frank Lautenberg
    Barbara Boxer
    Edward Kennedy
    Tom Harkin
    Jeff Bingaman
    Richard Durbin

    To:
    Ranking Leaders Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

    Subject:
    The Downing Street Memos

    June 22, 2005

    The Honorable Pat Roberts, Chairman
    The Honorable John D. Rockefeller, IV, Vice Chairman
    United States Senate

    Select Committee on Intelligence
    SH-211
    Washington, DC 20510

    Dear Senator Roberts and Senator Rockefeller:

    We write concerning your committee's vital examination of pre-war Iraq
intelligence failures. In particular, we urge you to accelerate to
completion the work of the so-called "Phase II" effort to assess how policy
makers used the intelligence they received.

    Last year your committee completed the first phase of a two-phased
effort to review the pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Phase I-begun in the
summer of 2003 and completed in the summer of 2004-examined the performance
of the American intelligence community in the collection and analysis of
intelligence prior to the war, including an examination of the quantity and
quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the
intelligence on ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorist groups.
At the conclusion of Phase I, your committee issued an unclassified report
that made an important contribution to the American public's understanding
of the issues involved.

    In February 2004-well over a year ago-the committee agreed to expand the
scope of inquiry to include a second phase which would examine the use of
intelligence by policy makers, the comparison of pre-war assessments and
post-war findings, the activities of the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation
Group (PCTEG) and the Office of Special Plans in the Office of the Under
Secretary of Defense for Policy, and the use of information provided by the
Iraqi National Congress.

    The committee's efforts have taken on renewed urgency given recent
revelations in the United Kingdom regarding the apparent minutes of a July
23, 2002, meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and his senior national
security advisors. These minutes-known as the "Downing Street Memo"-raise
troubling questions about the use of intelligence by American policy
makers-questions that your committee is uniquely situated to address.

    The memo indicates that in the summer of 2002, at a time the White House
was promising Congress and the American people that war would be their last
resort, that they believed military action against Iraq was "inevitable."
The minutes reveal that President "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

    The American people took the warnings that the administration sounded
seriously-warnings that were echoed at the United Nations and here in
Congress as we voted to give the president the authority to go to war. For
the sake of our democracy and our future national security, the public must
know whether such warnings were driven by facts and responsible
intelligence, or by political calculation.

    These issues need to be addressed with urgency. This remains a dangerous
world, with American forces engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other
challenges looming in Iran and North Korea. In this environment, the
American public should have the highest confidence that policy makers are
using intelligence objectively-never manipulating it to justify war, but
always to protect the United States. The contents of the Downing Street Memo
undermine this faith and only rigorous Congressional oversight can determine
the truth.

    We urge the committee to complete the second phase of its investigation
with the maximum speed and transparency possible, producing, as it did at
the end of Phase I, a comprehensive, unclassified report from which the
American people can benefit directly.

    Sincerely,

 

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 12:34:20 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 12:34:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] War President
Message-ID: <BEE2FFCC.21280%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Bill,
Thanks for sending.
Right On!
Michael

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:17:58 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:18:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Victory for a religious hardliner in Iran
Message-ID: <BEE31816.2128B%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Victory for a religious hardliner in Iran
Jun 25th 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


In Iran?s presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline religious
conservative, has beaten Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic ex-president
who had painted himself as a cautious reformer. Whether Mr Ahmadinejad won
by fair means or foul, Iran looks like turning its back on reform?and
perhaps on the outside world


Get article background

WAS it a backlash by Iran?s devoutly Muslim poor against a corrupt elite? Or
was it a massive fraud perpetrated on the people by the hardline clerics?
Perhaps it was a bit of both. Whatever the case, the margin of victory for
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the second round of Iran?s presidential election, on
Friday June 25th, was striking. Mr Ahmadinejad, the mayor of the capital,
Tehran, and a hardline religious conservative, garnered around 62% of the
vote, despite having gone almost unnoticed in the field of seven candidates
who had contested the first round of voting, a week earlier.

It was a crushing defeat for Mr Ahmadinejad?s opponent, Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, a powerful former president (1989-97) and former speaker of the
Iranian parliament?who had seemed the favourite from the moment he decided
to run. Mr Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative who had restyled himself as
a cautious reformer, had been expected to face an out-and-out moderniser in
the run-off. Thus it had looked possible, whatever the outcome, that Iran?s
modest economic and social reforms of recent years would continue if not
accelerate, and that its relations with the West?America, especially?might
improve. Immediately after the first round, in which Mr Ahmadinejad came
second and thus won a place in the run-off, it looked possible that
reformists? votes would transfer to Mr Rafsanjani and guarantee his victory.

So what happened? At the end of the first round, one of the defeated
reformists, Mehdi Karrubi, complained that the vote had been fixed. There
were indeed some suspicious circumstances: for example, in South Khorasan
province, home to many disgruntled Sunni Muslims, the official turnout was
an improbable 95%; yet Mr Ahmadinejad, the candidate most associated with
the assertive Shia Islamism of Iran?s clerical regime, won more than a third
of the votes there. And while Friday?s second-round vote was still going on,
Mr Rafsanjani?s aides were complaining of ?massive irregularities?, accusing
the Basij religious militia?in which Mr Ahmadinejad used to be an
instructor?of intimidating voters to support their man.

However, whatever the extent of any vote-rigging, it seems unlikely that it
was the only reason why Mr Rafsanjani did so badly. Conservative-minded
Iranians, especially the devoutly Muslim poor, seem to have warmed to the
austere Mr Ahmadinejad because of his modest lifestyle, his personal honesty
and his reassuringly insular vision.

Mr Ahmadinejad presented himself as a committed follower of Iran?s 1979
Islamic Revolution and of the country?s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei; and he pledged to put the interests of the poor at the top of his
priorities. In this he seems successfully to have tapped popular resentment
at the country?s elite, widely held to be enriching itself corruptly. The
wheeler-dealing and allegedly highly wealthy Mr Rafsanjani is seen as the
very embodiment of that elite. Whereas Mr Rafsanjani argued for improved
relations with America and increased foreign investment in Iran, Mr
Ahmadinejad insisted there was no need for any rapprochement with the ?Great
Satan?, as official Iranian demonology labels the superpower.

Mr Rafsanjani and other reform-minded candidates courted?unsuccessfully, it
would seem?Iran?s sizeable youth vote, by promising to continue the limited
social liberalisation seen under the outgoing president, Muhammad Khatami.
Young Iranians have begun to enjoy greater freedom in such things as how
they dress and how they mix with the opposite sex. This now looks likely to
go into reverse under Mr Ahmadinejad.
    

Now, with a religious hardliner in the presidency, the conservatives? grip
on all levels of power seems unshakeable

Mr Khatami?s attempts at advancing liberalisation were constantly overruled
by Ayatollah Khamenei and the Council of Guardians, a hardline group of
clerics and Islamic jurists. In the last parliamentary elections, in early
2004, these unelected theocrats barred many reformists from standing, with
the result that conservatives regained control of the parliament. Now, with
a religious hardliner in the presidency, the conservatives? grip on all
levels of power seems unshakeable.

Thus the prospects look bleak for any sort of breakthrough in the issue that
most interests the outside world?Iran?s apparent attempts to learn the
techniques for making nuclear bombs. Given the sensitivity of the issue,
during the election campaign not even the most reformist candidates dared to
call for Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions and co-operate with the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Mr Ahmadinejad is least likely of all to
press the clergy and its allies in the military to do so. As for trying to
get along with Uncle Sam, the president-elect said during his campaign that:
?Relations with the United States are not a cure to our ills.?

The North Korean option

Though poor and jobless Iranians have been drawn to Mr Ahmadinejad by his
pledges to combat poverty, he seems the last person to bring about the
opening-up of Iran?s sickly, state-controlled economy that is needed.
Unemployment is officially at 11%, though the true figure may be almost
twice as high. Inflation is 14%, with the prices of some basic necessities
soaring. For an idea of where statist Iran has gone wrong, just look at
liberalising Turkey, its big rival to the north-west, which has greatly
overtaken Iran in national income per head since the Islamic Revolution.
Freeing Iranians? entrepreneurial spirit and making it easier for foreign
firms to invest in the country?s colossal oil reserves would do more to
improve the lot of its citizens than building nuclear bombs.

Though the election outcome would suggest that voters are not so concerned
about winning greater personal freedoms, some Iranians, especially exiles,
will remain convinced that beneath the surface there is an unstoppable
popular desire for liberty?and they dream of a Ukrainian-style revolution to
free their country from the mullahs? grip. In recent years there have been
sporadic protest movements, led by student groups, but these have been
swiftly and ruthlessly put down. If evidence of widespread voting fraud in
the presidential elections were now to emerge, then such protests might
revive. But they would face determined and powerful opposition. More
pessimistic Iranians fear a drift towards becoming the next North Korea?a
regime that brandishes nuclear weapons at the outside world while its people
slide into penury. The chances of this seem to have grown with Mr
Ahmadinejad?s victory and the clerics? reassertion of complete control over
all levels of power.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:20:13 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:20:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] George Bush's long hot summer
Message-ID: <BEE3189D.2128C%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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About sponsorship

The presidency

George Bush's long hot summer
Jun 23rd 2005
>From The Economist print edition


It should be used to rethink his ambitious second term

Reuters
Reuters


GEORGE BUSH likes his summers hot. While the Clintons used to disappear to
the cool breezes of Martha's Vineyard, he heads down to the furnace of
Crawford, Texas, and spends an inordinate amount of time clearing brush on
his ranch. This summer is likely to be sweatier than most.

Mr Bush's second term is not going well. The most visible disaster remains
Iraq: the euphoria of the January election has worn off, six out of ten
Americans want to bring their troops home and he has failed to get much help
from the Europeans. His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is (correctly)
beating the drum for democracy in the Middle East; but the face of American
justice remains the internment camp at Guant?namo Bay, which Mr Bush seems
unsure whether to close. A new Pew survey of global attitudes to the United
States (see article) shows hearts and minds are not being won.

Things are also going badly at home, where his approval ratings have dipped
below 45% (see article). The president has spent weeks on the road, flogging
his ambitious plan to overhaul the Social Security system?and nobody seems
to be buying it. This week, the ever less loyal Republican Congress again
held up the nomination of John Bolton, his proposed ambassador to the United
Nations. Mr Bush has had to postpone his efforts to reform the tax code, and
he is struggling to hold down government spending, after his first-term
splurge, and also to get through a tiny Central American trade deal.

Meanwhile, his promises to bring the country together after his re-election
have faded away. Both the main Republican gambles on Capitol Hill this
year?trying to ?save? the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida
woman, and trying to force the Democrats to give up the filibuster they are
using to block his judicial nominations?were deeply divisive and ended in
failure. Congress is even less popular than he is. And soon (maybe next
week, if the ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist retires at the end of
the Supreme Court's current term) Mr Bush may have to nominate a new Supreme
Court justice?plunging the country into its bitterest fight yet.

To Mr Bush's many critics, his discomfort is easy to explain: it is the
sound of a flock of Texan wild turkeys coming home to roost. This most
loathed of presidents is getting his come-uppance for being wrong on just
about everything.

This rejoicing seems wrong on two counts. First, it is premature to write
off Mr Bush: even in this fallow period, he can point to some achievements,
including a partial reform of the tort system at home and the glimmerings of
an Israeli-Palestinian deal abroad. He still enjoys the support of his base:
his approval ratings are 85% among Republicans. And the Democrats lack both
ideas and leadership.

Second, from this newspaper's perspective, Mr Bush has not been wrong about
everything. We have never shared his enthusiasm for the religious right (see
article), which is one reason to watch his Supreme Court appointments
nervously. And we have long regarded his approach to both fiscal policy and
civil liberties as reckless: he deserves all the flak he gets over
Guant?namo. But we have supported his push for democracy in the Middle East,
his tough approach to the war on terror and, yes, the Iraq war; and in his
domestic policy we have found things to admire, including his education
reforms and his willingness to tackle Social Security.

So what is he doing wrong? Mr Bush's biggest problem remains execution?a
crucial failing in one so ambitious. The mistakes vary from challenge to
challenge, but they usually involve three things: mis-selling, an obstinate
refusal to change course or personnel and a failure to reach out to
opponents.

Baghdad and beyond

With Iraq, even Mr Bush's supporters admit that the administration
exaggerated Saddam's ties to al-Qaeda. But in some ways, the current
blithely optimistic doublespeak is worse. How can Mr Bush say he is ?pleased
with the progress? there, or Dick Cheney claim that the insurgency is ?in
the last throes?? Iraq is no Vietnam, but the sooner Mr Bush spells out the
truth bluntly, the sooner he will recover his reputation as a
straight-shooter with the American people and Congress.

With Social Security the mis-selling is more complicated. Mr Bush deserves
credit both for pushing America to reform its huge entitlement system before
the baby-boomers start to retire and for trying to create an ?ownership
society?, based around private accounts. But he has blurred the lines
between the two, trying to sell private accounts as an answer to an
immediate pensions crisis. In fact, Social Security will be ?fixed? only by
changing the entitlements or the contributions.

Recently, Mr Bush has altered course a little with pensions. But on many
issues his generally admirable resoluteness has descended into pig-headed
obstinacy. The only possible explanation for his determination to stick with
Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary responsible for post-invasion
planning and the disasters of Abu Ghraib and Guant?namo, is the misguided
assumption that firing him would be a sign of weakness. In fact, it would be
a sign that even Mr Bush's friends are accountable. The same goes for
Guant?namo itself. Giving terrorist suspects a proper trial is not a risk;
it is justice.

It is hard for Mr Bush to reach out beyond his natural supporters, partly
because he often brings out the worst sort of unprincipled negativism in his
opponents?be they Howard Dean or Jacques Chirac. But it cannot help the war
on terror that so many people regard America as an unprincipled bully. At
home, his tactic in the first term of beating up the Democrats, even when
they supported his tax cuts, has solidified their opposition?and he is
finding it difficult to get anything past them, let alone a project as large
as Social Security reform.

More than anything else, Mr Bush's long hot summer represents a failed
opportunity. Last November he was given not just a mandate, but a chance to
reinvigorate his presidency. He did not take it. The next few months will be
crucial?and not just for Mr Bush. It is not good for the world to have an
American president consumed by domestic misfortune. But that is what we will
have to deal with, unless Mr Bush clears the brush that threatens to
overwhelm his legacy.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:22:30 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:22:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Democracy in the Middle East
Message-ID: <BEE31926.2128E%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Democracy in the Middle East

Mainstreaming terrorists
Jun 23rd 2005
>From The Economist print edition


Can Hamas and Hizbullah be domesticated via the ballot box?

Reuters
Reuters


CONDOLEEZZA RICE, America's secretary of state, has this week been
travelling the Arab world and preaching the virtues of democracy, which is a
good thing. But what if Arabs cast their democratic votes for terrorists,
who are a bad thing?

This is not hypothetical. It is happening right now in the heart of the
Middle East. In Lebanon, Hizbullah, the Iranian-inspired ?Party of God? and
a certified terrorist organisation, has just done well in parliamentary
elections, winning 14 seats (see article). In the Palestinian territories,
the Islamists of Hamas have made gains in local elections and are poised to
take a big block of seats in the delayed national ones. For understandable
reasons, both developments horrify Israel and worry America. But should
they? A theory now doing the rounds says that, like mobsters, terrorists can
decide that they get more of what they want by going legitimate.

>From afar (and, to their victims, from close up) the Middle East's
terrorists look much the same: bloody and implacable bands that should be
pounded, not appeased. But it is wrong to lump them all together. Like
al-Qaeda, Hizbullah and Hamas have unacceptable aims (such as wanting to
destroy Israel, not just drive it from the West Bank and Gaza) and use means
that include the mass murder of civilians. But there are differences, too,
which need to be explored, and exploited.

All politics is local?

Al-Qaeda has declared global war on ?Jews and Crusaders?. Hizbullah and
Hamas have local goals. Whereas al-Qaeda's followership is sprinkled thinly
through the Muslim world, support for Hizbullah and Hamas is concentrated
solidly among the Shias of southern Lebanon and the Palestinians of the West
Bank and Gaza. Whatever motivates their leaders, the followers of Hizbullah
and Hamas are not all driven by blind hatred of the West. They have
reasonable and potentially fixable grievances. The Lebanese Shias seek a
bigger say in a state that treated them as an underclass; the Palestinians
want a state. Although a lot of Lebanese and Palestinians admire Hizbullah
and Hamas for their exploits against Israel, they do not all subscribe to
the leadership's wilder aims.

Hence the mobster theory: offer such people a legitimate way to get what
they care about most and they may drop the more extreme aims, and give up
terrorism too. It has more or less worked with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland
and it worked with Yasser Arafat, once he saw that the forceful liberation
of all Palestine was no longer realistic and that diplomacy offered better
prospects. The Palestinians may have re-offended during the recent intifada
but, according to Mahmoud Abbas, their new president, they are back on the
straight and narrow.

Can Hamas and Hizbullah be tempted the same way? Hamas never accepted the
Arafat compromise. But it will come under growing pressure to do so as it
advances via the ballot box into the Palestinian mainstream. This is because
the mainstream does not buy the line that Israel can be wiped off the map.
Any organisation that aspires to lead it must therefore offer more than
endless struggle. With Arafat out of the way, and a chance to run the Gaza
strip when Israel leaves in August, Hamas really can now aspire to lead the
Palestinians. Power, however, brings responsibility. When a terrorist
becomes a mayor it is not just his title that changes: he has also to repair
the sewerage. By the same token, Hamas ministers who joined Mr Abbas's
cabinet would be pushed by many Palestinians, not just outsiders, to keep
diplomacy alive by honouring the Palestinian Authority's agreements with
Israel.

Hizbullah faces a similar dilemma. Now that both Syria's and Israel's armies
have at last left it, Lebanon is becoming a normal country, one that does
not like political parties having private armies. Hizbullah's excuse for
keeping Lebanon's last one is paling in the absence of an Israeli occupation
to resist. Though nobody can force Hizbullah to disarm, its refusal to do
so, plus its declared aim of destroying Israel, deprives it of the
respectability that is otherwise within reach.

In principle, this is the perfect moment to apply the mobster theory.
Western governments should hold their noses and offer formal contacts with
both Hizbullah and Hamas. Turning these organisations into solid citizens
would strike a heavy blow against al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism in general.

Unfortunately, the issue is not quite that clear-cut. If you have to choose
between being a political party and a terrorist organisation, you may choose
to be a party. But what if you can get away with being both? A Hamas that
became a legitimate part of the Palestinian Authority but persisted with
terrorism, and a Hizbullah which as part of the Lebanese state pursued its
crusade against Israel, would plunge the area into chaos?just as the
intifada did until Israel and America made it plain that all talking would
end till the terrorism stopped.

America and Europe should therefore offer both groups the same sort of deal
they offered Arafat: we will deal with you, but only if you end violence and
accept Israel's right to exist. Pushing them so far against their
ideological grain is bound to take time, but is still worth a serious try.
If in the end the answer is negative, the world would at least have learned
something useful: that these groups' extreme claims are not just rhetorical
adornments. If they say yes, the next job will be to show the Palestinians,
who have reasons to doubt it, that they can indeed acquire their state by
peaceful means.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:24:30 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:24:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] America's religious right  You ain't seen nothing yet
Message-ID: <BEE3199E.21290%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

America's religious right

You ain't seen nothing yet
Jun 23rd 2005 | COLORADO SPRINGS, MANASSAS AND WASHINGTON, DC
>From The Economist print edition


AP
AP


Christian America's political arm is more complex and more dynamic than it
first appears. And it will be hard to stop

THIS week, for the fourth year in a row, President George Bush broke from
affairs of state to address the Southern Baptist Convention. He promised the
strict evangelical group, which has 16m members, that he would work hard to
ban gay marriage and abortion, and that their ?family values? were his
values, too.

After the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925, where creationist ideas were widely
discredited, the idea of fundamentalists from the Bible Belt ruling the
roost would have looked foolish. In the 1960s, many liberal Americans
thought they had banned religion from the public square for good. Yet
nowadays the president, the secretary of state and the House speaker accept
the evangelical label. A packed prayer breakfast takes place every Thursday
in Congress. And liberals regularly contend that one of America's two great
parties is bent on creating a theocracy?backed by a solid core of somewhere
between a quarter and a third of the population.

>From the left, Howard Dean, the Democratic chairman, has derided the
Republicans as ?a party of white Christians?. John Danforth, a former
Republican senator and champion of ?moderate Christians?, noted in the New
York Times last weekend that the two main political developments of the past
ten years have been the rise of the Christian right and bitter
partisanship?and that the two are connected.

Certainly the first five months of the second Bush presidency would seem to
bear that out. The religious right played a leading role in Congress's
last-minute intervention to ?save? the life of Terri Schiavo, a
brain-damaged Florida woman, as in the attempt to axe the filibuster tactic
that Democratic senators have used to delay Mr Bush's judicial appointments.
And it is likely to get much more bloody pretty quickly. In Massachusetts,
Mitt Romney, the state's ambitious Republican governor, is battling to get
rid of gay marriage. In California, an initiative is on the ballot to
require ?parental notification? for minors seeking abortion. The two most
intriguing races next year both involve religious politics: in Pennsylvania,
Bob Casey, one of the very few pro-life Democrats, stands a good chance of
unseating Rick Santorum, the Senate's most outspoken social conservative; in
Georgia, Ralph Reed, the Wunderkind of the Christian right, is running for
lieutenant-governor.

Above all, the Schiavo and filibuster battles were mere skirmishes before
the all-out war, which will erupt when Mr Bush nominates a new Supreme Court
justice (or two). That could happen as early as June 27th, when the court's
current session ends and the ailing chief justice, William Rehnquist, may
announce his retirement.

In the beginning

Why is the religious right as powerful as it is? The question puzzles even
Americans. Their country, as a whole, is not getting more religious. The gap
between it and European countries has increased, but largely because of
Europe's growing godlessness. Most Americans say that religion is very
important (60%) or fairly important (26%) in their lives, but Karlyn Bowman,
a polling analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, points out that the
figures were 75% and 20% in 1952.

What has changed is, first, the make-up of Protestant America and, second,
the realignment of religious America's politics. The generally liberal
mainline churches have declined, while harder outfits like the Southern
Baptists have spurted forward. White evangelicals, who see the Bible as the
literal truth (or darned close to it), now make up 26% of the population.


It is not just a matter of numbers but of confidence. Born-again Christians
are no longer rural hicks; they are richer and better educated than the
average American. There are now 500 Christian colleges in America and
evangelical chapters at the Ivy Leagues. Go to one of the 1,000 gleaming
megachurches and the people stepping out of the four-wheel-drives in the
Wal-Mart-sized car parks are software engineers, doctors and teachers.

Take, for instance, Mr Bush's friend Richard Land, who heads the Southern
Baptists' public policy arm. He has stern views on moral issues; but this
Princeton and Oxford-educated preacher can happily discuss the Indian
economy and the flat tax. Mr Land claims that one in three of the
baby-boomers now identify themselves as evangelical.

Nor, to lose another stereotype, are all the righteous white. There are some
25m black evangelicals, who seem to be moving slightly more to the right;
and new immigrants, too, provide plenty of recruits. Larry Eskridge, of the
Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, guesses
there may be 8m Latino evangelicals. A huge number of Asian-Americans are
fervent Christians, too.

The religious right also represents more than just evangelicals. At the last
election Mr Bush won the Catholic vote by snaring 72% of self-styled
traditionalist Catholics. Private polls also suggest that he won significant
numbers of Orthodox Jews. Rather than being split between the parties,
religious people of all faiths are now pretty anchored in the Republican
Party. A Zogby poll last November put the national figure for ?religious
traditionalists? at 29%, but they accounted for 58% of Republicans.

The power of organisation

Religious America's switch to the right is rooted in two things: liberal
over-reach and conservative organisation. The consistent whinge from the
Christian right about ?liberal activist judges? exceeding their mandate
contains a kernel of truth. In the 1960s and 1970s, judges changed America
from a country where every school day began with a prayer, and abortion and
pornography were frowned on, to a country where school prayer was banned and
both abortion and pornography were protected by the constitution.

The fact that the courts were running so far ahead of public opinion in a
generally religious country bolstered the religious right in two ways. It
provoked white evangelicals to join the political fray. And it persuaded all
religious types to bond together. Protestants and Catholics, who used to be
at loggerheads, have now found common ground, especially on abortion.

But conservative organisations have also created their own momentum. Take
Focus on the Family, a sprawling empire that employs 1,400 people in
Colorado Springs and claims a global audience of 220m people for its TV and
radio shows, books, mass e-mails and counselling. Its founder, Jim Dobson, a
former child-psychology professor, points out that the focus of his
ministry's considerable energy remains family life, but its public-policy
arm is growing. Focus set up a political action committee last year that
spent $9m on the election, and it hurled another $1.2m at the filibuster
issue earlier this year.

Focus exemplifies two of the movement's hallmarks: innovation and
competition. This sophistication also extends to politics. On abortion,
social conservatives have had much more success now they have stopped
screaming for the practice to be made illegal (which few Americans want) and
tried to limit it (which most want). There are now laws in 34 states
requiring parents to be notified when a minor applies for an abortion. And
Congress is considering requiring doctors to tell any woman having an
abortion after 20 weeks that it will cause the fetus pain.

?You eat an apple one bite at a time,? argues Mr Land, who points out that
with both gay marriage and abortion the religious right's current position
is to leave decisions to state legislatures, as they are left in Europe.
Messrs Land and Dobson both personally oppose gay civil unions; but their
planned federal marriage amendment does not ban them because, in Mr Land's
words, ?it could then become a civil-rights issue rather than a marriage
issue.? Mr Land enjoys turning civil-rights language back on the left,
accusing the American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, of
?anti-religious bigotry?.

Another sign of the religious right's sophistication is the new, and
formalised, emphasis on co-ordination. The Arlington Group, a coalition of
some 60 pro-family groups, began with an informal meeting of 23 leaders in
Arlington, Virginia, in May 2003, but it was given a spur by a Massachusetts
court's decision to uphold gay marriage in November. Now housed in the
building of the Family Research Council in Washington, DC, it provided help
with the state initiatives banning gay marriage last November. In January
this year the group added more issues, including abortion, faith-based
initiatives and judicial confirmations. Arlington also works in an ad hoc
way: for instance, it brings together legal experts from its members to
study court judgments.

This drive towards co-ordination is complicated by an attempt to broaden the
message to issues such as the environment (?creation care?) and poverty,
both traditionally associated with the left. Many leaders are suspicious
about cosying up to leftish types; others see it as a way of strengthening
the coalition. So far, the main alliances with the left have been in the
relatively safe field of foreign policy. Rick Warren, a preacher whose
?Purpose Driven Life? has sold 20m copies, recently wrote to Mr Bush urging
him to cancel the debts of poorer countries, and the religious right joined
up with black Democrats to pass the Sudan Peace Act in 2002.

Can't always get what you want?

The religious right's organisational prowess is impressive. But it still
leaves a movement that represents a minority point of view on many issues
and is just as capable of over-reaching as liberal judges are. ?Some leaders
of the religious right think they are far more powerful than they actually
are,? argues one Republican veteran. ?As religious as this country and this
president are, neither wants a theocracy.?

The religious right certainly has deeper tentacles into the Bush team than
into any previous administration. There is a weekly conference call with
officials, and Tim Goeglein, Mr Bush's point man for social conservatives,
is ubiquitous at their gatherings in Washington. But the Bush
administration, which is highly sensitive to public opinion, never quite
gives the religious right what it wants.
AP
AP

The next wave

This year opened with a fairly typical dance. In a pre-inaugural interview
in January, Mr Bush, citing political realities, said he would not push a
federal gay-marriage amendment (which needs 60 votes in the Senate to pass).
The Arlington Group then warned the White House that ?this defeatist
attitude? would make it impossible for the movement to unite on other
difficult issues, such as privatising Social Security. The White House
promptly said it was a priority, though it did not appear on a list of ten
legislative priorities put forward by Republicans in the Senate.

The religious right has won some victories, from getting PBS not to show a
spin-off from ?Arthur? in which his friend Buster visited a lesbian couple
in Vermont, to the president dashing back across the country to sign the
Schiavo bill. But there are also frustrations. Focus on the Family wants the
Justice Department to do far more to enforce federal laws on obscenity. The
administration wants to prosecute only the most outrageous material; Focus
would rather it began prosecuting mainstream porn, which would automatically
rein in the hard stuff.

Paradoxically, the very thing that worries liberals about Mr Bush?that he is
an evangelical himself?gives him some room for manoeuvre with social
conservatives. Too many of their footsoldiers see the president as one of
their own for the leadership to beat him up. The religious right's power
lies in the lower parts of the Republican machinery, in precinct meetings
and the like. An incumbent Republican senator can probably stand up to them,
as Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio did over the filibuster. But junior figures
like his son Pat, who was defeated in a primary in Ohio shortly thereafter,
are vulnerable.

What about the three big battles: abortion, gay marriage and the Supreme
Court? The abortion argument is changing: Ms Bowman, the polling expert,
points to a tiny increase in pro-life sentiment, which can be put down to
the grisly nature of late-term or ?partial-birth? abortion (which has been
banned by federal law, although courts have struck the law down), the
ubiquity of ultrasound equipment and maybe worries about fertility. Yet the
right's opposition to embryonic stem-cell research is not popular. And when
it comes to the question of overturning Roe v Wade, the ruling that
legalised abortion, American public opinion is still against social
conservatives; so Mr Bush, when asked about abortion, always waffles about
appointing judges who respect the constitution. Having pushed American a
little closer towards a Republican majority, Karl Rove, the president's
chief strategist, does not want to throw it away on one issue.

On gay marriage, the religious right has racked up a string of successes at
state level: amendments defining marriage as being between a man and a woman
have passed with thumping majorities even in liberal states such as Oregon.
Yet the chances of passing a federal constitutional amendment look slim.

Most Americans dislike the idea of changing the constitution. The Catholic
Church, which is still recovering from its paedophile scandal, is much less
trenchant on gay marriage than it is about abortion. So are young
evangelicals, who dislike any appearance of intolerance. The religious right
is targeting them through groups like Teen Mania Ministries, but, as Mr
Eskridge points out, even the students at his own Christian university ?have
grown up watching ?The Simpsons'.?

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, insists that
those liberal judges will inadvertently come to the right's help by
overturning either the federal Defence of Marriage Act or one of the state
constitutional amendments. Nebraska's law, which won the backing of 70% of
voters there, recently fell foul of one federal judge. The prospect of
courts overturning popular rules will force senators like Bill Nelson, a
Florida Democrat who faces a tough re-election next year, to back the
federal amendment.

Both abortion and gay marriage point to the centrality of the judiciary,
which Mr Bush is indeed conservatising. ?The average age of the judges the
president has appointed is 46,? one White House adviser tells a private
gathering of social conservatives. ?They are going to last a long time.?
Despite the howls from social conservatives about the filibuster deal, the
Senate allowed through three judges with extremely conservative social
views.

All this is a prelude to the Supreme Court. If Chief Justice Rehnquist goes,
the right is confident that Mr Bush will replace him with another
conservative, and probably appoint Antonin Scalia to the chief justice slot.
But what happens if, say, Sandra Day O'Connor, the swing voter on many
religious issues, goes as well? Mr Bush may well put up a slightly less
conservative figure to reassure moderates.

And so the dance with the administration continues. But there is no doubt
which way it is leading American politics, especially from a liberal
perspective. Mr Land's apple is being gradually chewed away. Can the
Democrats change things?

The fightback

It could happen if the religious right over-reaches itself dramatically?by
getting Roe v Wade struck down or, more likely, by pushing the Republicans
too far to the right in the next set of presidential primaries. One reason
why Congress's and Mr Bush's approval ratings have dropped is because the
American public thinks they do not share its worries.

Yet if the polling numbers on matters of faith carry some warnings for the
Christian right, they carry many more for the Democrats. If the last
election proved anything, it was that middle America found an overtly
religious party much less weird than an overtly secular one. Few lines got
Mr Bush a bigger cheer on the stump than jeering at Mr Kerry's ?Hollywood
values?.

Some liberal types now want to claim the mantle of the religious left.
Hillary Clinton recently made a speech complaining about the number of
abortions. The new Clintonite Centre for American Progress has a faith and
progressive policy project. Jim Wallis, a chummy anti-war evangelical who
wrote the best-seller, ?God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the
Left doesn't Get it?, points to the huge audiences he gets around the
country as evidence that many Christians want a more varied version of moral
politics than just abortion and gay marriage.

There is probably something in this, but it is hard to see the Democrats
seizing it. The pro-life Mr Casey in Pennsylvania is a far less typical
Democrat than Mr Dean, who casually located the Book of Job in the New
Testament when he ran for president. If the Republicans are the party of the
over-pious, an aggressive secularism pervades many of their rivals'
policies.

It seems that the religious right cannot fail to win. Either the Democrats
continue to get more secular, in which case middle America will continue to
vote Republican, or they will embrace religion a little more fully, and then
the religious right will get a little more of what it wants.

In the hallway of the Family Research Council, there is a slightly
macabre-looking exhibit of a wedding dress. Beside it is a sculpture of an
eagle, with a quote from Isaiah: ?Those who hope in the Lord will renew
their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not
grow weary.? The religious right has a long way to go before it starts to
feel tired.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:27:05 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:27:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Russia's economy  Told you so
Message-ID: <BEE31A39.21294%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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About sponsorship

Russia's economy

Told you so
Jun 23rd 2005 | MOSCOW
>From The Economist print edition


Is Russia heading for ?stagflation??

STROLLING past sports-car dealerships, visitors to Moscow might think talk
of the ?oil curse? is overblown. Ditto economists impressed by Russia's
macroeconomic stability since 1998. But in fact the outlook is increasingly
glum. Growth in the first quarter was over two points down on last year. The
official forecast for 2005 has been cut to 5.8%. And inflation hit 11.7% in
2004, and may touch 13% this year, well above the (revised) target of 10%.

The underlying trouble is that high oil prices, even at $60 a barrel, no
longer compensate for the poverty of policy in Russia. After climbing for
nearly five years, oil production began to stagnate last autumn. One reason
is that oil companies now have to look beyond the easy-to-tap oil reserves
of western Siberia for new fields. But another is a loss of confidence after
the government's assault on Yukos, an oil firm, and its boss, Mikhail
Khodorkovsky. Choked export routes and high windfall taxes are also blamed
for flat oil output.

Even as petrodollars have strengthened the rouble, damaging competitiveness,
the reforms that might have offset this have been glacial. An OECD report
out this week says business still faces too many rules, changed too often
and capriciously applied?as any small businessman would readily affirm. The
justice system is shameful. The gas, electricity and railway industries are
dominated by inefficient and opaque monopolies. (This week the government
was due to buy a further 10.7% of Gazprom, the biggest and most opaque, for
$7.1 billion, taking its stake above 50%.) The trend, says the OECD
politely, is towards ?more interventionist, less rule-governed state
behaviour.?

Opinions differ as to why Vladimir Putin, who seemed keen on reform in his
first term, has more or less given up in his second. Has oil money induced
complacency? Is it his authoritarian streak that led him to appoint an inert
prime minister? Whatever the explanation, the government is missing a chance
for relatively painless change. Given the storm over one reform that was
tried?the monetisation of some in-kind social benefits?and the anxiety in
the Kremlin over the presidential succession in 2008, that chance may now
disappear altogether.

Along with post-Yukos jitters, stalled reform helps to account for Russia's
stampeding capital flight, which, reckons Fitch, a rating agency, was a net
$33 billion last year. Fear of bureaucratic attacks also explains a spate of
Russian flotations, often of smallish stakes, in London. The thinking is
that foreign investors offer some protection against government predation
(though they availed Yukos little, and the theory relies on moderately good
relations between Russia and the West).

Nervous Russian cash heading out; naive foreign loans still coming in: so it
was before the default and devaluation of 1998. That may be a comparison too
far. Russia has run trade and budget surpluses for five years. So far, the
oil-windfall revenues in its stabilisation fund have not been used except to
pay off debt, which the president seems to regard as an affront to Russia's
pride. Mr Putin realises that his hope of transforming living standards is
fading: he periodically berates his ministers, ordering them to get growth
numbers up and inflation down. But such harangues only exemplify the
instinctive dirigisme that is a big part of Russia's problem.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:29:14 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:29:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The presidency  On the back foot
Message-ID: <BEE31ABA.21295%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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The presidency

On the back foot
Jun 23rd 2005 | WASHINGTON, DC
>From The Economist print edition



George Bush is in less trouble than his poll ratings imply, but his
presidency looks a much more defensive one in the second term

THE current occupant of the White House is the least popular re-elected
president since Richard Nixon became embroiled in the Watergate fiasco. This
week, according to a New York Times poll, just 42% of Americans approved of
the job George Bush was doing. By contrast, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan
had approval ratings of around 60% at this stage of their second terms. If
this were any other president, one would be talking of a crisis of
confidence.

But Mr Bush is not any president. Except for a year of stratospheric
popularity after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 and a shorter
gust of support after war began in Iraq, he has lived almost continuously
with ratings around the 50% mark. This is unusually low, and would have kept
previous incumbents awake at night, shivering. Yet not only did Mr Bush win
re-election with a decently increased majority but he also helped
Republicans gain seats in Congress in 2002 and 2004.

The president and his officials argue that the key to success in the
presidency has been resolute leadership. ?My strategy is pretty simple,? he
told an industry group recently. ?Explain the problem to the American
people, and keep explaining it and explaining it.? He was talking about his
plans for Social Security, but he could have been referring to almost
anything?tax cuts, Iraq, education reform. Eventually, if you make the right
decision, people will come around.

Many people will howl that Mr Bush did not make the right decisions. But
this style of leadership has enabled him to survive unusually high levels of
discord. Indeed, ignoring opinion polls has become almost a point of honour.

What really matters, his officials say, is the ability to mobilise core
supporters come election time?witness 2002 and 2004. Mr Bush's core
supporters are religious and social conservatives?and there are few signs
they are seriously worried now. In fact, the battle in the Senate over
judicial nominees, in which the president kept insisting on floor votes in
the face of Democratic filibusters, has probably solidified his support on
the right.

Mr Bush can also claim he has been able to get more done in Congress than
might have been expected. The Senate has confirmed most of his judicial
nominations. He has achieved one (admittedly small) part of his promised
tort reform, limiting class-action lawsuits to federal rather than state
courts. The budget process is moving more swiftly than usual. And this week,
the Senate made some progress on his endlessly delayed energy bill (the
House of Representatives has already passed its version of this pork-stuffed
monstrosity). There is no guarantee the two chambers will come up with a
bill ready for signing this month, as Mr Bush wants. But the prospects for
something this year look better than for some time.

As a result, Mr Bush has also been able to contain one of the habitual risks
for any second-term president, that the component parts of his governing
coalition fly apart without the discipline of a re-election campaign. The
danger is greater if you are stroking one part of your alliance, as Mr Bush
is doing with religious conservatives. Some of Mr Bush's corporate backers
are indeed nervous about his agenda?especially Social Security reform
(businesses worry they may end up footing part of the bill). By and large,
though, progress over tort reform, plus promises to make tax cuts permanent
and his endeavours to pass free-trade deals have kept the moneymen in line.

Yet despite all this, those dismal poll ratings do mark a dangerous moment
for the president. To see why, think of the difference between two sorts of
president: the offensive and defensive kind.

All presidents want to go on the offensive. They seek to dictate the
national agenda, dominate public debate and bend Congress to their will. By
focusing on a few issues?tax cuts, education, and, after September 11th, the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein?Mr Bush's first term epitomised the offensive
presidency (in more senses than one, opponents might add).

The president started out his second term in the same vein. He laid out an
unusually ambitious agenda of fundamental tax reform and Social Security
privatisation. And he boasted he would spend the political capital won
through re-election campaigning for these changes.

Mr Clinton wanted to go on the offensive too, but after the Republican
landslide of 1994, he came to exemplify the defensive presidency?reacting to
opponents and turning their initiatives to his advantage. ?Triangulation?
worked surprisingly well. Despite impeachment, his second term was a period
of economic growth, budget surpluses and reductions in poverty rates; he
even claimed the credit for welfare reform, one of several Republican
demands he accepted.

The succession problem

Mr Bush cannot be defensive in the same way. His party controls both
chambers of Congress, so he cannot react to his opponents' manoeuvres. There
aren't any to react to anyway: on issue after issue, the Democrats have
adopted a policy of ?just say no?. That may end up being a mistake on their
part, but this summer is already a period of greater defensiveness for Mr
Bush than any point in his first term.

Because the vice-president, Dick Cheney, says he harbours no ambitions to
succeed his boss, the battle to win the Republican nomination for 2008 has
begun unusually early?and all conflicts involving possible successors become
heats in that far-distant race. The argument about ending the Senate
filibuster for judicial confirmations, for example, was widely seen as a
test of will between two would-be presidents, Bill Frist, the Senate leader
who wanted to stop the parliamentary tactic, and John McCain, who led the
group of senators that voted in favour of the chamber's traditional
practices.

Mr Bush is no longer the only voice that really matters in the Republican
Party. Indeed, because he is not running again (and is unpopular to boot),
members of Congress also fear he will be of less help to them in the 2006
mid-term elections than he was in 2002 and 2004. As a result, he no longer
dominates Congress as he did.

The revolt of the centrist senators over the filibuster is one example. A
more direct challenge to his authority came over stem cells. Defying a rare
threat of a presidential veto, the House of Representatives voted last month
to authorise federal money for research on new stem-cell lines. This week,
the Senate failed for the second time to confirm John Bolton, Mr Bush's
nominee as ambassador to the United Nations. One Republican voted with the
Democrats and others are advising Mr Bush to give up and try someone else.
Compounding his woes over the UN, the House also voted to halve American
contributions to the international body, unless it implements dramatic
reforms. So while it is true that Mr Bush has had a few legislative
successes this year, he has also plainly suffered setbacks?and ?win some,
lose some? is hardly the motto of a president successfully on the offensive.

But perhaps the most convincing evidence that Mr Bush is being forced on to
the back foot comes from the recent fate of his signature second-term
proposals. This week, he said he would support a bill, proposed by a
Republican senator, Bob Bennett, to reform the Social Security system? but
without introducing private accounts (the heart of his ?ownership society?).
Last week, Mr Bush postponed for two months the deadline for a panel of
experts to produce a blueprint for fundamental tax reform. Neither action
means his proposals are dead. Mr Bush insists he still wants private
accounts. But both pensions and tax reform are clearly in trouble.

Learning how to defend

With ?damn the torpedoes? no longer an option, how will Mr Bush fare in more
defensive mode? So far, the signs are not encouraging. In case after case,
the president, who describes himself as ?stubborn?, has been sticking with a
course of action long after it has become unsustainable. By the time he does
compromise, a lot of unnecessary damage has been done.

You can see that with Social Security. Mr Bush has been stumping the country
for months only to discover (as every poll says) that the more people hear
about the idea, the less they like it. Proposals to change the system are
now more popular if they don't have the president's name on them. Or take
Iraq. Mr Bush claims that the country is making progress and the American
mission will be a success. But support for the war has fallen sharply,
partly because the president's optimistic bulletins have not prepared the
public for a long, hard slog. Patience is running out.

Obviously, it is hard for a president to strike a balance between being
flexible and not undermining his own position. But the absence of a Plan B
for Iraq or Social Security (or arguably for North Korea, Iran and
Guant?namo) is disturbing.

Last September, according to the New York Times, the president told a
meeting of his richest supporters, ?I'm going to come out strong after my
swearing-in with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatising of Social
Security.? A victory, he promised would give him ?two years, at least, until
the next midterm. We have to move quickly, because after that I'll be
quacking like a duck.? At this rate, it may not take even two years.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:30:57 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:31:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] How others see Americans Still not loved. Now not envied
Message-ID: <BEE31B21.21296%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

How others see Americans

Still not loved. Now not envied
Jun 23rd 2005 | WASHINGTON, DC
>From The Economist print edition


Anti-Americanism is becoming entrenched, and getting more personal


IT IS two years since a surge of anti-American feeling greeted the start of
the war in Iraq. In the past few months, the Iraqis have held their
election; America has lifted objections to international war-crimes trials
over Darfur; Israel's (American-supported) plan to pull out of Gaza has
gathered speed; and Condoleezza Rice has been wooing Europeans diplomats
with a kinder, gentler foreign policy. Surely, by now the spasm of hostility
should be abating a bit.

There are one or two signs of that in a new poll by the Pew Global Attitudes
Project, the gold standard of international opinion surveys. Positive
impressions of America have risen a few points in France, Germany and Russia
since 2004, and have surged in India (since 2002) and Indonesia (2003).
Against that, opinions of America are still well below their levels in
2000?and in most places they are still basically negative (see chart).

American officials usually downplay negative opinions as products of policy
disputes or personal animosity, not hostility to the country itself. George
Bush remains about as popular as a germ at a medical conference, and public
support for the war on terror has slipped markedly in many European
countries. This time, though, some American policies are actually popular.
People in all 16 countries surveyed said America's relief effort after the
Asian tsunami inclined them more favourably towards it (this may explain the
sharp improvement in Indonesian opinion). Most countries responded well to
President Bush's calls for democracy in the Middle East?though more so in
Europe than in the region itself.

So it is all the more sobering to find considerable levels of hostility when
people compare America with other countries, or express their views about
Americans in general, not Mr Bush in particular. Pew asked its respondents
to give favourability ratings to five nations: America, France, Germany,
Japan and China. America came bottom of everyone's list everywhere except in
India, where it was top, Poland, where it was in the middle and China, where
it came above Japan. The British view France and Germany more favourably
than they do America. China is more popular than the United States
throughout Europe. (Germany won this particular beauty contest, by the way,
scoring highly almost everywhere except Germany itself.)

The survey was conducted during the referendum campaigns in France and the
Netherlands over the EU constitution. But scepticism about the future of
their union does not imply that Europeans want closer transatlantic ties.
Half or more in every non-American country surveyed said they wanted Europe
to be more independent of the United States, and huge majorities?between 70%
and 80%?said they thought the world would be better off if America faced a
rival military power.

Americans themselves are still more popular abroad than their country or
their president. But the gap has narrowed, partly because the positive image
of Americans has declined considerably since 2002. Other people think
Americans are hard-working and inventive, yes. But in most countries, more
than half think of them as greedy and violent and, in the Middle East, as
immoral.


The Pew poll even raises questions about how far others still see America as
the land of opportunity, as Americans do. One question asked: ?Suppose a
young person who wanted to leave asked you to recommend where to go to lead
a good life?what country would you recommend?? Nobody except the Indians
picked the United States first (see table).

Given the lack of consistent long-term data, it is hard to know how these
attitudes compare with, say, the 1960s. But this is the fifth survey of its
kind since 2000. For that period, the Pew polls provide strong evidence that
anti-Americanism is more than a blip associated with Mr Bush or Iraq.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:32:56 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:33:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Lexington  The un-Hillary
Message-ID: <BEE31B98.2129B%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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About sponsorship

Lexington

The un-Hillary
Jun 23rd 2005
>From The Economist print edition



Put Mark Warner and Joe Biden together?and you have a real alternative

NO BRANCH of politics is less predictable than the presidency. Who would
have guessed that Jimmy Carter would have emerged as his party's
presidential candidate in 1976? Or Ronald Reagan in 1980? Or Bill Clinton in
1992? That lesson is worth remembering when you contemplate the manoeuvrings
for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton enjoys an intimidating lead, thanks
to her star power, fund-raising prowess and political tentacles. But there
is many a slip 'twixt cup and lip?and Mrs Clinton possesses unique
vulnerabilities as well as unique strengths. So it should come as no
surprise that the Democrats are already engaged in a slow race to find an
alternative.

The most interesting un-Hillary is Mark Warner, the governor of Virginia.
During the last presidential campaign, John Kerry once ruminated that
?everybody always makes the mistake of looking South?. Some mistake! It may
be theoretically possible to win the presidency without making inroads into
the South: Al Gore won more votes than George Bush in 2000 without taking a
single southern state. But he lost. In practice, it means you have to win
virtually every other state. It is no accident that the only two successful
Democratic candidates since 1970 have both been southerners. And the same
applies to Congress. The Democrats currently have the lowest number of
senators since Herbert Hoover was president, largely because they lost five
southern seats to the Republicans in the last election.

Which is what makes Mr Warner interesting. It is easy to reduce his victory
in Virginia four years ago to slick marketing. The high-tech
multimillionaire hired a couple of Democratic consultants, Dave ?Mudcat?
Saunders and Steve Jarding, who specialise in herding up rural voters. He
made peace with the NRA by refusing to back any more restrictions on guns
(Virginians are cruelly restrained from buying more than one handgun a
month). He sponsored a NASCAR truck and commissioned a blue-grass jingle. He
spent a lot of time pressing rural flesh.

But this underestimates both the scale of his challenge and the subtlety of
his achievement. Mr Warner was operating in a state so red that it hasn't
voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. A thoughtful man,
he appealed to rural voters without either condescending or pandering. He
simply had the decency to take them seriously. He succeeded in winning in
rural Virginia without diluting his appeal in the more sophisticated
suburbs. And on coming to office he had the courage to raise taxes in order
to balance the budget.

The other interesting candidate is Joe Biden. The Delaware senator possesses
a unique qualification in the post-September 11th world?a knowledge of
foreign policy unrivalled on the Democratic side of Congress. This knowledge
is both a shield against Republican attacks and a sword aimed at their
heart.

It is a shield because the Republicans love to demonise the Democrats as
infants when it comes to foreign policy. The adult-sounding Mr Biden has a
long record of hawkishness on both Bosnia and the Middle East to add to his
mastery of details. It is a sword because, as the top Democrat on the
Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Biden is well placed to criticise the
administration. On June 21st, having recently returned from his fifth visit
to Iraq, he delivered a coruscating speech to a packed house at the
Brookings Institution. He argued that the administration's penchant for
happy talk is seriously undermining popular support for the war; he also
presented a detailed plan for strengthening America's position in Iraq.

The electable bit

These two potential un-Hillaries have obvious weaknesses. Mr Warner lacks a
national profile, though he has made progress in dealing with that, largely
by travelling around the country as chairman of the National Governors'
Association. He even has the makings of a national strategy?going after both
rural voters and disillusioned suburban Republicans. The fact that he has
built up a fortune of $200m (without marrying any rich widows) will endear
him to the business community; a network of high-tech entrepreneurs might
provide the nucleus for his campaign. And the fact that he put so much
emphasis on balancing the budget could also appeal to fiscal conservatives.
But he has made less progress in dealing with his other big
vulnerability?his lack of foreign-policy experience.

Mr Biden's weaknesses are exactly the opposite of Mr Warner's?not too little
experience, but too much. Mr Biden has spent more than half his life in the
Senate (he was elected when he was 29). His first run for the presidency in
1987 collapsed in ignominy when he was accused of plagiarising his stump
speech from?of all people?Neil Kinnock, the dismal leader of Britain's
Labour Party. His long voting record gives Republicans plenty to get their
teeth into. And his uncommon fluency may come across as senatorial slickness
in much of red America.

If Messrs Warner and Biden were rolled into one, they would make a
formidable rival to Hillary even at the top of her game. Since that, alas,
is impossible, they will have to wait for her to stumble. But the arrival of
these two good candidates suggests something interesting about the state of
their party.

The Democrats seem to be going out of their way to make themselves look
ridiculous at the moment: comparing Guant?namo to the Soviet gulag (Dick
Durbin), running make-believe impeachment hearings for George Bush (John
Conyers) and howling about white Christians (Howard Dean). But Messrs Warner
and Biden both come from the same part of the Democratic Party that Mrs
Clinton is trying to make her home: the ?sensible centre?. The Democratic
left may have the rhetorical energy at the moment. But, thankfully, the real
battle for the future of the Democratic Party is in the electable bit.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 14:35:06 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 14:35:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] America's economy  Unfinished business
Message-ID: <BEE31C1A.2129D%michael@michaelbutler.com>



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About sponsorship

America's economy

Unfinished business
Jun 23rd 2005
>From The Economist print edition


American private-sector borrowing is heading back into uncharted territory

IN THE late 1990s The Economist's favourite gauge of America's bubble
economy was the private sector's financial deficit (also known as
private-sector net saving). This is the combined saving of households and
firms minus their investment, and it nicely summed up why we believed
America's boom was unsustainable. For almost four decades from 1960,
private-sector net saving was positive every year: households' saving always
exceeded firms' financial needs. But in the late 1990s, the private sector
suddenly lurched into deficit, reaching 5% of GDP in 2000, as households and
firms went on a borrowing and spending spree (see chart).

Analysis by the Bank for International Settlements has shown that whenever a
country's private-sector net saving swung sharply into deficit in the past,
it was almost always followed by a deep economic downturn as the private
sector was eventually forced to slash spending, reduce debts and move back
into surplus. America, however, escaped with a mild recession, thanks to a
generous easing of monetary and fiscal policy. After share prices began to
fall in 2000, the private-sector financial deficit did narrow and was almost
eliminated by 2003, but the private sector never returned to surplus. Firms
slashed spending, but households continued to binge almost as if nothing had
happened.

So it is worrying that the private sector's combined net saving is now
moving back deeper into deficit, hitting 3% of GDP in the first quarter of
this year, almost as much as in 1999. But the mix is different: unlike then,
America's corporate sector is now a net saver, investing less than it earns
in profits, while households are borrowing more.

This is extremely odd. Usually, in a balanced economy households as a group
have been savers, while firms borrow to invest, and thereby boost future
output and income. As net borrowers, American households can bring forward
spending from the future. The snag is that by consuming ever more jam today,
rather than saving and investing, America may be left with only dried bread
tomorrow. Keep watching this chart.


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 16:56:20 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 16:57:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals-Your Time Is Not Your Time
Message-ID: <20050625.165710.16498.230763@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>



Cheese and Ian,

Both sides have valid points to discuss-but in this light, it is the one that exercises more common sense than the other.

One of your points, has nothing to do with religion but more to do with historical fact and how during this time and dispensation, we are revisiting history.

It doesn't take much investigation to know that the cries that go to heaven are now muted, perhaps heard for the most part as an optimist but nevertheless, maybe forever muted. No response-ever!

I pity the ones who don't get it-until the cows come home, and that's a very long time.

HINT: Discuss this with your higher self-not a priest, actually ordained not by God but by man-entrust your own soul to the natural wonders which shaped the indeginous man-the early Americans and pioneers at best.

You may think, for comforts sake, that they survived, was led, by prayer and faith-perhaps true....but their belief that a 'power' would save them, was a faith that when examined, is actually a higher-self that's in the spiritual realm-past the prayers, surpassing kneeling positions (God knows your heart).

You and I are being guided by our own collective energy as we 'ohm' the universe during our separate and different modes of faith building exercises. 

The one sad point, is that I am not made proud to feel any better than you, that I can 'see' where man's hang-up is-in his religion but why men refuse to let go, to purge their minds in order to make room for 'new' information. Collective energy about 'new' information and WHAT TO DO WITH IT, once it is experienced.

Perhaps, one day-we THE PEOPLE of this planet will learn together, what a drastic mistake we have made by not learning from those camouflaged in different 'colors'. Till then-apply what Jesus or your Savior meant-the spirit of his nature and forsake what you tend to believe today-purge for humanities sake, today-empty your vessel; it is too full.

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq



Ian wrote:


==============
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened"
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits:
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.
========


Thank you for your observation.  I try to maintain a perpetual motion of the
above 4 mentioned "traits", despite the endless onslaught of bullshitters.




=========
In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes.
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist
direction.
=========


In your directly above description, you have failed to INCLUDE the small
Fact that Christianity has currently been "higjacked" in America for
political purposes as well.  I'm sure you meant to include that, but just
inadvertently left it out.

You mentioned Islam being "hijacked", Today, but you, again, forgot to
mention Christianity being "hijacked", Today.

The reason I bring it up, again, is that it remains at the crux of the
disastrous Bush administration being re-elected, and at the heart of the
Christian Movement, all across America, Today, to "hijack" just about
everything we have ever believed in as Americans, both individually and
collectively, and has easily allowed Bush & Gang to continue their illegal
war and slaughter in The Middle East.



=========
Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not,
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?
==========


Because they have worked extremely hard for it, and I'm tired of fucking
around with them.

This is the beginning of the backlash of the revolution against Christianity
which currently holds a knife to the entire throat of the world, including
America.

I'm sorry if I am currently unable to single-handedly single out the bad
ones from the good ones.

I can preface all my statements with "Some Christians" from now on, but that
really, at this late date of Christian Destruction Of Life As We Know It,
seems like a pussy thing to do.

Both you and I know that I realize the difference between the BAD leadership
of Christianity combined with the Manipulators of Christianity, and Good
Real Christians.

The itsy bitsy tiny problem remains that NONE of them any longer recognize
anyone else but themselves as being RIGHT, about ANYTHING, for the most
part.

I'm simply returning the favor, over a centuries-old pile of dead men women
and children who aren't currently here to speak up for themselves.

Hey, what can I say, Ian, they pissed me off finally.  They've murdered more
people in God's holy name than just about any other group of people on the
entire planet, century after century.

And now I'm supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff" miraculously...?

I'll try.  However, either I'm going to have to use the word "Some" or "A
Majority Of" before the word "Christians" from now on, or else you
personally will have to supply me with the actual statistics of those
Christians who are now implicated in MASS MURDER, inadvertently or directly,
through their direct choices, or through their ignorance.

Either way, "Some", "A Minority", "Half", or "A Majority Of" Christians are
still responsible, one way or the other, for not only re-electing an
ATROCITY to the Presidency of the United States Of America, but for a HUGE
pile of dead men women and children in Iraq and other places, which they
don't even want to fucking discuss to begin with.



=========
Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if
there are some there who want them.
============



Let me face this head on for a moment here.

You are a biased Christian priest.

The direct commandment from the King James version of The Bible states
something like "go out and preach the word and convert everyone to
Christianity".

You, personally, might go out and present it on a platter, then leave the
room for the inhabitants to view for themselves in their leisure time.

The MAJORITY of Christians DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT ANYMORE.

If you believe they DO, you are lost in space.

It's A NEW WORLD ORDER, and Jesus is at the head of it, albeit being
manipulated by the Political and Religious Heads of America, and followed by
the endless stream of the Ignorant and the Faithful To The Bitter End No
Matter What Or Who Has To Die.

"A few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq...."

Funny as hell, Ian.

How could one, in a sane mind, NOT bring up The Crusades in this, and so
many other Current Event instances..............?

An impossibility.

After all, it was and remains "a few evangelicals starting churches in
America" that got us into this PURE RELIGIOUS SHIT to begin with.

And now, IN THE MIDST OF ONE OF THE GREATEST SLAUGHTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY,
Jesus' folks are gonna go over there and start to try to Bring The Word and
Convert The Heathens.

Hey, Ian, I'm sorry, but fuck 'em.

I'm surprised they were able to find Church Space inbetween all the dead men
women and children Civilians in Iraq.

Praise Jesus.  Forget the dead.

Fucking amazing.

If all those 100 FUCKING THOUSAND Civilian men women and children in Iraq
murdered by AMERICANS had been CHRISTIANS, though, it surely would have been
much better.

Now, however, they are just soulless corpses, their UNCHRISTIAN HEATHEN DARK
SOULS wandering the abyss of Limbo for the rest of eternity.

Damned for the NON-BELIEF in JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD.

Give me a fucking break.

One can only hope those Evangelicals have enough brains to open a pizza shop
over there next to their church.

They'll get a lot more CONVERTS FROM HEATHENISM.

At this sad late date of the FACT of the HARM Christianity has been allowed
to spread across THE WORLD, it becomes harder day after day NOT to just
"lump them all together".

After all they have lumped ALL THE REST OF US who DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY
BELIEVE together in the basket waiting to be burned in Hell itself.

What nice people.

:|

If my mother had not carried me as a baby in her arms into a Christian
church here in America, where I was baptized in my youth, and studied and
tutored by various people of varying understandings, I wouldn't be able to
sit here and with any authority whatsoever talk about Christianity from "The
Christian Side".

I've grown a little since those days.

And I've seen "Christianity At Work".

True, there remain SOME "Real Christians", but even THEIR ***COMMANDMENT***
from The Word Itself is to go out, preach, spread the word, and CONVERT,
and, yes, "if they don't wanna hear it, just dust the dust off yer sandals
and walk to the next town".

Sorry, Ian, they have FORGOTTEN the last part of that Commandment.

You couldn't budge their feet from a room of people who REALLY wish they
would just get the fuck out of their faces if you were Patton at the Battle
Of The Bulge or somewhere.

And if they can NOT CONVERT people, they have taken to DESTROYING everything
and everyone in and surrounding their miserable heathen lives.

Such is "Christianity Today", Ian, whether you like it, believe it, or not.

This, yes, quite true, might not be A Majority (who really knows) of
Christians Today, but it is CERTAINLY the Movers And Shakers of ALL
CHRISTIANS.

The People In Charge.  The People Calling The Shots.  The People that the
people at The Bottom are sworn and indoctrinated to Follow, no matter how
many dead bodies they have to walk over or through to Get To The Promised
Land.

This, again, is no longer "Jesus' followers bringing the word to the world
in meekness, kindness, understanding, and tolerance".

This is THE BRAND NEW ORDER.

A cult of "With Us Or Against Us".

Just like Bush's cult.

Wow, how ironic, "The Christians" actually look to Bush as both their
political and spiritual Leader at this time.

All in all, Christianity, a FAITH BASED religion, can't prove it, any of it,
just some words written in a book thousands of years ago, just like all the
other religions for the most part, taken over now in AMERICA by a bunch of
thugs.

A corporate-political venture.

Straight from Hell itself.

If I did NOT bring up "The Crusades" and "The Inquisition" in reference to
"What Is Going On With Christianity Today", I would be neglecting whatever
meager lessons that have clung to me from my early days of "Bible Reading".

What is coming out of America "These Days", both Politically, Militarily,
Corporately, and Christianityly, looks MORE LIKE THE CRUSADES AND THE
INQUISITION THAN ANYTHING ELSE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

That includes the little simple well-meaning meager Evangelicals in Iraq
sitting on top of 100 Fucking Thousand American-Murdered Civilian men women
and children, "preaching the gospel".

I rebuke them ALL in the name of Christ and God.  (You know THAT bible
verse, surely, Ian, the one about "losing one's own soul", print it here for
the curious and ignorant.)

                                      They are ruined.

It is not by my hand, they have created their own ruination

They Jews, in the old testament, were so EVIL that God Himself made them
wander the deserts until (at least He thought) all the EVIL generations had
simply died out and He could start all over again with them.

Gee, what a mistake, eh....?

I wonder what He has in store for the EVIL that has spewed forth from the
loins of "Modern Christianity".

Let's hope it's not REALLY to open up little churches on top of 100,000 dead
heathen men women and children's graves in the middle of, again and again
and again, one of the Greatest Slaughters Of The 21st Century.

But, hey, he was pretty much a vindictive Mass Murdering God in The Old
Testament, so, hmmm, who knows, maybe this ALL is just His Will.

My Common Sense, Logic, Presence Of Mind, and Discernment can only produce
one word for it ALL right about now.

"Bullshit".

Has my Anger completely obliterated any True Virtues or Good Traits in me
and my "judgement"....?

No, it hasn't.

I'm just being A Realist again.

In Public.

Where it hurts me, personally, the most to go against the grain of Insanity,
Deception, and Mass Murder.

But, hey, both The Christians AND The Devil Worshippers fear me greatly, I
just guess I have nothing left to lose.

Kind of like all the dead Heathens buried under that church in Iraq.

Some day, you will wake up, and finally realize, that MOST LIKELY, out of
the 100+? religions in the world, GOD HIMSELF did not just "CREATE ONE", and
leave the other 99 intact simply because he has a sense of humor.

Although even **I** realize and FULLY KNOW there is something "beyond this
corporeal world" (I've already personally seen some of it), and there is
INDEED a "battle of some sorts between Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil"
going on on this miserable little planet, I can simply NO LONGER ALLOW
MYSELF to believe in fairy tales.

No matter who creates them.

And, REGARDLESS, fairy tales or not fairy tales, what The Humans have
managed to do with them remains an ATROCITY within itself.

Therewith, Ian, it becomes harder and harder to separate the wheat from the
chaff, or even make reference to them in such terms.

Sure, again, we both know that I DO recognize "the differences".

Yet, again, you remain, no offense, a steeped-in-dogma biased Christian
priest.

It's almost like trying to explain to a casino owner in Vegas that his
croupiers are cheating.

He knows already.

The odds, regardless, remain firmly stacked in favor of The House.

And The People continue to lose.

You, we, all of us, are no longer dealing with "Christianity, The Great Meek
Religion", Ian.

And "that little church in Iraq" isn't part of Jesus' plans either.

And I can prove that just about as easily as you can disprove it.

In a "Faith-Based Religion", no Proof is ever required.

Ever.

For anything.

That is one small reason it continues to clash psyhotically with the Pure
Logic of my tiny little world of Sanity I continue to try to stumble bravely
through.

Dead civilians mass murdered remain dead civilians mass murdered.

An illegal war emanating from thugs and producing, again, one of the
greatest slaughters of the 21st Century remains an illegal war emanating
from thugs and producing, again, one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
Century.

And that little church, to probably MOST of ISLAM, and including even to
myself, *under the circumstances*, remains nothing short of an Abomination.

Harmless in your eyes or not.

That, of course, out of ALL of IT, remains simply the tip of the iceberg.






Cheeseburger

.

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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 16:58:05 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 16:59:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - J
Message-ID: <20050625.165811.16498.230768@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>


Chesseburger:

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

This is very hard to belive but it is a truth and as hard as it is to swallow, let me remind you that hope does ride in on a big white horse.

More Americans know of what you preach, offer, and say, to be utterly the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

BUT-we await till we 'see' the whites of their eyes. Don't blow your brains out-continue being outrageous and outraged-that's what makes you precious!

Till I Die....

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005



======
Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!
======




CheeseComment:


I know I am not the only one who has "foreseen" this and things like this,
and, well at least sometimes, I grimace at being plagiaristic or whatever it
is called, but this is just The Beginning.

The Master Plan continues to go along smoothly.

The Pond continues to be stocked with obedient fish who flop upon command.

The People, and their miserable Rights, continue to be expendable.

What is *also* outrageous is that people like Americans continue to be
stupid enough to let assholes literally appoint a measly 9 people (The
Supreme Court) for Lifetime Terms, and then sit back and obey their every
judgement, command, and decree, no matter HOW disdainfully Un-American they
swing.

The last time I think I heard of Other People in Other Countries being that
stupid, half of them got completely eliminated off the planet, and the other
half continue to live in miserable totalitarian etc states of existence.

And there's not a g*dd*mn thing they can do about it anymore, for the most
part.

That even Americans are as stupid, or inept, as that, remains nothing short
of amazing to me.

That a Majority of Americans have the "Foresight" of a dirt clod, no longer
surprises me for an instant.

That whole old outdated Of, By, and For The People thing seemed to have been
such a great idea at one time.

That the actual "We Fight And Die To Be Free Etc" American people actually
sit on their asses as things like this continue, and will continue ad
infinitum in The Future, and don't find some way to if not at least take out
5 Supreme Court Justices and hang them from the closest tree to the White
House as an example of their simple "Love of Freedom, Truth, Justice, The
American Way, Etc", at least seriously look for a way to FINALLY BE ABLE TO
FIRE THEIR ASSES, PERMANENTLY, continues to indicate to me the universal
desire of an apparent Majority of Americans who just simply can not be
bothered to take any part whatsoever in guiding and maintaining their own
fucking country, to just sit there, on their asses, and take it on the chin
until they are so punch-drunk they can't even see straight anymore, if ever
they could.

It's just too hard, and it just takes up much much much too much of their
valuable time.

They have to go to work, go shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, butcher,
baker, candlestick maker, play, vacation, shop some more, watch some dvds,
and pick up the kids from school.

I guess they just do not give a flying frig that their own Children are
going to be FORCED to live under such a bizarre version of "Non-Freedom" in
The Future, for the rest of their miserable lives.

Or perhaps it is just that they *do* care, but they literally have no
fucking outlet whatsoever, almost, or at least it is not handed to them on a
silver platter, to express their vehemence of decisions, laws, mandates, etc
handed down from everyone in their government, etc systems, including the
now overobvious either self-serving or psychotically deluded Supreme Court
Justices.

I brought up, today, one of the posts that was put here on the MB Civic
list, the one about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs being now
steeped in literal religious intimidation, to an acquaintance of mine.

He threw me out of his house again.  And called me an "Unpatriotic Traitor"
on top of it.

Just for relating a tiny amount of simple information.

It wasn't in The Express News (the "people" that came to San Antonio, bought
both of the only 2 major newspapers in San Antonio, The Express News and The
San Antonio Light, and instantly killed The San Antonio Light after they
bought it, so there is Only One Voice in Newspaper Land in San Antonio, a
population of about 1.4 million people, not counting all the other people in
all the other little counties surrounding S.A. who depend on it as their
Only Source Of Printed News and The Gospel Truth on many occasions), so it
JUST DOES NOT EXIST and was therefore NOTHING BUT ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM
CHEESE.

Not only are their HUGE amounts of Americans out here who would LOVE to be
able to do ANYTHING about reversing this NEW AMERICAN NAZI MOVEMENT (as I
like to realistically label it) but who haven't a clue, or even the
opportunity, to put their "2 cents worth" in into *anywhere* or *anything*,
but there are also HUGE amounts of Americans out here who DON'T EVEN GET THE
NEWS THAT YOU ARE PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO READ ON THIS LIST.

EVER,    IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES.   IN, YES, RUFUS, AMERICA THE FREE.

Mull it over for a while as you're trying to gather personnel for the
revolution to retake your country from the current Traitors, including the 9
assholes on The Supreme Court, who run this nation, and are running whatever
of By, For, and Of The People you once dreamed about actually catching on
better here than fast food restaurants, straight down the toilet, and us
with it.

I also brought up the story printed here awhile ago about the "2 million
Iraqi babies killed by American-U.N. sanctions" whatever.

The guy threw me out of his house again.

He's not on The Internet.  As a Majority of Americans remain Not On The
Internet.  Statistic:  Only 15 percent of Americans who *are* On The
Internet, use it to browse News Related Websites.  Anything I tell him
coming From The Internet, he doesn't believe.

Because it wasn't printed in The Express News and it was not presented on
the **5** Television News Channels he watches every day.

Multiply him by, hmmm, at *least* a few Million Americans.

What we continue to have here is A Failure To Communicate.

A massive error on the part of Anyone trying to reverse this End Of It All
As We Visualized It.

A fatal one, actually.

And it remains extremely hard to fire up a Nation to actually take their own
country back from Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors, when not only can you
not communicate with them (like the Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors can
easily do every day to Get There Messages Across), but they don't even know
what the fuck you are talking about in the first place.

As they Just Never Fucking Ever Heard Of It.  Any Of It.  Ever.

Oh well, surely stuff all of you already know about, think about, and are
working constantly on to fix it as America is getting raped daily.

Just thought I'd briefly mention it in passing as I brought the real
important news to you that I was thrown out of a house again for spreading
tall tales emanating from the center of my conspiracy-infected mind.

Truth is so funny.

It never even exists for those who never hear it.

How utterly humorous.

Regardless, this is nothing, just The Beginning.

If you're outraged Now, you're going to fall over dead from a heart attack
when you begin to read headlines about "decisions etc" just a scant few
years from now, if even that long.

There remains one great thing about Liars, Deceivers, Self-Serving
Egomaniacs, Traitors, Etc, once they get really rolling, they never pull
their punches.

And the "revolution" can't even find a Trainer.

As funny as crap.

As fatal as arsenic.


       :|






Cheeseburger

.

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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 17:00:38 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 17:01:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #2 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.170117.16498.230794@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>



I thought I'd lend some energy your way Ian and Cheeseburger. It's an unbearable situation that history would repeat itself almost word for word, deed for deed, eye for an eye, and yet the poitical machine churns out untruths that they are enlighted, that we liberals are the cause of everything sour under the sun.

Those that didn't convert during the Crusades, they killed them.
100's of thousands of Christians and Kings went after Muslims and Jews-went after them to exterminate them from this earth. This was a long war, not several weeks like our administration promised. Where is Iraq heading-do you think the same way?

Why are we NOT focusing on the PNAC-it is spelled out in black and white what these murdeous folks are all about. Next up Iran, Syria-got to own the world (power) and (Christians) rule the world.

A small insignificant few were the perpetrators? I don't think so. It was the Kings, the whole church (Catholic), that condoned the massacre and continued the Crusades.

In the name of Jesus and ONE God under the heavens, we are at it again.
God, are these people at it again? The one's who thought bathing was bad while at the same time, across the world, the Hawaiian people had their own laboratories in which to do brain surgery. Yet today many whites call the Hawaiians lazy-same as they do the American Indian. Not too long after that the Church came through for heathen's sake.

You tell me who has such inferior complexes dancing around in there heads that they have to commit these actions again. 

Who the hell would convert to Christianity in the first place, if the potential converts have American Far-OUT, Right-of-Center, misguided individuals who preach and promote misdeeds.

Jesus H. Christ, we have a lot of work to do to clean up what these misfits are doing. I saw it coming about a decade ago when I heard members of another Church saying untruths about another Church. 

These evangelicals (broad sweep) are at the most part, creators of human misery, yet they belive they are touched - misguided yes. 

I'm sorry to say, that they are the accolites of this one whom we call Satin-though Hell and Heaven are void of any vertical geographic placements using earth as a center axis.

I am positive that before I leave, we will see more lynchings, burnings, and hate crimes in God's name. Such a pity to get so caught up, become overzealous beyound reproach, in the name of a God or a brother whom many call, Jesus Christ and to those enlighted one's-Jesus THE Christ-Do you have the power to promote PEACE.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and 
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened" 
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits: 
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.

In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately 
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of 
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes. 
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of 
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist 
direction.

Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the 
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not, 
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a 
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?

Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out 
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a 
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a 
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a 
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if 
there are some there who want them.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
> ========
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
> =========
>
>
>
> A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
> centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
> "Christianity" short.
>
> I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
> time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I 
> told
> to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" which she
> had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
> her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
> to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
> years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
> and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing 
> me
> "Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I get on to
> bigger fish.
>
> This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques 
> dealer
> who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
> that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
> throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
> Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
> over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated 
> "Crap,
> Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
> guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
> seen again..."
>
> It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, 
> among
> other people.
>
> It also reminds me of the Crusades.
>
> If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
> this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
> wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
> civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
> Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
> righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
> Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
> proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus 
> baseball
> caps.
>
> My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
> 20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
> non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
> and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
> your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
> costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those 
> who
> currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
> jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
> front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
> toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
> that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like us",
> they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
> America for their idiocy.
>
> You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
> America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed 
> to
> re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
> endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way 
> Of
> Life.
>
> If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens 
> Of
> The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.
>
> You're on your own.
>
> Jesus slideshows and all.
>
> My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
> Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you 
> have
> already done over here in the Land Of The Free.
>
> That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
> spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
> teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
> over here in America have already been taught.
>
> When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
> mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
> as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, 
> and
> only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
> Brothers In Christ.
>
> Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
> their Holy Books as well.
>
> Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.
>
> Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
> keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
> without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.
>
> Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
> Century.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
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> 


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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sat Jun 25 17:15:04 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sat Jun 25 17:15:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Most Cowardly War in History     By Arundhati Roy
Message-ID: <BEE34198.212BE%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    The Most Cowardly War in History
    By Arundhati Roy
    World Tribunal on Iraq

    Friday 24 June 2005

    Opening Statement of Arundhati Roy on behalf of the jury of conscience
of the world tribunal of Iraq.

    Istanbul, Turkey - This is the culminating session of the World Tribunal
on Iraq. It is of particular significance that it is being held here in
Turkey where the United States used Turkish air bases to launch numerous
bombing missions to degrade Iraqs defenses before the March 2003 invasion
and has sought and continues to seek political support from the Turkish
government, which it regards as an ally. All this was done in the face of
enormous popular opposition by the Turkish people. As a spokesperson for the
jury of conscience, it would make me uneasy if I did not mention that the
government of India is also, like the government of Turkey, positioning
itself as a ally of the United States in its economic policies and the
so-called War on Terror.

    The testimonies at the previous sessions of the World Tribunal on Iraq
in Brussels and New York have demonstrated that even those of us who have
tried to follow the war in Iraq closely are not aware of a fraction of the
horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq.

    The Jury of Conscience at this tribunal is not here to deliver a simple
verdict of guilty or not guilty against the United States and its allies. We
are here to examine a vast spectrum of evidence about the motivations and
consequences of the US invasion and occupation, evidence that has been
deliberately marginalized or suppressed. Every aspect of the war will be
examined - its legality, the role of international institutions and major
corporations in the occupation, the role of the media, the impact of weapons
such as depleted uranium munitions, napalm, and cluster bombs, the use of
and legitimation of torture, the ecological impacts of the war, the
responsibility of Arab governments, the impact of Iraqs occupation on
Palestine, and the history of US and British military interventions in Iraq.
This tribunal is an attempt to correct the record. To document the history
of the war not from the point of view of the victors but of the temporarily
- and I repeat the word temporarily - anquished.

    Before the testimonies begin, I would like to briefly address as
straightforwardly as I can a few questions that have been raised about this
tribunal.

    The first is that this tribunal is a Kangaroo Court. That it represents
only one point of view. That it is a prosecution without a defense. That the
verdict is a foregone conclusion.

    Now this view seems to suggest a touching concern that in this harsh
world, the views of the US government and the so-called Coalition of the
Willing headed by President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have
somehow gone unrepresented. That the World Tribunal on Iraq isn't aware of
the arguments in support of the war and is unwilling to consider the point
of view of the invaders. If in the era of the multinational corporate media
and embedded journalism anybody can seriously hold this view, then we truly
do live in the Age of Irony, in an age when satire has become meaningless
because real life is more satirical than satire can ever be.

    Let me say categorically that this tribunal is the defense. It is an act
of resistance in itself. It is a defense mounted against one of the most
cowardly wars ever fought in history, a war in which international
institutions were used to force a country to disarm and then stood by while
it was attacked with a greater array of weapons than has ever been used in
the history of war.

    Second, this tribunal is not in any way a defense of Saddam Hussein. His
crimes against Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians, Kuwaitis, and others cannot be
written off in the process of bringing to light Iraqs more recent and still
unfolding tragedy. However, we must not forget that when Saddam Hussein was
committing his worst crimes, the US government was supporting him
politically and materially. When he was gassing Kurdish people, the US
government financed him, armed him, and stood by silently.

    Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But
what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who
supported him - and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and absolve
themselves completely? And what about other friends of the United States in
the region that have suppressed Kurdish peoples and other peoples rights,
including the government of Turkey?

    There are remarkable people gathered here who in the face of this
relentless and brutal aggression and propaganda have doggedly worked to
compile a comprehensive spectrum of evidence and information that should
serve as a weapon in the hands of those who wish to participate in the
resistance against the occupation of Iraq. It should become a weapon in the
hands of soldiers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy,
Australia, and elsewhere who do not wish to fight, who do not wish to lay
down their lives - or to take the lives of others - for a pack of lies. It
should become a weapon in the hands of journalists, writers, poets, singers,
teachers, plumbers, taxi drivers, car mechanics, painters, lawyers - anybody
who wishes to participate in the resistance.

    The evidence collated in this tribunal should, for instance, be used by
the International Criminal Court (whose jurisdiction the United States does
not recognize) to try as war criminals George Bush, Tony Blair, John Howard,
Silvio Berlusconi, and all those government officials, army generals, and
corporate CEOs who participated in this war and now profit from it.

    The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our
intelligence, and our future.

    We recognize that the judgment of the World Tribunal on Iraq is not
binding in international law. However, our ambitions far surpass that. The
World Tribunal on Iraq places its faith in the consciences of millions of
people across the world who do not wish to stand by and watch while the
people of Iraq are being slaughtered, subjugated, and humiliated.

    Arundhati Roy received the Booker Prize for literature in 1997.
Presently, one of the most eloquent voices for the global justice and
anti-war movement, she was also awarded, among many others, the Sydney Peace
Prize in 2004, and the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize in 2002.

 

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 17:17:57 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 17:20:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
Message-ID: <20050625.171851.16498.230917@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>

Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
 
"The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached


-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/alternative
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 17:24:06 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 17:26:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] test
Message-ID: <20050625.172502.16498.230959@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>


test


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 16:59:34 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 18:03:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #1 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.170015.16498.230788@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>



Give me a break Ian-

How noble your sentiment but history out ranks your naivete.

If they wanted to know-I'd tell them-to be kind to each other, something that the real Jesus said-period. I'd tell them because of the size of the churches and their (churches) politics to gain favor in your eyes, they will promise any miracle, when the only miracle is you remaining free from oppression-and those that oppress are also the Churches.

Your mind will forever more lose it's freedom and ability to think; be spiritually guided by those kindren and free roaming spirits whose job it is to feed you enlightenment. Stay away-run as fast as you can-away from any Church proclaming to know, 'the way'.

Yes, you are free to worship and join whoever, where ever, but remember what I said-it is your freedom, your mind you entrust to indoctrination of the masses. You are free to lose your mind if that is what you have become. I can't tell you what or how to do it, except that you will lose a very precious part of innocense, once you do.

So, go on or tend your flock or gardens, and remember the knowledge you seek is truth. Truth is there, here, over there, under here, but never-ever, from any organized religion upon this green and brown earth.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Lyle:

Although I agree with you that the reasons behind why the evangelicals are 
in Iraq are wrong (i.e., had the war never occurred, they would arguably not 
be there), I simply do not see the harm in their presence.

As you point out, at a minimum the Christian church has always been on the 
"front lines" of aid in places of strife, both tangible and moral/spiritual. 
You say they should just "help rebuild and keep their mouths shut."

But what if people WANT to hear what they have to say?  Who are you to make 
their choice or decision for them?

Again, it is all in how it is done.  "Spreading the Gospel" is among the 
most primary of missions for Christians.  And if it is done properly - with 
humility, love, patience, etc. - and not "rammed down their throats," then 
ANY people - even the Iraqis - have a right to hear "the Word," and make 
personal choices as to whether to accept or reject it.

That is a form of something called "freedom."  to suggest that they should 
not even have the right to hear what evangelicals - or anyone else, for that 
matter - has to say is limiting freedom.  In America, it's called "free 
speech" and is protected by something called the Bill of Rights.

Sorry for my "indignation" here, but I really believe that you and 
Cheeseburger are losing sight of some very basic things.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


>
> I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there 
> while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is 
> going.
>
> Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but 
> it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.
>
> I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread 
> the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their 
> mouths shut.
>
> As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that 
> is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed 
> or started a criminal offense.
>
> If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not 
> sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.
>
> Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.
>
>
> Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM
> http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
>
> -- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
>
> Peace.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
> To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
>> this one, just for the curious:
>>
>> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>>
>> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>>
>> 3.
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>>
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>>
>> By Caryle Murphy
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>>
>> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National
>> Evangelical
>> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric
>> guitar
>> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen.
>> A
>> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled 
>> the
>> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>>
>> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven
>> new
>> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two
>> years.
>> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
>> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music 
>> and
>> focus on the Bible.
>>
>> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
>> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
>> understanding the Bible."
>>
>> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
>> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious
>> landscape
>> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
>> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is 
>> now
>> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian
>> denominations
>> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about 
>> a
>> threat to the status quo.
>>
>> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in
>> the
>> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at 
>> a
>> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
>> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their 
>> flocks
>> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see
>> the
>> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
>> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>>
>> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a
>> good
>> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
>> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
>> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>>
>> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
>> churches."
>>
>> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing
>> presence
>> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan,
>> for
>> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving,"
>> said
>> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
>> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>>
>> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
>> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at
>> 50
>> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined
>> regular
>> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
>> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>>
>> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
>> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim
>> conversions,
>> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>>
>> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
>> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
>> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
>> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>>
>> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no 
>> secret
>> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global 
>> relief
>> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
>> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
>> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant
>> denomination,
>> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>>
>> ========
>>
>>
>>
>> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you
>> want
>> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>>
>> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so
>> they
>> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the
>> self-annointed
>> righteous for the longest time now.
>>
>> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of
>> fake
>> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
>> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of 
>> all
>> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
>> century.
>>
>> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>>
>> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheeseburger
>>
>> .
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-civic mailing list
>> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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> 


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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 17:01:40 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 18:03:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #3 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.170219.16498.230803@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>



I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is going.

Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.

I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their mouths shut.

As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed or started a criminal offense.

If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.

Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 18:56:05 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 18:57:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] problems?
Message-ID: <20050625.185638.19388.232122@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


mail problems?


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 18:58:42 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 18:59:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Karl Rove Needs Therapy
Message-ID: <20050625.185843.19388.232141@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


TERRORISM
Karl Rove Needs Therapy

On October 26, 2001, President Bush said, "The elected branches of our government, and both political parties, are united in our resolve to fight and stop and punish those who would do harm to the American people." That was before the administration's unwise, unfocused and unsuccessful approach to combating terrorism helped push Bush's approval ratings to historic lows. Out of answers, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove went back to his biggest strength, political mudslinging. On Wednesday, Rove said that "[l]iberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." We don't need an apology, we need a new anti-terrorism strategy.

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – TERRORIST ATTACKS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH: By objective measures, the Bush administration's approach to combating terrorism is an abject failure. Last year "[t]he number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled." According to State Department data, "attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003." How did the administration respond? By halting the publication of the State Department report. The year before, "the State Department retracted its annual terrorism report and admitted that its initial version vastly understated the number of incidents."

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – OSAMA BIN LADEN STILL AT LARGE: More than three and a half years ago Bush vowed to capture terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden " dead or alive." He's failed. The administration wants you to think we are hot on his tracks. CIA Director Porter Goss said he had " an excellent idea" where bin Laden is hiding. Vice President Cheney said he had " a pretty good idea of a general area that he's in." Note to the Bush administration: close doesn't count in terrorist manhunts.

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – IRAQ WAR MAKING THINGS WORSE: According to the CIA, "[t]he war in Iraq is creating a training and recruitment ground for a new generation of "professionalized" Islamic terrorists." An in-house CIA think tank concluded that, since the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq has served as " a training ground, a recruitment ground." In the poorly planned aftermath of the invasion "hundreds of foreign terrorists flooded into Iraq across its unguarded borders." There is a serious risk Iraq is now " creating newly radicalized and experienced jihadis who return home to cause trouble in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and elsewhere."

1382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - LOOSE NUKES: The Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemies is the greatest threat to America. Yet administration efforts to stop nuclear proliferation have been lackluster. In May, " a monthlong conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended in complete failure." U.S. diplomacy was so anemic the parties "never engaged in a detailed discussion of how to fix the gaping loopholes that many experts say have allowed a resurgence in the spread of the most dangerous nuclear technologies." And the pace at which we secured fissile materials -- the "gunpowder" used to spark nuclear explosions -- in the former Soviet Union did not accelerate after 9/11, according to a May 2005 study by scholars at Harvard University.

AN INDEFENSIBLE PHILOSOPHY: Rove said that after 9/11 conservatives " prepared for war." He's right. Immediately after the attacks Paul Wolfowitz and others in the Bush administration prepared for war in Iraq -- a country that, by the president's own admission, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. After years of deception, more Americans understand what happened. That's why now most people think the war in Iraq wasn't worth it and hasn't made us safer. Now, Rove is desperate to create distractions.

  IRAQ
The Last Throes of Credibility

President Bush meets today with Iraq's prime minister to measure "progress and [weigh] future challenges in Iraq at a time when U.S. public support for the war is slumping, Iraqis are dying in car bombings and lawmakers are pressing for a timeline for U.S. withdrawal." The American people had their own glimpse into the state of the war yesterday when "against a backdrop of escalating violence in Iraq" the Senate Armed Services Commitee held a hearing on issues with the war. Present at the hearing were some of the top military officials including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers, head of U.S. Central Command General John Abizaid, and coalition leader General George Casey. As the hearings progressed, what started out as " worry in Congress about the course of U.S. strategy in Iraq boiled over." It soon became obvious that there is quite "a difference of emphasis between military officers, who battle the intractable i
 nsurgency every day, and civilian officials intent on accentuating what they say is unacknowledged progress in Iraq." Meanwhile, instead of working on a strategy for success, other administration officials have continued the public deception campaign meant " to reassure Americans that [the president] is on top of events in Iraq and is working to bring U.S. troops home."

THE LAST THROES OF THE TRUTH: Vice President Dick Cheney may feel assured in declaring that the insurgency is "in its last throes," but the views of the White House differ sharply from the word on the ground. At yesterday's hearing, General John Abizaid, who is the top U.S. commander in the Persian Gulf, informed Congress that "the Iraqi insurgency is undiminished and that foreign fighters continue to swell its ranks." In fact, no one at the hearing would endorse the vice president's remarks. When Abizaid was asked to respond directly to Cheney's assessment, he "distanced himself" from the remarks and would only say, "I don't know that I would make any comment about that, other than to say that there's a lot of work to be done on the insurgency. I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the vice president." When asked about the gap between the adminsitration's rhetoric and our military leaders' reality, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan proved incapable of answeri
 ng the question. Meanwhile, the vice president is defending his remarks by trying to play semantics.

THE OPEN-ENDED COMMITMENT: For all the confidence they have in how the war is going, administration officials still refuse to provide any sort of timetable for when U.S. troops can return home. When asked about developing a timeline, Secretary Rumsfeld called such an action "a lifeline to terrorists." Instead, Rumsfeld insists on keeping things as vague as possible by simply repeating the White House line: our troops will return when the ( ever-changing) mission is complete. And when Vice President Cheney was asked if he wanted "to offer an assessment of how much longer this insurgency will continue," his reply was "No. No, I can't say that" before harping on the January elections yet again.

LIFE AFTER THE ELECTIONS: Bush administration officials continue to exploit Iraq's January elections as a talking point, but for all the praise they heap upon the Iraq people, they have shown little concern for life in Iraq after the fact. The "formal installation of a government and formation of a committee to write Iraq's next constitution were delayed for months, and efforts to bring more Sunni Muslim Arabs into the process after they boycotted the elections continue to sputter." Interview after interview reveals that the Iraqi people are now seeing the performance of their government "as one of the many disappointing aspects of a year that began with promise." One frustrated Iraqi said, "We sacrificed our souls and went out to vote. What did we get? Simply nothing." While the government is flailing, the daily lives of the citizens certainly is not much better. After listing the various problems in the country -- "water, electricity, security, unemployment, [and] health" -
 - a Baghdad grocer sadly remarked, "this is not a life. This is hell."

THE ADMINISTRATION GIVES A HISTORY LESSON: Unwilling to be honest about the present state of the war in Iraq or discuss its future, Bush administration officials have decided to couch their statements in history lessons. At the hearing, "in a spirited defense of the war, [Secretary Rumsfeld] invoked Abraham Lincoln and the American revolution" as well as the last days of World War II. Similarly, in his interview on CNN yesterday, Vice President Cheney used analogies to the Second World War to explain that "the toughest battles, the most difficult battles, both in Europe and in the Pacific occurred just a few months before the end" and he sees Iraq as "a similar situation."


Under the Radar

VETERANS -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION SELLS VETERANS SHORT BY AT LEAST $1 BILLION: The Washington Post reports today, "The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year." The acknowledgement by the VA flies directly in the face of VA Secretary Jim Nicholson's testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on 2/15/05 when he said that while he had some initial concerns about President Bush's budget request for funding veterans' care, he "end[ed] being satisfied that we can get the job done with this budget." Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) noted that when she tried to add funds back into the VA budget earlier this year, Secretary Nicholson wrote her a letter assuring that the VA did not "need emergency supplemental funds in FY2005 to continue to provide timely, quality service that is always ou
 r goal." President Bush needs to recall his pledge last year to " honor our commitment to our veterans, past, present and future."

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- BUSH HAS LOST THE GOODWILL OF THE WORLD THAT HE HAD AFTER 9-11: Perhaps the most damaging fallout of the way President Bush rushed to war in Iraq has been the reciprocal scorn it has engendered among our allies. According to a recently released Pew Poll, " opposition to the war in Iraq and antagonism toward Bush means that views of the United States remain dismal in the five predominantly Muslim countries surveyed and negative across much of Western Europe." The most stunning revelation to come from the poll may be that the world views China more favorably than the U.S. Recall that shortly after 9-11, Muslim nations from Iran and Egypt to France and Germany world stood united behind the United States. It appears much of that goodwill has been squandered due to the actions of the Bush administration pursuant to 9-11.

MEDIA -- FOR PBS, SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME BAD NEWS: The Sesame Street gang and their pals at the Public Broadcasting Corporation had a decidedly mixed day yesterday. On a positive note, public broadcasting "won a reprieve" as the House restored $100 million that had been proposed as a budget cut for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Associated Press notes that " [l]awmakers were flooded with letters and phone calls" calling on them to reverse the cuts, leading to a 284-140 vote that "demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting." But in unfortunate news, conservative CPB chairman Ken Tomlinson appointed long-time partisan activist and current Bush administration official Patricia de Stacy Harrison as the corporation's president.

TORTURE -- MILITARY DOCTORS DEVISED PROGRAMS TO INDUCE INTELLIGENCE FROM DETAINEES: The New York Times reveals that medical health officials may have been complicit in the torture of detainees at Guantánamo Bay. "Military doctors at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have aided interrogators in conducting and refining coercive interrogations of detainees, including providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, according to new, detailed accounts given by former interrogators." The doctors devised programs that were "explicitly designed to increase fear and distress among detainees as a means to obtaining intelligence." Secretary Rumsfeld recently declared Guantánamo to be " a model detention facility." Apparently, Rumsfeld's concept of a model facility is one that doesn't subscribe to medical ethics.

CUNNINGSCAM -- DUKE'S DEFENSE DEBUNKED: Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham finally responded yesterday to numerous allegations of ethical scandals involving a defense contractor named Mitchell Wade, including claims that Cunningham actually lived on a yacht in Washington owned by Wade while working in the Capitol. In a public letter, Cunningham defended his stay on the yacht, saying he agreed to "pay the monthly dock fees and maintenance costs associated with keeping Mr. Wade's boat at the marina...in lieu of rent," which purportedly added up to $13,000. Cunningham's local paper did the simple math and found that Duke was paying just $357 a month. "Unless we are missing something, this looks like a sweetheart deal, with Cunningham paying far less than market rent, to say nothing of the true maintenance and depreciation costs of a fancy boat."


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 19:03:04 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:03:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Karl Rove Needs Therapy
References: <20050625.185843.19388.232141@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <005a01c579f3$311d8840$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

No, he doesn't need therapy.  He needs a Semtex enema...  (Just kidding, all 
you FBI guys monitoring the site...)

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 9:58 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Karl Rove Needs Therapy


>
> TERRORISM
> Karl Rove Needs Therapy
>
> On October 26, 2001, President Bush said, "The elected branches of our 
> government, and both political parties, are united in our resolve to fight 
> and stop and punish those who would do harm to the American people." That 
> was before the administration's unwise, unfocused and unsuccessful 
> approach to combating terrorism helped push Bush's approval ratings to 
> historic lows. Out of answers, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove went back 
> to his biggest strength, political mudslinging. On Wednesday, Rove said 
> that "[l]iberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to 
> prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our 
> attackers." We don't need an apology, we need a new anti-terrorism 
> strategy.
>
> 1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - TERRORIST ATTACKS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH: By 
> objective measures, the Bush administration's approach to combating 
> terrorism is an abject failure. Last year "[t]he number of serious 
> international terrorist incidents more than tripled." According to State 
> Department data, "attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record 
> of around 175 in 2003." How did the administration respond? By halting the 
> publication of the State Department report. The year before, "the State 
> Department retracted its annual terrorism report and admitted that its 
> initial version vastly understated the number of incidents."
>
> 1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - OSAMA BIN LADEN STILL AT LARGE: More than three 
> and a half years ago Bush vowed to capture terrorist mastermind Osama bin 
> Laden " dead or alive." He's failed. The administration wants you to think 
> we are hot on his tracks. CIA Director Porter Goss said he had " an 
> excellent idea" where bin Laden is hiding. Vice President Cheney said he 
> had " a pretty good idea of a general area that he's in." Note to the Bush 
> administration: close doesn't count in terrorist manhunts.
>
> 1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - IRAQ WAR MAKING THINGS WORSE: According to the 
> CIA, "[t]he war in Iraq is creating a training and recruitment ground for 
> a new generation of "professionalized" Islamic terrorists." An in-house 
> CIA think tank concluded that, since the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq has 
> served as " a training ground, a recruitment ground." In the poorly 
> planned aftermath of the invasion "hundreds of foreign terrorists flooded 
> into Iraq across its unguarded borders." There is a serious risk Iraq is 
> now " creating newly radicalized and experienced jihadis who return home 
> to cause trouble in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and elsewhere."
>
> 1382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - LOOSE NUKES: The Bush administration has repeatedly 
> asserted that nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemies is the greatest 
> threat to America. Yet administration efforts to stop nuclear 
> proliferation have been lackluster. In May, " a monthlong conference to 
> review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended in complete failure." 
> U.S. diplomacy was so anemic the parties "never engaged in a detailed 
> discussion of how to fix the gaping loopholes that many experts say have 
> allowed a resurgence in the spread of the most dangerous nuclear 
> technologies." And the pace at which we secured fissile materials -- the 
> "gunpowder" used to spark nuclear explosions -- in the former Soviet Union 
> did not accelerate after 9/11, according to a May 2005 study by scholars 
> at Harvard University.
>
> AN INDEFENSIBLE PHILOSOPHY: Rove said that after 9/11 conservatives " 
> prepared for war." He's right. Immediately after the attacks Paul 
> Wolfowitz and others in the Bush administration prepared for war in 
> Iraq -- a country that, by the president's own admission, had nothing to 
> do with the 9/11 attacks. After years of deception, more Americans 
> understand what happened. That's why now most people think the war in Iraq 
> wasn't worth it and hasn't made us safer. Now, Rove is desperate to create 
> distractions.
>
>  IRAQ
> The Last Throes of Credibility
>
> President Bush meets today with Iraq's prime minister to measure "progress 
> and [weigh] future challenges in Iraq at a time when U.S. public support 
> for the war is slumping, Iraqis are dying in car bombings and lawmakers 
> are pressing for a timeline for U.S. withdrawal." The American people had 
> their own glimpse into the state of the war yesterday when "against a 
> backdrop of escalating violence in Iraq" the Senate Armed Services 
> Commitee held a hearing on issues with the war. Present at the hearing 
> were some of the top military officials including Defense Secretary Donald 
> Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers, 
> head of U.S. Central Command General John Abizaid, and coalition leader 
> General George Casey. As the hearings progressed, what started out as " 
> worry in Congress about the course of U.S. strategy in Iraq boiled over." 
> It soon became obvious that there is quite "a difference of emphasis 
> between military officers, who battle the intractable i
> nsurgency every day, and civilian officials intent on accentuating what 
> they say is unacknowledged progress in Iraq." Meanwhile, instead of 
> working on a strategy for success, other administration officials have 
> continued the public deception campaign meant " to reassure Americans that 
> [the president] is on top of events in Iraq and is working to bring U.S. 
> troops home."
>
> THE LAST THROES OF THE TRUTH: Vice President Dick Cheney may feel assured 
> in declaring that the insurgency is "in its last throes," but the views of 
> the White House differ sharply from the word on the ground. At yesterday's 
> hearing, General John Abizaid, who is the top U.S. commander in the 
> Persian Gulf, informed Congress that "the Iraqi insurgency is undiminished 
> and that foreign fighters continue to swell its ranks." In fact, no one at 
> the hearing would endorse the vice president's remarks. When Abizaid was 
> asked to respond directly to Cheney's assessment, he "distanced himself" 
> from the remarks and would only say, "I don't know that I would make any 
> comment about that, other than to say that there's a lot of work to be 
> done on the insurgency. I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the 
> vice president." When asked about the gap between the adminsitration's 
> rhetoric and our military leaders' reality, White House Press Secretary 
> Scott McClellan proved incapable of answeri
> ng the question. Meanwhile, the vice president is defending his remarks by 
> trying to play semantics.
>
> THE OPEN-ENDED COMMITMENT: For all the confidence they have in how the war 
> is going, administration officials still refuse to provide any sort of 
> timetable for when U.S. troops can return home. When asked about 
> developing a timeline, Secretary Rumsfeld called such an action "a 
> lifeline to terrorists." Instead, Rumsfeld insists on keeping things as 
> vague as possible by simply repeating the White House line: our troops 
> will return when the ( ever-changing) mission is complete. And when Vice 
> President Cheney was asked if he wanted "to offer an assessment of how 
> much longer this insurgency will continue," his reply was "No. No, I can't 
> say that" before harping on the January elections yet again.
>
> LIFE AFTER THE ELECTIONS: Bush administration officials continue to 
> exploit Iraq's January elections as a talking point, but for all the 
> praise they heap upon the Iraq people, they have shown little concern for 
> life in Iraq after the fact. The "formal installation of a government and 
> formation of a committee to write Iraq's next constitution were delayed 
> for months, and efforts to bring more Sunni Muslim Arabs into the process 
> after they boycotted the elections continue to sputter." Interview after 
> interview reveals that the Iraqi people are now seeing the performance of 
> their government "as one of the many disappointing aspects of a year that 
> began with promise." One frustrated Iraqi said, "We sacrificed our souls 
> and went out to vote. What did we get? Simply nothing." While the 
> government is flailing, the daily lives of the citizens certainly is not 
> much better. After listing the various problems in the country -- "water, 
> electricity, security, unemployment, [and] health" -
> - a Baghdad grocer sadly remarked, "this is not a life. This is hell."
>
> THE ADMINISTRATION GIVES A HISTORY LESSON: Unwilling to be honest about 
> the present state of the war in Iraq or discuss its future, Bush 
> administration officials have decided to couch their statements in history 
> lessons. At the hearing, "in a spirited defense of the war, [Secretary 
> Rumsfeld] invoked Abraham Lincoln and the American revolution" as well as 
> the last days of World War II. Similarly, in his interview on CNN 
> yesterday, Vice President Cheney used analogies to the Second World War to 
> explain that "the toughest battles, the most difficult battles, both in 
> Europe and in the Pacific occurred just a few months before the end" and 
> he sees Iraq as "a similar situation."
>
>
> Under the Radar
>
> VETERANS -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION SELLS VETERANS SHORT BY AT LEAST $1 
> BILLION: The Washington Post reports today, "The Bush administration, 
> already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health 
> care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for 
> covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year." 
> The acknowledgement by the VA flies directly in the face of VA Secretary 
> Jim Nicholson's testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on 
> 2/15/05 when he said that while he had some initial concerns about 
> President Bush's budget request for funding veterans' care, he "end[ed] 
> being satisfied that we can get the job done with this budget." Sen. Patty 
> Murray (D-WA) noted that when she tried to add funds back into the VA 
> budget earlier this year, Secretary Nicholson wrote her a letter assuring 
> that the VA did not "need emergency supplemental funds in FY2005 to 
> continue to provide timely, quality service that is always ou
> r goal." President Bush needs to recall his pledge last year to " honor 
> our commitment to our veterans, past, present and future."
>
> INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- BUSH HAS LOST THE GOODWILL OF THE WORLD THAT HE 
> HAD AFTER 9-11: Perhaps the most damaging fallout of the way President 
> Bush rushed to war in Iraq has been the reciprocal scorn it has engendered 
> among our allies. According to a recently released Pew Poll, " opposition 
> to the war in Iraq and antagonism toward Bush means that views of the 
> United States remain dismal in the five predominantly Muslim countries 
> surveyed and negative across much of Western Europe." The most stunning 
> revelation to come from the poll may be that the world views China more 
> favorably than the U.S. Recall that shortly after 9-11, Muslim nations 
> from Iran and Egypt to France and Germany world stood united behind the 
> United States. It appears much of that goodwill has been squandered due to 
> the actions of the Bush administration pursuant to 9-11.
>
> MEDIA -- FOR PBS, SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME BAD NEWS: The Sesame Street gang 
> and their pals at the Public Broadcasting Corporation had a decidedly 
> mixed day yesterday. On a positive note, public broadcasting "won a 
> reprieve" as the House restored $100 million that had been proposed as a 
> budget cut for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Associated 
> Press notes that " [l]awmakers were flooded with letters and phone calls" 
> calling on them to reverse the cuts, leading to a 284-140 vote that 
> "demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting." But 
> in unfortunate news, conservative CPB chairman Ken Tomlinson appointed 
> long-time partisan activist and current Bush administration official 
> Patricia de Stacy Harrison as the corporation's president.
>
> TORTURE -- MILITARY DOCTORS DEVISED PROGRAMS TO INDUCE INTELLIGENCE FROM 
> DETAINEES: The New York Times reveals that medical health officials may 
> have been complicit in the torture of detainees at Guant?namo Bay. 
> "Military doctors at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, have aided interrogators in 
> conducting and refining coercive interrogations of detainees, including 
> providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, 
> according to new, detailed accounts given by former interrogators." The 
> doctors devised programs that were "explicitly designed to increase fear 
> and distress among detainees as a means to obtaining intelligence." 
> Secretary Rumsfeld recently declared Guant?namo to be " a model detention 
> facility." Apparently, Rumsfeld's concept of a model facility is one that 
> doesn't subscribe to medical ethics.
>
> CUNNINGSCAM -- DUKE'S DEFENSE DEBUNKED: Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham 
> finally responded yesterday to numerous allegations of ethical scandals 
> involving a defense contractor named Mitchell Wade, including claims that 
> Cunningham actually lived on a yacht in Washington owned by Wade while 
> working in the Capitol. In a public letter, Cunningham defended his stay 
> on the yacht, saying he agreed to "pay the monthly dock fees and 
> maintenance costs associated with keeping Mr. Wade's boat at the 
> marina...in lieu of rent," which purportedly added up to $13,000. 
> Cunningham's local paper did the simple math and found that Duke was 
> paying just $357 a month. "Unless we are missing something, this looks 
> like a sweetheart deal, with Cunningham paying far less than market rent, 
> to say nothing of the true maintenance and depreciation costs of a fancy 
> boat."
>
>
> Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM
> http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:03:38 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:05:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - J
	un 23, 2005
Message-ID: <20050625.190349.19388.232165@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>



-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com> wrote:

This is very hard to belive but it is a truth and as hard as it is to swallow, let me remind you that hope does ride in on a big white horse.

More Americans know of what you preach, offer, and say, to be utterly the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

BUT-we await till we 'see' the whites of their eyes. Don't blow your brains out-continue being outrageous and outraged-that's what makes you precious!

Till I Die....

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005



======
Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!
======




CheeseComment:


I know I am not the only one who has "foreseen" this and things like this,
and, well at least sometimes, I grimace at being plagiaristic or whatever it
is called, but this is just The Beginning.

The Master Plan continues to go along smoothly.

The Pond continues to be stocked with obedient fish who flop upon command.

The People, and their miserable Rights, continue to be expendable.

What is *also* outrageous is that people like Americans continue to be
stupid enough to let assholes literally appoint a measly 9 people (The
Supreme Court) for Lifetime Terms, and then sit back and obey their every
judgement, command, and decree, no matter HOW disdainfully Un-American they
swing.

The last time I think I heard of Other People in Other Countries being that
stupid, half of them got completely eliminated off the planet, and the other
half continue to live in miserable totalitarian etc states of existence.

And there's not a g*dd*mn thing they can do about it anymore, for the most
part.

That even Americans are as stupid, or inept, as that, remains nothing short
of amazing to me.

That a Majority of Americans have the "Foresight" of a dirt clod, no longer
surprises me for an instant.

That whole old outdated Of, By, and For The People thing seemed to have been
such a great idea at one time.

That the actual "We Fight And Die To Be Free Etc" American people actually
sit on their asses as things like this continue, and will continue ad
infinitum in The Future, and don't find some way to if not at least take out
5 Supreme Court Justices and hang them from the closest tree to the White
House as an example of their simple "Love of Freedom, Truth, Justice, The
American Way, Etc", at least seriously look for a way to FINALLY BE ABLE TO
FIRE THEIR ASSES, PERMANENTLY, continues to indicate to me the universal
desire of an apparent Majority of Americans who just simply can not be
bothered to take any part whatsoever in guiding and maintaining their own
fucking country, to just sit there, on their asses, and take it on the chin
until they are so punch-drunk they can't even see straight anymore, if ever
they could.

It's just too hard, and it just takes up much much much too much of their
valuable time.

They have to go to work, go shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, butcher,
baker, candlestick maker, play, vacation, shop some more, watch some dvds,
and pick up the kids from school.

I guess they just do not give a flying frig that their own Children are
going to be FORCED to live under such a bizarre version of "Non-Freedom" in
The Future, for the rest of their miserable lives.

Or perhaps it is just that they *do* care, but they literally have no
fucking outlet whatsoever, almost, or at least it is not handed to them on a
silver platter, to express their vehemence of decisions, laws, mandates, etc
handed down from everyone in their government, etc systems, including the
now overobvious either self-serving or psychotically deluded Supreme Court
Justices.

I brought up, today, one of the posts that was put here on the MB Civic
list, the one about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs being now
steeped in literal religious intimidation, to an acquaintance of mine.

He threw me out of his house again.  And called me an "Unpatriotic Traitor"
on top of it.

Just for relating a tiny amount of simple information.

It wasn't in The Express News (the "people" that came to San Antonio, bought
both of the only 2 major newspapers in San Antonio, The Express News and The
San Antonio Light, and instantly killed The San Antonio Light after they
bought it, so there is Only One Voice in Newspaper Land in San Antonio, a
population of about 1.4 million people, not counting all the other people in
all the other little counties surrounding S.A. who depend on it as their
Only Source Of Printed News and The Gospel Truth on many occasions), so it
JUST DOES NOT EXIST and was therefore NOTHING BUT ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM
CHEESE.

Not only are their HUGE amounts of Americans out here who would LOVE to be
able to do ANYTHING about reversing this NEW AMERICAN NAZI MOVEMENT (as I
like to realistically label it) but who haven't a clue, or even the
opportunity, to put their "2 cents worth" in into *anywhere* or *anything*,
but there are also HUGE amounts of Americans out here who DON'T EVEN GET THE
NEWS THAT YOU ARE PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO READ ON THIS LIST.

EVER,    IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES.   IN, YES, RUFUS, AMERICA THE FREE.

Mull it over for a while as you're trying to gather personnel for the
revolution to retake your country from the current Traitors, including the 9
assholes on The Supreme Court, who run this nation, and are running whatever
of By, For, and Of The People you once dreamed about actually catching on
better here than fast food restaurants, straight down the toilet, and us
with it.

I also brought up the story printed here awhile ago about the "2 million
Iraqi babies killed by American-U.N. sanctions" whatever.

The guy threw me out of his house again.

He's not on The Internet.  As a Majority of Americans remain Not On The
Internet.  Statistic:  Only 15 percent of Americans who *are* On The
Internet, use it to browse News Related Websites.  Anything I tell him
coming From The Internet, he doesn't believe.

Because it wasn't printed in The Express News and it was not presented on
the **5** Television News Channels he watches every day.

Multiply him by, hmmm, at *least* a few Million Americans.

What we continue to have here is A Failure To Communicate.

A massive error on the part of Anyone trying to reverse this End Of It All
As We Visualized It.

A fatal one, actually.

And it remains extremely hard to fire up a Nation to actually take their own
country back from Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors, when not only can you
not communicate with them (like the Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors can
easily do every day to Get There Messages Across), but they don't even know
what the fuck you are talking about in the first place.

As they Just Never Fucking Ever Heard Of It.  Any Of It.  Ever.

Oh well, surely stuff all of you already know about, think about, and are
working constantly on to fix it as America is getting raped daily.

Just thought I'd briefly mention it in passing as I brought the real
important news to you that I was thrown out of a house again for spreading
tall tales emanating from the center of my conspiracy-infected mind.

Truth is so funny.

It never even exists for those who never hear it.

How utterly humorous.

Regardless, this is nothing, just The Beginning.

If you're outraged Now, you're going to fall over dead from a heart attack
when you begin to read headlines about "decisions etc" just a scant few
years from now, if even that long.

There remains one great thing about Liars, Deceivers, Self-Serving
Egomaniacs, Traitors, Etc, once they get really rolling, they never pull
their punches.

And the "revolution" can't even find a Trainer.

As funny as crap.

As fatal as arsenic.


       :|






Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:05:14 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:07:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheney says Downing Street memo wrong, well of course' 
	he' will say that.
Message-ID: <20050625.190553.19388.232181@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com> wrote:
...when spinning your lies becomes truth, it is definetly denial. I've noticed that many brain-washed conservatives are in denial, Harold- here in my neck of the woods.

Truly-denial. Thanks.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached




From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:07:28 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:09:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China buys America
Message-ID: <20050625.190756.19388.232197@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>



-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com> wrote:
China is posed to overtake the American economy by being more American the America. Clearly, this is disguised as a friendly merger, but what lies at the heart is planning.

America plans out as far as 15 to 20 years. China plans 50 to 100 year strategic maneuvers. It is now exercising it's plan.

The article states that we Americans are worried about our supply of oil but it is not the American people that cry out, it is those monsters that need a growing supply chain to feed its appetite. The Corporations are not American any more than China's gain is for its people.

Though these corporations have incorporated in the U.S., their interest lie with their lusting, greed-driven shareholders. Collectively, none of them give a damn about the America you and I care about. The drive to produce oil by drilling, mergers, providing services; including military-commandos-soldiers of fortunes to guard the oil interests while our own government spins a tale about how such-n-such is a bad dictator or some similar story, is getting very old. By now WE THE PEOPLE should have already seen the obvious.

All the pipelines that have already been built from up North-near the Russian border, through Afghanistan and more coming elsewhere, is a testament for greed.

So, why shouldn't China buy up any American MNC (doing global) business-this is the strategy, the vision, finally THE tactical move to control and own the World....Slow, methodical, & patient cultivation of American trust is planned by the China strategy.

We now have our own 'turn-coat' Senators saying Bush wants this and we should do it-blah, blah, blah. Guess what you ignorant political ideologs, you are now China's prisoners...and NOT a shot has been fired on either side----oh, I take that back; China downed our spy craft-gave it back too us in pieces. 

Am I unpatriotic or realistic, because people like me proclaim the Communist Nation as the winner?! You decide-How about that!  


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached




From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 25 19:22:49 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:23:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pine Ridge
Message-ID: <000801c579f5$f5625da0$5727e440@Harold>

More info, Calvin Jumping Bull speaks out.........

http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050625/w062555A.html

Peace,

Harry
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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:28:16 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:30:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] EMERGENCY!!!! Evangelicals-It's Not Your Time To Go!!
Message-ID: <20050625.192831.19388.232347@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Cheese and Ian,

Both sides have valid points to discuss-but in this light, it is the one that 
exercises more common sense than the other.

One of your points, has nothing to do with religion but more to do with 
historical fact and how during this time and dispensation, we are revisiting 
history.

It doesn't take much investigation to know that the cries that go to heaven are 
now muted, perhaps heard for the most part as an optimist but nevertheless, 
maybe forever muted. No response-ever!

I pity the ones who don't get it-until the cows come home, and that's a very 
long time.

HINT: Discuss this with your higher self-not a priest, actually ordained not by 
God but by man-entrust your own soul to the natural wonders which shaped the 
indeginous man-the early Americans and pioneers at best.

You may think, for comforts sake, that they survived, was led, by prayer and 
faith-perhaps true....but their belief that a 'power' would save them, was a 
faith that when examined, is actually a higher-self that's in the spiritual 
realm-past the prayers, surpassing kneeling positions (God knows your heart).

You and I are being guided by our own collective energy as we 'ohm' the universe 
during our separate and different modes of faith building exercises. 

The one sad point, is that I am not made proud to feel any better than you, that 
I can 'see' where man's hang-up is-in his religion but why men refuse to let go, 
to purge their minds in order to make room for 'new' information. Collective 
energy about 'new' information and WHAT TO DO WITH IT, once it is experienced.

Perhaps, one day-we THE PEOPLE of this planet will learn together, what a 
drastic mistake we have made by not learning from those camouflaged in different 
'colors'. Till then-apply what Jesus or your Savior meant-the spirit of his 
nature and forsake what you tend to believe today-purge for humanities sake, 
today-empty your vessel; it is too full.

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq



Ian wrote:


==============
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an 
"enlightened"
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits:
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.
========


Thank you for your observation.  I try to maintain a perpetual motion of the
above 4 mentioned "traits", despite the endless onslaught of 
bullshitters.




=========
In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for 
political purposes.
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, 
fundamentalist
direction.
=========


In your directly above description, you have failed to INCLUDE the small
Fact that Christianity has currently been "higjacked" in America for
political purposes as well.  I'm sure you meant to include that, but just
inadvertently left it out.

You mentioned Islam being "hijacked", Today, but you, again, forgot 
to
mention Christianity being "hijacked", Today.

The reason I bring it up, again, is that it remains at the crux of the
disastrous Bush administration being re-elected, and at the heart of the
Christian Movement, all across America, Today, to "hijack" just about
everything we have ever believed in as Americans, both individually and
collectively, and has easily allowed Bush & Gang to continue their illegal
war and slaughter in The Middle East.



=========
Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of 
the
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If 
not,
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the 
"misguidance" of a
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?
==========


Because they have worked extremely hard for it, and I'm tired of fucking
around with them.

This is the beginning of the backlash of the revolution against Christianity
which currently holds a knife to the entire throat of the world, including
America.

I'm sorry if I am currently unable to single-handedly single out the bad
ones from the good ones.

I can preface all my statements with "Some Christians" from now on, 
but that
really, at this late date of Christian Destruction Of Life As We Know It,
seems like a pussy thing to do.

Both you and I know that I realize the difference between the BAD leadership
of Christianity combined with the Manipulators of Christianity, and Good
Real Christians.

The itsy bitsy tiny problem remains that NONE of them any longer recognize
anyone else but themselves as being RIGHT, about ANYTHING, for the most
part.

I'm simply returning the favor, over a centuries-old pile of dead men women
and children who aren't currently here to speak up for themselves.

Hey, what can I say, Ian, they pissed me off finally.  They've murdered more
people in God's holy name than just about any other group of people on the
entire planet, century after century.

And now I'm supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff" 
miraculously...?

I'll try.  However, either I'm going to have to use the word "Some" or 
"A
Majority Of" before the word "Christians" from now on, or else 
you
personally will have to supply me with the actual statistics of those
Christians who are now implicated in MASS MURDER, inadvertently or directly,
through their direct choices, or through their ignorance.

Either way, "Some", "A Minority", "Half", or 
"A Majority Of" Christians are
still responsible, one way or the other, for not only re-electing an
ATROCITY to the Presidency of the United States Of America, but for a HUGE
pile of dead men women and children in Iraq and other places, which they
don't even want to fucking discuss to begin with.



=========
Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if
there are some there who want them.
============



Let me face this head on for a moment here.

You are a biased Christian priest.

The direct commandment from the King James version of The Bible states
something like "go out and preach the word and convert everyone to
Christianity".

You, personally, might go out and present it on a platter, then leave the
room for the inhabitants to view for themselves in their leisure time.

The MAJORITY of Christians DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT ANYMORE.

If you believe they DO, you are lost in space.

It's A NEW WORLD ORDER, and Jesus is at the head of it, albeit being
manipulated by the Political and Religious Heads of America, and followed by
the endless stream of the Ignorant and the Faithful To The Bitter End No
Matter What Or Who Has To Die.

"A few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq...."

Funny as hell, Ian.

How could one, in a sane mind, NOT bring up The Crusades in this, and so
many other Current Event instances..............?

An impossibility.

After all, it was and remains "a few evangelicals starting churches in
America" that got us into this PURE RELIGIOUS SHIT to begin with.

And now, IN THE MIDST OF ONE OF THE GREATEST SLAUGHTERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY,
Jesus' folks are gonna go over there and start to try to Bring The Word and
Convert The Heathens.

Hey, Ian, I'm sorry, but fuck 'em.

I'm surprised they were able to find Church Space inbetween all the dead men
women and children Civilians in Iraq.

Praise Jesus.  Forget the dead.

Fucking amazing.

If all those 100 FUCKING THOUSAND Civilian men women and children in Iraq
murdered by AMERICANS had been CHRISTIANS, though, it surely would have been
much better.

Now, however, they are just soulless corpses, their UNCHRISTIAN HEATHEN DARK
SOULS wandering the abyss of Limbo for the rest of eternity.

Damned for the NON-BELIEF in JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD.

Give me a fucking break.

One can only hope those Evangelicals have enough brains to open a pizza shop
over there next to their church.

They'll get a lot more CONVERTS FROM HEATHENISM.

At this sad late date of the FACT of the HARM Christianity has been allowed
to spread across THE WORLD, it becomes harder day after day NOT to just
"lump them all together".

After all they have lumped ALL THE REST OF US who DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY
BELIEVE together in the basket waiting to be burned in Hell itself.

What nice people.

:|

If my mother had not carried me as a baby in her arms into a Christian
church here in America, where I was baptized in my youth, and studied and
tutored by various people of varying understandings, I wouldn't be able to
sit here and with any authority whatsoever talk about Christianity from 
"The
Christian Side".

I've grown a little since those days.

And I've seen "Christianity At Work".

True, there remain SOME "Real Christians", but even THEIR 
***COMMANDMENT***
from The Word Itself is to go out, preach, spread the word, and CONVERT,
and, yes, "if they don't wanna hear it, just dust the dust off yer sandals
and walk to the next town".

Sorry, Ian, they have FORGOTTEN the last part of that Commandment.

You couldn't budge their feet from a room of people who REALLY wish they
would just get the fuck out of their faces if you were Patton at the Battle
Of The Bulge or somewhere.

And if they can NOT CONVERT people, they have taken to DESTROYING everything
and everyone in and surrounding their miserable heathen lives.

Such is "Christianity Today", Ian, whether you like it, believe it, or 
not.

This, yes, quite true, might not be A Majority (who really knows) of
Christians Today, but it is CERTAINLY the Movers And Shakers of ALL
CHRISTIANS.

The People In Charge.  The People Calling The Shots.  The People that the
people at The Bottom are sworn and indoctrinated to Follow, no matter how
many dead bodies they have to walk over or through to Get To The Promised
Land.

This, again, is no longer "Jesus' followers bringing the word to the world
in meekness, kindness, understanding, and tolerance".

This is THE BRAND NEW ORDER.

A cult of "With Us Or Against Us".

Just like Bush's cult.

Wow, how ironic, "The Christians" actually look to Bush as both their
political and spiritual Leader at this time.

All in all, Christianity, a FAITH BASED religion, can't prove it, any of it,
just some words written in a book thousands of years ago, just like all the
other religions for the most part, taken over now in AMERICA by a bunch of
thugs.

A corporate-political venture.

Straight from Hell itself.

If I did NOT bring up "The Crusades" and "The Inquisition" 
in reference to
"What Is Going On With Christianity Today", I would be neglecting 
whatever
meager lessons that have clung to me from my early days of "Bible 
Reading".

What is coming out of America "These Days", both Politically, 
Militarily,
Corporately, and Christianityly, looks MORE LIKE THE CRUSADES AND THE
INQUISITION THAN ANYTHING ELSE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

That includes the little simple well-meaning meager Evangelicals in Iraq
sitting on top of 100 Fucking Thousand American-Murdered Civilian men women
and children, "preaching the gospel".

I rebuke them ALL in the name of Christ and God.  (You know THAT bible
verse, surely, Ian, the one about "losing one's own soul", print it 
here for
the curious and ignorant.)

                                      They are ruined.

It is not by my hand, they have created their own ruination

They Jews, in the old testament, were so EVIL that God Himself made them
wander the deserts until (at least He thought) all the EVIL generations had
simply died out and He could start all over again with them.

Gee, what a mistake, eh....?

I wonder what He has in store for the EVIL that has spewed forth from the
loins of "Modern Christianity".

Let's hope it's not REALLY to open up little churches on top of 100,000 dead
heathen men women and children's graves in the middle of, again and again
and again, one of the Greatest Slaughters Of The 21st Century.

But, hey, he was pretty much a vindictive Mass Murdering God in The Old
Testament, so, hmmm, who knows, maybe this ALL is just His Will.

My Common Sense, Logic, Presence Of Mind, and Discernment can only produce
one word for it ALL right about now.

"Bullshit".

Has my Anger completely obliterated any True Virtues or Good Traits in me
and my "judgement"....?

No, it hasn't.

I'm just being A Realist again.

In Public.

Where it hurts me, personally, the most to go against the grain of Insanity,
Deception, and Mass Murder.

But, hey, both The Christians AND The Devil Worshippers fear me greatly, I
just guess I have nothing left to lose.

Kind of like all the dead Heathens buried under that church in Iraq.

Some day, you will wake up, and finally realize, that MOST LIKELY, out of
the 100+? religions in the world, GOD HIMSELF did not just "CREATE 
ONE", and
leave the other 99 intact simply because he has a sense of humor.

Although even **I** realize and FULLY KNOW there is something "beyond this
corporeal world" (I've already personally seen some of it), and there is
INDEED a "battle of some sorts between Ultimate Good and Ultimate 
Evil"
going on on this miserable little planet, I can simply NO LONGER ALLOW
MYSELF to believe in fairy tales.

No matter who creates them.

And, REGARDLESS, fairy tales or not fairy tales, what The Humans have
managed to do with them remains an ATROCITY within itself.

Therewith, Ian, it becomes harder and harder to separate the wheat from the
chaff, or even make reference to them in such terms.

Sure, again, we both know that I DO recognize "the differences".

Yet, again, you remain, no offense, a steeped-in-dogma biased Christian
priest.

It's almost like trying to explain to a casino owner in Vegas that his
croupiers are cheating.

He knows already.

The odds, regardless, remain firmly stacked in favor of The House.

And The People continue to lose.

You, we, all of us, are no longer dealing with "Christianity, The Great 
Meek
Religion", Ian.

And "that little church in Iraq" isn't part of Jesus' plans either.

And I can prove that just about as easily as you can disprove it.

In a "Faith-Based Religion", no Proof is ever required.

Ever.

For anything.

That is one small reason it continues to clash psyhotically with the Pure
Logic of my tiny little world of Sanity I continue to try to stumble bravely
through.

Dead civilians mass murdered remain dead civilians mass murdered.

An illegal war emanating from thugs and producing, again, one of the
greatest slaughters of the 21st Century remains an illegal war emanating
from thugs and producing, again, one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
Century.

And that little church, to probably MOST of ISLAM, and including even to
myself, *under the circumstances*, remains nothing short of an Abomination.

Harmless in your eyes or not.

That, of course, out of ALL of IT, remains simply the tip of the iceberg.






Cheeseburger


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:29:45 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 19:31:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] keeping faith w/ religious freedom
Message-ID: <20050625.193035.19388.232364@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and 
practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
 
"The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their 
positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is 
neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students 
were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their 
faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son 
was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:02:00 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:02:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
Message-ID: <20050625.190247.19388.232158@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
 
"The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

Please note: message attached




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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:22:33 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:02:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals #3
Message-ID: <20050625.192319.19388.232296@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Give me a break Ian-

How noble your sentiment but history out ranks your naivete.

If they wanted to know-I'd tell them-to be kind to each other, something that 
the real Jesus said-period. I'd tell them because of the size of the churches 
and their (churches) politics to gain favor in your eyes, they will promise any 
miracle, when the only miracle is you remaining free from oppression-and those 
that oppress are also the Churches.

Your mind will forever more lose it's freedom and ability to think; be 
spiritually guided by those kindren and free roaming spirits whose job it is to 
feed you enlightenment. Stay away-run as fast as you can-away from any Church 
proclaming to know, 'the way'.

Yes, you are free to worship and join whoever, where ever, but remember what I 
said-it is your freedom, your mind you entrust to indoctrination of the masses. 
You are free to lose your mind if that is what you have become. I can't tell you 
what or how to do it, except that you will lose a very precious part of 
innocense, once you do.

So, go on or tend your flock or gardens, and remember the knowledge you seek is 
truth. Truth is there, here, over there, under here, but never-ever, from any 
organized religion upon this green and brown earth.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Lyle:

Although I agree with you that the reasons behind why the evangelicals are 
in Iraq are wrong (i.e., had the war never occurred, they would arguably not 
be there), I simply do not see the harm in their presence.

As you point out, at a minimum the Christian church has always been on the 
"front lines" of aid in places of strife, both tangible and 
moral/spiritual. 
You say they should just "help rebuild and keep their mouths shut."

But what if people WANT to hear what they have to say?  Who are you to make 
their choice or decision for them?

Again, it is all in how it is done.  "Spreading the Gospel" is among 
the 
most primary of missions for Christians.  And if it is done properly - with 
humility, love, patience, etc. - and not "rammed down their throats," 
then 
ANY people - even the Iraqis - have a right to hear "the Word," and 
make 
personal choices as to whether to accept or reject it.

That is a form of something called "freedom."  to suggest that they 
should 
not even have the right to hear what evangelicals - or anyone else, for that 
matter - has to say is limiting freedom.  In America, it's called "free 
speech" and is protected by something called the Bill of Rights.

Sorry for my "indignation" here, but I really believe that you and 
Cheeseburger are losing sight of some very basic things.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net>
To: <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


>
> I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there 
> while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is 
> going.
>
> Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but 
> it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.
>
> I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread 
> the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their 

> mouths shut.
>
> As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that 
> is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed 
> or started a criminal offense.
>
> If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not 
> sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.
>
> Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.
>
>
> Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM
> http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
>
> -- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even 
you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
>
> Peace.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
> To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently 
found
>> this one, just for the curious:
>>
>> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>>
>> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>>
>> 3.
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR20050
62202335.html?nav=rss_world
>>
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>>
>> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>>
>> By Caryle Murphy
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>>
>> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National
>> Evangelical
>> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric
>> guitar
>> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large 
screen.
>> A
>> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled 

>> the
>> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of 
"Ameen!"
>>
>> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least 
seven
>> new
>> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two
>> years.
>> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
>> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music 

>> and
>> focus on the Bible.
>>
>> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a 
veterinarian who
>> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep 
in
>> understanding the Bible."
>>
>> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who 
limited
>> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious
>> landscape
>> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
>> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is 

>> now
>> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian
>> denominations
>> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders 
about 
>> a
>> threat to the status quo.
>>
>> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- 
in
>> the
>> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging 
at 
>> a
>> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their 
privileged
>> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their 
>> flocks
>> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders 
see
>> the
>> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts 
but
>> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>>
>> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was 
not a
>> good
>> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. 
"I think
>> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though 
Christians
>> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>>
>> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing 
Christians from other
>> churches."
>>
>> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing
>> presence
>> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring 
Jordan,
>> for
>> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and 
thriving,"
>> said
>> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
>> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>>
>> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
>> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping 
at
>> 50
>> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined
>> regular
>> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates 
the
>> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is 
Muslim.
>>
>> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
>> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim
>> conversions,
>> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>>
>> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
>> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. 
While
>> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
>> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>>
>> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no 
>> secret
>> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global 
>> relief
>> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam 
an
>> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission 
Board of the
>> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant
>> denomination,
>> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>>
>> ========
>>
>>
>>
>> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if 
you
>> want
>> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>>
>> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so
>> they
>> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the
>> self-annointed
>> righteous for the longest time now.
>>
>> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense 
of
>> fake
>> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
>> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of 

>> all
>> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
>> century.
>>
>> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>>
>> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheeseburger


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:17:46 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:02:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] keeping faith-Air Force Academy
Message-ID: <20050625.191810.19388.232258@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and 
practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
 
"The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their 
positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is 
neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students 
were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their 
faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son 
was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:09:17 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:02:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #1 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.190959.19388.232208@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>



-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net> wrote:

I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is going.

Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.

I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their mouths shut.

As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed or started a criminal offense.

If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.

Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:24:14 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:03:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] high courts-seizure
Message-ID: <20050625.192420.19388.232298@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


This is very hard to belive but it is a truth and as hard as it is to swallow, 
let me remind you that hope does ride in on a big white horse.

More Americans know of what you preach, offer, and say, to be utterly the whole 
truth and nothing but the truth.

BUT-we await till we 'see' the whites of their eyes. Don't blow your brains 
out-continue being outrageous and outraged-that's what makes you precious!

Till I Die....

Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
CNN.com - High court OKs personal property seizures - Jun 23, 2005



======
Holy Moly!  This is BEYOND outrageous!
======




CheeseComment:


I know I am not the only one who has "foreseen" this and things like 
this,
and, well at least sometimes, I grimace at being plagiaristic or whatever it
is called, but this is just The Beginning.

The Master Plan continues to go along smoothly.

The Pond continues to be stocked with obedient fish who flop upon command.

The People, and their miserable Rights, continue to be expendable.

What is *also* outrageous is that people like Americans continue to be
stupid enough to let assholes literally appoint a measly 9 people (The
Supreme Court) for Lifetime Terms, and then sit back and obey their every
judgement, command, and decree, no matter HOW disdainfully Un-American they
swing.

The last time I think I heard of Other People in Other Countries being that
stupid, half of them got completely eliminated off the planet, and the other
half continue to live in miserable totalitarian etc states of existence.

And there's not a g*dd*mn thing they can do about it anymore, for the most
part.

That even Americans are as stupid, or inept, as that, remains nothing short
of amazing to me.

That a Majority of Americans have the "Foresight" of a dirt clod, no 
longer
surprises me for an instant.

That whole old outdated Of, By, and For The People thing seemed to have been
such a great idea at one time.

That the actual "We Fight And Die To Be Free Etc" American people 
actually
sit on their asses as things like this continue, and will continue ad
infinitum in The Future, and don't find some way to if not at least take out
5 Supreme Court Justices and hang them from the closest tree to the White
House as an example of their simple "Love of Freedom, Truth, Justice, The
American Way, Etc", at least seriously look for a way to FINALLY BE ABLE 
TO
FIRE THEIR ASSES, PERMANENTLY, continues to indicate to me the universal
desire of an apparent Majority of Americans who just simply can not be
bothered to take any part whatsoever in guiding and maintaining their own
fucking country, to just sit there, on their asses, and take it on the chin
until they are so punch-drunk they can't even see straight anymore, if ever
they could.

It's just too hard, and it just takes up much much much too much of their
valuable time.

They have to go to work, go shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, butcher,
baker, candlestick maker, play, vacation, shop some more, watch some dvds,
and pick up the kids from school.

I guess they just do not give a flying frig that their own Children are
going to be FORCED to live under such a bizarre version of 
"Non-Freedom" in
The Future, for the rest of their miserable lives.

Or perhaps it is just that they *do* care, but they literally have no
fucking outlet whatsoever, almost, or at least it is not handed to them on a
silver platter, to express their vehemence of decisions, laws, mandates, etc
handed down from everyone in their government, etc systems, including the
now overobvious either self-serving or psychotically deluded Supreme Court
Justices.

I brought up, today, one of the posts that was put here on the MB Civic
list, the one about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs being now
steeped in literal religious intimidation, to an acquaintance of mine.

He threw me out of his house again.  And called me an "Unpatriotic 
Traitor"
on top of it.

Just for relating a tiny amount of simple information.

It wasn't in The Express News (the "people" that came to San Antonio, 
bought
both of the only 2 major newspapers in San Antonio, The Express News and The
San Antonio Light, and instantly killed The San Antonio Light after they
bought it, so there is Only One Voice in Newspaper Land in San Antonio, a
population of about 1.4 million people, not counting all the other people in
all the other little counties surrounding S.A. who depend on it as their
Only Source Of Printed News and The Gospel Truth on many occasions), so it
JUST DOES NOT EXIST and was therefore NOTHING BUT ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM
CHEESE.

Not only are their HUGE amounts of Americans out here who would LOVE to be
able to do ANYTHING about reversing this NEW AMERICAN NAZI MOVEMENT (as I
like to realistically label it) but who haven't a clue, or even the
opportunity, to put their "2 cents worth" in into *anywhere* or 
*anything*,
but there are also HUGE amounts of Americans out here who DON'T EVEN GET THE
NEWS THAT YOU ARE PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO READ ON THIS LIST.

EVER,    IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES.   IN, YES, RUFUS, AMERICA THE FREE.

Mull it over for a while as you're trying to gather personnel for the
revolution to retake your country from the current Traitors, including the 9
assholes on The Supreme Court, who run this nation, and are running whatever
of By, For, and Of The People you once dreamed about actually catching on
better here than fast food restaurants, straight down the toilet, and us
with it.

I also brought up the story printed here awhile ago about the "2 million
Iraqi babies killed by American-U.N. sanctions" whatever.

The guy threw me out of his house again.

He's not on The Internet.  As a Majority of Americans remain Not On The
Internet.  Statistic:  Only 15 percent of Americans who *are* On The
Internet, use it to browse News Related Websites.  Anything I tell him
coming From The Internet, he doesn't believe.

Because it wasn't printed in The Express News and it was not presented on
the **5** Television News Channels he watches every day.

Multiply him by, hmmm, at *least* a few Million Americans.

What we continue to have here is A Failure To Communicate.

A massive error on the part of Anyone trying to reverse this End Of It All
As We Visualized It.

A fatal one, actually.

And it remains extremely hard to fire up a Nation to actually take their own
country back from Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors, when not only can you
not communicate with them (like the Liars, Manipulators, and Traitors can
easily do every day to Get There Messages Across), but they don't even know
what the fuck you are talking about in the first place.

As they Just Never Fucking Ever Heard Of It.  Any Of It.  Ever.

Oh well, surely stuff all of you already know about, think about, and are
working constantly on to fix it as America is getting raped daily.

Just thought I'd briefly mention it in passing as I brought the real
important news to you that I was thrown out of a house again for spreading
tall tales emanating from the center of my conspiracy-infected mind.

Truth is so funny.

It never even exists for those who never hear it.

How utterly humorous.

Regardless, this is nothing, just The Beginning.

If you're outraged Now, you're going to fall over dead from a heart attack
when you begin to read headlines about "decisions etc" just a scant 
few
years from now, if even that long.

There remains one great thing about Liars, Deceivers, Self-Serving
Egomaniacs, Traitors, Etc, once they get really rolling, they never pull
their punches.

And the "revolution" can't even find a Trainer.

As funny as crap.

As fatal as arsenic.


       :|






Cheeseburger


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:26:32 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:03:22 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Cheny-Downing Street
Message-ID: <20050625.192728.19388.232334@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


...when spinning your lies becomes truth, it is definetly denial. I've 
noticed that many brain-washed conservatives are in denial, Harold- here in my 
neck of the woods.

Truly-denial. Thanks.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:10:16 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:03:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #2 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.191100.19388.232212@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.com> wrote:

I thought I'd lend some energy your way Ian and Cheeseburger. It's an unbearable situation that history would repeat itself almost word for word, deed for deed, eye for an eye, and yet the poitical machine churns out untruths that they are enlighted, that we liberals are the cause of everything sour under the sun.

Those that didn't convert during the Crusades, they killed them.
100's of thousands of Christians and Kings went after Muslims and Jews-went after them to exterminate them from this earth. This was a long war, not several weeks like our administration promised. Where is Iraq heading-do you think the same way?

Why are we NOT focusing on the PNAC-it is spelled out in black and white what these murdeous folks are all about. Next up Iran, Syria-got to own the world (power) and (Christians) rule the world.

A small insignificant few were the perpetrators? I don't think so. It was the Kings, the whole church (Catholic), that condoned the massacre and continued the Crusades.

In the name of Jesus and ONE God under the heavens, we are at it again.
God, are these people at it again? The one's who thought bathing was bad while at the same time, across the world, the Hawaiian people had their own laboratories in which to do brain surgery. Yet today many whites call the Hawaiians lazy-same as they do the American Indian. Not too long after that the Church came through for heathen's sake.

You tell me who has such inferior complexes dancing around in there heads that they have to commit these actions again. 

Who the hell would convert to Christianity in the first place, if the potential converts have American Far-OUT, Right-of-Center, misguided individuals who preach and promote misdeeds.

Jesus H. Christ, we have a lot of work to do to clean up what these misfits are doing. I saw it coming about a decade ago when I heard members of another Church saying untruths about another Church. 

These evangelicals (broad sweep) are at the most part, creators of human misery, yet they belive they are touched - misguided yes. 

I'm sorry to say, that they are the accolites of this one whom we call Satin-though Hell and Heaven are void of any vertical geographic placements using earth as a center axis.

I am positive that before I leave, we will see more lynchings, burnings, and hate crimes in God's name. Such a pity to get so caught up, become overzealous beyound reproach, in the name of a God or a brother whom many call, Jesus Christ and to those enlighted one's-Jesus THE Christ-Do you have the power to promote PEACE.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and 
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an "enlightened" 
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits: 
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.

In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately 
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of 
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for political purposes. 
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of 
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, fundamentalist 
direction.

Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of the 
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If not, 
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the "misguidance" of a 
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?

Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out 
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a 
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a 
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a 
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if 
there are some there who want them.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
> ========
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
> =========
>
>
>
> A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
> centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
> "Christianity" short.
>
> I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
> time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I 
> told
> to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" which she
> had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
> her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
> to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
> years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
> and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing 
> me
> "Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I get on to
> bigger fish.
>
> This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques 
> dealer
> who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
> that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
> throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
> Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
> over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated 
> "Crap,
> Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
> guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
> seen again..."
>
> It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, 
> among
> other people.
>
> It also reminds me of the Crusades.
>
> If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
> this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
> wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
> civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
> Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
> righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
> Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
> proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus 
> baseball
> caps.
>
> My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
> 20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
> non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
> and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
> your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
> costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those 
> who
> currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
> jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
> front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
> toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
> that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like us",
> they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
> America for their idiocy.
>
> You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
> America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed 
> to
> re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
> endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way 
> Of
> Life.
>
> If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens 
> Of
> The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.
>
> You're on your own.
>
> Jesus slideshows and all.
>
> My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
> Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you 
> have
> already done over here in the Land Of The Free.
>
> That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
> spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
> teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
> over here in America have already been taught.
>
> When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
> mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
> as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, 
> and
> only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
> Brothers In Christ.
>
> Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
> their Holy Books as well.
>
> Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.
>
> Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
> keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
> without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.
>
> Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
> Century.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:11:13 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:03:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] #3 Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050625.191202.19388.232224@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


-- "Lyle K'ang" <lyve@netzero.net> wrote:

I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there while the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is going.

Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but it's about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.

I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread the word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their mouths shut.

As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that is not cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed or started a criminal offense.

If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not sincere or aligned with Jesus' teachings.

Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. "I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:25:35 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:03:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China Buys America
Message-ID: <20050625.192624.19388.232319@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


China is posed to overtake the American economy by being more American the 
America. Clearly, this is disguised as a friendly merger, but what lies at the 
heart is planning.

America plans out as far as 15 to 20 years. China plans 50 to 100 year strategic 
maneuvers. It is now exercising it's plan.

The article states that we Americans are worried about our supply of oil but it 
is not the American people that cry out, it is those monsters that need a 
growing supply chain to feed its appetite. The Corporations are not American any 
more than China's gain is for its people.

Though these corporations have incorporated in the U.S., their interest lie with 
their lusting, greed-driven shareholders. Collectively, none of them give a damn 
about the America you and I care about. The drive to produce oil by drilling, 
mergers, providing services; including military-commandos-soldiers of fortunes 
to guard the oil interests while our own government spins a tale about how 
such-n-such is a bad dictator or some similar story, is getting very old. By now 
WE THE PEOPLE should have already seen the obvious.

All the pipelines that have already been built from up North-near the Russian 
border, through Afghanistan and more coming elsewhere, is a testament for 
greed.

So, why shouldn't China buy up any American MNC (doing global) business-this is 
the strategy, the vision, finally THE tactical move to control and own the 
World....Slow, methodical, & patient cultivation of American trust is planned by 
the China strategy.

We now have our own 'turn-coat' Senators saying Bush wants this and we should do 
it-blah, blah, blah. Guess what you ignorant political ideologs, you are now 
China's prisoners...and NOT a shot has been fired on either side----oh, I take 
that back; China downed our spy craft-gave it back too us in pieces. 

Am I unpatriotic or realistic, because people like me proclaim the Communist 
Nation as the winner?! You decide-How about that!  


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:19:42 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:04:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals #1
Message-ID: <20050625.192013.19388.232268@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


I think the crime are the 14 or so military bases we are building there while 
the administration says nothing about it and how well the war is going.

Sure religions' will follow where ever we have bombed, maimed, raped but it's 
about spreading (hate) ooppps, democracy.

I have never liked the religious groups that come into a land to spread the 
word-I'd rather see those groups that help rebuild and just keep their mouths 
shut.

As far as the 'right' coming in to advance the word of Jesus Christ that is not 
cool-especially knowing that we entered incorrectly and committed or started a 
criminal offense.

If they were truly spreading the word; it is still insensitive and not sincere 
or aligned with Jesus' teachings.

Sorry-but I can't find common ground here.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a knee-jerk 
reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught, 
and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred was 
a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even you 
would 
agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert 
follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this is 
a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and fundamentalist 
Islam.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
>
> Funny how one sometimes finds articles, this is how I inadvertently found
> this one, just for the curious:
>
> 1.  http://www.bushwatch.com/
>
> 2.  http://www.bushwatch.net/e-mail.htm
>
> 3.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR200506220
2335.html?nav=rss_world
>
>
> ==========
>
> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
> Newcomers Raise Worry Among Traditional Church Leaders
>
> By Caryle Murphy
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01
>
> BAGHDAD -- With arms outstretched, the congregation at National 
> Evangelical
> Baptist Church belted out a praise hymn backed up by drums, electric 
> guitar
> and keyboard. In the corner, slide images of Jesus filled a large screen. 
> A
> simple white cross of wood adorned the stage, and worshipers sprinkled the
> pastor's Bible-based sermon with approving shouts of "Ameen!"
>
> National is Iraq's first Baptist congregation and one of at least seven 
> new
> Christian evangelical churches established in Baghdad in the past two 
> years.
> Its Sunday afternoon service, in a building behind a house on a quiet
> street, draws a couple of hundred worshipers who like the lively music and
> focus on the Bible.
>
> "I'm thirsty for this kind of church," Suhaila Tawfik, a 
veterinarian who
> was raised Catholic, said at a recent service. "I want to go deep in
> understanding the Bible."
>
> Tawfik is not alone. The U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, who limited
> the establishment of new denominations, has altered the religious 
> landscape
> of predominantly Muslim Iraq. A newly energized Christian evangelical
> activism here, supported by Western and other foreign evangelicals, is now
> challenging the dominance of Iraq's long-established Christian 
> denominations
> and drawing complaints from Muslim and Christian religious leaders about a
> threat to the status quo.
>
> The evangelicals' numbers are not large -- perhaps a few thousand -- in 
> the
> context of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians. But they are emerging at a
> time when the country's traditional churches have lost their privileged
> Hussein-era status and have experienced massive depletions of their flocks
> because of decades-long emigration. Now, traditional church leaders see 
> the
> new evangelical churches filling up, not so much with Muslim converts but
> with Christians like Tawfik seeking a new kind of worship experience.
>
> "The way the preachers arrived here . . . with soldiers . . . was not 
a 
> good
> thing," said Baghdad's Roman Catholic archbishop, Jean Sleiman. 
"I think
> they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians
> didn't do it here for 2,000 years."
>
> "In the end," Sleiman said, "they are seducing Christians 
from other
> churches."
>
> Iraq's new churches are part of Christian evangelicalism's growing 
> presence
> in several Middle Eastern countries, experts say. In neighboring Jordan, 
> for
> example, "the indigenous evangelical presence is growing and 
thriving," 
> said
> Todd M. Johnson, a scholar of global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
> Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
>
> Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention, said in an
> interview in Amman that there are about 10,000 evangelicals worshiping at 
> 50
> churches in Jordan. They include 20 Baptist churches with a combined 
> regular
> Sunday attendance of 5,000, he added. The organization also operates the
> Baptist School of Amman, where 40 percent of the student body is Muslim.
>
> While most evangelicals in Jordan come from traditional Christian
> denominations, Abbassi said, "we're seeing more and more Muslim 
> conversions,
> not less than 500 a year" over the past 10 years.
>
> Iraq's Christian population has been organized for centuries into
> denominations such as Chaldean Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. While
> Hussein's secular regime allowed freedom of worship, it limited new
> denominations, particularly if backed by Western churches.
>
> During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, American evangelicals made no secret
> of their desire to follow the troops. Samaritan's Purse, the global relief
> organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham -- who has called Islam an
> "evil and wicked" religion -- and the International Mission Board 
of the
> Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant 
> denomination,
> were among those that mobilized missionaries and relief supplies.
>
> ========
>
>
>
> Well, anyways, there's 2 more pages in that article there online if you 
> want
> to read further, just thought I'd put up a taste of it.
>
> I can't wait for the filthy Middle Eastern heathens to be converted so 
> they
> can enjoy as much misery as we have here in America from the 
> self-annointed
> righteous for the longest time now.
>
> I look forward some day to both our cultures meeting in a true sense of 
> fake
> brotherhood, spiritual and economic enslavement, and unabashed
> indoctrination, so we can all better understand the deeper meanings of all
> the really holy words that continue to lead to millions of deaths each
> century.
>
> Finally, company in our dismal corner of Hell.
>
> Get your slideshows in order or else God will think you're weird.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 19:21:12 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:04:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals #2
Message-ID: <20050625.192115.19388.232276@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


I thought I'd lend some energy your way Ian and Cheeseburger. It's an unbearable 
situation that history would repeat itself almost word for word, deed for deed, 
eye for an eye, and yet the poitical machine churns out untruths that they are 
enlighted, that we liberals are the cause of everything sour under the sun.

Those that didn't convert during the Crusades, they killed them.
100's of thousands of Christians and Kings went after Muslims and Jews-went 
after them to exterminate them from this earth. This was a long war, not several 
weeks like our administration promised. Where is Iraq heading-do you think the 
same way?

Why are we NOT focusing on the PNAC-it is spelled out in black and white what 
these murdeous folks are all about. Next up Iran, Syria-got to own the world 
(power) and (Christians) rule the world.

A small insignificant few were the perpetrators? I don't think so. It was the 
Kings, the whole church (Catholic), that condoned the massacre and continued the 
Crusades.

In the name of Jesus and ONE God under the heavens, we are at it again.
God, are these people at it again? The one's who thought bathing was bad while 
at the same time, across the world, the Hawaiian people had their own 
laboratories in which to do brain surgery. Yet today many whites call the 
Hawaiians lazy-same as they do the American Indian. Not too long after that the 
Church came through for heathen's sake.

You tell me who has such inferior complexes dancing around in there heads that 
they have to commit these actions again. 

Who the hell would convert to Christianity in the first place, if the potential 
converts have American Far-OUT, Right-of-Center, misguided individuals who 
preach and promote misdeeds.

Jesus H. Christ, we have a lot of work to do to clean up what these misfits are 
doing. I saw it coming about a decade ago when I heard members of another Church 
saying untruths about another Church. 

These evangelicals (broad sweep) are at the most part, creators of human misery, 
yet they belive they are touched - misguided yes. 

I'm sorry to say, that they are the accolites of this one whom we call 
Satin-though Hell and Heaven are void of any vertical geographic placements 
using earth as a center axis.

I am positive that before I leave, we will see more lynchings, burnings, and 
hate crimes in God's name. Such a pity to get so caught up, become overzealous 
beyound reproach, in the name of a God or a brother whom many call, Jesus Christ 
and to those enlighted one's-Jesus THE Christ-Do you have the power to promote 
PEACE.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

-- "Ian" <ialterman@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
Cheeseburger:

Despite your often understandable and justifiable anger, pessimism and 
cynicism, I have nevertheless always believed you to be an 
"enlightened" 
person, or at very least one who has all four of the rarest human traits: 
common sense, logic, presence of mind and discernment.

In this regard, I know that you are aware that the Crusades were ultimately 
a very small minority of Christians led by an even smaller number of 
"leaders" who essentially "hijacked" Christianity for 
political purposes. 
Similar in some aspects to the way that a relatively small number of 
"leaders" have "hijacked" Islam and steered it in a narrow, 
fundamentalist 
direction.

Would you thus "tar" all of Islam - and the faith itself - because of 
the 
"misguidance" (however self-serving and dangerous) of a minority?  If 
not, 
then why "tar" Christianity in toto because of the 
"misguidance" of a 
minority in a handful or less of specific situations?

Yes, there is also the broader question of (as you correctly pointed out 
yesterday) the indoctrination of some (or possibly much) of the young with a 
less-than-Jesus-like understanding of their faith.

However, it seems rather heavy-handed to bring up the Crusades - almost a 
singular phenomenon in history (okay, the Inquisition makes it two) - as a 
comparison to a few evangelicals starting churches in Iraq, especially if 
there are some there who want them.

Peace.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq


> Evangelicals Building a Base in Iraq
>
>
>
> ========
> Cheeseburger:
>
> Although I understand your feelings here, it does seem a bit of a 
> knee-jerk
> reaction.  It all depends, of course, on what is taught, how it is taught,
> and what the result is.  Certainly it would be sad if all that occurred 
> was
> a mirroring of the "religious right" here.  However, I think even 
you 
> would
> agree that even if only a small percentage of those who join or convert
> follow the positive, loving, non-violent aspects of Jesus' ministry, this 
> is
> a far better outcome than what comes out of the madrassas and 
> fundamentalist
> Islam.
> =========
>
>
>
> A kind word turneth away wrath.  However, in this case, you're a few
> centuries and a few million dead bodies and ruined lives eaten by
> "Christianity" short.
>
> I could certainly write a couple of paragraphs on this, but I haven't the
> time.  I have to briefly go into private email and re-advise someone I 
> told
> to stay in LA in the lucrative travel agent business to "Stars" 
which she
> had already established herself firmly and successfully in, and try to fix
> her head after she blew off my advice and married the guy who was doing 25
> to life in prison for murdering her fiancee the day before her wedding 25
> years ago whom she had been in correspondence with all that time in prison
> and fell in love with, moved to the desert with him, and is now emailing 
> me
> "Help me, things are not well here...", real quick like before I 
get on to
> bigger fish.
>
> This also reminds me of the time I told that jewish iranian antiques 
> dealer
> who had just paid me a boodle to record a hate-his-landlord album for him
> that after examining the personnel he had hired, that he was literally
> throwing his $6 Million down the toilet by paying them to do his Feature
> Film he had latched onto as his latest project.  Again, after it was all
> over and done with, he came to me, put his arm around me, and stated 
> "Crap,
> Cheese, I should have listened to you, you were right, I was wrong, those
> guys took me to the cleaners, my $6 Million is down the toilet never to be
> seen again..."
>
> It also reminds me of what the Christians did to the American Indians, 
> among
> other people.
>
> It also reminds me of the Crusades.
>
> If there's one piece of advice I could give Christians right about now on
> this particular instance of happenings, would be to stay at home, illegal
> wars murdering thousands, hundreds of thousands, whatever, of innocent
> civilians, concocted out of the asses of American Right Winger Corporate
> Military Demi-Gods, just don't really need a slough of Christians
> righteously and dedicatedly riding the wave of Empire to The New Land Of
> Heathens as it spreads its crap over the rest of the world, neither
> proseletyzing, nor even just selling hotdogs and handing out Jesus 
> baseball
> caps.
>
> My best advice to all Christians everywhere is to take about say maybe 10,
> 20, maybe even push it to the extreme and say 30 positive, loving,
> non-violent passages in The Bible, rip them out, then start a big bonfire
> and burn all the rest of The Bible, and then live by those, tear down all
> your churches, mosques, temples, etc, sell them brick by brick, elaborate
> costly ornament by ornament, and give the money to the poor, make those 
> who
> currently lead all your churches etc organizations etc be the ones whose
> jobs are not to preach, administer, etc anymore, but to mow the lawn out
> front, polish the stained glass windows, scrub the floors, and clean the
> toilets, and the next time any one of them is ignorant enough to suggest
> that Animals are inferior to Humans because "they have no souls like 
us",
> they should be flogged publicly in front of all the elementary schools in
> America for their idiocy.
>
> You've caused enough deaths, injuries, ruinations, murders, etc's, across
> America already, throughout the Centuries.  And gee, you've even managed 
> to
> re-elect one of the worst Presidencies that America will ever be forced to
> endure, and all In The Name Of Jesus Christ and Your Beliefs and Your Way 
> Of
> Life.
>
> If you're going to ride your Jesus surfboards all the way to The Heathens 
> Of
> The Middle East, leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.
>
> You're on your own.
>
> Jesus slideshows and all.
>
> My second best suggestion, is that as soon as you get to the Land Of The
> Filthy Heathens, you should immediately condemn all Gay People, as you 
> have
> already done over here in the Land Of The Free.
>
> That should immediately begin freeing all their souls right there on the
> spot and then free you all up to get to some more serious business done of
> teaching everyone over there how to be as Truly Holy as all the rest of us
> over here in America have already been taught.
>
> When they have all been thoroughly indoctrinated, ruined, spiritually,
> mentally, economically, and intellectually enslaved, and made as miserable
> as so many of us have been made here in America by The Christians, then, 
> and
> only then, perhaps, I will open my arms to The Heathen as Finally Our
> Brothers In Christ.
>
> Until then, they just remain filthy heathens who stupidly refuse to burn
> their Holy Books as well.
>
> Eh........  Go figure.  You can't win them all.
>
> Until then, yes, my third best suggestion remains, by all means, get and
> keep your slideshows together, it would be horrible to present Kindness
> without an actual picture of Jesus up on the wall.
>
> Especially in the middle of one of the greatest slaughters of the 21st
> Century.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 20:03:11 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:05:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pine Ridge
Message-ID: <20050625.200333.19388.232596@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>

...well, it's coming up again in a few months which is good...although this is like trying to connect Karl Rove to the anthrax distribution and in this case, I bet you can find the smoking gun with Karl Rove. Sorry FBI-do your homework better, and if you know-let's hear from 'deep throat'.

Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee really pissed off our government because the movement was guinuine but the ATF, FBI and others really wanted to paint the Indians (again) as half-wit savages.

The only savages here, sorry to say are the misinformed, inadequate, PREJUDICE and maladjusted white men in this picture which, again, sorry to say, have a blood debt to pay.

Not the Indians, Iraqians, North Koreans, Iranians, Syrians, Jewish people, Palestinians and any other brown skinned people but the white people. Denial again??????

The Democrats-Clinton should of but he chickened out on a pardon for this strong Indian brother.

This again is a dilution of the Democrats not standing up in outrage...did you read Kerry's, Kennedy's et all, demand for answers to the Downing Street memo to the President? 

What a joke-I mean good but not good enough. What the hell was that last paragraph about that they too know that North Korea and Iran maybe the next targets because these are hot spots (paraphrasing)!!

These are hot spots because President Bush and the PNAC plan make them so-by God we have got to 'cause war in that region to win globally' (paraphrasing)-what a farce-killing for politics! (my statement).  

And so, I see we have a group of idiots, branding Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, in the same pot about global economics. It's those 'slant-eyes' you know, just can't trust 'em.

GARBAGE-GARBAGE-GARBAGE-!!!! RACISTS-FASCISTS-RACISTS-!!!!!
BIGOTS-BIGOTS-BIGOTS-!!!!! AND I JUST BET THEY ARE WHITE!!!!!!

DON'T YOU PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS GET OUTRAGED THAT SOMEBODY (KARL ROVE) IS MAKING BAD FUN OF YOU????

INDEPENDENTS-INDEPENDENTS-INDEPENDENTS-!!!!!
CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS-CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS-CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS-!!!!!!SOMEBODY (KARL ROVE) IS MAKING FUN OF YOU????

BAD-BAD-BAD-!!!!!!!



Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 20:04:49 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:07:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] nothing
Message-ID: <20050625.200535.19388.232608@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


I have replied to a dozen topics and none are showing up for me.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sat Jun 25 19:12:04 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (HS)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:26:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Iran loser blasts 'illegal' poll
Message-ID: <20050626_021204_044090.harry.sifton@sympatico.ca>

HS saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
Gee, what a surprise!

** Iran loser blasts 'illegal' poll **
Defeated Iranian candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reacts angrily to his surprise loss to a hardline opponent.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4622955.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From swiggard at comcast.net  Sat Jun 25 19:08:57 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sat Jun 25 20:54:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Please sign this important petition
Message-ID: <33041036.1119751737296.JavaMail.SYSTEM@ksm2>

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From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 21:01:23 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 21:03:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] test
Message-ID: <20050625.210138.13413.231672@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>





Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 25 21:26:25 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 25 21:24:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity --  If you're not one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
Message-ID: <000701c57a07$37c8e680$6625b7d8@baby1>

The problem with Christianity --  If you're not one, you're doomed to Hell
forever



Christianity, as a RELIGION, remains one of the most BIGOTED religions I
have ever come across on Earth.

First, if you believe in words written thousands of years ago about a man
who lived thousands of years ago, treasures galore are hoarded up awaiting
you in Heaven.

Secondly, though, if you do NOT believe in words written thousands of years
ago about a man who lived thousands of years ago, Christianity's Holy Book
Itself condemns you to a burning eternity in the pits of Hell with no
reprieve.

It's THE religion of FEAR.

No wonder The Masses have been able to be so easily manipulated by those
throwing it at them daily from their childhood into their old age.

They're scared out of their fucking minds at the thought of burning in Hell
for the rest of Eternity.

Which is MOST LIKELY why a MAJORITY of The Masses who joined it joined the
Christian religion in the first place.

Out of FEAR.

Not because they were absolutely convinced that all the writings from
thousands of years ago about a man thousands of years ago were proved to
them Beyond A Shadow Of Doubt.

But, sadly, instead, they were Convinced that if they did NOT join
Christianity, again, they would burn in Hell for Eternity.

Some fucking choice, eh.........????

And even if they were Not Convinced, they at least thought, hey, we might as
well hedge our bets, besides, if we don't go to Church, nobody will buy
things in our store anymore.

Modern Christianity has turned into the armpits of a hog wallowing in the
mud slime.

And dragging anyone else they can get into it by presenting the rewards of
Heaven and Belief at the front, and then tacking on the Eternal Fires Of
Hell And Damnation casually on to the end of the entire pill.

And, again, hey, if it will improve my Business, I'm with you guys...!!,
remains the blasphemous cherry on the top of it All.

I, personally, still believe in being gracious? enough to support and
promote "Freedom Of Religion", here, there, and everywhere.

But after looking at "Christianity" for over a half a Century, the more I
look at it, the more it sounds like (other than some of the simpler
teachings of Jesus himself) one big pile of crap.

A religious weapon of Fear.

Join us, or As Our Holy Book Clearly Points Out, burn in Hell for the rest
of Eternity in dismal agony.

Again, great choice there.

Who could resist...?

Especially if they get you at 2, 3, or 4 years old, and work on you for the
rest of your life with the same lines, over and over and over and over and
over and over and over.

By the time you're 10, your soul already went out the window, and you're now
prepared to go out and perform all the robotic actions you have had drilled
into you forever, and spew forth all the words and dogma that has been
indoctrinated into since you were just about a baby.

Again, great choice there.

Hey, you stupid little 6 year olds there..!!  You wanna join us, or do you
want to burn in Hell for Eternity as your flesh rots off your bones but you
never die.....??

Come on, quick, choose.......!!!!

Great "choice".

And, remember, folks, in closing, if you do NOT choose to "Be One Of Us" in
our beliefs of words written thousands of years ago, you WILL rot and burn
in Hell for Eternity.

That's why A MAJORITY of ALL the people on Earth are condemned to rot and
burn in Hell forever.

At least that's what Christianity says.

That's why I, personally, will continue to sift through thousands of years
old "Holy Words" from various entities about various personages, and use
what I find actually "Good", rather than what people DEMAND I use and
Believe, and after half a Century have decided that I would rather be with
the squirrels, sparrows, and bugs, rather than sitting on a bench with a
Majority of Christians who currently reside in the back pockets of people
like Karl Rove whether they know it or not.

And that they got there in the first place because they were AFRAID, rather
than EXHALTED, they have already put out of their minds.

Permanently.

I don't really have anything against "Christians".

It's just that religions who base their religious bigotry and exclusion on
the Fear of "burning in Hell forever", and *automatically* condemn anyone
who Does Not Join Us And Believe by the Literal Texts of their actual Holy
Books, I just no longer can see the VIRTUE residing anywhere near them.

Such an "Automatic Condemnation" has, does, and will always be at the CRUX
of Christianity.

It's sitting right there in black and white in their Holy Book.

And now since so many of them are now moving ravenously into Politics,
Social Engineering, Education, You Name It, in their fierce mandated drive
to Theocratize all of America AND the World, I have even less respect for
them than I did when I finally woke up and realized the basis of their
religion was founded on exclusion, bigotry, and the ever-waiting fires of
Hell for all Non-Believers.

I have the same respect for them as I have for a rattlesnake.

But, unlike a rattlesnake, they have decided they wish to Rule The Roost,
over All Of Us, Forever, and the sad Fact that their own Holy Book
*mandates* that as their "Manifest Destiny", makes me regard them as just a
little bit more dangerous than any Texas Rattler I have ever come across.

Ok, I lied, they are NOW much more dangerous than any snake I have ever come
across.

I don't really like lying about a religion which with the left hand offers
you Salvation while with the right hand offers you The Burning Pits Of Hell
for eternity, so I had to correct that.

If there is ANY OTHER ****MORE**** condemning religion than Christianity in
the world today, one whose Holy Book actually condemns Any And All
Non-Believers to the fiery pits of Hell for Eternity, please, by all means,
put it up here so I can study it.





Cheeseburger

.


From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 25 21:30:56 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 25 21:29:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re:  Test from Lyle
Message-ID: <000d01c57a07$d8e3e1a0$6625b7d8@baby1>

Re:  Test from Lyle


I see all 26 posts from you, Lyle.  Don't know why you don't.  They're all
there, though.  Sometimes the List has a hiccup and Delays (not Tom) the
posts, sometimes for hours, but, NORMALLY, they wind up here.  There have
been a couple of occasions when I've had to repost something, it just didn't
make it for one reason or another, but that is normally a rare occassion.
Again, though, I see all your posts, you're coming through loud and clear.


Cheeseburger

.

From lyve at netzero.com  Sat Jun 25 21:38:00 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Sat Jun 25 21:39:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re:  Test from Lyle
Message-ID: <20050625.213819.13413.231798@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>


thanks -still not seeing it-like i'm in limbo-bad place to be, the world  might disappear and here i thought everything, except America was just fine...


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

-- "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net> wrote:
Re:  Test from Lyle


I see all 26 posts from you, Lyle.  Don't know why you don't.  They're all
there, though.  Sometimes the List has a hiccup and Delays (not Tom) the
posts, sometimes for hours, but, NORMALLY, they wind up here.  There have
been a couple of occasions when I've had to repost something, it just didn't
make it for one reason or another, but that is normally a rare occassion.
Again, though, I see all your posts, you're coming through loud and clear.


Cheeseburger

.

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sat Jun 25 21:59:54 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sat Jun 25 21:58:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Re: Test from Lyle
Message-ID: <001301c57a0b$e5936c00$6625b7d8@baby1>

Re: Test from Lyle



======
thanks -still not seeing it-like i'm in limbo-bad place to be, the world
might disappear and here i thought everything, except America was just
fine...
=======


Not a problem.  You may not be seeing it, but I see it.  As far as Limbo,
yes, a bad place to be, but I have put up some nice curtains, made a little
table, and placed a nice little rug on the floor, so it looks more and more
like Heaven each day.  :|   If the world disappears, however, I will send
you an email from wherever it sends me.   :)   Yeah, America is turning into
the armpit of an ancient Roman Caesar or something, 800 pounds overweight
sitting there being fed grapes by his concubines actually believing he's
still got it.

Funny as crap, heh.

I would like to ask you, and everyone, hehe, if you ever get a chance to
check it, please try to activate either Word Wrap or Margins in your posts,
as most of them, from a lot of people, I have to copy and paste into a word
processing program just to be able to read as they scale off my monitor in
their original form for a couple of feet to the right, lol.

Other than that, your posts are definitely coming through.  For a moment
there I had thought you might have just forgotten to turn on your monitor or
had taken the brown acid, hehehehe....   :)

As far as Karl Rove, he doesn't need therapy, he needs to get fist-f*cked
like he's been doing to America for the longest time now.

I read some opinions? here that maybe some of the out of their skulls
pissing on Democracy, Freedom, and Rights right-wingers were "deluding"
themselves or somesuch.

I'll have to continue to stand by my belief that ALL of these assholes know
EXACTLY what they are doing to both America, it's People, and the World.

As I sat, many many years ago, in Manhattan one night with a dear friend of
mine in the Village, we were talking about various things, and I brought up
the subject of the suffering in the world.

I asked him, look, there's me and you, we don't do such evil bad things, why
is the world so screwed up.

And he took another toke off his little pipe, handed it to me with a little
twinkle in his eye, and said, Look, Cheese, it's just this simple, there are
kind caring people like me and you in this world, and then there are just
tons of people who are simply put nothing more than bastards and bitches.

I believe him to this very moment in time.





Cheeseburger

.

From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Sat Jun 25 23:44:44 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Sat Jun 25 23:45:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] testing
Message-ID: <000801c57a1a$89e40e50$6e436c42@hotprojects>


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From jack at visit.ie  Sat Jun 25 10:31:24 2005
From: jack at visit.ie (Jack Sullivan)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:00:32 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China buys America
References: <20050624.211139.13413.224400@webmail23.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <049001c57a47$ac7829b0$2101a8c0@jack>

Lyle:

Re: Your China Syndrome 


Globalisation is the game that China is playing to its advantage!  Living outside America in Europe facilitates a view about China and America.

The WTO monitored world trade system wants Capital to be free as a primary principle of expanding the world economy -the theory of a bigger pie for everyone, so to speak.

When China purchased $350 bn of American bonds to finance the Iraqi expedition for Middle Eastern Democracy (or future access to oil - it is the same! ), China was like an institutional VC investing in something called Ebay. Then Ebay deal creates new jobs, market access for used goods, expanding value for shareholders, etc...the American way.

Now China needs mature manufacturing skillsets to expand its rather basic economy, create a stock exchange, etc. so it will purchase with its ever expanding capital, those entities that deliver the goods, jobs and economic value that can be enhanced by the cheap and still mostly enslaved labour that China offers the world's capitalists - all in a stable economic environment (unlike Africa's labour, bound in by chaos).

If America wants to foster its freedom to prowl the world to bring home the economic bacon to the NYSE, NASDAQ, then of the three components: Land, Labour and Capital (the troika of capitalist value creation),  American Labour is expendable by Companies to salvage Capital ...because Capital is fungible and Labour not nearly so.

But America is at the top of the food chain and its citizens no longer aspire to make appliances, and its capital is aimed at Research and hi-tech innovation.

Therefore, like a rusty Chevy truck can be more valued in Cuba than a SUV in California, obsolete companies in one market will migrate through capital exchange, to another market if people are less valuable and government able to bear the burden of company dislocation. 

It is hard to Imagine an economic system where people are more important than migrant capital...or a political system where people are equally important? 
In Europe, when a factory closes the company must pay the workers for their loss, a statutory redundancy payment and then some if the brand can not stand the heat from the protesting workers. Not so in the USA. Remember Michael Moore's first movie about interviewing Detroit's Mr Smith?

Capital Is King or is it?


American Democracy and Freedom is an euphemism to permit capital to wander over the world looking for opportunity. Capital plus cheap labour = profit and dividends for investors, bonus salaries for managers, less benefit for workers. Does anyone want to be a mere worker? Free Capital looks down on less valued workers like Tories look down on shop keepers.

In America, and in Europe, human values (civilisation) associated with work, loyalty to place and a lifetime spent in a Company is now really a global brand empowered to trade people for money in the world economy. That is the meaning of the GAP and NIKE, for example. 

Therefore under the WTO, when China amasses USA war bonds, it has the right to buy our obsolete manufacturers. 

Be not surprised that the patrician migrants of the 17th century (Bush ancestors) who as venturers in the first capitalist companies from England to Maine, became the oil cowboys who left Maine for Texas. 

As economic migrants and entrepreneurs, they know well the system. First out of England for New England seeking freedom.  Freedom being defined in practice, even then, as low (no) taxation, free movement of capital, domination of native people, guns and ultimately, butter). Then as life became swollen,  descendents migrated again to Texas - keeping the family symbol of their patrician pedigree. Then, like the nobles of England they begat themselves out of the nitty gritty of Texas oil drilling into modern, network politics as crafty policy makers for the American global company - with all its unique features (Think about the way Enron operated along with Merrill Lynch, the law firms, the accountants, the SEC as sleeping watchdog) 

(JW Bush once said, " The problem with the French is they do not have a word for entrepreneur.")

It is the American way: Give us your poor...to work for opportunity - and plenty of opportunity exists - but you must be willing to sacrifice - your time to work longer days and play golf with customers- unless you are at the top of those companies. Remember Willie Loman - the American way! ... to the detriment of life's true meaning to be enjoyed with a wife and sweet children. Even since the "pill" in 1960 the control of female fertility for consumer values, changes the size of our family...essentially for predictable economic efficiency. Shall I talk about old people in America? 

What the Country needs now is a tax cut!

All the good things in life are traded for equity, capital accumulation that is too easily handed over to intermediary managers who under a brand of trustworthiness, homogenise our investments to yield a percentage of growth. In France the country takes August to relax, in Ireland we take a month to enjoy Christmas...the national fascination with horses, horse racing, women in hats and fine dresses at the race meet...hounds and hunting ...mulled wine for all to share... those on the ground watching and those in the saddle. Who can smell the roses in a Capitalist society like America? 

The recent resistance by many of the founding countries of the EU to the adoption of the new EU constitution involve these ideas that I am sketching here and putting into play for Civic to debate. 

Free citizens in a democracy want to guard their culture and their money. They need less capital if it comes at a cost to an established lifestyle. Tony Blair is now starting to articulate the middle ground, and as President of Europe for the next six months, let us listen carefully to what he says. However, he expanded his family to a fourth child while in #10 Downing Street. Yet everyone knows he is strapped for cash - like Clinton - having spent his time in public service and discourse.

America's best advocate in Europe acknowledges the unstoppable power of Globalisation. He is warning Europe that India and China will dominate the marketplace in this century. Europe must be unified or become the new Detroit, a rust belt of obsolescence. 

America will be the only Superpower...but its military might is a Trojan horse...every time it borrows money to express itself outside its own boundaries, America empowers its economic competitor... Is it the best that the world can do at this historical juncture?

Two Contentious Points:

The last Pope, an accomplished, academic (in addition to his religious interests) wearing his political hat joined an allegiance against Communism and broke its back. 

Wearing his economic hat, he suggested that American style Capitalism values to its detriment, Capital over Labour. A Consumer society is like eating sugar.

His recipe for economic freedom is for democratic governments to regulate better the relationship among the troika of Land, Labour and Capital - to keep Labour in first place or it invites a Culture of Death to pervade its civilisation.

The China Syndrome is about Globalisation; and so is the fundamentalist Islamic reaction to interest bearing relationships. 

God Bless.

Dublin jack




----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: harry.sifton@sympatico.ca ; mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 5:10 AM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] China buys America


  China is posed to overtake the American economy by being more American the America. Clearly, this is disguised as a friendly merger, but what lies at the heart is planning.

  America plans out as far as 15 to 20 years. China plans 50 to 100 year strategic maneuvers. It is now exercising it's plan.

  The article states that we Americans are worried about our supply of oil but it is not the American people that cry out, it is those monsters that need a growing supply chain to feed its appetite. The Corporations are not American any more than China's gain is for its people.

  Though these corporations have incorporated in the U.S., their interest lie with their lusting, greed-driven shareholders. Collectively, none of them give a damn about the America you and I care about. The drive to produce oil by drilling, mergers, providing services; including military-commandos-soldiers of fortunes to guard the oil interests while our own government spins a tale about how such-n-such is a bad dictator or some similar story, is getting very old. By now WE THE PEOPLE should have already seen the obvious.

  All the pipelines that have already been built from up North-near the Russian border, through Afghanistan and more coming elsewhere, is a testament for greed.

  So, why shouldn't China buy up any American MNC (doing global) business-this is the strategy, the vision, finally THE tactical move to control and own the World....Slow, methodical, & patient cultivation of American trust is planned by the China strategy.

  We now have our own 'turn-coat' Senators saying Bush wants this and we should do it-blah, blah, blah. Guess what you ignorant political ideologs, you are now China's prisoners...and NOT a shot has been fired on either side----oh, I take that back; China downed our spy craft-gave it back too us in pieces. 

  Am I unpatriotic or realistic, because people like me proclaim the Communist Nation as the winner?! You decide-How about that!  


  Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
  http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Opps, the commies are at the front door and they have money. 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062300321_pf.html

  America's enemy has no debt, manufactures a significant percentage of American consumer goods, holds a serious percentage of US treasury bills/bonds and a lot of US real estate.. So who won the cold war? Now China is buying American energy companies. 

  China has one problem, serious accounting issues and no concern/reverence for International Law. 
  Yet it has a lot of American cash and America is for sale! 

  A certain small/tiny group of Americans may/will capitalize on this, most won't, but it is the system that America created and is now faced with!.

  The wake up call is already there, and Bush is distracting Americans with terrorism and war ........ until his tenure is up and his buddies have pocketfuls of monies. His kind are of the now generation, no thought as to the future, just now power and no concern with the legacy of the future communities domestic/global survival.
  And Rice, she just loves her gig(power), her knowledge/thoughts are all wrong, but she has cart blanche as to promoting the American Way!

  Later H






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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 04:59:49 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:00:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Viruses,
	Security Issues Undermine Internet - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE98B5.7000308@comcast.net>

Viruses, Security Issues Undermine Internet
Experts Contemplate New Version

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page A01

DENVER -- E-mails were flooding in from all over the country. Something 
strange was going on with the Internet, alarmed computer users wrote. 
Google, eBay and other big sites had suddenly disappeared. Kyle 
Haugsness scanned the reports and entered crisis mode.

Part of the Internet was broken. For the 76th time that week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/25/AR2005062501284.html?referrer=email
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:01:11 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:02:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Censoring Science Won't Make Us Any Safer - Washington
	Post
Message-ID: <42BE9907.7090405@comcast.net>

Censoring Science Won't Make Us Any Safer

By Laura K. Donohue

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page B05

In 1920, the Irish Republican Army reportedly considered a terrifying 
new weapon: typhoid-contaminated milk. Reading from an IRA memo he 
claimed had been captured in a recent raid, Sir Hamar Greenwood 
described to Parliament the ease with which "fresh and virulent 
cultures" could be obtained and introduced into milk served to British 
soldiers. Although the plot would only target the military, the memo 
expressed concern that the disease might spread to the general population.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/25/AR2005062500077.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:02:23 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:03:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pentagon Creating Student Database - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE994F.2070603@comcast.net>

Pentagon Creating Student Database
Recruiting Tool For Military Raises Privacy Concerns

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01

The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing 
firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all 
college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a 
time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new 
database will include personal information including birth dates, Social 
Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and 
what subjects the students are studying.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202305.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:03:47 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:04:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rove Taking a More Public Role - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE99A3.6000301@comcast.net>

Rove Taking a More Public Role
Bush Adviser Playing Messenger for Second-Term Agenda

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page A01

He has risen to the highest ranks of the White House, carries the title 
of deputy chief of staff and presides over a broad portfolio of domestic 
and foreign issues. But even as he has morphed from political operative 
to policy adviser, Karl Rove retains the instincts of the direct-mail 
specialist he once was in Texas.

The verbal strike he aimed at liberals and liberalism during a speech to 
the New York Conservative Party on Wednesday night came straight out of 
the direct-mail manual: pithy, provocative and designed to energize one 
side by torching the other.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/25/AR2005062501279.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:05:46 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:06:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Activism, Ripe for The Takings
Message-ID: <42BE9A1A.8020405@comcast.net>

Activism, Ripe for The Takings

By Michael Kinsley

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page B07

The "takings" clause of the Fifth Amendment is for conservatives what 
the equal protection clause of the 14th is for liberals. It wouldn't be 
fair to say that conservatives cherish property the way liberals cherish 
equality. But it would be fair to say that the takings clause is the 
conservatives' recipe for judicial activism -- imposing their agenda 
through the courts rather than bothering with democracy -- just as they 
say liberals have misused the equal protection clause.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401461.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:07:45 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:08:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Finding Our Next Army - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE9A91.7030801@comcast.net>

Finding Our Next Army
Time to Reconsider the Incentives, the Mission and the Standards

By Charles A. Krohn

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page B07

The Army's recruiting shortfalls have put the future of the 
all-volunteer armed forces in jeopardy. Pressure is mounting in the 
Pentagon -- and perhaps on the Pentagon -- to put a happy face on its 
failure to achieve the needed enlistments for the Army and, to a lesser 
extent, the Marine Corps. The Army fell short of April recruiting 
objectives by 42 percent.

Three questions arise:

? Can the all-volunteer force survive a sustained and unpopular war, 
regardless of who sits in the White House?

? Will quantity in recruiting become a silent substitute for quality, 
leading to what is often referred to as a "hollow army?"

? Were serious flaws built into the system more than three decades ago 
when the Gates Commission (named for its chairman, Thomas Gates) issued 
its report on creation of an all-volunteer armed forces?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401464.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:10:53 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:11:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] A Social Security Plan to Talk About - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE9B4D.5030903@comcast.net>

A Social Security Plan to Talk About

By David S. Broder

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page B07

Congressional Republicans have come forward with two new ideas to break 
the impasse in the Social Security debate. One is a red herring, 
deserving of the scorn with which Democrats greeted it. The other could 
be the real thing -- if Democrats were willing to engage for the first 
time this year in a serious effort to save the great New Deal program 
for future generations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401462.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:13:09 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:14:02 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Schroeder's Goldilocks Moment - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BE9BD5.7020904@comcast.net>

Schroeder's Goldilocks Moment

By Jim Hoagland

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Page B07

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visits the White House tomorrow in 
search of a badly needed Goldilocks moment: He will not want to be too 
cool, and certainly not too warm, with President Bush.

Their appointment is straight out of a fairy tale rewritten by the 
Devil. Schroeder arrives under the shadow of a political death sentence 
from Germany's irate electorate. All major polls show that his Social 
Democrats will lose decisively in the early national election that is 
likely to be held on Sept. 18.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401465.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Sun Jun 26 05:15:37 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:16:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] GOP rift looms over high court nominations - The Boston
	Globe 
Message-ID: <42BE9C69.3090508@comcast.net>

GOP rift looms over high court nominations
Some want evangelicals to keep quiet during fight

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff  |  June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- As liberals and conservatives gear up for a 
multimillion-dollar battle over a potential Supreme Court vacancy, a 
growing divide on the right threatens the unity of President Bush's 
coalition: Conservative legal scholars want their evangelical allies to 
keep quiet and take a back seat in any nomination battle.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/26/gop_rift_looms_over_high_court_nominations/
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 05:47:19 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:47:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Observer: Mucho chores for macho men with Spain's
	new law
Message-ID: <20050626124719.2C9037D78@herring.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Mucho chores for macho men with Spain's new law
Dale Fuchs in Madrid
Sunday June 26 2005
The Observer


Valentin Lopez is lucky he got married in time. The hospital worker says he shares the housework with his wife, but he gropes for examples. 'Well, I clear the dinner table, I wash the dishes and every now and then I make the bed,' he concludes sheepishly. 

Were he to marry this summer, L&#243;pez, 45, would need to learn how to iron quickly. Under a reformed civil code, marriage contracts in Spain will include a pledge to share housework, child rearing and care for the elders.  

'It's a symbolic gesture, but it sends a message,' said Margarita Ur&#237;a, the parliamentarian who pushed for the change. 'This isn't about arguing "I ironed two shirts, you ironed one shirt".'  

The new clause is expected to win final passage in the Spanish Senate this week - oddly, as part a sweeping reform of the country's divorce law.  

Soon couples who opt for a civil wedding will also say 'I do' to an equal partnership in washing socks, picking up the children from school and taking mothers-in-law to the doctor, jobs that usually fall to women.   

The average Spanish man spends only 44 minutes a day on housework and 51 minutes on child care, a recent survey by the Labour Ministry's Institute of Women showed. Their wives spend nearly six hours.  

Standing outside the Civil Registry, bride Conchi Redonda, 24, counts her blessings. Her bridegroom, Pablo Calvache, 30, often cooks, cleans the house and takes their three-year-old to school whenever he can, even though she does not work outside the home. '  

'I hit the lottery,' she said. 'All my friends say how lucky I am.'  

Soon men such as Calvache may not be so rare. 'I know many couples in which the men have required a paradigm shift and they've risen to the occasion,' said couples' counsellor Claire Jasinski. Spanish men, she said, often expect to play a small role in child-rearing and are often 'cranky' when they discover they will not come home to 'bathed children, slippers and a Martini.'  

But most adapt - even if they end up 'making all the clothes pink' by washing whites with colours.  

The new marriage clause is only the latest scheme to coax Spanish men into pushing a vacuum. In 2002, the Madrid district of Barajas published a Manual for Housewives-Househusbands with advice on delicate problems such as how to turn on the washing machine. That same year another district in suburban Madrid organised a survival skills workshop for men, which attracted a dozen elderly and middle-aged divorc&#233;s, but no newlyweds.  

The government even spent &euro;1.7 million (&#163;1.1m) on a humourous campaign in 2003 to raise awareness of the problem. The slogan: 'Of course you know how to clean. Why don't you do it?'  

Machismo isn't the only reason. Some people blame the workforce, in which job-sharing is rare and bosses rarely grant flexible working hours. Others blame an older generation of mothers who failed to teach their sons to boil an egg.  

Another obstacle is the fact that many men do not leave home until their late twenties or even thirties because of high youth unemployment. When they finally land a steady job, they shuttle from their mother's kitchen to their girlfriend's.  

Then, of course, there is laziness. 'I know someone who is 33 years old and lives on his own, but he still takes his dirty laundry to his mother's house,' said Almundena Zurita, 28.  

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 05:53:28 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 26 05:53:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Observer: Most wanted: doctor death
Message-ID: <20050626125328.C0B5576CE@herring.gul3.gnl>

harry spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Most wanted: doctor death
Ten years after Radovan Karadzic's troops killed 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, the former Serb leader remains at large. In this remarkable report from the heart of Bosnia, Antony Barnett goes on the trail of Europe's most notorious war criminal
Antony Barnet
Sunday June 26 2005
The Observer


What strikes you first is the colour of the house. As you drive along the bumpy stone road that leads to the family home of Dr Radovan Karadzic, Europe's most wanted war criminal, its garish pink exterior bursts out in front of you. But despite its bright facade, it is a house that hides many dark secrets. 

On Monday 11 July it will be 10 years since Karadzic's Bosnian Serb soldiers marched into the United Nations safe haven at Srebrenica and slaughtered more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. Yet Karadzic, the chief architect of this massacre - as well as the mastermind of the 1,000-day siege of Sarajevo that saw 10,000 civilians killed, 1,000 of them children - remains a free man.  

Despite a $5 million (&#163;2.7m) bounty on his head, Karadzic is a fugitive. Protected by a secret underground network made up of politicians, criminals, spies, businessmen and priests from the Orthodox church, Karadzic - a psychiatrist, children's author and poet in another life - is believed to be hiding in the mountains of eastern Bosnia close to the border with Montenegro.   

His liberty remains a major embarrassment to the international community and an open sore in a country where 200,000 people were killed in a bitter ethnic war between Serb, Muslims and Croats. There can be no healing until Karadzic faces justice.  

A decade after Srebenica and his indictment at The Hague, The Observer set out on a journey to reveal the network built to hide a man accused of committing the worst atrocities witnessed in Europe since the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.  

Karadzic's pink family home is the obvious place to start. It stands on the outskirts of a town called Pale, cradled in the Bosnian mountains. Before the war in 1992 it was a ski village 10 miles south east of Sarajevo. Today it is the capital of the Republic of Sprska (pronounced Serbska), the semi-autonomous region of Bosnia that the Serbs like to call their own. It is a state within a state, where Karadzic's nationalist Serbian Democratic Party (SDP) still holds considerable power and is linked to an organised crime network run by Serb former paramilitary leaders and war criminals loyal to him. Most towns and villages there were ethnically cleansed, with Muslim communities expelled or exterminated. Mosques came down, Orthodox Serb churches went up.  

Pale was a Karadzic stronghold in the war. It was from the Panorama hotel in the town centre that Karadzic and his cronies planned their brutal campaign. It takes only a few minutes to drive from the hotel to the Karadzic home.  

As I arrive at the house the front door opens. None of the three people standing by the hall, who are thought to be part of Karadzic's extended family, will be interviewed, nor answer questions asked through the locked iron security gate. 'Have you seen Radovan? Where do you think he is? Can I speak to his wife Ljiljana? Has she seen him recently?'  

All the questions are greeted with silence. After a while a tall, broad-shouldered man with closely-shaved dark hair, believed to be Karadzic's brother-in-law, comes to the gate and says they cannot help us. Karadzic's wife is not here. She is at another property, painting it after it was wrecked during a raid by Nato troops searching for clues to the whereabouts of her husband.  

The next-door neighbours watch nervously from their first floor balcony. They too refuse to answer questions. A man in a scruffy red polo shirt with a walkie-talkie in hand comes over to ask for my ID papers. I ask for his. He claims he is with the Republic of Sprska police. He asks us to leave. I have doubts about the authenticity of his own ID, but decide to head into the centre of Pale.  

Love letters from 'Radovan' to his beloved wife 'Lili', dated 2002, have recently been published showing that these two psychiatrists, who fell in love at medical school in Sarajevo, have met at a secret location. In one letter Karadzic tells his wife it would 'take a battalion' to discover his hiding place ... Of course, caution is necessary but there is not need of such fear and paranoia.'  

His apparent lack of concern appears well founded. Despite being, like Osama bin Laden, one of the world's most wanted men and hiding in a country as small as Wales, the commitment to capture him by the 7,000 overseas troops still in Bosnia seems questionable. The French are regularly accused of being 'too close' to the Karadzic network, and even the British seem reticent.  

One British officer serving in Bosnia, alluding to the fact that any attempt to snatch Karadzic is likely to lead to a shoot-out, said: 'If you think we would risk the life of one British soldier for these people, then you're wrong.'  

This month - a week after a remarkable video appeared revealing the horror of the massacre in Srebrenica - Karadzic's brother, Luka, said: 'My brother has made a strategic decision to never surrender to the Hague Tribunal [set up try those accused of war crimes]. If he surrendered he would betray his people and God, which has protected him from the enemies for so long.'  

To those hunting the so-called Butcher of Bosnia, these people make a web of clandestine supporters who form a protective financial and spiritual cloak around Karadzic that keeps him free. Such is their influence that one source claims trackers sent from The Hague to find Karadzic are sometimes spotted as arriving at Sarajevo airport and put under surveillance. Information is fed to Karadzic's army of bodyguards, who can move him at short notice should one of these investigators get a lucky break.  

To these supporters Karadzic is a folk hero, a leader who helped protect them from the Muslim hordes. They inhabit a closed world, hostile to outsiders and suspicious of questions.  

An orthodox priest, Father Jeremija Starovlah, gets up from his chair when he sees me approaching. His short silver hair and beard offer a striking contrast to his traditional black robes. The small, pretty white church that he runs is in the centre of Pale, a short drive from the Karadzic home.  

A local newspaper reported last March that Starovlah was calling on Orthodox believers to shelter Karadzic. A few weeks later the international authorities said they had intelligence suggesting Karadzic was staying with the priest. Nato forces raided Starovlah's home, blowing up his front door and injuring his son. Karadzic was not found.  

The raid provoked street protests by more than 2,000 Bosnian Serbs. Some wore masks of Karadzic while others waved the blue, red and white flags of the Republic of Sprska.  

Now Starovlah refuses to speak or answer any questions. 'Has Karadzic been here?' I ask. 'Do you regard him as a hero? Where do you think he is now? Should he go to the Hague?' He says only: 'I have no comment to make. I do not wish to speak about this.'  

Starovlah shows no desire to set the record straight. This is a priest in the Bosnian Serb capital, who is close to the Karadzic family. And in the Republic of Sprska, family secrets are closely guarded.  

One of the most shocking parts of a recent film of Srebenica, showing six Muslims being bound and shot at close range, was that it began with a Serb Orthodox priest blessing the camouflaged paramilitary troops who carried out the massacre. Rumours persist that Karadzic is disguised as a priest and moving from monastery to monastery.  

As well as the church in Pale, intelligence agencies have monitored phone calls that disclose he has hidden in the isolated mountain monastery of Ostrog. Karadzic's grandson was christened there. According to a diplomatic source it is estimated that Karadzic spends 80 per cent of his time in church property. The source says it is not a coincidence that since the war dozens of new Orthodox churches have been built at a cost of millions of pounds. It is alleged that most of this money comes from the same illicit sources that provide the funds to protect Karadzic.  

Yet while the church may offer Karadzic spiritual and physical sanctuary, an altogether more criminal network funds the $200,000 a month operation to protect the 'Doctor in the Forest'.  

Milovan Bjelica is waiting for me outside Cafe Iceberg in the town of Sokolac, a 45-minute drive from Sarajevo. Smoking a Malboro and drinking an espresso he beckons us over with his steel-blue eyes. A disfigured right hand hangs loosely by his side.  

Nato arrested Bjelica twice last year, detaining him for a month at a time. Armed troops swooped on the town last August and questioned him for more than two hours a day for a whole month. They had heard he had gone to Belgrade and accused him of meeting supporters of Karadzic. Bjelica claims he was there to have surgery.  

Bjelica has been accused by the US State Department and the European Union of funnelling money to the Karadzic network and running the security and intelligence units that guard him. His name is on the US list of international terrorists and he is banned from travelling to any EU country.  

In March 2003 the US government described him as a 'long-time friend and business associate of Karadzic, &#91;who&#93; presides over a network of legal and illegal businesses that are also used to provide for the protection of Karadzic'.  

Bjelica denies all this but there is no doubt he is a supporter of Karadzic and was a powerful figure in his Serbian Democratic Party. Bjelica was the party president in eastern Bosnia during the war and spent time with Karadzic.  

Bjelica has agreed to meet us because he wants to ensure I understand that many Serbs were killed in the war and suffered Muslim ethnic cleansing. He takes my notebook and draws a sketch of Sarajevo, pointing out areas where he claims 5,000 Serbs were killed.  

Bjelica has seen the video of Srebenica and thought it was 'terrible'. But he claims there are films of the Bosnian Muslims, or mujahideen, as he calls them, beheading Serbs. 'Why is that not shown on your TV?' he says.  

Like many of Karadzic's closest allies, he believes their leader 'signed a contract' with Richard Holbrooke, President Bill Clinton's chief adviser during the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995 that ended the war. This stipulated that if Karadzic disappeared from frontline politics he would not be arrested.  

'To over 90 per cent of Bosnian Serbs he is a hero,' says Bjelica. 'He protected the Serbian people during the war.'  

So where does Bjelica, whose nickname 'Cicko' means pussycat, think his friend is hiding? He shrugs. Stubbing out his cigarette, he gets up from the table, shakes my hand and leaves.  

The centre Sarajevo is a long way from the corridors of Westminster, but the heated complexity of Bosnian politics makes the hurly-burly of the House of Commons seem tame. Yet it is the former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, who, as the High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia, has overall responsibility for stability in the region. As part of Lord Ashdown's brief, the capture of Karadzic and other war criminals such as General Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander, is pivotal.  

'You can't have peace without justice,' says Ashdown. 'And only after that you can get to reconciliation. This can only happen when the major architects of these crimes are brought to justice.'  

His office sits on the former front line of the Sarajevo's bloody battle, and the surrounding buildings are pockmarked with bullet holes. The former Bosnian parliament building across the street remains a burnt-out wreck, a vivid reminder of the horrors faced by civilians in the siege of the city that was inspired by Karadzic. It was largely Serbian sniper bullets and shells that rained down from the surrounding mountains killing those queuing for bread or buying fruit in the main street market.  

So why, 10 years on, has Karadzic not been found? 'Catching war criminals is a campaign, not a commando raid,' says Ashdown. 'It requires changing the political climate, attacking corrupt networks, removing the money he uses to fund himself. It requires isolation by taking out lower-level war criminals. Then we have a better change of catching him.' Ashdown describes Karadzic as 'the head of a vast criminal organisation' that thrives on corruption and extortion. Visits are paid to businessmen from dark forces who ask for contributions for the 'doctor in the forest'. These organised crime networks make vast sums from smuggling drugs, petrol and tobacco as well as trafficking young girls for the sex trade.  

Ashdown's office has carried out investigative audits on many of the state-owned companies, such as the electricity firm Electroprivreda and discovered tens of millions of dollars missing.  

'We have just carried out an audit of Sprske Sume, the Serb forestry organisation, and found it riddled with political backhanders just siphoned out of the system. This is public money just disappearing into political parties such as the SDS. From there siphoning it to Karadzic is not a difficult thing to do.'  

Ashdown's office believes that one of the key 'bankers' to Karadzic's network is Momcilo Mandic, a former minister who commanded Karadzic's police force. Mandic has made a fortune from running petrol stations, a bank and other businesses. Like Bjelica he is on a number of international blacklists but lives freely in Belgrade. The US has described him as a 'major funding source for Karadzic through his control of an elaborate network of criminal enterprises engaged in embezzlement, business fraud and fictitious loans'. He too has denied the claims.  

Another Bosnian Serb accused of providing money for the Karadzic network is Radomir Kojic, who is also on the US terrorist list and banned from travelling. Last month an Observer investigation discovered that his mine-clearing company, Unipak, won many lucrative contracts from foreign governments including six from the UK Department for International Development. Kojic, a wartime Serb commander in the hills around Sarajevo, rejects the claims, saying his he is the victim of false rumours spread by business rivals who have provided no evidence of wrongdoing.  

Meeting us outside his hotel in the ski resort of Jahorina, where Sarajevo's Winter Olympics was held in 1984, he claims his business now faces ruin. 'It is better for my family if I kill myself,' Kojic says. He does, however, admit he was a member of Karadzic's party in 1990 and the property developer who built Karadzic's family home in Pale. The pink house, it seems, is never far from the centre from the story.   

They call the area the heart of darkness. The geographical triangle created by the towns of Visegrad, Cajnice and Foca in the Republic of Sprska in the far east of Bosnia is indeed a cold, dark place. But these are not adjectives used to describe the region's physical appearance. It is rich in natural beauty, with the majestic River Drina snaking its way through the glorious pine forests in the valley as the peaks of the Zelengora mountains tower above.  

The chill comes from the history that swept across the nearby borders of Serbia and Montenegro and whipped up a storm of ethnic hatred that brutalised a generation. It remains a hotbed of fervent Serb nationalism where some of the worst genocidal crimes of the Bosnian war were committed. Ten years ago it was not dead branches from the pine trees that the Drina carried in its fast-flowing, but the bodies of hundreds of butchered Muslims that were swept along in its bloodstained water.  

It is among these mountains and remote villages of his loyal supporters that many believe Karadzic is hiding. It is close enough to the porous borders of Montenegro, the country of Karadzic's birth, that the 'Doctor from the Forest' can easily slip through out of the clutches of Nato and European Union forces.  

At the apex of the triangle is Foca, a place renowned for harbouring war criminals. Before the war more than half of the town's 40,000 population was Muslim, now there are none. Rape, torture and murder changed that.  

Today the centre of Foca is a scene of normality. Teenagers wearing fashion able sunglasses sip beer and smoke cigarettes at cafes overlooking the river while rock music pumps from the speakers. At Cafe Uno, a group of four older men sit around a table eating the traditional local Bosnian dish of cevapi, small sausages made of lamb and beef.  

I ask if they will talk about Karadzic. At first nobody wants to speak. 'We don't want to talk about politics,' said one. 'Do you think of him as a hero or a war criminal?' I ask. After a pause, one of them, a chubby man with curly hair, barks: 'A hero, of course. He protected us.'  

The oldest in the group, with a moustache and fine grey hair, then takes over. He snarls: 'You English and Americans, you know where he is. You are protecting him. If you wanted to arrest him you could.' The others around the table nod in agreement. They want us to leave.  

As I start driving high into the mountains towards the Montenegro border, it becomes increasingly clear why it has been so difficult to catch Karadzic. Not only is he among people who view in him as one of a long line of Serb heroes who have fought off foreign invaders. But the terrain itself is almost impassable in a normal car. The roads are practically dirt tracks and wind their way up steep mountainous slopes that rise into the clouds. If Karadzic was hiding anywhere here, his security people would see anybody coming from miles away.  

As I leave Foca and head back to Sarajevo there is a sign for Niksic, the home town of Karadzic's mother, which is 105km east in Montenegro. As I drive on, three young boys coming from a game of football pass by. They raise their hands in the infamous three-fingered salute of Serb nationalists. 



Fugitives from justice



 General Ratko Mladic    Mladic was commander of Serbian troops in Bosnia during the war. Along with Karadzic he is charged with genocide for ordering the massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo in which 10,000 civilians were killed. He is blamed for abetting the 'systematic' campaign of sniping at civilians in the city over the past three years and for the seizure and use as human shields of 284 UN peacekeepers in May and June 1995. He is accused of shelling the towns of Tuzla and Srebrenica 'in order to kill, terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilian population'. Aged 50. 

    

Ante Gotovina A Croatian, he is the Hague tribunal's third most wanted man. He is accused of the murder of hundreds of Serbs. Aged 49.  

    

Milan LukicThe notorious leader of the White Eagles paramilitary group, he is accused of masterminding the massacre of thousands of Muslims in the eastern Bosnian town of Visregrad. Many were burned alive. Women and children were forced across the bridge over the River Drina and shot. Thousands of local men were killed elsewhere. Aged 38.  

    

Dragan Zelenovic Zelenovic is charged with organising the mass rape and torture of Muslim women in the Bosnian town of Foca. Aged 44. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 06:49:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 06:49:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: A Glide Path to Ruin
Message-ID: <20050626134913.42CED9FC38@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 26, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: A Glide Path to Ruin
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
The biggest risk we Americans face to our way of life may come from this administration's fiscal recklessness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/opinion/26kristof.html?ex=1120449600&en=23495ba5cead82af&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 06:49:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 06:50:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Armstrong Williams NewsHour
Message-ID: <20050626134913.506FA24AE97@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 26, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: The Armstrong Williams NewsHour
By FRANK RICH
The intent of the right's new assault on public broadcasting is not to kill off PBS and NPR but to quietly annex them into the state propaganda machine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/opinion/26rich.html?ex=1120449600&en=2f865f01fb8c2401&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 06:54:58 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 06:55:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Liberals, Conservatives and Aid
Message-ID: <20050626135458.3ED5E11F863@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 26, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Liberals, Conservatives and Aid
By DAVID BROOKS
Grand plans alone will not end poverty.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/opinion/26brooks.html?ex=1120449600&en=d9032a59c787edfc&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 06:55:36 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 06:55:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Our Right to Dissent Is Part of the Flag (2
	Letters)
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What we're saying...


OPINION | June 26, 2005
Our Right to Dissent Is Part of the Flag (2 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/opinion/l26flag.html?ex=1120449600&en=1c89ae163398e60c&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:06:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:06:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Florida County Ending Official Support of
	Gay Events
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NATIONAL | June 26, 2005
Florida County Ending Official Support of Gay Events
By LYNN WADDELL
The policy directs Hillsborough County to "abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating" in gay pride recognition or events.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/national/26pride.html?ex=1120449600&en=2eb6ea639a3a44b5&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:06:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:06:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: For Months,
	Agriculture Department Delayed Announcing Result of Mad Cow Test
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NATIONAL | June 26, 2005
For Months, Agriculture Department Delayed Announcing Result of Mad Cow Test
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
The delay seems to underscore criticism that there are serious and systemic problems in the way the Agriculture Department tests animals for mad cow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/national/26beef.html?ex=1120449600&en=295cee49a7d7509f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:09:32 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:09:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Panhandling Proposal Stirs Race Debate
Message-ID: <20050626140932.EA004A1005@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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NATIONAL | June 26, 2005
Panhandling Proposal Stirs Race Debate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Activists in Atlanta have likened the ban to the "Negro removal" policy that they say white downtown business elites pursued in the 1950's.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/national/26atlanta.html?ex=1120449600&en=a3aefb55da2981b2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:10:12 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:10:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Endangered Species Act Faces Broad New
	Challenges
Message-ID: <20050626141012.5988311F7FD@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

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Well what do you know...the Endangered Species Act is an endangered species...


WASHINGTON | June 26, 2005
Endangered Species Act Faces Broad New Challenges
By FELICITY BARRINGER
The landmark Endangered Species Act is facing the most intense efforts ever by the White House, Congress, landowners and industry to limit its reach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/politics/26species.html?ex=1120449600&en=57e0c309e9303f8f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 07:28:42 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:29:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Safer Vehicles for Soldiers: A Tale of
	Delays and Glitches
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INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 26, 2005
Safer Vehicles for Soldiers: A Tale of Delays and Glitches
By MICHAEL MOSS
Efforts by U.S. military units to obtain large numbers of vehicles designed specifically to withstand large-scale attacks have faltered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/international/middleeast/26armor.html?ex=1120449600&en=3702d808db2cfc28&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:39:51 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:40:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: 'South Park Conservatives': Bullying
	Liberals Back
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BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW | June 26, 2005
'South Park Conservatives': Bullying Liberals Back
By LIESL SCHILLINGER
Brian C. Anderson rejoices in the the rise of antielitist right-wing thought.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/books/review/26SCHILLI.html?ex=1120449600&en=d752f164bc7a7967&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 07:40:05 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 07:40:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: 'King of the Hill' Democrats?
Message-ID: <20050626144005.B7347A0FD2@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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MAGAZINE | June 26, 2005
The Way We Live Now: 'King of the Hill' Democrats?
By MATT BAI
What an animated sitcom can teach progressives about red-state voters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/magazine/26WWLN.html?ex=1120449600&en=47a1a2ad7fcd47cb&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 08:28:26 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 08:28:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Race to Alaska Before It Melts
Message-ID: <20050626152826.EE9E613B73A@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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TRAVEL | June 26, 2005
The Race to Alaska Before It Melts
By TIMOTHY EGAN
Is the state's icy beauty under threat from global warming? Many tourists aren't waiting to find out.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/travel/26alaska.html?ex=1120449600&en=6f8750898ee6f872&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 08:29:41 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 08:30:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: On the Right Side of the Theater Aisle
Message-ID: <20050626152941.4F3B7A0FFE@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

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MOVIES | June 26, 2005
On the Right Side of the Theater Aisle
By JAMES ULMER
A new wave of conservative documentarians intend to clean the media with films that promote godliness, Pax Americana and its own view of family values.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/movies/26ulme.html?ex=1120449600&en=50159b083ac6c97f&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 26 09:31:34 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:32:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: China says no to yuan revaluation
Message-ID: <20050626_163134_080523.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** China says no to yuan revaluation **
China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao says he will not speed up the flotation of the Chinese currency, the yuan.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4623435.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 26 09:34:08 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:34:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Iran to maintain nuclear policy
Message-ID: <20050626_163408_076074.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Iran to maintain nuclear policy **
Iran's newly elected hardline president says his government will carry on with the country's nuclear programme.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4624193.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 26 09:34:55 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:35:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Diamond Giant De Beers Opens First U.S. Store Amid
	Protests Over Eviction of Bushmen in Botswana
Message-ID: <20050626163455.28855.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Diamond Giant De Beers Opens First U.S. Store Amid Protests Over Eviction of Bushmen in Botswana
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/23/1358230
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


Diamond giant De Beers celebrated the opening of its first retail store in the United States amid protests decrying the company's involvement in the eviction of the San Bushmen in Botswana. We speak to the Bushmen organization First People of the Kalahari, rights group Survival International, feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem, and a De Beers consultant. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/23/1358230

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 26 09:35:23 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:35:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Indian Leaders Offer to Settle Largest Class Action
	Lawsuit Against Federal Government in U.S. History
Message-ID: <20050626163523.28872.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Indian Leaders Offer to Settle Largest Class Action Lawsuit Against Federal Government in U.S. History
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1349201
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


Prominent Native American leaders united this week in a historic effort to resolve a struggle dating back more than 100 years, offering to settle the largest class action lawsuit against the federal government in U.S. history. We speak with the lead plaintiff in the case, Elouise Cobell. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1349201

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Sun Jun 26 09:36:16 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:36:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pentagon Developing Massive Database on Millions of U.S.
	Students
Message-ID: <20050626163616.28917.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org

The Pentagon has hired the Massachusetts-based company BeNow to run the database apparently in an effort to circumvent laws that restrict the government's right to collect or hold citizen information by turning to private firms to do the work. 



+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Pentagon Developing Massive Database on Millions of U.S. Students
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1348257
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


The Pentagon is working with a private company to create information dossiers on millions of young Americans to help identify college and high school students as young as 16 to target for military recruiting. We speak with the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Center and Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA). [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/24/1348257

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 09:47:30 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:47:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is
	Theirs to Spread?
Message-ID: <20050626164730.E506C13B737@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

MAGAZINE | June 26, 2005
Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread?
By MICHAEL IGNATIEFF
Around the world (and at home), America's long-held desire to export liberty and democracy is called hubristic, messianic, imperialistic and worse. But try imagining a world without it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/magazine/26EXCEPTION.html?ex=1120449600&en=5035dda58a62455a&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 09:47:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:48:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Worry. But Don't Stress Out.
Message-ID: <20050626164759.B81DD249C4C@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WEEK IN REVIEW | June 26, 2005
Worry. But Don't Stress Out.
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Computer data experts acknowledge that while there will continue to be breaks in security, a catastrophe is unlikely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/weekinreview/26fount.html?ex=1120449600&en=5a30eb838819cd82&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 09:51:15 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:51:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Not So Sweet for Europe: Germany Is No
	Sugar Daddy Now
Message-ID: <20050626165115.AA8CE13B713@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

And history repeats itself...


WEEK IN REVIEW | June 26, 2005
Not So Sweet for Europe: Germany Is No Sugar Daddy Now
By MARK LANDLER
As the European Union grapples with a deepening political crisis, it is discovering the costs of a too-weak Germany.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/weekinreview/26landler.html?ex=1120449600&en=18de7e0e3f3e34cf&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 09:51:49 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jun 26 09:52:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: I'm Shocked and Outraged
Message-ID: <20050626165149.EA4FA236F5E@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WEEK IN REVIEW | June 26, 2005
The Basics: I'm Shocked and Outraged
By PATRICK D. HEALY
When, in Washington, is outrage truly outrage?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/weekinreview/26basics.html?ex=1120449600&en=ce2749b1028c97bd&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Sun Jun 26 07:51:06 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Sun Jun 26 10:46:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Interpreting Ahmadinejad's victory 
In-Reply-To: <B1D69B34-D573-4FDF-96EA-72B3A947A37B@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506261746.j5QHkh66004945@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

    
------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 01:10:27 -0400
Subject: Fwd: Interpreting Ahmadinejad's victory



INTERESTING Analysis:

> From a G2K member:
>

Interpreting Ahmadinejad?s victory

How did Ahmadinejad win and was does his victory mean? I believe the
two questions are closely related. He won the support of the urban
poor and many in rural areas. It seems to me that the slogan that
most appealed to the poor was his call for social justice and his
promise to fight corruption. Fighting corruption and redistributing
the fortunes of the corrupt officials among the people is to the
poor, what freedom of the press is to the educated intellectuals of
North Tehran. The reformists failed in all these years to even
address this question and it led to the belief among many that this
was because they were themselves corrupt.

However, if we read carefully what Ahmadinejad has been saying, I
believe that we come to the conclusion that a vote for him should be
interpreted as one against the Islamic regime. Why? Because he
emphasized again and again that over the past 16 years the government
departments had become corrupt, the oil wealth was under the control
of one family and the poor were ignored. He says that all those
responsible for this have to be removed from office. Why we ask
ourselves, the figure 16 years? In other words, he is saying that
corruption began after Khomeini died i.e. it occurred under Khamenei.
So if one wants to follow Ahmadinejad?s logic, the leader is the
first person who should be removed from office. Others will of course
follow. To fight against corruption means to remove almost the entire
ruling class in the Islamic regime. Needless to say, Ahmadinejad will
not, indeed cannot, deliver his promise. He himself comes from and
has the banking of the Sepah which perhaps constitutes the core of
the corrupt Mafia in Iran.

Therefore, those who voted for him hoping that he is Mr. Clean and
will be able to magically stop corruption and distribute among them
the wealth of their country will very soon be very disappointed. The
question then becomes who can lead these disappointed people and to
what?

Reformist have failed. Even Hajjarian, their main strategists has
openly admitted this. Khatami and the reform movement are in fact
largely to blame for Ahmadinejad?s victory. If they had acted
forcefully and delivered the promises they originally made to the
people, Iran would not be in this mess now.  It is now time for them
to realize that the Islamic regime is past reform. They should now
join the ranks of those who boycotted the elections and called for
the establishment of secular government. Ironically, I believe, the
victory of Ahmadinejad has opened the way for the removal of the
Islamic regime. A vote for him should not be interpreted as support
for the regime; on the contrary it is an open rejection of the regime
especially as it has evolved over the past sixteen years.




------ End of Forwarded Message



From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Sun Jun 26 09:15:20 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Sun Jun 26 10:50:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: New president will harden Iran policies gradually 
In-Reply-To: <7AE2DCB9-8240-4B99-AEBB-A345FA93F1C5@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506261750.j5QHo381004958@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005 11:38:13 -0400
Subject: New president will harden Iran policies gradually

REUTERS - UK

New president will harden Iran policies gradually

Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:29 AM BST


By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory
completes a conservative grip on Iran's main levers of power that will
likely lead to greater tension with the West and a more isolationist
economic policy.

But a tougher Iranian stance on its controversial nuclear programme and
other issues will emerge only slowly through Iran's system of clerical rule
that gives Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khamenei the final say in state
affairs, analysts say.

And they say the latest conservative victory will expose internal rifts in
the conservative camp and may encourage more political pragmatism because
they no longer have reformists under outgoing President Mohammad Khatami to
blame for failures.

Ahmadinejad, who swept to victory in Friday's presidential vote over
moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, takes over in August from Khatami,
whose own policies of political reforms and detente with the West were
ambushed by hardline bodies.

"Over time, we will see a hardening of the (Iran's) position. It will not be
immediate," said Iranian analyst Mahmoud Alinejad, adding it would involve a
more chauvinistic foreign policy and a focus on domestic, not foreign,
investment.

"It will be a policy that has the danger of confrontation although there are
pragmatic people who might try to prevent that," he said, adding that
Ahmadinejad had won over Iran's religious poor by presenting himself as an
outsider.

Ahmadinejad's victory was the latest by a new breed of hardline politicians,
many of them former Revolutionary Guardsmen, who won local council and
parliamentary elections in 2003 and 2004 amid disillusionment with the slow
pace of change and frustration among the poor that their lot had not
improved.

Like Ahmadinejad, the hardliners are fiercely loyal to Khamenei and the
religious principles of the Islamic revolution.

EXPOSING DIVISIONS

Hardliners, who support the supreme leader, already control the other key
bodies such as parliament, judiciary, the army and a powerful constitutional
watchdog. With the presidency now falling to a hardliner, it gives
conservatives a clean sweep.

But conservatives in office will have to assume more of the blame for any
political or economic failings with reformists losing their powerbase after
Khatami's departure.

"There will be more division exposed among the conservatives, that will be
one of the positive points, because it will give room for reformists to
continue," Alinejad said.

He said reformists, who had focused on social and political freedoms, would
need to appeal more effectively to the poor, who had voted for Ahmadinejad
in droves after Khatami's reforming efforts failed to deliver jobs and
better living standards.

In a campaign where others advocated better ties with the United States,
Ahmadinejad said it was not a solution to Iran's ills and railed has against
rich cliques he said had benefited at the expense of the poor as
oil-revenues poured in.

"We must resolve our domestic problems and become a stronger country. Under
such conditions, we will be less vulnerable to foreign threats," Ahmadinejad
said during the campaign.

He has said that his government would not buckle in negotiations with the
West, including over Iran's nuclear programme which Tehran says is to
produce electricity but which the United States and Europe suspect is to
make atomic bombs.

"I think Ahmadinejad is less amenable to compromise on the nuclear issue,
but it is unclear how much influence he will have on it," said Karim
Sadjadpour, Tehran-based analyst of the International Crisis Group.

Nuclear negotiations are handled by Iran's National Security Council, which
is answerable to the supreme leader.

OIL PRICE CUSHION

A senior Western diplomat said he expected Iran, which has suspended
enrichment under a deal with the Europeans, to become more intransigent in
negotiations, sticking to its commitment to resume enrichment.

Failure to reach a deal over enrichment, which Europe and the United States
want scrapped, could lead to the issue being sent to the U.N. Security
Council with the threat of sanctions.

Yet with the cushion of sky-high oil prices, Ahmadinejad will find it easier
to pursue his populist election pledges to spread wealth more evenly which
is likely to win him more public support for a tougher stance abroad,
analysts say.

But analysts say much of Ahmadinejad's programme will have to depend on
government investment and will struggle to generate the private investment
he seeks to help encourage entrepreneurs without appealing to the wealthy,
who voted against him.

"To create jobs he needs to attract investors, people with money. This is
the paradox of his campaign," said one Iranian analyst who asked not to be
named.

Analysts say he will also face pressure from the Revolutionary Guards and
Basij religious militia, the guardians of Islamic revolutionary ideals, who
opponents say came out in force to vote for Ahmadinejad, although he denies
this.

"He will be pulled by forces of pragmatism and radicalism. It is going to be
very demanding task for him and I think he would opt for moderate
pragmatism," the analysts said.

But Ahmadinejad's backers include Abadgaran, a hardline group that dominates
parliament. Despite promises of moderation before they were elected in 2004,
the group have blocked foreign investment deals, voted to keep heavy fuel
subsidies and demanded Iran develop the nuclear fuel cycle.

? Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the
Reuters group of companies around the world.

---
URL:?http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2
005-06-26T082918Z_01_SCH419611_RTRUKOC_0_IRAN-ELECTION.xml


------ End of Forwarded Message

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From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun 26 11:17:16 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Sun Jun 26 11:17:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pine Ridge
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV839122800C6785BF8D460ABEF0@phx.gbl>

Thanks for sending this Harry.. I have been very active as have others in Leonards case. Kamook Nichols was paid $40,000.00 by the Government so what do you think happened.

peace,
barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Harold Sifton
Sent: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 19:22:49 -0700
To: MB Civic
Subject: [Mb-civic] Pine Ridge

More info, Calvin Jumping Bull speaks out.........

http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050625/w062555A.html

Peace,

Harry


From barbarasiomos38 at msn.com  Sun Jun 26 11:26:55 2005
From: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com (Barbara Siomos)
Date: Sun Jun 26 11:27:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] nothing
Message-ID: <BAY5-DAV2596D6B84513645381EBBABEF0@phx.gbl>

Lyle....

 All of your replies and posts are showing up on the list. Sounds like you are having the same problem as Amy on the HAiR list. I am going to forward this on to Nina...

peace,
barbara

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Sun Jun 26 13:07:55 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Sun Jun 26 13:08:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senate Gives Feds Power to Approve LNG Terminal Sites
Message-ID: <BEE4592B.2133D%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Editors Comment: As a GOP-controlled Congress moves closer to creating
legislation that would enact George W. Bush's sweeping overhaul of US energy
policy - along his personal guidelines - a clearer picture of where they are
going is emerging. One of the most noteworthy provisions gives federal
regulators authority over local state governments in deciding where
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals are built.

    Traditionally, local opposition on the state level has been most
effective at preventing the behemoth facilities from being built in
environmentally sensitive areas. While this is a 50-state policy and could
affect many regions, the legislation, were it enacted, would most likely
have the greatest impact in coastal states.

    The favored method of transport for foreign LNG to the US is large
tanker ships that must dock at specially designed seaport facilities.
Construction of such a facility permanently and radically alters the coast
and its surrounding environment for miles around. --ma/TO

    Go to Original

    Senate Gives Feds Power to Approve LNG Terminal Sites
    By Richard Simon and Miguel Bustillo
    The Los Angeles Times

    Wednesday 22 June 2005

    Washington - The Senate voted on Wednesday to give federal regulators
authority over the location of liquefied natural gas terminals, despite
objections from governors that states should be have an equal say in
deciding where such projects are built.

    Republican and Democratic officials from city halls to Capitol Hill have
expressed concern that the terminals could become targets of terrorist
attacks or pose other safety risks, and they have sought a role in siting
them.

    But President Bush has pushed to put Washington in charge of deciding
where terminals are built, saying that a lengthy approval process could
delay the building of facilities critical to providing the natural gas
needed to fuel the nation's economy.

    On Wednesday, a majority of the Senate agreed with him. The lawmakers
voted 52-45 against adding a provision to the energy legislation that would
have given governors the authority to veto or impose conditions on the
terminals.

    As a result, the Senate bill - like energy legislation approved by the
House - would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the final word
on where terminals are built, virtually ensuring that the provision will be
included in any final bill that emerges from Congress.

    The action came as the Senate headed toward approval of a sweeping
overhaul of national energy policy, a Bush priority that has gained momentum
as energy prices have surged.

    In another action, the Senate rejected, 60-38, a proposal by Sens.
Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., to establish a
mandatory cap on industrial emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global
warming. The measure garnered five fewer votes than a similar version two
years ago.

    Republicans criticized a mandatory limit as an unfair burden on the
American economy, and noted that many other large emitters of greenhouse
gases - including China - have not committed to reducing them. Democrats
focused on recent scientific calls for action on global warming and argued
that the United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, had
a moral duty to respond.

    The LNG debate created an unusual alliance, bringing together
conservatives and liberals representing states where terminals have been
proposed.

    Five terminals are in operation on the East Coast and Gulf Coast. Dozens
of new facilities have been proposed.

    The terminals, which receive natural gas that has been cooled to a
liquid so it can be transported in large tankers, are projected to play a
key role in the nation's energy needs. LNG now accounts for about 3 percent
of the nation's natural gas use, but it is projected to rise to more than 20
percent by 2025.

    The legislation grew out of a legal dispute over a proposed LNG facility
in Long Beach, Calif. FERC said it had sole jurisdiction over whether the
terminal would be built, but California's Public Utilities Commission
challenged that assertion in court. Lawmakers have expressed concern that
such litigation could delay building of the terminals.

    Long Beach residents opposed to the proposed terminal unsuccessfully
lobbied the city earlier this month to cut off talks with developer
Mitsubishi, saying they feared that congressional action could block any
future city efforts to cancel the project. But officials at the city-owned
port where the project would be built said that because Mitsubishi would
need a port lease, the port still had the final say whether the project gets
built.

 

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 15:52:07 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 26 15:52:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Tony Blair's son to be Republican aide!
Message-ID: <000801c57aa1$b09d4f70$1927e440@Harold>

Get'em young before they can think!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/06/26/britain.blair.reut/index.html

Pre-determination, a thing I have issue's with, but it looks like Blair wants to do a dynasty thing like the Bush's.
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From michael at intrafi.com  Sun Jun 26 16:00:19 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael)
Date: Sun Jun 26 15:58:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <200506262300.j5QN0J2Y020522@thor.thenation.com>

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 16:00:25 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 26 16:00:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The dissing of Deep Throat begins
Message-ID: <000801c57aa2$d9a866b0$1927e440@Harold>

The Republican spin machine starts grinding it's relentless gears. Ego's want to diss the truth to preserve their personal legacy's!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050626/D8AVAPHG0.html

Some day God will Bless America, but not today!

Later, H

Peace, Love, Understanding,Tolerance and Goodwill !
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 16:17:09 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 26 16:17:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary
Message-ID: <000a01c57aa5$3083be60$1927e440@Harold>

This is a surprise coming from Billy Graham, a good surprise!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050626/ap_on_re_us/billy_graham_14

Lv H
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Sun Jun 26 16:18:42 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Sun Jun 26 16:19:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - IRAQI INSURGENCY COULD LAST 12 YEARS,
	RUMSFELD WARNS
Message-ID: <20050626231842.877451B6A2@nmweb06.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
IRAQI INSURGENCY COULD LAST 12 YEARS, RUMSFELD WARNS
WebPosted Sun Jun 26 16:20:45 2005

---The Iraqi insurgency could stretch on for more than a decade, U.S.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said as he played down meetings between
American officials and militant leaders.

If the fighting continues for years, it will be up to the Iraqi security
forces to defeat the militants because the U.S. and other foreign forces
will be gone, Rumsfeld said on Sunday.

RELATED: Bombs target Mosul security forces

"Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years," Rumsfeld
told Fox News Sunday.

"Coalition forces, foreign forces are not going to repress that
insurgency. We're going to create an environment that the Iraqi people
and the Iraqi security forces can win against that insurgency."



Americans often 'facilitate' talks between Iraqis As Rumsfeld appeared on
several U.S. current affairs TV programs during the day to field
questions about Iraq, he also said senior American officials had met with
insurgent leaders.

His comments confirmed a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that
U.S. government and military leaders held "secret negotiations with rebel
leaders" twice in June.

But Rumsfeld minimized the meetings, saying the United States regularly
tries to "facilitate" talks between the Iraqi government and the
insurgents.

 'I would not make a big deal out of it. Meetings go on frequently with
 people.' "I would not make a big deal out of it. Meetings go on
 frequently with people," he said.

Citing unnamed Iraqi sources, the Times said "the talks appear to
represent the first serious effort by Americans and Iraqi insurgents to
find common ground since violence intensified in the spring."

Rumsfeld said he thought there had been "many more" than the two meetings
the paper reported.

The Iraqi government has been struggling to include Sunnis, who are
believed to represent the core of the insurgency.

Although they make up only about 20 per cent of the population, they
dominated the Shia majority under the regime of deposed leader
Saddam Hussein.

The Times report said the meetings had not included Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group which has been blamed for
beheading hostages.

FROM DEC. 21, 2004: Halliburton workers, U.S. soldiers killed in
Iraq attack

But the paper said the Ansar al-Sunnah Army &#8211; which claimed
responsibility for a Dec. 22 attack that killed at least 15 U.S. soldiers
&#8211; was there.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 16:40:51 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Sun Jun 26 16:41:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary
References: <000a01c57aa5$3083be60$1927e440@Harold>
Message-ID: <002501c57aa8$7d82ddb0$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Harold:

Don't get too exicted.  An off-the-cuff nice-making remark to friends does not an endorsement make...

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harold Sifton 
  To: MB Civic 
  Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 7:17 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary


  This is a surprise coming from Billy Graham, a good surprise!

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050626/ap_on_re_us/billy_graham_14

  Lv H


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Mb-civic mailing list
  Mb-civic@islandlists.com
  http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Fri Jun 24 05:26:06 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Sun Jun 26 16:53:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Steve Jobs: Stanford Graduation
In-Reply-To: <BAY102-F36761FE0232BD27ACA80FAC7ED0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <200506262353.j5QNr9c3005873@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

    
------ Forwarded Message
From: "Shon Saleh" <shonsa@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:37:21 +0000
To: amm@postmark.net, grgolsorkhi@earthlink.net
Subject: FW: Steve Jobs: Stanford Graduation



>
>
>
>
>
>Steve Jobs' Stanford Graduation address 6/12/05
>
>
>
>Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one
>of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated
>from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college
>graduation.
>
>
>
>
>
>Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big
>deal.
>
>Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
>
>
>
>
>
>I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed
>around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit.
>So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother
>was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for
>adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college
>graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a
>lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the
>last
>minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting
>list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an
>unexpected
>baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother
>found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my
>father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
>adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents
>promised that I would go to college.
>
>
>
>
>
>This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to
>college, but I na?vely chose a college that was almost as expensive as
>Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on
>my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had
>no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was
>going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my
>parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust
>that
>it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking
>back,
>it was one of the best decisions I ever made.The minute I dropped out, I
>could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin
>dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
>
>
>
>
>
>It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor
>in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to
>buy
>food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night
>to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And
>much
>of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out
>to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
>
>
>
>
>
>Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction
>in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every
>drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and
>didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy
>class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif
>typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter
>combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful,
>historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I
>found it fascinating.
>
>
>
>
>
>None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But
>ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all
>came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first
>computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that
>single
>course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or
>proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's
>likely that no personal computer would have them.
>
>
>
>
>
>If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that
>calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful
>typography that they do.
>
>
>
>
>
>Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was
>in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.
>Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect
>them
>looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect
>in your future. You have to trust in something-your gut, destiny, life,
>karma, whatever-because believing that the dots will connect down the road
>will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you
>off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
>
>
>
>
>
>My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved
>to
>do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was
>twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two
>of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd
>just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd
>just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a
>company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought
>was
>very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so,
>things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and
>eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided
>with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been
>the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I
>really
>didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous
>generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was
>being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to
>apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even
>thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to
>dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
>changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I
>decided to start over.
>
>
>
>
>
>I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was
>the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being
>successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less
>sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative
>periods
>in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT,
>another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who
>would
>become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated
>feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio
>in the world.
>
>
>
>
>
>In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple
>and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current
>renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
>
>
>
>
>
>I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired
>from
>Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it.
>Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose
>faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I
>loved
>what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work
>as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your
>life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
>great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If
>you
>haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters
>of
>the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it
>just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't
>settle.
>
>
>
>
>
>My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went
>something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll
>most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for
>the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
>myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I
>am
>about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days
>in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead
>soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the
>big choices in life, because almost everything-all external expectations,
>all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-these things just fall away
>in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering
>that
>you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
>you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not
>to
>follow your heart.
>
>
>
>
>
>About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the
>morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know
>what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type
>of
>cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
>three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in
>order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and
>tell
>your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell
>them,
>in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up
>so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say
>your
>goodbyes.
>
>
>
>
>
>I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy
>where
>they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my
>intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the
>tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they
>viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it
>turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with
>surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
>
>This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest
>I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this
>to
>you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely
>intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to
>Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we
>all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because
>death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change
>agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is
>you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old
>and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your
>time
>is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped
>by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
>Don't
>let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and
>intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
>
>Everything else is secondary.
>
>
>
>
>
>When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth
>Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by
>a
>fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought
>it
>to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before
>personal
>computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters,
>scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback
>form
>thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing
>with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several
>issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its
>course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your
>age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early
>morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if
>you
>were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
>It
>was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
>And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin
>anew, I wish that for you.
>
>Stay hungry, stay foolish.
>
>
>
>
>
>Thank you all, very much.
>
>
>
>
>
>Please do not transmit orders or instructions regarding a UBS account by
>e-mail. The information provided in this e-mail or any attachments is not
>an
>official transaction confirmation or account statement. For your
>protection,
>do not include account numbers, Social Security numbers, credit card
>numbers, passwords or other non-public information in your e-mail. Because
>the information contained in this message may be privileged, confidential,
>proprietary or otherwise protected from disclosure, please notify us
>immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer
>if you have received this communication in error. Thank you.
>
>UBS Financial Services Inc.
>UBS International Inc.
>

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/


------ End of Forwarded Message



From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Sun Jun 26 18:22:46 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Sun Jun 26 18:23:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iran
Message-ID: <000601c57ab6$b9e81b40$8a03ca44@CowBox>


New Iranian president elect already setting his hardline radical agenda, Khomani rules from the grave.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1515413,00.html


Peace
Robin
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Sun Jun 26 18:46:12 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Sun Jun 26 18:46:38 2005
Subject: Fw: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary
Message-ID: <000a01c57aba$02b06eb0$1927e440@Harold>


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Harold Sifton 
To: Ian 
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary


Hope anyway Ian

Harry


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ian 
  To: Harold Sifton ; mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 7:40 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary


  Harold:

  Don't get too exicted.  An off-the-cuff nice-making remark to friends does not an endorsement make...

  Peace.
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Harold Sifton 
    To: MB Civic 
    Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 7:17 PM
    Subject: [Mb-civic] Billy Graham suports Hillary


    This is a surprise coming from Billy Graham, a good surprise!

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050626/ap_on_re_us/billy_graham_14

    Lv H


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    Mb-civic mailing list
    Mb-civic@islandlists.com
    http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Sun Jun 26 19:24:43 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Sun Jun 26 19:23:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The dissing of Deep Throat begins
Message-ID: <000701c57abf$621654a0$e125b7d8@baby1>

The dissing of Deep Throat begins



========
Peace, Love, Understanding,Tolerance and Goodwill !
========



Lawyers, Guns, and Money.





Cheeseburger

.
From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:18:18 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:19:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Right to Offend - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE07A.4000509@comcast.net>

The Right to Offend

Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A14

ONCE AGAIN, THE House of Representatives has voted to send to the states 
for ratification a constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to 
prohibit the "physical desecration" of the American flag. The vote is a 
ritual in the House, a political debasement that would be beneath 
denouncing except that the amendment might pass someday and even this 
year. The cooler heads who have always prevailed in the Senate are less 
numerous. Amendment supporters in the Senate are dangerously close to 
having enough votes. Only a few senators have to buckle to the intense 
political pressure to support this desecration of the Constitution or 
not show up for the vote. The flag-burning amendment will move out of 
the category of inane legislative posturing in which it has lurked since 
the Supreme Court rightly declared burning the flag to be a form of 
constitutionally protected speech.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062600900.html?referrer=email
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:20:09 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:21:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Parties Gear Up for High Court Battle - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE0E9.5040108@comcast.net>

Parties Gear Up for High Court Battle

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A02

The White House gathered key political operatives at a strategy meeting 
Friday to prepare for a possible Supreme Court vacancy that officials 
believe could occur this week, leading to the first high court 
confirmation battle in a decade, according to Republicans informed about 
the session.

The meeting, hosted by White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., 
his deputy Karl Rove and counsel Harriet Miers, was called to ensure 
that President Bush's supporters are ready for the high-stakes, 
high-intensity, high-dollar campaign that would follow a nomination. But 
some participants later told associates that they were not sure if any 
justice would retire.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601092.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:22:06 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:23:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Revenge Was Felt's Motive,
 Former Acting FBI Chief Says - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE15E.7070105@comcast.net>

Revenge Was Felt's Motive, Former Acting FBI Chief Says

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A04

Former acting FBI chief L. Patrick Gray III said in a television 
interview broadcast yesterday that his former deputy, W. Mark Felt, 
became the mysterious Watergate source known as Deep Throat out of 
personal revenge and "a desire to get rid of me."

Ending 32 years of silence about his role in the Watergate scandal, Gray 
told ABC's "This Week" that he had reacted with "total shock, total 
disbelief" to the revelation that Felt had held a series of secret 
meetings with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. He said he felt 
betrayed by Felt, who had repeatedly assured him that he was not Deep 
Throat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062600974.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:23:34 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:24:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Is Frist Up to Task Of Being President? - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE1B6.2060205@comcast.net>

Is Frist Up to Task Of Being President?
Handling of Tough Issues Questioned

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A04

By noon last Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist seemed done with 
John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.N. ambassador. Bustling from the 
Capitol to have lunch with President Bush, he told reporters he planned 
no further votes to try to end the Democrats' long-running filibuster of 
the embattled nominee.

But after his presidential chat, Frist announced he would keep trying, 
prompting newspaper headlines such as "Frist Reverses Himself," which 
his staff called unfair.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601032.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:26:59 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:28:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Regaining Respect - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE283.8090600@comcast.net>

Regaining Respect

By Jeffrey H. Smith

Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A15

Law matters, especially in time of war. This is true not only for moral 
reasons but also because adhering to the rule of law makes us stronger. 
We are now paying the consequences, "big-time" as the vice president 
might say, for a number of decisions made right after Sept. 11, 2001, 
that gave short shrift to both domestic and international law. The Bush 
administration determined to treat the attacks as a national security 
matter and not a law enforcement matter. That was the right emphasis, 
but they struck hard and largely ignored the law.

Nearly four years later there are signs that the administration realizes 
it's time -- long past time, really -- to start worrying about the law 
and its importance to this country in maintaining world leadership.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601036.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Mon Jun 27 04:28:24 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Mon Jun 27 04:29:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] China's Latest 'Threat' - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42BFE2D8.3070701@comcast.net>

China's Latest 'Threat'

By Sebastian Mallaby

Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A15

Some people fear the economic threat from China. Others fret about 
expensive oil. With the skill of an accomplished arsonist, China has now 
poured gas on the flames of these separate anxieties, turning two 
medium-size fires into a single inferno.

The arson takes the form of a bid by a largely state-owned Chinese oil 
company for California-based Unocal. Until Wednesday, Unocal was heading 
into the arms of Chevron, which had made a friendly takeover offer. But 
China National Offshore Oil Corp. is offering a premium for Unocal's 
assets, triggering a fight over whether the federal government should 
block it on national security grounds.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601033.html?nav=hcmodule
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From mblaxill at yahoo.com  Mon Jun 27 08:23:58 2005
From: mblaxill at yahoo.com (Mike Blaxill)
Date: Mon Jun 27 08:24:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] GLADSHOT plays ONE Campaign free concert in NYC
Message-ID: <20050627152358.33946.qmail@web53001.mail.yahoo.com>

Hello civic list email friends! some exciting
news to pass along -

This Weds, June 29th at 2:30, GLADSHOT w/myself
and Debbie Andrews (i.e. Crissy - Detroit,
Jupiter Tour, DC, Bway '70-'71) will perform for
a "LIVE 8" free concert at Virgin Megastore at
Union Square in NYC (14th St and Bway) -

It's an all day concert for Bob Geldof's ONE
campaign to fight global poverty and AIDS.  Mark
Knopfler plays at 5:30, Billy Corgan at 7,
Michelle Shocked at 5, GLADSHOT at 2:30 - Other
bands are Heavenly States, Head Automatica, The
Swedes, Outernational and Trouble Dolls - Music
starts at 1 pm.

The Virgin Group is working with Bob Geldof and
the Make Poverty History Campaign to help to give
additional voice to the initiative to end World
poverty.  As part of Virgin's effort of support,
they're working to highlight the One Campaign in
the U.S. with the intention of letting everyone
know how they can contribute their support and
make a difference.   

some websites with more info

Gladshot/Debbie Andrews
www.gladshot.com

Virgin
http://www.virginmegamagazine.com/default.asp?vms=7

ONE Campaign
www.one.org

Live 8
www.live8live.com


Peace and gratitude
-MB


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 10:07:57 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:08:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Industry squeezed by soaring energy prices  FT
Message-ID: <BEE5807D.213BB%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Industry squeezed by soaring energy prices
>By Dan Roberts in New York, Bertrand Benoit in Berlin and David Turner in Tokyo
>Published: June 26 2005 19:44 | Last updated: June 26 2005 19:44
>>

Energy prices appear to have reached a tipping point for many industrial
users, as inflation outstrips companies' capacity to absorb higher costs by
increasing the prices they charge consumers.

European, US and Asian stock markets all fell last week as oil reached $60
per barrel and corporate leaders around the world issued a series of
high-profile profit warnings.

Shares in energy-intensive companies such as manufacturing and transport
were hardest hit. FedEx, for example, the US delivery group that has been a
leading beneficiary of booming global trade, broke its winning streak by
warning that this quarter's earnings would be hit by jet fuel costs despite
an automatic surcharge for customers.

And the metals industry, which had been enjoying its best growth for years,
is now squeezed between the high cost of energy-related inputs such as
electricity and coal and slowing demand from leading customers.

Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel producer, last week warned it may have to shut
its aluminium plant in Voerde, Germany, because of high electricity costs.
Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum maker, warned of 6,500 jobs cuts and
plant closures in Germany and the US because of a drop in its prices and
higher energy costs.

Energy prices have hit German business on two fronts by weighing on the
already feeble domestic demand while eating away at companies' margins,
especially in the large industrial sector.

The heavy layer of regulation and comparatively high energy-related taxes,
meanwhile, meant German-based businesses were facing higher energy bills
than their competitors abroad, he added.

Additional reporting by Andrew England in Nairobi
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 10:11:17 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:11:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Victory in Iraq could take years, says Rumsfeld  Ftimes
Message-ID: <BEE58145.213BC%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Victory in Iraq could take years, says Rumsfeld
>By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
>Published: June 26 2005 18:46 | Last updated: June 26 2005 18:46
>>

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said on Sunday that Iraqi troops,
not US soldiers, would defeat the insurgency in Iraq, which he said could
take years to overcome.

On Fox News, Mr Rumsfeld said: ?We're not going to win the insurgency. The
Iraqi people are going to win against the insurgency. That insurgency could
go on for any number of years. Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight,
10, 12 years.?

In recent weeks the White House has been forced on to the back foot over
Iraq as some Republicans have joined Democrats in criticising the way the
Bush administration is handling the war. Declining Republican backing
mirrors waning public support.

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 46 per cent of Americans
favoured a US withdrawal from Iraq, up from 36 per cent in October. Chuck
Hagel, a Nebraska Republican senator, recently accused the White House of
being ?disconnected from reality?.

Senior US officials from Vice-President Dick Cheney to Mr Rumsfeld and US
generals in Iraq have emphasised in recent weeks that progress is being made
in Iraq. But the generals concede that the violent insurgency has not
subsided in the past year, leading some politicians to accuse the White
House of misleading the American people.
>
Iraq: news & analysis
>- Click here
>

?Things aren't getting better. They're getting worse,? Mr Hagel said. ?The
White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just
making it up as they go along. The reality is we are losing in Iraq.?

Mr Rumsfeld on Sunday rejected this criticism, saying it was ?flat wrong?.
?We are not losing in Iraq,? he told NBC.

During a tense Senate armed services committee hearing last week, Edward
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the situation in Iraq was an
?intractable quagmire? and he urged Mr Rumsfeld to resign. Generals John
Abizaid and George Casey, the US commanders overseeing the Iraq war,
defended Mr Rumsfeld, saying Mr Kennedy was misrepresenting the facts.

On Sunday, Gen Abizaid said Americans needed to be patient. ?We need to know
we have got support back home,? he said on CNN. ?We need to know that the
people are with us.?

The US military has suffered more than 1,900 killed and nearly 14,000
wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Rumsfeld said the number of insurgent
attacks in Iraq were about the same as a year ago but that the attacks were
more lethal.

He told NBC: ?The terrorists have no vision. They have no Ho Chi Minh. They
have no Mao [Zedong]. They don't have any cause. Zarqawi [the rebels'
leader] is a Jordanian a foreigner. They're killing Iraqi people and they're
opposing an elected Iraqi government. That isn't any long-term formula for
success.?

On Sunday, more than 30 people died, many from Iraqi security forces, in
three separate suicide bomb attacks in and around the northern city of
Mosul.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 10:18:22 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:18:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Martin Wolf: Capital flow must change course  Ftimes
Message-ID: <BEE582EE.213C3%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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Martin Wolf: Capital flow must change course
>By Martin Wolf
>Published: June 26 2005 20:09 | Last updated: June 26 2005 20:09
>>

Why is so much capital flowing uphill, from the poor countries to the rich
ones, instead of from the rich to the poor? The question is of great
practical importance. The answer should suggest both how long the present
pattern of global capital flows or current account ?imbalances? is likely to
last and how it may end.

What, then, is happening to capital flows to and from the emerging market
economies? What drives these trends? What role does policy play? Do the
trends matter? How should these trends be dealt with?

To start with the trends themselves, figures from the International Monetary
Fund?s latest World Economic Outlook show the scale of the flows. The
foreign currency reserves of emerging markets rose by $1,556bn in 1997-2004,
of which $519bn came last year and another $523bn is forecast for this year.

Those countries ran an aggregate current account surplus of $336bn last
year. It is a dramatically different picture from that in 1996, when
emerging market economies ran an aggregate deficit of $93bn (see chart).
Last year?s current account surplus was equivalent to 3.5 per cent of their
aggregate gross domestic product, at market prices. Strikingly, that is
close to Japan?s ratio.

In addition, those countries received $186bn in net foreign direct
investment last year and a total net private inflow of $196bn. The sum of
the current account surplus and net private capital inflows was equal to 5.4
per cent of their aggregate GDP.

Asian emerging economies ran a current account surplus of $193bn last year,
which accounted for more than half the total. The Middle East represented
another third of the current account surplus of emerging market countries
and the Commonwealth of Independent States (principally Russia) close to a
further fifth. The one region of the developing world to run a large current
account deficit ? of $51bn ? was central and eastern Europe. It was also the
only one of these regions to have shifted further into deficit since 1996,
by $33bn.

Chart>

>

The swing in the aggregate current account balances of Asian emerging market
economies (which include Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) was
$233bn ? again, just over half the total. Of the surplus regions, the Asian
region is the only one to be, in addition, a large net recipient of private
capital. Asian emerging market economies received an aggregate net inflow of
private capital $130bn in 2004, which was two-thirds of the total flow to
emerging market economies.

If one looks at foreign direct investment alone, Asian emerging market
economies received $87bn out of a total flow to emerging market economies of
$186bn in 2004. Those in the western hemisphere received $45bn, central and
eastern Europe $22bn and the CIS just $8bn.

Three broad patterns emerge.

First, the $430bn swing in the emerging market economies? aggregate current
account deficit was the principal counterpart to the $549bn increase in the
US deficit between 1996 and 2004.

Second, two big forces have driven the swing from deficit into surplus: the
rise in the price of oil, which has pushed the Middle East and the CIS into
large surpluses; and the financial crises of 1996-99, which drove the
emerging market economies of Asia and the western hemisphere out of their
deficits.

Third, the most important emerging market region for the global capital
flows is Asia. In addition to running a large aggregate current account
surplus, emerging Asia is also remarkable for its massive recycling of
private capital inflows.

Chart>

>

The countries that matter within the Asian region (excluding Japan) fall
into three groups: the newly industrialised economies of Hong Kong,
Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan (of which Korea was badly affected by the
Asian crisis of 1997-98); members of the Association of South-East Asian
Nations other than Singapore (of which four were also significantly affected
by the Asian financial crisis ? Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and
Thailand); and, much the most important, the rising Chinese colossus.

In 2004, the first group had an aggregate current account surplus of $90bn,
the Asean four had one of $34bn and China $70bn. China also received $56bn
in inward net FDI and overall net private capital inflows of $93bn. All this
financed a staggering $207bn increase in China?s overall currency reserves.
China accounted for 36 per cent of the Asian emerging economies? current
account surplus, 60 per cent of their reserve accumulations, 64 per cent of
their net inflow of FDI and 71 per cent of their net private capital inflow.

Why is this apparently perverse pattern of capital flows happening? The
normal assumption, after all, is that poorer countries would be recipients
of capital from rich countries with surplus savings.

Chart>

>

One possible explanation might be that, in practice, bad policies and
institutions reduce investment opportunities in poor countries, while good
policies and institutions raised them in rich ones. This seems a plausible
reason for relatively low investment rates in the western hemisphere,
Africa, the CIS and the Middle East ? which were all in the range of 20-23
per cent of GDP in 2004. But it has no applicability to Asia (see charts).
Moreover, the advanced countries? aggregate investment rate was itself only
21 per cent.

The principal determinant of the pattern of capital flows is, it turns out,
divergent savings rates. In 2004, gross savings rates (at market prices)
were a mere 14 per cent in the US, 15 per cent in the UK, 21 per cent in the
eurozone and 28 per cent in Japan. They were also 19 per cent in central and
eastern Europe, 21 per cent in both Africa and the western hemisphere, 30
per cent in the CIS, 32 per cent in the newly industrialised Asian
economies, 35 per cent in the Middle East, 38 per cent in developing Asia as
a whole and a staggering 44 per cent in China (all measured at market
prices).

In short, because investment rates were closer together than savings rates,
the world?s capital exporters were countries with high savings rates and the
importers were ones with low savings rates. Surprisingly perhaps, many of
the highest saving economies were poor, while some of the lowest saving
countries were rich. The US is far and away the most important of the
latter, just as China is the most significant of the former.

High savings rates in oil-rich countries are not surprising. Nor are they
foolish. Recipients of a windfall do well to spread the spending out over
time. But Russia?s current account surplus of 10 per cent of GDP last year
must also reflect the dreadful investment climate in that country.

Chart>


>

Yet Asia is, once again, the big story. China?s investment rate is 15
percentage points higher than the pre-crisis average, while its savings rate
is 12 percentage points higher (see chart). The Asean four invested only 21
per cent of GDP in 2004, which is 4 percentage points lower than the
pre-crisis average, while their savings rates are 3 points higher. Finally,
the Asian newly industrialised countries have also lowered their investment
rates by 4 percentage points since before the crisis, while their savings
rates have dropped by almost 2 points.

Thus the soaring savings surplus of emerging Asia is the result of rising
savings rates and, in some cases, of falling investment rates as well.
More?over, if China?s massive investment rate were to fall to levels that
are normal elsewhere, its current account surplus could jump to enormous
levels.

Now to the next question: what is the role of deliberate policy? The answer
is: a big one. The proximate cause of the higher savings and lower
investment in the newly industrialised countries and the Asean four was
certainly the shock of the financial crises. Since, then, however, policy
has played a large role in generating the surplus savings that are the
domestic counterpart of the current account surpluses.

Without active sterilisation of the monetary impact of accumulations of
foreign currency reserves, one would expect rising domestic credit
expansion, stronger spending on both investment and consumption, higher
inflation, an appreciating real exchange rate and ultimately a declining
current account surplus. The Asian emerging market economies have, however,
worked very hard to sterilise the monetary impact of the reserves. Thus, the
excess of the increase in foreign currency reserves over the expansion of
their monetary base has been very large: between 2002 and 2004, it was 19
per cent of GDP in the newly industrialised countries, 11 per cent in China
and 8 per cent in India.

Currency intervention has itself been the consequence of a deeper objective:
exchange-rate targeting. China, Hong Kong and Malaysia have fixed pegs
against the dollar. But most other Asian economies have intervened heavily
to limit movement of their exchange rate against the dollar-renminbi pair.
As a result, the real exchange rates of emerging Asian currencies
depreciated almost as rapidly as the dollar from the beginning of 2002,
despite their huge current account surpluses and net inflows of private
capital (see chart).

A principal aim and effect of this policy has been to preserve export
competitiveness. So long as exports remain competitive and trade balances
strong, the need to promote domestic demand, thereby reducing the surplus of
savings over investment, is diminished. Net exports support demand instead.
This is modern mercantilism. The adverse reaction now seen in the US
Congress is predictable and understandable.

What would happen if governments did not intervene is also clear: exchange
rates would soar. This would tend to drive current accounts into deficit.
The impact would be reinforced if governments took action to promote
domestic demand, to offset the lost stimulus from exports and import
substitution.

Chart>


>

So do these trends matter? The answer depends on whether the explosive
increases in current account surpluses in emerging market economies and in
the counterpart deficits of the US are themselves important. They are. They
generate growing protectionist pressure in the US; they force the US into
monetary and fiscal policies whose consequence is growing indebtedness, both
domestically and externally; they are likely to end up in a brutal
correction; and that correction is likely to be more brutal the longer it is
delayed.

Finally, what should be done? Some analysts argue that Asian policies make
good sense. One argument is that a fixed exchange rate provides a monetary
anchor. But in standard theories, the monetary impact of such an anchor
should not be sterilised. A rapid accumulation of foreign currency reserves
should, instead, be allowed to work its way through demand, inflation and so
ultimately competitiveness.

A trio of economists writing for Deutsche Bank argue that China?s policies
are a rational way to generate rapid growth and high employment.* It is
questionable, however, whether accumulation of foreign currency reserves on
the present scale is a sensible use of scarce resources in a poor country.
Nor, for that matter, has the present degree of export competitiveness been
deliberately chosen.

Above all, it is hard to believe that current trends are sustainable for
many years. A country of China?s scale cannot continue to drive trade ratios
ever upwards. Already its ratio of trade (exports plus imports) to GDP is 70
per cent. This is much the same as for South Korea. A country with a
population of 1.3bn cannot grow at 10 per cent a year and remain as
dependent on trade as one with just 50m without provoking a backlash from
its trading partners.

Other economists argue that there is nothing unreasonable about huge current
account surpluses and recycling the capital inflow. Yet it is evident that
large deficits cannot be adjusted if surpluses are not adjusted as well.
Moreover, this cannot be combined with a buoyant world economy if domestic
demand does not pick up in the surplus countries.

Some of these countries will even have to run deficits. Fast-growing
economies with excellent investment opportunities and huge long-term capital
inflows are the obvious candidates. China, for example, is forecast by the
IMF to have a net inflow of $70bn in FDI this year, plus a current account
surplus of $77bn. This makes an overall surplus in its long-term basic
balance of payments this year of about 8 per cent of GDP ? which is enormous
by any standards.

China is not the only significant surplus country. But it is likely to
generate well over a sixth of the overall current account surplus of
emerging market economies (including the oil exporters) this year. It also
has an extremely strong capital account position. Most important, it is the
focal point for the rapidly integrating economies of the Asian region. Most
are unwilling to let their currencies appreciate against the renminbi, but
may well be prepared to follow it upwards.

A world in which emerging market economies not only run vast current account
surpluses but also recycle the capital that investors want to place in their
economies is unprecedented, undesirable and unsustainable. The surpluses of
oil exporters may be temporary. But those of Asian emerging market economies
seem likely to prove less so. Yet this dynamic region is among the best
placed in the world to let long-term foreign capital finance current account
deficits.

The reserves these countries now possess are big enough to cope with any
conceivable shocks. China, for example, has foreign currency reserves that
are already almost as big as annual imports. With current policies, these
reserves are likely to continue to grow rapidly for the indefinite future.
This is not a reasonable pattern of development in the medium term.

At the moment, however, the policy?makers are fighting the adjustments that
markets desire to make. Global adjustment will be impossible if the
important emerging market economies are not prepared to adjust. China, above
all, will have to play a role commensurate with its growing impact. As the
world?s third largest trading power and most dynamic economy, it has
achieved greatness. It must now accept the responsibility that goes with its
new status.
>

* The US current account deficit and economic development: collateral for a
total return swap. National Bureau for Economic Research working paper
10727, ?ugust 2004. www.nber.org
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 27 10:20:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:21:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Work For Wal-Mart? You May Need Welfare
Message-ID: <20050627172043.50E01B819D@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Work For Wal-Mart? You May Need Welfare
http://www.alternet.org/story/22298

Thousands of low-wage Wal-Mart workers are on public assistance. Many state lawmakers say it's time the megastore was forced to provide affordable employee health insurance.
-------------------------------------

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 10:05:40 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:22:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US casts doubt on legitimacy of Iran poll  FT
Message-ID: <BEE57FF4.213B8%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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US casts doubt on legitimacy of Iran poll
>By Guy Dinmore in Washington and Gareth Smyth in Tehran
>Published: June 26 2005 18:56 | Last updated: June 26 2005 18:56
>>

The Bush administration on Sunday cast doubt on the legitimacy of Iran's
newly-elected president, setting the stage for a more intense confrontation
over the future of the Islamic state's nuclear programme and the direction
of democracy in the Middle East.

Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, denounced the landslide victory of
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, regarded by US officials as a hardline fundamentalist,
as the result of a ?mock election?.

Speaking on Fox News, Mr Rumsfeld admitted he did not know much about ?this
young fellow?.

?But he is no friend of democracy. He's no friend of freedom. He is a person
who is very much supportive of the current ayatollahs, who are telling the
people of that country how to live their lives. And my guess is over time,
the young people and the women will find him, as well as his masters,
unacceptable,? Mr Rumsfeld said.

The consolidation of power of all branches of the Iranian government in the
hands of hardliners has been mirrored by a parallel struggle over policy
inside the Bush administration. Washington's ?hawks?, including Mr Rumsfeld
and Elizabeth Cheney, who is in charge of state department policy on
promoting democracy in the Middle East, have emerged on top.

Members of the US Congress who want the Bush administration to adopt a more
forthright policy of ?regime change? are likely to step up their efforts to
reduce foreign investment in Iran.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, reflecting conservative suspicion over the motives of
foreign investors, declared at his first press conference on Sunday: "In all
fields, including oil, priority will be given to local investors.?

Mohammad Sadeq Kharrazi, Iran's ambassador to Paris who is involved in
nuclear negotiations with the European Union, told the FT the new president
would not bring ?fundamental change? in either Iran's stance or the make-up
of its negotiation team.

Patrick Clawson, senior analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy, said that although key decisions in Iran remain with the supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the election of a hardline president would
add to US concerns that Iran could not be trusted with anything short of
complete cessation of its uranium enrichment programme.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad reiterated Iran's right to produce nuclear fuel for
electricity generation.

EU leaders repeated their long-stranding demand that Iran should permanently
end uranium enrichment, which it has suspended as a 'goodwill gesture' since
October 2003.

Jack Straw, the UK foreign secretary, said there had been ?serious
deficiencies? in the elections, which had further damaged ?an already
flawed? process.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad said diplomatic relations with Washington, suspended since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution, could be reopened only if the US ?gives up its
hostility?. But he added that Iran ?did not have considerable need for the
US?.

This contrasted with campaign promises of improved relations made by Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president defeated by Mr Ahmadi-Nejad on
Friday.

Additional reporting by Carola Hoyos

>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 27 10:23:26 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:23:50 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Come Back To the Five & Dime, Howie Dean
Message-ID: <20050627172326.C8A77B8090@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Come Back To the Five & Dime, Howie Dean
http://www.alternet.org/story/22304

Sixty percent of the public now wants the troops out of Iraq, and even some traditional conservatives are calling for withdrawal. So why is the former anti-war firebrand mum on the topic?
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 27 10:24:42 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:25:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Testimonials of Resistance
Message-ID: <20050627172442.A0640B819D@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Testimonials of Resistance
http://www.alternet.org/story/22308

Testimonials at the World Tribunal on Iraq prove over and over again that the US and the UK are guilty of waging an illegal, immoral and unjust war. 
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 27 10:25:46 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:26:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: The Sun Sets On the Golden Years
Message-ID: <20050627172546.7D919B807D@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
The Sun Sets On the Golden Years
http://www.alternet.org/story/22306

Many millions of baby boomers realize as they approach retirement age that they can't afford to retire at all, much less retire early.
-------------------------------------

From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Mon Jun 27 07:30:06 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:28:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: AMIR TAHERI: ISLAMIST REGIME IN TOTAL CONTROL
In-Reply-To: <0B54097C-3A84-49CE-9BE9-2BB442BCE4B2@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506271728.j5RHS5eG007811@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005 23:44:59 -0400
Subject: AMIR TAHERI: ISLAMIST REGIME IN TOTAL CONTROL


AMIR TAHERI: ISLAMIST REGIME IN TOTAL CONTROL

by Amir Taheri
The Australian 
June 27, 2005

ZAMINLARZEH! The word, that means earthquake in Persian, is on every mouth
in Iran as the nation tries to absorb the shock of Friday's election that
catapulted a little-known figure into the position of President of the
Islamic Republic.

That figure is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who became mayor of Tehran less than two
years ago. He won the presidency in a landslide, crushing the mullah-cum
business tycoon Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the pillars of the regime
since its inception in 1979.

Ahmadinejad holds a PhD in engineering from Iran's most elite university,
and is far better educated than all of his five predecessors as president.

A reservist colonel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he is the
first president of the Islamic Republic with a military background. The son
of a blacksmith, he is the first president of the Islamic Republic to come
from a poor family and one of few senior figures in the regime not to have
amassed a personal fortune in recent years.

But Ahmadinejad's chief asset, and the main if not sole reason for his
victory is his relationship with and fierce loyalty to the Supreme Guide,
Ali Khamenehi, the true and almost absolute ruler of the country. The two
met in 1979 when Khamenehi served as deputy defence minister and have been
close ever since.

Some analysts have dismissed Ahmadinejad's emergence as a front-line player
in Iranian politics as irrelevant because the electoral process that
produced his win was manifestly flawed.

Nevertheless, his election is an important development. After all, this is
the first time in the 26-year history of the Islamic Republic that a mullah
has been beaten by a non-mullah in a high-profile electoral contest. His win
is all the more significant because his rival was not only Iran's richest
man but also the best-known figure of the Khomeinist regime.

Ahmadinejad's victory means that Khamenehi, who has established himself as
head of the most radical faction within the Khomeinist establishment, now
controls all levers of power for the first time. He will now be able to put
his own men in charge of all key government departments. Any idea of
Western-style reforms to please the restive middle classes will be
abandoned.

The concentration of power in the hands of the radical faction will end more
than two decades of divided government that has put many aspects of policy
on autopilot as it were. Two years ago when King Abdullah II of Jordan
telephoned Khatami to complain about Iran setting up terrorist cells in
Amman, the Iranian president was able to claim that he knew nothing of it
because he did not control all organs of government.

The Europeans who have been negotiating with Tehran over the nuclear issue
have also heard similar claims from Iranian counterparts. With Ahmadinejad
in charge, however, such claims will no longer be credible because the
camarilla headed by Khamenehi is now in complete control. Rafsanjani had
promised the Chinese model - meaning the combination of a despotic political
regime with capitalist economic policies. Ahmadinejad promises a North
Korean model - that is to say a totalitarian system and a command economy.

Ahmadinejad's election shows that the Khomeinist regime cannot be reformed
from within. It also shows that there is still a strong constituency in Iran
for the populist message of the ayatollah. True, far fewer people voted than
the regime claims. But those who did vote preferred Ahmadinejad's "pure
Islam" to Rafsanjani's attempt at perpetuating the myth that Iran today is,
in the words of the former US president Bill Clinton, "a progressist
democracy".

Ahmadinejad describes himself as a fundamentalist, has no qualms about
asserting that there can be no democracy in Islam, rejects free-market
economics, and insists on "religious duties" rather than human rights. This
clarity will, in the medium term, help the people of Iran understand the
choices involved. They will learn that they cannot have an Islamist system
together with the goodies that the modern world offers in both material and
spiritual terms.

Unlike Khatami, who was trying to hoodwink the Europeans over the Iranian
nuclear project, Ahmadinejad openly says Iran does have such a program, is
proud of it, and that no one has the right to question Iran's right to
develop whatever weapons it wants.

Should the outside world be frightened? Not necessarily. Paradoxically, the
clarity created by this election may prove useful. Khatami went around the
world speaking about Hegel and Nietzsche to ruling elites and creating the
illusion that the Islamic Republic was part of the global system symbolised
by the World Trade Organisation, the Davos forum, and the Western
non-governmental organisations of do-gooders.

Ahmadinejad's victory reveals the true face of the Islamic Republic as a
regional power with its own world vision that challenges the so-called
"global consensus". It reminds the world that the mini-Cold War that started
between the Islamic Republic and the West, notably the US, is far from over.
---
Iranian author Amir Taheri was editor-in-chief of Kayhan, the most important
Iranian daily under the Shah. He is a member of Benador Associates.

---
URL:?http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/16225


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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Mon Jun 27 10:09:13 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:29:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Wash Times lead editorial on Timmerman Iran book
In-Reply-To: <7A683492-210A-4C42-B0DF-8BE81E0A854F@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506271729.j5RHTA9N007831@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 12:12:43 -0400
Subject: Fwd: Wash Times lead editorial on Timmerman Iran book



Begin forwarded message:
> 
> http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050626-113507-2449r.htm
> <http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050626-113507-2449r.htm>
> 
> The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com <http://www.washingtontimes.com>
> 
> Iran, September 11 and the CIA
> Published June 27, 2005
> Today, on our facing page, we are running the first of three excerpts from
> Kenneth R. Timmerman's new book, "Countdown To Crisis, The Coming Nuclear
> Showdown With Iran" (Crown Publishing Group, $25.95). Relying on intelligence
> sources he has developed during the past two decades as an investigative
> journalist, Mr. Timmerman spent many hours debriefing defectors from Iran's
> intelligence services. These sources have provided Mr. Timmerman with
> eyewitness accounts of meetings between top al Qaeda leaders and senior
> officials in the Iranian government.
> ?????It has been clear since September 11, 2001 that U.S. intelligence had
> failed the American people, resulting in the deaths of nearly 3,000 of our
> countrymen. A growing body of evidence has accumulated suggesting that Iran
> may have had a role in the September 11 attacks, and that the Central
> Intelligence Agency has sought to play down evidence of this.
> ????? Mr. Timmerman marshals an impressive amount of evidence suggesting Iran
> may have known about the attacks and has given sanctuary to senior al Qaeda
> officials who were involved in planning them. Perhaps most disturbing of all
> is the information he presents suggesting that the CIA and other U.S.
> intelligence agencies have systematically tried to whitewash credible evidence
> from Iranian defectors linking Tehran and al Qaeda before and after September
> 11. 
> ?????"Several times, the CIA tried to steer me away from information these
> defectors provided. Rather than do me a good turn, the CIA was, I believe,
> trying to lead me away from their own errors in judgment -- errors that I
> believe cost thousands of American lives," Mr. Timmerman writes. "Because of
> the arrogance and willful blindness of our nation's top intelligence officers,
> America's leaders were misled about the threat from Iran until it was too
> late." 
> ?????Nearly 400 pages in length, "Countdown to Crisis" provides an
> extraordinary wealth of information, much of it new, about how the threat from
> Iranian weapons of mass destruction and Iranian-backed terrorism grew during
> the late 1980s and 1990s, and how the Clinton administration refused to
> confront this reality; instead, the administration sought to create the
> illusion of getting tough with Iran to score public-relations victories. Mr.
> Timmerman shows how in the late 1990s, as the behavior of the Iranian
> government grew more menacing, Mr. Clinton pursued a more conciliatory policy
> towards the regime.
> ?????The Clinton administration was hardly the sole party to delude itself
> about Iran and its intention to develop nuclear weapons. Mr. Timmerman
> demonstrates how, in 1989, as Iran was rebuilding from an eight-year war with
> Iraq, Tehran successfully manipulated International Atomic Energy Agency
> Secretary-General Hans Blix into becoming the champion of its supposedly
> "peaceful" nuclear program.
> ?????There is also new, detailed material showing how Iran worked on nuclear
> weapons together with Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan's proliferation network.
> And Mr. Timmerman also sheds new light on how U.N. Ambassador-designee John
> Bolton made powerful enemies for himself within the IAEA and the State
> Department bureaucracy and its political allies on Capitol Hill: by working
> tirelessly as undersecretary of state for arms control to force Iran and other
> rogue states to get out of the nuclear-weapons business.
> ?????But the most disturbing parts of Mr. Timmerman's book, some of which
> which we excerpt here, deal with the evidence suggesting Iran may have had a
> hand in September 11.
> ?????This includes how an Iranian defector gave the CIA two months warning of
> a "massive attack on America," scheduled for September 11, 2001, but how the
> agency brushed him off even after the events of that day; how Rep. Curt
> Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican, become so disturbed by the CIA's refusal to
> act on information that Osama bin Laden was in Iran that he contacted a bounty
> hunter in an effort to capture the terrorist; and how Iran continues to
> finance Abu Musab Zarqawi and Iraq's terrorist insurgency.
> ?????Lawmakers on Capitol Hill would do well to examine Mr.Timmerman's account
> of how George Tenet and CIA analysts dismissed evidence the agency obtained
> summarizing ties between Iran and al Qaeda. The evidence included a
> description of how Imad Mugniyeh, a senior Hezbollah operative whose terrorist
> credits include the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut which
> killed 241 U.S. servicemen, coordinated the travel of between eight and 10 of
> the September 11 "muscle hijackers."
> ?????
> +++
> http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050626-113508-4677r.htm
> ?The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com
> 
> The rat line
> By Kenneth R. Timmerman
> Published June 27, 2005
> 
> ???? 
> ?????On September 12, 2001, commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guards
> gathered in Tehran. General Mohammad Ahayi began his speech with a verse from
> the Koran: "Whosoever battles with Allah, Allah will do battle with him."
> ?????General Ayahi then turned to his fellow commanders. Did you see how we
> (banging his fist into his chest) brought them down? How we brought America to
> its knees? 
> ?????Colonel B, a Revolutionary Guards officer, was in the audience. Just the
> year before, he had been assigned to a terrorist training camp northeast of
> Tehran, and had seen with his own eyes the Lebanese, Libyans, Azeris,
> Chechens, Iraqis, and others who had come to Iran to learn the disciplines of
> murder. 
> ?????He turned to a friend, the intelligence director of the Qods battalion,
> the Revolutionary Guards' overseas action arm responsible for terrorist
> attacks and assassinations. Did we have anything to do with this event?, he
> asked. 
> ?????His friend smiled and admonished him with a shake of his finger. Don't
> dig into details. Leave it alone. You don't want to know more.
> ?????How come I wasn't told about any of this before?, Deputy Defense
> Secretary Paul Wolfowitz asked.
> ?????The date was October 26, 2001. Mr. Wolfowitz had just learned from a
> Defense Intelligence Agency briefer about the al Qaeda "rat line" that
> operated between Afghanistan and Europe, with the full knowledge and
> cooperation of the Iranian government. Once they crossed the border into Iran,
> al Qaeda operatives were welcomed at special camps outside the eastern Iranian
> city of Mashad, then given fresh travel documents so they could travel on to
> Europe and America without arousing suspicion, the briefer said. The level of
> cooperation between Iran and al Qaeda was stunning, and went against
> everything Mr. Wolfowitz thought he knew.
> ?????The briefer mumbled some excuse to Mr. Wolfowitz's question. But the real
> reason was that DIA higher-ups had forbidden the analysts from presenting the
> briefing to Mr. Wolfowitz earlier because it contradicted "the Concept" -- the
> intelligence community's firm belief that Iran had no operational ties to al
> Qaeda and had gotten out of the terror game with President Mohammad Khatami's
> election in 1997. It also violated the doctrine that had become a matter of
> faith among Middle East analysts and "experts" on Islam that there could be no
> cooperation between the Shia and Sunni fundamentalists.
> ?????Whenever intelligence personnel or journalists turned up evidence that al
> Qaeda was working with Iran, those analysts made sure the reports were
> discredited. Bucking the conventional wisdom was an invitation to ridicule, as
> the briefer's colleagues at the DIA's tiny Iran unit at Bolling Air Force Base
> knew well. They had gotten approval to brief Mr. Wolfowitz only because he had
> explicitly tasked the DIA to examine the possibility of Iran/al Qaeda ties --
> a possibility their political bosses at the DIA's policy support office in the
> Pentagon had discounted long ago.
> ?????Al Qaeda had been working with Iran since at least 1992, when Iranian
> general Mohammad Bagr Zolqadr was running a Revolutionary Guard training camp
> in the Sudan, the briefer said. Zolqadr's ties to Osama bin Laden had been
> brokered by Ayman al-Zawahri -- the Egyptian terrorist known as "the Doctor."
> ?????Zawahri and his Egyptian Islamic Jihad group provided the muscle men for
> al Qaeda, giving bin Laden access to a virtually unlimited pool of manpower.
> Zawahri was the man with the Iran contacts. Throughout the 1990s, he traveled
> repeatedly to Iran as the guest of Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali
> Fallahian and the head of foreign terrorist operations, Ahmad Vahidi. Vahidi
> was the commander of the Qods Force and the man who supervised the 1996 Khobar
> Towers bombing. 
> ?????In the months before Sept. 11, Egyptian Islamic Jihad commanders
> transited in large numbers through Mashad en route to Afghanistan to join bin
> Laden's ranks, the briefer said. They had solid reporting and hard evidence
> from human sources and from national technical means confirming the rat line.
> ?????Bin Laden preferred the Iranian route because he believed that U.S.
> intelligence officials were monitoring Pakistani airports and were responsible
> for the arrest of several of his top operatives during the last six years.
> ?????Seven to ten days before the Sept. 11 attacks, Iran suddenly closed the
> Mashad rat line to the Egyptian jihadis, the briefer said. Some sources
> believe it was because the Iranians knew a major terrorist attack was about to
> occur and didn't want to give the United States cause for military retaliation
> against Iran. 
> ?????The latest piece of the puzzle was still being evaluated, he said. Just
> one week ago, the DIA had reports that the notorious terrorist Imad Mugniyeh
> had come to Mashad with HosseinMosleh,Vahidi's deputy. According to one
> source, the two met with Iraqi intelligence chief Taher Jalil Haboosh.
> ????? 
> ?????Kenneth R. Timmerman is author of "Countdown to Crisis: The Coming
> Nuclear Showdown with Iran," from which this is excerpted.
> ?????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --?
> Kenneth R. Timmerman
> President, Middle East Data Project, Inc.
> Author: Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran
> Tel: 301-946-2918
> Reply to: timmerman.road@verizon.net
> Website: www.KenTimmerman.com <http://www.KenTimmerman.com>
> 



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From michael at intrafi.com  Mon Jun 27 10:32:10 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 10:32:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: How Home Prices Can Be Hot but Inflation
	Cool
Message-ID: <20050627173210.CB993249D02@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

BUSINESS / YOUR MONEY | June 26, 2005
Economic View: How Home Prices Can Be Hot but Inflation Cool
By DANIEL GROSS
To the government, a home is consumed like potato chips, so the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks rents instead of house prices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/business/yourmoney/26view.html?ex=1120536000&en=a3227b7433e2d4eb&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:34:45 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:35:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Commandment Displays Allowed on Some
	Government Property
Message-ID: <20050627183445.85259249D29@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
Commandment Displays Allowed on Some Government Property
By DAVID STOUT
The Supreme Court allowed Ten Commandments displays at the Texas Capitol, but not at courthouses in Kentucky.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27cnd-commandments.html?ex=1120536000&en=db69dabe528bd9d2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:35:20 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:35:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Climate Shock
Message-ID: <20050627183520.EBAB024AEBE@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 27, 2005
Editorial: Climate Shock

A nonbinding Senate resolution on global warming is further proof that the administration's efforts to minimize the threat have failed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/opinion/27mon1.html?ex=1120536000&en=d1a3e3045732820d&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:35:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:36:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Army's Hard Sell
Message-ID: <20050627183542.A925483D16@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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OPINION | June 27, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: The Army's Hard Sell
By BOB HERBERT
With volunteers in extremely short supply, an even more emotional divide is occurring over the ways in which soldiers for the war in Iraq are selected.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/opinion/27herbert.html?ex=1120536000&en=0d298d95d988745e&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:35:55 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:36:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Chinese Challenge
Message-ID: <20050627183555.8C6C23AE3F1@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 27, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: The Chinese Challenge
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Chinese investment in America - highlighted by the bids for Maytag and Unocal - looks a lot more serious than Japanese investment did 15 years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/opinion/27krugman.html?ex=1120536000&en=31bd407032d98c05&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:36:52 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:37:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Free Speech and Hate Speech: French Ruling
	Roils the Waters
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INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | June 27, 2005
Free Speech and Hate Speech: French Ruling Roils the Waters
By CRAIG S. SMITH
A recent court case is indicative of a surge of emotional discourse that is bumping against laws designed to guard against the fascist hate-mongering of the 1930's.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/international/europe/27france.html?ex=1120536000&en=90b31156d36a82a4&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:42:31 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:42:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: U.S. Has Plans to Again Make Own Plutonium
Message-ID: <20050627184231.C9BB9249D1B@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Just great...


WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
U.S. Has Plans to Again Make Own Plutonium
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
The Bush administration's plan to produce plutonium 238 is stirring debate over the risks and benefits of the deadly material.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27nuke.html?ex=1120536000&en=dce782cfec14c055&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:42:43 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:43:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Some in G.O.P. Call on Bush to Focus on
	Governing
Message-ID: <20050627184243.6B55A83D25@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
Some in G.O.P. Call on Bush to Focus on Governing
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Influential Republicans said Karl Rove and the White House political operation have been slow to shift from campaign mode.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27bush.html?ex=1120536000&en=e958adc63a620cb0&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:42:59 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:43:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: In Battle to Pick Next Justice, Right Says,
	Avoid a Kennedy
Message-ID: <20050627184259.C28A513B73A@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
In Battle to Pick Next Justice, Right Says, Avoid a Kennedy
By JASON DePARLE
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is looming in many conservatives' minds as just the kind of mistake they hope President Bush avoids.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27kennedy.html?ex=1120536000&en=47a69237119a3f95&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:43:39 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:44:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Two Groups Charge Abuse of Witness Law
Message-ID: <20050627184339.E573D236F29@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

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WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
Two Groups Charge Abuse of Witness Law
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
A new study charges that the administration has twisted the system of due process "beyond recognition" in jailing terror suspects without charging them with a crime.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27witness.html?ex=1120536000&en=a5d41dea9f12760c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 11:44:09 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 27 11:44:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Evicted 'Denver Three' Gain Support in Quest
Message-ID: <20050627184409.AFCA83AE4E4@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

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This is something to watch...


WASHINGTON | June 27, 2005
White House Letter: Evicted 'Denver Three' Gain Support in Quest
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
A flap has erupted over the Denver Three, who were thrown out of a taxpayer-financed Bush Social Security event, reportedly because of a bumper sticker on one of their cars.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27letter.html?ex=1120536000&en=a9ccda6fdfc6e796&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Mon Jun 27 14:44:02 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Mon Jun 27 14:44:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: File-sharing suffers major defeat
Message-ID: <20050627_214402_006455.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
so are gun makers liable for murder ?

** File-sharing suffers major defeat **
In a surprise ruling the US Supreme Court has declared file-sharing firms liable for the piracy on their networks.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4627679.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 16:59:11 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 16:59:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senator Durbin Defends America's Values
Message-ID: <BEE5E0DF.2140E%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Senator Durbin Defends America's Values
    By James J. Zogby
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Monday 27 June 2005

    In recent weeks, controversy has mounted over the treatment meted out to
detainees at US facilities in Guant?namo Bay and other locations around the
world. In an effort to deal with the criticism and change the subject, the
White House and their allies have responded, blasting critics like Amnesty
International, charging that their comments damage the image of the US,
endanger American troops and harm the war on terrorism.

    Watching the right wing's attack machine go into motion is really quite
a spectacle. It targets its victim, strikes, and then launches into a
multimedia, multi-day assault. Every medium is used: the White House
comments, Senators and Congressmen issue releases. And then Fox News, radio
talk shows, the Washington Times, web logs and web sites - all carry the
"story" and add to it. The initial attack is then echoed and magnified. The
goal is to bury the target and silence critics with overwhelming force.
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) is their most recent target. Last week on the
Senate floor, Durbin, who in the past has successfully led the effort to
pass anti-torture legislation, read aloud a statement by an FBI agent
describing the torture of prisoners at Guant?namo Bay. He said that the
techniques described by the agent called to mind those used by repressive
regimes, including the Nazis and Soviets.

    The response was quick and harsh, utilizing all the media noted above.
Prominent among the attackers were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Gingrich said that Durbin's comments
appeared on Al-Jazeera, and that, "You cannot have a public official quoted
throughout the world by our enemies describing the US in these terms - it
puts every young American in uniform at risk."

    Frist went further, mischaracterizing Durbin's remarks, alleging that
his statement was "anti-American and only fuels the animus of our enemies
... It is this type of language that they use to recruit others to be car
bombers, suicide attackers, hostage takers, and full-fledged jihadists." The
assault went on for a week, frightening many from coming to Durbin's
defense.

    Abandoned by his allies, Durbin went to the Senate floor and apologized
for the inept historical references. But on the critical issues of torture
and detention, he firmly stood his ground.

    The rhetorical excesses of Gingrich and Frist are dead wrong. What
damages the US image and endangers us are not comments by Durbin and other
critics of Guant?namo Bay. It is the Bush administration's detention and
interrogation policies. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld explicitly authorized the
use of abusive interrogation techniques at Guant?namo Bay. FBI agents and
the Red Cross both concluded that the use of these techniques at Guant?namo
constituted "torture." In the past, the United States has always condemned
the use of such techniques. Now, we apparently approve of them.

    According to polls we have conducted, Arab attitudes toward the United
States have dropped to dangerously low levels. The treatment of Arab and
Muslim prisoners is a big reason, rivaling regional disapproval of US policy
toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war in Iraq.

    Buttressing these poll results are my experiences in the Arab world,
where I travel frequently. In conversations with opinion leaders and average
citizens across the region, they frequently note their deep disappointment
with current state of our human rights policy. Many Arab reformers tell me
that our behavior now mimics that of their own governments.

    President Bush has linked the spread of democracy to the war on
terrorism. Unfortunately, the indefinite secret detention and highly
coercive interrogation of Arab and Muslim detainees in Guant?namo Bay and
other locations has harmed our ability to advocate credibly for democratic
reforms. Indeed, some governments now point to American practices to justify
their own human rights abuses.

    President Bush has suggested that anti-democratic practices and human
rights abuses promote instability and create the conditions that can breed
terrorism. Democratic reformers and human rights activists used to look to
the US as an exemplar, as the city on a hill. Now they are dismissed by
their countrymen when they point to the American experience.

    Once we set a high standard for the world; now we have lowered the bar.
The damage to our image, to the values we have sought to project, and to our
ability to deal more effectively with root causes of terror have been
profound. Efforts to silence debate and the attacks against courageous
opponents of torture like Dick Durbin are wrong and send the wrong message
to our world. Comments by Durbin and other critics of torture help, not
hurt, the US image in the Middle East. People there are already outraged
about Guant?namo and Abu Ghraib. The fact that Durbin and others have
demonstrated the courage to speak out and challenge these shameful and
abusive practices demonstrates to the Arab world that not all Americans
support what the world knows we have done. As their criticism makes clear,
there are still Americans who hold high the values we call on others to
emulate. At a time when we're trying to spread democracy, Durbin and other
critics show people in the Arab world how a democracy works. The good new is
that not only has Durbin not been silenced, but the controversy about
Guant?namo and Abu Ghraib and the treatment of detainees, in general, is
growing and will not be stopped until changes are made.

 


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 17:01:04 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Mon Jun 27 17:02:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] From Tehran to Washington,
	an Axis of Demagogues Just Got More Dangerous
Message-ID: <BEE5E150.2140F%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    From Tehran to Washington, an Axis of Demagogues Just Got More Dangerous
    By Norman Solomon
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Monday 27 June 2005

    Ten days ago, in one of southern Tehran's poor neighborhoods, I
interviewed some voters in line to cast ballots for Iran's next president.
After a while, when an official at the polling station asked who I thought
would win, I repeated the conventional media wisdom: "Rafsanjani."

    "It will never happen," he replied flatly. "I promise you."

    During the interviews, the name Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had often come up -
in response to the question "Who will you vote for?" - with several people
making comments along the lines of "he has helped us." At the time, I
chalked it up to local loyalty to the city's mayor.

    Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political powerhouse in Iran for a
quarter-century and one of the country's richest men, turned off voters in
impoverished neighborhoods like Saleh-Abad. His elitism and well-known
nepotism was a glaring contrast to Ahmadinejad's populist appeal.

    Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad has risen to power as a theocratic leader
aligned with fundamentalist vigilante forces. It's an old story in many
societies, with a demagogue tapping into justified grievances against
economic injustice to rise to power.

    In Iran, it's true, the president is largely subservient to the clerical
Guardian Council and the hardline Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known as "Leader."
Yet since 1997, Iran's presidency has been an important foothold for
reformers. Now that foothold is gone. In a country that has seen slow but
significant progress in social freedoms and human rights during recent
years, the runoff election results last Friday - catapulting the odious
Ahmadinejad to the president's office - is a blow to freedom of speech,
women's rights and a range of possibilities for protecting civil liberties.

    All this surely is good news for Washington's top officials gunning for
a confrontation with Iran. A few weeks ago they could not have been pleased
with the surge of U.S. media coverage hyping Rafsanjani as a "moderate."
That kind of talk must have been worrisome for war-planners in Washington.

    Now the Tehran-Washington axis of demagogues is more dangerous than
ever. They're very likely to feed off each other, satisfying rabid domestic
constituencies and stoking international tensions. Yet as usual, despite the
rhetoric of government leaders, most people want peace.

    It was late morning when I visited the Saleh-Abad neighborhood during
the first round of the elections, with the humid heat already uncomfortable.
As I was leaving a courtyard outside a mosque where people were voting, an
old man approached me and held out a clear glass cup filled with water. The
water was remarkably cold. A tiny gesture? Sure. Just a hokey story? Maybe.
But the warmth that I experienced as an American, talking with hundreds of
citizens at random in Tehran, makes me believe that most Iranian people -
while understandably quite distrustful of the U.S. government - want good
relations with the United States.

    For now anyway, Iranians appear to be stuck with a government that's
likely to adopt more hardline policies. And in the short term, there's
probably very little they can do about it.

    In the United States, we have a lot more democratic avenues available.
Meanwhile, officials in Washington are steadily upping the rhetorical ante
and moving towards a military confrontation with Iran. So far, we're doing
very little to restrain them. What's our excuse?

    -------------

    Norman Solomon's new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep
Spinning Us to Death has just become available. The book's first chapter is
posted at: www.WarMadeEasy.com.

 

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 27 17:14:18 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 27 17:15:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - UN SAYS CONGO FIGHTERS USED WOMEN AND
	CHILDREN AS HUMAN SHIELDS
Message-ID: <20050628001418.2D49169AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
UN SAYS CONGO FIGHTERS USED WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS HUMAN SHIELDS
WebPosted Mon Jun 27 17:06:30 2005

---Ethnic militia fighters in northeastern Congo used women and children
as shields in a battle with United Nations peacekeepers on Monday,
reports from Kinshasa said.

A UN spokesman was quoted as saying the fighters opened up with machine-
guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades when about 200 Pakistani and
Bangladeshi peacekeepers tried to search and dismantle a militia camp in
the lawless Ituri district.

"They were also using women and children as human shields," the
spokesman, Kemal Saiki, told the Associated Press.

The UN troops had support from a rocket-firing attack helicopter in a
firefight that lasted most of the day, another UN official said. No
further details of the battle were available.

Reuters said the UN stepped up military operations after being accused of
failing in its mandate to protect civilians in the district, where nine
Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in February.

With great potential resource wealth and a desperately poor population of
about 60 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire,
and before that the Belgian Congo) remains in many ways as grim as when
Joseph Conrad used it as the setting for his colonial-era classic Heart
of Darkness .

Tens of thousands of people are believed to have died in Ituri in the
past five years in fighting between Lendu and Hema militias, at least
partly over border revenues and gold.

The conflict is a bloody remnant of a wider civil war that sucked in
troops from six neighbouring countries and left millions of civilians
dead, mainly of starvation and disease, by the time it ended in 2002.

Congo is now the scene of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operation, with
nearly 17,000 troops stretched thinly across vast territories. UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked that the number be increased to
more than 19,000.

In Ituri, as many as 15,000 militia members have given up their weapons
in a UN disarmament process, but others have resisted and some are feared
to be reorganizing and rearming.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Mon Jun 27 17:15:42 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Mon Jun 27 17:16:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - ISRAELI SOLDIER CONVICTED OF KILLING FOREIGN
	ACTIVIST
Message-ID: <20050628001542.8B81969AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
ISRAELI SOLDIER CONVICTED OF KILLING FOREIGN ACTIVIST
WebPosted Mon Jun 27 13:35:22 2005

---An Israeli military court on Monday convicted a former soldier of
manslaughter in the death of a pro-Palestinian British activist during a
2003 operation in the Gaza Strip.

It's the first time an Israeli soldier has been found guilty of killing a
foreigner during the four-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The court found that Wahid Taysir, an Israeli Bedouin Arab, shot Tom
Hurndall in the head in April 2003. The 22-year-old British man was
helping Palestinian children get out of the way of Israeli tanks in the
Rafah refugee camp.

Hurndall spent nine months in a coma before dying in a London hospital.

Taysir's lawyers argued the bullet didn't kill Hurndall, but blamed
malpractice by British doctors, a claim rejected by the panel of Israeli
military judges.

It found the former soldier shot the activist with a sniper rifle
equipped with a telescopic sight. In a confession, Taysir said he was
trying to scare Hurndall by shooting a bullet close to his head.

The court called Taysir's description of the incident "confused and even
pathetic," calling it a "broad campaign of lies and falsehoods&#8230; to
remove any criminal guilt from himself."

Taysir was also convicted of obstruction of justice, submitting false
testimony, obtaining false testimony and unbecoming behaviour.

The court also rejected Taysir's argument that he was targeted because he
is a member of Israel's minority Bedouin Arab community.

The former sergeant, who faces 20 years in prison when he's sentenced in
August, tried to attack photographers and cameramen as he was led from
the courtroom.

The victim's father, Anthony Hurndall, called the conviction "limited
justice," saying he believes guilt lies higher up the military chain
of command.

Hurndall had been taking photos for the International Solidarity
Movement, a Palestinian-led activist organization that opposes Israeli
activity in the disputed territories. Its members often put themselves
between Palestinians and army soldiers.

In March 2003, 23-year-old American Rachel Corrie was crushed by an
Israeli army bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of a
Palestinian home. The army has ruled her death accidental.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 17:33:05 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Mon Jun 27 17:34:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] From Tehran to Washington,
	an Axis of Demagogues Just Got More Dangerous
References: <BEE5E150.2140F%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <000601c57b78$f38ad0a0$8a03ca44@CowBox>

Great artical Michael, I  could not agree more with it.

Peace
Robin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 8:01 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] From Tehran to Washington,an Axis of Demagogues Just Got 
More Dangerous


>    From Tehran to Washington, an Axis of Demagogues Just Got More 
> Dangerous
>    By Norman Solomon
>    t r u t h o u t | Perspective
>
>    Monday 27 June 2005
>
>    Ten days ago, in one of southern Tehran's poor neighborhoods, I
> interviewed some voters in line to cast ballots for Iran's next president.
> After a while, when an official at the polling station asked who I thought
> would win, I repeated the conventional media wisdom: "Rafsanjani."
>
>    "It will never happen," he replied flatly. "I promise you."
>
>    During the interviews, the name Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had often come up -
> in response to the question "Who will you vote for?" - with several people
> making comments along the lines of "he has helped us." At the time, I
> chalked it up to local loyalty to the city's mayor.
>
>    Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political powerhouse in Iran for a
> quarter-century and one of the country's richest men, turned off voters in
> impoverished neighborhoods like Saleh-Abad. His elitism and well-known
> nepotism was a glaring contrast to Ahmadinejad's populist appeal.
>
>    Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad has risen to power as a theocratic leader
> aligned with fundamentalist vigilante forces. It's an old story in many
> societies, with a demagogue tapping into justified grievances against
> economic injustice to rise to power.
>
>    In Iran, it's true, the president is largely subservient to the 
> clerical
> Guardian Council and the hardline Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known as 
> "Leader."
> Yet since 1997, Iran's presidency has been an important foothold for
> reformers. Now that foothold is gone. In a country that has seen slow but
> significant progress in social freedoms and human rights during recent
> years, the runoff election results last Friday - catapulting the odious
> Ahmadinejad to the president's office - is a blow to freedom of speech,
> women's rights and a range of possibilities for protecting civil 
> liberties.
>
>    All this surely is good news for Washington's top officials gunning for
> a confrontation with Iran. A few weeks ago they could not have been 
> pleased
> with the surge of U.S. media coverage hyping Rafsanjani as a "moderate."
> That kind of talk must have been worrisome for war-planners in Washington.
>
>    Now the Tehran-Washington axis of demagogues is more dangerous than
> ever. They're very likely to feed off each other, satisfying rabid 
> domestic
> constituencies and stoking international tensions. Yet as usual, despite 
> the
> rhetoric of government leaders, most people want peace.
>
>    It was late morning when I visited the Saleh-Abad neighborhood during
> the first round of the elections, with the humid heat already 
> uncomfortable.
> As I was leaving a courtyard outside a mosque where people were voting, an
> old man approached me and held out a clear glass cup filled with water. 
> The
> water was remarkably cold. A tiny gesture? Sure. Just a hokey story? 
> Maybe.
> But the warmth that I experienced as an American, talking with hundreds of
> citizens at random in Tehran, makes me believe that most Iranian people -
> while understandably quite distrustful of the U.S. government - want good
> relations with the United States.
>
>    For now anyway, Iranians appear to be stuck with a government that's
> likely to adopt more hardline policies. And in the short term, there's
> probably very little they can do about it.
>
>    In the United States, we have a lot more democratic avenues available.
> Meanwhile, officials in Washington are steadily upping the rhetorical ante
> and moving towards a military confrontation with Iran. So far, we're doing
> very little to restrain them. What's our excuse?
>
>    -------------
>
>    Norman Solomon's new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits 
> Keep
> Spinning Us to Death has just become available. The book's first chapter 
> is
> posted at: www.WarMadeEasy.com.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic 

From wmichaelharris at earthlink.net  Mon Jun 27 17:40:38 2005
From: wmichaelharris at earthlink.net (Walter Michael Harris)
Date: Mon Jun 27 17:41:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] HAIR: Theater of the Ridiculous
Message-ID: <42C09C86.8030103@earthlink.net>

Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 12:33 PM

Subject: Our leader

The President explains the virtues of his Social Security plan (to a 
PICKED audience, mind you!) in Tampa, FL, Feb. 4, 2005.

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I don't really understand. How is the new [Social 
Security] plan going to fix that problem?

VERBATIM RESPONSE FROM PRESIDENT BUSH:

Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost 
drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on 
the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or 
price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being 
considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, 
affecting those  changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to 
get what has been promised more likely to be --or closer delivered to 
that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of 
muddled.

Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, 
benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to 
the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the 
benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. 
There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into 
effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised 
benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on 
the red."

***

wmh

From lyve at netzero.com  Mon Jun 27 18:26:39 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Mon Jun 27 18:29:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] HAIR: Theater of the Ridiculous
Message-ID: <20050627.182725.5249.253423@webmail18.nyc.untd.com>


absolutely clear explanations on economics....what a good job he's doing.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

-- Walter Michael Harris <wmichaelharris@earthlink.net> wrote:
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 12:33 PM

Subject: Our leader

The President explains the virtues of his Social Security plan (to a 
PICKED audience, mind you!) in Tampa, FL, Feb. 4, 2005.

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I don't really understand. How is the new [Social 
Security] plan going to fix that problem?

VERBATIM RESPONSE FROM PRESIDENT BUSH:

Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost 
drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on 
the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or 
price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being 
considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, 
affecting those  changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to 
get what has been promised more likely to be --or closer delivered to 
that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of 
muddled.

Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, 
benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to 
the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the 
benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. 
There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into 
effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised 
benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on 
the red."

***

wmh

_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 19:32:38 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun 27 19:33:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
References: <20050625.171851.16498.230917@webmail24.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <008401c57b89$a7600130$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Lyle:

You said, "Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way."  Ummm....not quite.

Yes, he was a Jew.  However, if He had "approved and practiced the Jewish way," He would not have prevented the adultress from being stoned, He would not have eaten with all manner of sinners, He would not have saved the centurion's servant, and He sure as heck would not have forgiven people their sins (among many other things).

Jesus did not come to establish a "new religion" or belief; He came to teach Jews how to be "better" Jews; i.e., to understand that the "spirit of the law" is more important than the "letter of the law" - that virtues such as love, forgiveness, compassion, humility, patience, charity, selflessness and service were more important than myopic, slavish devotion to laws, rules and rituals.

Although it is true that Jesus' "playbook" was the "Old Testament," He was unquestionably a "heretic" as far as the Jews were concerned.

Finally, it is clear that Jesus did not (as those who are evangelizing in the academy are) "create an atmosphere in which [those] who did not share [His] faith were...marginalized."  Rather, He offered the Gospel to anyone who would listen, without expectation of acceptance, and did not judge or condemn anyone who did not wish to listen.  This is what most of mainstream, heirarchical "organized" Christianity - both Catholic and evangelical Protestant - seem not to "get" about "sharing the Gospel."

And that's too bad.  Because all it does is add to making Christianity its own worst enemy.

The above is offered simply as clarification, not as "rebuttal."

Peace.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 8:17 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom


  Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
   
  "The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


  Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
  http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom


  By E. J. Dionne Jr.

  Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A23

  There was no obvious political benefit in David Obey's decision to take on the defense of religious minorities at the Air Force Academy. Because he stood up for their rights on the floor of the House of Representatives, the Wisconsin Democrat found himself accused of "denigrating and demonizing Christians."

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401416.html



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From lyve at netzero.com  Mon Jun 27 19:46:19 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Mon Jun 27 19:48:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Steve Jobs: Stanford Graduation
Message-ID: <20050627.194628.5249.254416@webmail18.nyc.untd.com>


Absolutely wonderful!
Fitting especially for today's up's and down's.
Thank you for the article.
Lyle


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

-- villasudjuan <villasudjuan@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
    
------ Forwarded Message
From: "Shon Saleh" <shonsa@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:37:21 +0000
To: amm@postmark.net, grgolsorkhi@earthlink.net
Subject: FW: Steve Jobs: Stanford Graduation



>
>
>
>
>
>Steve Jobs' Stanford Graduation address 6/12/05
>
>
>
>Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one
>of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated
>from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college
>graduation.
>
>
>
>
>
>Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big
>deal.
>
>Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
>
>
>
>
>
>I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed
>around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit.
>So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother
>was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for
>adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college
>graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a
>lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the
>last
>minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting
>list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an
>unexpected
>baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother
>found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my
>father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
>adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents
>promised that I would go to college.
>
>
>
>
>
>This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to
>college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as
>Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on
>my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had
>no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was
>going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my
>parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust
>that
>it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking
>back,
>it was one of the best decisions I ever made.The minute I dropped out, I
>could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin
>dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
>
>
>
>
>
>It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor
>in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to
>buy
>food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night
>to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And
>much
>of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out
>to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
>
>
>
>
>
>Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction
>in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every
>drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and
>didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy
>class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif
>typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter
>combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful,
>historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I
>found it fascinating.
>
>
>
>
>
>None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But
>ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all
>came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first
>computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that
>single
>course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or
>proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's
>likely that no personal computer would have them.
>
>
>
>
>
>If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that
>calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful
>typography that they do.
>
>
>
>
>
>Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was
>in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.
>Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect
>them
>looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect
>in your future. You have to trust in something-your gut, destiny, life,
>karma, whatever-because believing that the dots will connect down the road
>will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you
>off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
>
>
>
>
>
>My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved
>to
>do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was
>twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two
>of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd
>just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd
>just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a
>company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought
>was
>very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so,
>things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and
>eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided
>with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been
>the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I
>really
>didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous
>generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was
>being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to
>apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even
>thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to
>dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
>changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I
>decided to start over.
>
>
>
>
>
>I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was
>the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being
>successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less
>sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative
>periods
>in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT,
>another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who
>would
>become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated
>feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio
>in the world.
>
>
>
>
>
>In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple
>and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current
>renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
>
>
>
>
>
>I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired
>from
>Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it.
>Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose
>faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I
>loved
>what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work
>as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your
>life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
>great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If
>you
>haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters
>of
>the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it
>just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't
>settle.
>
>
>
>
>
>My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went
>something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll
>most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for
>the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
>myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I
>am
>about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days
>in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead
>soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the
>big choices in life, because almost everything-all external expectations,
>all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-these things just fall away
>in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering
>that
>you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
>you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not
>to
>follow your heart.
>
>
>
>
>
>About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the
>morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know
>what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type
>of
>cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
>three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in
>order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and
>tell
>your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell
>them,
>in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up
>so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say
>your
>goodbyes.
>
>
>
>
>
>I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy
>where
>they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my
>intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the
>tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they
>viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it
>turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with
>surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
>
>This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest
>I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this
>to
>you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely
>intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to
>Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we
>all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because
>death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change
>agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is
>you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old
>and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your
>time
>is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped
>by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
>Don't
>let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and
>intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
>
>Everything else is secondary.
>
>
>
>
>
>When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth
>Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by
>a
>fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought
>it
>to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before
>personal
>computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters,
>scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback
>form
>thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing
>with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several
>issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its
>course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your
>age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early
>morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if
>you
>were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
>It
>was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
>And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin
>anew, I wish that for you.
>
>Stay hungry, stay foolish.
>
>
>
>
>
>Thank you all, very much.
>
>
>
>
>
>Please do not transmit orders or instructions regarding a UBS account by
>e-mail. The information provided in this e-mail or any attachments is not
>an
>official transaction confirmation or account statement. For your
>protection,
>do not include account numbers, Social Security numbers, credit card
>numbers, passwords or other non-public information in your e-mail. Because
>the information contained in this message may be privileged, confidential,
>proprietary or otherwise protected from disclosure, please notify us
>immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer
>if you have received this communication in error. Thank you.
>
>UBS Financial Services Inc.
>UBS International Inc.
>

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------ End of Forwarded Message



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From lyve at netzero.com  Mon Jun 27 19:50:02 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Mon Jun 27 19:52:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
Message-ID: <20050627.195042.5249.254463@webmail18.nyc.untd.com>

yes, Ian-I stand corrected. He was tolerant but did not condemn their practices and tried to lead by example-his heart at that time was very compassionate.
Lyle


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

Please note: message attached


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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 20:36:10 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun 27 20:37:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity --  If you're not one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
References: <000701c57a07$37c8e680$6625b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <008a01c57b92$8774fd40$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

Hmmm..."doomed to hell?"  There are 54 mentions of "hell" in the Bible: 31 
in the OT and 23 in the NT.  Of the 23 NT cites, 15 were spoken by Jesus. 
Let's see what He has to say about "hell," since, if one is going to call 
oneself a "Christian" with any truth, it presumes that Jesus' words take 
precedence over anything else.

1.  "But whoever says 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire."  Matt. 
5:22.  Here Jesus is saying that unwarranted anger, as much as murder, is 
wrong, and that both are sins that MAY put you in danger of damnation. 
Nothing here about having to be a Christian.

2.  "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. 
For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for 
your whole body to be cast into hell."  Matt. 5:29.  Here Jesus is saying 
that lust, as much as the act of adultery, is a sin and MAY put you in 
danger of damnation.  Again, nothing here about having to be a Christian.

3.  "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But 
rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  Matt. 
10:28.  Here Jesus is saying that only God, not Satan, has power over your 
soul, and thus you should fear (i.e., revere) God more than fearing Satan. 
Again, nothing here about having to be a Christian.

4.  "And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to 
hell."  Matt. 11:23.  Here Jesus is pronouncing judgment on Capernaum for 
their lack of repentance despite the work and miracles He did there. 
Although this could arguably be seen as a judgment against "non-Christians," 
He was actually rebuking the Jews for not repenting - NOT for lack of 
"conversion."  So this was not about "having to be a 'Christian'," but 
rather about repenting to the God that they DID believe in.

5.  "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build 
My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  Matt. 16:18. 
This passage is well-known and self-exaplantory, and clearly has nothing to 
do with "having to be a Christian."

6.  Matt. 18:9: same as #2 above.

7.  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and 
sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a 
son of hell as yourselves."  Matt. 23:15.  Here Jesus is rebuking the elders 
of the Temple for their adherence to the "letter of the law" at the expense 
of the "spirit of the law."  Again, nothing here about "having to be a 
Christian."

8.  Matt. 23:33: Same as #7 above.

9.  Mark 9:43: Same as #2 above.

10.  Mark 9:45: Same as #2 above.

11.  Mark 9:47: Same as #2 above.

12.  Luke 10:15: Same as #4 above.

13.  Luke 12:5: Same as #3 above.

14.  "And being in torments in hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham 
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."  Luke 16:23.  Here Jesus is telling the 
parable of the rich man who would not even give the crumbs from his table to 
the beggar (Lazarus) at his gate.  This is similar to Jesus' statement that 
"it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a 
rich man to get to heaven."  Again, nothing here about having to be a 
Christian; rather it is a comment on the virtue of charity, which need come 
from a "Christian" belief.

15.  "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. 
Amen.  And I have the keys of Hell and of Death."  Rev. 1:18.  Here Jesus is 
simply describing Himself in the end times.

Thus, at least as far as Jesus is concerned, He says not one word about 
"having to be a Christian" or being "doomed to hell forever."

The only statement Jesus actually makes that bears on this is His statement 
at John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through me."

Even if we accept this statement at face value, it is a somewhat 
questionable "leap of logic" to presume that the unspoken second half of 
this statement is, "...and if you do not come through Me, you will be doomed 
to hell forever."  There is no reason to believe that this was tacitly 
implied by Jesus' comment.

Indeed, any serious, thoughtful reading of John 14 in its entirety would not 
be left with this impression.  Yes, Jesus makes a strong case for believing 
in Him as having been sent by "the Father."  But at no point does He infer 
or imply that not believing in Him will "doom" one to "hell."

The "pairing" of non-belief in Jesus with "being doomed to hell forever" is 
a much later construct created by the emerging "politicized" Church (with a 
capital C; NOT the original "home churches" of the New Testament), and, as 
shown, is  NOT supported by anything Jesus said or did.

What Jesus DID say about this - and the passage that most people are 
probably thinking of in this regard - is the following at Matthew 25:31-46:

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, 
then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  And the nations will be 
gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a 
shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His 
right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on 
His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you 
gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you 
took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I 
was in prison and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, 
saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give 
you drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and 
clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick or in prison and come to You?'  And 
the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as 
you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' 
Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, 
into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was 
hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I 
was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not 
clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  Then they also 
will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a 
stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to You?'  Then 
He will answer, saying 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do 
it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  And these will 
go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Even here, there is no talk of "conversion" or "being a Christian."  The 
"separation" of the "sheep" and the "goats" is a separation of those - 
Christian or not - who showed love, mercy, compassion, charity, etc. to 
others (Christian or not), from those who did not show such love, mercy, 
etc.

Here again, it would be torturous logic to presume that the "sheep" are 
"Christians" and the "goats" are non-believers or non-Christians.  There is 
no such inference or implication made by Jesus in this statement.

Thus, no matter what passage we look at, as far as Jesus is concerned there 
is no "causal relationship" between not being a Christian and being "doomed 
to hell forever."  That causal relationship - as it is and has been taught 
by the mainstream, heirarchical, "organized" Church - is not based in Jesus' 
ministry, but in later interpretations of Paul and others.

All of this is offered in love and clarification, not as rebuttal or 
defense.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 12:26 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not 
one,you're doomed to Hell forever


> The problem with Christianity --  If you're not one, you're doomed to Hell
> forever
>
>
>
> Christianity, as a RELIGION, remains one of the most BIGOTED religions I
> have ever come across on Earth.
>
> First, if you believe in words written thousands of years ago about a man
> who lived thousands of years ago, treasures galore are hoarded up awaiting
> you in Heaven.
>
> Secondly, though, if you do NOT believe in words written thousands of 
> years
> ago about a man who lived thousands of years ago, Christianity's Holy Book
> Itself condemns you to a burning eternity in the pits of Hell with no
> reprieve.
>
> It's THE religion of FEAR.
>
> No wonder The Masses have been able to be so easily manipulated by those
> throwing it at them daily from their childhood into their old age.
>
> They're scared out of their fucking minds at the thought of burning in 
> Hell
> for the rest of Eternity.
>
> Which is MOST LIKELY why a MAJORITY of The Masses who joined it joined the
> Christian religion in the first place.
>
> Out of FEAR.
>
> Not because they were absolutely convinced that all the writings from
> thousands of years ago about a man thousands of years ago were proved to
> them Beyond A Shadow Of Doubt.
>
> But, sadly, instead, they were Convinced that if they did NOT join
> Christianity, again, they would burn in Hell for Eternity.
>
> Some fucking choice, eh.........????
>
> And even if they were Not Convinced, they at least thought, hey, we might 
> as
> well hedge our bets, besides, if we don't go to Church, nobody will buy
> things in our store anymore.
>
> Modern Christianity has turned into the armpits of a hog wallowing in the
> mud slime.
>
> And dragging anyone else they can get into it by presenting the rewards of
> Heaven and Belief at the front, and then tacking on the Eternal Fires Of
> Hell And Damnation casually on to the end of the entire pill.
>
> And, again, hey, if it will improve my Business, I'm with you guys...!!,
> remains the blasphemous cherry on the top of it All.
>
> I, personally, still believe in being gracious? enough to support and
> promote "Freedom Of Religion", here, there, and everywhere.
>
> But after looking at "Christianity" for over a half a Century, the more I
> look at it, the more it sounds like (other than some of the simpler
> teachings of Jesus himself) one big pile of crap.
>
> A religious weapon of Fear.
>
> Join us, or As Our Holy Book Clearly Points Out, burn in Hell for the rest
> of Eternity in dismal agony.
>
> Again, great choice there.
>
> Who could resist...?
>
> Especially if they get you at 2, 3, or 4 years old, and work on you for 
> the
> rest of your life with the same lines, over and over and over and over and
> over and over and over.
>
> By the time you're 10, your soul already went out the window, and you're 
> now
> prepared to go out and perform all the robotic actions you have had 
> drilled
> into you forever, and spew forth all the words and dogma that has been
> indoctrinated into since you were just about a baby.
>
> Again, great choice there.
>
> Hey, you stupid little 6 year olds there..!!  You wanna join us, or do you
> want to burn in Hell for Eternity as your flesh rots off your bones but 
> you
> never die.....??
>
> Come on, quick, choose.......!!!!
>
> Great "choice".
>
> And, remember, folks, in closing, if you do NOT choose to "Be One Of Us" 
> in
> our beliefs of words written thousands of years ago, you WILL rot and burn
> in Hell for Eternity.
>
> That's why A MAJORITY of ALL the people on Earth are condemned to rot and
> burn in Hell forever.
>
> At least that's what Christianity says.
>
> That's why I, personally, will continue to sift through thousands of years
> old "Holy Words" from various entities about various personages, and use
> what I find actually "Good", rather than what people DEMAND I use and
> Believe, and after half a Century have decided that I would rather be with
> the squirrels, sparrows, and bugs, rather than sitting on a bench with a
> Majority of Christians who currently reside in the back pockets of people
> like Karl Rove whether they know it or not.
>
> And that they got there in the first place because they were AFRAID, 
> rather
> than EXHALTED, they have already put out of their minds.
>
> Permanently.
>
> I don't really have anything against "Christians".
>
> It's just that religions who base their religious bigotry and exclusion on
> the Fear of "burning in Hell forever", and *automatically* condemn anyone
> who Does Not Join Us And Believe by the Literal Texts of their actual Holy
> Books, I just no longer can see the VIRTUE residing anywhere near them.
>
> Such an "Automatic Condemnation" has, does, and will always be at the CRUX
> of Christianity.
>
> It's sitting right there in black and white in their Holy Book.
>
> And now since so many of them are now moving ravenously into Politics,
> Social Engineering, Education, You Name It, in their fierce mandated drive
> to Theocratize all of America AND the World, I have even less respect for
> them than I did when I finally woke up and realized the basis of their
> religion was founded on exclusion, bigotry, and the ever-waiting fires of
> Hell for all Non-Believers.
>
> I have the same respect for them as I have for a rattlesnake.
>
> But, unlike a rattlesnake, they have decided they wish to Rule The Roost,
> over All Of Us, Forever, and the sad Fact that their own Holy Book
> *mandates* that as their "Manifest Destiny", makes me regard them as just 
> a
> little bit more dangerous than any Texas Rattler I have ever come across.
>
> Ok, I lied, they are NOW much more dangerous than any snake I have ever 
> come
> across.
>
> I don't really like lying about a religion which with the left hand offers
> you Salvation while with the right hand offers you The Burning Pits Of 
> Hell
> for eternity, so I had to correct that.
>
> If there is ANY OTHER ****MORE**** condemning religion than Christianity 
> in
> the world today, one whose Holy Book actually condemns Any And All
> Non-Believers to the fiery pits of Hell for Eternity, please, by all 
> means,
> put it up here so I can study it.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
> 


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Mon Jun 27 20:37:06 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Mon Jun 27 20:38:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom
References: <20050627.195042.5249.254463@webmail18.nyc.untd.com>
Message-ID: <00a201c57b92$a884e310$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Lyle:

<<<<<BIG HUG>>>>>>

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lyle K'ang 
  To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
  Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 10:50 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom


  yes, Ian-I stand corrected. He was tolerant but did not condemn their practices and tried to lead by example-his heart at that time was very compassionate.
  Lyle


  Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
  http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
  http://silomanagement.com

  Please note: message attached





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Lyle:

  You said, "Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way."  Ummm....not quite.

  Yes, he was a Jew.  However, if He had "approved and practiced the Jewish way," He would not have prevented the adultress from being stoned, He would not have eaten with all manner of sinners, He would not have saved the centurion's servant, and He sure as heck would not have forgiven people their sins (among many other things).

  Jesus did not come to establish a "new religion" or belief; He came to teach Jews how to be "better" Jews; i.e., to understand that the "spirit of the law" is more important than the "letter of the law" - that virtues such as love, forgiveness, compassion, humility, patience, charity, selflessness and service were more important than myopic, slavish devotion to laws, rules and rituals.

  Although it is true that Jesus' "playbook" was the "Old Testament," He was unquestionably a "heretic" as far as the Jews were concerned.

  Finally, it is clear that Jesus did not (as those who are evangelizing in the academy are) "create an atmosphere in which [those] who did not share [His] faith were...marginalized."  Rather, He offered the Gospel to anyone who would listen, without expectation of acceptance, and did not judge or condemn anyone who did not wish to listen.  This is what most of mainstream, heirarchical "organized" Christianity - both Catholic and evangelical Protestant - seem not to "get" about "sharing the Gospel."

  And that's too bad.  Because all it does is add to making Christianity its own worst enemy.

  The above is offered simply as clarification, not as "rebuttal."

  Peace.


    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Lyle K'ang 
    To: mb-civic@islandlists.com 
    Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 8:17 PM
    Subject: Re: [Mb-civic] Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom


    Simply put: Have we forgotten that Jesus was a Jew and approved and practiced the Jewish way. He did not like the 'money changers'.
     
    "The issue is whether officers higher in the chain of command used their positions of authority to promote their faith. That is coercion, and it is neither right nor just. It is also about whether evangelical Christian students were allowed to create an atmosphere in which students who did not share their faith were, to be charitable, marginalized. (One father of a cadet said his son was called "a filthy Jew.'')"


    Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
    http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/

    Please note: message attached





----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Keeping Faith With Religious Freedom


    By E. J. Dionne Jr.

    Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page A23

    There was no obvious political benefit in David Obey's decision to take on the defense of religious minorities at the Air Force Academy. Because he stood up for their rights on the floor of the House of Representatives, the Wisconsin Democrat found himself accused of "denigrating and demonizing Christians."

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401416.html



----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    Mb-civic mailing list
    Mb-civic@islandlists.com
    http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Mon Jun 27 22:13:47 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Mon Jun 27 22:13:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
Message-ID: <000701c57ba0$2b229e40$3325b7d8@baby1>

The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one, you're doomed to Hell
forever



Ian,

Thanks for the history lesson, and clarifying the actual differences between
Jesus' actual teachings and what has become of them.

I would just like to point out, again, as I originally was, that unless one
was in something like a few handfuls of people hanging around with Jesus
around 2,000 years ago, your lesson you just presented here, has been wasted
on the whole of humanity, as well as the entirety of Modern Christianity.

You made the point, I made the point, great.

The point still is this:  If you are a Modern Christian, most likely you
have no idea of the "lesson" Ian just presented.

You were taught "Christianity" by everyone and their dog that got hold of it
after Jesus was hanging on the cross breathing his last breath, including
even some of his Disciples.

Suckers.

For 2,000 years you've been a bunch of indoctrinated suckers.

"Modern Christianity", again, *still* teaches (whether they use the actual
scriptures to get away with it or not, Ian", that if one is "Not A
Christian", you are basically going straight to Hell and burn in the fiery
pits there forever.

"Modern Christianity", which Today *still* comprises some of the most
Ignorant people in the world as far as being knowledgeable about their own
frigging religion, besides preaching all the compassion etc stuff, teaches
that it is the sworn duty of every "Christian" to not only go out and preach
the Word, but to Convert every rock and stick they come across along the
way.

And that if one does NOT believe in Jesus as "the son of god saviour of the
world", again, you are going straight to Hell and burn in the fiery pits
there forever.

It's great to hear, again, some words of some guy who walked around 2,000
years ago, and various people were able to promote him into an entire
"Saviour Etc" and "Religion", just from some words scrawled on some
papyruses or something.

It's an entirely different thing to see what "Modern Christianity" has not
only done with those words, but how The People who Today profess to be
"Christians" actually interpret it.

Ian, if you sit 100 million Christians all in one room and ask each one of
them =individually= this simple question:

"If you do =NOT= believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God,
saviour of the world through his sacrifice for the redemption of the world's
sins, and accept him as your Lord and Saviour, ARE you going to go to Hell
and burn in the fiery pits there forever.....?"

If you find 10 out of that 100 million who say NO, I will eat their livers
with a little chianti and some fava beans.

Jesus' actual words 2,000 years ago...?

Great, wonderful, etc.

Modern Christianity..........?

Case closed.

And in MY closing, I would just like to add, again, with no disrespect, (and
thank you for that insight into the matter), but you remain a biased
Christian priest.

It was a nice try to sugar coat the actual message (other than all the
compassion, turn the other cheek, etc) that "No man comes unto the Father
except through me", with the Fact that, for the most part, Jesus never
mentioned "Must be a Christian or Go to Hell".

Hey, Ian, he was Jesus Christ.  There WAS no "Christianity" at the time of
his words 2,000 years ago.

What WAS in his words though, was, again, "No man comes unto the Father
except through me".

That's pretty specific.

Again, other than all the "be a good person so you can go to Heaven" stuff,
put forth by both the Jews and Jesus himself, it was a mad scramble game to
get to Heaven, no matter what, because they ALL knew there was this really
bad place called HELL.

Yet, you will still sit here, quote the Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus talks
about "Hey, if you were good, you're sheep, you get to stay in Heaven when
you die, if you were bad, you are goats, you ARE then going to the pits of
Hell and burn for eternity there".

It's kind of fun to play a bizarre version of "Rubick's Cube" with the
actual words of Jesus, the words of the Jews back then, and Modern
Christianity and what it says and does.

But the bottom line still remains, even in Jesus' time, even as there WAS no
such thing yet as Christianity (hey, the guy was still alive, it took them a
while to get up a full Religion working at his behest or not at his behest),
there Jesus himself was standing there telling them that the GOOD people got
to stay in HEAVEN after they died and the BAD people were going straight to
HELL after they died, with all the rest of the goats.

You're splitting hairs there, Ian.

Jesus:  If you're good, you go to Heaven.  If you're bad, you burn in the
pits of Hell.

Christianity:  If you're good AND a Christian, you go to Heaven.  If you're
bad, and/or you do not believe in Jesus as son of God etc, you burn in the
pits of Hell.

The small FACT about the entire matter which has been inadvertently left
out, is that The Christian RELIGION relatively clearly states (actually all
the Christian Religion has to state anything is words written down about
2,000 years ago, just about like Any Other religion in this world) that
JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD, GOD SENT HIM TO DIE FOR OUR SINS, IF YOU DO
NOT ACCEPT JESUS AS THE SON OF GOD, YOU ARE MOST LIKELY GOING TO HELL, AS
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO THE FATHER, BECAUSE AS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF SAID "NO
MAN COMES UNTO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.

And the last time I looked, the "Father" was sitting in Heaven.

And all us little earth twerps are scrambling to find some way to get into
Heaven after we die.

Nobody REALLY wants to go to Hell, at least not most people.

And the guy's words that the Christians based their Entire Religion on, for
the most part, was sitting there saying if you are good, you go to Heaven,
if you are bad, you burn in the pits of Hell forever.

And Jesus also said a LOT of other things than just that, one of them being,
again, "No man cometh unto my Father, except through me".

Period.

And THE CHRISTIANS built an ENTIRE RELIGION around that man, AND his words.

No wonder they're so screwed up today.

Oh well, all in all, I still find it INCREDIBLY hard to separate the words
of someone who came here 2,000 years ago and told everyone "I am the Son Of
God Himself", "Nobody cometh unto The Father (or Heaven) except through me",
and then added on "By the way, if you do Good in this Life, when you die,
you go to Heaven with me, The Son Of God, and my Father, but if you do Bad
in this Life, when you die, you go Straight To Hell and Burn In Fire For
Eternity".

Whether the Church with a big "C" and people like Paul "bastardized" his
"Teachings" or not.

Especially with, on top of it all, John 3:16 staring me in the face:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whomsoever BELIEVETH in Him (as THE SON OF GOD etc) shall not PERISH (in the
fiery pits of Hell for Eternity) but shall have Eternal Life (with me,
Jesus, my Father, and all the clean pretty Sheep).

I'll be the first to admit that you, among a zillion other people perhaps,
know much much more about "The Scriptures" (Christian Bible etc) than I do.

What is relatively CLEAR, however, even in the face of my immense lack of
knowledge about them, is that if one does NOT believe in Jesus Christ as The
Son Of God etc etc, you are going to PERISH, and NOT have something called
Everlasting Life in Heaven.

If you, or anyone else, despite the (C)hurch and (P)aul's bastardizings, can
REALLY sit there with a straight face and say something like "Uh, well,
Cheese, Jesus didn't really mean a lot of that Perishing etc stuff if you
didn't believe in him even if he did say stuff like No man cometh unto the
Father (God Himself and Heaven) except through me", I'm going to have to
continue to take a LOT of ALL those words with one HUGE grain of salt.

That they built an actual religion around a guy 2,000 years ago who claimed
to be the literal Son Of God, but his Father, God Himself, was really a
rabid Rubick's Cube fan, and decided instead of just FIXING EVERYTHING,
because he was GOD, he could wave his hand and entire regions would be
turned into salt or the entire earth would be flooded killing everyone and
their monkeys, he would send his poor son down to earth to die like a dog on
a tree, is amazingly hard to swallow to begin with.

What kind of GOD thinks like THAT to begin with.....?????????

And then his SON says stuff like "Hey, you can't get to my Father, or
Heaven, except through me, you have to believe I am the Son Of God".

And then, when was it Ian, around 200? A.D. someone got hold of all this
stuff and made it the State Religion?

And if you weren't a "Christian" they began to burn you at the stake or
something...?

Well, anyway, gee, we've now come Full Circle.

Back to The Beginning.

And one wonders why some people might have a hard time resisting "lumping
them all together", albeit not completely correctly, in this Modern Age.

Outrageous.

The entire matter.

Oh well, what can I really say....

Look for me hanging from a tree somewhere near WalMart.

I'll be the one with the "NOT REALLY A REAL CHRISTIAN LIKE US" sign nailed
to his forehead.

Hand me up some vinegar now and then.

Shoo away The Children of The Mighty New Christians from spitting on me and
calling me a non-Republican.

I don't mind the names, but all that spit makes me thirsty.






Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:33:31 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:34:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Christian Groups Plan More Monuments - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C1358B.7020206@comcast.net>

Christian Groups Plan More Monuments

Many Expect Confusion and Litigation on Ten Commandments to Continue

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A06

Within hours of yesterday's Supreme Court decision allowing a Ten 
Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, Christian 
groups announced a nationwide campaign to install similar displays in 
100 cities and towns within a year.

"We see this as an historic opening, and we're going to pursue it 
aggressively," said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the 
Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition, which organized vigils 
outside the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo died this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701583.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:35:30 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:36:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Reporters Lose Appeal, Face Jail Time - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C13602.9050602@comcast.net>

Reporters Lose Appeal, Face Jail Time

Supreme Court Refuses to Review Contempt Charge in Probe of Leak About 
CIA Agent

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A07

The Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear an appeal from two reporters 
who say they should not be forced to reveal their confidential sources 
to a prosecutor investigating whether senior Bush administration 
officials illegally leaked a covert CIA operative's name.

The high court's order leaves New York Times reporter Judith Miller and 
Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper facing jail time. They may have to 
surrender to authorities within weeks if they continue to refuse to 
answer questions before a grand jury.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700489.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:38:06 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:39:14 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] From Memos,
 Insights Into Ally's Doubts On Iraq War - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C1369E.4030609@comcast.net>

 From Memos, Insights Into Ally's Doubts On Iraq War

British Advisers Foresaw Variety of Risks, Problems

By Glenn Frankel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A01

LONDON -- In the spring of 2002, two weeks before British Prime Minister 
Tony Blair journeyed to Crawford, Tex., to meet with President Bush at 
his ranch about the escalating confrontation with Iraq, Foreign 
Secretary Jack Straw sounded a prescient warning.

"The rewards from your visit to Crawford will be few," Straw wrote in a 
March 25 memo to Blair stamped "Secret and Personal." "The risks are 
high, both for you and for the Government."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701584.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:39:20 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:40:33 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The New McCarthyism - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C136E8.30003@comcast.net>

The New McCarthyism

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A15

In the 1950s the right wing attacked liberals as being communists. In 
2005 Karl Rove has attacked liberals as being therapists. Thus is born a 
kinder and gentler form of McCarthyism.

Named after the late Sen. Joe McCarthy, who never let the facts get in 
the way of his lust to charge liberals with sedition, McCarthyism has 
come to mean "guilt by association." What gave McCarthyism its power was 
the fact that the senator from Wisconsin did not invent the danger posed 
to the United States by Soviet communism. The Soviet Union was a real 
threat, and there were real communist spies working in America.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701317.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:41:02 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:42:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Right-Wing Sucker Punch - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C1374E.5030408@comcast.net>

Right-Wing Sucker Punch

By Richard Cohen

Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A15

Edward Klein has written one hell of an expos?. His new book on Hillary 
Clinton, "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and 
How Far She'll Go to Become President," insinuates epic mendacities, 
sapphic sex, fiscal improprieties and marital rape. All of that Klein 
documents either vaguely or not at all and is so beyond belief and good 
taste that the very fact his book is selling like proverbial hotcakes 
starkly exposes the anti-Clinton people as the village idiots of our 
time. It takes one to buy this book.

I did anyway. But I did so out of solemn duty and because I wanted to 
see if this book could possibly be as bad as its reviews -- not a single 
good one that I know of. The review in The Post, for instance, called it 
"a bad college term paper." And while that might be expected from the 
supposedly hyper-liberal Post, the same verdict was reached by the 
Economist, the vaguely right-of-center British publication. It began its 
review by letting its readers know just what it thought of Hillary 
Clinton: "There are lots of reasons to distrust or even dislike Mrs. 
Clinton." Then, having cleared its throat in such a fashion, it 
dismisses the tome and says that Klein "should be ashamed of himself."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701325.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:42:46 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:43:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Thou Shalt Split Hairs - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C137B6.9050801@comcast.net>

Thou Shalt Split Hairs

By George F. Will

Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A15

The Supreme Court rendered two more hairsplitting, migraine-inducing 
decisions yesterday about when religious displays on public property do 
and do not violate the First Amendment protection against 
"establishment" of religion. In a case from Texas, where a Ten 
Commandments monument stands outside the state capitol, the court, 
splintered six ways from Sunday, said: We find no constitutional 
violation. The second case came from Kentucky, where the Commandments 
displayed in several courthouses are surrounded by historical symbols 
and documents -- e.g., copies of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration 
of Independence, the Star Spangled Banner -- to comply with the 
"reindeer rule," more about which anon. Yesterday the court recoiled 
from Kentucky's displays, saying, they are unconstitutionally motivated 
by a "predominately religious purpose." Not enough reindeer?

Never mind the court's minute reasoning about the finely tuned criteria 
it has spun over the years. Instead, consider -- as the court should 
have done years ago, when it began policing religious displays -- a few 
facts about the era in which the establishment clause was written.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701319.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Tue Jun 28 04:44:06 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Tue Jun 28 04:45:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Command Responsibility - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C13806.5060504@comcast.net>

Command Responsibility

By Andrew J. Bacevich

Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A15

Who "lost" Iraq? With blame for the unhappy course of events since U.S. 
forces occupied Baghdad in April 2003 routinely heaped on civilian 
officials, the military itself has gotten a pass. In fact, senior U.S. 
commanders have botched the war. Acknowledging that fact is an essential 
first step toward improving the quality of U.S. generalship.

For this reason, reported plans to promote Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez 
deserve particular attention. According to media reports, Defense 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld intends to nominate Sanchez for a fourth star. 
But the general does not merit promotion; he can best serve his country 
by retiring forthwith.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701322.html?nav=hcmodule
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Mon Jun 27 22:55:42 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 05:19:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem
Message-ID: <BEE6346E.21460%michael@michaelbutler.com>


Michael Butler's Blog

http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html


From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:13:49 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:14:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Court Affirms Separation of Church and
	State ...
Message-ID: <20050628131349.E8F19249D39@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 28, 2005
The Court Affirms Separation of Church and State ...

The Supreme Court should not put one faith in a privileged position over others and must keep a clear wall of separation between church and state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/opinion/28tue1.html?ex=1120622400&en=b9bb404dbbf1820f&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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NYTimes.com 500 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:13:56 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:15:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: And Strikes a Blow at a Strong Press
Message-ID: <20050628131356.2F66983D3B@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 28, 2005
And Strikes a Blow at a Strong Press

News audiences and journalists suffered a harmful setback when the Supreme Court refused to review the case of two reporters threatened with jail time for not revealing their sources.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/opinion/28tue3.html?ex=1120622400&en=f0ae694207e5cb52&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:14:43 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:16:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Not-So-Long Gray Line
Message-ID: <20050628131443.44EE824AEFC@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 28, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: The Not-So-Long Gray Line
By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
The Army must address the discontent in the ranks of lieutenants and captains before there is a mass exodus of officers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/opinion/28truscott.html?ex=1120622400&en=47da92d1a09d3bc8&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:14:22 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:16:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Speech the President Should Give
Message-ID: <20050628131422.C135A3AE3BA@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 28, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: The Speech the President Should Give
By JOHN F. KERRY
The Bush administration is courting disaster in Iraq with its current course. The President must take steps to reduce support for the insurgency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/opinion/28kerry.html?ex=1120622400&en=dea39d69594ddeaf&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service.  For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:18:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:19:31 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Democrats Step Up Criticism of Halliburton
	Billing in Iraq
Message-ID: <20050628131854.DE699249BE6@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 28, 2005
Democrats Step Up Criticism of Halliburton Billing in Iraq
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Democratic legislators stepped up criticism of the Halliburton Company for what they said was "war profiteering."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28haliburton.html?ex=1120622400&en=eff25f30fb63e3c3&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:22:25 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:23:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Snake Phobias,
	Moodiness and a Battle in Psychiatry
Message-ID: <20050628132225.40FB4237035@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

Another I thought you might find interesting...


HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH & BEHAVIOR | June 14, 2005
Snake Phobias, Moodiness and a Battle in Psychiatry
By BENEDICT CAREY
The boundary between mental illness and normal mental struggle has become a battle line dividing psychiatrists into two viscerally opposed camps.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/health/psychology/14ment.html?ex=1120622400&en=52afc4656a16bd6b&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 06:22:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 06:24:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Longevity: Bonds of Friendship, Not Family,
	May Add Years
Message-ID: <20050628132254.49CC8237061@lax-gw01.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

FYI


HEALTH | June 28, 2005
Vital Signs: Longevity: Bonds of Friendship, Not Family, May Add Years
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Older people who have close friends and confidants live longer than those who don't, an Australian study suggests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/health/28long.html?ex=1120622400&en=76ae386c2316d6c2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



----------------- Advertisement --------------------------

/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight Pictures ------------\

Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

In the late 70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown’s Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 09:25:57 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 09:26:30 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem
In-Reply-To: <42C12DF9.000001.29089@PONTEBIANCO1>
Message-ID: <BEE6C825.2149A%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: "Chrystel Garofalo" <c.garofalo@gruppogarofalo.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:01:13 +0200 (ora legale Europa occ.)
To: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
Subject: Re: Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem

When I saw the first reports on the radio, I said 'oh no, not again,still
the religious extremists with their gowns and turbans.I was hoping for the
shy little guy who wore western clothes who wanted to stamp out corruption.

Now it seems that he is the religious freak.(how come the western
clothes?)and against the modernization/renewal of the country much
demonstrated for by university students over the past year.

Indeed the Sunnites are an enormous force already in Iraq, not to be
undermined, and unification of any extremist Arab  group is a scary
proposition.

However, from my point of view, I think we should wait a while to see what
he proposes as I am more than wary of 'White house worries',especially so
soon.

It reminds me of Bush announcing (before finishing up in Afghanistan) that
the U.S. had to move into Iraq afterwards.It was already programmed before
he had any real reason!

We have to think positively!?

Nam Myho Renge Kyo

Luv Chrystel



-------Original Message-------

 

From: Michael Butler

Date: 06/28/05 07:58:36

To: SPECIAL from Michael Butler

Subject: Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem

 

Michael Butler's Blog

 

http://www.michaelbutler.com/mbblog.html

 

 

 

------ End of Forwarded Message

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 10:07:11 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 10:07:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Comment re FW: [Michael Butler's Blog] 6/28/2005
	07:42:06 AM
In-Reply-To: <24308618.1119976499822.JavaMail.root@bla3.prod.google.com>
Message-ID: <BEE6D1CF.214A6%michael@michaelbutler.com>


------ Forwarded Message
From: <anonymous-comment@blogger.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:34:59 -0700 (PDT)
To: michael@michaelbutler.com
Subject: [Michael Butler's Blog] 6/28/2005 07:42:06 AM

 The reactionary was a long shot, who had no hope of winning...until our
oblivious president made some stupid comments (the now elected Iranian
official actually sent a thank you note to Mr. Bush)...yes, Carter was
naive~ but I would still rather have him over our current so-called
president. 

--
Posted by  to Michael Butler's Blog
<http://www.michaelbutler.com/2005/06/our-larger-middle-eastern-problem.html
>  at 6/28/2005 07:42:06 AM

------ End of Forwarded Message

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 28 10:33:00 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue Jun 28 10:33:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: 100 million go online in China
Message-ID: <20050628_173300_012154.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** 100 million go online in China **
China is second only to the US when it comes to the number of people online.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4630867.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 28 10:45:07 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 10:45:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] World Tribunal on Iraq Condemns U.S. and Britain,
	Recognizes Right of Iraqis to Resist Occupation
Message-ID: <20050628174507.18975.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org


The preliminary verdict read in part, "Recognizing the right of the Iraqi people to resist the illegal occupation of their country and to develop independent institutions, and affirming that the right to resist the occupation is the right to wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom, and independence as derived from the Charter of the United Nations, we the Jury of Conscience declare our solidarity with the people of Iraq." 

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  World Tribunal on Iraq Condemns U.S. and Britain, Recognizes Right of Iraqis to Resist Occupation
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/27/1335230
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


The World Tribunal on Iraq wrapped its three-day session today in Istanbul, Turkey. The tribunal investigated various issues on Iraq including the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction of the cultural sites and the environment. We play excerpts of addresses by human rights attorney Barbara Olshansky and Indian writer Arundhati Roy. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/27/1335230

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Tue Jun 28 10:53:36 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Tue Jun 28 10:54:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: France gets nuclear fusion plant
Message-ID: <20050628_175336_041039.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** France gets nuclear fusion plant **
A ?6.6bn nuclear fusion reactor plant is awarded to France, despite strong competition from Japan.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4629239.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 10:55:05 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 10:55:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BIS warns on domestic and international debt  Ftimes
Message-ID: <BEE6DD09.214B6%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
BIS warns on domestic and international debt
>By Chris Giles in London
>Published: June 27 2005 20:26 | Last updated: June 27 2005 20:26
>>

Growing domestic and international debt has created the conditions for
global economic and financial crises, the Bank for International Settlements
warned on Monday.

The Basel-based organisation's annual report said no one could predict if
and when such international economic imbalances would unravel but ?time
might well be running out?.

The warning by the world's oldest international financial institution the
central bankers' bank was designed to puncture the complacency prevalent
among economic policymakers after 2004's global growth, the strongest for
nearly 30 years.

The BIS urged countries to act together to reduce the risks of disruption
caused by ?imbalances? in their own economies as well as by the ever-rising
US trade deficit and corresponding trade surpluses, particularly in Asia.
William White, the head of the bank's monetary and economics department,
said the time had come ?for a measured withdrawal of the stimulus put into
the system.? The BIS report said ?one obvious answer? would be to increase
interest rates to curb debt-fuelled consumption and asset price booms. But
it said such monetary tightening would conflict with the desire to keep
unemployment low and avoid deflation.

The BIS urged the US to act first because it ?probably faces the least
conflict in its macroeconomic policy settings?.

?Given the size of the [US] government deficit, the obvious first step would
be to cut expenditures and raise taxes?.

But the BIS report questioned the Bush administration's willingness to
impose the required policies to back up its deficit reduction ambition.

Without a smaller budget deficit, lower private sector consumption and
higher savings, there was little likelihood of stabilising the ballooning US
current account deficit. The ever widening deficit ?could eventually lead to
a disorderly decline of the dollar, associated turmoil in other financial
markets, and even recession?.

Asian currencies, should appreciate against the US dollar, the report said.
?Obvious candidates for revaluation,? it said, were the ?the Chinese
renminbi and other Asian currencies that take their cue from it.?

But the BIS said it doubted politicians or central bankers had the will to
implement the necessary policies.

?If what needs to be done to resolve external imbalances is reasonably
clear, it also seems clear that much of it is simply not going to happen in
the near term,? the report said.
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 11:02:39 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 11:03:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN,
	Fox News repeated White House spin in defense of Rove
Message-ID: <BEE6DECF.214B9%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Back to this story | Home
http://mediamatters.org/

CNN, Fox News repeated White House spin in defense of Rove

Over the weekend, media figures on CNN and Fox News continued to repeat the
White House talking point that White House senior adviser Karl Rove was
comparing liberal and conservative "philosophies" -- not targeting Democrats
-- in a June 22 speech when he stated: "Conservatives saw the savagery of
9-11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the
9-11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and
understanding for our attackers." In fact, Rove did specifically target
Democrats, naming both Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean
and Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) as examples of those who
merely want to "understand our enemies."

Those who continued to push the White House's "liberal philosophy" spin
include:

Fox News host John Gibson, as guest host of the June 24 edition of Fox News'
The O'Reilly Factor:

    GIBSON: With us now, Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers. So they came
down pretty hard on Rove. Why?

    POWERS: Well, because I think what he said was pretty disgusting. He
came into New York City. He attacked a mainly Democratic city, saying
liberals don't --

    GIBSON: He said liberals, though. He didn't attack Democrats.

    POWERS: Well, actually, if you look at what he said, he did mention the
Democratic Party. But liberals and the implication was Democrats.

Washington Post national political correspondent Dan Balz on the June 24
edition of CNN's Inside Politics:

    BALZ: Well, I think it certainly is. You know, Karl Rove doesn't say
things by accident, and this was one in the prepared text, so he
deliberately went out and wanted to make this statement about 9-11 and
liberals. He did not say it was Democrats. He did say it was liberals. It is
clear that Karl Rove and a lot of Republicans, dating back many
presidencies, believe that if they can keep a fight on national security
going, it is going to benefit them and hurt the Democrats even if there are
people in the Democratic party who are protesting that Mr. Rove went too
far. 

National Review Washington editor Kate O'Beirne and CNN host and syndicated
columnist Robert D. Novak on the June 25 edition of CNN's The Capital Gang:

    MARGARET CARLSON (panelist): Karl Rove was talking about Democrats. He's
not talking --

    O'BEIRNE: He said liberals!

    CARLSON: -- about liberals. He's talking about --

    NOVAK: He said liberals.

    CARLSON: -- liberal Democrats. And he meant it to be the party that
backed -- all of the officials, as far as I know, in the -- elected
officials in the Democratic Party stood behind the president after 9-11. I
don't know any of them who suggested therapy. I don't know any of them who
suggested that we indict Osama bin Laden. And so I don't know where that
comes from. 

Conservative syndicated columnist Debra Saunders on the June 26 edition of
CNN's Reliable Sources:

    SAUNDERS: Well, it's a much bigger story in the San Francisco Chronicle
that put it on Page 1. I really don't understand why. Karl Rove didn't talk
about Democrats, he talked about liberals, and what he said was true.

Fox News host Chris Wallace on the June 26 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s
Fox News Sunday:

    WALLACE: Let me ask you about this, [NPR correspondent and Fox news
contributor] Mara [Liasson], because Rove did go after in his speech
liberals, not Democrats. But a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill reacted as
if they personally had been attacked and insulted, and demanded that Rove
apologize or be fired.

? N.C.

Posted to the web on Monday June 27, 2005 at 2:06 PM EST

Copyright ? 2004-2005 Media Matters for America. All rights reserved.
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 11:09:56 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 11:10:41 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BORED BY 9/11
Message-ID: <BEE6E084.214BB%michael@michaelbutler.com>

BORED BY 9/11:?? Woody Allen thinks 9/11 is like, so yesterday! The neurotic
New Yorker tells Teutonic title Der Spiegel: "As a filmmaker, I'm not
interested in 9/11 . . . it's too small, history overwhelms it. The history
of the world is like: He kills me, I kill him, only with different cosmetics
and different castings. So in 2001, some fanatics killed some Americans, and
now some Americans are killing some Iraqis. And in my childhood, some Nazis
killed Jews. And now, some Jewish people and some Palestinians are killing
each other. Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are
ephemeral, not important. History is the same thing over and over again."


From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 11:12:29 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 11:13:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] LBN-POLITICAL BRIEFING By JOHN F. KERRY
Message-ID: <BEE6E11D.214BC%michael@michaelbutler.com>



LBN-POLITICAL BRIEFING By JOHN F. KERRY: Tonight President Bush will discuss
the situation in Iraq. It's long past time to get it right in Iraq. The Bush
administration is courting disaster with its current course - a course with
no realistic strategy for reducing the risks to our soldiers and increasing
the odds for success. The reality is that the Bush administration's choices
have made Iraq into what it wasn't before the war - a breeding ground for
jihadists. Today there are 16,000 to 20,000 jihadists and the number is
growing. The administration has put itself - and, tragically, our troops,
who pay the price every day - in a box of its own making. Getting out of
this box won't be easy, but we owe it to our soldiers to make our best
effort. Our mission in Iraq is harder because the administration ignored the
advice of others, went in largely alone, underestimated the likelihood and
power of the insurgency, sent in too few troops to secure the country,
destroyed the Iraqi army through de-Baathification, failed to secure
ammunition dumps, refused to recognize the urgency of training Iraqi
security forces and did no postwar planning. A little humility would go a
long way - coupled with a strategy to succeed.

From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun 28 16:18:03 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Tue Jun 28 16:19:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - GUN DEATHS CUT IN HALF, STATSCAN SAYS
Message-ID: <20050628231803.5B0321B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
GUN DEATHS CUT IN HALF, STATSCAN SAYS
WebPosted Tue Jun 28 14:26:59 2005

---The risk of death by gunshot has been cut in half in Canada and is far
smaller than in the United States, Statistics Canada says.

In a study issued on Monday, the federal agency notes that Canadian gun-
control laws have been stiffened in recent decades and gun registration
has been made compulsory, but it draws no conclusions about the cause of
the falling death toll.

It says that 816 people &#8212; 767 males and 49 females &#8212; died of
firearms-related injuries in Canada in 2002, the most recent year
examined in the study. This represented 2.6 deaths per 100,000
population, down from 5.9 per 100,000 in 1979, it said.

Among males, the 2002 rate was 4.9 deaths per 100,000, down from 10.6 in
1979. Among females, it was 0.3, down from 1.2.

In a cross-border comparison for the year 2000, Statistics Canada says
the risk of firearms death was more than three times as great for
American males as for Canadian males and seven times as great for
American females as for Canadian females.

Because more of the U.S. deaths were homicides (as opposed to suicides or
accidental deaths), the U.S. rate of gun homicide was nearly eight times
Canada's, the agency says. Homicides accounted for 38 per cent of deaths
involving guns in the United States and 18 per cent in Canada.

But even as Canada's rate of gun homicide shrank (to 0.4 per 100,000
population in 2002 from 0.8 in 1979), handguns moved into a dominant
role. Handguns accounted for two-thirds of gun homicides in 2002, up from
about half in the 1990s, the agency says.

Consistently through the period, about four-fifths of Canadian firearms
deaths were suicides, it says.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Tue Jun 28 16:20:08 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC Arts)
Date: Tue Jun 28 16:21:01 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC Arts - NEIL YOUNG JOINS CANADIAN LIVE 8 CONCERT
Message-ID: <20050628232008.C1FD969AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC ARTS
at http://www.cbc.ca/arts
____________________________________________________
NEIL YOUNG JOINS CANADIAN LIVE 8 CONCERT
WebPosted Tue Jun 28 11:23:15 2005

---Canadian rock icon Neil Young will join the lineup of Canada's Live 8
concert in Barrie, Ont., organizers announced Tuesday.

RELATED FEATURE: Live 8 Coverage

Young is slated to close the July 2 show, which will also feature 20
other musical acts including the Bachman Cummings Band, Bryan Adams, Jann
Arden, the Barenaked Ladies, the Tragically Hip and Gordon Lightfoot. The
concert will take place at Barrie's Park Place outdoor event venue
located about 80 kilometres north of Toronto.

Organizers said one more act could be added Wednesday to fill out
the lineup.

The appearance marks the first time Young returns to a Canadian stage
since suffering a brain aneurysm in April, which prevented the Toronto-
born artist from performing at the Juno Awards.

RELATED STORY: Neil Young out of Junos after brain aneurysm

Barrie's concert is one of 10 free Live 8 concerts being held around the
world on July 2, in order to raise awareness of poverty in Africa and to
pressure the leaders of the G8 industrial nations to act. The G8 Summit
takes place July 6-8 in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Singer and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof, who organized the Live Aid
concerts for Ethiopian famine relief in Philadelphia and London in 1985,
is the main force behind Live 8. He initially announced five concerts
&#8211; in the two original cities, plus Paris, Rome and Berlin &#8211;
but later added Toronto, Tokyo, Johannesburg and Cornwall, England. A
Moscow event joined the bill last weekend.

Young performed at the original Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in 1985.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Tue Jun 28 18:57:13 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Tue Jun 28 18:57:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
References: <000701c57ba0$2b229e40$3325b7d8@baby1>
Message-ID: <006501c57c4d$df378190$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

Cheeseburger:

I don't disagree with your assessment of "modern Christianity," with which, 
as you know, I disagree, and makes me enormously sad.

I do want to address one point, though, and if I have misread what you were 
saying, please forgive me.

You may not remember that I explained some time ago that I was not and am 
not an "indoctrinated" Christian who was "taught 'Christianity' by everyone 
and their dog that got hold of it," and therefore "remain a biased Christian 
priest."  (That would be "minister," not priest; priests are Catholic.)

I was raised in an atheist Jewish household by parents who were not simply 
non-spiritual, but disdainful - even, to some degree, hateful - of fiath and 
religion.  My father was a long-time Marxist, so for him religion truly was 
"the opiate of the masses."  My mother is a scientist, so for her faith and 
religion are just so much "hooey" since they cannot be "proven" through the 
rationalist and empirical "scientific method."

I became "spiritual" quite on my own, in a nebulous way, in my mid-teens.  I 
began taking yoga and studying Eastern philosophy with Swami Satchidananda - 
still one of the most "Godly" people I have ever known, and an important 
influence.

I then undertook a 7-year study of "comparative religion," both in and out 
of college.  Not only did I read the underlying texts of every major faith - 
the Rig-Veda, the Old and New Testaments, the Qu'ran, the Baghvad-Gita - and 
many "lesser" ones (the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead, the Jainist 
texts, Shinto-ism, the Native American "Great Spirit" belief, and the 
Australian aboriginal "Dreamtime" beliefs, among many others), I engaged in 
regular discussion with rabbis, ministers, priests, swamis, imams, etc. 
There are few people I know who spent as much time studying comparative 
religion in such a "serious" way for such an extended period (almost seven 
years).  I say this not as self-aggrandizement, but simply as observation.

It was as a result of all of this study that I CHOSE to be a Christian.  And 
it was because I was NOT "indoctrinated" like most, and was able to study, 
learn and (hopefully) understand Jesus' life and ministry OUTSIDE the 
influence of "everyone and their dog."  I chose to be a Judeo-Christian 
("Judeo" because I am, by birth, blood and heritage, a Jew; "Christian" 
because I believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be) because I saw it as 
the most genuinely loving,
forgiving and humble of all the various faiths, and because I saw its 
"prophetic" nature as being the most "real" (i.e., most applicable) of the 
prophetic faiths.

I realized that there was an "exclusivist" aspect to it, and, yes, that 
bothered me at first.  However, there is an exclusivist aspect to ANY 
faith - ALL of them claim, at one level or another, to be "the one," or at 
very least to be the "most relevant" or "applicable" or 
fill-in-your-own-term.

What I found different about Judeo-Christianity was that, setting aside the 
exclusivist aspect (since all faiths have one), the rest of it was far more 
"accepting" than the others, in as much as the only real "change" it asked 
for was a change of heart - a willingness to admit imperfection (call it 
"sin" if you must), to ask God to help you work on (not eliminate, since 
that is impossible) those imperfections, and to live a life as close as 
humanly possible (which will be different for each person) to Jesus' actual 
ministry (i.e., not the one you call "modern Christianity"); i.e., to use 
the ten precepts of Jesus' ministry as your guide: love, peace, forgiveness, 
humility, compassion, patience, charity, selflessness, service and truth.

That is, faith - and the grace, mercy and peace that come from faith, and 
help one to live those ten precepts - is primary.  The rest - the "laws," 
regulations, behavior, etc., i.e., the "religion" of Judeo-Christianity - is 
secondary.

There is no other "spiritual" belief system on earth that is ultimately so 
accepting and loving with the context of its admitted "exclusivity."

Again, I do not disagree that there are far too few Christians who have any 
real understanding of what their faith is actually about, or how apostate 
they have become from what they claim to believe (if what they claim to 
believe in is Jesus and what He did and said).

Christianity has indeed become its own worst enemy.  And "modern 
Christianity" deserves the vehement scorn that you and others pour on it.

All I can do is work with what I know and understand, and try, in whatever 
small way I can, to bring other Christians around to a better understanding 
of their claimed belief.  Yes, I may be spitting against the wind.  But the 
alternative is doing nothing, and that is not acceptable.

Peace.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheeseburger" <maxfury@granderiver.net>
To: "mb-civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 1:13 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not 
one,you're doomed to Hell forever


> The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one, you're doomed to Hell
> forever
>
>
>
> Ian,
>
> Thanks for the history lesson, and clarifying the actual differences 
> between
> Jesus' actual teachings and what has become of them.
>
> I would just like to point out, again, as I originally was, that unless 
> one
> was in something like a few handfuls of people hanging around with Jesus
> around 2,000 years ago, your lesson you just presented here, has been 
> wasted
> on the whole of humanity, as well as the entirety of Modern Christianity.
>
> You made the point, I made the point, great.
>
> The point still is this:  If you are a Modern Christian, most likely you
> have no idea of the "lesson" Ian just presented.
>
> You were taught "Christianity" by everyone and their dog that got hold of 
> it
> after Jesus was hanging on the cross breathing his last breath, including
> even some of his Disciples.
>
> Suckers.
>
> For 2,000 years you've been a bunch of indoctrinated suckers.
>
> "Modern Christianity", again, *still* teaches (whether they use the actual
> scriptures to get away with it or not, Ian", that if one is "Not A
> Christian", you are basically going straight to Hell and burn in the fiery
> pits there forever.
>
> "Modern Christianity", which Today *still* comprises some of the most
> Ignorant people in the world as far as being knowledgeable about their own
> frigging religion, besides preaching all the compassion etc stuff, teaches
> that it is the sworn duty of every "Christian" to not only go out and 
> preach
> the Word, but to Convert every rock and stick they come across along the
> way.
>
> And that if one does NOT believe in Jesus as "the son of god saviour of 
> the
> world", again, you are going straight to Hell and burn in the fiery pits
> there forever.
>
> It's great to hear, again, some words of some guy who walked around 2,000
> years ago, and various people were able to promote him into an entire
> "Saviour Etc" and "Religion", just from some words scrawled on some
> papyruses or something.
>
> It's an entirely different thing to see what "Modern Christianity" has not
> only done with those words, but how The People who Today profess to be
> "Christians" actually interpret it.
>
> Ian, if you sit 100 million Christians all in one room and ask each one of
> them =individually= this simple question:
>
> "If you do =NOT= believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God,
> saviour of the world through his sacrifice for the redemption of the 
> world's
> sins, and accept him as your Lord and Saviour, ARE you going to go to Hell
> and burn in the fiery pits there forever.....?"
>
> If you find 10 out of that 100 million who say NO, I will eat their livers
> with a little chianti and some fava beans.
>
> Jesus' actual words 2,000 years ago...?
>
> Great, wonderful, etc.
>
> Modern Christianity..........?
>
> Case closed.
>
> And in MY closing, I would just like to add, again, with no disrespect, 
> (and
> thank you for that insight into the matter), but you remain a biased
> Christian priest.
>
> It was a nice try to sugar coat the actual message (other than all the
> compassion, turn the other cheek, etc) that "No man comes unto the Father
> except through me", with the Fact that, for the most part, Jesus never
> mentioned "Must be a Christian or Go to Hell".
>
> Hey, Ian, he was Jesus Christ.  There WAS no "Christianity" at the time of
> his words 2,000 years ago.
>
> What WAS in his words though, was, again, "No man comes unto the Father
> except through me".
>
> That's pretty specific.
>
> Again, other than all the "be a good person so you can go to Heaven" 
> stuff,
> put forth by both the Jews and Jesus himself, it was a mad scramble game 
> to
> get to Heaven, no matter what, because they ALL knew there was this really
> bad place called HELL.
>
> Yet, you will still sit here, quote the Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus talks
> about "Hey, if you were good, you're sheep, you get to stay in Heaven when
> you die, if you were bad, you are goats, you ARE then going to the pits of
> Hell and burn for eternity there".
>
> It's kind of fun to play a bizarre version of "Rubick's Cube" with the
> actual words of Jesus, the words of the Jews back then, and Modern
> Christianity and what it says and does.
>
> But the bottom line still remains, even in Jesus' time, even as there WAS 
> no
> such thing yet as Christianity (hey, the guy was still alive, it took them 
> a
> while to get up a full Religion working at his behest or not at his 
> behest),
> there Jesus himself was standing there telling them that the GOOD people 
> got
> to stay in HEAVEN after they died and the BAD people were going straight 
> to
> HELL after they died, with all the rest of the goats.
>
> You're splitting hairs there, Ian.
>
> Jesus:  If you're good, you go to Heaven.  If you're bad, you burn in the
> pits of Hell.
>
> Christianity:  If you're good AND a Christian, you go to Heaven.  If 
> you're
> bad, and/or you do not believe in Jesus as son of God etc, you burn in the
> pits of Hell.
>
> The small FACT about the entire matter which has been inadvertently left
> out, is that The Christian RELIGION relatively clearly states (actually 
> all
> the Christian Religion has to state anything is words written down about
> 2,000 years ago, just about like Any Other religion in this world) that
> JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD, GOD SENT HIM TO DIE FOR OUR SINS, IF YOU 
> DO
> NOT ACCEPT JESUS AS THE SON OF GOD, YOU ARE MOST LIKELY GOING TO HELL, AS
> YOU ARE NOT GOING TO THE FATHER, BECAUSE AS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF SAID "NO
> MAN COMES UNTO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.
>
> And the last time I looked, the "Father" was sitting in Heaven.
>
> And all us little earth twerps are scrambling to find some way to get into
> Heaven after we die.
>
> Nobody REALLY wants to go to Hell, at least not most people.
>
> And the guy's words that the Christians based their Entire Religion on, 
> for
> the most part, was sitting there saying if you are good, you go to Heaven,
> if you are bad, you burn in the pits of Hell forever.
>
> And Jesus also said a LOT of other things than just that, one of them 
> being,
> again, "No man cometh unto my Father, except through me".
>
> Period.
>
> And THE CHRISTIANS built an ENTIRE RELIGION around that man, AND his 
> words.
>
> No wonder they're so screwed up today.
>
> Oh well, all in all, I still find it INCREDIBLY hard to separate the words
> of someone who came here 2,000 years ago and told everyone "I am the Son 
> Of
> God Himself", "Nobody cometh unto The Father (or Heaven) except through 
> me",
> and then added on "By the way, if you do Good in this Life, when you die,
> you go to Heaven with me, The Son Of God, and my Father, but if you do Bad
> in this Life, when you die, you go Straight To Hell and Burn In Fire For
> Eternity".
>
> Whether the Church with a big "C" and people like Paul "bastardized" his
> "Teachings" or not.
>
> Especially with, on top of it all, John 3:16 staring me in the face:
>
> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
> whomsoever BELIEVETH in Him (as THE SON OF GOD etc) shall not PERISH (in 
> the
> fiery pits of Hell for Eternity) but shall have Eternal Life (with me,
> Jesus, my Father, and all the clean pretty Sheep).
>
> I'll be the first to admit that you, among a zillion other people perhaps,
> know much much more about "The Scriptures" (Christian Bible etc) than I 
> do.
>
> What is relatively CLEAR, however, even in the face of my immense lack of
> knowledge about them, is that if one does NOT believe in Jesus Christ as 
> The
> Son Of God etc etc, you are going to PERISH, and NOT have something called
> Everlasting Life in Heaven.
>
> If you, or anyone else, despite the (C)hurch and (P)aul's bastardizings, 
> can
> REALLY sit there with a straight face and say something like "Uh, well,
> Cheese, Jesus didn't really mean a lot of that Perishing etc stuff if you
> didn't believe in him even if he did say stuff like No man cometh unto the
> Father (God Himself and Heaven) except through me", I'm going to have to
> continue to take a LOT of ALL those words with one HUGE grain of salt.
>
> That they built an actual religion around a guy 2,000 years ago who 
> claimed
> to be the literal Son Of God, but his Father, God Himself, was really a
> rabid Rubick's Cube fan, and decided instead of just FIXING EVERYTHING,
> because he was GOD, he could wave his hand and entire regions would be
> turned into salt or the entire earth would be flooded killing everyone and
> their monkeys, he would send his poor son down to earth to die like a dog 
> on
> a tree, is amazingly hard to swallow to begin with.
>
> What kind of GOD thinks like THAT to begin with.....?????????
>
> And then his SON says stuff like "Hey, you can't get to my Father, or
> Heaven, except through me, you have to believe I am the Son Of God".
>
> And then, when was it Ian, around 200? A.D. someone got hold of all this
> stuff and made it the State Religion?
>
> And if you weren't a "Christian" they began to burn you at the stake or
> something...?
>
> Well, anyway, gee, we've now come Full Circle.
>
> Back to The Beginning.
>
> And one wonders why some people might have a hard time resisting "lumping
> them all together", albeit not completely correctly, in this Modern Age.
>
> Outrageous.
>
> The entire matter.
>
> Oh well, what can I really say....
>
> Look for me hanging from a tree somewhere near WalMart.
>
> I'll be the one with the "NOT REALLY A REAL CHRISTIAN LIKE US" sign nailed
> to his forehead.
>
> Hand me up some vinegar now and then.
>
> Shoo away The Children of The Mighty New Christians from spitting on me 
> and
> calling me a non-Republican.
>
> I don't mind the names, but all that spit makes me thirsty.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheeseburger
>
> .
>
> _______________________________________________
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 19:58:08 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 19:58:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] WTI : World Tribunal on Iraq : PRESS RELEASE about JURY
	STATEMENT
Message-ID: <BEE75C50.21508%michael@michaelbutler.com>

http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=93

From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Tue Jun 28 20:07:41 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:08:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hair Toronto 
Message-ID: <000801c57c57$b94282f0$7d27e440@Harold>

Hair, Toronto, March 20 - April 23, 2006

http://www.tdbab.com/theatreCAD.htm

Harry
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From Rhaerther at aol.com  Tue Jun 28 20:15:53 2005
From: Rhaerther at aol.com (Rhaerther@aol.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:16:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Shurb Speech
Message-ID: <191.423ad6a0.2ff36c69@aol.com>

I was just reading excerpts from tonight's speech.  The  first thought that 
came to mind is Troy, but this time instead of Helen the face  that launched a 
thousand ships are lies.  The wooden horse in this  fable is the Shrub 
administration.  The other troublesome issue is  that the Shrub was never willing to 
speak publicly before at the same level of  his past two predecessors, but 
lately the Shrub's is willing to jump up and make  speeches on military bases.  
That sends a few messages: he, or  his advisors, are afraid of speaking to the 
real population; he's using the  military as a photo op; and he's trying to 
prove he's truly a military commander  despite being unable to complete his 
national guard duties.
 
I see no way these idiots can meet their goals of financial domination  
without instituting a national draft.  As several other contributors have  shared, 
I'm in agreement it will be skills based, if you are a college grad in  
computer science, you are quite valuable.  And how much do you want to bet  the 
draft-dodging bastards who started this mess will eliminate the loopholes  they 
used to avoid the draft, such as being a father, or now, mother?
 
Richard Haerther
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From michael at intrafi.com  Tue Jun 28 20:19:25 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:17:54 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <200506290319.j5T3JPQv000596@thor.thenation.com>

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From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun 28 20:19:51 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:21:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Response: MBBLOG-Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem
Message-ID: <20050628.201956.20535.268177@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>


Hello,

 I think most Presidents except Bush, come in with a desire and a plan to do a make-over. Bush has a plan (PNAC) and has created a make-over, is that contradictory? Clinton did bad things with De-regulation. People like me got hosed -look at usury rates (credit cards).

Carter was fed his intellegience by a rebellious and secretive CIA who actually had their roots in doing bastardly duties. They intentionally messed up Carter.

Carter Naive??? I don't think so...perhaps made to look that way. He was also a very religious man, a humanitarian. Look at how our friends across the aisle treat Senator Byrd (old man). Hence, we tend to look at the old fool with his Christian ramblings and yet (you and I know), that he's one-of-a-kind. Probably history, will show how he stood up against this grotestuque war, with Dean and Kuchinich (sp).

Look at how the neo-cons make Bush look-pretty damn good if you are a Republican, white, pro-Christian, and believe that your group was pre-ordained to occupy America.

I agree, that we now have a larger middle east problem-instead of fixing the past false lines of demarcation, of that break-up of the country. We condoned it.

We continue to fail at it-but I have my faith in the World Internet, & Left-Wing Radio out there and Global REAL News. Long live the alternative!!!!

Again, I may be missing the point here: the point being, to assemble (anger) the middle east, to bring them in line. This because of our failure to deal with diverse views and colors of skin. They are not white, so it's becomes easier to take from them.

What we do is madden the factions in hope that they kill each other off.

This is not to deep but accurate because Americans have a history of not being collectively, a major force in the World for riddening despair, and human abuses.

It is the few Americans which fix Americans' reputation abroad that have 'good sense' to continue to do good-the government is trash. It doesn't fix our reputation, it elects foreign, murderous, greedy bastards.

The American Government (Black Ops, FBI, CIA, etc.) is trash for the most part now, she's being eaten away inside out from the core. 

Yes, we are creating 'Our Larger Problem': The Middle East and the Home Land (Patriot Act II).

I will always remember how I was made to think about America and how I carried her high as we marched to the drum beat burying our dead during Vietnam. I loved her then but not now-I pity her folly, her tragedy, and now incompetence at the boots of our fallen. 

Forgive me if I sound melodramatic-but if you saw me back then-17 years old-honor guard Air Force-1965, burying coffins with real names, and mother's, widows, brothers, families, sisters, aunt's and uncle's- crying, you'd understand.

Lyle K'ang


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 20:22:57 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:23:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The USA: World's Biggest Prison The Associated Press
Message-ID: <BEE76221.2150F%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    The USA: World's Biggest Prison
    The Associated Press

    Tuesday 28 June 2005

    According to a report published on Monday from King's College, London,
the United States continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the
world.

    With 714 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, the United States remains
the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, ahead of
Russia and Belarus, according to figures published by the London University
King's College International Centre for Prison Studies.

    The United States has held first place in this ranking since 2000.

    "In 200 years, the United States has succeeded in creating two million
prisoners," frets researcher Anton Shelupanov. "It's a very worrying rate of
growth."

    Of nine million people imprisoned in the whole world, more than two
million (22% of the total) are behind American bars.

    Russia Is First in Europe

    Russia has the highest incarceration rate in Europe, with 550 prisoners
per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Belarus (532/100,000) and Ukraine
(416/100,000). The rate is 91/100,000 in metropolitan France, between
Belgium (88/100,000) and Germany (96/100,000).

    South Africa has the highest incarceration rate on the African continent
(413/100,000) and Surinam the highest in South America (437/100,000).

    The International Centre for Prison Studies gathers data from various
sources, notably the prison administrations of each country.

 

From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun 28 20:29:27 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:32:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Hair Toronto 
Message-ID: <20050628.203024.20535.268281@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>

I remember with fondness when I played the lead, Claude-1971 in Toronto. Her beauty is always fresh, even as a memory.

There was a cast member who confided with a small group of other members  and spoke of her boy friend from Yugoslavia and how he swam a channel to freedom. The feat was a miracle in her words, the channel gloomy, dark, and very cold. 

There were guards patrolling. He believed in the American way and freedom was his. He lived...


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

Please note: message attached


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From lyve at netzero.com  Tue Jun 28 20:49:48 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:51:44 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Article from Tom Dispatch
Message-ID: <20050628.205025.20535.268501@webmail29.nyc.untd.com>

fascinating...the article makes it all so very clear.
Thanks-


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

Please note: message attached


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From maxfury at granderiver.net  Tue Jun 28 21:22:17 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Tue Jun 28 21:21:23 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
Message-ID: <000901c57c62$2406ecc0$1225b7d8@baby1>

The problem with Christianity -- If you're not one, you're doomed to Hell
forever




===========
Cheeseburger:

I don't disagree with your assessment of "modern Christianity," with which,
as you know, I disagree, and makes me enormously sad.

I do want to address one point, though, and if I have misread what you were
saying, please forgive me.

You may not remember that I explained some time ago that I was not and am
not an "indoctrinated" Christian who was "taught 'Christianity' by everyone
and their dog that got hold of it," and therefore "remain a biased Christian
priest."  (That would be "minister," not priest; priests are Catholic.)
==========


Yes, I remember that.  When I used the word "biased", I meant to infer that
your point of view was specifically coming from a True Christian angle (one
who believes in all the words Jesus said, not just 8 of them), and thereby
make the point (somehow, lol) that no matter what, if you are a True
Christian, even *you* in your accepting of "Jesus' Teachings", cannot
exclude his promise of where Bad people go (Hell) eventually, nor his phrase
of "No man cometh to the Father except by me", and, therefore, whether you
are "indoctrinated" or not, your perspective on the entire matter is
"tainted" by ALL his "commandments", "promises", and/or "offerings" he
spoke, which just by coincidence include the premise that if one does not
literally believe him to be the son of God, then one is doomed to hellfire
and brimstone when "the great end" comes, rather than just someone sitting
at a gate weighing your heart with a scale (I think those people went to the
bad place too if they were bad as well in this life).

Translation:  Priest, or not, if one believes in ALL Jesus' words, not just
the "10 main precepts etc", and one forms this faith thing into a Religion
of sorts, even if it is a religion of just you, then THAT resultant religion
consists of a promise of everlasting life for believing Jesus the son of God
saviour etc, or a promise of everlasting damnation in the fires of Hell if
one does not.

And that "Christianity", biased, unbiased, group, or just a religion of one,
if the members accept ALL of Jesus' words as "the absolute truth", one is
automatically biased against those who do not *completely* share ALL of
Jesus's words as being "the absolute truth", and the members also are
relatively SWORN to do and accomplish a rather mixed bag, inluding just
plain old telling the Truth.

The religion of "Jesus", by his own words, promises eternal life if one
Believes ALL of it, not just 8 passages or so, and eternal damnation in
fiery hell if one does not.

My question remains, how can one separate the "10 main precepts" you have
listed below, from all the damnation for "non-belief" which Jesus managed to
carry over from the Old Testament all the way up to the New.

They're, among others there, attached at the hip.

Which, imho, still makes "Christianity" (temporarily pushing the 10 main
precepts to the side so we can see what else is there) one of the most
damning and exclusive religions in the world, whether one is having group
sex with Jerry Fallwell's ego or just sitting under a tree alone formulating
one's own thoughts.

"If you don't believe in EVERYTHING that Jesus said, you are not "saved",
not "reborn", and you are doomed to burn in the fiery pits of Hell forever."

Why don't people just come out and say that instead of beating around the
proverbial bush.

Now, unless I am incorrect, then that remains the absolute truth about the
sub-parts and their meanings that make up the whole of this particular
"Religion", even just from the exact words reported that Jesus spoke
himself.

I like the "10 main precepts" part, I just can't get into *anything* 100
percent that condemns, at least at this moment, a Majority Of Earth People,
if for nothing else, their simple Non-Belief.

It remains "just too harsh" for me to stomach.

It sounds like the God of the Old Testament who allowed David to kill 100
philistines specifically for the purpose of cutting off their foreskins to
their penises, as that was the ONLY way the insane King Saul would let David
marry his daughter.

Sentencing a literal Majority of Earth People to damnation and burning in
the fiery pits of Hell for eternity for simple Non-Belief.

That concept is also very clearly spelled out among the other varied words
of Jesus, one tiny mention or not.

And if one accepts the "10 main precepts" as absolute truth coming out of
Jesus' mouth, then, again, one must accept ALL the words he spoke.

And, I STILL can't get into any of this angry, mad, jealous, destructive,
mass-murdering God of the Old Testament, and it appears some of all that,
well, I consider it straight-ahead psychotic in some parts, made its way all
the way to the New Testament.

The promise of Hell is still there for "Non-Belief", and, sorry, the more I
look at it, the more it looks like MEN simply wrote a lot of ALL those
words.

And it still makes me think of the word "Psychosis" when I think of an ALL
POWERFUL God who can wave his hand and the universe would quake, sending his
kid down here to die like a dog on a tree instead of just waving his hand
and FIXING IT ALL.

Which apparently, if one believes just some of "the words", was well within
his power.

Now tell me, Ian, anybody, everybody, whomeverbody, if YOU were actually
GOD, and you could wave your hand and entire solar systems would appear or
disappear at your command, would you be sitting on your throne one day there
in Heaven and muse to yourself "Hmmm, I wonder what I should do about all
those wicked people down there on Earth....  Well, lemme see here now, I
could wave my hand and wipe them all out...  No, I've done that before...
Hmmm, well I could wave my hand and fix everything, after all I did create
the entire Universe and everything in it....  No, no, that would be too
easy...  I've got it...  I know what I'll do...  I'll send my ONLY son down
to Earth, amidst all those evil nasty conniving people, and I'll make his
life story almost completely non-recorded for about 30 years, and then for
the last 3 years or so of his life, I'll let people follow him around and
write down what he says and does, and then I'll sacrifice him on a tree
suffering like a beaten bleeding dog, which is the best most rational thing
I could do to save the evil people on Earth from their sins and from me
destroying them again with a flood or something...  After all, I'm only All
Powerful God Of All who simply waved his hand, and the entire Universe
appeared, there were obviously no other options available to me, and this
was the most humane..."

"Oh, Jesus..........!!!!"

"Yes, Pa..........!!"

"Come here, I got an errand for you to run..."

"Oh, cool.......!!"

The rest, of course, is history.


Stuff along the lines of the "10 main precepts" sounds cool to me, Ian, but
the rest is just so obviously Psychosis-related that it is relatively unable
to be missed.

It continues to sound like "Stuff" that MEN would come up with.

Not an actual REAL GOD.

I rest my case.





==========
Not only did I read the underlying texts of every major faith -
the Rig-Veda, the Old and New Testaments, the Qu'ran, the Baghvad-Gita - and
many "lesser" ones (the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead, the Jainist
texts, Shinto-ism, the Native American "Great Spirit" belief, and the
Australian aboriginal "Dreamtime" beliefs, among many others
==========



1.  Christmas is coming up and I would like a full copy of all the editions
of the Mahabharata (or however that is spelled) in an English translation.

2.  I would like to know a, brief, synopis of the Koran, as I am not really
familiar with it at all.  Also is it as ruthless as "Christianity" in its
apocalyptic-going to Hell bad people premise.




=========
It was as a result of all of this study that I CHOSE to be a Christian.  And
it was because I was NOT "indoctrinated" like most, and was able to study,
learn and (hopefully) understand Jesus' life and ministry OUTSIDE the
influence of "everyone and their dog."  I chose to be a Judeo-Christian
("Judeo" because I am, by birth, blood and heritage, a Jew; "Christian"
because I believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be) because I saw it as
the most genuinely loving,
forgiving and humble of all the various faiths, and because I saw its
"prophetic" nature as being the most "real" (i.e., most applicable) of the
prophetic faiths.
=============


This is what I continue to find so interesting about "Faith-Based"
religions, as most are.

If one believes all the way in this particular one, yes, again, the "10
precepts" are there, but also is the fact that if one is an "all the way
believer", you are already convinced not only of all the other "teachings",
but have already been forewarned that "all non-believers" are already
destined for Hell, even, again, just by the actual words of Jesus himself.




======
I realized that there was an "exclusivist" aspect to it, and, yes, that
bothered me at first.  However, there is an exclusivist aspect to ANY
faith - ALL of them claim, at one level or another, to be "the one," or at
very least to be the "most relevant" or "applicable" or
fill-in-your-own-term.
=======


Again, I'm not expressly against "exclusivity" in a "religion", as as you
have already clearly pointed out above, ALL of them are "Faith-Based" to
begin with, and ALL have a different "Deity" or "Deity-related" structure to
them in the first place.

Hmmm, I feel your mother taking over this conversation with every ensuing
keystroke, LOL.....





=======
What I found different about Judeo-Christianity was that, setting aside the
exclusivist aspect (since all faiths have one), the rest of it was far more
"accepting" than the others, in as much as the only real "change" it asked
for was a change of heart - a willingness to admit imperfection (call it
"sin" if you must), to ask God to help you work on (not eliminate, since
that is impossible) those imperfections, and to live a life as close as
humanly possible (which will be different for each person) to Jesus' actual
ministry (i.e., not the one you call "modern Christianity"); i.e., to use
the ten precepts of Jesus' ministry as your guide: love, peace, forgiveness,
humility, compassion, patience, charity, selflessness, service and truth.
===========


The whole "ten main precepts" thing.  Very good aspect of that particular
religion.  Actually, if it wasn't for those "ten main precepts" thingies, I
wouldn't even be sitting here discussing ANY aspect of this particular
religion to begin with, for the most part, as it would bore me beyond tears.

Those "ten main precepts" remain intact in a few other world religions as
well.

Again, if only ALL the religions of the world had stopped at those "10 main
precepts", put down their quills and gone out to a hilltop to watch the
sunrise, there would be no "religious disharmony", or even any mass-murders
which sometimes accompany such things, on the entire planet at this exact
moment in time.

But NOOOOOO.....  They just HAD to put in all the rest of all that bullshit.

Smart MEN....?

Or just REALLY stupid GODS..........?

Words.  Did the God(s) just make a mistake...?  Or did they do it to us on
purpose...?





==========
That is, faith - and the grace, mercy and peace that come from faith, and
help one to live those ten precepts - is primary.  The rest - the "laws,"
regulations, behavior, etc., i.e., the "religion" of Judeo-Christianity - is
secondary.
==========


I still seem to have a problem with agreeing that grace, mercy, and peace
originate from faith, and are not Entities all unto themselves.

If one wishes to hook them up with faith, and even say that they emanate
from faith, that is surely one's own perrogative, I just have never seemed
to "need faith" to conjure up grace, mercy, and peace, they, again, at least
in my realism on this tiny planet, have always stood on their own two feet,
surely sometimes co-mingling, but all completely separate entities from the
beginning on down the line.

For all I know, that might actually be one tiny thing "correctable" in all
the religions of the world, especially seeing as just about all of them
remain "faith-based".

Perhaps it is just too much for humans to have grace, mercy, peace, etc,
without also having to believe in something they couldn't actually prove in
a million years.

But that might wind up being just too close to something like giving all the
armies in the world guns and no bullets.

What a disaster that would be.






============
There is no other "spiritual" belief system on earth that is ultimately so
accepting and loving with the context of its admitted "exclusivity."
============


Highlighting the actual "good" parts of that system is not a crime yet, as
far as I know.




============
Again, I do not disagree that there are far too few Christians who have any
real understanding of what their faith is actually about, or how apostate
they have become from what they claim to believe (if what they claim to
believe in is Jesus and what He did and said).
=============


1.  I agree

2.  I continue to vividly be able to discern "all the good works, grace,
mercy, peace, etc" from a need for "faith" in almost anything, which again
is why they probably call them all Belief SYSTEMS.

3.  10 main precepts.  Burn all the rest of all the holy books on Earth.
Never teach them again.  Or, of course, we can continue on this way as it
has for eons now, until one person's or another's "God" comes back to throw
all the goats in Hell to burn forever.

4.  Out of ALL the "Gods" believed in and people having faith in on Earth,
EVERY ONE OF THEM, as you have pointed out, ALL say "We are the only one.
Our God is the only True God".  Pure Logic dictates that, most likely, only
One of them is correct (if not all of them are incorrect).  You have placed
your chip on Red 29.  If you are right, you go to Heaven.  If you are not,
who knows.

5.  I'm starting to get a feeling about how your mom figured all this out in
the first place, again LOL......




========
Christianity has indeed become its own worst enemy.  And "modern
Christianity" deserves the vehement scorn that you and others pour on it.
========


If only God had had twins, eh......?




=========
All I can do is work with what I know and understand, and try, in whatever
small way I can, to bring other Christians around to a better understanding
of their claimed belief.  Yes, I may be spitting against the wind.  But the
alternative is doing nothing, and that is not acceptable.
==========



You are, no offense, like a Majority of humans, stuck within a Belief
System, looking out.

I am stuck outside all the belief systems of this planet, looking in.

Or perhaps I just got tired of all the belief systems of this planet looking
at me, and I decided to just glance back at them.

What I found was.................



I'm sorry, this illegal communique has been interrupted by the federal
government, code 21c335-2847.

Please discontinue your thoughts immediately.



Yes, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted....

Oh, yes, what I found was too many words.

Too much faith in something where only one, if even that, can be the correct
answer to it all.

The "10 main precepts" running for its life.

Waving its arms wildly at the giant eye of Cheeseburger looming in the sky,
asking me to save its butt.

And me still thinking about it.

And the rest of the world, for the most part, victims of interpretations.

And of ruthless people.

And more than enough people who will fight to the death to defend their
faith.

And who already have.

And me standing here with the keys to death and hell the entire time.





Icea Cream....  Getta your tootsie fruitsie ice creama, right here.....
Icea cream.....








Cheeseburger


-  There are no words in grace, mercy, or peace.


.

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Tue Jun 28 21:24:26 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Tue Jun 28 21:24:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not  one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
Message-ID: <BEE7708A.2151B%michael@michaelbutler.com>

Ian,
Thanks for this writing.
Michael
" There is only God everything else is Dogma"


From maxfury at granderiver.net  Tue Jun 28 21:35:38 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Tue Jun 28 21:34:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CNN,
	Fox News repeated White House spin in defense of Rove
Message-ID: <000f01c57c64$00231480$1225b7d8@baby1>

Re:  CNN, Fox News repeated White House spin in defense of Rove




Fascinating story.  The Emperor has an amazing tailor.

I thought we were already to the point where it all begins to get really
scary, but I guess I was wrong.



Cheeseburger

.

From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:02:28 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:03:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Conflict recast as line in sand to terrorists - The
	Boston Globe
Message-ID: <42C27FC4.20801@comcast.net>

Conflict recast as line in sand to terrorists

By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff  |  June 29, 2005

WASHINGTON -- In a bold redefinition of a war that began primarily as an 
attempt to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, President 
Bush yesterday said Iraq is where the United States will make its stand 
against terrorists from around the world who flowed into the country 
after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq, the president insisted, has become the seminal fight of the 
post-Sept. 11 world.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/29/conflict_recast_as_line_in_sand_to_terrorists/
From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:03:42 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:05:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] 'Lessons of Sept. 11' Again Take Center Stage -
	Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C2800E.7040801@comcast.net>

'Lessons of Sept. 11' Again Take Center Stage

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A01

One year after the transfer of power in Iraq, President Bush found 
himself in a familiar, if unsettling, position last night, as he sought 
to reinvigorate public support for his policies in the face of almost 
daily suicide bombings and continued U.S. casualties that have called 
into question whether the administration has a workable strategy for 
success and exit there.

Bush signaled no shifts in policy, as Democrats such as Sens. Joseph R. 
Biden Jr. (Del.) and John F. Kerry (Mass.) have called for in recent 
days. Instead his goal was to reeducate Americans on his view of the 
stakes involved in Iraq and the consequences to the Middle East and U.S. 
security if the insurgents prevail.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801530.html?referrer=email
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:11:04 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:12:26 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Energy Bill - Washington
	Post
Message-ID: <42C281C8.30106@comcast.net>

Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Energy Bill

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A04

The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved a broad-based energy bill 
that would provide tax breaks and incentives to encourage domestic oil 
and natural gas production but billions more to boost renewable energy 
sources, nuclear power and conservation.

After years of partisan bickering over energy policy, the Senate struck 
a bipartisan deal that would benefit the booming oil industry but that 
also begins to address the concerns of Democrats and environmentalists 
that more needs to be done to conserve energy and develop cleaner energy 
alternatives. For the first time, the Senate has gone on record calling 
for mandatory limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse 
gases linked to global warming, although the resolution is not binding 
on the Bush administration, which opposes mandatory controls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800398.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:13:09 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:14:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mr. Bush on Iraq - Washington Post Editorial
Message-ID: <42C28245.9020608@comcast.net>

Mr. Bush on Iraq

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A20

PRESIDENT BUSH sought last night to bolster slipping public support for 
the war in Iraq by connecting it, once again, to the attacks of Sept. 
11, 2001, and to the war against terrorism. That connection is not 
spurious, even if Saddam Hussein was not a collaborator of al Qaeda: 
Clearly Iraq is now a prime battlefield for Islamic extremists, and 
success or failure there will do much to determine the outcome of the 
larger struggle against them. But Mr. Bush didn't explain how a war 
meant to remove a tyrant believed to wield weapons of mass destruction 
turned into a fight against Muslim militants, a transformation caused in 
part by his administration's many errors since Saddam Hussein's defeat 
more than two years ago. The president also didn't speak candidly enough 
about the primary mission the United States now has in Iraq, which is 
not "hunting down the terrorists" but constructing a stable government 
in spite of Iraq's sectarian divisions and violent resistance from the 
former ruling elite. It's harder to explain why Americans should die in 
such a complex and ambitious enterprise than in a fight with 
international terrorists, but that is the case Mr. Bush most needs to make.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801525.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:14:53 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:16:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Why The FBI Can't Be Reformed - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C282AD.1000805@comcast.net>

Why The FBI Can't Be Reformed

By William E. Odom

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A21

Of all the failures that allowed al Qaeda's attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, 
to succeed, those of the FBI are the most egregious. Yet none of the 
commissions or congressional committees investigating them has proposed 
more than platitudes about the FBI's reforming itself. Blistering 
criticism has been abundant, but not a single serious remedy has been 
demanded.

Meanwhile, evidence of the FBI's inability to reform continues to pile 
up. It has botched its expensive programs for acquiring state-of-the-art 
information technology systems. Its intelligence personnel still take a 
back seat to its crime-fighters. The FBI's expanded role abroad has been 
more disruptive than productive: Populating legal attach? offices in 
U.S. embassies, usually with G-men, the bureau creates tensions with CIA 
stations and displays its incompetence to foreign counterpart agencies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801249.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:16:51 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:18:06 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Crude Courage - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C28323.6070201@comcast.net>

Crude Courage

By David Ignatius

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A21

Oil prices hit a record $60 a barrel this week, inducing that familiar 
feeling that the world is a prisoner of energy gods beyond its control. 
Some analysts worry that high prices will eventually bring on a global 
recession that will shrink demand for a while -- until the next spike 
begins.

"Energy prices are way too high," Treasury Secretary John Snow told CNBC 
yesterday. "Clearly it's hurting." The New York Times quoted oil 
economist Deborah White voicing the sense that we are wandering in 
economic never-never land: "The market is showing us very clearly that 
it has no idea where the top is, absolutely none." Oil prices retreated 
yesterday, but many expect that they will be back above $60 before 
long.It doesn't have to be this way. Some problems are genuinely 
difficult to solve, because they involve painful moral choices. Iraq is 
such an issue; so are abortion and global poverty. But addressing the 
energy crunch isn't complicated. It just requires facing up squarely to 
the problem, summoning the necessary political determination and then 
taking rational action.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801247.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:19:07 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:20:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Who Are the Pro-Americans? - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C283AB.3030706@comcast.net>

Who Are the Pro-Americans?

By Anne Applebaum

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A21

So familiar are the numbers, and so often have we heard them analyzed, 
that the release of a new poll on international anti-Americanism last 
week caused barely a ripple. Once again the Pew Global Attitudes Project 
showed that most Frenchmen have a highly unfavorable view of the United 
States; that the Spanish prefer China to America; and that Canadian 
opinion of the United States has sunk dramatically. And once again the 
polls told only half of the story. After all, even the most damning 
polls always show that some percentage of even the most anti-American 
countries remains pro-American. According to the new poll, some 43 
percent of the French, 41 percent of Germans, 42 percent of Chinese and 
42 percent of Lebanese say they like us. Maybe it's time to ask: Who are 
they?

In fact, when pro- and anti-American sentiments are broken down by age, 
income and education -- I did so recently using polling data from the 
Program on International Policy Attitudes, supplied by Foreign Policy 
magazine -- patterns do emerge. It turns out, for example, that in 
Poland, which is generally pro-American, people between the ages of 30 
and 44 are even more likely to support America than their compatriots. 
This is the group whose lives would have been most directly affected by 
the experience of the Solidarity movement and martial law -- events that 
occurred when they were in their teens and twenties -- and who have the 
clearest memories of American support for the Polish underground.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801246.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Wed Jun 29 04:20:12 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:21:28 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Greenhouse Hypocrisy - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C283EC.4060707@comcast.net>

Greenhouse Hypocrisy

By Robert J. Samuelson

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Page A21

Almost a decade ago I suggested that global warming would become a 
"gushing" source of political hypocrisy. So it has. Politicians and 
scientists constantly warn of the grim outlook, and the subject is on 
the agenda of the upcoming Group of Eight summit of world economic 
leaders. But all this sound and fury is mainly exhibitionism -- 
politicians pretending they're saving the planet. The truth is that, 
barring major technological advances, they can't (and won't) do much 
about global warming. It would be nice if they admitted that, though 
this seems unlikely.

Europe is the citadel of hypocrisy. Considering Europeans' contempt for 
the United States and George Bush for not embracing the Kyoto Protocol, 
you'd expect that they would have made major reductions in greenhouse 
gas emissions -- the purpose of Kyoto. Well, not exactly. From 1990 
(Kyoto's base year for measuring changes) to 2002, global emissions of 
carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, increased 16.4 percent, 
reports the International Energy Agency. The U.S. increase was 16.7 
percent, and most of Europe hasn't done much better.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801248.html?nav=hcmodule
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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 04:46:12 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:46:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] i love toronto harry
Message-ID: <006001c57ca0$266fcd40$6e436c42@hotprojects>


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From hotprojects at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 04:47:24 2005
From: hotprojects at nyc.rr.com (richard haase)
Date: Wed Jun 29 04:47:59 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not  one,
	you're doomed to Hell forever
References: <BEE7708A.2151B%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <00a101c57ca0$511290f0$6e436c42@hotprojects>

thats a great quote
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Butler" <michael@michaelbutler.com>
To: "Civic" <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 12:24 AM
Subject: [Mb-civic] The problem with Christianity -- If you're not
one,you're doomed to Hell forever


> Ian,
> Thanks for this writing.
> Michael
> " There is only God everything else is Dogma"
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic@islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

From activist at democrats.com  Tue Jun 28 23:23:19 2005
From: activist at democrats.com (Democrats.com Alerts)
Date: Wed Jun 29 05:05:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Tell Bush It's Time to get Out of Iraq
Message-ID: <20050629022319.654678@democrats.com>

HTML Message - Tell Bush It's Time to get Out of Iraq
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:13:52 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:14:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: President Bush's Speech About Iraq
Message-ID: <20050629131352.C051A11F7FD@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 29, 2005
Editorial: President Bush's Speech About Iraq

President Bush's speech on the war in Iraq only answered questions no one was asking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/29wed1.html?ex=1120708800&en=9eb9c810df1930ec&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:14:16 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:15:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Live Free and Soar
Message-ID: <20050629131416.219619FC60@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 29, 2005
Guest Columnist: Live Free and Soar
By PATRICIA NELSON LIMERICK
Spending time in the company of American Indians offers a chance to know what it means when human beings choose life over defeat and despair.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/29limerick.html?ex=1120708800&en=ef15eb341e4e643e&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:14:32 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:15:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Jailing of Judith Miller
Message-ID: <20050629131432.D909713B7CD@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

OPINION | June 29, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: The Jailing of Judith Miller
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
The Supreme Court has just flinched from its responsibility to stop the unjust jailing of two journalists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/29safire.html?ex=1120708800&en=e4ba4a7d2ee3a6d3&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:15:54 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:16:25 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Court and the Commandments (6 Letters)
Message-ID: <20050629131554.3B4EC13B7F4@lax-gw04.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

What we're saying...


OPINION | June 29, 2005
The Court and the Commandments (6 Letters)

To the Editor:.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/l29scotus.html?ex=1120708800&en=19814ace6e0c474d&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:17:12 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:17:43 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Among Soldiers and Families,
	Applause Mixes With Doubts
Message-ID: <20050629131712.255B03AE5F5@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

WASHINGTON | June 29, 2005
The Response: Among Soldiers and Families, Applause Mixes With Doubts
By KIRK JOHNSON
People who have been part of the mission in Iraq expressed support for the troops, but some concern about the mission's execution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/politics/29react.html?ex=1120708800&en=e328e144e5ced070&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:19:50 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:20:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Judges Affirm Decision That Found 4
	Reporters in Contempt
Message-ID: <20050629131950.972A7A1056@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: ialterman@nyc.rr.com.

It's getting downright chilly in here...


WASHINGTON | June 29, 2005
Judges Affirm Decision That Found 4 Reporters in Contempt
By ADAM LIPTAK
A federal appeals court upheld contempt orders against four reporters who have refused to disclose their confidential sources to Wen Ho Lee, the atomic scientist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/politics/29contempt.html?ex=1120708800&en=3fb17b319ffd3241&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 06:21:42 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (ialterman@nyc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 06:22:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Public Broadcasting and Political Balance:
	A New Twist
Message-ID: <20050629132142.10A4224AF7A@lax-gw02.mroute.net>

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ARTS / TELEVISION | June 29, 2005
Public Broadcasting and Political Balance: A New Twist
By ELIZABETH JENSEN
The chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has pushed for more programs reflecting conservative viewpoints to balance what he says is public television's liberal bias.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/arts/television/29broa.html?ex=1120708800&en=e4aca756917a3a58&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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Watch the teaser trailer now for ROLL BOUNCE - in theaters September 23

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http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rollbounce/index_nyt.html





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From Alittlehawk at aol.com  Wed Jun 29 07:15:07 2005
From: Alittlehawk at aol.com (Alittlehawk@aol.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 09:15:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Irony
Message-ID: <200506291615.j5TGFfhY013968@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


   Subject: Irony
   
 
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security,
unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you
would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is
a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these
things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional
politician or businessman     from other areas. Their number is negligible 
and they are stupid."

 
----President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952-----
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 09:28:36 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 29 09:29:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Illegal drugs use 'rose in 2004'
Message-ID: <20050629_162836_011099.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Illegal drugs use 'rose in 2004' **
The UN's annual drugs report says the number of people worldwide taking drugs has significantly increased.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4633927.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 29 09:39:58 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 29 09:40:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush confronts public doubts about Iraq mission
Message-ID: <BEE81CEE.2154D%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Bush confronts public doubts about Iraq mission
>By Caroline Daniel in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
>Published: June 29 2005 00:26 | Last updated: June 29 2005 00:26
>>

President George W. Bush on Tuesday night confronted growing public doubts
about US military operations in Iraq and stepped up his offensive to regain
support for the mission in a televised address to the nation.

The US president urged the American people not to falter and warned of the
dangers of yielding ?the future of the Middle East to men like [Osama] bin
Laden?.

Surrounded by soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Mr Bush tried to draw
a clear link between Iraq and the war on terrorism, evoking the September 11
attacks several times, even though his administration has backed away from
the assertion that there was a direct connection between the attacks and
Saddam Hussein?s regime.

Repeating his vow to ?take the fight to the enemy?, he strongly defended the
war in Iraq as a vital part of the war on terror. ?We will defend our
freedom. Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war.? He added: ?Some wonder
whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists,
there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama bin Laden: ?This Third World War
is raging in Iraq'. He says it will end in victory and glory or misery and
humiliation.?

>
>>
>Share your views
>>
>>     
>

Have you changed your mind on Iraq? Did Bush say anything in his address to
the nation, marking a year since sovereignty was handed over to Iraqis, to
make you reconsider your stance? Comment and vote in our poll
Go there
>
>

Acknowledging there was more work to do, he said commanders on the ground
had not asked him for more troops but if they did, ?I will send them?.
However, ?sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging
Iraqis to take the lead in this fight?.
>
> The president also touched upon critics? concerns regarding a US pull-out from
Iraq. ?It would be a serious mistake in drawing a timetable for troop
withdrawal. We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed and not a day longer.?
>
> Mr Bush's address did not outline any new policies but highlighted progress in
ending disputes with countries opposed to the war. In Washington on Monday Mr
Bush met Gerhard Schr?der, chancellor of Germany and a strong critic of the war.

The speech was timed to mark the first anniversary of the handover of
sovereignty in Iraq, and to help address the recent slide in approval of Mr
Bush's handling of the war. An ABC News/Washington Post poll this week found
62 per cent agreed the US was bogged down in Iraq; 69 per cent found US
deaths unacceptable.
>

The ABC/Washington Post poll offered some solace for Mr Bush. It found that
nearly six in 10 Americans agreed that US forces should remain in Iraq and
recorded a drop in the numbers of those who said the war was not worth
fighting, from a high of 58 per cent earlier this month to 53 per cent.

Only 13 per cent backed an immediate pull-out of US troops. However, the
steady drip of revelations about the run-up to war, such as the so-called
Downing Street memo of July 2002 that appeared to throw doubt on the case
for war, have led 57 per cent of Americans to say that the administration
intentionally misled the public. ?It reflects the fact that in the last two
weeks there has been a lot of coverage of the 10 Downing Street memo,? Dan
Bartlett, White House communications director, said of the poll numbers.

?We have disputed that and [the UK government] have disputed it. The
president has acknowledged where the case was wrong and has worked hard to
fix those intelligence problems.?
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 29 09:42:28 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 29 09:43:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Canada Parliament approves same sex marriage
Message-ID: <BEE81D84.2154E%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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>
>Canada Parliament approves same sex marriage
>OTTAWA (Reuters) - June 28, 2005
>>

Canada?s Parliament on Tuesday approved legislation to allow same sex
marriages across the country, despite fierce opposition from conservative
politicians and religious groups.

Legislators voted by 158-133 to support the bill, which makes Canada only
the third country in the world after Belgium and the Netherlands to permit
gay marriages.

Most Canadian provinces already allow same-sex marriages, and Canada has
become a popular destination for gay and lesbian couples from countries
where these unions are banned.

The minority Liberal government said it had to draw up the legislation after
courts in eight of the country?s 10 provinces ruled that a ban same-sex
marriages was unconstitutional because it violated Canada?s Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.

Canada?s relaxed stance on gay marriage, and on other social issues, stands
in contrast to that of the United States, where President George W. Bush
wants Congress to back a constitutional amendment banning same sex
marriages.

?We are a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities, it is
important that you don?t cherry pick rights. A right is a right and that is
what this vote tonight is all about,? Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
said shortly before the vote.

Thousands of gay and lesbian couples have already been wed in Canada. Some
came up from the United States, although their unions are not recognized
back home.

Church groups and the main opposition Conservative Party say the law is an
attack on organized religion, and some have suggested that it could lead to
the legalization of polygamy.

?(This) is effectively exposing people of faith to persecution and
prosecution ... I want to make it very clear today that this is the
beginning of the formal fight against the definition of marriage,? said
Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition.

Opponents say they fear churches and religious officials could be sued for
refusing to carry out same sex marriages.

In fact, the legislation grants gays and lesbians the right to full civil
marriages, but makes clear that religious officials would not be obliged to
marry same-sex couples.

This did not do enough to allay the fears of some Liberal legislators, 32 of
whom voted against the bill.

Martin ordered his cabinet to back the legislation, prompting junior
minister Joe Comuzzi to resign before the vote so he could vote ?no?.

The bill still needs to be approved by the Liberal-dominated Senate upper
chamber, but that is seen as a formality.

Some Liberal lawmakers admit they fear a voter backlash at the next federal
election, expected early next year.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper says opposing gay marriage will form a
major part of his election platform.

But Harper?s stance could also be risky. The Liberals won elections in 2000
and 2004 in part because they portrayed their right-wing rivals as
extremists who would hack away at civil rights if elected.

Parliament broke for the summer immediately after the vote.

Legislators will resume work on Sept. 26.
? Reuters Limited  Click for restrictions
>
>
>
 
 
 
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From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 11:42:35 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 11:43:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - VANCOUVER TURNS DOWN PROPOSAL FOR CITY'S 1ST
	WAL-MART
Message-ID: <20050629184235.B55A91B691@nmweb07.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
VANCOUVER TURNS DOWN PROPOSAL FOR CITY'S 1ST WAL-MART
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 10:10:04 2005

---Vancouver city council voted down a proposal to build a 143,000-square-
foot store that would have been the city's first Wal-Mart.

Coun. Anne Roberts, who has led the fight against the store, told city
council that approving the application went against everything the city
is trying to do to create neighbourhood centres. Roberts said it would
have also meant thousands more car trips and created more air pollution.

The council turned down the proposal by a vote of 8-3.

Mayor Larry Campbell and two councillors supported the project.

Campbell suggested that the rest of council's opposition to the
development had more to do with ideology and the business practices of
Wal-Mart than with land use.

The writing was clearly on the wall for the U.S. retail giant at Tuesday
afternoon's council meeting.

Just before dealing with the Wal-Mart application, council also rejected
a big-box Canadian Tire store in the same southern part of the city.

Roberts said she now wants city staff to re-examine the zoning that
allows developers to build big-box stores within city limits in the
first place.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Wed Jun 29 12:17:22 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Wed Jun 29 12:18:03 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iran
Message-ID: <002b01c57cdf$2df920e0$8a03ca44@CowBox>

Hi Michael

I ment to respond to this e-mail (below) that you sent to the Hair list a few days ago but I inadvertently deleted it so I went back into the archives & got it. Your blog on Iran is right on. This this new president elect is more hard line than one can imagine. I understand that he was one of  Khomani's liaisons when they held the hostages & one of the first things he did was go to Khomani's tomb after he won. Folks the mother of all battles is now in the embryo stage with Iran, it will make Iraq look like a cartoon. I am a man of hope but I fear in this country we have all become so desensitized to the violence and apathetic to take on the ignorance & maddness of war & protest like we did in the 60's, that it might be to late before we all wake up. Maybe when the pot starts to "really boil" with Iran the revolution will kick in, one can only hope,because so far Iraq is not making it happen.

Love forever
Robin


[Mb-hair] Our Larger Middle Eastern Problem
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Mon Jun 27 22:55:42 PDT 2005 

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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Wed Jun 29 15:45:11 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (Harold Sifton)
Date: Wed Jun 29 15:46:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Earth Policy News - Ethanol's Potential: Looking Beyond
	Corn
Message-ID: <000801c57cfc$3ae44b50$3d3fe440@Harold>

FYI my mb friends

Harry



> Eco-Economy Update 2005-5
> For Immediate Release
> June 29, 2005
>
> ETHANOL'S POTENTIAL: LOOKING BEYOND CORN
> http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update49.htm
>
>
> By Danielle Murray
>
>
> At the fuel pumps in S?o Paulo, customers have a choice: gas or alcohol?
> Since the mid-1970s, Brazil has worked to replace imported gasoline with
> ethanol, an alcohol distilled from locally grown sugarcane. Today ethanol
> accounts for 40 percent of the fuel sold in Brazil.
>
> Ethanol can be produced from a wide variety of plant-based feedstocks,
> most commonly grain or sugar crops. It is then blended with gasoline as an
> oxygenate or fuel extender for use in gasoline vehicles, or it can be used
> alone in "flexible-fuel vehicles" that run on any blend of ethanol and
> gasoline.
>
> Brazil led world ethanol production in 2004, distilling 4 billion gallons
> (15 billion liters). The United States is rapidly catching up, however,
> producing 3.5 billion gallons last year, almost exclusively from corn.
> China's wheat- and corn-rich provinces produced nearly 1 billion gallons
> of ethanol, and India turned out 500 million gallons made from sugarcane.
> France, the front-runner in the European Union's attempt to boost ethanol
> use, produced over 200 million gallons from sugar beets and wheat. In all,
> the world produced enough ethanol to displace roughly two percent of total
> gasoline consumption. (For more examples of ethanol production by country,
> see data at  http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update49_data.htm .)
>
> Efforts to substitute alternative fuels for petroleum are gaining
> attention in a world threatened by climate change, rural economic decline,
> and instability in major oil-producing countries. Biofuel crops take in
> carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while they are growing, offsetting the
> greenhouse gases released when the fuel is subsequently burned. Replacing
> petroleum with biofuel can reduce air pollution, including emissions of
> fine particulates and carbon monoxide. Biofuel production also can improve
> rural economies by creating new jobs and raising farm incomes. As a
> locally produced, renewable fuel, ethanol has the potential to diversify
> energy portfolios, lower dependence on foreign oil, and improve trade
> balances in oil-importing nations.
>
> Although ethanol's popularity is growing, today's inefficient production
> methods and conversion technologies mean that this fuel will only produce
> modest environmental and economic benefits and could impinge on
> international food security. The largest obstacle to biofuel production is
> land availability. Expanding cropland for energy production will likely
> worsen the already intense competition for land between agriculture,
> forests, and urban sprawl. With temperatures rising and water tables
> falling worldwide, global food supply and demand are precariously
> balanced. World grain reserves are near all-time lows, and there is little
> idle cropland to be brought back into cultivation. Shifting food crops to
> fuel production could further tighten food supplies and raise prices,
> pitting affluent automobile owners against low-income food consumers.
>
> Placing greater emphasis on land efficiency-that is, maximizing energy
> yield per acre-will be essential to making the best use of ethanol. Though
> corn has broad political support as a feedstock in the United States, it
> is one of the least efficient sources of ethanol. For example, ethanol
> yields per acre for French sugar beets and Brazilian sugarcane are roughly
> double those for American corn.
>
> Also important is the amount of energy used to produce ethanol. Growing,
> transporting, and distilling corn to make a gallon of ethanol uses almost
> as much energy as is contained in the ethanol itself. Sugar beets are a
> better source, producing nearly two units of energy for every unit used in
> production. Sugarcane, though, is by far the most efficient of the current
> feedstocks-yielding eight times as much energy as is needed to produce the
> ethanol. Given their positive energy balances and higher yields, it makes
> more sense to produce ethanol from sugar crops than from grains.
>
> Ethanol could quickly take off in sugarcane-producing tropical countries,
> which have the advantage of year-round growing seasons, large labor
> supplies, and low production costs. As fuel demand rises in these
> developing nations, biofuel production could check oil imports while
> bolstering rural economies. Brazil, for example, could produce enough
> ethanol to meet total domestic fuel demand by increasing the area used to
> grow sugarcane for alcohol from 6.6 million acres to 13.8 million acres
> (5.6 million hectares) or by shifting all current sugarcane acreage to
> ethanol production. Unfortunately, new fields may cut further into already
> shrinking rainforests, making them a serious environmental liability.
>
> If ethanol is to become a major part of the world fuel supply without
> competing with food and forests, it's primary source will not be grains or
> even sugar crops; it will be more-abundant and land-efficient cellulosic
> feedstocks, such as agricultural and forest residues, grasses, and
> fast-growing trees. Promising new technologies are being developed that
> use enzymes to break down cellulose and release the plants' sugars for
> fermentation into ethanol. A demonstration plant using this technology
> opened in Canada last year, and large-scale production is expected to be
> commercially viable by 2015.
>
> Agricultural residues, such as corn stalks, wheat straw, and rice stalks,
> are normally left on the field, plowed under, or burned. Collecting just a
> third of these for biofuel production would allow farmers to reap a sort
> of second harvest, increasing farm income while leaving enough organic
> matter to maintain soil health and prevent erosion. The agricultural
> residues that could be harvested sustainably in the United States today,
> for example, could yield 14.5 billion gallons of ethanol-four times the
> current output-with no additional land demands.
>
> "Energy crops," such as hardy grasses and fast-growing trees, have higher
> ethanol yields and better energy balances than conventional starch crops.
> One likely candidate is switchgrass, a tall perennial grass used by
> farmers to protect land from erosion. It requires minimal irrigation,
> fertilizer, or herbicides but yields 2-3 times more ethanol per acre than
> corn does. Such crops could potentially be harvested on marginal land,
> avoiding the conversion of healthy cropland or forests to energy-crop
> production.
>
> Still, with world energy demands rising, biofuels will meet only a
> fraction of fuel needs unless there are substantial improvements in
> vehicle fuel economy. Fortunately, the technologies required are available
> and affordable. Shifting vehicle production to gas-electric hybrids, like
> those on the market today, and reducing weight and drag would decrease
> fuel use several fold. Adding an extra battery and plug-in capability to
> hybrid vehicles would allow short trips to be made using only electric
> power - preferably produced from wind - decreasing fuel demand to levels
> that could be met with ethanol alone.
>
> Increasing the role of ethanol in meeting fuel demand will require ongoing
> research and development to improve biomass-ethanol conversion
> technologies, along with consistent legislative support for biofuel
> production and greater fuel efficiency in the automotive industry.
> Shifting government energy subsidies, such as from oil exploration to
> biofuel development, is a clear choice as new oil fields prove
> increasingly elusive. With improved vehicle fuel economy and the use of
> more-efficient cellulosic feedstocks, biofuel has the potential to supply
> a substantial share of the world's automotive fuel.
>
>
> #    #   #
>
> Additional data and information sources at www.earth-policy.org or contact
> dmurray (at) earth-policy.org
>
> For reprint permission contact rjkauffman (at) earth-policy.org
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to public as: harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
> leave-public-1356419E@lists.earth-policy.org
> 


From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 16:26:09 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 16:27:34 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CANADIANS WANT TO MOVE ON FROM SAME-SEX
	DEBATE: PM
Message-ID: <20050629232609.1793E69AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CANADIANS WANT TO MOVE ON FROM SAME-SEX DEBATE: PM
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 16:04:01 2005

---Now that Parliament has passed a same-sex marriage law, Prime Minister
Paul Martin says any government that wants to reverse it must deal with
the consequences of using the Constitution's notwithstanding clause.

Martin spoke to reporters Wednesday, the day after a majority of MPs
approved legislation establishing the Civil Marriage Act before breaking
for their summer recess.

"I believe this is an issue that Canadians want to put behind them," said
the prime minister. "Their Parliament has dealt with it."

Any government that wants to overturn the law, which has been
"established by the Supreme Courts of a majority of the Canadian
jurisdictions," has no choice but to use the Constitution's
notwithstanding clause, Martin said.

Provincial, territorial or federal governments can use the clause to
override sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"The issue is going to be the use of the notwithstanding clause to
overturn a right that has been established by the Charter," said Martin.

"In a country of minorities, it is crucial that the rights of the
minorities be protected and not be subject to political whim."

 FROM JUNE 29, 2005: Alberta may stop solemnizing marriages: Klein

Martin's comments came as Alberta Premier Ralph Klein suggested his
province may stop sanctioning all marriages in a bid to avoid having to
recognize same-sex marriages. Instead, he said, Alberta might recognize
civil unions, leaving the solemnization of marriage to religious
institutions to deal with as they wish.

The prime minister also commented on a number of other issues during the
40-minute question and answer session.

 Liberal MPs would prefer to hold the next election in May, he said, and
 not February and March as Martin had promised when he tied the timing of
 the next campaign to the release of the Gomery inquiry's final report
 into the sponsorship scandal. However, Martin said he expects to be
 campaigning in the winter. The prime minister expects Africa and climate
 change to dominate next week's G-8 summit in Scotland, but also expects
 to discuss the economies of Europe, China and the U.S., along with
 security situations in the Middle East and Haiti. He believes the
 Liberals will win the next provincial election in Quebec, which will
 help address sovereignty issues in the province. Martin insisted he is
 not planning a cabinet shuffle. Canada won't commit to giving 0.7 per
 cent in foreign aid until it can follow through on the promise. Overall,
 Martin said, despite a sometimes tough parliamentary session, the
 Liberal minority government "fundamentally accomplished" its objectives.

Those objectives included passing the budget and pushing through the long-
promised same-sex marriage legislation, which most Conservatives and more
than two dozen Liberal MPs opposed.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 18:01:40 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:02:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CANADA TO ALLOW BANS ON BULK DRUG EXPORTS
Message-ID: <20050630010140.3CAF269AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CANADA TO ALLOW BANS ON BULK DRUG EXPORTS
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 12:38:42 2005

---Canada will ban the bulk exports of prescription medications when
needed, as part of strategy to control internet pharmacies, says Health
Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

"Canada cannot be the drugstore for the United States of America,"
Dosanjh said at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Health Canada plans to change the Food and Drugs Act to allow the federal
government to ban the bulk export of prescription and other needed drugs,
Dosanjh said.

The legislation is among a raft of changes aimed at controlling the
booming industry, as Washington considers a law that would allow the bulk
import of prescription drugs from other countries.

Dosanjh said his department would consult with industry before
introducing the legislation to allow bans in the fall legislative
sitting.

The ban wouldn't be permanent and would likely be limited to certain
drugs that are in short supply at a certain time, Dosanjh said.

"It has never been my intention to kill the industry," he said.



If the United States allows bulk drug imports, observers expect a huge
jump in the cross-border drug trade between Canada and the United States.
The fledgling industry was already estimated to have been worth more than
$1 billion in 2004.

Dosanjh said he has heard anecdotal evidence of shortages of certain
drugs in various parts of Canada due to the cross-border sales to the
U.S., but doesn't have any hard figures.

Health Canada will talk with the provinces, territories and industry this
summer to set up a national system to track the volume of drugs being
shipped across the border, Dosanjh said.



He also said he would strengthen existing rules to ensure that American
patients getting prescriptions from Canada have some kind of relationship
with a Canadian doctor.

However, Dosanjh wouldn't say whether that relationship would need to be
a face-to-face one, as opposed to one conducted through telephone calls
or e-mail correspondence.



David MacKay, an internet pharmacy consultant, said his organization
would like more details about some of the proposed changes, but supports
the move overall.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 18:04:42 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:05:42 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - SETTLERS,
	ULTRA-NATIONALISTS PROTEST ISRAEL'S GAZA WITHDRAWAL PLAN
Message-ID: <20050630010442.CEA9169AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
SETTLERS, ULTRA-NATIONALISTS PROTEST ISRAEL'S GAZA WITHDRAWAL PLAN
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 17:27:21 2005

--- Violent protests against the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza spread to
the centre of Jerusalem on Wednesday. Angry settlers blocked the main
road to the city and police used water cannon to scatter the protesters,
many of them children.

        Earlier, Israeli soldiers fired their weapons into the air to
        disperse stone-throwing settlers attacking Palestinians at the
        Gush Katif settlement in Gaza, which is to be abandoned in August
        as part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan.

        In recent days, Gush Katif's 8,500 residents have been joined by
        ultra-nationalist settlers from the West Bank determined to block
        the retreat.

        Organizers bused an estimated 3,000 right-wing extremists into
        the settlement to protest Israel's planned withdrawal. They took
        over a house in the Palestinian village of Amawassi, raised
        Israeli flags and scrawled slogans, including "Death to Sharon"
        and "Muhammad was a pig."

        It's not clear which side threw the first stone, but a brawl was
        soon underway. A Palestinian youth was badly injured by Israeli
        protesters. When an Israeli soldier dragged the injured youth to
        a corner, cameras captured the protesters throwing stones at him
        as he lay on the ground.

        "Let him die," they shouted to the Israeli soldier
        protecting him.

        Long-time Jewish residents of Gush Katif were appalled and the
        government says that while the settlers have the right to protest
        peacefully, it will not tolerate breaking the law.

"I think there is a very clear red line where you cross this legal
threshold and you fight your own institutions ... This is totally
unaccepted and we won't let it go," said Eiyal Giladie, an Israeli
official co-ordinating the withdrawal.

        In the evening, Israeli troops went in a second time and
        forcibly cleared the protesters out of the building and put them
        under arrest.

        Most of the protesters are staying at a hotel in the settlement
        that they say they plan to turn into a fortress. But the Israeli
        military has other plans for the hotel, declaring it a closed
        military zone, meaning no one can go in or out. It also suggests
        the army plans to clear it out, by force if necessary.

        The protests also reached beyond Gaza.

        About 6,000 police failed to stop demonstrators from
        blocking highways. On one section protesters poured oil and
        nails on the road.

        Israel's actual withdrawal from Gaza and a few settlements in the
        West Bank is still 47 days away and many here fear the protests
        will grow. For his part, Sharon is promising to put an end to
        what he called the wild behaviour of a "fellowship of thugs."

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 18:06:13 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:06:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - OPIUM PRODUCTION INCREASING IN AFGHANISTAN
Message-ID: <20050630010613.9DFB369AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
OPIUM PRODUCTION INCREASING IN AFGHANISTAN
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 17:31:30 2005

---A report released by the United Nations says the efforts to see
Southeast Asia declared virtually opium-free in coming years have been
dashed by rising opium production in Afghanistan.

The report says Southeast Asia's decline in opium is one of the world's
eradication success stories, with regional production plummeting 78 per
cent since 1996.

But Afghanistan is now producing about 87 per cent of the world's supply
of opium, which is the base narcotic from which heroin is produced.

Last year Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, recorded a 23 per cent
reduction in the land used for poppy cultivation and there was a 43 per
cent drop in neighbouring Laos.

But that has been counterbalanced by the increase in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan said Sunday it had mounted a serious campaign to tackle its
booming narcotics trade and to punish traffickers.

It follows a warning from the UN that narco-traffic is undermining the
country's security.

Production in the region, once notorious for the Golden Triangle drug
nexus where parts of Laos, Burma and Thailand meet, is forecast to
decline even further in 2005.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 18:08:22 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:09:12 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - CHINA SENDS TEENAGED LAMA TO VISIT
	TIBETAN-HEAVY REGION
Message-ID: <20050630010822.717FF69AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CHINA SENDS TEENAGED LAMA TO VISIT TIBETAN-HEAVY REGION
WebPosted Wed Jun 29 13:42:16 2005

---A teenage boy whom China is grooming to become Tibet's new religious
leader has reportedly been allowed to meet thousands of people during a
rare trip within China.

The youth, who has been under the Chinese government's tutelage since the
administration declared him to be the 11th Panchen Lama when he was five,
is almost never seen in public.

However, China's Xinhua news agency said the teenager held head-touching
ceremonies to bless more than 60,000 believers during a recent trip to
areas of southwest China's Sichuan province.

Many people of Tibetan origin live in the region.

The news agency referred to the boy as "the highest leader of Tibetan
Buddhism in China."

The atheist Chinese regime selected Gyaltsen Norbu in 1995, declaring him
to be the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama.

Under Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama ranks above the Panchen Lama.

The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, who fled to India in 1959 after a
failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, has identified a different
boy as the new Panchen Lama.

His choice disappeared from public view in 1995. The Chinese government
is believed to be holding the young man, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, under a
form of house arrest.

China has occupied Tibet since 1950.

Many Tibetans still consider the Dalai Lama to be their spiritual and
political leader, however.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca  Wed Jun 29 18:10:25 2005
From: nwonline at toronto.cbc.ca (CBC News Online)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:11:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] CBC News - FRANCE TO HOST EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR FUSION
	REACTOR 
Message-ID: <20050630011025.824FA69AFB@nmweb08.nm.cbc.ca>

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
FRANCE TO HOST EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR FUSION REACTOR 
WebPosted Tue Jun 28 20:24:38 2005

---France will be the home of an experimental nuclear fusion
reactor, a $12-billion US project aimed at producing power the same
way the sun does.

Six partners &#8211 the European Union, the U.S., Russia, Japan, South
Korea and China &#8211 agreed on the site's location on Tuesday after
Japan withdrew its bid.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, will be
built in Cadarache in the southern region of Provence, France. Cadarache
is one of Europe's largest civil nuclear research centres.

Engineers will try to harness the tremendous amounts of energy given off
as light hydrogen atoms fuse to form helium under high temperature and
pressure conditions.

The project is technologically challenging, but proponents hope it will
provide a cheap, safe source of energy as the planet's fossil fuel
reserves diminish.

Project partners will now negotiate financing and construction deals.
They aim to build a demonstration plant in the mid-2030s, with a
commercial plant created by mid-century.

Japan pulled its rival bid on Tuesday in exchange for a greater role in
research and operations, according to Japanese newspaper reports.

Canada had a proposal to host the project or participate as a non-host.
The federal government withdrew from negotiations in December 2003.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.
From noreply-comment at blogger.com  Tue Jun 28 19:56:18 2005
From: noreply-comment at blogger.com ((c) 2004, 2005. Lyle K'ang)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:41:13 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] [Michael Butler's Blog] 6/28/2005 07:56:14 PM
Message-ID: <200506300141.j5U1fAHl015040@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Wed Jun 29 18:43:51 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Wed Jun 29 18:44:38 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Buttonwood  China syndrome 
Message-ID: <BEE89C67.21597%michael@michaelbutler.com>



Economist.com      
    

    
About sponsorship

Buttonwood

China syndrome

Jun 28th 2005
>From The Economist Global Agenda


This time the price of oil is refusing to subside gracefully. If there
really is a new paradigm out there, the Chinese are ahead of the pack in
realising it


IT FEELS disturbingly like one of those computer games that Buttonwood is
fighting a losing battle against in her teen-aged house. Up pops the oil
price in autumn 2004, then?POW!?down it goes. Up again in early 2005
and?BAM!?back down. And now, yet again, it is climbing. In recent days the
price of West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery has been brushing
$60 a barrel, settling on Monday June 27th at half a dollar above that
level, a record high. The contract fell back the following day but kept $60
in its sights.

The surprise is not that the price of oil is rising. It has been doing so,
broadly speaking, for a year. World economic growth ripped along last year
at around 5%, its highest level in three decades, and this year, though
slower, may see 4%. Fast-growing China is taking roughly one-third of the
accompanying increase in oil consumption, but demand is growing in America,
the world?s biggest energy guzzler, too. Production has kept pace with
demand, but only just, and many worry that there may not be much more in the
tank.

The surprise is rather that it took share prices so long to fall in
response. In the month from May 22nd, oil prices rose by 21% yet the S&P 500
went up by 2.1%?a respectable clip. When oil first touched $60 it knocked
share prices back a bit for three days, but they resumed their climb
thereafter. True, some of that gain is accounted for by oil companies and
their suppliers, who are suddenly being touted as a buy all over town. But
what about other sectors?

Economists argue about the effect of dearer oil on growth. Does it provoke
inflation, or recession, or both? How big a price rise does it take to
provoke anything at all in these supposedly more energy-efficient days? But
no one, to Buttonwood?s knowledge, believes that higher oil prices are a net
plus for economic activity. So why aren?t share prices generally feeling
more pain?

One theory is that both shares and oil have been rising in response to
common factors: buoyant economic growth and profits, and low interest rates.
Ben Jacobsen, a finance professor at Massey University in New Zealand, has
another theory: it takes investors (like economists) a while to work out the
impact of oil-price movements on the economy generally.

Using data from 1973 for developed countries, and a shorter series for
developing ones, Mr Jacobsen and his colleagues found that oil-price changes
and stockmarket returns are linked but lagged: if oil prices rise, shares do
fall, but not right away. Shares of obviously energy-related firms adjust at
once, but broad stockmarket returns fall only during the following month or
even two months?a pattern that is clearest with biggish oil increases and in
countries that are most dependent on energy. This, if true, suggests a
genuine market inefficiency.

On that model, expect shares to fall next month?or at least fail to make the
gains they would otherwise have made. The bigger question, though, is where
both oil and share prices are headed after that.

Oil bulls argue that the price of the black stuff can only go up and stay
up. Supply and demand are finely balanced at roughly 85m barrels per day
(bpd); extra productive capacity to cope with emergencies is no more than
1.5m bpd, principally in Saudi Arabia, and even that is suspect. The
election last week of a hardline anti-capitalist as Iran?s new president has
added to fears of a disruption in supply. Discoveries have been tailing off
for years and refining is one big bottleneck.

Low oil prices in the late 1990s are one reason why companies did not invest
more in exploration and production. Petter Osmundsen, a petroleum economist
who teaches at Stavanger University in Norway, suggests another: excessive
focus on short-term measures of financial performance, which discouraged
firms from making long-term bets on growth and encouraged them to dish out
their profits to shareholders instead in the form of increased dividends and
share buybacks. Now oil companies, both private and state-owned, are
investing hand over fist, but it will be years before anyone sees the
benefit.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, a lot of what thinks of itself as the smart money
is on oil prices to rise. Since the beginning of June, the net bullish
positions of non-commercial investors have risen sharply, according to
America?s Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Their 20,000 outstanding
contracts (at last count) are nothing like a record, but they do indicate
which way the wind is blowing.

Oil bears, conversely, see demand for oil slowing as economic growth slows,
especially in China (whose imports dropped slightly in the first five months
of this year, says Andy Xie of Morgan Stanley). And alternative sources of
oil?Canada?s tar sands, Africa?s deepwater reserves?are nearer than many
think: Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a think-tank, predicts that
these and other developments will provide some 6m-7.5m bpd more capacity
than the world needs by the end of the decade. All this means that the price
of oil is set to drop, the bears growl. But they are an endangered species
these days.

Buying security

Against this background a significant drama is being played out: the $18.5
billion bid by CNOOC, a Chinese state-controlled company, for Unocal, an
American oil company. It is not the first time that the Chinese have bought
abroad to ensure access to commodities, nor the first time that a Chinese
enterprise has bid for an American one. But coming at a time when the price
and availability of energy are looking a tad dubious, the bid has provoked
an outcry in the land of the free.

What is overlooked in the general xenophobia is that China already plays a
big part in bankrolling spendthrift America. Thanks to its trade surplus, it
now owns several hundred billion dollars-worth of US government and agency
debt. Bond yields are low, the yuan is more likely to rise against the
dollar than fall, and China is engaged in a dash for economic growth. Is it
any wonder that it wants to buy an oil company which, even if bought at a
premium, is likely to return more than 4% a year in a dwindling currency,
and might improve Chinese energy security in the bargain?

The trouble is that if China makes a habit of snapping up vulnerable
American companies, it might decide to buy fewer Treasuries?and that could
cause trouble. Alan Greenspan is likely to have this point in mind along
with the likely impact of higher oil prices on a slowing economy when the
Federal Reserve meets later this week to decide whether to keep raising
interest rates. Now, that is a conundrum.

Send comments on this article to Buttonwood (Please state whether you are
happy for your comments to be published)

Read more Buttonwood columns at www.economist.com/buttonwood


Copyright ? 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights
reserved.



From arianna at ariannaonline.com  Wed Jun 29 14:43:26 2005
From: arianna at ariannaonline.com (Arianna Huffington)
Date: Wed Jun 29 19:16:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush and Rummy's Tired Acts  6-29-05
Message-ID: <200506300216.j5U2GOFF015100@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

The public mood on Iraq continues to darken -- for the latest news and opinion on this critical story be sure and visit huffingtonpost.com
			
--
			 				
Bush And Rummy's Tired Acts

By Arianna Huffington

If you could distill this administration down to one a single thing it would be this: a complete inability - indeed a pathological aversion - to changing course, even when the current course is taking us over the cliff.

Combine that with rank incompetence and you've got quite a potent - and deadly - combo. It was in full display last night during the president's speech on Iraq and last week during Donald Rumsfeld's multiple public appearances.

First the president's speech.

The president's "new direction in Iraq" speech was actually a rehashing of the same tired material he's been using on Iraq for years. Indeed, it was a veritable Greatest Hits collection. He even invoked the terrorist formerly known as Osama Been Forgotten two times. Even more shockingly - though not unexpectedly - he played the conflate-9/11-and-Iraq card again and again and again and again and again. Five mentions in all for the terrorist attack that had absolutely nothing to do with the war in Iraq - supposedly the topic of the speech. Here's a sample: "The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lesson of Sept. 11."

And now onto the secretary of defense.

It's time to cancel the Rummy show. Remember when it was fun to watch Don Rumsfeld come out and do his preening Master of the Universe act? Actually, I never thought it was that much fun - and I was always surprised by how much the self-loathing press loved Rummy's cocky, cutesy little putdowns and the jabberwocky nonsense answers he'd use to duck a question without uttering a single word of substance.

But he intimidated them, humiliated them, and so they subserviently accepted their role in the kabuki theater performances his appearances became.But with two to three soldiers and dozens of Iraqis dying each and every day, his smug verbal pirouettes are no longer so endearing. As time goes on, it's become clear that he sees his role less as making sure our soldiers vanquish the enemy than making sure he vanquishes the press and the straw men he puts so much rhetorical energy into creating.

There he was at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, spinning and spinning. But no one's laughing anymore. "Timing in war is never predictable," he said. "There are no guarantees," he said. That wasn't what Rumsfeld was saying back at the beginning, when he said he "doubted" it would last as long as six months.

Rumsfeld then propped up this latest made-of-straw beauty: "Success in this effort cannot be defined by domestic tranquility." Who on earth is saying "domestic tranquility" is the goal? How about: "An end to dozens of deaths a day, with the carnage continuing as far as the eye can see."

It's now beyond dispute that the enemy Rumsfeld is most suited to fight is the latest straw enemy he has created in his mind. It's then that he's at his most effective - like a 9-year-old at the arcade, delighting in mowing down his imaginary foes with his BB gun. Then he wants a little prize for his efforts. Tragically, we've got a real enemy to fight, and Rumsfeld is clueless about how to do it. One person who has clearly had his fill of Rummy is Ted Kennedy, who pointedly asked: "Isn't it time for you to resign?" After a pregnant pause, Rumsfeld answered: "I've offered my resignation to the president twice."

He should keep trying. Bush has already gotten a four-year pickup, but it's time to pull the plug on the Rummy dog and pony show. Or, better yet, move his all-too-real reality show from the Pentagon to Fox - where the body count will be significantly lower. And they can use a laugh track to sweeten the deadly silence his tired routine now provokes. 
 
? 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Arianna Huffington, add arianna@ariannaonline.com to your address book.

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M69706046701125916146265

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From lyve at netzero.com  Wed Jun 29 19:38:27 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Wed Jun 29 20:06:37 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Earth Policy News - Ethanol's Potential: Looking Beyond
	Corn
Message-ID: <20050629.193920.23868.283595@webmail34.nyc.untd.com>


As a past farmer who sold his organic crops to Safeway in Hilo, I am a staunch supporter of this! 
Next comes hemp planations for a million things.

Several Washington State corporations have started with burning restuarant waste cooking oil in diesel engines-100% no modifications-smells like a Jack-n-Box, MacDonald's or Chinese; just depends on who you got your vegetable oil from. $1.40 /gallon!


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

-- "Harold Sifton" <harry.sifton@sympatico.ca> wrote:
FYI my mb friends

Harry



> Eco-Economy Update 2005-5
> For Immediate Release
> June 29, 2005
>
> ETHANOL'S POTENTIAL: LOOKING BEYOND CORN
> http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update49.htm
>
>
> By Danielle Murray
>
>
> At the fuel pumps in São Paulo, customers have a choice: gas or alcohol?
> Since the mid-1970s, Brazil has worked to replace imported gasoline with
> ethanol, an alcohol distilled from locally grown sugarcane. Today ethanol
> accounts for 40 percent of the fuel sold in Brazil.
>
> Ethanol can be produced from a wide variety of plant-based feedstocks,
> most commonly grain or sugar crops. It is then blended with gasoline as an
> oxygenate or fuel extender for use in gasoline vehicles, or it can be used
> alone in "flexible-fuel vehicles" that run on any blend of ethanol and
> gasoline.
>
> Brazil led world ethanol production in 2004, distilling 4 billion gallons
> (15 billion liters). The United States is rapidly catching up, however,
> producing 3.5 billion gallons last year, almost exclusively from corn.
> China's wheat- and corn-rich provinces produced nearly 1 billion gallons
> of ethanol, and India turned out 500 million gallons made from sugarcane.
> France, the front-runner in the European Union's attempt to boost ethanol
> use, produced over 200 million gallons from sugar beets and wheat. In all,
> the world produced enough ethanol to displace roughly two percent of total
> gasoline consumption. (For more examples of ethanol production by country,
> see data at  http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update49_data.htm .)
>
> Efforts to substitute alternative fuels for petroleum are gaining
> attention in a world threatened by climate change, rural economic decline,
> and instability in major oil-producing countries. Biofuel crops take in
> carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while they are growing, offsetting the
> greenhouse gases released when the fuel is subsequently burned. Replacing
> petroleum with biofuel can reduce air pollution, including emissions of
> fine particulates and carbon monoxide. Biofuel production also can improve
> rural economies by creating new jobs and raising farm incomes. As a
> locally produced, renewable fuel, ethanol has the potential to diversify
> energy portfolios, lower dependence on foreign oil, and improve trade
> balances in oil-importing nations.
>
> Although ethanol's popularity is growing, today's inefficient production
> methods and conversion technologies mean that this fuel will only produce
> modest environmental and economic benefits and could impinge on
> international food security. The largest obstacle to biofuel production is
> land availability. Expanding cropland for energy production will likely
> worsen the already intense competition for land between agriculture,
> forests, and urban sprawl. With temperatures rising and water tables
> falling worldwide, global food supply and demand are precariously
> balanced. World grain reserves are near all-time lows, and there is little
> idle cropland to be brought back into cultivation. Shifting food crops to
> fuel production could further tighten food supplies and raise prices,
> pitting affluent automobile owners against low-income food consumers.
>
> Placing greater emphasis on land efficiency-that is, maximizing energy
> yield per acre-will be essential to making the best use of ethanol. Though
> corn has broad political support as a feedstock in the United States, it
> is one of the least efficient sources of ethanol. For example, ethanol
> yields per acre for French sugar beets and Brazilian sugarcane are roughly
> double those for American corn.
>
> Also important is the amount of energy used to produce ethanol. Growing,
> transporting, and distilling corn to make a gallon of ethanol uses almost
> as much energy as is contained in the ethanol itself. Sugar beets are a
> better source, producing nearly two units of energy for every unit used in
> production. Sugarcane, though, is by far the most efficient of the current
> feedstocks-yielding eight times as much energy as is needed to produce the
> ethanol. Given their positive energy balances and higher yields, it makes
> more sense to produce ethanol from sugar crops than from grains.
>
> Ethanol could quickly take off in sugarcane-producing tropical countries,
> which have the advantage of year-round growing seasons, large labor
> supplies, and low production costs. As fuel demand rises in these
> developing nations, biofuel production could check oil imports while
> bolstering rural economies. Brazil, for example, could produce enough
> ethanol to meet total domestic fuel demand by increasing the area used to
> grow sugarcane for alcohol from 6.6 million acres to 13.8 million acres
> (5.6 million hectares) or by shifting all current sugarcane acreage to
> ethanol production. Unfortunately, new fields may cut further into already
> shrinking rainforests, making them a serious environmental liability.
>
> If ethanol is to become a major part of the world fuel supply without
> competing with food and forests, it's primary source will not be grains or
> even sugar crops; it will be more-abundant and land-efficient cellulosic
> feedstocks, such as agricultural and forest residues, grasses, and
> fast-growing trees. Promising new technologies are being developed that
> use enzymes to break down cellulose and release the plants' sugars for
> fermentation into ethanol. A demonstration plant using this technology
> opened in Canada last year, and large-scale production is expected to be
> commercially viable by 2015.
>
> Agricultural residues, such as corn stalks, wheat straw, and rice stalks,
> are normally left on the field, plowed under, or burned. Collecting just a
> third of these for biofuel production would allow farmers to reap a sort
> of second harvest, increasing farm income while leaving enough organic
> matter to maintain soil health and prevent erosion. The agricultural
> residues that could be harvested sustainably in the United States today,
> for example, could yield 14.5 billion gallons of ethanol-four times the
> current output-with no additional land demands.
>
> "Energy crops," such as hardy grasses and fast-growing trees, have higher
> ethanol yields and better energy balances than conventional starch crops.
> One likely candidate is switchgrass, a tall perennial grass used by
> farmers to protect land from erosion. It requires minimal irrigation,
> fertilizer, or herbicides but yields 2-3 times more ethanol per acre than
> corn does. Such crops could potentially be harvested on marginal land,
> avoiding the conversion of healthy cropland or forests to energy-crop
> production.
>
> Still, with world energy demands rising, biofuels will meet only a
> fraction of fuel needs unless there are substantial improvements in
> vehicle fuel economy. Fortunately, the technologies required are available
> and affordable. Shifting vehicle production to gas-electric hybrids, like
> those on the market today, and reducing weight and drag would decrease
> fuel use several fold. Adding an extra battery and plug-in capability to
> hybrid vehicles would allow short trips to be made using only electric
> power - preferably produced from wind - decreasing fuel demand to levels
> that could be met with ethanol alone.
>
> Increasing the role of ethanol in meeting fuel demand will require ongoing
> research and development to improve biomass-ethanol conversion
> technologies, along with consistent legislative support for biofuel
> production and greater fuel efficiency in the automotive industry.
> Shifting government energy subsidies, such as from oil exploration to
> biofuel development, is a clear choice as new oil fields prove
> increasingly elusive. With improved vehicle fuel economy and the use of
> more-efficient cellulosic feedstocks, biofuel has the potential to supply
> a substantial share of the world's automotive fuel.
>
>
> #    #   #
>
> Additional data and information sources at www.earth-policy.org or contact
> dmurray (at) earth-policy.org
>
> For reprint permission contact rjkauffman (at) earth-policy.org
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to public as: harry.sifton@sympatico.ca
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
> leave-public-1356419E@lists.earth-policy.org
> 


_______________________________________________
Mb-civic mailing list
Mb-civic@islandlists.com
http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
From lyve at netzero.com  Wed Jun 29 19:49:32 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Wed Jun 29 21:03:08 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Greenhouse Hypocrisy - Washington Post
Message-ID: <20050629.194953.23868.283718@webmail34.nyc.untd.com>

scares me...the ineptitude, infamous non-progress.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com

Please note: message attached


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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 22:30:21 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate Gould)
Date: Wed Jun 29 22:31:15 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] an example: Interns and Volunteers Needed - Help Build
	Sept. Mass Anti-War Protest
Message-ID: <QjhCTVExWCFaNENENCosMTkyMzE1NQ@Dragon>

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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 22:40:16 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 22:41:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fmr. Pentagon Insider Blasts Bush's Iraq Speech and
	Repeated References to 9/11
Message-ID: <20050630054016.24911.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org


"This thing in Iraq has nothing to do with homeland security, unless it's to make it worse.  "


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Fmr. Pentagon Insider Blasts Bush's Iraq Speech and Repeated References to 9/11
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434206
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


In a primetime address to the nation, President Bush defended the war in Iraq and rejected calls to set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops. In his speech, Bush repeatedly tried to connect the war in Iraq to September 11 even though Iraq had no role in the attacks. We speak with former Pentagon insider, Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434206

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 22:45:16 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 22:45:47 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Journalist Patrick Cockburn Calls Iraq a "Bloody Mess"
	One Year After Handover of "Sovereignty"
Message-ID: <20050630054516.25457.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org

"At the handover of power the number of foreign fighters in the insurgency was estimated in the "low hundreds". That figure has been revised up to at least 1,000 and the overall figure for the number of insurgents is put at 16,000. "




+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Journalist Patrick Cockburn Calls Iraq a "Bloody Mess" One Year After Handover of "Sovereignty"
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434212
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


We speak with Middle East journalist Patrick Cockburn of the Independent (UK) who finds that since the so-called handover of sovereignty in Iraq, 948 U.S. soldiers have died; thousands of Iraqis have been killed; 52 senior Iraqi government or religious figures have been assassinated; and the number of Iraqi military and police being killed each month has jumped by fifty percent. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434212

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 22:49:51 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (hecate@diamonddragon.com)
Date: Wed Jun 29 22:50:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Rahul Mahajan: "Bush Trots Out Bin Laden to Justify
	Anything He is Doing"
Message-ID: <20050630054951.25977.qmail@trinity.democracynow.org>

Hecate  ( hecate@diamonddragon.com )
sent you this story from democracynow.org


RAHUL MAHAJAN: Frankly, I think Porter Goss's comments were outright fatuity. I mean, no matter how cynical the administration may be, it’s impossible to believe they actually have a clear sense of where bin Laden is, that troops know where they are and that nobody is talking about the fact that they know where he is and they're simply not capturing him. But, no, I wasn't surprised to hear Bush mention bin Laden. Bin Laden is a very convenient name for him. He totally ignored the name for years. There had been times when bin Laden is brought up, he says ‘Oh, well, I'm not really concerned about him.’ But he always knew in the back of his mind that he could trot him out whenever he wanted in order to justify virtually anything he is doing. Although, you know, you would have to be insane to go to war against North Korea, if he did he would surely be trotting bin Laden out for that, as well. 



+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Rahul Mahajan: "Bush Trots Out Bin Laden to Justify Anything He is Doing"
|  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434226
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


We speak with Middle East analyst Rahul Mahajan the 130,000 U.S. troops stationed in  Iraq and President Bush's rare reference to Osama bin Laden in his primetime address. [includes rush transcript]
This story continues at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/1434226

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 23:15:12 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 29 23:15:56 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Bush enacts anti-terror measures
Message-ID: <20050630_061512_020518.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
The White House says it is enacting 70 new measures to fight international terrorist groups and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. 


** Bush enacts anti-terror measures **
The US president approves 70 new measures to fight terror and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4636117.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 23:25:07 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 29 23:25:49 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: African sands 'set for upheaval'
Message-ID: <20050630_062507_081247.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
compare with the democracy now article, http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/23/1358230

** African sands 'set for upheaval' **
A study suggests climate change in Africa will whip up the great dunefields of the Kalahari.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4634595.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Wed Jun 29 23:27:13 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Wed Jun 29 23:27:58 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Caribbean oil initiative launched
Message-ID: <20050630_062713_088249.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Caribbean oil initiative launched **
Venezuela's president announces an oil initiative to provide cheaper fuel for 15 Caribbean nations.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4636067.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Thu Jun 30 02:32:18 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Thu Jun 30 02:32:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Canada Parliament approves same sex marriage
In-Reply-To: <BEE81D84.2154E%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F3698CBF1CE80814DC15741B8E30@phx.gbl>


           Bravo!     Canada !       It is heartwarming to know the Canada 
Parliament is not sanctimonious.
                                  Marylouise




>From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] Canada Parliament approves same sex marriage
>Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 09:42:28 -0700
>
>
>
>FT.com
>
>Click Here to Print
>       EMAIL THIS | Close
>
> >
> >Canada Parliament approves same sex marriage
> >OTTAWA (Reuters) - June 28, 2005
> >>
>
>Canada¹s Parliament on Tuesday approved legislation to allow same sex
>marriages across the country, despite fierce opposition from conservative
>politicians and religious groups.
>
>Legislators voted by 158-133 to support the bill, which makes Canada only
>the third country in the world after Belgium and the Netherlands to permit
>gay marriages.
>
>Most Canadian provinces already allow same-sex marriages, and Canada has
>become a popular destination for gay and lesbian couples from countries
>where these unions are banned.
>
>The minority Liberal government said it had to draw up the legislation 
>after
>courts in eight of the country¹s 10 provinces ruled that a ban same-sex
>marriages was unconstitutional because it violated Canada¹s Charter of
>Rights and Freedoms.
>
>Canada¹s relaxed stance on gay marriage, and on other social issues, stands
>in contrast to that of the United States, where President George W. Bush
>wants Congress to back a constitutional amendment banning same sex
>marriages.
>
>³We are a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities, it is
>important that you don¹t cherry pick rights. A right is a right and that is
>what this vote tonight is all about,² Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
>said shortly before the vote.
>
>Thousands of gay and lesbian couples have already been wed in Canada. Some
>came up from the United States, although their unions are not recognized
>back home.
>
>Church groups and the main opposition Conservative Party say the law is an
>attack on organized religion, and some have suggested that it could lead to
>the legalization of polygamy.
>
>³(This) is effectively exposing people of faith to persecution and
>prosecution ... I want to make it very clear today that this is the
>beginning of the formal fight against the definition of marriage,² said
>Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition.
>
>Opponents say they fear churches and religious officials could be sued for
>refusing to carry out same sex marriages.
>
>In fact, the legislation grants gays and lesbians the right to full civil
>marriages, but makes clear that religious officials would not be obliged to
>marry same-sex couples.
>
>This did not do enough to allay the fears of some Liberal legislators, 32 
>of
>whom voted against the bill.
>
>Martin ordered his cabinet to back the legislation, prompting junior
>minister Joe Comuzzi to resign before the vote so he could vote ³no².
>
>The bill still needs to be approved by the Liberal-dominated Senate upper
>chamber, but that is seen as a formality.
>
>Some Liberal lawmakers admit they fear a voter backlash at the next federal
>election, expected early next year.
>
>Conservative leader Stephen Harper says opposing gay marriage will form a
>major part of his election platform.
>
>But Harper¹s stance could also be risky. The Liberals won elections in 2000
>and 2004 in part because they portrayed their right-wing rivals as
>extremists who would hack away at civil rights if elected.
>
>Parliament broke for the summer immediately after the vote.
>
>Legislators will resume work on Sept. 26.
>© Reuters Limited  Click for restrictions
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>Find this article at:
>http://news.ft.com/cms/s/08af682e-e848-11d9-9786-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=_ftaler
>t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
>ym_ftymarc_ic_ipadmintool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=1.html
>
>Click Here to Print
>      EMAIL THIS | Close
>  Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Mb-civic mailing list
>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
>http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic

_________________________________________________________________
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:26:43 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:28:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The High Cost of a Rush to Security - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C3E503.8050003@comcast.net>

The High Cost of a Rush to Security
TSA Lost Control of Over $300 Million Spent by Contractor to Hire 
Airport Screeners After 9/11

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

The money was spent in the name of improving security at the nation's 
airports:

? $526.95 for one phone call from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago to 
Iowa City.

? $1,180 for 20 gallons of Starbucks Coffee -- $3.69 a cup -- at the 
Santa Clara Marriott in California.

? $1,540 to rent 14 extension cords at $5 each per day for three weeks 
at the Wyndham Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062903063.html?referrer=email
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:28:23 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:29:48 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Italy Knew About Plan To Grab Suspect - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C3E567.8020704@comcast.net>

Italy Knew About Plan To Grab Suspect

CIA Officials Cite Briefing in 2003

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

Before a CIA paramilitary team was deployed to snatch a radical Islamic 
cleric off the streets of Milan in February 2003, the CIA station chief 
in Rome briefed and sought approval from his counterpart in Italy, 
according to three CIA veterans with knowledge of the operation and a 
fourth who reviewed the matter after it took place.

The previously undisclosed Italian involvement undercuts the accusation, 
which has fueled public resentment in Italy toward the United States, 
that the CIA brashly slipped into the country unannounced and uninvited 
to kidnap an Italian resident off the street.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902971.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:30:21 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:31:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Mexican Stamps Racist,
	Civil Rights Leaders Say - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C3E5DD.7030007@comcast.net>

Mexican Stamps Racist, Civil Rights Leaders Say

Images Feature Popular Cartoon Character

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

The Mexican government issued a series of stamps yesterday depicting a 
dark-skinned Jim Crow-era cartoon character with greatly exaggerated 
eyes and lips, infuriating black and Hispanic civil rights leaders for 
the second time in weeks.

Mexican postal officials said the five-stamp series features Memin 
Pinguin, a character from a comic book created in the 1940s, because he 
is beloved in Mexico. A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy described the 
depiction as a cultural image that has no meaning and is not intended to 
offend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902831.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:31:44 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:33:18 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Price Of Public TV's Win
Message-ID: <42C3E630.5070807@comcast.net>

The Price Of Public TV's Win

By David S. Broder

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A23

The victory that public television won last week when the House restored 
the committee-mandated 25 percent cut in its funds came at a price. That 
price will be paid, as is so often the case in today's Washington, by 
the people who depend on government help for essential health care and 
education and job-training services.

In reversing the $100 million reduction the Appropriations Committee had 
ordered in the $400 million budget of the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, the House did not -- because it could not under its own 
rules -- increase overall spending for programs in the departments of 
Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902587.html
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:33:02 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:34:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Echoes of Vietnam - Washington Post
Message-ID: <42C3E67E.7070207@comcast.net>

Echoes of Vietnam

By Richard Cohen

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A23

About two years ago I sat down with a colleague and explained why Iraq 
was not going to be Vietnam. Iraq lacked a long-standing nationalist 
movement and a single charismatic leader like Ho Chi Minh. The 
insurgents did not have a sanctuary like North Vietnam, which supplied 
manpower, materiel and leadership, and the rebel cause in Iraq -- just 
what is it, exactly? -- was not worth dying for. On Tuesday President 
Bush proved me wrong. Iraq is beginning to look like Vietnam.

The similarity is most striking in the language the president used. 
First came the vast, insulting oversimplifications. The war in Iraq was 
tied over and over again to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 
although that link was nonexistent. The Sept. 11 commission said in 
plain English that there was no connection between al Qaeda and Saddam 
Hussein. Even a line such as we must "defeat them abroad before they 
attack us at home" had a musty, Vietnam-era sound to it. Whether it's 
true or not, it is an updated version of the domino theory: if not 
Saigon then San Francisco.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902585.html?nav=hcmodule
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From swiggard at comcast.net  Thu Jun 30 05:34:18 2005
From: swiggard at comcast.net (William Swiggard)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:35:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Our Worsening Terrorism Problem - Washingtom Post
Message-ID: <42C3E6CA.1070807@comcast.net>

Our Worsening Terrorism Problem

By David Ignatius

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A23

President Bush tried to defend his Iraq policy Tuesday night as a means 
of combating terrorism. It was a standard Bush theme, a replay of 
arguments he has been using for three years. But there's a contradiction 
staring him in the face -- one so obvious that it often gets overlooked.

The war in Iraq has in fact made America's terrorism problem worse. The 
CIA reached that judgment in a recent report, and any fair-minded person 
would come to the same conclusion. By toppling the cruelly repressive 
regime of Saddam Hussein, the United States turned Iraq into a new 
breeding ground for jihadists. That doesn't mean the war was wrong, but 
it does make it hard to justify as an anti-terrorism stratagem.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902586.html?nav=hcmodule
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From newsletter at villagevoice.com  Wed Jun 29 21:55:44 2005
From: newsletter at villagevoice.com (Village Voice Newsletter)
Date: Thu Jun 30 05:48:19 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Armageddon It
Message-ID: <20050630045544.11297.qmail@www3.villagevoice.com>

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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Thu Jun 30 06:02:23 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Thu Jun 30 06:03:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iran New President
Message-ID: <000901c57d73$f55e82d0$8a03ca44@CowBox>


He denies it but the hostages say he was there.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050630-07484700-bc-us-iranhostages.xml



Peace
Robin


http://lpintop.tripod.com/robinmcnamara
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From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 30 07:10:08 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun 30 07:11:11 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Bush 'exploited 9/11' in Iraq plea
Message-ID: <20050630141008.3BEF3D131@mullet.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry:

Bush still working the fear card!
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Bush 'exploited 9/11' in Iraq plea
Doubts cast on success of speech in halting slide against conflict
Julian Borger in Washington and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday June 30 2005
The Guardian


Leading Democrats yesterday reacted angrily to President George Bush's address to the nation, accusing him of "exploiting the sacred ground" of September 11 by attempting to link the Iraq war with the terrorist attacks. 

In his prime-time speech at Fort Bragg military base, the president mentioned September 11 five times in 30 minutes as he argued that withdrawal from Iraq would leave the US open to more terrorist attacks.  

The twitchy mood in Washington was underscored yesterday when the White House was briefly evacuated - and Mr Bush moved to a safe location - in the latest aviation alert to hit the capital. The all-clear was rapidly sounded when the airspace rogue proved to be an innocuous private aircraft.  

Instant polls after Mr Bush's speech suggested that he might have solidified support among the largely Republican audience who watched the performance, but it was unclear whether he had made headway against a steadily advancing tide of scepticism about the justification for the war.  

Democrats argued that he had offered no new ideas on how to beat the insurgency.   

They pointed to the administration's lack of credibility over Iraq in the wake of post-war inquiries that found no weapons of mass destruction and no substantive prewar links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.  

Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, said Mr Bush was trying to "exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq".  

In his speech, Mr Bush did not repeat his administration's prewar claims of a direct Iraqi role in the September 11 attacks. Instead, he suggested that the insurgents shared a common "totalitarian ideology" with al-Qaida, and that if they were not defeated in Iraq they could use the country as a base from which to launch terrorist attacks on the US homeland.  

Senator John Kerry, Mr Bush's opponent in last November's election, said the speech represented the administration's third rationale for the 2003 invasion.  

"The first, of course, was weapons of mass destruction. The second was democracy, and now, tonight, it's to combat the hotbed of terrorism," he told CNN.  

"But most Americans are aware that the hotbed of terrorism never existed in Iraq until we got there."  

Senator Joseph Biden, the Democrats' leading voice on foreign policy, predicted that the martial rhetoric would not rescue the president's standing in the polls, where Mr Bush has lower ratings than presidents Reagan or Clinton at this stage of their second terms. "I think the American people are a lot smarter than that," he said.  

However, Andrew Kohut, head of the Pew Research Centre, a Washington polling organisation, said the broader ties outlined by the president might strike a chord with the public. "For many Americans the premise for the war was that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man and we are better off without him," he said.  

"It was not so much premised on a direct link between Saddam and al-Qaida, as on the suggestion that we face a threat from that part of the world and if we leave a mess it will be a danger to us."   

Though one poll showed that the speech drew the smallest audience of any Bush presidential appearance, another poll by Gallup found that it may have served its purpose in bolstering the resolve of viewers, at least temporarily.  

Of an estimated 23 million who watched, 54% thought the US was winning the war, compared with 44% before the speech. But only 23% were registered Democrats - and the boost the president received was weak compared with the upsurge following similar set-piece speeches in the past.  

The address was also savaged abroad. A Labour MP, Lynne Jones, said any attempt to suggest that it was a response to the September 11 attacks was "absolute nonsense".  

"What they have ensured, in invading Iraq, is they have actually promoted al-Qaida's involvement in other countries, including Iraq."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From harry.sifton at sympatico.ca  Thu Jun 30 07:14:10 2005
From: harry.sifton at sympatico.ca (harry.sifton@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Jun 30 07:14:46 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Bush persists with notion of
	9/11-Iraq link
Message-ID: <20050630141410.EAA5CD30F@mussel.gul3.gnl>

Harry spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from Harry:

Brus's propaganda blurs the line .....
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Bush persists with notion of 9/11-Iraq link
Fort Bragg address again binds battle against Iraq insurgents to 'war on terror' in attempt to woo sceptical public
Julian Borger in Washington and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday June 30 2005
The Guardian


September 11 has been George Bush's rhetorical trumpcard since he climbed the rubble of the World Trade Centre and rallied rescue workers through a megaphone nearly four years ago. 

Many believe that was his finest hour and he attempted to invoke the same spirit in his speech on Tuesday night.  

With five mentions of September 11 in his 30-minute address, Mr Bush attempted to weld the Iraq insurgency to the battle with al-Qaida in the public's mind, where the two have been drifting apart.  

He spoke of the shared "totalitarian ideology" of the Iraqi insurgents and Osama bin Laden's organisation.  

The best way to take these enemies on was "to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home", he said.  

This time, Mr Bush said, the US would not "wait to be attacked".  

Failure in Iraq would leave that country a haven for terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on the homeland, just as Afghanistan had been.  

Finally, the insurgents were trying "to shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September 11 2001".  

Critics were quick to point out that several of those links were more a consequence of the Iraq invasion than a justification for it.  

The connections described by Mr Bush at Fort Bragg were more conceptual than the close relationship described by the White House before the war.  

The prewar rhetoric portrayed that relationship as long and deep. Dick Cheney, the vice-president, who took the lead in making the claims described evidence of the relationship as "overwhelming".  

Mr Cheney said in late 2001 it had been "pretty well confirmed" that the lead September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta had met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in April 2000.  

Mr Bush said in October 2002: "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaida members in bomb-making and poisons and gases."   

He also pointed to the alleged presence of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian Islamist militant in Baghdad, and of a radical Sunni group, Ansar al-Islam, in Kurdistan as further proof of the connection.  

Those alleged connections crumbled under postwar scrutiny.  

Investigations by the Senate's intelligence committee and by the September 11 commission of inquiry found no evidence of an operational alliance between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein. There did seem to have been contacts in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s but they did not lead to a "collaborative relationship", the commission found.  

The al-Qaida detainee who claimed Iraqis had given the group chemical and biological weapons training retracted his testimony, and Zarqawi's links with Bin Laden appeared to have been loose before the war but much firmer as a consequence of it.  

In an intercepted message to al-Qaida leaders in January 2003, Zarqawi offered to "swear fealty" to Bin Laden in return for support for his group in Iraq, suggesting that no such bond existed between them before the invasion.  

Washington's attempts to link Saddam with al-Qaida and September 11 have been a source of strife between Britain and America since before the war.  

London did not say so publicly at the time but senior MI6 officials were furious at the prewar attempts to make the connection.  

British intelligence officials warned ministers that an invasion of Iraq would increase the threat posed by al-Qaida sympathisers, an outcome that was reflected in the president's speech on Tuesday.  

Despite the dearth of evidence of a solid link since the war, the picture of the relationship remains muddy in the US.  

Mr Cheney, in particular, has refused to retract his war claims and has continued to hint at hidden connections between Saddam and Bin Laden.  

Robin Hayes, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, appeared on television yesterday claiming to have seen secret evidence of Iraqi involvement in the September 11 attacks which he could not share.  

Such cryptic claims were widely rejected as groundless yesterday, but Mr Bush's more subtle rendering of the alleged Iraq-Bin Laden axis will serve to blur the hard lines between fact and propaganda.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 30 10:21:14 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:22:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Aid will not lift growth in Africa, warns IMF
Message-ID: <BEE9781A.215F6%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
Click Here to Print
      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
Aid will not lift growth in Africa, warns IMF
>By Andrew Balls in Washington
>Published: June 29 2005 22:00 | Last updated: June 29 2005 22:00
>>

The International Monetary Fund has warned that governments, donors,
campaigners and pop stars need to be far more modest in their claims that
increased aid will solve Africa's problems.

Days before the Live-8 concerts around the world, and next week's Group of
Eight countries summit in Scotland, the IMF has released two extensive
research papers that suggest aid flows to poor countries have not led to
higher growth rates, the main driver of poverty reduction.

?We need to be careful given the chequered history of aid, that we do not
place more hopes on aid as an instrument of development than it is capable
of delivering,? the fund said.

The research, which took into account duration, type of donor and governance
record of recipient, found aid did not boost growth.

This conflicts with the findings of an influential World Bank study five
years ago that found aid boosted growth in countries with good policy
environments.

?The basic message is that it is good that people are talking about
increasing aid flows but that we have to find ways to make them more
effective. ?It is not the case that all that matters is good governance,?
said Raghuram Rajan, the fund?s chief economist and co-author of the
reports. ?We know far less about what makes aid work than the public or
governments would like. By acting like we know all the answers raises false
expectations.?

The UK Commission for Africa has stressed the need for measured and
sustained increases in aid to poor countries and careful consideration of
what works best. The IMF research recommended a focus on trade as well as
aid.

Mr Rajan, and Arvind Subramanian, head of macroeconomic studies, argued that
the contribution of aid flows to a country's rising exchange rate -
undermining export competitiveness- was one reason why they failed to have a
positive impact on growth. This may occur even when the aid provided to the
government is well used.

Aid might also have contributed to poor productivity by depressing exports,
the IMF research shows. Productivity growth is the most important
determinant of living standards.

Economists call the impact of large windfall gains on an economy?s exchange
rate and export competitiveness the ?Dutch disease?, referring to the
process whereby the discovery of Dutch natural gas reserves in the 1960s led
to an appreciation of the country?s currency and a decline in its export
sectors.

?The bad news is that even if delivered with the best intentions and used
carefully by recipient governments, there are side effects like adverse
effects on competitiveness, which can offset aid?s beneficial effect on
growth,? the fund said. ?The good news is that by paying careful attention
to macroeconomic management and issues like absorptive capacity, perhaps aid
may have a better chance of success. ?

The IMF makes a distinction between aid that is given to promote growth and
humanitarian aid, for example, after natural disasters, saying that the two
should not be confused. ?Humanitarian aid to save lives is right regardless
of the macro effects. But when the aid is focusing on growth, you need to
take into account the macro effects,? Mr Rajan said.

Separately, the World Bank highlighted improving recent economic performance
in Africa. The bank's African Development Indicators showed that since 1995
growth in sub-Saharan Africa has averaged 3.3 per cent per year, compared
with 1.7 per cent in the previous decade.

John Page, World Bank chief Africa economist, said: ?There is a happy
coincidence of the high level of political attention on Africa and more
evidence in the data to support hopes of a turning point in Africa now than
there has been in the past 20 years.?

Mr Page pointed to greater differentiation in the data. While a number of
African countries continue to struggle, 15 countries have grown on average
by more than 5 per cent a year over the past decade, including Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania.

The spread of democracy, the willingness of African governments to take
responsibility for promoting growth and development, and reduced impediments
to private-sector led growth, and some evidence of better natural resource
management has supported growth, the bank said.

?It?s a much more varied picture, it?s not all doom and gloom any longer.
Where there has been robust growth there has been poverty reduction and
improvements in social indicators,? Mr Page said. ?The turnaround story is
the most important thing that emerges from the data.?

>
>
>
 
 
 
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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:25:16 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:26:04 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FT.com / Comment & analysis - Observer - US 
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From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 30 10:28:09 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:29:00 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] US =?iso-8859-1?q?=B9?=
	s mixed message on Arab democracy  Ftimes
Message-ID: <BEE979B9.215F8%michael@michaelbutler.com>


 
FT.com     
 
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      EMAIL THIS | Close
 
US?s mixed message on Arab democracy
>By Danielle Pletka
>Published: June 29 2005 20:02 | Last updated: June 29 2005 20:02
>>

Welcome this new era of liberty in the Arab world. From Iraq to Kuwait to
Lebanon, the political ferment is real. None of this change would be
happening without the firm commitment of George W. Bush, the US president.
And none of it will last without big changes in the way America does
business overseas.

In the president?s second inaugural address and the 2005 State of the Union
speech that followed, Mr Bush outlined his theme: ?America will stand with
the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and
beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.? Meanwhile,
back at the office, US officials agitated to postpone the Iraqi elections.

Even though this attempt to stick a spoke in Iraq?s democratic wheel failed,
the problem persists. Many in America?s foreign policy bureaucracy,
including the vast foreign service that runs day-to-day relations abroad,
view the president as a fuzzy-minded idealist. Their views, ranging from
scepticism to aggressive disagreement, have been aired anonymously in the
American press regularly since the Iraq war.

The disconnection between the foreign policy general and his troops means
that the US sends mixed signals not just to the dictators it would dislodge
but also to the democrats it would promote. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of
state, cancelled her maiden trip to Egypt in February after the autocratic
regime of Hosni Mubarak threw a political opponent in jail.

Message received, up to a point. Mr Mubarak released his challenger
(although the charges against him remain) and trumped Ms Rice by amending
the Egyptian constitution to allow candidates to run against him in
presidential elections later this year. In fact, Mr Mubarak?s ?generosity?
does not count for much. Political parties must still be licensed by the
government and their funding and campaigning are tightly controlled.

However, Mr Mubarak?s gesture appeared to satisfy. There were approving
noises from Washington. Senior officials murmured that it would be as well
if economic reform preceded political change in Egypt. Barely a month later,
Egypt and the US signed an agreement offering $900m in US aid.

So imagine Mr Mubarak?s surprise when Ms Rice showed up in Egypt recently
and exhorted him to ?abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard
work of democracy?. And he thought things were going so well.

Ms Rice is right. The problem with evolution (versus violent revolution) is
that it requires constant pressure on the dictator to ensure he keeps the
door open to reform. That is not a job for the president or secretary of
state. It is a job for foreign policy ground troops but, all too often, they
are not interested or cannot make the time in the rush of day-to-day
diplomacy.

As a result, when the secretary of state or the president champions a
political prisoner, he is freed while others languish. It means that when
politicians lambast Saudi Arabia for failing to grant basic rights, their
message stops resonating the moment they leave town. It means that reformers
are left wondering why their cause waxes and wanes in importance to the US.

Reformers from Libya to Bahrain to Lebanon and beyond have seen compatriots
go to jail while their leaders enjoy a warm handshake. They have seen
international efforts to promote political reform deliver few benefits. It
is little wonder they feel betrayed.

The US government must change its diplomatic priorities. If reform is first,
then it must come first every day. Political, civil and religious rights
should be on everyone?s agenda, all the time. There must be a cost to
governments that do not follow through on promised reforms (Egypt), cancel
elections (Palestine) or hide behind the threats of terrorism and Islamism
to avoid risking their necks (Saudi Arabia). US embassies abroad need to get
with the programme as well and stop undercutting Mr Bush?s policies.

Reformation and renaissance in the Middle East is a monumental task. The US
does not want to do the job; it wants to help reformers in the region do it
themselves. It is an admirable ambition, only achievable if Mr Bush and Ms
Rice recognise that this is a full-time job for the US government. All of
it, all the time.

The writer is vice-president, foreign and defence policy studies, at the
American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC
>
>
>
 
 
 
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t_ftarc_ftcol_ftfre_ftindsum_ftmywap_ftprem_ftspecial_ftsurvey_ftworldsub_ft
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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:34:58 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:35:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Mood of Anxiety Engulfs Afghans as Violence
	Rises
Message-ID: <20050630173458.3758783DB9@lax-gw03.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 30, 2005
Mood of Anxiety Engulfs Afghans as Violence Rises
By CARLOTTA GALL
The loss of a military helicopter with 17 Americans aboard in Afghanistan comes at a time of growing insecurity in the region.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/international/asia/30afghanistan.html?ex=1120795200&en=4c5084cdb723641d&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:37:01 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:37:36 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Secular Shiites in Iraq Seek Autonomy in
	Oil-Rich South
Message-ID: <20050630173701.3EAC23AE578@lax-gw06.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | June 30, 2005
Secular Shiites in Iraq Seek Autonomy in Oil-Rich South
By EDWARD WONG
A cadre of politicians is pushing for an autonomous region, posing a challenge to Iraq's central authority.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/international/middleeast/30basra.html?ex=1120795200&en=301d1cf1622db27c&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:38:28 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:39:24 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: House Ethics Panel Near Accord to End
	Stalemate
Message-ID: <20050630173828.E6A35A104D@lax-gw09.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

WASHINGTON | June 30, 2005
House Ethics Panel Near Accord to End Stalemate
By CARL HULSE
Leaders made progress toward resolving a fight that has prevented the panel from beginning inquiries into the activities of Tom DeLay and other lawmakers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/politics/30ethics.html?ex=1120795200&en=03b9ad282faf04a2&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:40:14 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:40:53 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Talk Show Washout Tries Again
Message-ID: <20050630174014.63CF59FCDD@lax-gw05.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

ARTS / TELEVISION | June 30, 2005
The TV Watch: Talk Show Washout Tries Again
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
The MSNBC talk show "The Situation," starring Tucker Carlson, a former host of CNN's "Crossfire," is all cross and no fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/arts/television/30watc.html?ex=1120795200&en=b29673344f9b9185&ei=5070&emc=eta1



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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:41:21 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:42:05 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: The Silver Lining in Iran
Message-ID: <20050630174121.7ED7D249D46@lax-gw08.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 30, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor: The Silver Lining in Iran
By ABBAS MILANI
Religious hard-liners in Iran are losing their grip by tightening it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/opinion/30milani.html?ex=1120795200&en=f128f4b3b955fd7c&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:42:04 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:42:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Dangerous Incompetence
Message-ID: <20050630174204.7913711F80C@lax-gw07.mroute.net>

This page was sent to you by: michael@intrafi.com.

OPINION | June 30, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist: Dangerous Incompetence
By BOB HERBERT
Incompetence in Washington has undermined the troops who have fought honorably and bravely in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/opinion/30herbert.html?ex=1120795200&en=d0cc1413510ab2fc&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 30 06:07:38 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:45:09 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a must
	read)
In-Reply-To: <0A280F02-6E26-4E7E-99DD-9143A2470FF7@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506301745.j5UHj6OC017070@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

    
------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 02:13:05 -0400
Subject: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a must read)

"...the Government of the late Shah of Iran, who ? as can now be seen in
hindsight ? was modernizing, stabilizing, and democraticizing Iran more
efficiently and fairly than any other force had been able to do."



With 'election,' Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the winds

By By Gregory R. Copley and Yossef Bodansky

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, June 28, 2005
The following is excerpted from the June 27 edition of Defense & Foreign
Affairs Strategic Policy.

The election to the Iranian Presidency of extremist Islamist Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the Mayor of Tehran, on June 24, did not in any way change the
strategic direction of Iran.


However, the election strips away the mask of normalcy which would have been
maintained a little longer had former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani
been returned to the post. As a result, the election accelerates the pace
and nature of confrontation between Iran and the West.
The election of Ahmadinejad consolidates, in a undisguised manner, the power
of ?Supreme Leader? Ali Khamenei. Given Ahmadinejad's background as a
hard-line Islamist and Pasdaran security official, a participant in the 1979
seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, known for his torture and
assassination of opponents, the election streamlines and accelerates the
movement of the leadership in:

the quest for a strategic victory for the Islamist-jihadist trend over the
U.S. through the war-by-proxy in Iraq,
the construction and deployment of an indigenous military nuclear capability
as the guarantor of the mullahs' survival in power, and
the destruction of all formal semblances of political strength of so-called
"reformist" politicians.

To read full article :?http://216.26.163.62/2005/me_iran_06_28.html




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From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 30 05:33:42 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:46:21 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: The Terror of Tehran
In-Reply-To: <A8E65825-E423-40F5-B8D1-2088FE109E49@thesamiis.com>
Message-ID: <200506301746.j5UHkIoJ017092@dune.islandtechnologies.net>


------ Forwarded Message
From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:44:42 -0400
Subject: The Terror of Tehran


June 27, 2005
The Terror of Tehran
The nuclear threat just went from bad to worse.
National Review Online
By Joel C. Rosenberg
There are three things you need to understand about Iran?s recent sham
elections.

The first is that contrary to the misreporting of the mainstream media, the
Iranian people never had a choice between a ?moderate? who might be more
willing to halt Iran?s nuclear program, and a ?hardliner? bent on a nuclear
confrontation with the West.

The Associated Press had the gall to describe the 70-year old Ayatollah Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as ?the more moderate candidate? and said the
?pragmatic? Rafsanjani ?has appeared more willing to negotiate [with the
West] on the nuclear program.?

Reuters echoed that assessment, describing Rafsanjani as a ?moderate cleric?
who has ?recast himself as a liberal? and to stop his ?ultra-conservative
rival,? Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Similarly, the Washington Post described Rafsanjani as a ?senior statesman?
who ?carried the banner of the reformist movement.?

The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that ?if Mr. Rafsanjani loses,
hard-line anti-Western forces, which already dominate the nation's
leadership, will have a monopoly on power.?

But nothing could have been further from the truth. Rafsanjani, who
previously served as Iran?s president from 1989 to 1997, was neither a
?moderate? nor a ?reformer.? He certainly was no ?pragmatist? with whom the
West could do business. To the contrary, he is one of the father?s of Iran?s
nuclear program and an outspoken advocate of Iran and her radical Islamic
allies building offensive nuclear weapons.

On December 14, 2001, the Iran Press Service (IPS) ran this headline:
RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL. Speaking
before a crowd in Tehran, Rafsanjani said, ?When the Islamic world acquires
atomic weapons, the strategy of the West will hit a dead end ? since the use
of a single atomic bomb has the power to destroy Israel completely, while it
will only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.?

The IPS story said that according to analysts, ?not only [was] Mr.
Hashemi-Rafsanjani?s speech?the strongest against Israel, but also this is
the first time that a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic openly
suggests the use of [a] nuclear weapon against the Jewish State.?

In his new book Countdown To Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran
<http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1400053684> , Kenneth R.
Timmerman cites a 1988 speech by Rafsanjani to a conference of Iran?s
Revolutionary Guards in which the Iranian leader says bluntly, ?We should
fully equip ourselves both in the offensive and defensive use of chemical,
bacteriological, and radiological weapons. From now on, you should make use
of the opportunity and perform this task.?

Bad to Worse
The second thing to understand about Iran?s sham elections is that
Rafsanjani ? the ?moderate? ? lost to someone even the mainstream media
understands is even more dangerous. Indeed, no sooner did President-elect
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad get the word that he had triumphed in the rigged
elections than he vowed to accelerate Iran?s nuclear program.


Translation: The Iranian nuclear threat to the U.S., Israel and our allies
in the region just went from bad to worse.

For the past two years I have traveled to Russia and the Middle East doing
research for my just-released political thriller, The Ezekiel Option
<http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=1414303432> . It
focuses on a White House facing a dictator coming to power in the Kremlin
who builds a nuclear alliance with Iran and brings the world to the brink of
the apocalypse. But truth may be stranger ? and more dangerous ? than
fiction.

I just returned to Washington from two weeks in Israel and Jordan where I
met with a number of high-level political, military, and intelligence
officials. Across the board, they predicted Iran will reach the ?point of no
return? by the beginning of next year. That is, by January 2006 ? if not
before ? Iran will finally have the technology, the know-how, and the
trained nuclear scientists needed to produce highly enriched uranium.

Once those pieces are in place, Iran could have ready to bomb by 2006 or
2007. What is more, Iran will also very likely have the missile technology
capable of delivering nuclear weapons into Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and
even as far as Europe. And they will possess the terror networks through
which they could try to send a nuclear bomb into Europe or even the United
States.

Russian Roulette
Thirdly, rather than help us stop or slow down Iran?s feverish bid to join
the nuclear club, Russian President Vladimir Putin is actually aiding and
abetting the mullahs in Tehran.


Indeed, Moscow has effectively formed a nuclear alliance with Iran.

Russia has an $800 million contract to build Iran?s first nuclear reactor in
Bushehr and to provide all the nuclear fuel needed. The facility is now
84-percent complete and is expected to come online next year. The Russians
have further plans to build at least five more reactors for Iran and have
trained more than 1,000 Iranian nuclear scientists.

Despite repeated entreaties by both the Clinton-Gore and Bush-Cheney
administrations, the Kremlin refuses to back off. Indeed, Putin was one of
the first foreign leaders to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his rise to
power, and specifically offered the Iranian hardliner continued nuclear
cooperation.

?The construction of the Bushehr nuclear plant is nearing end, and we are
ready to continue cooperation with Iran in the nuclear energy sphere,? the
Russian leader wrote to Iran?s president-elect in a letter released by the
Kremlin.

Watching the Sand Clock
No one wants another war in the Middle East. But the clock is ticking and we
must be clear: the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran to the U.S., Israel
and to our allies in Europe and the Middle East is growing. Should the Bush
administration allow Iran to go nuclear on its watch, so many of the gains
made thus far in the war on terror would be erased virtually overnight.


As one of the characters in The Ezekiel Option
<http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=1414303432>  puts it,
?To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided
by it.?

The West was blindsided on 9/11 by al Qaeda terrorists armed with nothing
but box cutters and the will to kill thousands.

We dare not be blindsided in the future by Ayatollahs armed with
thermonuclear warheads and the will to kill millions.

? Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of The Last
Jihad <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=0765307154>  and
The Last Days. His new political thriller is
<http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=0765309289>
<http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1414303432> The Ezekiel
Option <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1414303432>  was
published Monday by Tyndale House. This article is adapted from a speech he
delivered at the Heritage Foundation.




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From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:51:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:52:35 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Big Dreams, Big Hopes
Message-ID: <20050630175143.CC071B81A1@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Big Dreams, Big Hopes
http://www.alternet.org/story/23240

What if we prepared every child with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy? What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you?
-------------------------------------

From michael at intrafi.com  Thu Jun 30 10:52:43 2005
From: michael at intrafi.com (michael@intrafi.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 10:53:16 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Alternet: Class Matters
Message-ID: <20050630175243.4A12BB81A4@alternet.org>


This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by michael@intrafi.com



-------------------------------------
Class Matters
http://www.alternet.org/story/23250

Belief in the myth of the self-made man has made many ordinary people suckers for the right-wing pitch. 
-------------------------------------

From jefbek at mindspring.com  Wed Jun 29 23:00:45 2005
From: jefbek at mindspring.com (Jef Bek)
Date: Thu Jun 30 11:00:07 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Wesley Clark vs. O'Reilly
Message-ID: <200506301800.j5UI01wU017143@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

Hi Michael,
There are some great clips today!

http://www.dembloggers.com/

Wes Clark was wonderful against that jack-ass O'Reilly!

Also, scroll down to the:
"Excellent 'Nightline' Report On Iraq And Bush's Speech"

Jef

"When I was an innocent simple-minded kid I used to dress up and march
alongside the soldiers in the Fourth of July parade. I was so proud to be an
American, so full of piss and vinegar. It's a horrible awakening you get
when you realize 80% of our politicians are in office for their own
self-interests."   -Evel Knievel
  

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 30 12:19:51 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 30 12:20:39 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen By William Rivers Pitt
Message-ID: <BEE993E7.21620%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen
    By William Rivers Pitt
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Thursday 30 June 2005

    Unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit of
monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will in the end find that
the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away,
and the control of your dearest interests have been passed into the hands of
these corporations.
     -- Andrew Jackson, farewell address, 04 March 1837

    The document reads, "All men are created equal." When those words were
first put to paper, of course, the literal meaning of the phrase did not
match what was written. A more accurate sentence would have read, "All white
land-owning men are created equal," but despite the inherent racism and
misogyny buried in the original meaning, the words had magic and power
enough to lay the groundwork for 200 years of progress.

    The words as written became the basis for reform after reform, for the
strengthening of the rights of minorities, women, and basically anyone who
would be made subservient to anyone else. The struggle took a long time, and
continues today with much remaining to do before that equality is truly
achieved, but the strength of those words as written has been proven time
and again to be more than a match for anyone who would stand on the neck of
a fellow citizen.

    That's what the billboard reads, anyway. That's the propaganda, the
myth, the way we rock ourselves to sleep at night. The truth is
significantly different, however, and is at the root of just about
everything that has gone wrong with this great democratic experiment.

    We are not all created equal, in fact. This inequality is not based on
race, or sex, or religion, but upon the slow development of a body of laws
that have created and empowered a breed of super-citizens which rule over
every aspect of our lives, almost completely beyond the reach of justice.
These super-citizens exist today under the familiar name "corporation."

    But wait, a corporation is basically a company, right? A corporation is
a non-living entity, a group of people endeavoring to make money in a
business enterprise or non-profit organization, right? Wrong. A corporation
is indeed a non-living entity, a group of people looking to make money. But
thanks to a Supreme Court decision, corporations are also actual living
entities in every legal sense of the word, with all rights and privileges of
citizenship - and several more besides - intact.

    A Short History of Corporations

    The word "corporation" comes from the Latin "corpus," or "body." The
Oxford English Dictionary defines "corporation" as "a group of people
authorized to act as an individual." The history of corporations in America
is intertwined with the story of the revolution that birthed this nation.
British corporations in colonial America were rebelled against vigorously as
representatives of the Crown, which they were.

    Many of the principal actors in the American revolution, among them
George Washington, wanted to throw off British rule because they felt their
ability to conduct commerce freely was being disrupted. When 60 Boston
residents hurled the tea into Boston Harbor in 1773, it was an attack
specifically upon the economic power and supremacy of a corporation called
the British East India Tea Company, which had been undercutting the profits
of colonial merchants thanks to the passage of the Tea Acts.

    After the revolution, and for a hundred years, the American people bore
a deep distrust of the corporation, and corporations were regulated
severely. Corporate charters were created by individual states, and those
states had the power to revoke that charter if the corporation was deemed to
be acting against the public good or had deviated from its charter.
Corporations were not allowed to own other corporations, nor were they
allowed to participate in the political process.

    Very slowly over that 100 years, however, the power of the corporation
began to grow. In the 1818 Supreme Court case "Dartmouth College v.
Woodward," Daniel Webster, advocating for Dartmouth, argued passionately for
the power of corporations in regards to property rights. The Court sided
with Webster and corporate rights, stating: "The opinion of the Court, after
mature deliberation, is that this corporate charter is a contract, the
obligation of which cannot be impaired without violating the Constitution of
the United States. This opinion appears to us to be equally supported by
reason, and by the former decisions of this Court."

    A good deal of hell was raised after this decision, with many citizens
and state legislatures standing upon the right of a state to repeal or amend
a corporate charter. Seven years later, however, another Supreme Court case
buttressed the power of the corporation with their decision in "Society for
the Preservation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts v. Town of Pawlet." The
Society was seeking to protect its colonial-era property grants in Vermont,
while Vermont was seeking to revoke those grants. The Court decided in favor
of the Society, and explicitly extended the same protections to
corporation-owned property as are enjoyed by property-owning natural
persons.

    Corporations in America began to become truly powerful with the rise of
the railroads. Railroads were the lifeblood of the growing nation, carrying
both agriculture and industry from one side of the country to the other.
This was a highly profitable enterprise, and railroad corporations began to
exert heavy influence on both state and federal leaders. Corporate attorneys
boldly asserted the precedents set in the Dartmouth and Society Supreme
Court decisions, demanding that corporations deserved to have at least some
of the rights of natural persons. Meanwhile, attorneys loyal to the
railroads began to rise through the ranks of the Judiciary, finally finding
seats on the highest bench.

    This process came to a final head in 1886, when the Supreme Court heard
the case "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad." Arguments over
the rights of corporations as persons had been raging for decades, and Chief
Justice Waite pounded home the nail: "The court does not wish to hear
argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment
to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these
corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."

    "We are all of the opinion that it does."

    The pertinent section of the Fourteenth Amendment reads, "All persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they
reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws."

    Before the Santa Clara decision, this amendment applied only to living,
breathing people. After Santa Clara, it applied also to massively wealthy
corporations, groups of people authorized to act as individuals, but beyond
the kinds of legal liabilities natural persons are subject to. The Santa
Clara decision, and subsequent decisions affirming it, created the
formidable distinction between the citizen and the super-citizen.

    Both have purchasing power, both can give money to whomever or whatever
they please, but the difference lies in the extent to which this can be
done. A natural person can buy a house and give money to a politician. A
wealthy corporation, on the other hand, can buy a thousand houses and give
money to a thousand politicians. In other words, a corporation which enjoys
the same rights as a natural person has a thousand times the power and
influence of a natural person over the economics and politics of the
country. That is a super-citizen.

    Because these super-citizens can exert so much power, their rights have
been dramatically extended over the years. In the 1950s, for example,
corporations paid some 40% of the taxes in this country. They flexed their
muscles and exerted their influence, and by 1980 were paying only 26% of the
taxes in this country. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed that
payment to 8%.

    The economic boon enjoyed by these super-citizens is augmented by the
fact that regular citizens' tax dollars are used by the government to
purchase goods and services from corporations involved in the production of
weapons, petroleum, timber and agricultural products. Corporate perks like
jets, elaborate headquarters, public relations firms, and executive retreats
are all tax write-offs; the regular citizen, by contrast, pays for their
perks with after-tax dollars. When a corporation screws up and destroys an
ecosystem with a toxic spill, corporate liability shields protect them from
financial and legal punishment, and the cost of the clean-up is borne by the
tax dollars of the regular citizen.

    Today, corporations control almost every aspect of what we see, hear,
eat, wear and live. Every television news media organization is owned by a
small handful of corporations, which use these news outlets to filter out
information that might be damaging to the parent company. Agriculture in
America is controlled by a small group of corporations. One cannot drive a
car, rent a van, buy a house or deliver goods in a business transaction
without purchasing insurance from a corporation. Getting sick in America has
become a ruinously expensive experience because corporations now control
even the smallest functions of the medical profession, and have turned the
practice of health care into a for-profit industry.

    The influence these super-citizens hold over local, state and national
politics is the reason why so many privileges have been afforded to them.
This influence has existed to one degree or another for decades. Yet it was
another Supreme Court decision, handed down in 1976, that allowed these
super-citizens to establish a strangle-hold on our politics and government
institutions.

    The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen

    In 1976, the case "Buckley v. Valeo" came before the Supreme Court.
Senator James Buckley, former Senator and Presidential candidate Eugene
McCarthy, and several others had filed suit to challenge the
constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) and
the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act. Among the defendants were
Francis Valeo, Secretary of the Senate and ex officio member of the
newly-created Federal Election Commission, as well as the Commission itself.

    The final Supreme Court decision split a number of legal hairs. The
decision upheld the constitutionality of limiting political contributions to
candidates, and the disclosure and record-keeping requirements established
by FECA. The aspects of FECA deemed unconstitutional, however, became the
basis for the supremacy of the super-citizen. In short, the Court decided
that limiting the amount of money a candidate could spend was a violation of
the First Amendment. In other words, the spending of campaign money was
equated with the right of free speech.

    On the surface, the decision makes sense. Because so much of modern
political campaigning involves television and radio advertisements, direct
mailing of campaign literature, extensive travel and lodging and staff
payrolls, and because all these things cost money, a limitation on campaign
spending necessarily restricts the ability of a candidate to practice free
speech in the political realm.

    The danger, of course, was that corporations would take advantage of the
new spending freedoms enjoyed by politicians and flood them with
influence-creating cash. The Court attempted to address this concern by
upholding the limits on contribution amounts, stating that these limitations
were the "primary weapons against the reality or appearance of improper
influence stemming from the dependence of candidates on large campaign
contributions."

    The Court's attempt to address this concern failed, in no small part
because of the existence of so-called "soft money." Soft money was supposed
to be cash given to political parties for "party-building activities" rather
than for the direct support of candidates and campaigns. Soft money
contributions were not subjected to limitations, allowing super-citizens to
flood outrageous amounts of money into the process. Because the soft-money
rules were so vague, and because soft money contributions were so huge, the
money was invariably directed towards the support of individual candidates.
The politicians became corporate entities, commodities bought and sold by
the super-citizens.

    The passage in 2002 of the Campaign Reform Act did little to cut into
the massive influence in politics enjoyed by the super-citizens. The
Campaign Reform Act made most soft money contributions illegal but created a
loophole large enough to sail a British tea ship through, with the
enshrinement of 527 groups as political entities. 527s are tax-exempt
organizations created to influence the nomination, election, appointment or
defeat of political candidates.

    The soft money previously given to political parties goes now to these
groups, and these groups enjoy umbilical connections to the parties and
candidates they work in favor of. In other words, nothing really changed,
and the influence of the super-citizens was undiminished. The Campaign
Reform Act also raised the hard money contribution limit from $1,000 to
$2,000, thus doubling the ability of super-citizens to exert direct
financial influence upon candidates and office-holders.

    Today, virtually every politician holding national office is financially
beholden to a corporation. Beyond the favorable tax status for corporations
established by these owned politicians, the effects of this ownership are
felt by average citizens every day.

    Foreign policy is all too often decided by corporate considerations, and
these decisions often lead to war. The air we breathe, the food we eat and
the water we drink is contaminated by pollutants that corporations are
legally allowed to spew, thanks to the legislative protections created by
corporate-owned politicians. Draconian sentencing rules created by
legislators that incarcerate millions of Americans - think "The War on
Drugs" specifically - have as much to do with the influence of the
corporate-controlled prison industry as with anything else.

    This list goes on and on. Super-citizens define our reality by
controlling the information we receive via television, newspaper and radio.
Super-citizens make sure that information casts them in a favorable light.
Super-citizens pound us with advertising and thus maintain the fiction that
spending money on products defines the nature of a person.

    The best and brightest are drafted out of law school to work for
corporate defense firms for six-figure salaries, thus ensuring that
super-citizens enjoy a level of legal defense not available to anyone else.
Many of these corporate attorneys graduate to the bench, where they extend
the influence of super-citizens across all levels of the judicial branch.

    More than anything else, however, super-citizens control the ways and
means of government at every level. They bought it, they own it, and they
make sure it does their bidding. The needs, requirements and best interests
of the average citizen do not enter into the equation.

    Created Equal

    Arguments can be made that corporations are good for the economy and the
country. They can get things done with a speed and efficiency not often
found in the bureaucracies of government. When the country had to get itself
ready to fight World War II, for one example, it was the industrial and
manufacturing corporations that produced the means to achieve victory beyond
anyone's expectations.

    In the final analysis, however, the influence held by these entities is
antithetical to the fundamental ideals of the nation. We are not all created
equal, and within that inequality lies the potential for enormous evil.
Consider the case of I.G. Farben, the industrial giant that was the
financial core of the Nazi regime. Farben produced the gas used in the
concentration camps, and made lucrative use of slave labor in the camps.
Before the war, Farben worked hand-in-hand with a number of powerful
American corporations, the most prominent of which was Standard Oil.

    In the aftermath of World War II, the crimes committed by Farben were
considered so enormous that many wanted the corporation to be utterly
destroyed. Instead, Farben was split into several smaller entities, several
of which still exist. Millions of Americans purchase aspirin from Bayer, a
company that was once part of Farben. Commercials for BASF tell us that
company makes the products we buy better, but do not tell us that BASF was
once part of Farben. It speaks to the power enjoyed by corporations that
Farben, the company that forced concentration camp laborers to manufacture
the Zyklon-B used to exterminate them, and which was the backbone of Nazi
financial power, was not destroyed out of hand once the war was over. Farben
is still with us. Its charter has merely been changed.

    Are all corporations on the moral level of I.G. Farben? Certainly not.
Many corporations work for the public good, and many that work for their own
enrichment do not necessarily undermine the country and its principles. But
some do, and exist beyond punishment or account.

    The potential for evil is certainly there when super-citizens exist
above the law. When the New York Times reviewed the book The Crime and
Punishment of I.G. Farben, it observed that the story of Farben "Forces one
to consider the possibility that when corporate evil reaches a certain
status, it simply cannot be defeated."

    In the end, the existence of incredibly powerful entities that enjoy the
status of citizens demote the vast majority of average citizens to
second-class status. If the ideals we hold sacred have any truth to them, if
the myths we sleep by have any basis in reality, such a division is
intolerable and must be changed. "All men are created equal" once excluded
vast swaths of Americans from their basic rights. Battles were fought to
change that. Today, a battle to realign the balance of power between the
citizen and the super-citizen must also be fought. It must be won.

 

From villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jun 30 12:25:59 2005
From: villasudjuan at wanadoo.fr (villasudjuan)
Date: Thu Jun 30 12:27:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: 
In-Reply-To: <BEE8E4D2.6915%kzii@swbell.net>
Message-ID: <200506301927.j5UJR7VU017354@dune.islandtechnologies.net>

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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Thu Jun 30 12:41:09 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Thu Jun 30 12:41:55 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a
	must	read)
References: <200506301745.j5UHj6OC017070@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
Message-ID: <003b01c57dab$aa331040$8a03ca44@CowBox>

FW: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a must read)Wonderful article, really tells the whole story of Russia's frightning invovlement.

Peace
Robin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: villasudjuan 
  To: michael@michaelbutler.com 
  Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 9:07 AM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a must read)


     
  ------ Forwarded Message
  From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
  Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 02:13:05 -0400
  Subject: Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the wind (a must read)

  "...the Government of the late Shah of Iran, who - as can now be seen in hindsight - was modernizing, stabilizing, and democraticizing Iran more efficiently and fairly than any other force had been able to do."



  With 'election,' Iran's Khamenei throws caution to the winds

  By By Gregory R. Copley and Yossef Bodansky

  SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, June 28, 2005
  The following is excerpted from the June 27 edition of Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy.

  The election to the Iranian Presidency of extremist Islamist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Mayor of Tehran, on June 24, did not in any way change the strategic direction of Iran.


  However, the election strips away the mask of normalcy which would have been maintained a little longer had former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani been returned to the post. As a result, the election accelerates the pace and nature of confrontation between Iran and the West.
  The election of Ahmadinejad consolidates, in a undisguised manner, the power of "Supreme Leader" Ali Khamenei. Given Ahmadinejad's background as a hard-line Islamist and Pasdaran security official, a participant in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, known for his torture and assassination of opponents, the election streamlines and accelerates the movement of the leadership in:

  the quest for a strategic victory for the Islamist-jihadist trend over the U.S. through the war-by-proxy in Iraq, 
  the construction and deployment of an indigenous military nuclear capability as the guarantor of the mullahs' survival in power, and 
  the destruction of all formal semblances of political strength of so-called "reformist" politicians.

  To read full article : http://216.26.163.62/2005/me_iran_06_28.html




  ------ End of Forwarded Message



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Thu Jun 30 12:49:25 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Thu Jun 30 12:50:17 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: The Terror of Tehran
References: <200506301746.j5UHkIoJ017092@dune.islandtechnologies.net>
Message-ID: <006a01c57dac$d23f7c30$8a03ca44@CowBox>

FW: The Terror of TehranI am sorry this is the one I ment to send, the pot is beginning to boil, Bush will not allow this to go on "on his watch" hell's a poppin' folks.

Peace
Robin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: villasudjuan 
  To: michael@michaelbutler.com 
  Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 8:33 AM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] FW: The Terror of Tehran



  ------ Forwarded Message
  From: Samii Shahla <shahla@thesamiis.com>
  Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:44:42 -0400
  Subject: The Terror of Tehran


  June 27, 2005
  The Terror of Tehran
  The nuclear threat just went from bad to worse.
  National Review Online
  By Joel C. Rosenberg
  There are three things you need to understand about Iran's recent sham elections.

  The first is that contrary to the misreporting of the mainstream media, the Iranian people never had a choice between a "moderate" who might be more willing to halt Iran's nuclear program, and a "hardliner" bent on a nuclear confrontation with the West.

  The Associated Press had the gall to describe the 70-year old Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as "the more moderate candidate" and said the "pragmatic" Rafsanjani "has appeared more willing to negotiate [with the West] on the nuclear program."

  Reuters echoed that assessment, describing Rafsanjani as a "moderate cleric" who has "recast himself as a liberal" and to stop his "ultra-conservative rival," Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

  Similarly, the Washington Post described Rafsanjani as a "senior statesman" who "carried the banner of the reformist movement."

  The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that "if Mr. Rafsanjani loses, hard-line anti-Western forces, which already dominate the nation's leadership, will have a monopoly on power."

  But nothing could have been further from the truth. Rafsanjani, who previously served as Iran's president from 1989 to 1997, was neither a "moderate" nor a "reformer." He certainly was no "pragmatist" with whom the West could do business. To the contrary, he is one of the father's of Iran's nuclear program and an outspoken advocate of Iran and her radical Islamic allies building offensive nuclear weapons.

  On December 14, 2001, the Iran Press Service (IPS) ran this headline: RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL. Speaking before a crowd in Tehran, Rafsanjani said, "When the Islamic world acquires atomic weapons, the strategy of the West will hit a dead end - since the use of a single atomic bomb has the power to destroy Israel completely, while it will only cause partial damage to the Islamic world."

  The IPS story said that according to analysts, "not only [was] Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani's speech.the strongest against Israel, but also this is the first time that a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic openly suggests the use of [a] nuclear weapon against the Jewish State."

  In his new book Countdown To Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1400053684> , Kenneth R. Timmerman cites a 1988 speech by Rafsanjani to a conference of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in which the Iranian leader says bluntly, "We should fully equip ourselves both in the offensive and defensive use of chemical, bacteriological, and radiological weapons. From now on, you should make use of the opportunity and perform this task."


  Bad to Worse

  The second thing to understand about Iran's sham elections is that Rafsanjani - the "moderate" - lost to someone even the mainstream media understands is even more dangerous. Indeed, no sooner did President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad get the word that he had triumphed in the rigged elections than he vowed to accelerate Iran's nuclear program.


  Translation: The Iranian nuclear threat to the U.S., Israel and our allies in the region just went from bad to worse.

  For the past two years I have traveled to Russia and the Middle East doing research for my just-released political thriller, The Ezekiel Option <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=1414303432> . It focuses on a White House facing a dictator coming to power in the Kremlin who builds a nuclear alliance with Iran and brings the world to the brink of the apocalypse. But truth may be stranger - and more dangerous - than fiction.

  I just returned to Washington from two weeks in Israel and Jordan where I met with a number of high-level political, military, and intelligence officials. Across the board, they predicted Iran will reach the "point of no return" by the beginning of next year. That is, by January 2006 - if not before - Iran will finally have the technology, the know-how, and the trained nuclear scientists needed to produce highly enriched uranium.

  Once those pieces are in place, Iran could have ready to bomb by 2006 or 2007. What is more, Iran will also very likely have the missile technology capable of delivering nuclear weapons into Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and even as far as Europe. And they will possess the terror networks through which they could try to send a nuclear bomb into Europe or even the United States.


  Russian Roulette

  Thirdly, rather than help us stop or slow down Iran's feverish bid to join the nuclear club, Russian President Vladimir Putin is actually aiding and abetting the mullahs in Tehran.


  Indeed, Moscow has effectively formed a nuclear alliance with Iran.

  Russia has an $800 million contract to build Iran's first nuclear reactor in Bushehr and to provide all the nuclear fuel needed. The facility is now 84-percent complete and is expected to come online next year. The Russians have further plans to build at least five more reactors for Iran and have trained more than 1,000 Iranian nuclear scientists.

  Despite repeated entreaties by both the Clinton-Gore and Bush-Cheney administrations, the Kremlin refuses to back off. Indeed, Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his rise to power, and specifically offered the Iranian hardliner continued nuclear cooperation.

  "The construction of the Bushehr nuclear plant is nearing end, and we are ready to continue cooperation with Iran in the nuclear energy sphere," the Russian leader wrote to Iran's president-elect in a letter released by the Kremlin.


  Watching the Sand Clock

  No one wants another war in the Middle East. But the clock is ticking and we must be clear: the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran to the U.S., Israel and to our allies in Europe and the Middle East is growing. Should the Bush administration allow Iran to go nuclear on its watch, so many of the gains made thus far in the war on terror would be erased virtually overnight.


  As one of the characters in The Ezekiel Option <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=1414303432> puts it, "To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it."

  The West was blindsided on 9/11 by al Qaeda terrorists armed with nothing but box cutters and the will to kill thousands.

  We dare not be blindsided in the future by Ayatollahs armed with thermonuclear warheads and the will to kill millions.

  - Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of The Last Jihad <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=0765307154> and The Last Days. His new political thriller is <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=0765309289> <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1414303432> The Ezekiel Option <http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1414303432> was published Monday by Tyndale House. This article is adapted from a speech he delivered at the Heritage Foundation.




  ------ End of Forwarded Message



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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From CLARKE445566 at msn.com  Thu Jun 30 12:46:33 2005
From: CLARKE445566 at msn.com (ROBERT CLARKE)
Date: Thu Jun 30 13:11:29 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Fw: Trivia, of days gone by!
Message-ID: <200506302011.j5UKBPoc017455@dune.islandtechnologies.net>



----- Original Message -----
From: Terry Clarke
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 10:53 AM
To: 'ROBERT CLARKE'; 'brigit'; Judy Clarke; 'Dick Norman'; 'Jim Coull'
Subject: FW: Trivia, of days gone by!



THE YEAR  1905
Maybe this will  boggle your mind, it  sure did mine!  The year is 1905,
one hundred years ago.

What a  difference a century  makes!

Here are  some of the U.S. statistics  for  1905:

The  average life expectancy in the US. was 47  years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

  A  three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven  dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S.,  and  only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most  cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee  were each more  heavily
populated
than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the  21st most
populous state in the Union.

The tallest  structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage  in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.
The average  U.S. worker made  between $200 and $400 per year.

A  competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a  dentist
$2,500 per year,

a veterinarian between $1,500  and $4,000 per  year, and

a mechanical engineer about  $5,000 per year.

More than 95  percent of all births in  the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S.  physicians had  no college education.

Instead, they  attended medical schools, many of which were condemned
  in  the press and by the government as "substandard."

  Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs  were fourteen  cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only  washed their hair once a  month, and used  boraxor egg
yolks
for shampoo.

Canada passed a law  prohibiting poor  people from entering the country for
any reason  .

The five leading causes of death in the  U.S. were:

1.  Pneumonia and influenza

2.   Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart   disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45  stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma,  New M Mexico, Hawaii, and  Alaska hadn't been admitted
to the Union yet.
The population of Los Vegas was 60
Crossword  puzzles, canned beer, and iced  tea hadn't been invented.

  There was no Mother's Day or Father's  Day.

Two of 10  U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of  all Americans had graduated high school.

marijuana,  heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at
corner drugstores.

According to one pharmacist,  "Heroin  clears the complexion, gives
buoyancy to the mind, regulates the  stomach  and bowels, and is, in fact, a
perfect guardian of  health."

Eighteen percent of households in the  U.S. had at least one servant or
domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire   U.S.


And I forwarded this from someone else  without typing it myself, and sent
it
to  you in a matter of  seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in
another
100  years  ....... it staggers the mind.
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From marylouiseparis at hotmail.com  Thu Jun 30 13:31:08 2005
From: marylouiseparis at hotmail.com (Mary Louise smn)
Date: Thu Jun 30 13:31:52 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen By William Rivers
	Pitt
In-Reply-To: <BEE993E7.21620%michael@michaelbutler.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F2602CCD9E82AD3AB3F1A05B8E30@phx.gbl>


          Michael.........a quote from Alex Carey........The 20th century 
has been characterized by three developments of great political importance:  
  The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate  power,  and the growth 
of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against 
democracy.                        Marylouise

>From: Michael Butler <michael@michaelbutler.com>
>Reply-To: mb-civic@islandlists.com
>To: Civic <mb-civic@islandlists.com>
>CC: Michael Butler <michael@intrafi.com>
>Subject: [Mb-civic] The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen By William Rivers 
>Pitt
>Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 12:19:51 -0700
>
>     The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen
>     By William Rivers Pitt
>     t r u t h o u t | Perspective
>
>     Thursday 30 June 2005
>
>     Unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit 
>of
>monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will in the end find that
>the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away,
>and the control of your dearest interests have been passed into the hands 
>of
>these corporations.
>      -- Andrew Jackson, farewell address, 04 March 1837
>
>     The document reads, "All men are created equal." When those words were
>first put to paper, of course, the literal meaning of the phrase did not
>match what was written. A more accurate sentence would have read, "All 
>white
>land-owning men are created equal," but despite the inherent racism and
>misogyny buried in the original meaning, the words had magic and power
>enough to lay the groundwork for 200 years of progress.
>
>     The words as written became the basis for reform after reform, for the
>strengthening of the rights of minorities, women, and basically anyone who
>would be made subservient to anyone else. The struggle took a long time, 
>and
>continues today with much remaining to do before that equality is truly
>achieved, but the strength of those words as written has been proven time
>and again to be more than a match for anyone who would stand on the neck of
>a fellow citizen.
>
>     That's what the billboard reads, anyway. That's the propaganda, the
>myth, the way we rock ourselves to sleep at night. The truth is
>significantly different, however, and is at the root of just about
>everything that has gone wrong with this great democratic experiment.
>
>     We are not all created equal, in fact. This inequality is not based on
>race, or sex, or religion, but upon the slow development of a body of laws
>that have created and empowered a breed of super-citizens which rule over
>every aspect of our lives, almost completely beyond the reach of justice.
>These super-citizens exist today under the familiar name "corporation."
>
>     But wait, a corporation is basically a company, right? A corporation 
>is
>a non-living entity, a group of people endeavoring to make money in a
>business enterprise or non-profit organization, right? Wrong. A corporation
>is indeed a non-living entity, a group of people looking to make money. But
>thanks to a Supreme Court decision, corporations are also actual living
>entities in every legal sense of the word, with all rights and privileges 
>of
>citizenship - and several more besides - intact.
>
>     A Short History of Corporations
>
>     The word "corporation" comes from the Latin "corpus," or "body." The
>Oxford English Dictionary defines "corporation" as "a group of people
>authorized to act as an individual." The history of corporations in America
>is intertwined with the story of the revolution that birthed this nation.
>British corporations in colonial America were rebelled against vigorously 
>as
>representatives of the Crown, which they were.
>
>     Many of the principal actors in the American revolution, among them
>George Washington, wanted to throw off British rule because they felt their
>ability to conduct commerce freely was being disrupted. When 60 Boston
>residents hurled the tea into Boston Harbor in 1773, it was an attack
>specifically upon the economic power and supremacy of a corporation called
>the British East India Tea Company, which had been undercutting the profits
>of colonial merchants thanks to the passage of the Tea Acts.
>
>     After the revolution, and for a hundred years, the American people 
>bore
>a deep distrust of the corporation, and corporations were regulated
>severely. Corporate charters were created by individual states, and those
>states had the power to revoke that charter if the corporation was deemed 
>to
>be acting against the public good or had deviated from its charter.
>Corporations were not allowed to own other corporations, nor were they
>allowed to participate in the political process.
>
>     Very slowly over that 100 years, however, the power of the corporation
>began to grow. In the 1818 Supreme Court case "Dartmouth College v.
>Woodward," Daniel Webster, advocating for Dartmouth, argued passionately 
>for
>the power of corporations in regards to property rights. The Court sided
>with Webster and corporate rights, stating: "The opinion of the Court, 
>after
>mature deliberation, is that this corporate charter is a contract, the
>obligation of which cannot be impaired without violating the Constitution 
>of
>the United States. This opinion appears to us to be equally supported by
>reason, and by the former decisions of this Court."
>
>     A good deal of hell was raised after this decision, with many citizens
>and state legislatures standing upon the right of a state to repeal or 
>amend
>a corporate charter. Seven years later, however, another Supreme Court case
>buttressed the power of the corporation with their decision in "Society for
>the Preservation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts v. Town of Pawlet." The
>Society was seeking to protect its colonial-era property grants in Vermont,
>while Vermont was seeking to revoke those grants. The Court decided in 
>favor
>of the Society, and explicitly extended the same protections to
>corporation-owned property as are enjoyed by property-owning natural
>persons.
>
>     Corporations in America began to become truly powerful with the rise 
>of
>the railroads. Railroads were the lifeblood of the growing nation, carrying
>both agriculture and industry from one side of the country to the other.
>This was a highly profitable enterprise, and railroad corporations began to
>exert heavy influence on both state and federal leaders. Corporate 
>attorneys
>boldly asserted the precedents set in the Dartmouth and Society Supreme
>Court decisions, demanding that corporations deserved to have at least some
>of the rights of natural persons. Meanwhile, attorneys loyal to the
>railroads began to rise through the ranks of the Judiciary, finally finding
>seats on the highest bench.
>
>     This process came to a final head in 1886, when the Supreme Court 
>heard
>the case "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad." Arguments over
>the rights of corporations as persons had been raging for decades, and 
>Chief
>Justice Waite pounded home the nail: "The court does not wish to hear
>argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment
>to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its
>jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these
>corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."
>
>     "We are all of the opinion that it does."
>
>     The pertinent section of the Fourteenth Amendment reads, "All persons
>born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
>thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they
>reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
>privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
>State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process
>of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
>of the laws."
>
>     Before the Santa Clara decision, this amendment applied only to 
>living,
>breathing people. After Santa Clara, it applied also to massively wealthy
>corporations, groups of people authorized to act as individuals, but beyond
>the kinds of legal liabilities natural persons are subject to. The Santa
>Clara decision, and subsequent decisions affirming it, created the
>formidable distinction between the citizen and the super-citizen.
>
>     Both have purchasing power, both can give money to whomever or 
>whatever
>they please, but the difference lies in the extent to which this can be
>done. A natural person can buy a house and give money to a politician. A
>wealthy corporation, on the other hand, can buy a thousand houses and give
>money to a thousand politicians. In other words, a corporation which enjoys
>the same rights as a natural person has a thousand times the power and
>influence of a natural person over the economics and politics of the
>country. That is a super-citizen.
>
>     Because these super-citizens can exert so much power, their rights 
>have
>been dramatically extended over the years. In the 1950s, for example,
>corporations paid some 40% of the taxes in this country. They flexed their
>muscles and exerted their influence, and by 1980 were paying only 26% of 
>the
>taxes in this country. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed that
>payment to 8%.
>
>     The economic boon enjoyed by these super-citizens is augmented by the
>fact that regular citizens' tax dollars are used by the government to
>purchase goods and services from corporations involved in the production of
>weapons, petroleum, timber and agricultural products. Corporate perks like
>jets, elaborate headquarters, public relations firms, and executive 
>retreats
>are all tax write-offs; the regular citizen, by contrast, pays for their
>perks with after-tax dollars. When a corporation screws up and destroys an
>ecosystem with a toxic spill, corporate liability shields protect them from
>financial and legal punishment, and the cost of the clean-up is borne by 
>the
>tax dollars of the regular citizen.
>
>     Today, corporations control almost every aspect of what we see, hear,
>eat, wear and live. Every television news media organization is owned by a
>small handful of corporations, which use these news outlets to filter out
>information that might be damaging to the parent company. Agriculture in
>America is controlled by a small group of corporations. One cannot drive a
>car, rent a van, buy a house or deliver goods in a business transaction
>without purchasing insurance from a corporation. Getting sick in America 
>has
>become a ruinously expensive experience because corporations now control
>even the smallest functions of the medical profession, and have turned the
>practice of health care into a for-profit industry.
>
>     The influence these super-citizens hold over local, state and national
>politics is the reason why so many privileges have been afforded to them.
>This influence has existed to one degree or another for decades. Yet it was
>another Supreme Court decision, handed down in 1976, that allowed these
>super-citizens to establish a strangle-hold on our politics and government
>institutions.
>
>     The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen
>
>     In 1976, the case "Buckley v. Valeo" came before the Supreme Court.
>Senator James Buckley, former Senator and Presidential candidate Eugene
>McCarthy, and several others had filed suit to challenge the
>constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) and
>the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act. Among the defendants were
>Francis Valeo, Secretary of the Senate and ex officio member of the
>newly-created Federal Election Commission, as well as the Commission 
>itself.
>
>     The final Supreme Court decision split a number of legal hairs. The
>decision upheld the constitutionality of limiting political contributions 
>to
>candidates, and the disclosure and record-keeping requirements established
>by FECA. The aspects of FECA deemed unconstitutional, however, became the
>basis for the supremacy of the super-citizen. In short, the Court decided
>that limiting the amount of money a candidate could spend was a violation 
>of
>the First Amendment. In other words, the spending of campaign money was
>equated with the right of free speech.
>
>     On the surface, the decision makes sense. Because so much of modern
>political campaigning involves television and radio advertisements, direct
>mailing of campaign literature, extensive travel and lodging and staff
>payrolls, and because all these things cost money, a limitation on campaign
>spending necessarily restricts the ability of a candidate to practice free
>speech in the political realm.
>
>     The danger, of course, was that corporations would take advantage of 
>the
>new spending freedoms enjoyed by politicians and flood them with
>influence-creating cash. The Court attempted to address this concern by
>upholding the limits on contribution amounts, stating that these 
>limitations
>were the "primary weapons against the reality or appearance of improper
>influence stemming from the dependence of candidates on large campaign
>contributions."
>
>     The Court's attempt to address this concern failed, in no small part
>because of the existence of so-called "soft money." Soft money was supposed
>to be cash given to political parties for "party-building activities" 
>rather
>than for the direct support of candidates and campaigns. Soft money
>contributions were not subjected to limitations, allowing super-citizens to
>flood outrageous amounts of money into the process. Because the soft-money
>rules were so vague, and because soft money contributions were so huge, the
>money was invariably directed towards the support of individual candidates.
>The politicians became corporate entities, commodities bought and sold by
>the super-citizens.
>
>     The passage in 2002 of the Campaign Reform Act did little to cut into
>the massive influence in politics enjoyed by the super-citizens. The
>Campaign Reform Act made most soft money contributions illegal but created 
>a
>loophole large enough to sail a British tea ship through, with the
>enshrinement of 527 groups as political entities. 527s are tax-exempt
>organizations created to influence the nomination, election, appointment or
>defeat of political candidates.
>
>     The soft money previously given to political parties goes now to these
>groups, and these groups enjoy umbilical connections to the parties and
>candidates they work in favor of. In other words, nothing really changed,
>and the influence of the super-citizens was undiminished. The Campaign
>Reform Act also raised the hard money contribution limit from $1,000 to
>$2,000, thus doubling the ability of super-citizens to exert direct
>financial influence upon candidates and office-holders.
>
>     Today, virtually every politician holding national office is 
>financially
>beholden to a corporation. Beyond the favorable tax status for corporations
>established by these owned politicians, the effects of this ownership are
>felt by average citizens every day.
>
>     Foreign policy is all too often decided by corporate considerations, 
>and
>these decisions often lead to war. The air we breathe, the food we eat and
>the water we drink is contaminated by pollutants that corporations are
>legally allowed to spew, thanks to the legislative protections created by
>corporate-owned politicians. Draconian sentencing rules created by
>legislators that incarcerate millions of Americans - think "The War on
>Drugs" specifically - have as much to do with the influence of the
>corporate-controlled prison industry as with anything else.
>
>     This list goes on and on. Super-citizens define our reality by
>controlling the information we receive via television, newspaper and radio.
>Super-citizens make sure that information casts them in a favorable light.
>Super-citizens pound us with advertising and thus maintain the fiction that
>spending money on products defines the nature of a person.
>
>     The best and brightest are drafted out of law school to work for
>corporate defense firms for six-figure salaries, thus ensuring that
>super-citizens enjoy a level of legal defense not available to anyone else.
>Many of these corporate attorneys graduate to the bench, where they extend
>the influence of super-citizens across all levels of the judicial branch.
>
>     More than anything else, however, super-citizens control the ways and
>means of government at every level. They bought it, they own it, and they
>make sure it does their bidding. The needs, requirements and best interests
>of the average citizen do not enter into the equation.
>
>     Created Equal
>
>     Arguments can be made that corporations are good for the economy and 
>the
>country. They can get things done with a speed and efficiency not often
>found in the bureaucracies of government. When the country had to get 
>itself
>ready to fight World War II, for one example, it was the industrial and
>manufacturing corporations that produced the means to achieve victory 
>beyond
>anyone's expectations.
>
>     In the final analysis, however, the influence held by these entities 
>is
>antithetical to the fundamental ideals of the nation. We are not all 
>created
>equal, and within that inequality lies the potential for enormous evil.
>Consider the case of I.G. Farben, the industrial giant that was the
>financial core of the Nazi regime. Farben produced the gas used in the
>concentration camps, and made lucrative use of slave labor in the camps.
>Before the war, Farben worked hand-in-hand with a number of powerful
>American corporations, the most prominent of which was Standard Oil.
>
>     In the aftermath of World War II, the crimes committed by Farben were
>considered so enormous that many wanted the corporation to be utterly
>destroyed. Instead, Farben was split into several smaller entities, several
>of which still exist. Millions of Americans purchase aspirin from Bayer, a
>company that was once part of Farben. Commercials for BASF tell us that
>company makes the products we buy better, but do not tell us that BASF was
>once part of Farben. It speaks to the power enjoyed by corporations that
>Farben, the company that forced concentration camp laborers to manufacture
>the Zyklon-B used to exterminate them, and which was the backbone of Nazi
>financial power, was not destroyed out of hand once the war was over. 
>Farben
>is still with us. Its charter has merely been changed.
>
>     Are all corporations on the moral level of I.G. Farben? Certainly not.
>Many corporations work for the public good, and many that work for their 
>own
>enrichment do not necessarily undermine the country and its principles. But
>some do, and exist beyond punishment or account.
>
>     The potential for evil is certainly there when super-citizens exist
>above the law. When the New York Times reviewed the book The Crime and
>Punishment of I.G. Farben, it observed that the story of Farben "Forces one
>to consider the possibility that when corporate evil reaches a certain
>status, it simply cannot be defeated."
>
>     In the end, the existence of incredibly powerful entities that enjoy 
>the
>status of citizens demote the vast majority of average citizens to
>second-class status. If the ideals we hold sacred have any truth to them, 
>if
>the myths we sleep by have any basis in reality, such a division is
>intolerable and must be changed. "All men are created equal" once excluded
>vast swaths of Americans from their basic rights. Battles were fought to
>change that. Today, a battle to realign the balance of power between the
>citizen and the super-citizen must also be fought. It must be won.
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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>Mb-civic@islandlists.com
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From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 30 14:16:05 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 30 14:17:10 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Emission cuts 'vital' for oceans
Message-ID: <20050630_211605_008951.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Emission cuts 'vital' for oceans **
Tiny shelled plankton in the Antarctic Ocean that are a major food source for fish and other animals are likely to be the first to suffer from rising acidity.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4633681.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From hecate at diamonddragon.com  Thu Jun 30 14:17:10 2005
From: hecate at diamonddragon.com (Hecate)
Date: Thu Jun 30 14:17:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] BBC E-mail: Italy presses US on 'CIA kidnap'
Message-ID: <20050630_211710_098155.hecate@diamonddragon.com>

Hecate saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Italy presses US on 'CIA kidnap' **
The Italian government asks the US for an explanation of the alleged kidnapping of an Islamic cleric in 2003.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4637509.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have?been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

From michael at michaelbutler.com  Thu Jun 30 15:12:45 2005
From: michael at michaelbutler.com (Michael Butler)
Date: Thu Jun 30 15:13:20 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Time Inc. Says Will Hand Over Papers in Plame Case
Message-ID: <BEE9BC6D.2164C%michael@michaelbutler.com>

    Go to Original

    Time Inc. Says Will Hand Over Papers in Plame Case
    By Claudia Parsons
    Reuters

    Thursday 30 June 2005

    New York - Time Magazine said on Thursday it would comply with a court
order to hand over subpoenaed records to a grand jury in a move that could
spare one of its reporters jail over his refusal to reveal confidential
sources.

    A judge on Wednesday gave Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of
the New York Times one more week before deciding their sentence for refusing
to reveal confidential sources to a grand jury investigating the leak of
covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to the news media.

    The two cases involved an important test of the rights of reporters to
refuse to identify their confidential sources as part of a federal criminal
investigation.

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling that the two
journalists should be jailed for refusing to reveal their sources.

    An appeals court had ruled they should be held in contempt and jailed
for refusing to testify in the investigation of who leaked the name of CIA
operative Valerie Plame in 2003 to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who
revealed her identity in a column.

    Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a diplomat in the Clinton
administration, accused the White House of being responsible for the leak.
He said officials did so because Wilson had publicly disputed a prewar claim
by President Bush about Iraq's attempts to buy nuclear weapons parts.

    "In declining to review the important issues presented by this case, we
believe that the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will
have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of
information that is so necessary in a democratic society," Time Editor in
Chief Norman Pearlstine said in a statement.

    However he said Time had decided to hand over the documents "in
accordance with its duties under the law."

    "The same Constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires
obedience to final decisions of the courts and respect for their rulings and
judgments," he said.

    "We believe that our decision to provide the Special Prosecutor with the
subpoenaed records obviates the need for Matt Cooper to testify and
certainly removes any justification for incarceration," Pearlstine added.

    Although Miller and Cooper talked to sources about the Plame story,
neither had anything to do with leaking her identity.

    --------------

    Statement of Time Inc.

    "The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, including the
right to gather information of interest to the public and, where necessary,
to protect the confidentiality of sources.

    Time Inc. believes in that guarantee. That is why we have supported from
the outset the efforts of Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in resisting
the Special Counsel's attempts to obtain information regarding Mr. Cooper's
confidential sources. Time Inc. and Mr. Cooper have fought this case all the
way from the district court to the Supreme Court of the United States.

    In this particular case, where national security and the role of a grand
jury have been at issue, the Supreme Court chose to let stand the district
court's order requiring Time Inc. and Mr. Cooper to comply with the Special
Counsel's subpoenas. It did so after the United States Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia affirmed that order.

    In declining to review the important issues presented by this case, we
believe that the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will
have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of
information that is so necessary in a democratic society. It may also
encourage excesses by overzealous prosecutors.

    It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has left uncertain what
protections the First Amendment and the federal common law provide
journalists and their confidential sources.

    It is also worth noting that many foreign governments, including China,
Venezuela, and Cameroon, to name a few, refer to U.S. contempt rulings when
seeking to justify their own restrictive press laws.

    Despite these concerns, Time Inc. shall deliver the subpoenaed records
to the Special Counsel in accordance with its duties under the law. The same
Constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires obedience to
final decisions of the courts and respect for their rulings and judgments.
That Time Inc. strongly disagrees with the courts provides no immunity. The
innumerable Supreme Court decisions in which even Presidents have followed
orders with which they strongly disagreed evidences that our nation lives by
the rule of law and that none of us is above it.

    We believe that our decision to provide the Special Prosecutor with the
subpoenaed records obviates the need for Matt Cooper to testify and
certainly removes any justification for incarceration.

    Time Inc.'s decision doesn't represent a change in our philosophy, nor
does it reflect a departure from our belief in the need for confidential
sources. It does reflect a response to a profound departure from the
practice of federal prosecutors when this case is compared with other
landmark cases involving confidentiality over the past 30 years. Since the
days of Attorney General John Mitchell, the Justice Department has sought
confidential sources from reporters as a last resort, not as an easy option.
Neither Archibald Cox, the Watergate Special Prosecutor, nor Judge John
Sirica sought to force the Washington Post or its reporters to reveal the
identity of "Deep Throat," the prized confidential source.

    Although we shall comply with the order to turn over the subpoenaed
records, we shall continue to support the protection of confidential
sources. We do so with the knowledge that forty-nine states and the District
of Columbia now recognize some form of protection for confidential sources,
and that legislation is now pending in Congress to enact a federal shield
law for confidential sources."

 

From olhippie at tampabay.rr.com  Thu Jun 30 15:53:03 2005
From: olhippie at tampabay.rr.com (Robin McNamara)
Date: Thu Jun 30 15:53:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] " World Wide Islamic Revolution"
Message-ID: <000601c57dc6$7a80b8a0$8a03ca44@CowBox>

Speech from new Iranian president


http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453552.1027777777.html



Peace 
Robin

http://lpintop.tripod.com/robinmcnamara
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From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 30 19:30:55 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 30 20:02:45 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] Iraq is NOT worth the sacrifice
Message-ID: <20050630.193134.19388.298670@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>


Our own Debby Pattin wrote a powerful and moving letter to Bush 
following the "it's worth the sacrifice" speech the other night.
Here is the beginning of it:

Dear President Bush:

This war in Iraq is NOT worth the sacrifice. If you would take the time 
to attend the funerals of the fallen Americans killed in Iraq, you would 
soon learn this lesson first hand.

Ask the family of Regina Clark, the 42 yr. old female Navy reservist 
killed last week in Iraq. She was a single mom and leaves behind an 
orphaned son. Why don't you fly out here in Air Force One and attend her 
funeral this week in Centralia, WA?

I know that you have flown all over the USA on Air Force One promoting 
Social Security, and before that, flew all over campaigning for 
election. But you have not flown or driven to any funerals. Even if you 
only attended the local ones, there would be plenty of opportunity right 
there at Arlington.

To further expand you experience in the real sacrifice, why don't you 
and Mrs. Bush spend some time volunteering at Walter Reed? My friend 
served for two years as a Red Cross volunteer there while her husband 
was on active duty.

     *     *     *     *     *     *

And there is more. Read the "rest of the story" at
http://www.wavetsforprogress.com/bushletter.htm

And you can contact Debby at debby.vmfp@comcast.net 
<mailto:debby.vmfp@comcast.net> -- let her know how proud we are of her 
for speaking out.


Dennis Mansker
www.dennismansker.com
www.chairborneranger.com
www.opovet.blogspot.com


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 30 19:35:31 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 30 20:02:57 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] war fought by the poor on behalf of the rich
Message-ID: <20050630.193552.19388.298722@webmail13.nyc.untd.com>



Debby Pattin's Letter to Bush

NOTE: This letter was written on June 29, 2005, immediately after Bush's speech to the nation in which he stated that the "sacrifice is worth it". These are Debby's thoughts straight from the heart.

Dear President Bush:

This war in Iraq is NOT worth the sacrifice. If you would take the time to attend the funerals of the fallen Americans killed in Iraq, you would soon learn this lesson first hand.

Ask the family of Regina Clark, the 42 yr. old female Navy reservist killed last week in Iraq. She was a single mom and leaves behind an orphaned son. Why don't you fly out here in Air Force One and attend her funeral this week in Centralia, WA?

I know that you have flown all over the USA on Air Force One promoting Social Security, and before that, flew all over campaigning for election. But you have not flown or driven to any funerals. Even if you only attended the local ones, there would be plenty of opportunity right there at Arlington.

To further expand you experience in the real sacrifice, why don't you and Mrs. Bush spend some time volunteering at Walter Reed? My friend served for two years as a Red Cross volunteer there while her husband was on active duty. She was assigned to a family each time there was an incoming medical flight from Germany. She sat with the wife / husband, mother / father, brother / sister, children of the injured service man or woman. She went back and forth between the triage area, and then accompanied the family to the bedside. Sometimes the word came that the serviceman or woman had died in surgery and she sat with the family then, as well. If you and Mrs. Bush ever spent any time with the horrifically injured, maimed and dying servicemen and women and their families, I doubt you would continue to say the war is worth the sacrifice.

Additionally, Vice President Cheney, who also failed to serve in combat during Vietnam, could spend his time attending military funerals and seeing the bodies of these young people laid out dead in the front of the church or funeral home. He would learn first hand that "having other priorities" during Vietnam spared him and his family the anguish that these other families are going through. Then he might realize, also, that this war is NOT worth the sacrifice.

All of your cabinet could commit to attending one funeral each month, or if the casualty rate continues to increase, one funeral each per week. They could each take a shift a week as a Red Cross volunteer at Walter Reed.

And your cabinet members and you yourself should encourage any children, grand children, nieces and nephews that they and you have, to enlist. Because IF the sacrifice is worth it, why is only everyone else's kids who are suffering and dying? Why aren't your daughters serving? There are many young women your daughters' ages currently serving. I was actually shocked last spring to learn that neither of your daughters had been in ROTC and that they were not being commissioned as Officers. Their failure to serve leads Americans to believe that this is a war fought by the poor on behalf of the rich (Halliburton, for instance), and that those in power, such as yourself, don't believe that the sacrifice should affect YOUR family, only other people's families. Just like Vietnam.

Debby Pattin
wife of a Vietnam vet 


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From maxfury at granderiver.net  Thu Jun 30 21:14:53 2005
From: maxfury at granderiver.net (Cheeseburger)
Date: Thu Jun 30 21:13:51 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen By William Rivers Pitt
Message-ID: <000701c57df3$6f1e2a60$4825b7d8@baby1>

The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen By William Rivers Pitt




CheeseComment:


This remains one of the most depressing pieces I have ever read, and
continues to show why people like Pitt get paid the big bucks while people
like me still scramble for the little prizes in the bottom of cracker jacks
boxes.

His clarity in processing his description of how things are is remarkably
devastating in its simple impact.

The only problem remaining is that one will most likely never find it
reprinted on the front pages of even a handful of American newspapers.

Ever.   For those not listening, that means forever until the end of time
and beyond.

Leaving Most Americans right where they were before he even thought to write
it.

While, true, quite true, it is never better to "just do nothing" about all
this horror, the picture Pitt has painted so realistically remains one of
the general population of "the most powerful and free nation on Earth" held
literal prisoners until the end of time, on a myriad amount of levels,
without a huge proportion of them even noticing, in their own country where
and from where so many literally died for something all these Super Citizens
not only no longer take for granted, but wake up each morning and piss on as
a simple matter of daily ritual.

As well as continuing to bleed us dry for our taxes to endlessly help to
finance our own devastation.

It appears that things like "Million Person Protests", if Pitt is absolutely
correct in all his assessments, are, again, like a flea trying to get an
elephant pregnant.

Sure, worthwhile, necessary, the actual only option in so many cases.

But at this point, again, if Pitt is so very right, which of course he is,
the only real solution is a complete De-Systemization.  And then
Re-Organization.

That, of course, would take an actual American System not already in the
hands of the already notorious band of Super Citizens.

That does not exist.

Any more questions as people keep talking about this or that important matte
r or current event...?

True, maybe all together, we could just talk them to death, or at least out
of Power.

But like Pitt mentioned, once they secure the Judiciary, which they
apparently did so long ago among so many other things, I feel sometimes just
like one more flea in a row of millions of fleas pissing in the wind.

We can "protest" for a million years, and their Super Citizen system will
still be completely intact.

If I am incorrect in my purely logical? presumptions, please, correct me.

If I am correct, please, do anything to try to cheer me up as I look for
anyone else other than myself with the word revolution tattooed on their
butt.

If Pitt is *truly* correct, is there actually any real humor left on this
planet....?

Ok, I'll be quiet now, I've managed to even depress myself even further than
I was before I read Pitt's article.

Perhaps this is one reason so many Americans, among others, simply just *do
not like to think about such things*, it's just too depressing for them.

So they just continue to "go through the motions" of their lives, already
knowing they are in Hell, and that there is really not much they can do
about it without people like Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Etc, at the
forefront of their Liberation.

It remains just so ironic that "Modern Americans" are not afraid for a
moment to go overseas and bomb millions of people to death in villages they
will never step in, but when it comes to literally saving their own country,
they remain nothing short of cowards to the very bitter end.

At least that's what our ForeFathers rolling over in their graves right
about now told me.

I have an immense tendency to believe them.





Cheeseburger


-  Hey, don't ask me, it was a birthmark..........

.

From lyve at netzero.com  Thu Jun 30 21:12:14 2005
From: lyve at netzero.com (Lyle K'ang)
Date: Thu Jun 30 21:14:27 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] The Not-So-Long Gray Line
Message-ID: <20050630.211229.10818.299254@webmail22.nyc.untd.com>


The Not-So-Long Gray Line

By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
Published: June 28, 2005

Los Angeles

JUNE is the month in which West Point celebrates the commissioning of its graduating class and prepares to accept a new group of candidates eager to embrace the arduous strictures of the world's most prestigious military academy. But it can also be a cruel month, because West Pointers five years removed from graduation have fulfilled their obligations and can resign.

My class, that of 1969, set a record with more than 50 percent resigning within a few years of completing the service commitment. (My father's class, 1945, the one that "missed" World War II, was considered to be the previous record-holder, with about 25 percent resigning before they reached the 20 years of service entitling them to full retirement benefits.)

And now, from what I've heard from friends still in the military and during the two years I spent reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems we may be on the verge of a similar exodus of officers. The annual resignation rate of Army lieutenants and captains rose to 9 percent last year, the highest since before the Sept. 11 attacks. And in May, The Los Angeles Times reported on "an undercurrent of discontent within the Army's young officer corps that the Pentagon's statistics do not yet capture."

I'm not surprised. In 1975, I received a foundation grant to write reports on why such a large percentage of my class had resigned. This money would have been better spent studying the emerging appeal of Scientology, because a single word answered the question: Vietnam.

Yet my classmates were disillusioned with more than being sent to fight an unpopular war. When we became cadets, we were taught that the academy's honor code was what separated West Point from a mere college. This was a little hard to believe at first, because the code seemed so simple; you pledged that you would not lie, cheat or steal, and that you would not tolerate those who did. We were taught that in combat, lies could kill.

But the honor code was not just a way to fight a better war. In the Army, soldiers are given few rights, grave responsibilities, and lots and lots of power. The honor code serves as the Bill of Rights of the Army, protecting soldiers from betraying one another and the rest of us from their terrifying power to destroy. It is all that stands between an army and tyranny.

However, the honor code broke down before our eyes as staff and faculty jobs at West Point began filling with officers returning from Vietnam. Some had covered their uniforms with bogus medals and made their careers with lies - inflating body counts, ignoring drug abuse, turning a blind eye to racial discrimination, and worst of all, telling everyone above them in the chain of command that we were winning a war they knew we were losing. The lies became embedded in the curriculum of the academy, and finally in its moral DNA.

By the time we were seniors, honor court verdicts could be fixed, and there was organized cheating in some units. A few years later, nearly an entire West Point class was implicated in cheating on an engineering exam; the breakdown was complete.

The mistake the Army made then is the same mistake it is making now: how can you educate a group of handpicked students at one of the best universities in the world and then treat them as if they are too stupid to know when they have been told a lie?

I've seen the results firsthand. I have met many lieutenants who have served in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, practically back to back. While everyone in a combat zone is risking his or her life, these junior officers are the ones leading foot patrols and convoys several times a day. Recruiting enough privates for the endless combat rotations is a problem the Army may gamble its way out of with enough money and a struggling economy. But nothing can compensate for losing the combat-hardened junior officers.

In the fall of 2003 I was embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq, and its West Point lieutenants were among the most gung-ho soldiers I have ever encountered, yet most were already talking about getting out of the Army. I talked late into one night with a muscular first lieutenant with a shaved head and a no-nonsense manner who had stacks of Foreign Affairs, The New Yorker and The Atlantic under his bunk. He had served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and he was disgusted with what he had seen in Iraq by December 2003.

"I feel like politicians have created a difficult situation for us," he told me. "I know I'm going to be coming back here about a year from now. I want to get married. I want to have a life. But I feel like if I get out when my commitment is up, who's going to be coming here in my place? I feel this obligation to see it through, but everybody over here knows we're just targets. Sooner or later, your luck's going to run out."

At the time, he was commanding three vehicle convoys a day down a treacherous road to pick up hot food for his troops from the civilian contractors who never left their company's "dining facility" about five miles away. He walked daily patrols through the old city of Mosul, a hotbed of insurgent activity that erupted in violence after the 101st left it last year. The Army will need this lieutenant 20 years from now when he could be a colonel, or 30 years from now when he could have four stars on his collar. But I doubt he will be in uniform long enough to make captain.

One cold night a week later, I sat on a stack of sandbags 50 feet from the Syrian border with another West Point lieutenant; he, too, was planning to leave the Army. "I love going out on the border and chasing down the bad guys," he told me as he dragged on a cigarette. "We've got a guy making runs across the border from Syria in a white Toyota pickup who we've been trying to catch for two months; we call him the jackrabbit.

"He gets away from us every time, and I really admire the guy. But when we catch him, there'll be somebody else right behind him. What's the use? Guys are dying, for what?"

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail message from another West Point lieutenant; he was writing from a laptop in a bunker somewhere in Iraq. "I'm getting out as soon as I can," he wrote. "Everyone I know plans on getting out, with a few exceptions. What have you got to look forward to? If you come back from a tour of getting the job done in war, it's to a battalion commander who cares more about the shine on your boots and how your trucks are parked in the motor pool than about the fitness of your unit for war."

There was a time when the Army did not have a problem retaining young leaders - men like Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, George Marshall, Omar Bradley and my grandfather, Lucian K. Truscott Jr. Having endured the horrors of World War I trenches, these men did not run headlong out of the Army in the 1920's and 30's when nobody wanted to think of the military, much less pay for it. They had made a pact with each other and with their country, and all sides were going to keep it.

When members of the West Point class of 1969 and other young officers resigned nearly en masse in the mid-1970's because of Vietnam, Washington had a fix. Way too late, and with no enthusiasm, the politicians pulled out of Vietnam, ended the draft and instituted the "all volunteer" military, offering large increases in pay and benefits. Now, however, the Pentagon has run out of fixes; the only choices appear to be going back to the draft or scaling back our military ambitions.

The problem the Army created in Vietnam has never really been solved. If you keep faith with soldiers and tell them the truth even when it threatens their beliefs, you run the risk of losing them. But if you peddle cleverly manipulated talking points to people who trust you not to lie, you won't merely lose them, you'll break their hearts.

Lucian K. Truscott IV is a novelist and screenwriter.


Lyle Kekahi K'ang, MBA/IM 
http://silomanagement.blogspot.com/
http://silomanagement.com
From ialterman at nyc.rr.com  Thu Jun 30 21:49:53 2005
From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com (Ian)
Date: Thu Jun 30 21:50:40 2005
Subject: [Mb-civic] What we're saying...
Message-ID: <002601c57df8$53513700$99ca6c42@iancn2ccrvzt0j>

All:

Re the Iraq qar, apparently Pres. Bush is losing even the support of his base.

As you know, newspapers publish letters in proportion to the number received on each side of an issue.  For example, if 3/4 of the writers are against the war, then a paper will publish 3 letters against and 1 letter in favor.

In this regard, I was shocked to find that three out of four letters in The New York Post - the "Fox News" of print - were strongly critical of Bush's speech and the war in Iraq in general.

This is at least minimally encouraging, as it means that people as a whole - whether red state or blue, right-wing or left - are not only getting tired of the war, but are not buying Bush's rhetoric anymore.

Peace.
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