March 8, 2002
Media compilation #53: Now We See The Naked King - But Nobody Is Laughing --
Dear journalist
I'll let the material in this compilation speaks for itself. You don't need my advise to know what to think of all this...
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000
P.S. This first article by Greg Palast is a MUST READ...
The Globalizer Who Came In From the Cold (February 01, 2002 - Observer, London)
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/02/115110.php
World Bank Insider Speaks Out by Greg Palast Friday - The World Bank's former Chief Economist's accusations are eye-popping - including how the IMF and US Treasury fixed the Russian elections.
CONTENTS
1. Explosive Accusations of 9/11 US Govt Fraud: "No plane hit Pentagon"
2. HERE'S THE PLANE! FLIGHT 77 ?
3. Something is moving - Protest briefing & articles on the resurging Peace movement in Israel
4. Criticize Cheney, Go to Jail: Two Days in the Life of an Environmentalist
5. U.S. SUSPECTS WORLD NOT PUTTING U.S. INTERESTS FIRST
SEE ALSO:
Project Hammer
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/hammer1.html
Covert Finance and the Parallel Economy. The off-ledger trading programs operated by some central and international banks launder massive amounts of money and provide vast sums to fund covert 'black budget' projects. Project Hammer is all about money. Stupendous great gobs of money. So much money, in fact, that it will challenge whatever reality you thought you had about the over-world of banking, finance and economics. It is also about the nether world of international banking and finance, a world that is said not to exist in reality. But exist it does. CLIP
Bush's National Service - 'Compassion Fascism' By Any Other Name
http://www.rense.com/general20/nationalservice.htm
Study concludes most Americans had radioactive exposure (March 1, 2002)
http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/278628p-2520271c.html
Attorney General Denounces Numbers Among Us (Funny! in War Times - February 2002)
http://www.war-times.org/war_times_pilot_v4.pdf
The Justice Department today ordered the detention of all numbers between “1” and “9” for questioning, because they are of Arab origin.
1.
From: "Reb" <reb@rebfile.com>
Subject: Explosive Accusations of 9/11 US Govt Fraud: "No plane hit Pentagon"
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002
Wed March 6 - NEW YORK - Internet news groups, which have lately been breaking major stories before the mainstream press, are buzzing with growing accusations that the Pentagon was not hit by a jet on September 11. The astonishing charge flies in the face of all major media reporting but is backed up by a surprising amount of photo documentation.
Even an archive of official U.S. government photos shows no indication of the remains of an airplane, and the BBC has reported that some of the alleged hijackers are alive.
EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS: 9/11 GOVERNMENT FRAUD - "NO PLANE HIT PENTAGON"...
http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm#
RELATED: NO SIGN OF PLANE IN OFFICIAL GOVT PHOTOS...
http://jccc.afis.osd.mil/images/images.pl?Lbox=defenselink.Pentagon_Attack
FLASHBACK: SEVERAL OF ACCUSED HIJACKERS STILL ALIVE - U.S. MEDIA DOES NOT REPORT...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1559000/1559151.stm
Details, links, photographs and continuing updates at http://www.rebfile.com
LAST MINUTE! READ ALSO JOURNALIST TOM FLOCCO'S REVEALING COMMENT ON THIS BELOW AT http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19976
2.
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002
From: American Patriot Friends Network <APFN@apfn.org>
Organization: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm
Subject: HERE'S THE PLANE! FLIGHT 77 ?
--- Original Message ---
Subject: CNN REPORT TODAY http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19963
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 20:26:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Pattpenpal@webtv.net (Patt Latham)
To: apfn@apfn.org
HI; Someone must be monitoring your site. Today for the first time, The Pentagon has felt it had to show pictures of a plane ramming their building.
I taped it, as Wolf Blitzer was showing Jamie McIntire's Pentagon pictures allegedly taken off a Pentagon camera.
I put it on slow motion and saw no plane. Not only that, it has been 'messed' with. It shows clips. It looks like 3 clips. The same pictures, or shots with Jamie McIntire were shown next on the Moneyline show. The same questions asked with the same answers. Jamie pointing to where you're supposed to see a plane coming along the ground about 2 feet above the ground before it hits the Pentagon. I have yet to see a plane. If there is one, there certainly is not a passenger plane. What it looks like to me is a release of material before an explosion. Like the pressure couldn't hold it any more and spewed it out. This film must have just been doctored for our use. There is no plane in the film. There is not even a semblence of a plane. There only remains the lie.
Patt Latham
---
HERE'S THE PLANE! FLIGHT 77 ? (ACCORDING TO THE MEDIA)
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19960
GO HERE FOR MORE PIC'S AND DETAILS: LOOKS LIKE F-16?
http://www.humanunderground.com/11september/unimaginable.html
Thu, 7 Mar 2002 21:39:54 -0600 (CST)
Re: PENTAGON PIX
Hi; Thanks for the pictures. That's what CNN is showing on tv. However, I switched back to tv, from web tv and ran the tape back to the moment of impact on slow, slow motion, and there's no plane! There's nothing the size of a Boeing passenger plane anywhere near that outer wall.
What Jamie Mc Intire was pointing to, and what you have circled, is not a Boeing passenger plane the size of one we see at the airport. Those are tall. There is nothing hitting the building from the outside in that picture sequence coming from the Pentagon. The fact that they're feeling like they have to show it tells me there's some fear and pressure there. Because they never bothered to show this until it hit the internet that there was no plane hitting the Pentagon. We're talking 6 months ago with no pictures releases. Why all of a sudden now?
Too many people are dying in this war. How can we stop it? I have written to my reps, and sen. but no one is listening. They can't seem to see where we're heading.
Kindest personal regards,
Patt Latham
Pattpenpal@webtv.net
Riverside, Tx.
---
Moment of impact at the Pentagon on 9-11-01 ˜ David E. Parsons
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19946
The Hunt For Flight 77
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19925
Proof Pentagon 9/11 Attack was Inside Job: ˜ dove_of_o
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19913
WHERE IS FLIGHT 77? - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/flight77.htm
What Really Happened 9/11 - FREE Report/Book
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19843
Re: The Hunt For Flight 77
IF A PLANE HAD HIT THERE WOULD BE A PICTURE OF IT DAMAGED SOMEWHERE. iT IS STANDARD PROCEEDURE FOR PICTURES TO BE TAKEN. THERE IS NO PLANE WITH THE FIRE TRUCKS PUTTING OUT THE INITIAL FIRE THAT IS THE KEY. THEY DON'T HAVE ONE SO THEY ARE TRYING TO bullshit you. SAY SHOW ME THE PICTURE & DON'T FALL FOR THIS LIE BY THE PROPAGANDA CHANNELS FOX & WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19956
I flew the Boeing 747 JUMBO Jet., but not this 757. I retired before this came into service. But, from what I see( or don't see) looking at these pictures; its hard to pick out aircraft parts. The wingtips alone would have sheared off and bounced back into the street, the engines (2) would have penetrated deeper into the wall and framing structure further than any other part making a definate hole. The belly of the aircraft contains, fuel tanks,baggage, mail bags, and cargo; none of this type debris can be seen. Assuming 8600 gallons of kerosene fuel @ specific gravity of approx 6.9 lbs/gal(temperature considered) weight of the fuel would be close to 60,000 lbs and would splatter everywhere. Where are the seats,those with passengers buckled in would be ripped our of the floor, for that matter, where are the passengers? I have never seen an aircraft accident where the aircraft evaporated upon impact, water,land or buildings. If these pictures were taken within 3 days after 9/11, there would have been definate remains of parts. I don't see any. However, digital computer photos can be doctored up to suit any lawyers cause.
From the photos shown, there ain't no fly in this pudding.
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=19916
`In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.'
http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html
3.
THIS WAS CIRCULATED 3 WEEKS AGO AND YET WITH THE POGROM NOW GOING ON IN PALESTINE, IT IS EVEN MORE TIMELY TO CONSIDER AND FACE THE REALITY ON THE GROUND IN ISRAEL THAT THE KILLERS AT THE HELM OF THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT ARE FINALLY BEING SEEN FOR WHAT THEY ARE BY A GROWING MAJORITY OF ISRAELIS. WHEN WILL THE REST OF THE WORLD TAKE NOTICE OF WHAT IS GOING ON AND FIRMLY SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH -- AND WITH DEEDS TO MATCH THEIR WORDS?...
From: Gush Shalom <adam@gush-shalom.org>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002
Subject: Something is moving - Protest briefing & articles on the resurging Peace movement in Israel
[X] Introduction
Ongoing escalation, and wartime-style media reports are losing their laming grip on the Israeli public. One and half year after the start of the latest Palestinian uprising a growing number of Israelis start expressing their anger and disgust at of the way of the Sharon government - the way of brute force. And the number is growing, the more that this way is seen to be unworkable. That's why thousands of people spent two consecutive Saturday nights to demonstrating in Tel-Aviv against continuing occupation and for withdrawal to the '67 borders. Many of the 10,000 who came to the earlier, Jewish-Arab rally, attended also the one held a week later at the inititaive of Peace Now - in the same square, but more densily-packed (there were some 15,000 - i.e. probably half of them people who had not joined the week before). Peace Now's idea was to bring in the more moderate people, those who (so they argued) don't identify with the refusers and are not willing to hear about Israeli war crimes. The surprise of the Peace Now rally (probably for the organizers as well) was that one of their scheduled speakers - KM Roman Bronfman of the dovish Russian immigrant party "Democratic Choice", which is Peace Now's partner in the "Peace Coalition" - did appeal to the public to support the refusers whom he called "the moving force of the growing anti-occupation movement". The overwhelming ovation which he got for it showed that also many of the "more moderate tribe" are impressed and moved by the wave of - as of now - 255 first time refusers of military occupation duty. [The number is constantly updated on the http://www.seruv.org.il/defaulteng.asp site.]
NOTE FROM JEAN: As of today - March 8 - the total number of Israeli soldiers with a true conscience stands at 316
For more details and background, we advice reading the following:
[1] Something is Moving, by Uri Avnery
[Written 16.2.02, published in Ma'ariv (Hebrew version) 17.2.02]
Something is Moving
I once saw in a Western a Red Indian (or should I say a Native American?) putting his ear to the ground and hearing a train tens of miles away. In the course of the years I have tried to imitate that Indian. I try to hear changes in the public mood long before they appear on the surface. Not to prophesy, not to guess, just to hear. Now I perceive the approach of a great wave of opposition to the bloody war against the Palestinians (nicknamed "Peace of the Settlements, following the name given to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, "Peace of Galilee"). The revolt of the soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories is an important symptom, one of many. We have seen in the past several such public upheavals, that start with opaque noises and grow quickly into a public uproar. Such a wave rose during the Lavon affair in the fifties and led to the dismissal of Ben-Gurion. Such a wave carried Moshe Dayan into the Defense Ministry on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War (led by the women nicknamed "the Merry Women of Windsor"), and the next one, which swept him and Golda Meir away after the Yom Kippur war. Such a wave got the IDF out of Beirut, and later out of South Lebanon (led by the "Four Mothers" movement.) The mechanism can be compared to a transmission of spiked wheels. A small wheel with a strong, independent drive turns a bigger wheel, which in turn moves an even bigger wheel, and so on, until all the establishment changes course. This is how it happens in Israel, this is how it happens in all democracies (see: Vietnam). It always starts with a small group of committed people. They raise their feeble voice. The media ignore them, the politicians laugh at them ("a tiny, marginal and vociferous group"), the respectable parties and the established old organizations crinkle their noses and distance themselves from their "radical slogans".
But slowly they start to have an impact. People leave the respectable (meaning linked to the establishment) organizations and join the militant groups. This compels the leaders of the mainstream organizations to radicalize their slogans and to join the wave. The message spreads throughout the parties. Politicians who want to be reelected adopt the new slogans. "Important" journalists, serving as weathercocks, smell the change and adapt themselves in time to the new winds. The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead said about this: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." And the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, said: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident." Now it happens again. It is difficult to fix the exact moment when it started. Perhaps after the demolition of some 50 homes in the Rafah refugee camp. Or at the mass-meeting called by Gush Shalom in Tel-Aviv, when Colonel Yig'al Shochat, who had lost a leg in the Yom Kippur war, called upon his comrades, the airforce pilots, to refuse to carry out orders that are manifestly illegal, such as bombing Palestinian towns, and when the philosopher Adi Ophir proposed to open files on IDF officers who commit war crimes.
Suddenly the public woke up to the possibility that war crimes are being committed in its name. The mental block was broken, a public debate about war crimes, and consequently about the occupation itself, began. The announcement by 50 reserve officers and soldiers that they refuse to serve in the occupied territories broke a dam. The number of refuseniks grew quickly, the phenomenon shook the military-political establishment. For the first time, the leaders of the establishment saw in their nightmares the possibility of a big uprising of soldiers who say: This is where we get off, we will not go on. When public opinion polls showed that nearly a third of the Israeli Jewish public supports the refuseniks, the panic grew.
At the same time, hundreds of Israelis visited the besieged Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Then came the big, joint demonstration of the militant peace movements ("The Occupation Kills All Of Us!") in Tel-Aviv's Museum Square. Organizations that had got used during the last 16 months to demonstrations of a hundred, two hundred people saw before them ten thousand enthusiastic demonstrators, who have left despair behind them and were demanding action. This demonstration had, of course, an impact on the "established left", which is now compelled to confront the new mood of their own public. This is the beginning of a process. Nobody can know yet how powerful it will become and how far it will go. But one thing is certain: something is happening.
[2] Update on support for refusal
From: Dorothy Naor <dor_naor@netvision.net.il>
Update on Support for Refusing
The past several days have seen influential sources expressing support for the refusal to serve in the territories. On Saturday evening, February 16, at the demonstration organized by the Coalition for Peace, Knesseth member Roman Bronfman spoke before the crowd of about 15,000 in the Tel Aviv Museum Square. He declared his unmitigated support for the reservists' letter stating their refusal to serve in the territories.
On Sunday, February 17 support came from two additional influential sources.
Gideon Levy in Ha'aretz castigated those who acknowledge "that Israel is doing terrible things but fiercely oppose the refusal to serve in the territories for various reasons and call on soldiers not to carry out illegal orders," referring to "Members of the moderate Zionist left, from Ami Ayalon to MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), from the left of the Labor Party to Meretz." These, Levy says, belong neither to the Israeli majority who reject non-compliance with the draft, nor to the minority who support it. Rather, they belong to a third group, one that is "attempting to have its cake and eat it too."
"Those who support the third position have taken the easy way out - they tell the soldiers don't kill small children, don't prevent women in labor from going through checkpoints, don't beat up civilians for no reason, don't torment the innocent. But at the same time, don't refuse to serve in the territories, God forbid. Stand at the checkpoints and smile at the inhabitants whose lives you are embittering. That way, you will be both obedient and moral soldiers. Hand out candies to children after an operation, as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Tal Hermoni told his soldiers after they arrested, killed, destroyed and wreaked terror on Beit Hanun. Inadvertently, the battalion commander fully actualized this position of the left: Shoot and sweeten."
Also on the 17th, Michael Ben Yair, legal advisor to Prime Ministers Rabin and Peres, signed a petition supporting the Letter of the Reservists declaring their refusal to serve in the territories. With him, seven additional faculty members of the law school at Tel Aviv University likewise signed. Ben Yair justified his stand yesterday (Feb. 17) on the radio and in the Ma'ariv newspaper.
Today's Ma'ariv interviews him at greater length. He stresses the legitimacy of conscientious objection in democratic societies, noting that today's refusees might be tomorrow's majority, and reminding readers that Bill Clinton had refused to participate in the Vietnam war. "Our refusees," he states, "are restoring the moral back bone to the State of Israel."
One additional encouraging sign is the popularity of our New Profile booth at Saturday's demonstration. Most people that we spoke to either at the booth or when wandering among the crowd distributing our fliers responded very favorably to our announcement that we support those who refuse to serve in the military. The position we back has not yet gained major proportions, but is apparently gaining in popularity.
At this writing, an additional 200 reservists have added their names to the original letter, bringing the number to 253. May their numbers continue to grow, and thus help hasten the end of the occupation.
CLIP
[3] Briefing on the rally sent by Peace Now
From: "Peace Now" <peacenow@actcom.co.il>
February 16, 2002
Over 15,000 activists participated in the march and rally organized by Peace Now and the Peace Coalition in Tel-Aviv this evening, under the slogan "Get Out of the Territories - Get Back to Ourselves." (see Reuters photo: www.peace-now.org/ReutersPhotoFeb16-2002.jpg).
One of the highlights of the rally was the speech, in Hebrew, given by Dr. Sari Nusseibeh. "The path to peace is through the return of the refugees to the State of Palestine and the return of the settlers to the State of Israel," Nusseibeh said.
As the march commenced, news arrived of the atrocious suicide bombing in the West Bank. The aim of our protest movement is to struggle for a political solution that will break this terrible cycle of violence.While this weekend's violent events will undoubtedly push the rally into the margins of the media agenda, it is only the first in a long series of major street activities. Judging by the energy and atmosphere we felt on streets of Tel-Aviv this evening, it is just a matter of time before hundreds of thousands fill Rabin square again.
Peace Now and the Peace Coalition would like to thank the Coalition of Women for Just Peace, Taayush and Gush Shalom for their outstanding support and cooperation.
Further information: Press: Didi Remez will be out of the country over the next few days, please contact Moria Shlomot at 972-54-322834. Activists: There is a lot of work that needs to be done (office, weekend intersections, weeknight sign hanging, permanent vigils and organizing the next rally), get involved by contacting Ori Ginat, 054-405157 or ori@peacenow.org.il
[4] Old-New Israeli Voice of Conscience, Lev Grinberg Ma'ariv Feb 18
An Old-New Israeli Voice: The Voice of Conscience
By Lev Grinberg - Jerusalem*
In recent weeks a new voice is rising, loud and clear. A voice previously marginal and repressed, a voice that now threatens to inundate the entire country with the hope of breaking out of the crisis. It is the voice of conscience, which sees all human beings as equal, having the right to shelter, health, freedom and dignity, and above all, the right to life. The most salient expression of the new voice are the soldiers that declared their objection to serve the occupation, and the intensity of the reactions, be they negative or positive, that they provoked. But this is only one expression of the new voice's power.
The new voice permeates reports from the Occupied Territories, and it has begun to mobilize masses for action, in previously inconceivable scales, such as the last two Saturdays' rallies. The voice of conscience is both personal and collective, hence its strength. It is personal because each individual must be accountable for his actions. It is collective because it manifests social responsibility and creates a common language through which we are able to communicate, talk about the reality and connect with each other. The voice's intensity and growth potential stem from its clarity and unambiguousness. You cannot tell the voice of conscience that "we" want peace but "they" don't, because the daily abuse of the Palestinians and the provocative exterminations are clear for all to see. You cannot distract the voice of conscience by claiming that "Barak offered everything", because in terms of conscience, this does not justify the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces.
And of course you cannot recruit soldiers with the militaristic argument that "we must win this war", because the occupation is not a war forced upon us, and woe to us if we ever do win, and thus succeed to maintain the occupation. The new voice's greatest power is its ancientness. There is no need to invent it; it already exists in the individual consciousness, in the Jewish and humanistic tradition. This is the voice of "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself" and "What is hateful to you do not do unto your fellow man". These are the values on which most Israelis were brought up, and this is the dormant voice now awakening. It is inside us, only until now it has been silenced by other voices, which mobilize a nation to war and raise primal fears that mute the voice of conscience.
This old-new voice is powerful enough to tear down the protective wall of blind militarism, of racism - that make distinctions between types of blood according to their origin, and of fascism - that demands national unity. The voice of conscience and the Jewish moral code are capable of establishing in Israel a different culture, a culture of tolerance and coexistence. The voice of conscience can link Jews, Christians and Muslims brought up on the sacred principle that all human beings are created in God's image.
The voice of conscience can provide an agreed-upon moral basis between Jews and Arabs according to the biblical, pre-democratic rule that "One law shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourns among you". If this voice grows stronger, it can also provide the ethical basis required for rapprochement and resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians, which is now conceived as intractable, breeding a sense of despair and thoughts about leaving. The ancient Jewish voice of conscience is the voice of the new hope.
Lev Grinberg is a peace activist and political sociologist, Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research
----
Did you know that every Friday afternoon at 2.30 Gush Shalom maintains a vigil opposite Peres' home in Ramat Aviv calling upon him to stop being an accomplice? Photo's and details on the website
NB: Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site For Hebrew http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html For English http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
Check also the Gush Shalom website: http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html
To subscribe: Gush-Shalom-subscribe@topica.com
If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities you can send a cheque or cash, wrapped well in an extra piece of paper, to: Gush Shalom pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033.
SEE ALSO:
I HAVE A PALESTINIAN DREAM (February 21)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12454
Palestinians desperately need a new strategy to counter the latest Israeli offensive. Perhaps it is time to take a page out of Martin Luther King's book.
No Security for Sharon
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/international/middleeast/19SHAR.html
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won election on a promise to bring peace and security. But after a year of his stewardship, Israel lacks both and so, politically speaking, does he.
Check the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories website at http://www.btselem.org/ and read "Civilians Killed at Home" about indiscriminate firing at civilians and ambulances.
ARIEL SHARON: BUSH'S ROLE MODEL?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12461
Israeli aircraft destroy Palestinian union HQ
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Language=EN&Index=99121478
It was built with the financial support of unions from around the globe.
4.
Criticize Cheney, Go to Jail: Two Days in the Life of an Environmentalist
By John Blair Story
From: http://www.counterpunch.org/blair1.html
Day One
Tonight I was arrested for nothing more than exercising my rights as a citizen in what I thought was a free country. Dick Cheney came to my town to stump for one of the Environmental Dirty Dozen, Indiana 8th District Congressman John Hostettler.
I had made up a sign which stated, "CHENEY-19th Century Energy Man." The event was held at the convention center across the street from Evansville's government center. I walked down the street with my sign in hand to a location that I thought would at least be visible to the people entering the $100 to $1000 event.
As I stood across the street from the people who were entering the event, I was approached by a plain clothes policeman. The cop confronted me saying that Protesters were not allowed in that area. I asked why since it was clear that everyone but protesters were allowed in the area in which I was standing. In fact, the whole incident took place as the public employees who worked at the government complex walked by without being accosted by the police at all.
It was clear that I was singled out only because I had a sign.
In the course of our conversation, several other cops surrounded the scene, more out of curiosity than anything else. I surprised myself with my calm demeanor but I will admit to asking several questions concerning the 1st Amendment and why others were allowed in the area and I was not.
The main cop informed me that if I did not go more than a block away to the area he apparently had just arbitrarily decided was to be used by protesters, that I would be arrested. I complied and started to walk away. When I turned to ask if it was OK to go to the parking lot where hundreds of people were, either leaving work or arriving to attend the event, he instructed his uniformed men to arrest me.
They failed to read me my rights. They even talked among themselves what the charge should be. Finally they decided to say it was "disorderly conduct."
An 87-year old man who was standing there with me observed the whole thing and told the local media how shocked he was about the whole thing. I was shocked too. I was not in the least belligerent, although I did ask questions of the officer who ordered my arrest.
What I was arrested for was exercising my rights, not necessarily to protest since I had done none of that. No, this was a preemptive arrest to assure that no one going to the event would see any protesters let alone hear any protesters.
I have learned a lot about civil liberties in my years as a photojournalist and as an environmental activist. I also understand the need for security, especially for people like the VP. However, I was singled out simply because I was carrying a sign that showed my disdain for Cheney. That is something that certainly falls within the realm of rights our country's founders fought to attain.
If you can be confronted by a cop simply because you are carrying a sign, then it won't be long before you will be subject to arrest for writing a letter to the editor or speaking out about injustice. If I had been in an area that was cordoned off or otherwise secured, there may have been reason to tell me to leave, indeed I may have been subject to arrest. But none of the people passing by were confronted by any authority. They did not have a sign stating their views. They were not exercising their free speech.
Frankly, I felt as if this must be akin to the silence that was mandated by the Taliban towards Afghani women. Events such as this will certainly quell the prospect of protest of all official actions. I fear, that we have become just what Osama Bin Laden wanted us to be when he ordered the attacks on 9/11.
I am going to plead, "NOT GUILTY" when I am required to go to Court. I will never say anything more accurate in my life.
CLIP
5.
From: http://www.satirewire.com/news/0103/usfirst.shtml
U.S. SUSPECTS WORLD NOT PUTTING U.S. INTERESTS FIRST
International Community Denies Charges, Insist They Mean "U.S." When They Say "World"
Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) - In a stinging accusation, the U.S. today charged other nations with taking a narrow-minded "world view" and deliberately failing to consider U.S. economic interests above individual international concerns.
World leaders immediately denied the charges, calling the U.S. allegations "paranoid delusions of non-grandeur."
"They can deny it, but from carbon dioxide emissions to Internet privacy standards, these internationals appear to be taking a rather myopic 'world view,' instead of stepping back and looking at the broader American economic view," said U.S President George W. Bush. "These people have to recognize that there is an entire United States community out there beyond their borders."
If this troubling trend continues, Bush warned, the United States will be forced to "take its ball and go home." Asked exactly what ball he was referring to, Bush replied: "It's big and blue and we all live on it." While evidence supporting the allegations appears to be damning, world leaders insisted the United States has misunderstood. On the tiny Pacific atoll of Kiribati, which is threatened by rising seas, government official Baranika Etuati insisted his recent remark to Reuters that, 'It is a terrible economic problem, it is our very survival," referred to the U.S economy. "What else would I be referring to?" he asked bewilderedly. British Environment Minister Michael Meacher, meanwhile, said the idea that Europe would not consider the U.S. economy above all was absurd. "Naturally, when we want to protect consumers or deal with the environment or stop wars, we first ask ourselves, 'How will our decisions impact suffering American business interests?'"
U.S. officials, however, greeted those comments with suspicion, noting that few world leaders' public comments mention this consideration.
"That's because it's a given," replied Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. "It's like when you love someone. You don't always have to say it. You just know."
