MAY LOVE PREVAIL ON EARTH
December 1, 2006
The Cornucopia Series #1: The Mega Smorgasbord
Hello everyone!
Cornucopia: Symbol of plenty - An abundant supply.
Smorgasbord: A buffet meal featuring a varied number of dishes - A varied collection.
I think it says it all... With the mega size nowadays of my weekly compilations, I thought a new name was in order to try to do justice to the very wide variety of subjects they cover.
And now something I don't mention often enough: a BIG thank you to all the subscribers whose very diverse contributions to my Inbox provide me with plenty of interesting material from which to prepare this "buffet" for you.
Have a good meal ;-)
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com
P.S. Your feedbacks are as always welcomed and may be included in a coming compilation - unless you prefer they are not. Circulating this compilation (or any part of it) and personally inviting your correspondents to subscribe to this list would also help enlarge the circle of people who have access to this material. Please include the following note and the URL address for the archived copy below along with your forwards, so others may have the opportunity to explore the original copy, if they so choose.
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STATS for this compilation: Over 37,400 words and 195 links provided.
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THE QUOTES
"Our Increasingly Insane World - One day's news (November 10, 2006): Russia Tests New Intercontinental Missile - France Tests Ballistic Missile For Nuclear Deployment - India to Test Longer Range Ballistic Missile in 2007 - Boeing Awarded Contract to Upgrade ICBM Weapon System - Iran Tests New Long-Range Missiles - Thought you would like to have this news of our civilization's progress. The same day some 29,000 children died of hunger or easily preventable or curable disease and contaminated water..."
- Mel Hurtig <melhurtig@shaw.ca>
"What I read recently is that the Star children and the indigo children are always being lumped together even though there is a vast difference between the two groups. In countries where computer use has increased so have the indigo children numbers exponentially but indigo children are supposedly ones who have developed particular mental and psychic abilities while the Star children are wholly conscious in a spiritual way utilizing both left and right hemispheres fully and are far more advanced than indigos. I think I read that Star children numbers have increased greatly also but nowhere near to the numbers of the indigos which I think Boylan is mistaking for Star children as is usually the case. My guess would be that Chris Angel is a Star Child though judging by his abilities."
- Mark Graffis <mgraffis@gmail.com>
"I was thinking that the American People could start choosing Iraqis to write letters to expressing our compassion for them, and our hopes for helping them form a stable and peaceful nation in a form of their own choosing, so that we can give them their country back. If we could express the desire we have for them to have a happy, peaceful, free, and abundant future, maybe we could reach past the current situation through a heart-to-heart gesture directly from ordinary citizens of this country to ordinary citizens of that country and become pro-peace, and support a free and healthy nation in Iraq?"
- Daniel Stafford <aqmstaffo@mailbag.com>
"And who will tell the people that free speech is a ruse. The corporations run the country and then they make the news. Is it media or mind control heroic victories or crime? Who will tell the people... that we are living in these times."
- Song by Willie Nelson - Sent by Christopher Rudy <safetrek@mcn.net> who also recommended his latest offering: "Retaining the Blessing of "Thanksgiving": The Attitude of Gratitude - From Simple to Profound" archived at http://www.heartcom.org/gratitude.htm
THE AQUARIAN PROCLAMATION
From the Point of Light in the Mind of God,
Light now flows through the mind of Humanity.
A Realm of Light has now emerged on Earth.
From the Point of Love within the Heart of God,
Love now streams forth through the Heart of Humanity.
The Christ is returned to Earth.
From the Center where the Will of God is known,
Divine Purpose now guides the will of Humanity,
The Purpose which Ascended Humanity knows and serves.
From the Center we call the Race of Humanity,
The Plan of Light and Love now governs,
Having forever sealed the door where ego dwells.
Divine Light, Love and Power has restored the Plan on Earth!
And SO IT IS, BELOVED I AM!
(Forwarded by "Doreen Agostino" <isisconsulting@rogers.com>)
CONTENTS
1. Part of my "mission"
2. The True Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
3. The Bridge
4. CIA role claim in Kennedy killing
5. Will Forests Adapt to a Warmer World?
6. Petition to Stop the chemtrails
7. Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'
8. The White House Criminal Conspiracy
9. Blind Obedience to the Canons of Capitalism
10. Biofuels: A serious threat masked in green
11. Scientists Fear Results of Collapsed Ice Shelf
12. Disemboweled, Then Torn Apart: The Price of Daring to Teach Girls
13. Women in Afghanistan
14. Force-Fed Sharmila Fights On for Freedom From Armed Oppression
15. Boom in Nanotechnology Poses Consumer Risks, NRDC Warns
WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION
Interview With George Galloway - 11/21/06 - The Hour - CBC - Video Runtime 7 Minutes
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15724.htm
"George Bush and Tony Blair are not Christians" - George Galloway is an outspoken politician. He's vehemently against both the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Vladimir Megre - FASCINATING!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Megre
Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre is the author of the book series The Ringing Cedars of Russia.
According to the English publisher of this 8-book series: "Inspired by the Ringing Cedars, thousands of people are now planting trees, changing their lifestyle and, in search for a spiritual re-connection with the Earth, relocating to new eco-villages that are sprouting up all over Russia and beyond. Thousands of readers have felt a huge creative upsurge and started writing poetry and songs and doing paintings." Recommended by "Huguette Demers" huguette.demers@infoteck.qc.ca">
In Praise of the Tree
http://www.palden.co.uk/photos/trees.html
The 21st Century's biggest solution - a photo-montage by Palden Jenkins
Continuously Updated Environment News
http://www.ecoearth.info/news/
There are several new and most interesting entries in the ERN guestbook at http://two.guestbook.de/gb.cgi?gid=456912&prot=ccbcsw including a Petition Supporting a Resolution in Congress to End Funding of the Iraq War (by Cindy Sheehan) and an interesting letter about the Faerie Hill ecoark
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the UFO Scene (Nov 21, 2006)
http://www.geocities.com/cropessences/paranormal.html
With all the fiction and disinformation circulating in ufology, it seems useful to catalogue some of the good leaders in the field, and distinguish them from those not to be trusted. What follows is a listing of "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of UFOlogy", found on the Internet, with which I happen to agree. - Richard Boylan, Ph.D.
Brazilian "psychic" is off-base
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DrRichBoylanReports/message/1816
Friends, and Star Kids, Recently Brazilian "psychic" Jan Van Ellam aka Rogerio de Almeida Freitas's claim that "official and open contact" between several star races and Earth will supposedly "occur between November 16, 2006 and April 30, 2007" was published in a Brazilian UFO magazine and on the Internet. I requested Star Nations' advisement as to whether Van Ellam's is accurate. An official spokesperson for the High Council of Star Nations, Councillor For the Watchers, responded as follows. He said that "official and open contact" is already occurring. By this he is referring to the fact that Star Nations has been sending official representatives to interact with official governments on Earth for about half a century. The Star Nations have been quite open about this; it is the Earth governments who have wrapped up such contacts in the most stringent clandestine "security" classification. The Star Nations have pressed the Earth Governments to open up with their peoples about star contact, but thus far no governments have done so officially. (Cf. http://www.drboylan.com/1964agreement.html ) Councillor For the Watchers did say that as the Cabal are losing power, the Star Nations will be able to "more openly" address the public, in accordance with the way they are going to reach the New Understanding with the people of Earth. This more openly-public show-of-presence will presumably also result in increasing candor about Star Nations contacts from government officials of goodwill, as these officials come out from under the wilting thumb of Cabal control, and feel free to speak the truth. Bottom line: the Brazilian "psychic" is not making an accurate report. Second bottom line: despite that, Star Nations craft will "soon" be making significantly increased numbers of appearances in populated areas. And the Cabal are planning "something big", an operation as a response to these planned Star Nations increasingly public displays. We are getting closer to the End Game. The Cabal think that the End Game ends up in victory for them. The reality is that the End Game spells Die Gotterdamerung, The Twilight of the "Gods" that the Cabal presume themselves to be. In the light, Richard
Integral Naked
http://www.integralnaked.org
Integral Naked Institute is the world's first multimedia portal into Integral Consciousness,featuring hundreds of hours of audio and video conversations with today's greatest thinkers, leaders, artists, and visionaries. Often moderated by Ken Wilber, these discussions span a wide range of topics-- including spirituality, sexuality, psychology, ecology, art,business, and politics. Through the rich diversity of subject matter runs a single thread, a fierce determination to connect the dots of fragmentation and begin to make sense of a world gone more than slightly mad. Integral Naked offers a much more comprehensive, cohesive, and fulfilling way to navigate the rich complexity of the traditional, modern, and post-modern worlds. It is your access point to the community, the conversations, the art, and the vision that is defining what it means to be fully aware in today's world. Recommended by Nadia McLaren nadia.mclaren@gmail.com"> - Make sure also to check Ken Wilber's website at http://www.kenwilber.com/ including http://www.kenwilber.com/multiplex/show/195
DOREEN VIRTUE: ANGELS IN OUR LIVES - Running time: 59:00
http://www.oasistv.com/screeningroom/screening-room.asp?show=virtue-angels.asp
She claims we are returning to a New Age of Peace, and with it a profound shift in our consciousness and the fate of the planet. And it is against this canvass that clairvoyant psychologist Dr. Doreen Virtue paints a universe of angels and archangels, nature spirits and guides. Doreen Virtue: Angels in our Lives explores a myriad of metaphysical issues, including Indigo Children, the coming change in the nature of Time, and the role of Lightworkers as “models of the higher, smoother way.” (...) She claims everyone is born with some form of psychic ability or, in other words, a sixth sense. This ability, like all other God given abilities, needs to be nurtured and exercised to maximize its strengths. Dr. Virtue cites over three hundred scientific studies from Harvard, Cornell and other leading universities supporting her beliefs in people's natural psychic abilities and in the power of prayer in healing.
Planetary Transformation Team
http://www.transformationteam.net/
Developing project you may wish to check...
CONTROLLED CHAOS: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0%2C1518%2C448747%2C00.html
Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try -- with good results.
"NASA Airbrushed UFOs / Lunar Base Towers" Trailer (3 min. 54 sec.)
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-9075306542842977658
The "NASA Airbrushed UFOs / Lunar Base Towers" trailer from the "UFO - The Greatest Story Ever Denied" movie, by Jose Escamilla. Please visit http://www.theufomovie.com/ for more information. (Check the right column for more UFO-related videos)
Jerome Murat (8 min.)
http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/jerome%20murat/video/xf9oo_jerome-murat
The french intro is short....the video that follows is sensational and worth watching!
Scientists Issue Unprecedented Forecast of Next Sunspot Cycle (March 6, 2006)
http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2006/sunspot.shtml
BOULDER—The next sunspot cycle will be 30-50% stronger than the last one and begin as much as a year late, according to a breakthrough forecast using a computer model of solar dynamics developed by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Predicting the Sun's cycles accurately, years in advance, will help societies plan for active bouts of solar storms, which can slow satellite orbits, disrupt communications, and bring down power systems. The scientists have confidence in the forecast because, in a series of test runs, the newly developed model simulated the strength of the past eight solar cycles with more than 98% accuracy. The forecasts are generated, in part, by tracking the subsurface movements of the sunspot remnants of the previous two solar cycles. (...) The scientists expect the cycle to begin in late 2007 or early 2008, which is about 6 to 12 months later than a cycle would normally start. Cycle 24 is likely to reach its peak about 2012. CLIP
Visionary Artists
http://www.lightparty.com/Artainment/VisionaryArtists.shtml
A motherload of fascinating Light-filled creations! Make sure also to visit http://www.globalpeacefoundation.org and http://www.lightparty.com
Feed three million people in 33 days... Would You Like To Help Feed 3 Million American Children In 33 Days.... For Just One Dollar? If you're in a hurry, just click here to "watch" the story: www.FEED333.com - Sound impossible? It's the dream of a woman named Spryte Loriano. She watched a movie you may also have seen ~ The Secret ~ and was inspired to create something that would make a massive difference in the world, and turn the impossible, possible: Feed 3 million children in 33 days. As soon as I heard her inspiring story, I wanted to help. And I knew that others would too. CLIP - Recommended by "D. Dalton" ddalton@uneedspeed.net">
December 10th & 11th: Silence + Torture = Complicity (Excellent initiative! Support it!)
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3461&Itemid=223
On December 10th and 11th, in honor of International Human Rights Day, take a stand against the legalization of torture. Spend the whole day wearing what Guantanamo detainees have to wear everyday. Dress in the orange jumpsuit, hood, shackles, etc. Wear it to school. Wear it to work. Wear it to church or religious services. Pledge to wear the orange jumpsuit. On Dec. 10th and 11th, make the torture that is being carried out by our government in our names a reality that people have to confront in their daily lives. Distribute the World Can’t Wait Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime and “Silence + Torture = Complicity” statement. Challenge people to join you by putting on an orange armband and collect their email address for the movement to drive out the Bush regime. CLIP -- 14,000 people are being detained by the U.S. without charges. What you saw and were disgusted by at Abu Ghraib has continued to go on at "black site" CIA detention centers and military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by Bush on Oct. 17, has made torture, indefinite detention, and taking away the right to habeus corpus legal. YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it. These simple facts only begin to comprehend what those languishing in torture chambers run by the United States endure everyday. Moreover, as people living in the country carrying out these crimes, we have a responsibility to take a clear stand against torture and stop it from continuing. With a regime bent on and even celebrating its right to torture and an "opposition" party complicit in these crimes, it is all the more imperative that we create the conditions in society where torture is unacceptable, and "normal life" does not continue until it is stopped. If we do not act, then we too are complicit.
ALSO RECOMMENDED
Kissinger to Serve As Papal Adviser? (Nov 26) !!!
http://ncregister.com/site/article/1370/
Pope Benedict XVI has invited Henry Kissinger, former adviser to Richard Nixon, to be a political consultant and he accepted.
Palestinian Solidarity Discourse and Zionist Hegemony
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15721.htm
A talk given at 11/22/06 in Edinburgh hosted by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign -- 11/23/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Let’s face it; while the Palestinian and Arab resistance evolves into an absolute example of the ultimate heroism and collective patriotism, the Palestinian solidarity movement in the UK and around the world is not exactly what could be called a profound success story. In fact, it would be erroneous to state that this is really the fault of those who dedicate their time and energy to it. Supporting the Palestinians is a complicated subject. Though the crimes against the Palestinians have taken place in broad daylight and are not some well-kept secret, the priorities of the solidarity movement are far from being clear. (...) I maintain that Palestinian people are largely divided into three main groups and it is actually this division that dictates three different political narratives, with three different political discourses and agendas to consider: The three groups can be described as follows: 1. The Palestinians who happen to live within the Israeli State and possess Israeli citizenship - The Israelis have a name for them; they call them ‘Israeli Arabs’. These Palestinians are largely discriminated by Israeli law in all aspects of their lives; their struggle is for civil rights and civil equality. 2. The Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories - In most cases those Palestinians are locked behind walls and barbed wire in Bantustans and concentration camps in the so-called ‘Palestinian Authority Controlled Area’ (PA). Practically speaking, those people live under a criminal occupation. For three decades these people have been terrorised on a daily basis by Israeli soldiers in roadblocks and incursions, they are subject to air raids and artillery bombardments. Their civil system is shattered, their educational system is falling apart, their health system is extinct. These Palestinian people are craving for a single day with no casualties.3. The Diaspora Palestinians - Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed over the course of the years and denied return to their homes by the racially orientated Israeli legal system (the Law of Return and Absentee Laws). The Israelis do not have a name for them, they simply deny their existence. The Diaspora Palestinians live all over around the world. According to the UN statistics every third refugee is a Palestinian. Millions of exiled Palestinians live in the region in refugee camps, the others can be found in every corner of the globe, many are here may be among us tonight. The Diaspora Palestinians know their rights and they want to be able to come home if they so choose, they demand their right of return. (...) Our problems with Israel have something to do with it being a Fascist State supported by the vast majority of Jewish people around the world. (...) We are afraid to admit that Israel is indeed a Fascist State. CLIP
Refugees Are The Key
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/112706BAHOUR.html
Israel should admit its historical responsibility to the Palestinian people and recognize the rights of the refugees.
Israel and Palestinians Reach Agreement on Cease-Fire (Nov 26)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606C.shtml
Palestinian Authority security forces began deploying along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Sunday, in order to prevent Palestinian militants from firing Qassam rockets at Israel in violation of a newly implemented cease-fire.
Olmert: Ceasefire may lead to "real negotiations" (26 Nov 2006)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26746052.htm
JERUSALEM, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that a ceasefire to end five months of fighting in the Gaza Strip may lead to "real negotiations" with the Palestinians.Olmert said Israel would show restraint in coming days over violations of the ceasefire by Palestinian militants."I hope very much they (Palestinians) will show responsibility and goodwill. This could be the beginning of a serious, real, open and direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ... leading towards a full settlement between Israel and the Palestinians," Olmert said.
Unity talks with Hamas collapse, says Abbas (Nov 30) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4f36adfc-8068-11db-9096-0000779e2340.html
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, said on Thursday that talks with the ruling Hamas movement on a national unity government had broken down. His announcement came as Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state visited the region in a bid to expand the limited ceasefire agreed over the past the weekend into wider peace moves. It was unclear if Mr Abbas’ statement was a tactic to break a deadlock with Hamas but aides said he was considering dramatic moves, which could include an emergency government and eventual fresh elections. CLIP All the most recent developments on this at http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Mideast_Conflict
UN: Israel breaks border agreement
http://tinyurl.com/yattu5
A UN report has accused Israel of breaking all provisions in a year-old US-brokered agreement on Gaza's border crossings, as Condoleezza Rice visits the region.
Twilight Zone / Shock corridor (Nov 30)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Twilight+Zone+%2F+Shock+corridor&itemNo=794385
(...) For three months now, the government health services serving Palestinians in the West Bank have been closed down. Dozens of rural clinics are no longer open and government hospitals are barely operating. Health-service workers who have not received most of their salaries for the past nine months - because of the boycott which Israel and the world declared on the Palestinian Authority government - have declared a strike, which has gotten worse: Since Monday the hospitals have only been accepting patients whose life is in immediate danger. Yet another hardship to add to the siege of West Bank locales, with their approximately 1.5 million residents, and the severe economic distress that afflicts them. (...) The checkpoints on the way to Nablus are exhausting. Every five minutes you have to stop and wait, sometimes for hours. The maximum speed limit is one kilometer per hour, and that's on a good day. The scene at the Hawara checkpoint, overlooking Nablus, is terrible: As usual there, a throng of people is crammed into something that resembles a cattle pen. A compassionate soldier gives right of way to mothers with babies who're caught in the chaos. A short line of cars with permits to leave waits, for hours on end. They say this is nothing compared to the Assira Alshmalia checkpoint, also known as Checkpoint 17, on the Nablus-Jenin road. And these are not crossings into Israel, but rather checkpoints between Nablus and Beit Furik, affecting only people going to work and back. With all the focus on the bloodshed in Gaza, daily life in the West Bank has been forgotten. At the offices of the Medical Relief organization in Nablus, the medical director, Dr. Ghassan Hamdan, says that his city is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. He foresees epidemics and needless deaths. The clinics in 65 villages are closed, which has dramatic significance: When Nablus is inaccessible these clinics serve as a substitute, albeit a poor one, for the hospitals on the other side of the checkpoints. But now the two big hospitals in Nablus are practically deserted, so most of the burden is falling on nongovernmental organizations like Hamdan's. The irony: The boycott may end up pushing more of the population into the arms of Hamas, whose clinics are open. CLIP
West Bank and Gaza: ICRC report shows increased levels of poverty (Nov 21)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220224/a5fb511749cfd5cb68015b599c455b6d.htm
(...) About 60% of the households in both areas fall into categories described by their own communities as “poor“ or “very poor”.The situation in Gaza, where extremely high levels of poverty were detected, is especially bad."This confirms the fears expressed repeatedly by the ICRC concerning the consequences in humanitarian terms of the economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza," said Dominik Stillhart, head of the ICRC delegation for Israel and the occupied territories.
France okays firing at Israeli jets over Lebanon
http://tinyurl.com/y9dl9j
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.
Hezbollah announces its campaign to bring down the Lebanese government (Nov 30) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15786.htm
Big Brother, Big Business - CNBC Special Video Report
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15716.htm
Technology is being used to monitor Americans more than ever before. Documentary provides an inside peek at an AOL division that works solely to satisfy the requests of law enforcement for information about AOL's members.
What Will You Do When the Government Demands Your Laptop?
http://nestmannblog.sovereignsociety.com/2006/11/what_will_you_d.html
Courtesy of a decision from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Customs officials can seize and copy the contents of any laptop carried across a U.S. border. There's no arrest, warrant or probable cause required˜just "gimme."
Chad Government Says In State Of War With Sudan
http://tinyurl.com/y54tq7
Chad is in a state of war with Sudan and its military is on the highest alert, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
'Hundreds killed' in Sudan battle (Nov 29)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6158121.stm
At least 300 people were killed in clashes between Sudan's army and former rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say.
Baghdad Airport shut at end of bloody day in Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/yyawvt
At the end of a day in which attacks killed at least 160 Iraqis and wounded more than 250, comes word that Baghdad's airport is shut.
Iraq Stares Into Face of Civil War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112406Z.shtml
Funeral processions began Friday for the more than 160 people who were killed by car bombs and mortars in Baghdad's largest Shiite district. Hundreds of men, women and children beat their chests, chanted and cried as they walked beside vehicles carrying the caskets of their loved ones. "There is a full-scale sectarian war in the country that the media has not been able to fully project to the world," says Bassam Ali, a political analyst from Arbil.
Iraqi coalition on brink of collapse as country descends towards civil war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1956567,00.html
The prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, was forced to choose between his US protectors and an essential pillar of his coalition, when Moqtada al-Sadr declared his intention to walk out, potentially bringing down the government, if Mr Maliki went ahead with a meeting with President George Bush in Jordan next week.
Iraq Quickly Heading Toward Full-Scale Civil War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506Z.shtml
Revenge-seeking Shiite militiamen seized six Sunnis as they left Friday prayers, drenched them with kerosene and burned them alive, and Iraqi soldiers did nothing to stop the attack, police and witnesses said. The fiery slayings in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Hurriyah were a dramatic escalation of the brutality coursing through the Iraqi capital, coming a day after suspected Sunni insurgents killed 215 people in Baghdad's main Shiite district with a combination of bombs and mortars. The attacks culminated Baghdad's deadliest week of sectarian fighting since the war began more than three years ago.
A Matter of Definition: What Makes a Civil War, and Who Declares It So?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606B.shtml
"Is Iraq in a civil war?" asks Edward Wong. "Though the Bush administration continues to insist that it is not, a growing number of American and Iraqi scholars, leaders and policy analysts say the fighting in Iraq meets the standard definition of civil war. The common scholarly definition has two main criteria. The first says that the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second says that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side."
Neighborhood by Neighborhood, Baghdad Descends Into Civil War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112806B.shtml
Sectarian violence has turned Baghdad into a deadly jigsaw puzzle of contested neighborhoods where armed bands of Shiite and Sunni Muslims battle daily for control, in fighting that is far more similar to an organized military campaign than is generally acknowledged.
Colin Powell Says Iraq in a "Civil War"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906T.shtml
Former secretary of state Colin Powell said Wednesday that Iraq's violence meets the standard of civil war and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might recommend that the administration use that term. Many news organizations and analysts are calling the Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare that exploded this year, killing thousands and causing widespread displacement, a civil war.
'Civil war' doesn't begin to describe the chaos in Iraq (Nov 30)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20061130/cm_usatoday/civilwardoesntbegintodescribethechaosiniraq
The reason the White House doesn't want to call the fighting in Iraq a "civil war" is no mystery. Civil war represents the failure of the Bush administration's effort to implant a stable, pro-U.S. democracy in Baghdad. And it's easier to rally public support for fighting terrorists than it is for leaving U.S. troops caught in a murderous struggle among rival religious militias. The sad reality is that "civil war" is too simple a term to describe what's happening inside Iraq, where the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 had the same effect as smacking a beehive with a baseball bat.Life in Baghdad, which the administration has defined as the pivotal battleground, is a nightmare. Iraqi civilians are butchered by the scores every day by car bombs and marauding death squads. U.S. troops are shot at by Sunnis when they try to defend Shiites and by Shiites when they try to defend Sunnis.Neighbors who want to live in peace - and there are still many in a country where Shiites and Sunnis often are intermingled and intermarried - are forced to seek security from religious militias.Were the slaughter controlled by two or three cohesive groups, as was the case in Bosnia a decade ago, the situation might neatly be described as civil war. But Iraq is messier.Shiites and Sunnis are splintered into smaller armed factions, some of which are battling each other. Add to that mix criminal gangs and foreign fighters aligned with the al-Qaeda terror network. CLIP
Civil war could ripple outward
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/16082761.htm
Whether the U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to American and Arab analysts and political observers.
US Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606Z.shtml
The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government report has concluded.
Britain May Start Pulling Out of Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112706R.shtml
Britain said Monday it expects to withdraw thousands of its 7,000 military personnel from Iraq by the end of next year, while Poland and Italy announced the impending withdrawal of their remaining troops. Polish president Lech Kaczynski said his country, a US ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, would pull its remaining 900 soldiers out of Iraq by the end of 2007.
Iraq Study Group to Call for Troop "Pullback"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/113006Z.shtml
The Iraq Study Group, which wrapped up eight months of deliberations yesterday, has reached a consensus and will call for a major withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, shifting the US role from combat to support and advising, according to a source familiar with the deliberations.
Learning to Live With the Ayatollahs
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/113006D.shtml
Robert Scheer writes: "The White House is desperately twisting itself into knots to find a way out of an Iraq debacle sure to top the political agenda in the '08 presidential election. Having idiotically dug ourselves a terribly deep hole in Iraq - remember when protesters against the war were mocked for using the word 'quagmire?' - Bush is now forced to beg Syria and Iran to throw us a rope."
Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people (Throwing a rope to Bush!)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15770.htm
If the US Government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America.
Iraq war was good for Israel: Olmert
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15719.htm
The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday, voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies. The mid-term election losses of U.S. President George W. Bush's Republican Party were widely considered a repudiation of his decision to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein as part of a vision of democratizing the region and bolstering allies like Israel.Olmert avoided explicit comment on the Republicans' fortunes during Washington talks with Bush earlier this month. But in a speech to visiting American Jews, Olmert made clear he had few regrets about the changes wrought by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (...) Under Saddam, Iraq backed Palestinian militants and posed a menacing presence to Israel's east. During the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq rained missiles on Israel but Israel held its fire at the behest of Washington, which was wary of alienating Arab allies. But Olmert's views on today's Iraq have not been shared by all Israeli experts.Yuval Diskin, chief of the Shin Bet intelligence service, said in a leaked briefing earlier this year that Israel could come to rue Saddam's ouster if it deepens regional instability."When you take apart a system in which a dictator has been controlling his people by force, you have chaos," Diskin said in a recording broadcast by Israeli television. "I'm not sure we won't end up missing Saddam."
24 Jewish organizations biggest fundraisers in US
http://tinyurl.com/yyxjb8
At the head of the Jewish organizations on the list was the United Jewish Communities (UJC) which ranked 34. The organization raised nearly USD 334 million in 2005.
US involved for longer time in Iraq than in World War II
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061123/pl_afp/usiraqwarwwiihistory_061123172950
The US involvement in Iraq will pass another sad milestone on Sunday, when it overtakes the length of America's engagement in World War II.
Bush Says US Won't Pull Out of Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112806A.shtml
President Bush, under pressure to change direction in Iraq, said Tuesday that he will not be persuaded by any calls to withdraw American troops. Recent US elections added fuel to the argument from Democrats that US soldiers need to come home. But Bush has resisted that, even while projecting the need for a different approach.
ANALYSIS-Iraq's oil industry in grip of despair (29 Nov 2006)
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L27909414&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-3
LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The present state of Iraq's collapsing oil sector, its economic lifeline, is bleak and its future looks far worse, despairing officials say.Another damaging oil attack this week, the prospect of British troops handing over the oil city of Basra and virtual civil war have all but crushed hope for Iraqi officials battling to keep exports flowing to world markets."One thing is sure. The worst is yet to come," an Iraqi oil industry source said by telephone from Baghdad.His task is made harder still by gross mismanagement at the oil ministry and chronic underinvestment in the vital sector -- already neglected for decades due to sanctions and wars. "There is no line of authority at the oil ministry," said an oil official in the capital. "We are crippled. We have the resources and the finances and we are still failing." With Baghdad in chaos, technocrats fear the oil producing regions in the Shi'ite south and in the north near Kurdistan may seize control of exports and effectively dismember the country that holds the world's third biggest oil reserves. (...) Whoever does lay claim to Kirkuk will inherit an 80-year-old oilfield that pumped 800,000 bpd or nearly a third of Iraq's output under Saddam Hussein.Rates have slowed to a trickle since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as relentless sabotage along the northern export pipeline to Turkey has kept exports mostly idle. The field was dealt another blow on Monday when a mortar attack ignited nearby oil tanks and cut Kirkuk production to about 100,000 bpd from 300,000 bpd.
US carried out madrasah bombing
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15737.htm
THE bombing of a Pakistani madrasah last month, in which 82 students were killed, was carried out by the United States, a Pakistani official has admitted.
US hawk judges ‘war on terror’ a mistake (Nov 23, 2006)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/42f85512-7b23-11db-bf9b-0000779e2340.html
(...) Despite his hawkish reputation, Mr Iklé is tough on the White House, calling GWOT – the “global war on terror” – a distraction and a rallying cry that unites enemies of the US, not divides them. As for Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, his speeches warning of a generational GWOT are “defeatist and anodyne”.Rejecting calls to arms by the same neo-conservatives who advocated invading Iraq, he says a pre-emptive attack on Iran “would be a catastrophic failure”. Asked if he had been opposed to the war on Iraq, he answers somewhat ruefully: “I wish I could say I was. Enormous and incredible mistakes in Iraq may end up driving us out, but if we handle the exit correctly it will not make the US more vulnerable, and can be made worse for our jihadist adversaries who are killing each other.”“Pulling out of Iraq will lead to feelings of guilt, with some justification. In some ways we have made things worse than under Saddam Hussein,” he concludes.
Expert: Bush can't attack Iran: Security expert tells forum (Nov. 22, 06)
http://tinyurl.com/yavbf4
US President George Bush does not have sufficient credit to initiate a military strike on Iran, Giora Romm, senior researcher for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, told a forum attended by members of the Foreign Ministry and delegates from the American Jewish community in Jerusalem Tuesday. Romm was a former Air Force pilot, Assistant Director of IDF operations, defense attache to Washington and a former head of the Jewish Agency. He recently returned from Washington, and described how senior American officials were completely preoccupied with the war in Iraq. "Iraq is sitting very heavily on them," Romm said, adding that the problems of the Iraq war have robbed President Bush of any credibility. Quoting a senior American official, Romm told the forum, "If Bush does something physical to Iran, he will be impeached." "Bush has no military credit. Don't delude yourself by thinking that Bush has a military option (regarding Iran). I don't think the average American is convinced that his country is in danger (from Iran), and isn't moved by dangers in the Middle East. After 3.5 years in Iraq, he won't be convinced by wishy washy intelligence," Romm said. He added that the same source, from the Democratic Party, said, "If there isn't a change in Iraq within six months, I'm told, people will take to the streets like in Vietnam." Speaking to Ynetnews, Romm said he "could see a situation where we would attack Iran and the United States won't, but I can't estimate that now." Romm added that the American-Israeli alliance has not been endangered following the Democratic upswing in the US elections. CLIP
Revolutionary Guards Head: 'US Forces in Middle East 'Extremely' Vulnerable (Nov. 23, 2006)
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/revolutionary-guards-head-us-forces-in.html
Revolutionary Guards Head: 'US Forces in Middle East 'Extremely' Vulnerable (...) At the end of his talk, asked about the aim of the latest US military maneuver, Safavi said: America has fallen into the quagmire of Iraq and Afghanistan and it can neither make headway nor retreat, and if it attacks Iran, it 200,000 troops and 33 bases in the region will be extremely vulnerable and both American politicians and military commanders are aware of it. Safavi went on: Americans can start a war, but its ending will not be in their hands, taking into account that we have not yet asked the people of Iraq to take any action (as published).The general's words were met with enthusiasm by the students, and continuing with his talk, he added: After the military exercises, one of the American generals in Kuwait said the same way that the combatants of Hezbollah and their missiles took us by surprise, so did Iran's missile capability.In reply to another question about the defeat of the American plan for the Greater Middle East, the IRGC commander stressed: They have tried hard and so far have spent 400bn dollars in Iraq, but we are the beneficiaries. Moreover, two of our major adversaries, Saddam and the Taliban, are no longer there and our influence in the region has increased to the extent that we are the strategic winner in the Middle East. CLIP
U.S.- Iran history, beyond the fear
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15711.htm
So warm, gracious and welcoming were the people of Iran, in just two days I felt safer walking the streets of Tehran, a city of 16 million, than I did in Albany. Where was this "axis of evil"?
US could bomb Iran nuclear sites in 2007: analysts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15708.htm
President George W. Bush could choose military action over diplomacy and bomb Iran's nuclear facilities next year, political analysts in Washington agree.
'No proof' of Iran nuclear arms
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167304.stm
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine has reported.
China nearing deal to develop huge Iran field
http://tinyurl.com/yzubxc
China's Sinopec Group is near to clinching one of its biggest overseas deals, to develop Iran's giant Yadavaran oilfield, a top Chinese industry official said yesterday.
Gates & the Iran Arms Sales (November 23, 2006)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/112306.html
Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates narrowly escaped legal fallout from the Iran-Contra scandal 20 years ago. But new evidence from his former CIA colleagues suggests Gates was more interested in serving his political masters at the White House than in reporting accurate intelligence. Gates's actions from that shadowy period are relevant again as the Senate evaluates whether Gates has the right stuff to stand up to George W. Bush.
Pentagon delays chemical weapons disposal
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2373157.php
The Pentagon has extended its timeline to destroy its aging chemical weapons arsenal until 2023. the military won't eliminate its stock of deadly nerve gases and skin-blistering agents until 11 years after the 2012 deadline set by the international Chemical Weapons Convention.
U.S. is ranked 17th in level of democracy
http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=9282
Sweden is the most democratic country, according to the research, with 9.88 average score. Ireland, 9.71 points, the Netherlands, 9.66, and Norway, 9.55 follow the Scandinavian kingdom. The US is ranked 17th while Japan is 20th and the United Kingdom 23rd.
Assault on Press Freedom (November 26, 2006)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/26/INGAKMHOCV1.DTL
In a nation that preaches the virtues of democracy, the United States government has consistently eroded the media's ability to report. U.S. press freedom has been slipping away since Sept. 11, 2001. Many other countries are now ranked freer than the United States. In the most recent survey by Freedom House [the U.S.] tied for 17th place. International free-press advocates Reporters Without Borders ranked us 53rd, tied with Botswana, Croatia and Tonga. Now that we are in a seemingly permanent "war" on terrorism, the government claims wartime powers that result in restricting press freedom. The Bush administration has multiplied exponentially the number of documents it classifies as secret. The office of Vice President Dick Cheney claims to be exempt from reporting even the numbers of records it brands with the "classified" stamp. Within weeks after 9/11, President Bush issued Executive Order 13233, allowing him to veto public release not only of his own presidential papers but those of former [presidents]. (...) It is hard to stomach the hypocrisy of claiming to spread democracy abroad while restricting at home the very freedoms that make democracy possible. Recommended by Fred Burks fredburks@earthlink.net"> - Many more such news excerpts through http://www.WantToKnow.info/061127newsarticles
Chertoff's 'Chilling Vision' (Nov 22)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/112106b.html
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who runs the giant agency that keeps track of threats to the United States, has shared what he calls his “chilling vision” of the future – a time when U.S. government actions might be constrained by international law.Chertoff outlined his nightmare scenario in a Nov. 17 speech to the Federalist Society, an organization of right-wing lawyers who spearheaded the legal arguments for granting President George W. Bush authority unbound by any law, including the constitutional rights of Americans. But the focus of Chertoff’s warning was that the United States is under growing pressure from legal scholars and the world community to comply with international law, especially on war crimes and humane treatment of detainees in the “war on terror.” “The fact is, whether we like it or not, international law is increasingly entering our domestic domain,” Chertoff said. The culprits, according to Chertoff, include a narrow majority of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has begun to bring it through cases like Hamdan,” a reference to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in which the high court cited the Geneva Conventions in ruling that hundreds of suspects being held without charges at Guantanamo Bay had legal rights. Chertoff objected to the Supreme Court’s reference to the Geneva Conventions despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution states that treaties entered into by the U.S. government are the “supreme law of the land” and all four Geneva Conventions were long ago signed by the U.S. Executive and ratified by the U.S. Senate. Chertoff also protested the mounting worldwide legal criticism of the U.S. government. “International law is being used as a rhetorical weapon against us,” Chertoff said. “We are constantly portrayed as being on the losing end, and the negative end of international law developments.” CLIP
Rumsfeld Approved of Torture Says Former US General
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606Y.shtml
Outgoing defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib, the prison's former US commander said in an interview on Saturday.
1,245 Secret CIA Flights Revealed by European Parliament
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/1245_secret_cia.html
The Parliament's draft report concludes "member states had knowledge of the programme of extraordinary rendition and secret prisons."
MEPs condemn Britain's role in 'torture flights' (Nov 30)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15772.htm
Britain's role in CIA "torture flights" was roundly condemned yesterday by the European parliament in a scathing report which for the first time named the site of a suspected secret US detention centre in the EU - at Stare Kiejkuty in Poland.
The Torture Society
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15778.htm
The United States is trying to burnish its nasty image as one of the world's leading torture states--not by eliminating torture, but by silencing its victims. In a remarkable bit of legal sang-froid, the Bush Administration has filed a brief in its case against Majid Khan asking a federal court to seal its torture of him as "top secret."
School of the Americas Opponents Seek New Vote (Video)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112706Q.shtml
Opponents of the School of the Americas think that with the new make-up of Congress, they might have the votes to shut down the controversial training center for foreign military officers. Last weekend, thousands of protesters returned to Fort Benning, Georgia, for the 17th consecutive year to call for the closure of the school, whose training manuals advocate torture, extortion and execution. Rebecca MacNeice was there and filed this report for Truthout.
Despite a Year of Ire and Angst, Little Has Changed on Wiretaps
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506Y.shtml
For all the sound and fury in the last year, the National Security Agency's wiretapping program continues uninterrupted, with no definitive action by either Congress or the courts on what, if anything, to do about it, and little chance of a breakthrough in the lame-duck Congress.
E-mail users warned over spy network
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1357264.stm
Computer users across Europe should encrypt all their e-mails, to avoid being spied on by a UK-US eavesdropping network, say Euro-MPs. The tentacles of the Echelon network stretch so far that the UK's involvement could constitute a breach of human rights, they say. The Euro-MPs have been studying Echelon for almost a year, after allegations that it has been used by the US to commit industrial espionage against European firms. They conclude that Echelon - whose existence is not officially acknowledged - is reading millions of e-mails and faxes sent every day by ordinary people. The US has denied the system even exists, and the UK refuses to give details, except to say that communications interception is a vital tool in the fight against "dangers to society". The Echelon operation is based at Fort Meade in Maryland, America, and at the UK's spy centre, GCHQ in Cheltenham. Note: For another revealing BBC News report on Echelon, go at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/503224.stm.
When Votes Disappear
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112406C.shtml
"There were many problems with voting in this election - and in at least one Congressional race, the evidence strongly suggests that paperless voting machines failed to count thousands of votes, and that the disappearance of these votes delivered the race to the wrong candidate," writes Paul Krugman. "As far as I can tell, the reason Florida-13 hasn't become a major national story is that neither control of Congress nor control of the White House is on the line. But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we're in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?"
Missing Votes in FL-13 Favored Dems
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112206S.shtml
The group of nearly 18,000 voters that registered no choice in Sarasota's disputed congressional election solidly backed Democratic candidates in all five of Florida's statewide races, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of ballot data shows. Among these voters, even the weakest Democrat - agriculture commissioner candidate Eric Copeland - outpaced a much-better-known Republican incumbent by 551 votes.
Experts Concerned as Ballot Problems Persist
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606G.shtml
After six years of technological research, more than $4 billion spent by Washington on new machinery and a widespread overhaul of the nation's voting system, this month's midterm election revealed that the country is still far from able to ensure that every vote counts.
Fresh Nuke Threats Follow India-Pakistan "Peace Talks"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112206C.shtml
J. Sri Raman writes: "Diplomats of India and Pakistan spent two days resuming 'peace talks' last week. Within four days of the talks, the security establishments of the two countries have test-fired two nuclear-capable missiles, sending tremors through the entire region."
Child database 'will ruin family privacy' (23/11/2006)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=HBMBMKVZ3RUSJQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/11/22/nchild22.xml
Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner.In what is likely to be a major embarrassment to Tony Blair, it says proposals for a £224 million database containing details of every child will waste millions of pounds, undermine parental authority and actually put children in more danger. Family privacy is in danger from new government database. The report comes amid Government fanfare about "supporting" parents with parenting classes backed by a "super nanny" army of child psychologists. Mr Blair defended the super nanny idea saying it was right to give families a "helping hand". "No one's talking about interfering with normal family life," he added.But experts in child protection, law and computers, who have written today's report, express astonishment that a Government which emphasises the importance of good parenting also plans to devalue the status of the mother and father with a Big Brother surveillance system which violates the law and is not secure.Such a system may also hold inaccurate information, tarnishing families or children unfairly. "Families' privacy and autonomy is being shattered as the Government puts them all under surveillance," they say. "Government policy proposes treating all parents as if they cannot be trusted to bring up their children."Doctors, schools and the police will have to alert the database to a wide range of "concerns". Two warning flags on a child's record could trigger an investigation. CLIP
Suspect Nation - Channel 4 UK - Video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15736.htm
Since Tony Blair's New Labour government came to power in 1997, the UK civil liberties landscape has changed dramatically. The right to remain silent is no longer universal. Our right to privacy, free from interception of communications has been severely curtailed. The ability to travel without surveillance (or those details of our journeys being retained) has disappeared.
Repeating: So why won't the New York Times cover Project Censored? (NOVEMBER 22, 2006)
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/bruce/
This is an important journalistic and public policy question. The Times claims to be the world's pre-eminent newspaper, it publishes the International Herald Tribune, has a major news service, and owns a batch of media properties, including the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the daily "of record" for the project, which is housed at nearby Sonoma State University. Yet, in the project's 30 year history, the Times has neither published nor written about the Censored Project and its list of serious stories the mainstream media censored or ignored. Peter Philips, the project director, told me that the awards ceremonies were held for a number of years in New York (l996-2000) and that Times reporters would often attend. Phillips remembered one reporter in particular who said, "Keep it up, we post your list in the newsroom every year." CLIP Check also 30 years of Project Censored at http://www.ringnebula.com/index_Censorship.htm
The Money Masters: History of the Federal Reserve
http://globalartistvillage.blogspot.com/2006/11/money-masters-history-of-federal.html
Online Free Video: The Money Masters (2 hr.) - Amazing history of our monetary system and how our government is controlled by the Federal Reserve bankers. Here's a well-researched documentary on the money system (even back to Roman times) and how we got to where we are financially being controlled by a private corporation (the so-called Federal Reserve).You might think (like I did) that the Federal Reserve Bank was somehow a governmental institution, especially because the President appoints the chairman. However, this documentary points out that he appoints only two board members out of 7. And the name is just a scam. It's as governmental as Federal Express and is similarly listed as such in the White Pages phone book. It's not listed in the governmental section.I'd heard various bits and pieces of this stuff over the years, and it sounded pretty fantastic, so I figured a good bit of it might be just a wild conspiracy theory. But this video really puts things into perspective with lots of historical references and quotes by famous people.
London stock trader urges move to 'amero' (Nov 28, 2006)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53124
Says many unaware of plan to replace dollar with N. American currency. - In an interview with CNBC, a vice president for a prominent London investment firm yesterday urged a move away from the dollar to the "amero," a coming North American currency, he said, that "will have a big impact on everybody's life, in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."Steve Previs, a vice president at Jefferies International Ltd., explained the Amero "is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."The aim, he said, according to a transcript provided by CNBC to WND, is to make a "borderless community, much like the European Union, with the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso being replaced by the amero."Previs told the television audience many Canadians are "upset" about the amero. Most Americans outside of Texas largely are unaware of the amero or the plans to integrate North America, Previs observed, claiming many are just "putting their head in the sand" over the plans. (...) The speculation on the future of a new North American currency came amid a major U.S. dollar sell-off worldwide that began last week. Yesterday, the dollar also reached new multi-month low against the euro, breaking through the $1.30 per euro technical high that had held since April 2005. CLIP
Struggling U.S. dollar triggers currency concerns
http://tinyurl.com/ueto7
The sudden weakness of the U.S. dollar began late last week, soon after Chinese officials suggested that holding a lot of dollars might be a losing investment strategy. Investors read that as a signal that the massive trade and financial imbalances between Asia and the U.S. may be about to unwind.
Venezuela and Peak Oil: New Estimate of Oil Reserves Makes Venezuela the Grandest of Grand Prizes for the US (May 23, 2006)
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=STE20060523&articleId=2500
(...) From what we know for sure plus what we think we may know about Venezuelan "total" oil reserves, I suggest the reader first take a seat and buckle up. In previous articles, I reported Venezuela may have reserves of about 350 billion barrels if all their known heavy and light crude are counted. That total is far more than is now officially recognized by OPEC which means unofficially the country has greater reserves than Saudi Arabia by that number alone.But wait, there's more, a lot more. Palast reports a US Energy Department expert believes Venezuela holds 90% of the world's super-heavy tar oil reserves - an estimated total of 1,360,000,000,000 (1.36 trillion) barrels. Let me repeat that - 1.36 trillion barrels. That alone is more oil than Hubbert believed 50 years ago lay under the entire planet. Again, back to the key issue. Whatever the true highest estimate of reserves is from all varieties of oil, those reserves are only available at a price. If it ever gets too low again, which looks unlikely, those heavy reserves and tar sands oil will again go off the charts and be uncounted. However, with today's heavy demand and the likelihood of it continuing to grow in the future, the price of oil may continue to rise and all reserves from all sources may be needed and used to supply the market.So with a report like this coming from an apparent credible source (according to Palast) in the US Energy Department, it takes little imagination for VHeadline readers to understand more than ever that Venezuela is likely viewed by any US administration as the world's most important source of future oil supply. And to readers who understand US imperial intentions, it takes even less insight to realize the Bush administration intends to go all out to get its hands on it even if it takes a war to do it. The US goal isn't access to the oil. It's control of the supply and its price, what countries get it and how much and which ones don't, what companies profit from it, and overall how this ocean of oil can be used as a strategic resource and weapon. Beyond question, the stakes are enormous, and the battle lines are now drawn more clearly than ever. I've reported before on VHeadline that the US is now planning a fourth attempt to oust Hugo Chavez by whatever means it has in mind. I think the wheels of its plan are now in motion, but we won't know what will unfold until the fireworks begin. With the information now available and published here, I feel more certain than ever that US instigated serious trouble is heading toward Venezuela and maybe harsher than we might expect. Venezuela's likely total oil reserves are potentially so great that the country has to be the grandest of grand prizes for the US. It's a virtual certainty the US will do anything it takes to try to seize and control it. For those of us who respect the sovereign rights of all nations and the obligation their leaders have above all else to serve the needs of their people, we can only hope Hugo Chavez is prepared for what he knows is coming and will again succeed in deterring it.
Russia Arming Venezuela in Anticipation of an Expected U.S. Invasion? (July 29, 2006)
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060729&articleId=2854
The Russian Federation and Venezuela on July 27, 2006 have negotiated and approved the sale of 24 aircraft and 53 helicopters—about a $1 billion (U.S.) deal—to Venezuela, as part of an ongoing landmark event, defying the American threats and demands to halt all weapons transfers and any future deals between Russia and Venezuela. Russia has already supplied and started delivering portions of a 100,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles ordered by Venezuela and Russian attack helicopters to Venezuela. This deal has further entrenched Russian-Venezuelan cooperation, partnership, and the strategic shift of Russia replacing the United States as the military hardware supplier of Venezuela. The securing of this military hardware agreement between Russia and Venezuela is a sign of the fermenting geo-strategic confrontation or rivalry between the Russia and the United States. (...) A statement released on March 8, 2005 and signed by almost 400 Venezuelan journalists accused the U.S. government and media of a campaign to prepare the basis for a U.S. military attack on Venezuela to control it natural resources, namely oil. Tensions were further heightened when Venezuela detected the secret presence of “US Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles” on the Caribbean island of Curacao, part of the Dutch Antilles, just 75 km from the Venezuelan mainland during March, 2006, which the U.S. Ambassador in Caracas apologized for as a “lack of communication” between the Venezuelan and American governments.Since the start of 2005, Venezuela has laid the strategic foundations of a new national security doctrine and an expanded military capability that is based on the core assumption that the greatest threat to Venezuelan sovereignty is the United States. Venezuela has also created a military reserve program that is projected to mobilize 2.6 million citizens in the defence of Venezuela from an American attack. CLIP
Russia starts supplies of Su-30 fighters to Venezuela (Nov 30)
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061130/56213509.html
Russia has shipped the first two Su-30MK2 multi-role fighters to Venezuela under a contract signed in July 2006, an aircraft manufacturing industry official said Thursday.
Hugo Chavez Holds Commanding Lead Eight Days Before Election (Nov 25, 2006)
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/11/25/p12425
Hugo Chavez holds an insurmountable lead in two late November polls - one by Ipsos Venezuela/the AP-Ipsos Poll and the other by Zogby International-University of Miami. Both were released on November 24 and are the most current and reliable data available and are consistent with most independent poll results for months.[More:]This is in stark contrast to several fraudulent US National Endowment of Democracy (NED)-financed oligarch-run ones published to create a false perception of public sentiment in preparation for cries of fraud once the election results are in. This is now standard US operating practice in all developing countries when Washington fears an unacceptable electoral outcome, so it tries to subvert the democratic process by engineering one in its favor. That's how it's playing out in Venezuela now where things are in place to create the myth of what's impossible to achieve in fact to help Washington pull off its scheme to remove the main "threat" to its hegemony in the hemisphere. It's not likely to work any better now than in the failed 2002 coup attempt, but there will be mass-staged street protests that may get violent before it's over proving it. (...) Both polls thus show Chavez with an insurmountable 2 - 1 lead with eight days to go before the election. Moreover, these polls are consistent with nearly all independently-run pre-election surveys showing Washington-selected Rosales has no chance to win (something he knows), and Hugo Chavez will be reelected for another six year term as president with an impressive margin of victory - because the great majority of Venezuelans love him and won't allow anyone else to serve as their president as long as he wants the job.Here's the rub. That's not what the Bush administration wants, virtually guaranteeing post-election cries of fraud followed by staged street protests with likely violence and a fourth Washington-directed attempt to oust Chavez to prevent him from continuing as president. The people of Venezuela won't tolerate this kind of interference, and that sets the stage for a turbulent period just ahead - the many millions of Venezuelans vs. George Bush and his failed administration visibly consumed in the burning sands of Iraq. If some variety of that template is the way to defeat a hegemon, it bodes well for democracy in Venezuela but not without a struggle to achieve it. History shows even superpowers are no match for mass people-action when it's determined enough to prevail. We'll soon know if it proves so Venezuelan-style again.
AIDS Pandemic Gains Renewed Strength (Nov 22)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,1953799,00.html
Report highlights reversal of prevention in Uganda · Improvement in Europe and US 'not sustained' - The spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic continues unabated, with the number of people infected rising once more in some countries which had been thought to be beating the disease, according to the UN.There are now 39.5 million living with HIV infection, according to the annual UNAIDS report, released ahead of World Aids Day on December 1, and 4.3 million of those were infected in 2006. That is 400,000 more than were infected in 2004. Most alarming is the increased prevalence in Uganda, long held up as a showcase to the world of what could be achieved in Africa with campaigning, education and widespread condom use. The report shows a rise from a low of 5.6% infection among men and 6.9% among women in 2000 to 6.5% in men and 8.8% in women in 2004. The reasons for the increase are not clear, but there has been a shift in the message from Uganda's leadership. Between the early 1990s and early 2000s, HIV prevalence fell sharply in major cities among pregnant women - the group most commonly monitored because they have contact with health services - as President Yoweri Museveni worked to raise awareness of the dangers of HIV and put the authority of his office behind condom use.But in recent years the message on condoms has been diluted in favour of greater emphasis on sexual abstinence until marriage - in line with the thinking of the Bush administration, which is spending millions of dollars on HIV prevention and treatment. Critics say many women are not in a position to abstain from sex and that many are infected by their husbands. CLIP
AIDS Set to Become One of Top Three Killers Worldwide
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112806HA.shtml
Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide, with estimates that at least 117 million people will die from the disease by 2030, according to a study published online Monday.
Bush Fails Women With Global AIDS Plan
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/113006HA.shtml
The President's relief plan ignores the gender dimensions of the AIDS epidemic, and women are paying for it with their lives.
Catholics Urge Pope Benedict XVI to Lift Ban on Condoms
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/113006HB.shtml
In recognition of World AIDS Day, Catholics from around the globe are calling on the pope to lift the ban on condoms in order to help stem the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The American Thanksgiving: Rejoicing in Genocide and White Supremacy (Nov 26, 2006)
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/11/26/p12432
"Thanksgiving as presently celebrated is an affront to civilization.” Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of “the founders” as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year –- a pure glorification of racist barbarity. We should all be thankful that the time grows nearer when the almost four centuries-old abomination will be deprived of its reason for being: white supremacy. Then we may all eat and drink in peace and gratitude for the blessings of humanity’s deliverance from the rule of evil men. “The near-erasure of Native Americans in Massachusetts was the true mission of the Pilgrim enterprise – Act One of the American Dream.” (...) White America embraced Thanksgiving because a majority of that population glories in the fruits--if not the unpleasant details--of genocide and slavery. They feel, on the whole, good about their heritage: a cornucopia of privilege and national power. Children are taught to identify with the good fortune of the Pilgrims. It does not much matter that the Native American and African holocausts that flowed from the feast at Plymouth are hidden from the children’s version of the story –- kids learn soon enough that Indians were made scarce and Africans became enslaved. (...) We began this essay by saying that “the day grows nearer when the almost-four-centuries-old abomination [Thanksgiving] will be deprived of its reason for being: white supremacy.” We firmly believe this. The electronically-interconnected world works against the Bush men’s insane forcible drive to global hegemony, while creating the material basis for (dare we say the words) brother- and sister-hood among humankind. It becomes ever clear that the fruits of millennia of human genius cannot, for too much longer, be captured and re-packaged for the enrichment of a few-–and certainly not by a cabal that cannot see beyond the bubble-boy mentality of its own warped history. The dim outlines of an emerging far more democratic world order can be seen in the sometimes tentative, but sometimes dramatic actions of progressive movements and nations that are determined to construct a fairer and freer way to live. As the world witnesses the brutality, stupidity and sheer incompetence of the piratical cabal that is currently at the helm of the United States, it becomes apparent to all how urgent it is to formulate and implement a common, alternative human project. The “end of history” that the Bush men have triumphantly announced is really the end of themselves, through a process they have accelerated with every deranged action and every delusional strategy they have undertaken since 2001. They are like men in quicksand. Their infliction of a global scourge of militaristic white racism will sink them. Eventually it will wither to a mere prejudice rather than a world-threatening menace. And when that day comes, it will--at long last--be time for a global Thanksgiving. - Read also the related article on this below... Blind Obedience to the Canons of Capitalism
The Mercury Thing (MARCH 2, 2006)
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A79267
Evidence is mounting that vaccinations may have played a part in the skyrocketing autism rate (...) "There is no doubt that the number of reported cases has dramatically increased, from three or four cases per 10,000 20 years ago to one in 166. And according to the best data we have, which is from California, where there's a fixed set of diagnostic criteria and a good reporting system, cases have increased every year that they've been counting--until last year, when there was a slight decrease," says Adams."That could be a statistical blip, but coming after an unbroken string of increases, it may be significant."The numbers from California may provide an argument against increased awareness and reporting as the sole cause of the jump in autism cases: If the trend in California holds, that will seem to support the theory that increased vaccination, and specifically increased childhood inoculations with vaccines containing mercury, is at least partly responsible for the reported rise in autism and other neurological disorders (including ADD, ticking and hyperactivity) and in immune disorders in American children since 1989. The vaccination argument, which is waged with intense conviction on both sides, was made in some detail by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in an article jointly published last June in Rolling Stone and at Slate.com.
High Court to Weigh Climate Change Case
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112706EA.shtml
The Supreme Court hears arguments this week in a case that could determine whether the Bush administration must change course in how it deals with the threat of global warming. A dozen states as well as environmental groups and large cities are trying to convince the court that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate, as a matter of public health, the amount of carbon dioxide that comes from vehicles.
Global Warming Goes to Court
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112806EC.shtml
The New York Times writes: "The Bush administration has been on a six-year campaign to expand its powers, often beyond what the Constitution allows. So it is odd to hear it claim that it lacks the power to slow global warming by limiting the emission of harmful gases. But that is just what it will argue to the Supreme Court tomorrow, in what may be the most important environmental case in many years."
Supreme Court clashes on climate change (Nov 29)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15954170/
(...) The court heard oral arguments in the case on Wednesday but will rule only sometime next year. Massachusetts brought the suit, backed by California, New York and several other states, to try to force the EPA to regulate exhaust emissions from new cars. The EPA says it does not have the authority to regulate such emissions, under federal law. Even if it did, the EPA says, it would refuse to do so because of continuing uncertainty in the science of global warming, and because unilateral US action could reduce America's bargaining power in international negotiations on reducing emissions. CLIP
The Science Is Unambiguous - It's Now Time to Act
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112706EB.shtml
David Miliband writes: "Climate change raises issues of science, economics and politics. By the month the debate moves on: 2007 will be a key year. And the science is now unambiguous. At the recent 12th Annual United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Nairobi, no country challenged the consensus: climate change is man-made, it is happening now, carbon levels already in the atmosphere are dangerous, and if we carry on catastrophic climate change will become more, rather than less, likely."
Global Warming Urgent Say Unions for 10,000 EPA Workers
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/113006EA.shtml
Union representatives for more than 10,000 US Environmental Protection Agency scientists are calling on Congress to take immediate action against global warming, according to a petition that calls for an end to censorship of agency scientists and other specialists on topics of climate change and the effects of air pollution.
Farm Animals More Damaging To Climate Than Cars (Nov 29, 2006)
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Farm_Animals_More_Damaging_To_Climate_Than_Cars_999.html
Rome (AFP) - The livestock industry contributes more to the greenhouse effect than cars, the UN food and farming agency said in a report Wednesday which also slammed this sector as a major source of soil and water degradation. "The livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent than transport," said the report by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).By this yardstick, livestock now accounts for 18 percent of man-made carbon emissions, driven by the surge in demand for meat and dairy products, FAO said.Global meat production is set to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, according to a UN projection. Milk output is projected to soar from 580 million to 1,043 million tonnes over the same period."When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for nine percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases."It generates 65 percent of human-caused nitrous oxide, a gas that is 296 times more effective at trapping solar heat than carbon dioxide (CO2), the biggest greenhouse-gas by volume. Most of this pollution comes from manure.Livestock also accounts for 37 percent of all human-induced methane, which is 23 times as warming as CO2 and is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and for 64 percent of ammonia, a big contributor to acid rain.Not only that, but livestock's demand for feed crops contributes to biodiversity loss. The report proposes to increase the efficiency of livestock production and feed crop agriculture, and to improve animals' diets to reduce fermentation and consequent methane emissions. -- Livestock accounts for 37 percent of all human-induced methane, which is 23 times as warming as CO2 and is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and for 64 percent of ammonia, a big contributor to acid rain.
Europe's Finest Forest Put at Risk by Road "Disaster"
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112706EC.shtml
One of Europe's last areas of unspoiled forest is facing an unprecedented threat from the construction of a road through some of Romania's most precious and diverse countryside. Environmentalists have warned the route could prove catastrophic for endangered species of animals and plants living in the southern Carpathians. "This road will be the beginning of the end," said Gabriel Paun, program campaigner for Greenpeace. "It is a disaster."
Carbon Emissions Show Sharp Rise
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112806EB.shtml
The Global Carbon Project says that emissions were rising by less than 1% annually up to the year 2000, but are now rising at 2.5% per year. It says the acceleration comes mainly from a rise in charcoal consumption and a lack of new energy efficiency gains.
Melting Ice May Release Frozen Influenza Viruses (Nov 27, 2006)
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2006/2006-11-27-09.asp#anchor3
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio, November 27, 2006 (ENS) - Long-dormant strains of influenza, packed in ice in remote global outposts, could be unleashed by melting and migratory birds, according to Professor Scott Rogers at Bowling Green State University. Chair of the Department of Biological Science, Dr. Rogers is in the middle of a two-year, $139,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.“We've found viral RNA in the ice in Siberia, and it's along the major flight paths of migrating waterfowl,” whose pathways take them to North America, Asia and Australia, and interconnect with other migratory paths to Europe and Africa, explains Rogers. The virus that Rogers and his collaborators have found is closest to a strain that circulated from 1933-38 and again in the 1960s.Viruses, he says, can be preserved in ice over long periods of time, then released decades later when humans may no longer be immune to them. For instance, survivors of the worldwide flu pandemic of 1918 had immunity to the responsible strain, called H1N1, but that immunity has died with them, meaning a recurrence "could take hold as an epidemic," said Rogers. (...) Rogers points out that it remains to be demonstrated that the frozen viruses are still alive. But "we think they can survive a long time" in ice, he reiterates, saying that tomato mosaic virus has been found in 140,000 year old ice in Greenland. CLIP
Check the comprehensive Climate Crisis Coalition website
http://www.climatecrisiscoalition.org as well as their Newsfeed ...
http://www.climatecrisiscoalition.org/climatenews/
Bowing to the Inevitable (Nov 26, 2006)
http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3428.cfm
The Washington Post, November 26, 2006. "As the Bush administration debates much of the world about what to do about global warming, butterflies and ski-lift operators, polar bears and hydroelectric planners are on the move. In their separate ways, wild creatures, business executives and regional planners are responding to climate changes that are rapidly recalibrating their chances for survival, for profit and for effective delivery of public services... A newly published synthesis of 866 peer-reviewed studies of the effect of climate change on wild plants and animals has found what its author, Camille Parmesan, an assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, describes as a 'clear, globally coherent conclusion.' Flora and fauna are migrating north or climbing to higher ground if they can, said Parmesan, whose paper appears in the December issue of the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. If they cannot move, she said, their numbers are often declining, their health is getting worse, and some are disappearing altogether...
Global warming may explain India's extreme storm rise: study (November 30, 2006)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30112006/323/global-warming-explain-india-s-extreme-storm-rise-study.html
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A rise in the number and strength of "extreme" rainstorms in central India could be linked to global warming, a new study in the journal Science said. Five Indian meteorologists studied the rise in frequency of extreme rainstorms -- those which deliver more than 100 millimeters (3.94 inches) in a day -- in central India over the past five decades. While they said that average annual rainfall has generally gone unchanged, there was a 10 percent increase each decade in the number of heavy rainstorms (more than 100 millimeters a day) and a doubling over the five decades of very heavy storms (more than 150 millimeters a day).They said further that the four largest storms in each June-September monsoon season have intensified on average by 10 percent in the 1950-2000 period. CLIP
Thank El Nino for mild Atlantic hurricane season (Nov 30, 2006)
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-11-30T171607Z_01_N30457944_RTRUKOC_0_US-WEATHER-HURRICANES.xml&src=rss
MIAMI (Reuters) - The surprisingly mild 2006 Atlantic hurricane season ended with a whimper on Thursday and forecasters said it was too early to know if El Nino will last long enough to flatten next year's hurricanes too. The unexpected formation of the Pacific warm-water phenomenon that hampers storm formation in the Atlantic turned what was expected to be another above-average season into a pussycat.The official six-month season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, produced only nine tropical storms and hurricanes, below the average of 10 and dramatically fewer than the 16 or 17 some researchers had predicted back in May. "We caught a break this year," said Gerry Bell, a hurricane forecaster at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.But like many weather researchers, Bell is still waving the hurricane warning flag."We're still in an active hurricane era. These periods last 25 to 40 years and we're 12 years into one. We've got a long ways to go." The mild 2006 season provided welcome relief for millions of people in the Caribbean and along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts who endured two blockbuster years in 2004 and 2005.Last year produced a record 28 storms including Hurricane Katrina, which killed some 1,500 people on the Gulf Coast and caused $80 billion in damage. CLIP
THROWAWAY ECONOMY IN TROUBLE
http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch06_ss4.htm
One of the distinctly unhealthy economic trends over the last half-century has been the emergence of a throwaway economy. First conceived following World War II as a way of providing consumers with products, it soon came to be seen also as a vehicle for creating jobs and sustaining economic growth. The more goods produced and discarded, the reasoning went, the more jobs there would be. (...) The throwaway economy is on a collision course with the earth’s geological limits. Aside from running out of landfills near cities, the world is also fast running out of the cheap oil that is used to manufacture and transport throwaway products. Perhaps more fundamentally, there is not enough readily accessible lead, tin, copper, iron ore, or bauxite to sustain the throwaway economy beyond another two or three generations. Assuming an annual 2-percent growth in extraction, U.S. Geological Survey data on current economically recoverable reserves show the world has 18 years of reserves remaining for lead, 20 years for tin, 25 years for copper, 64 years for iron ore, and 69 years for bauxite(...) Given the 12,000 tons of garbage produced each day in New York and assuming a load of 20 tons of garbage for each of the tractor-trailers used for the long-distance hauling, some 600 rigs are needed to move garbage from New York City daily. These tractor-trailers form a convoy nearly nine miles long—impeding traffic, polluting the air, and raising carbon emissions. This daily convoy led Deputy Mayor Joseph J. Lhota, who supervised the Fresh Kills shutdown, to observe that getting rid of the city’s trash is now “like a military-style operation on a daily basis.” (...) Garbage travails are not limited to New York City. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, closed its last remaining landfill on December 31, 2002, and now ships all its 1.1-million-ton-per-year garbage to Wayne County, Michigan. Ironically, the state of New Jersey, the recipient of some of New York’s waste, is now shipping up to 1,000 tons of demolition debris 600 miles—also to Wayne County in Michigan.The challenge is to replace the throwaway economy with a reduce-reuse-recycle economy. For cities like New York, the challenge should be less what to do with the garbage and more of how to avoid producing it in the first place.
UN food planes, helicopters bring relief to flood victims in Somalia and Kenya (Nov 22, 2006)
http://www.trend.az/?mod=shownews&news=32240&lang=en
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today launched a regional air operation with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to transport humanitarian workers and aid to more than 1 million people in Somalia and Kenya hit by the worst floods in years, reports Trend. "The hundreds of thousands of people driven from their homes in both Somalia and Kenya by the floods need our help right now and delivering assistance by air is the only option with large numbers of them cut off by the floodwaters," WFP Country Director in Kenya Burkard Oberle said." The floods knocked out bridges and have made many roads impassable so we urgently need funding for this operation to get the planes and the helicopters in the air," he added. (...) In Somalia, it is estimated that 900,000 people will need food and other assistance in the next three months because of floods. Conflict, poor roads and the harsh environment hamper aid operations, and heavy rains in Ethiopia raise the prospect of more widespread flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers. "Even without the floods, Somalia is one of the most difficult places to deliver assistance in the world," WFP Country Director for Somalia Peter Goossens said. "So with the waters still rising, this operation is the only way to get food and other assistance to those who are in very desperate need." If the flooding worsens, WFP will mobilize more aircraft, depending on the needs. A WFP-chartered Boeing 747 will in the next 24 hours airlift the first of 190 metric tons of high energy biscuits from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, Italy, to Nairobi, Kenya's capital, from where it will be flown to the worst-hit areas. In Kenya, some 200,000 people in the north and coastal areas who were being fed by WFP cannot be reached by road, while 160,000 mainly Somali refugees in three camps at Dadaab are cut off from supplies with WFP-contracted trucks stuck in mud en route. In Dadaab the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been forced to withdraw all its workers to higher ground. The UN estimates that up to 1.8 million people are affected by floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Cholera outbreaks have been reported and the toll from diseases such as malaria is expected to rise. In Ethiopia, more than 360,000 people have been affected by flooding in the country's Somali Region. The UN World Health Organization has sent 24 Emergency Health Kits to assist the flood response. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has approved an allocation of nearly $12 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for flood response in Kenya and an additional $3 million to help flood survivors in Somalia.
Floods death toll rises to 34 in Kenya
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29404882.htm
NAIROBI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The worst floods in decades have killed 11 more Kenyans in the last two weeks, bringing the death toll to 34 since last month, the Red Cross said on Wednesday.Torrential rains have battered the Horn of Africa region in recent weeks, killing hundreds, uprooting thousands more and triggering a humanitarian disaster. Somalia and parts of neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya have been particularly hard hit. (...) The situation is worse in Somalia, where more people have lost their homes but security problems have restricted efforts by aid agencies to help them." In some areas people are sitting on dykes, completely surrounded by water and have no access to drinking water and food," the International Committee of the Red Cross said. In a statement on Wednesday, it said it was airlifting tarpaulins to 350,000 Somalis in the worst affected areas. Weather experts expect the rains to continue into January.
FDA Approves Fluoride In Bottled Water (11-28-2006)
http://www.bevnet.com/news/2006/11-28-2006-FDA_bottledwater.asp
FDA announced last week it will allow fluoridation of bottled water to assist in the prevention of dental caries (cavities), prompting praise from the American Dental Association and concerns from anti-fluoride groups. Bottled water containing between 0.6 and 1.0 mg/L total fluoride will be eligible to bear the following claim: "Drinking fluoridated water may reduce the risk of [dental caries or tooth decay]." The claim is not allowed with water intended for infants, FDA said. (...) However, FDA's decision didn't please groups opposed to fluoridation, who claim that fluoride can cause negative health repercussions even in the small quantities present in water. "Modern studies also link fluoride to arthritis, allergies, kidney and thyroid dysfunction, bone damage and cancer even at the low levels dentists claim is optimal to reduce tooth decay," said Paul Beeber, president of the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. "Adding fluoride to bottled water implies to the American public that FDA studies give fluoride a clean bill of health--and that's not true," he said. Its very sick !!!
Daring rescue of whale: Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks (December 14, 2005)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL
A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter. "It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun." Sunday's daring rescue was the first successful attempt on the West Coast to free an entangled humpback. It was a very risky maneuver...because the mere flip of a humpback's massive tail can kill a man. "I was the first diver in the water, and my heart sank when I saw all the lines wrapped around it," said [James] Moskito. "I really didn't think we were going to be able to save it." Moskito said about 20 crab-pot ropes, which are 240 feet long with weights every 60 feet, were wrapped around the animal. Rope was wrapped at least four times around the tail, the back and the left front flipper, and there was a line in the whale's mouth. Moskito and three other divers spent about an hour cutting the ropes with a special curved knife. The whale floated passively in the water the whole time, he said, giving off a strange kind of vibration. "When I was cutting the line going through the mouth, its eye was there winking at me, watching me," Moskito said. "It was an epic moment of my life." When the whale realized it was free, it began swimming around in circles, according to the rescuers. Moskito said it swam to each diver, nuzzled him and then swam to the next one.
Experts: Fragments an ancient computer (Nov 30)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061201/ap_on_sc/greece_ancient_computer
ATHENS, Greece - Imagine tossing a top-notch laptop into the sea, leaving scientists from a foreign culture to scratch their heads over its corroded remains centuries later. A Roman shipmaster inadvertently did something just like it 2,000 years ago off southern Greece, experts said late Thursday. They claim to have identified a handful of puzzling metal scraps found in the wreck as the earliest known mechanical computing device that pinpointed astronomical events. CLIP
Omega-News Collection 25. November 2006
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2983506/
1.
From: "Magi" <magi@jetstream.net>
Subject: Part of my "mission"
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2006
Dearest Jean - the latest mailing has me rejoicing. You know, don't you, that we've "pulled it off." It's only a mopping up job from now on. I am forever appreciative of your Work and feel compelled to send you this account of what happened to me (part of it, at least) in 1974 - and which relates strongly to what is happening now. I've had a strange life - LOL - which makes perfect sense in the Higher Realms but has made me feel like a secret agent behind enemy lines for years - until recently.
With love & appreciation,
Maggie Pym
---
Many extraordinary events took place. One of the most dramatic ones was when my co-worker and I went through a black hole in space - he in a physical ship (I believe it was Venusian) and I joining him in consciousness. Because we had such incredible love for each other it was possible for this to happen. (We seemed to have known each other forever: One vision I had was of us here at the beginning of life on earth, hiding in various animal bodies, playing hide & seek.) I travelled at immense speed, lights flashing past me. Later, when I saw the movie Star Wars I saw visuals very much like the experience. It seemed that going through a black hole in space while in a space ship had never been successful, but because of our intense, "death-defying" love it was felt that we could pull it off. At the end of the experience the words in my head were: "Through the void into Infinity into ..." and I couldn't bring the last word to consciousness. I now have a hunch it might have been "eternity.".
I was told that my Partner had lost his left arm during the event but there was great jubilation nonetheless. Recently I went to a "reader," who told me that a powerful one-armed man was with me, asking "Are you ready?"
In what I've referred to as the end of the Play, my off-planet worker and I came together "in the mind." I had asked my friend to leave me alone because I knew something was about to occur that could not have a "witness." My "Venusian" and I worked together by me radiating immense love towards him and then, when guided, becoming totally still to receive the love coming from him. It was "mind sex," and eventually the two of us re-United in consciousness there was a shout of ecstacy throughout the Universe (Universes?) and what looked like sperm shot through the sky. I had the feeling we were "seeding a new dimension" . It was all accomplished by an intense and irrefutable love energy. While we were drawing closer and closer together I was conscious that we were being monitored on some huge board. We appeared as small flashing dots. A voice said, "Look, they're trying to do it on love alone. He's not using a sky-hook." Someone else said, "That's impossible" and the first voice replied "Just watch." As we united I felt myself being lifted off the earth. A male voice said "Religioso." After the "reunion," some of these space brothers asked "Can we stay and play a while." I totally love that question, because as I saw it, this Planet becomes the playground of the Universe - the R & R spot for everyone..
Just before that final experience I had been given a vision of the "Shift" and how it would occur. It appeared to have the effect of creating at least three separate, parallel "earths." What seemed like electric fire (I felt it as an "ascension flame" - a phrase I had not heard at that time) that swept over the entire planet. Places and people that were attuned to love were instantly glorified, those that were hateful simply disappeared and a third, new and exquisite creation manifested instantly. It felt like the "New Jerusalem" energy.
The entire experience felt "normal" to me - more normal than most day by day happenings. It was as though I was finally here and able to do what I had come to do.
The next time I "showed up" was 23 years later, in 1997 in relation to helping ground the next Solar dispensation - having to do with "the Lion of Judah" but a NEW energy. the Keys of Enoch speaks of this. At the time I had a vivid dream/vision of a lion inside a triangle inside a circle inside a square. It shimmered throughout infinity and is described in "Keys."
Two other incidents, which I forgot but which have relevance:
At one point I was alone on a beach at Tswassen, where the ferry from Victoria comes in. I found myself building a small fire and putting certain things in it, including some of my hair. Incredibly, the scent from the smoke was like beautiful incense. I kept repeating silently the same sentence:
"If it takes forever, I will free this man."
I heard what I can only describe as the sighs of angels all around me. In retrospect, they could have been sighing for a couple of reasons - like "when will she get over this." LOL At the time I felt they were offering love and protection
2.
From: http://christsway.co.za/blog/the-true-kingdom-of-heaven-on-earth/
The True Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
This is the CHRIST speaking, January 2006.
The true KINGDOM of HEAVEN on earth.
‘I would that you could see and experience the world as it really could be for you. The living world, the entire creation ringing with joy. Your world has been created by LOVE, designed by LOVE to meet the personal needs of every single living entity as it has evolved over the millions of years of existence. If only you could become aware of this glorious joy and glowing LOVE as you walk in your garden or countryside.
If only you could enter into the consciousness of a magnificent tree as it stands straight and tall, spreading its branches for the birds to alight upon it and make their nest. If only you could enter into the consciousness of a bird as it finds the best nesting place, experience its pleasure and feel its love for the tree which provides a home and shade.
Everywhere, there is a reciprocity of love flowing between living things, plants, insects, birds, animals, fish, and their environment. Only the predators put themselves outside this love consciousness.
Study the eyes of the predators, one and all, and compare their fierce intensity with the eyes of the non-violent herb and grass eaters –there you will see the ferocity of the one and the tranquillity of the other.
As I said when I lived on your earth:
‘The eyes are the lamp of the soul’ And what you have not realized is that all eyes radiate to the world the inner quality of being. They radiate the inner consciousness which blesses what it sees – or shrivels it up with its own bad temper.
When you live entirely in your human consciousness, your thoughts, habitual modes of speech, your continual assessment of people and externals, you are unable to partake in this JOY of EXISTENCE which spontaneously wells up in the consciousness of all non-violent living things - felt by all peaceful living things, - unless denied sustenance by drought.
You cannot feel it because your minds have developed along the lines of logic and reason and you act according to your will, imagination, desires and ego - and all of this mental actvity blocks your spiritual mind at the top of your head; it prevents sixth sense contact with the beautiful world in which you live and which you do not remotely understand at all. You can see the bodies and the activities of insects, birds and animals, but you cannot enter into the consciousness of their mostly innocent, uncontaminated vitalizing life force.
You may think their consciousness is possibly like yours. But you would be wrong - because all living things other than humans, live by intuition - and communicate in a way which is impossible to humans. Yes, they communicate very clearly - over long distances. Yes, they communicate and rejoice together, more than you’ll ever know.
It is the Hermit who sits with his begging bowl and meditates who may soar into infinity and experience the joy and the glory of Divine Consciousness in which WE, you and I, ALL live and draw our eternal life and being. The Hermit can experience it in the silence and stillness of his mind, and can be uplifted into such ecstasy that he has no need of worldly living - indeed, he runs away from it.
People will say: “How wonderful, he has given up his life for God”. But this is an erroneous perception. He gives up normal daily living to find the TRUE LIFE of GLORY out of which all creation has taken its form and being. There can be no greater experience of a glowing radiance and spiritual ecstasy than this.
But - it is escapism offering great rewards and also defeating the purposes of existence in your world.
It is marvellous and wonderfully uplifting to rest in the effulgence of absolute Love and Tranquillity for a while and possess knowledge of this wonderful dimension of eternity for yourself. Here your mind may enter into transcendent facets of universal knowledge.
YOUR HUMAN LIFE TAKES ON NEW LUSTRE, LIGHT AND JOY AND GREATER MEANING. But it is not your true purpose in life.
Your true purpose on earth is to EXPRESS in thoughts, words, deeds and desires the DIVINITY in which you have your being.
You can do this through meditation, through cleansing your mind of negative thoughts, by reaching out to others during the day to offer them a smile of friendliness, recognition of their being - that they too are ALIVE and are therefore important - co-existent with yourself, no matter what their status is in life.
What a tremendous joy it is to be able to love the man who has come down to rags, possessing nothing of material things, forced to live by begging - just as much as you may be able to love the man who has made untold wealth, prestige, and lives a life envied by others. This ability to love each and everyone without reservations, is indeed DIVINE LOVE - pure unconditional love. It is a quality of mind and heart where all sense of superiority or inferiority no longer exists.
“Why should this bring one so much joy?’, you may ask.
It gives you joy beyond all imagining because you have risen high above the demands and critical senses of the self which judge and demean others.
What tremendous liberation of spirit you will experience when you can, at last, be insulted or defrauded by another but can still look through his words and actions and perceive his basic divinity. You now rest in a state of pure tranquil acceptance of what the human world may try to do to you and you never cease smiling - because yours is a world of sunshine and spiritual light created by the Divine –
and you are aware that those who try to hurt you have not yet managed to find this sacred world conceived and fashioned by Pure Love.
Knowing this so surely, so clearly, how can you NOT have only the deepest compassion and concern for them as they struggle, sometimes bravely , with their enmeshing ego?
As you learn to love all states of human being equally, you will come to intuit the actual state of earthly being of each person and will be able to perceive for yourselves what is valuable in life and what is mere ego ‘frosting’ for comfort and prestige.
You will no longer be led astray – or even moved – by outward show.
If you study Letters 4A and 4B, you will be able to clearly see exactly why I say the world is made by LOVE, IN LOVE and sustained by LOVE. When you fully understand why this is so, it is possible that you will go further in realization and will see that to entertain any thoughts contrary to LOVE shuts you out of the basic Reality of Existence - it places you in a shadowy world where you can no longer see the world created by Divine Consciousness after the Big Bang - you can only see the IMAGES of that living world and cannot feel their joy.
Dwell for a moment on your world as it is today - the average mentality of men and women governed by ego - and then think of the joy and beauty of WHAT REALLY IS just beyond your normal vision - out of sight because of human thought - and HUMAN BEHAVIOUR.
All of my Letters are directed only at helping you lift yourselves out of any present misery you may be enduring and to make genuine contact with Divine Consciousness which will immediately set about rebuilding your health, strength and inner direction towards higher goals of existence. You can come out of your hell - but only YOU can do it for yourself. YOU must do the work initially but you can invite Divine Consciousness to enter your mind and heart and give you added strength to ensure you succeed.
As more and more people of a like-spirituality and spiritual perception bond together to seek the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, so will there be little pockets of spirit luminescence lighting up that dark world of yours, inviting more and more of its members to join you in your happiness.
How do you cleanse your consciousness? Remember that if you rely ONLY on your own human consciousness, you are calling up your ego to drive away your ego thoughts - and this is impossible. Ego cannot overcome ego. You have to wake up to the realization that above the human consciousness is the Super Consciousness of Divine Consciousness described in Letters 4A and B, 5 and 6. In Letter 4 B - page 21-24.
You will never be able to enter into the consciousness of plant and insect life, because yours is a world of logical thought. But you can enter into Heaven on earth by learning how to get in touch with Divine Consciousness and inviting It to fill your mind and heart, giving new direction to your thought life – and then to your future life and activities as well.
I long for you to find true freedom from the ego and enter into the transcendent joy of Divinity whilst still on earth.
To download the various letters mentioned above, please go at http://www.christsway.co.za/letters_eng.htm
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"I discovered the LETTERS about 2 and a half years ago. They have been the source of tremendous spiritual growth and knowledge over this time. And I myself have proved conclusively that daily study and the putting into practice of what CHRIST teaches us in his LETTERS produces wonderful spiritual, mental and even physical changes in one's conduct, attitudes and vision of what life is about. Knowing that one is 'daily contributing to the spiritual evolution of the entire world order' is awe-inspiring but it is TRUTH."
- Valerie Melfi <caminodecristo@caminodecristo.com> who has translated all Christ's Letters in Spanish - You may download them all for free from her Spanish website: http://www.caminodecristo.com - and if you know other Spanish-speaking persons who could like to access this exceptional material from Christ, please bring this to their attention ;-)
"If you have gained some insight or comfort from Christ’s articles, it would be greatly appreciated if you would share it with the Recorder. In this way, everyone can contribute to the growing strength of CHRIST’S WAY and give encouragement to others. When we know we have heard Truth and share it with others, we come into the Flow of Spirit within our daily lives."
Please e-mail your feedbacks to Recorder at <christsway@mweb.co.za> and visit http://christsway.co.za/ - NOTE from Jean: I'm sure the wonderful being, now 86 years old, who dedicated so many years of her life to preparing for this important mission and transcribing those letters telepathically communicated to her by Christ will be delighted to receive your comments. You are welcomed to send them to me as well if you'd like to share them with the entire list as part of a coming compilation.
3.
MOST EXCELLENT BLACK AND WHITE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IS AND WHAT COULD BE. MUST READ AND SHARE...
Forwarded by "David" <crystall@telkomsa.net> who also recommended this: "If you think that psychiatry has nothing to do with you, then think again! I have just seen a film that has been produced by the Citizens Commission of Human Rights which convinced me that the field of psychiatry is possibly one of the most terrible evils that exist in this world and yet another example of the global mission to control us all. If you are in any doubt as to the 'conspiracy' against us you just have to watch this film. Visit http://www.cchr.org/ - The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is a non-profit, public benefit organization dedicated to investigating and exposing psychiatric violations of human rights. It also ensures that criminal acts within the psychiatric industry are reported to the proper authorities and acted upon."
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The Bridge
Imagine yourself standing on a bridge between two worlds. On one side of the bridge is an upside-down world. Why is it upside-down? It is upside-down because people have lost their intimate connection to the whole, and feel isolated and separate from society. Even their thoughts are fragmented. That world is upside-down because fear has trumped love as the dominant emotion-even though love is what we all seek. It has been turned topsy-turvy because sources of news and entertainment paint dark pictures of violence and murder instead of celebrating the best that people can bring to life.
In the upside-down world more money is spent on war than on all social service programs-for children, the elderly, education, the homeless, the hungry, the disabled-combined. The good people of the upside-down world willingly consume toxins through their water, air and food supply and wonder why they feel tired and ill most of the time.
In the upside-down world people say they value children, yet parking lot attendants make more money than child-care workers and sports figures make more in one season than educators do over an entire career. It is an upside-down world because children are taught computer literacy but not emotional literacy. Faced with an inability to cope in a contradictory world, kids act out their unresolved emotions. The upside-down answer is to give them drugs rather than honestly dealing with their issues. Having taught our youth to self-medicate through pharmaceuticals, we jail them later after they have taken illicit drugs to numb the feelings they never learned to express.
The world is upside-down b