February 11, 2006

The Perfect Storm Series #4: Converging Juggernauts

Hello everyone!

With the wonderful Winter Olympic Opening ceremony and its special tribute to John Lennon (through Yoko Ono's brief speech and Peter Gabriel's performance of Imagine), we had another example of how humanity can — and will soon — live in peace and let love flow through all united hearts. Sadly, as demonstrated once again through the material I gathered for this compilation, some bad apple are still doing terrible things to foment violence, war and sow ever more destruction

But this too will change — in due time — as they are opposed every step of the way by a rising army of Light Warriors...

And soon the Light shall indeed prevail!

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator

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" If world peace is not a reality when we die, then we'll be back. . . until it is!"

— John Lennon


"Dr. Steven Jones, this pious professor from the Mormon Church-owned Brigham Young University, calmly, gently, gave a simple physics lesson on the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, the implications of which awed the audience with a sense of world-historical significance, and implied an indictment of the present administration so utterly devastating that it made Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 look like a Bush apologia. Dr. Jones argues that the physics behind the government’s explanation of the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11 do not make sense, and that a better (and perhaps only) explanation for their collapse was that they were demolished, exactly the way structural engineers bring down large buildings, by pre-positioned explosive devices set off in precise sequences. (...) If Dr. Jones’s work ever breaks into the mainstream media, and the rest of the country reacts the way the Utah County audience reacted, traditional political divisions will evaporate like steel beams exploded with thermite, and the whole lot of them, the Democrats and the Republicans, will be swept away, along with the military-industrial complex that has apparently managed to subvert the constitution of these United States and to con the American public, mesmerized by the shock of 9/11 and hypnotized by spell-binding incantations of freedom and patriotism, into going along with their mad plans for world domination."

- Taken from "BYU’s Dr. Steven Jones Blows the Roof off a Utah Auditorium" below


"Love changes everything! Many people's attention is at this time drawn towards the negative forces that are doing their utmost to gain control. Their death throes are agonising, their screams are loud. They are losing power! Those who can see this please send your love to those who have been lost for so long. Do not fight them, for that would feed their anger. Send love and gain allies by healing those who could not see. One part of the world must not destroy the other.One part of the world must heal the other half to become whole. Blessed be those who see. Blessed be those who care. Blessed be those who act."

— Birdy birdy@dragonbird.uk.com>


"With the congressionally-authorized ongoing "war on terror" and the constitutionally authorized power of Commander-in-Chief, the Office of President of the U.S. has become, in fact, a DICTATORSHIP with absolute power. Among the many "dark" things the President alone can dictate is (1) death or jailing of any person anywhere in the world suspected of being an enemy of U.S. power controllers, (2) mass killing of civilians anywhere in the world by military, paramilitary, or CIA attacks, (3) suspension of the Constitution's Bill of Rights, and (4) takeover of any activity in which Americans are engaged, as well as confiscation of private property, under cover of "National Security". This is an unfettered Presidential DICTATORSHIP in need of systemic change that empowers the people to cut-off funding and claim their freedom. I recommend applying focused "thought energy" throughout each day on an enlightened solution such as offered below."

— Triaka SpiritNet@webtv.net>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uniteddiversity - http://www.globalvisions.org/cl/swn


Worthy Of Your Attention

The 9-11 Fairy Tale from Hell
http://www.bushstole04.com/911_fairy_tale_from_hell.htm
Once upon a time there were 19 Magical Jihadists from a faraway land.They used itsy-bitsy box cutters to terrify 8 professional airline pilots. These pilots were so terrified of getting a nasty boo-boo they actually let the Magical Jihadists fly 4 commercial aircraft loaded with innocent passengers. Then the Magical Jihadists chanted a secret verse from their Koran making the planes disappear from all Air Traffic Control monitors. Now they could fly them all around the mighty USA air defense system, completely unbothered, for almost 2 hours. Even the mighty Harry Potter on a magic carpet couldn’t find them!Pretty cool, huh? You can read the rest of our government’s fantastic modern-day FairyTale, (which surpasses Alice In Wonderland for sheer nonsense), by downloading a copy of the 9-11 Commission’s Official Report. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/ . But if you no longer believe in childish Fairy Tales and prefer the facts, then read this booklet detailing the grotesque truth about what really happened on 9-11. This information has been collected by thousands of regular people, not “Liberals”, not “Bush Haters”, but ordinary patriotic people with nothing to gain, and everything to lose. CLIP (Read the rest at the URL above and check other related stories at http://www.bushstole04.com/ ) MUCH MORE ON 9-11 BELOW!

Confronting the Evidence: A Call To Reopen the 9/11 Investigation https://secure.reopen911.org/freedvd.php
More Than 350,000 DVD's Given Away!

Terrific 911 Movie: Second Edition of "Loose Change"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801&q=loose+change

Take the Gullibility Test
http://www.newstarget.com/gullibility.html
Recommended Phyllis Montague phyllism5@juno.com> who wrote : "Being prepared means being informed. A crises is not being prepared. If you think you are well informed take the Gullibility Test and then read what it says about you. This is fun - I got 97."

Whales Revenge
http://www.whalesrevenge.com/
Welcome to Whales Revenge, an ambitious campaign to gather 1 million signatures for a petition to stop whaling. Every year thousands of precious mammals are slaughtered in the name of so-called 'scientific research'. Add your voice to this global campaign and pressure the International Whaling Commission to stop the killing. Recommended by Lise Jacques lisejacq@yahoo.fr>

Anti-whaling battle shifts from high seas to supermarket shelves http://www.omega-news.info/antiwhaling_battle_shifts.htm

Whale meat 'made into dog food' - JUST OUTRAGEOUS!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4700418.stm
Meat from whales caught under Japan's "research" programme is so abundant that it is being sold as pet food, according to a UK conservation group. Thousands of tonnes of whale meat has been stockpiled as more animals are killed each year, says the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). The Japanese government has attempted to sell the whale meat to schools but the price has continued to fall. A company is selling meat on the web as "healthy and safe natural" dog food. (...) In the current hunting season it launched a programme called JARPA-2 which doubles its annual minke whale catch from Antarctic waters.JARPA-2 will remove 935 minkes and 10 fin whales each year; while its other research programme JARPN takes 100 sei whales, 100 minkes, 50 Bryde's whales and five sperm whales annually from the north Pacific. The IWC obliges countries practising "scientific" whaling to process what they catch, and the meat from Japan's programmes has always found its way into restaurants. Last year it initiated a scheme to distribute whale meat to schools, and a fast-food chain began selling whale burgers. (...) Most whale species are at risk of extinction, and last year 63 members of the IWC's Scientific Committee condemned the JARPA expansion. "With the new proposal, Japan will increase its annual take... to levels approaching the annual commercial quotas for Antarctic minke whales that were in place prior to the moratorium," they declared. CLIP

Let's Move America Beyond Oil - Sign the Pledge to MOVE AMERICA BEYOND OIL at
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/beyondoil/action.asp?step=2&item=53292
Details at http://www.nrdcactionfund.org

Today's Bush Watch News
http://bushwatch.com/e-mail.htm
Over a hundred headlines selected from around the world by the editors of Bush Watch

Inspirational images and texts
http://positivepause.com/
http://wonderofitall.com/
http://thegoodnessoflife.com/
http://www.positivepause.com/en/
Recommended by "Isis Rich" atachaka@springsips.com>

The Power of the Mind - ASTOUNDING!
http://trunks.secondfoundation.org/files/psychic.swf
Recommended by "Bill Cain" bpcain@comcast.net> who wrote: "This Internet psychic exercise came across my screen yesterday. It really surprised me and I thought it might interest your list members, even though it's not really pertinent to any current events. See what you think. The key is to concentrate on the symbol for a least 5 seconds.


CONTENTS

1. Feedback from the ERN guestbook
2. Another Feedback
3. BYU’s Dr. Steven Jones Blows the Roof off a Utah Auditorium
4. View of a Military Expert: Why the Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed
5. Russian General: International Terrorism Does Not Exist
6. Russian MP Says US To Attack Iran Late March
7. The Cartoon Hoax
8. Why the European Press is Provoking Muslims
9. Is US Military Dominance of the World a Good Idea?
10. Brutalized & Arrested in Cleveland for Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters
11. How the US military hijacked the CIA
12. Living on the Edge: Skirting With Nuclear Danger
13. Bush Beckons the God of Pluto: Nuclear Reprocessing
14. Living in terror
15. Are you a Mind slave?
16. Solid Inconsistencies, double standards and sheer hypocrisy
17. Has BYU prof found AIDS cure?
18. THE PERFECT HUSBAND


See also:

Trapped Like a Rat (9 February 2006)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906Z.shtml
The funeral for civil rights leader Coretta Scott King on Tuesday was quite a sight to see. The depth of sadness in the room could not be overcome by the happiness that came with the celebration of her life and accomplishments. It was the measure of Mrs. King's impact upon our society that four presidents - Carter, Bush, Clinton and Bush - sat before her flower-draped casket and spoke of her life. (...) This was a day for speaking truth to power, but it was more than that. Mr. Bush and his people have worked incredibly hard to keep this president from hearing anything that rubs against what he believes to be true. He speaks before hand-picked crowds of adoring supporters, never once seeing the face of someone who thinks he is running the nation into the ground. Millions upon millions of protesters have followed his every move, and yet it is almost certain he has never laid eyes upon a single one of them. On Tuesday, by his own design. George W. Bush was trapped like a rat on that stage. He was forced to listen to eloquent denunciations of his politics and his policies, perhaps for the first time since he took office. The effect upon him was clear; during the speeches delivered by Rev. Lowery and president Carter, Bush looked as if he was sucking on a particularly bitter lemon. When one speaks truth to power, especially arrogant power, that is usually the effect. Coretta Scott King would have approved.

Last Tributes To Coretta Scott King (Video)
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/08/1516213
Pioneer Rev. Joseph Lowery, Maya Angelou, President Jimmy Carter And Bernice King Remember Civil Rights

The Greatest Orator For Peace And Love
http://DrMartinLutherKingJr.com

"It's Not Enough to Criticize the President's Policies" (9 February 2006) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906Y.shtml
(...) I have been weighing my decision to run for Senate here in California carefully, even before Camp Casey. My entire being since Casey was killed has been immersed in trying to end the occupation of Iraq before any other mothers have to fall on the floor screaming for their child who should not have been in harm's way in the first place. In making my decision whether to run or not, I had to decide which course of action would bring the troops home sooner. Is my being on the outside, putting pressure on the inside more effective, or would a Senate campaign help bring our kids home sooner? If I thought that running for Senate would bring our young people home more quickly, I would do it in a minute, but I am not convinced that that would be so. I have decided not to run, but I am calling on all Californians and Americans to support all anti-war candidates to promote a paradigm of peace in the world, and I will be supporting and working for dozens of anti-war candidates all over the country. Our emphasis will be holding all of the pro-war candidates accountable for their tragic mistakes, and voting in representatives who will hold George Bush and his administration accountable for all of their mistakes in Iraq and here in America. We Americans are looking for ways to become involved in our political process. We are tired of being complacent and we are so tired of business as usual.

The Next War - Crossing the Rubicon
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021006A.shtml
Has Tony Blair, the minuscule Caesar, finally crossed his Rubicon? Having subverted the laws of the civilized world and brought carnage to a defenseless people and bloodshed to his own, having lied and lied and used the death of a hundredth British soldier in Iraq to indulge his profane self-pity, is he about to collude in one more crime before he goes, wonders John Pilger.

Bush Plays Terror Card With Bogus LA Attack Plot (February 10 2006)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/100206terrorcard.htm
Bootlicking news networks follow suit with dramatic images of Library Tower being destroyed - In an orchestrated set-up, George W. Bush announced that a plan to fly a plane into the LA Library Tower was thwarted in 2002 and within minutes news networks were showing footage of the same building being destroyed in the movie Independence Day. Bush stated that the attack was prevented only with the help of NSA surveillance of communications, an attempt to shut up critics of the spying scandal in a move about as sophisticated as a 300lb Pittsburgh Steelers fan after a heavy drinking session. (...) This represents an organized campaign of mind control and fearmongering. They have played the terror card so many times that the fingerprints of deception can be lifted and verified almost immediately. (...) If the government has really thwarted an attack on LA you can bet your bottom dollar that they would have waved it in front of the anti-war crowd's face before invading Iraq in March 2003. This is as obvious a political points scoring move as you're ever going to see. It has been deliberately and synthetically concocted to stifle heated criticism of the NSA spying. This, despite the fact that the spying debate still circles around foreign phone calls, when the real issue is the admitted fact that the Pentagon and other government agencies have been caught and continue to spy on peaceful anti-war and activist groups entirely made up of American citizens.

Twenty-Three Intel Experts Say LA Terror Plot a Sham
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/100206plotasham.htm
Following yesterday's highly suspiciously timed announcement that the US government had foiled a 2002 terror plot against the Los Angeles Library Tower, intelligence experts and White House reporters have uniformly debunked the story. CLIP

Congress Has Lost Its Way
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806A.shtml
Senator Feingold delivered a statement yesterday on the senate floor in response to the President's warrantless wiretapping program: The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his efforts to justify this program. How is that worthy of applause?

Is Bush The Lifetime President? (February 11 2006)
http://www.energybulletin.net/12125.html
The proposed Iranian Oil Bourse will accelerate the fall of the American Empire.

Sweden Plans To Be World's First Oil-Free Economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1704955,00.html
15-Year Limit Set For Switch To Renewable Energy - Biofuels Favoured Over Further Nuclear Power.

Energy Gaps Seen in Bush's Budget
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020906EA.shtml
President Bush's latest spending plan slashes $100 million from federal programs promoting conservation, and falls short of the commitment in last year's energy bill to make vast new investments in renewable and emerging technologies like hydrogen fuel and solar power.

Memo: Bush Discussed Drawing Saddam into War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206R.shtml
Channel 4 News tonight reveals extraordinary details of George Bush and Tony Blair's pre-war meeting in January, 2003, at which they discussed plans to begin military action on March 10th, 2003, irrespective of whether the United Nations had passed a new resolution authorizing the use of force.

Blair-Bush Deal Before Iraq War Revealed In Secret Memo
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1700881,00.html
PM Promised To Be 'Solidly Behind' US Invasion With Or Without UN Backing

Time to Scrap the NPT (February 2, 2006)
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20226
There’s only one country that has ever used nuclear weapons. There’s only one country that has used nuclear weapons on civilian population centers. There’s only one country that has ever threatened to use nuclear weapons on non-nuclear countries. There’s only one country that has over 10,000 nuclear weapons many of which are on hair-trigger alert for enemies real or imagined. There’s only one country that has developed a regime of low-yield, bunker-busting, "usable" nuclear weapons; stating that they could be legitimately used, not to deter aggression or to stave off an imminent threat, but simply to eliminate the "suspicion" of weapons programs. There’s only one country that justifies unprovoked aggression (preemption) in its National Security doctrine; allowing it to attack any potential rival to its global dominance. There’s only one country that currently occupies a Muslim nation of 25 million inhabitants without any proof of an imminent threat, weapons-systems, or territorial aggression. The purpose of the NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) is to reduce or eliminate the development of nuclear weapons. If it is to have any relevance at all it must be directed at nations that not only have weapons, but demonstrate a flagrant disregard for the international laws condemning their use. The IAEA should focus its attention on those states that have a clear record of territorial aggression, military intervention, or who consistently violate United Nations resolutions. In its present form the IAEA and the NPT are utterly meaningless. Rather than leading the world towards nuclear disarmament, the agency and the treaty have simply ignored the misbehavior of the more powerful nations and humiliated the non-nuclear states with spurious accusations and threatening rhetoric. The NPT was never intended to be a bludgeon for battering the weaker nations; nor was it set up as a de-facto apartheid system whereby the superpower and its allies can lord above the non nuclear states coercing them to act according to their diktats. It was designed to curb the development of the world’s most lethal weapons; eventually consigning them to the ash-heap. The political maneuvering surrounding Iran’s "alleged" nuclear weapons-programs demonstrates the irrelevance and hypocrisy of the current system. As yet, there is no concrete evidence that Iran is in non-compliance with the terms of the treaty. That hasn’t deterred the Bush administration from intimidating its allies and adversaries alike to assist them in dragging Iran before the Security Council. At the same time, the United States is occupying the country next door to Iran and, after having killed an estimated 100,000 Iraqis and destroyed vast swaths of the countryside, has still never provided any coherent justification for the initial invasion. The international community has simply looked away in fear. This alone should illustrate the ineffectiveness of the institutions that are designed to keep the peace. CLIP

Bush to Request $120 Billion More for War Funding
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206S.shtml
The White House has told Congress to expect requests for about $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the ongoing budget year and $18 billion more for hurricane relief, Senate Republican aides say.

Ability to Wage 'Long War' Is Key to Pentagon Plan (Feb 4) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020301853.html
The Pentagon, readying for what it calls a "long war," yesterday laid out a new 20-year defense strategy that envisions US troops deployed, often clandestinely, in dozens of countries at once to fight terrorism and other nontraditional threats. Major initiatives include a 15 percent boost in the number of elite US troops known as Special Operations Forces, a near-doubling of the capacity of unmanned aerial drones to gather intelligence, a $1.5 billion investment to counter a biological attack, and the creation of special teams to find, track and defuse nuclear bombs and other catastrophic weapons. China is singled out as having "the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States," and the strategy in response calls for accelerating the fielding of a new Air Force long-range strike force, as well as for building undersea warfare capabilities. CLIP

These Weapons That Won't Kill, but Will Continue to Frighten (04 February 2006)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020606H.shtml
Forget about rubber bullets and tear gas. War without deaths (or almost), maintenance of order without weapons that kill, are already being prepared in secret laboratories. On the roads, "anti-traction" lubricating jellies would be spread to prevent any vehicle from advancing, any soldier from moving. A suspect who doesn't stop at a roadblock would catch pulsed energy projectiles: a cloud of plasma would unleash a traumatizing flash near the person, a sort of air explosion that won't burn, but disorient for a time. Electronic bullets culminating in the impact of a punch and an electric discharge would also do the trick. Not forgetting acoustic weapons, unbearable infrasound aimed at vehicles, buildings, or reverberating inside skulls. Aerosols with disgusting smells would disperse an aggressive crowd immediately. A new type of anti-personnel mine would protect prohibited areas: after signaling to an intruder by setting off a light or sound warning system, they would inflict blasts of electric waves capable of immobilizing him for several seconds. Electromagnetic impulsion weapons would destroy electronic equipment. Bacteria would "eat" asphalt from roads, concrete from buildings, would decompose fuels and explosives. Pulverizations of hyper-corrosive chemical agents would weaken steel. Obviously, this theatre of operations of the future can only be described now in the conditional tense. The confidentiality that surrounds these projects, the even clandestine character that conceals certain American "black programs," makes it impossible to distinguish which ones will remain in the state of an unrealizable idea and which will rapidly be put into effect. Pulsed energy machines, still too heavy, are on the point of being tested by the American Army in Iraq. (.,..) For their part, the opponents of this new weapon emphasize different risks: that of facilitation of recourse to violence and a banalization of its use. "When we train officials, we insist on one point: don't become dependent on Taser," acknowledges Mr. Di Zazzo. "The devices will be equipped with cameras linked to the command center to avoid abuses." But side-effects have already occurred elsewhere. Four American soldiers were sanctioned in December 2004 for having used Taser guns to torture Iraqi prisoners. Non-lethal weapons can also supply torturers with new methods, all the while masking any trace of their brutality. Will they reduce mortality only to increase pain?

Tarpley calls for RED SYNTHETIC TERROR ALERT (feb 4)
http://www.cloakanddagger.de/media/Tarpley/TOTAL%20INFORMATION%20ANALYSIS.htm
Tarpley calls for a RED ALERT for synthetic terror in the following terms: "The intense international intelligence warfare pattern mandates a move to red alert -- the highest vigilance -- for the upcoming superbowl Sunday in the USA and the Turin winter Olympics, and perhaps all the way to the March 20 opening of the Iranian oil bourse, which spells the beginning of the end for six decades of world dollar hegemony.The Iranian oil bourse opens March 20 -- this is the strategic key. The Cheneyacs want war to stop the bourse from deflating the sick US dollar. CLIP

Lab officials excited by new H-bomb project (2/06/2006)
http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_3480733
For the first time in more than 20 years, U.S. nuclear-weapons scientists are designing a newH-bomb, the first of probably several new nuclear explosives on the drawing boards.If they succeed, in perhaps 20 or 25 more years, the United States would have an entirely new nuclear arsenal, and a highly automated factory capable of turning out more warheads as needed, as well as new kinds of warheads."We are on the verge of an exciting time," the nation's top nuclear weapons executive, Linton Brooks, said last week at Lawrence Livermore weapons design laboratory.Teams of roughly20 scientists and engineers at the nation's two laboratories for nuclear-explosive design — Livermore and Los Alamos in New Mexico — are in a head-to-head competition to offer designs for the first of the new thermonuclear explosives, termed "reliable replacement warheads" or RRWs.Designers are aiming for bombs that will be simpler, easier to maintain over decades and, if they fell into terrorists' hands, able to be remotely destroyed or rendered useless. Once the designs are unveiled in September, the Bush administration and Congress could face a major choice in the future of the U.S. arsenal: Do they keep maintaining the existing, tested weapons or begin diverting money and manpower to developing the newly designed but untested weapons?Administration officials see the new weapons and the plant to make them as "truly transformative," allowing the dismantlement of thousands of reserve weapons. (...) The prize for the winning lab is tens, perhaps hundreds of million of dollars for carrying its bomb concept into prototyping and production. If manufactured, the first RRW would replace two warheads on submarine-launched missiles, the W76 and W88, together the most numerous active weapons and the cornerstone of the U.S. nuclear force.Altogether, the nation has 5,700 nuclear bombs and warheads of 12 basic types, plus more than 4,200 weapons kept in reserve as insurance against aging and failure of the active, fielded arsenal.Most are 25-35 years old. All were exploded multiple times under the Nevada desert before U.S. nuclear testing halted in 1992. It is in most respects the world's most sophisticated nuclear arsenal, and beyond opposition at home to continued testing, ending testing made sense to discourage other nations from testing to advance their nuclear capabilities. CLIP

White House Can't Sweep Aside Abramoff
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906C.shtml
The scandal surrounding disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has shaken up Capitol Hill. But it still poses significant problems for the Bush White House. Indicted aide Safavian heads to court, and questions still swirl about Griles and Rove.

Future American Lawyers to be Proud Of (with pictures)
http://insomnia.livejournal.com/652389.html?nc=2&style=mine
Alberto Gonzales spoke before law students at Georgetown Law School today, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveilance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty ballsy and brave. They got up from their seats and turned their backs to him. To make matters worse for Gonzales, additional students came into the room, wearing black cowls and carrying a simple banner, written on a sheet. Fortunately for him, it was a brief speech... followed by a panel discussion that basically ripped his argument in half.And, as one of the people on the panel said, "When you're a law student, they tell you that if you can't argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can't argue the facts, argue the law. If you can't argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue... to say over and over again "it's lawful", and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough.In light of this, I'm proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today."- David Cole, Georgetown University Law Professor - It was a good day for dissent.

Civic and political organizing online is under attack by America Online. We need to fight back quickly. MoveOn has prepared an online petition to fight this move. It's at: http://civic.moveon.org/AOLemail/
The issue: Online political groups, issue groups, charities, and other non-profits who have large memberships will essentially be priced out of the Internet. How? AOL just announced plans to charge groups with large membership lists every time they send an email, charging what the New York Times calls the "electronic equivalent of a postage stamp" for EACH RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS every time an email is sent. The only way for groups to be sure members receive their emails would be to pay. If they don't pay, your emails could go into a black hole - or be "stripped of images and Web links." If AOL succeeds, other companies will follow - so we need to fight back today. Silence is assent. Time is short. The radical corporate right is on the march. Whether or not you're an AOL user, please sign the petition NOW. Thanks.

The End of the Internet?
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online. CLIP

Chavez makes call to arms (5 feb 06)
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18047176%255E1702,00.html
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is considering buying enough rifles to arm one million people ready to repel a possible US invasion. Mr Chavez also threatened to close down his government's US-based refineries if Washington decided to cut diplomatic ties. During a speech warning his supporters that Washington was considering an invasion of Venezuela, Mr Chavez said that 100,000 Russian-built Kalashnikov assault rifles would not be enough to defend the country. "We still need a higher number of rifles. The 100,000 Russian rifles are not enough, Venezuela needs to have one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women," he said. "I've started making contacts with some countries" that would be able to supply the rifles, Mr Chavez told the crowd of supporters to rousing applause. Relations between Washington and Caracas have been tense in recent months in part because of US criticism of Venezuela's purchases of military equipment,including 100,000 Russian-made assault rifles. Mr Chavez said Venezuela did not want to go to the extreme of cutting off petroleum supplies to the US but he said if Washington wanted to break relations he could easily order Venezuela's US refineries closed. "We'll see how high oil prices go, we'll see how much a gallon of gas will cost. I could easily sell the oil we sell to the United States to other countries," he said. "We don't want to get to that extreme, we want them to leave us in peace." Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter and supplies about 15 per cent of US petroleum imports. CLIP

US Plans Massive Data Sweep
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906M.shtml
The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

Election officials fear '06 season of the glitch
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-05-election-glitches_x.htm
WASHINGTON — More than 30 million Americans will be looking at new and unfamiliar voting machines when they cast their ballots this year, perhaps the most rapid changeover of voting equipment in history. With that change comes an increased risk of errors and confusion, election officials say. CLIP

Winds of climate change are about to make their impact felt in many a boardroom (Feb 6) http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1702952,00.html
Top science adviser sounds death knell for theory that insists growth is good. - The old economics is dead. Its death knell was sounded last week, not by a practitioner of the dismal science but by Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser. Sir David King said concentrations of greenhouse gases were already at a level where the warning signs were flashing red: a comment that starkly illustrates the impending clash between economic orthodoxy and environmental sustainability. Economics is a discipline in which the factors of production - capital and labour - are supposed to be harnessed to maximise production at the cheapest price. By this yardstick, an economy is doing twice as well if it is growing at 4% rather than 2% and disastrously badly if consumers are not in the shops from dawn till dusk. Globalisation is seen as the ultimate form of a market economy, according to the prevailing model, because a more efficient use of the factors of production leads to lower prices and therefore permits higher levels of consumption. In a globalised world, you're only as good as your last GDP number.But think about it for a minute. Concerns are frequently being raised about the fact that many developed countries are about to see - or are already seeing - a decline in their populations. This will have an impact on their trend rate of growth, which is a function of population and productivity. Stories about falling population are always couched in terms of demographic time bombs, suggesting that they are clearly a bad thing. But fewer people in Germany, Italy or Japan will mean more space, less pressure on resources and a more pleasant life. (...) Currently, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are around 380 parts per million, compared with around 220 ppm during the last ice age. Climatologists estimate that 400ppm - of thereabouts - is the tipping point and if we push concentrations much above that the process of climate change could become irreversible.SeducedSir David says climate change is a threat to our civilisation, and he's right about that. There is no cast-iron guarantee that societies - no matter how smart or technologically advanced - persist. Think of the Romans in the last days before the collapse of the empire ushered in the Dark Ages. But Sir David thinks it is unrealistic to limit concentrations to the levels that scientists say would be safe. He thinks about 550 ppm is the limit and, sadly, given the current configuration of politics - domestically and globally - he is probably right about that too. One problem is that as individuals we lack the incentives to do the sensible thing. If you are seduced by the idea of a cut-price flight, you get 100% of the benefit but only assume a tiny fraction of the cost to the environment. Another problem is that we lack the institutional framework for coping with climate change; instead, we have national governments fearful of doing anything that would damage international competitiveness. A more damaging mindset you could not hope to find, since it sends out the clear message that action on the environment comes a long way second to policies that foster growth. CLIP

It's capitalism or a habitable planet - you can't have both (Feb 2)
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1700409,00.html
Our economic system is unsustainable by its very nature. The only response to climate chaos and peak oil is major social change - There is no meaningful response to climate change without massive social change. A cap on this and a quota on the other won't do it. Tinker at the edges as we may, we cannot sustain earth's life-support systems within the present economic system.Capitalism is not sustainable by its very nature. It is predicated on infinitely expanding markets, faster consumption and bigger production in a finite planet. And yet this ideological model remains the central organising principle of our lives, and as long as it continues to be so it will automatically undo (with its invisible hand) every single green initiative anybody cares to come up with. Much discussion of energy, with never a word about power, leads to the fallacy of a low-impact, green capitalism somehow put at the service of environmentalism. In reality, power concentrates around wealth. Private ownership of trade and industry means that the decisive political force in the world is private power. The corporation will outflank every puny law and regulation that seeks to constrain its profitability. It therefore stands in the way of the functioning democracy needed to tackle climate change. Only by breaking up corporate power and bringing it under social control will we be able to overcome the global environmental crisis.On these pages we have been called on to admire capital's ability to take robust action while governments dither. All hail Wal-Mart for imposing a 20% reduction in its own carbon emissions. But the point is that supermarkets are over. We cannot have such long supply lines between us and our food. Not any more. The very model of the supermarket is unsustainable, what with the packaging, food miles and destruction of British farming. Small, independent suppliers, processors and retailers or community-owned shops selling locally produced food provide a social glue and reduce carbon emissions. CLIP

What Is Plan B? (February 2, 2006)
http://www.alternet.org/story/31679
Eradicate poverty, reforest the earth, restore fisheries, eliminate overgrazing, protect biological diversity, stabilize climate -- Lester Brown says it's all possible. Of all the resources needed to build an economy that will sustain economic progress, none is more scarce than time. That is one of the key messages of Lester Brown's new book, "Plan B. 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble." The world may finally be listening.China now consumes more grain, meat, coal and steel than the United States. If China's income grows as projected, in 2031 its income per person will match incomes in the United States today. At that point, it will be consuming the equivalent of two-thirds of the current world grain harvest, driving 1.1 billion cars (versus 800 million in the world today) and using 99 million barrels of oil per day, well above current world production of 84 million barrels. That's Plan A. New threats -- climate change, environmental degradation, the persistence of poverty and the loss of hope -- call for new strategies. Brown -- who left World Watch in 2001 to found Earth Policy Institute -- says it's time for Plan B -- a renewable-energy-based, reuse-recycle economy with a diversified transport system: time to build a new economy and a new world. The world is now spending $975 billion annually for military purposes. Plan B -- social goals and earth restoration -- requires an additional annual expenditure of $161 billion. CLIP

Scientists Fear Unusual Weather Behind Massive Seabird Die-Off
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/257515_deadbirds30.html

ExxonMobil Makes World's Biggest Profit With $36 Billion In A Year
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1698531,00.html
Gains Won At Expense Of Global Warming, Say Critics

Clinton: Climate change is the world's biggest worry (January 28, 2006)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--worldforum-clinto0128jan28,0,2658428,print.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton told corporate chieftains and political bigwigs Saturday that climate change was the world's biggest problem _ followed by global inequality and the "apparently irreconcilable" religious and cultural differences behind terrorism. Clinton's comments provided something a freewheeling and philosophical finale _ ahead of Sunday's formal wrap-up _ to several days of high-powered discourse on the state of the world, and the mostly admiring audience seemed to hang on his every word. "First, I worry about climate change," Clinton said in an onstage conversation with the founder of the World Economic Forum. "It's the only thing that I believe has the power to fundamentally end the march of civilization as we know it, and make a lot of the other efforts that we're making irrelevant and impossible." Clinton called for "a serious global effort to develop a clean energy future" to avoid the onset of another ice age. He also said the current global system "works to aggravate rather than ameliorate inequality" between and within nations _ including in the United States, where he lamented the "growing concentration of wealth at the top," alongside stagnation for the middle classes and rising poverty. CLIP

Scientists warn of melting ice in Arctic (February 6, 2006) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Arctic_Warming.html
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Scientists on Monday painted a gloomy picture of the effects of global warming on the Arctic, warning of melting ocean ice, rising oceans, thawed permafrost and forests susceptible to bugs and fire."A lot of the stories you read make it sound like there's uncertainty," said Jonathan Overpeck, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. "There's not uncertainty." The questions scientists continue to address, he said after his presentation at the Alaska Forum on the Environment, are how much of the warming is caused by humans and how drastic long-term effects will be.Deborah Williams, a conference organizer and former director of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, said Alaska is Ground Zero for observing the effects of global warming because so many natural phenomena are tied to ice and the repercussions of it melting."We are the Paul Revere of global warming," she said. Overpeck reviewed NASA studies showing how Arctic ice has shrunk in size and depth. CLIP

Global Warming Demands Urgent Solutions, Scientists Say (January 31, 2006)
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9776
LONDON — The world must halt greenhouse gas emissions and reverse them within two decades or watch the planet spiralling towards destruction, scientists said on Monday. Saying that evidence of catastrophic global warming from burning fossil fuels was now incontrovertible, the experts from oceanographers to economists, climatologists and politicians stressed that inaction was unacceptable. "Climate change is worse than was previously thought and we need to act now," Henry Derwent, special climate change adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said at the launch of a book of scientific papers on the global climate crisis. Researcher Rachel Warren from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, who contributed to the book "Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change", said carbon dioxide emissions had to peak no later than 2025, and painted a picture of rapidly approaching catastrophe. Global average temperatures were already 0.6 Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and a rise of just 0.4C more would see coral reefs wiped out, flooding in the Himalayas and millions more people facing hunger, she said. A rise of 3C -- just half of what scientists have warned is possible this century -- would see 400 million people going hungry, entire species being wiped out and killer diseases such as dengue fever reachning pandemic proportions. CLIP

Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change (January 29, 2006)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801021_pf.html
Some Experts on Global Warming Foresee 'Tipping Point' When It Is Too Late to Act - Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.This "tipping point" scenario has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. While scientists remain uncertain when such a point might occur, many say it is urgent that policymakers cut global carbon dioxide emissions in half over the next 50 years or risk the triggering of changes that would be irreversible.There are three specific events that these scientists describe as especially worrisome and potentially imminent, although the time frames are a matter of dispute: widespread coral bleaching that could damage the world's fisheries within three decades; dramatic sea level rise by the end of the century that would take tens of thousands of years to reverse; and, within 200 years, a shutdown of the ocean current that moderates temperatures in northern Europe. CLIP

"We're On The Brink"
http://www.onthebrink.org/
New global warming video short, the prelude to a longer story - On the Brink: Solutions to Global Warming a music-intensive documentary project about young people and global warming. Watch it here in Flash through http://www.publiceyestv.org/

"Beam Me Up, Scottie!" (Feb 5)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020606M.shtml
Just in case you hadn't noticed, we're in a Bushworld too absurd for words. But that hasn't stopped this administration from yakking its collective head off. (...) Though our brush-cutting President did mention wood chips and switch grass, ethanol is essentially a corn product; and corn is our petroleum farm crop of choice, since growing it in quantity involves massive infusions of oil-based chemical fertilizer. So maybe we should consider George's ethanol-fix like one of those nicotine patches for cigarette smokers. Throw in some leftover radioactive waste from those nuclear plants his administration would love to hug into existence and it all made perfect sense to me... until the next day when an administration that had never heard of no-backsies took it all back. The President's suggestion about making 75% of Middle Eastern oil imports go away "was purely an example," insisted an embarrassed Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. And anyway, it turned out that none of it really mattered since, as Paul Krugman pointed out: "[T]he National Renewable Energy Laboratory is about to lay off staff because of budget cuts. 'A veteran researcher,' reports The New York Times, 'said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol.'" Of course, the President and his men generated enough wind last week to create a little extra power - if only we'd put some money into alternative fuels. CLIP

Pyramids found in Bosnia
http://www.bosnianpyramids.org/index.php?id=6&lang=en
When was the first time you came to the conclusion that there are pyramids in Visoko? In April of 2005, during my visit to Visoko, I noticed two geometrically symmetrical elevations:
Visocica (Bosnian pyramid of Sun) and Pljesevica (Bosnian pyramid of Moon). Even tough both were covered by trees, the characteristics of pyramids were evident. Taking into consideration their fit with the sides of the world for me there was no doubt that we were talking about pyramids. Route from unbelievable hypothesis to the scientific argumentation, which will confirm my vision, was logical. First, I started with geological trial excavations in August which showed many anomalies convincing even some experts around me that this was not a natural formation. In October of 2005 I continued my excavation on my own with wide digs, so-called probing (excavation) wells, which showed the structure of the walls of the pyramid, access plateau and the pyramid design. For an expert eye there was no doubt any more at that point: stone tiles made a stairs-like pyramid 220 meters tall, and treated stone tiles were making up the access plateau. CLIP Recommended by "Marjaana Beddard" marjaana.beddard@kolumbus.fi>

Canada to Shield Five Million Forest Acres
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020706EC.shtml
Canadian officials, coastal Native Canadian nations, logging companies and environmental groups will announce an agreement that they say will protect the home of the spirit bear in an area that is also the world's largest remaining intact temperate coastal rain forest.

Experts Finally Recognize The Dangers With Soy (??? unsure about this one...)
http://www.mercola.com/2006/feb/7/experts_finally_recognize_the_dangers_with_soy.htm

Physicians Group Reacts to Vaccinations
http://autism.about.com/library/weekly/aa110400a.htm?rnk=r13&terms=thimerosal
While researchers look for links between autism, pervasive developmental disorders, and the mercury content of the vaccines which are mandated by law, some physicians are convinced that the dangers of mandatory vaccinations and the vaccines themselves potentially cause more harm than good. As a result, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) passed a resolution at their 57th Annual Meeting that calls for the elimination of laws which require vaccinations for children. According to Dr. Jane M. Orient, MD, the association's Executive Director, "Our children face the possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects from mandated vaccines that aren’t necessary or that have very limited benefits." According to the Association, the mandatory vaccine controversy is fueled by the influence of the pharmaceutical companies in the legislative process and the fact that their influence extends into the depths of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration. These groups have the authority to approve vaccines and other medical treatments for use in the United States, and their research is flawed because of the influence of the manufacturers. According to the AAPS, "Rampant conflicts of interest in the approval process has been the subject of several Congressional hearings, and a recent Congressional report concluded that the pharmaceutical industry has indeed exerted undue influence on mandatory vaccine legislation toward its own financial interests." They go on to say, "The vaccine approval process has also been contaminated by flawed or incomplete clinical trials, and government officials have chosen to ignore negative results." CLIP

http://www.iwilltryit.com/fourthrieich1.htm
Full story may come as a surprise to you. Recommended by "John T. Linnell" integrity1@simantha.com>

Omega-News Collection 4. February 2006
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1513853/