February 21, 2006

The Writing on the Wall Series #48: Vital Knowledge - LOTS of it!

Hello everyone!

Once again, after many long hours of reading recent emails and various web-posted material, I've compiled for you a review of what seems to me both essential to know and important to network.

Have a great week!

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator

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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This compilation is archived at http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/Archives2006/WritingWall48.htm


STATS for this compilation: Over 32,000 words and 141 links provided.


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"The weekend before the 9/11 WTC demolition, all power was shut down to install "computer cables." No one was allowed inside and all security cameras and alarms had no power for 30 hours. Computer cables don't connect with building electricity, so the need to turn off and close both towers to do so is indicative of another motive, like planting charges without alarms and video surveillance. Marvin Bush, brother to President George and Jeb, was a principal in Securacom, which was in charge of security for the World Trade Center. Didn't hear that on the TV news, did you?"
‹ Taken from http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/76020-2/


"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


"The caribou love it. They rub against it and they have babies. There are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at."

— George Bush, on the Alaska pipeline
See NRDC FIGHTS WESTERN ARCTIC DRILLING PLAN at
http://www.savebiogems.org/newsletter/index.asp


Worthy of Your Attention

The Journey of Genuine Love
http://www.hendricks.com/dbcart/genlove_ex2.asp

Action Page
http://legitgov.org/action.html

Pentagon Strike Flash Animation
http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/pentagon.htm

Ironic Times
http://ironictimes.com/index.html

All sorts of recent and diverse spiritual channelings (mostly!)
http://snoedel.punt.nl/

Women say No to War!
This is your opportunity to unite with international women everywhere and contribute towards the end of the illegal war in Iraq. Go to http://www.womensaynotowar.org to sign the call now! Our call will be delivered to the White House on March 8, 2006. Please celebrate International Women's Day on this date by joining us and visiting the following page for action/event ideas:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/codepink/signUp.jsp?key=924&t=WSNTW.dwt - Recommended by "Maggie Erotokritou" surya@spidernet.com.cy

URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
Oil Palm Threatens Indonesia's Rainforests and Orangutans
Chinese funded development a ploy to access rainforest timbers, will devastate Borneo's biodiversity and largest remaining wild orangutan population --  
Indonesia plans to cut a 2,000 kilometer long, five kilometer wide swathe through one of the world's largest remaining areas of pristine rainforest to create a massive oil palm plantation. The project would destroy two million hectares of ancient rainforest in Kalimantan, traversing almost the entire border with Malaysia, and slicing through three national parks. These remote rainforests on the island of Borneo are home to countless species of rare birds, plants and mammals including the largest remaining wild orangutan population. This Chinese-funded "agricultural development" is almost certainly a thinly veiled ruse to access timber. Indonesia has huge land areas of abandoned, unproductive palm oil plantations and degraded forest areas that would be suitable for oil palm development. Palm oil plantations - which completely clear the rainforests and are biologically depauperate - are the number one enemy of orangutans. Orangutans need vast areas of interconnected forest to survive, and this ill-conceived project would speed up their extinction. Let the Indonesian President know he must cancel the Kalimantan project, and that new oil palm plantations should be built only in previously cleared and unused areas. Note your protest emails are going to nine addresses, please inform us if some start to bounce. Please take action now at http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia
More details at http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/news/great_ape_scandal/index.html
Recommended by "Mark Graffis" mgraffis@vitelcom.net

Life as Awakening
http://www.hermes-press.com/life_awakening.htm
In this essay we'll examine how the ordinary mental state of most humans is literally a form of dreaming while asleep. We'll discover precisely what this involves, how humans arrive at this state, and--most important--how we can escape from this delusory dream state and ascend to a higher mode of consciousness. By "ordinary consciousness," we mean the usual state of awareness, including the associated mental and emotional elements. If we ask the average person why he believes his ordinary consciousness is veridical, he'll say that it puts him in touch with reality in a way that "works" for him. "My usual way of thinking enables me to deal with objects, persons, and events in a manner that leads to successful outcomes. Since it 'works' for me why would I even consider the silly idea that I'm living in an illusory world or a dream state? I'm free from any such absurd restriction." The difficulty is that the ordinary person isn't able--or willing--to acknowledge when his habitual consciousness (the dream state) leads him astray; when his view of the world causes him to mistake a dictatorial police state for a democracy, a mindless tyrant for a "fearless leader," and a pre-emptive, unjustified war for a struggle against terrorism and the spreading of democracy. CLIP - Amazing essay and pictures! Recommended by Arthur Bond pitcairn9@yahoo.co.uk

Help protect Wyoming's Red Desert wildlands
http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=53329
The Bush administration wants to turn the expansive ranges and prime wildlife habitats on the eastern edge of Wyoming's Red Desert into a dense industrial web of oil and gas wells. Go to the URL above and tell the Bush administration to protect the extraordinary natural, recreational and cultural values of the Red Desert's Atlantic Rim region from massive oil and gas development. The Atlantic Rim provides crucial winter range for elk and mule deer, as well as irreplaceable nesting grounds for sage grouse, hawks and eagles. Yet the administration's preferred development plan -- which calls for constructing 2,000 wells at double the usual density and 1,000 miles of new roads -- would despoil the critical wildlife habitats and pollute the clear streams of this storied landscape. Little of the native wildlife in this quarter-million-acre stretch of the Red Desert would be able to survive over the long term.


CONTENTS

1. New Message from Matthew
2. Feedback about Sea Rise
3. THE SECOND COMING OF THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN REVOLUTION
4. Complete text of Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall
5. Al Gore, the impassioned voice of reason
6. 7862 Iraqi Prisoners Murdered In U.S. Custody
7. Congresswoman Says America Run By Criminal Syndicate
8. Purposeful genocide deserves impeachment
9. Big Brother not only watches us, it toys with our children
10. SA solar research eclipses rest of the world
11. Global Warming: Passing The 'Tipping Point'
12. Global Dimming - Hidden Chemtrail Connection?
13. Cheney Says Shooting Based on Faulty Intelligence
14. Swami Calls for an Up-Wising The Evolution Has Begun!
15. Men jokes


See also:

Who Will Blow the Whistle Before We Attack Iran?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306A.shtml
With no perceptible demurral from inside the government, George W. Bush launched a war of aggression, defined by the Nuremberg Tribunal as "the supreme international crime." If this doesn't qualify for whistle blowing, what does? Let us hope that administration officials, or analysts — or both — will find the courage to speak out loudly, and early enough to prevent the "disconnected-from-reality" cabal in the Bush administration from getting us into an unnecessary war with Iran, writes Ray McGovern.

WWIII or Bust: Implications of a US Attack on Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021906D.shtml
Witnessing the Bush administration's drive for an attack on Iran is like being a passenger in a car with a raving drunk at the wheel, according to Heather Wokusch.

Silence the War Drums (Feb 16, 2006)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul304.html
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this very dangerous legislation. My colleagues would do well to understand that this legislation is leading us toward war against Iran. Those reading this bill may find themselves feeling a sense of déjà vu. In many cases one can just substitute "Iraq" for "Iran" in this bill and we could be back in the pre-2003 run up to war with Iraq. And the logic of this current push for war is much the same as was the logic used in the argument for war on Iraq. As earlier with Iraq, this resolution demands that Iran perform the impossible task of proving a negative – in this case that Iran does not have plans to build a nuclear weapon. (...) Resolved clause four of this legislation is the most inflammatory and objectionable part of the legislation. It lowers the bar to initiating war on Iran. This clause anticipates that the US may not be successful in getting the Security Council to pass a Resolution because of the potential of a Russian or Chinese veto, so it "calls upon" Russia and China to "take action" in response to "any report" of "Iran's noncompliance. That is right: any report. Mr. Speaker, this resolution is a drumbeat for war with Iran. Its logic is faulty, its premises are flawed, and its conclusions are dangerous. I urge my colleagues to stop for a moment and ponder the wisdom of starting yet another war in the Middle East.

Bush Plans Huge Propaganda Campaign in Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606B.shtml
The Bush administration made an emergency request to Congress yesterday for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount the biggest-ever propaganda campaign against the Tehran government, in a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the West.

US and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406J.shtml
The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

Israeli Cabinet OKs Economic Sanctions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021906X.shtml
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a halt in monthly transfers of tens of millions of dollars to the Palestinians, in the first response to Hamas taking control of the Palestinian parliament.

Don't Punish the Palestinians
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022106Z.shtml
Jimmy Carter: "It would not violate any political principles to at least give the Palestinians their own money; let humanitarian assistance continue through UN and private agencies; encourage Russia, Egypt and other nations to exert maximum influence on Hamas to moderate its negative policies; and support President Abbas in his efforts to ease tension, avoid violence and explore steps toward a lasting peace."

U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster (Feb 13)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/middleeast/14mideast.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
JERUSALEM - The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats. The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement. The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood. The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. They say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse. CLIP

The Hamas Victory: Another Side to the Story
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3107
Lost amidst the predictably negative reaction to the victory by Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections is the crucial role that the U.S. government had in bringing the radical Islamist group to power. Both Congress and the Bush administration are on record insisting that Hamas' virulent anti-Israel stance and the history of terrorist activities by its armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, gives Israel the right to refuse to engage or negotiate with the Palestinians. However, Israel had already suspended peace talks nearly five years ago without apparent objections from U.S. officials. A majority of Israelis, according to public opinion polls, had supported a resumption of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority under its outgoing secular government, but the administration and Congress continued to back the right-wing Israeli government's refusal to talk with its Palestinian counterparts on the implementation of the Road Map, a formula backed by the "Quartet" consisting of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations. Following the 2004 decision of the Bush administration and a huge bipartisan congressional majority to throw its weight behind Prime Minister Sharon's unilateral disengagement strategy in lieu of a negotiated withdrawal, many Palestinians saw the departure of Israeli colonists from the Gaza Strip as a result of Hamas' armed resistance, thereby giving them even less faith in a U.S.-led peace process. CLIP

Where's the Oversight?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306D.shtml
The untold tale of the latest Pentagon budget is the wastage and overpricing that continue to lard it up to the tune of perhaps $100 billion — with Congress scarcely paying attention remarks Michael Hirsh. CLIP

Iraq and the Problem of Terrorism
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3088
Last year, 5,736 Iraqis died and 845 U.S. soldiers died in the Iraq War, many at the hands of the estimated 2,000 foreign terrorist fighters based in the U.S.-occupied country. If this conflict is part of a larger war on terrorism as President George W. Bush claims, it's clear the U.S. is losing the so-called "global war on terror." Prior to the March 2003 invasion by the United States, Iraq was not a hotbed of terrorism. It's true that Saddam Hussein was connected to terrorism by his payments to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. But this act of bravado was meant to boost his image in the Arab world. As horrific as that support was, the continued attacks in the years since Saddam was toppled illustrate that payment to families was not the main fuel for continued attacks on Israel. It merely fed an image that helped to distract from Saddam's misdeeds. Today Iraq is entirely transformed. The country lacks both safety and security and suffers from daily kidnappings, frequent car bombings, and other violent attacks. And with porous borders and poor intelligence gathering U.S. efforts to truly secure Iraq have fairly come in to question. In 2005 there were 841 car bombs and an average of 70 attacks per day on U.S. forces. CLIP

UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells (February 19, 2006)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2047373,00.html
RADIATION detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere after the “shock and awe” bombing campaign against Iraq, according to a report. Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain.(...) The “shock and awe” campaign was one of the most devastating assaults in modern warfare. In the first 24-hour period more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad. During the conflict A10 “tankbuster” planes — which use munitions containing depleted uranium — fired 300,000 rounds. The substance — dubbed a “silver bullet” because of its ability to pierce heavy tank armour — is controversial because of its potential effect on human health. Critics say it is chemically toxic and can cause cancer, and Iraqi doctors reported a marked rise in cancer cases after it was used in the first Gulf conflict. (...) Busby’s report shows that within nine days of the start of the Iraq war on March 19, 2003, higher levels of uranium were picked up on five sites in Berkshire. On two occasions, levels exceeded the threshold at which the Environment Agency must be informed, though within safety limits. The report says weather conditions over the war period showed a consistent flow of air from Iraq northwards. CLIP

The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse (Jan 15, 2006)
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/petrov011606.html
Abstract: the proposed Iranian Oil Bourse will accelerate the fall of the American Empire. (...) The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate "nuclear" weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam's, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system: The Europeans will not have to buy and hold dollars in order to secure their payment for oil, but would instead pay with their own currencies. The adoption of the euro for oil transactions will provide the European currency with a reserve status that will benefit the European at the expense of the Americans. * The Chinese and the Japanese will be especially eager to adopt the new exchange, because it will allow them to drastically lower their enormous dollar reserves and diversify with Euros, thus protecting themselves against the depreciation of the dollar. One portion of their dollars they will still want to hold onto; a second portion of their dollar holdings they may decide to dump outright; a third portion of their dollars they will decide to use up for future payments without replenishing those dollar holdings, but building up instead their euro reserves. * The Russians have inherent economic interest in adopting the Euro - the bulk of their trade is with European countries, with oil-exporting countries, with China, and with Japan. Adoption of the Euro will immediately take care of the first two blocs, and will over time facilitate trade with China and Japan. Also, the Russians seemingly detest holding depreciating dollars, for they have recently found a new religion with gold. Russians have also revived their nationalism, and if embracing the Euro will stab the Americans, they will gladly do it and smugly watch the Americans bleed. * The Arab oil-exporting countries will eagerly adopt the Euro as a means of diversifying against rising mountains of depreciating dollars. Just like the Russians, their trade is mostly with European countries, and therefore will prefer the European currency both for its stability and for avoiding currency risk, not to mention their jihad against the Infidel Enemy. CLIP

Syria switches to euro amid confrontation with US (Feb 13) http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-02-13T153028Z_01_L13432231_RTRUKOC_0_US-SYRIA-US-FOREX.xml&rpc=22
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars amid a political confrontation with the United States, the head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria said on Monday. "This is a precaution. We are talking about billions of dollars," Duraid Durgham told Reuters. The bank, which still dominates the Syrian market although private banks have been allowed to set up in the last few years, has also stopped dealing with dollars in the international foreign exchange flows of private clients. The United States has been at the forefront of international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri a year ago. Damascus denies involvement in the killing. "It looks like a kind of pre-emptive action aimed at making their foreign assets safer, preventing them from getting frozen in case of any conflict," said a Middle East economist who requested anonymity.

THE END OF DOLLAR HEGEMONY By Ron Paul (15 February 2006)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11946.htm
A hundred years ago it was called "dollar diplomacy." After World War II, and especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, that policy evolved into "dollar hegemony." But after all these many years of great success, our dollar dominance is coming to an end. The artificial demand for our dollar, along with our military might, places us in the unique position to "rule" the world without productive work or savings, and without limits on consumer spending or deficits. The problem is, it can't last. (...) Price inflation is raising its ugly head, and the NASDAQ bubble-- generated by easy money-- has burst. The housing bubble likewise created is deflating. Gold prices have doubled, and federal spending is out of sight with zero political will to rein it in. The trade deficit last year was over $728 billion. A $2 trillion war is raging, and plans are being laid to expand the war into Iran and possibly Syria. The only restraining force will be the world's rejection of the dollar. It's bound to come and create conditions worse than 1979-1980, which required 21% interest rates to correct. But everything possible will be done to protect the dollar in the meantime. We have a shared interest with those who hold our dollars to keep the whole charade going.Greenspan, in his first speech after leaving the Fed, said that gold prices were up because of concern about terrorism, and not because of monetary concerns or because he created too many dollars during his tenure. Gold has to be discredited and the dollar propped up. Even when the dollar comes under serious attack by market forces, the central banks and the IMF surely will do everything conceivable to soak up the dollars in hope of restoring stability. Eventually they will fail. Most importantly, the dollar/oil relationship has to be maintained to keep the dollar as a preeminent currency. Any attack on this relationship will be forcefully challenged-as it already has been. (...) Once again Congress has bought into the war propaganda against Iran, just as it did against Iraq. Arguments are now made for attacking Iran economically, and militarily if necessary. These arguments are all based on the same false reasons given for the ill-fated and costly occupation of Iraq.Our whole economic system depends on continuing the current monetary arrangement, which means recycling the dollar is crucial. Currently, we borrow over $700 billion every year from our gracious benefactors, who work hard and take our paper for their goods. Then we borrow all the money we need to secure the empire (DOD budget $450 billion) plus more. The military might we enjoy becomes the "backing" of our currency. There are no other countries that can challenge our military superiority, and therefore they have little choice but to accept the dollars we declare are today's "gold." This is why countries that challenge the system-- like Iraq, Iran and Venezuela-- become targets of our plans for regime change. CLIP

Searching for a New Direction (January 18, 2006) http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr011806.htm
(...) During this administration the dollar has suffered severely as a consequence of the policy of inflating the currency to pay our bills. The dollar price of gold has more than doubled ($252 to $560 per ounce, a 122 % increase). This means the dollar has depreciated in terms of gold, the time-honored and reliable measurement of a nation’s currency, by an astounding 55%. The long-term economic health of the nation is measured by the soundness of its currency. Once Rome converted from a republic to an empire, she depreciated her currency to pay the bills. This eventually led to Rome’s downfall. That is exactly what America is facing unless we change our ways. (...) A free nation, as it moves toward authoritarianism, tolerates and hides a lot of abuse in the system. The human impulse for wealth creation is hard to destroy. But in the end it will happen here, if true reform of our economic, monetary, and political system is not accomplished. Whether government programs are promoted for “good” causes (helping the poor), or bad causes (permitting a military-industrial complex to capitalize on war profits), the principles of the market are undermined. Eventually nearly everyone becomes dependent on the system of deficits, borrowing, printing press money, and the special interest budget process that distributes loot by majority vote. Today, most business interests and the poor are dependent on government handouts. Education and medical care is almost completely controlled and regulated by an overpowering central government. We have come to accept our role as world policemen and nation builder with little question, despite the bad results and an inability to pay the bills. The question is, what will it take to bring about the changes in policy needed to reverse this dangerous trend? The answer is: quite a lot. And unfortunately it’s not on the horizon. It probably won’t come until there is a rejection of the dollar as the safest and strongest world currency, and a return to commodity money like gold and silver to restore confidence. CLIP - Recommended by Phyllis Montague phyllism5@juno.com

Chavez Threatens to Cut Off Oil to US If It Goes Too Far (February 18, 2006)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0218-04.htm
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has warned he was taking potential steps to cut off oil shipments to the United States, in the event Washington goes too far campaigning against his elected leftist rule. "The US government must know that if it crosses the line, it won't be getting Venezuelan oil," the leftist leader cautioned late Friday, repeating threats he has made in his long, simmering dispute with the United States. Chavez, who did not clarify how Washington might incur such a sanction, apparently was reacting to Thursday's call by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for an international "united front" against Venezuela. (...) The only OPEC member in Latin America, Venezuela currently produces some 3.2 million barrels of oil per day and the United States is its top buyer.US-Venezuelan relations have gone downhill since Chavez was elected seven years ago. He frequently accuses Washington of plotting against him, and has charged it backed an aborted coup in 2002.Relations hit a new low earlier this month when Caracas expelled a US naval attache on espionage charges, prompting Washington to retaliate by kicking a Venezuelan diplomat out of the United States.While Washington often derides Chavez for excessive and provocative rhetoric, the Americans have kept up their end of the war of words. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier this month likened Chavez's rise to power to that of Germany's Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Despite the war of words, Venezuela remains the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to its northern neighbor, selling it about 1.5 million barrels daily and, through Citgo, has three refineries and close to 14,000 gas (petrol) stations in the United States.

While the mainstream media sleeps: Iran/Venezuela declares economic war on the U.S. (February 15, 2006)
http://www.teamliberty.net/id223.html
During a recent visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Iranian parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel said U.S. opposition to Iran's nuclear program was "only a pretext." "They are worried that we want to be independent," Hadad Adel said through an interpreter.[1] Adel was kind to use the word “pretext”. A more direct statement by Adel would have been to say that U.S. opposition to Iran’s nuclear program is more of the same hardliner propaganda coming out of the Bush Administration, meant to drum up public support for additional Bush Administration sponsored, pre-emptive strikes against nations that dare to abandon the U.S. dollar in favor of the euro or any other foreign currency. Why else would Adel say that the U.S. opposition to Iran’s nuclear program was “only a pretext” if he didn’t possess full knowledge of what he believed to be the real reason why the Bush Administration and its supporters in the U.S. Congress have suddenly gotten themselves all hot and bothered over a nuclear program that has been in play for decades and is by many accounts, at least ten more years away from being able to produce even a single nuclear weapon? What did Adel mean when he said that “they are worried that we want to be independent” when Iran is already an independent country? No foreign army is presently occupying Iran. It holds elections. In 2000, the U.S. applauded when the Iranian people elected reformists to the Iranian Parliament. In 2004, the Bush Administration, the spread democracy by spraying bullets administration, frowned when those same Iranian voters elected the resurgent conservatives into power once again. The point here is that Iran is already independent by all accounts, so what did Adel mean when he said that the Bush Administration and its NEO-CON supporters are worried that Iran wants to be independent? When mining alternative media sources (the mainstream media in the United States is not and will not report this information) to catch a glimpse of what Iran is attempting to become independent of, the only plausible explanation to be uncovered suggests that Iran wants to become independent of the U.S. dollar. It is of great importance to understand that only those countries that are adversarial to the U.S. dollar have earned the scorn of Bush’s Global, Big Brother Machine. CLIP

BEATING AROUND THE BUSH BY THE BOURSE
Here's how the Neocons hoodwinked and swindled the world
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11704.htm
"Oil can be bought from OPEC only if you have dollars. Non-oil producing countries, such as most underdeveloped countries and Japan, first have to sell their goods to earn dollars with which they can purchase oil. If they cannot earn enough dollars, then they have to borrow dollars from the WB/IMF, which have to be paid back, with interest, in dollars. This creates a great demand for dollars outside the U.S. In contrast, the U.S. only has to print dollar bills in exchange for goods. Even for its own oil imports, the U.S. can print dollar bills without exporting or selling its goods. For instance, in 2003 the current U.S. account deficit and external debt has been running at more than $500 billion. Put in simple terms, the U.S. will receive $500 billion more in goods and services from other countries than it will provide them. The imported goods are paid by printing dollar bills, i.e., "fiat" dollars."Here's the Neocons worst nightmare: China has more than $800 billion reserved in a giant stack of basically green, ink-smeared paper. When Iran starts selling its oil in euros, why wouldn't China just go ahead and convert that stack of paper to euros and use real money to buy oil instead? In January 2002, Canada unloaded nearly 20% of its gold stocks in exchange for euros, thereby bringing its euro holdings to the equivalent of about US$14 billion. That's about 42 percent of the total US$33 billion in foreign deposits and securities held by the government. Just 2 years previous, euros accounted for the equivalent of about US$7 billion of Canada's reserves, only 23 percent of the total. The gold sale reduced Canada's U.S. dollar share to 55 percent from 75 percent. Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela is brokering barter deals for trading oil with 12 Latin American countries thereby cutting out the USA cut. At the OPEC summit in September 2000, Chavez delivered the report of the "International Seminar on the Future of Energy." One of its key recommendations was that "OPEC take advantage of high-tech electronic barter and bi-lateral exchanges of its oil with its developing country customers." That would be the end of dollar hegemony over OPEC oil transactions. The War Resisters League calculates that the cost of the US military runs about $643 billion annually. This obscene military expenditure, which supercedes the total of all other combined global military expenditures, is responsible for 80% of the American debt. When the world stops propping up the debt-ridden USA dollar, that will end the Neocon global domination project and the world's worst terrorist menace. (...) In this horrific context, it's not too difficult to understand why the Bush Neocon cabal is preparing to risk all to go on a global oil- stealing spree, and to attack Iran, perhaps even with nukes. It's also easy to understand the cringing wimp-ass non-response of the Democrats. There's no way America can win, and America's got everything to lose. As Gavin R. Putland puts it, "If this oil-currency-war theory is a delusion, the U.S. administration can easily discredit it -- by declaring that the USA has no objection if oil exports to the Euro Zone are denominated in euros." The crash of the USA economy will wreak global economic catastrophe. Paradoxically, that crash is this world's only hope for evading global ecological catastrophe. We should support Iran's oil bourse. Bring it on!

CHINA'S STRANGLEHOLD ON THE DOLLAR
http://tinyurl.com/dcofj
On Thursday, The People's Republic of China fired off the first volley in what could turn out to be economic Armageddon. China announced that it would begin to diversify its foreign-exchange reserves away from US dollar. Gulp! The only thing keeping the dollar atop its fragile perch is the fact that other countries have been willing to lap up the $600 billion of American red ink every year via the trade deficit. That amounts to roughly $2 billion per day or nearly 7% GDP. CLIP

Amid China Threat, US to Hold Mammoth Naval Operations in Pacific
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606G.shtml
Amid persistent warnings about China's growing military clout, the US military said Tuesday it would hold one of its biggest naval exercises in the Asia Pacific this summer. The large-scale operations will involve several carrier strike groups, each of which includes at least three warships, an attack submarine and a support ship.

US GOVERNMENT WARNS IT'S RUNNING OUT OF CASH (December 31, 2005)
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051230161316.ohxvd1c3.html
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary John Snow has warned that unless Congress raises the national debt limit, the US government will run out of cash to finance its daily work in two months. In a letter to Senate leaders Thursday, Snow said the statutory debt limit imposed by Congress of 8.184 trillion dollars would be reached in mid-February and the government would then lose its borrowing power." At that time, unless the debt limit is raised or the Treasury Department takes authorized extraordinary actions, we will be unable to continue to finance government operations," said the letter, seen by AFP. Snow warned that even if the Treasury took "all available prudent and legal actions" to avoid breaching the ceiling, "we anticipate that we can finance government operations no longer than mid-March". CLIP

37 Million Poor Hidden in the Land of Plenty
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006T.shtml
Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now can not meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in ten citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening.

Bush Job Approval Ratings For All 50 State
http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2006/50StateBushApproval060216Approval.htm
Bush's Approval Rating Is Above 50% In Only 6 States.

Senate overwhelmingly backs Patriot Act (Feb. 16, 2006)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11386597/
96-3 vote rejects Feingold's bid to block renewal of anti-terrorism law - WASHINGTON - The Senate overwhelmingly rejected an effort Thursday to block renewing the Patriot Act, the 2001 law passed weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks to help the government hunt down terrorists. The 96-3 vote was no suprise to Sen. Russell Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who was the lone senator to oppose the law four and a half years ago and is the chief obstacle to extending 16 provisions now due to expire March 10. CLIP

Red State, Meet Police State (Feb 15)
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=158729
A federal employee gets hassled by Homeland Security for antiwar stickers on his car. Is it a mistake, a new rule, or the part of a trend of the First Amendment being bullied out of existence? Read the transcript, read the rules and decide for yourself.

V For Vendetta -- New movie out March 17
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/v_for_vendetta/about.php
Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a young working-class woman named Evey who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man known only as "V."Profoundly complex, V is at once literary, flamboyant, tender and intellectual, a man dedicated to freeing his fellow citizens from those who have terrorized them into compliance. He is also bitter, revenge-seeking, lonely and violent, driven by a personal vendetta. In his quest to free the people of England from the corruption and cruelty that have poisoned their government, V condemns the tyrannical nature of their appointed leaders and invites his fellow citizens to join him in the shadows of Parliament on November the 5th – Guy Fawkes Day.On that day in 1605, Guy Fawkes was discovered in a tunnel beneath Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He and his co-conspirators had engineered the treasonous "Gunpowder Plot" in response to the tyranny of their government under James I. Fawkes and his fellow saboteurs were hanged, drawn and quartered, and their plan to take down their government never came to pass.In the spirit of that rebellion, in remembrance of that day, V vows to carry out the plot that Fawkes was executed for attempting on November 5th in 1605: he will blow up Parliament.As Evey uncovers the truth about V’s mysterious past, she also discovers the truth about herself – and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plan to ignite a revolution, bringing freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.

The photos America doesn't want seen (February 15, 2006)
http://smh.com.au/news/world/the-photos-america-doesnt-want-seen/2006/02/14/1139890737099.html
MORE photographs have been leaked of Iraqi citizens tortured by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.Tonight the SBS Dateline program plans to broadcast about 60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret in a court case with the American Civil Liberties Union. Although a US judge last year granted the union access to the photographs following a freedom-of-information request, the US Administration has appealed against the decision on the grounds their release would fuel anti-American sentiment. Some of the photos are similar to those published in 2004, others are different. They include photographs of six corpses, although the circumstances of their deaths are not clear. There arealso pictures of what appear to be burns and wounds from shotgun pellets. CLIP

Torture and Abuse of Iraqis
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021906F.shtml
In an effort to keep the videos and footage of abuse and torture of Iraqis by American and British forces in Iraq available despite US government and Pentagon censorship efforts, Dahr Jamail has posted them all.

9 Ways to Take Action on the 3rd Anniversary of the War (February 17th, 2006)
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3184
Have you made plans yet to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq War? From time to time, our movement gathers in mass mobilizations (as we will on April 29 in New York City). As dramatic and inspiring as those events are, the heart and soul of the peace movement is community-based, local work, which is why United for Peace and Justice has called for nationally coordinated local actions on the third anniversary of the Iraq War.On the first anniversary of the Iraq war, events were held in at least 319 communities nationwide. Last year, for the second anniversary, that number more than doubled, with at least 765 communities throughout the United States hosting peace events. This year, the third anniversary of the Iraq War, is a crucial opportunity to deepen and broaden that grassroots work still further … and make this the last anniversary of this war that never should have happened. It's not too late to organize something -- or to expand your existing plans. Below is a list of ideas for activities you can undertake locally to mark the third anniversary of the war from March 15-22. CLIP

Global Days Of Action March 18-20, 2006
http://www.answercoalition.org
3rd Anniversary Of The "Shock And Awe" Invasion Of Iraq

Billions Wasted in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406S.shtml
Billions of dollars are unaccounted for, and there are widespread allegations of waste, fraud and war profiteering. So far only one case, the subject of a civil lawsuit that goes to trial this week, has been unsealed. It involves a company called Custer Battles, and as 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft reports, the lawsuit provides a window into the chaos of those early days in Iraq.

| Can Hear You Say "Permanent Bases"?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406B.shtml
A near year to come of withdrawal buzz, speculation, and even a media blitz of withdrawal announcements, the question is: How can anybody tell if the Bush administration is actually withdrawing from Iraq or not? Tom Engelhardt suggests keeping your eyes directed at our "super-bases." There are at least four such "super-bases" in Iraq, none of which have anything to do with "withdrawal" from that country. These bases practically scream "permanency."

UN Report Calls for End to Guantanamo Detentions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021706B.shtml
United Nations human rights investigators called on the United States today to shut down the Guantanamo Bay camp and give detainees quick trials or release them, but the White House promptly dismissed the report.

UN Calls Guantanamo a US Torture Camp
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606S.shtml
The United States must close its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay because it is effectively a torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice, a UN report released Thursday concluded.

European Diplomats Call for Guantanamo Closure
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006B.shtml

'The Americans are Breaking International Law... It is a Society Heading Towards Animal Farm'- Archbishop Sentamu on Guantanamo (February 18, 2006)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0218-05.htm
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has launched a passionate attack on President George Bush, saying his administration's refusal to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay camp reflected "a society that is heading towards George Orwell's Animal Farm". Dr Sentamu, the Church of England's second in command, urged the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to take legal action against the US - through the US courts or the International Court of Justice at The Hague - should it fail to respond to a report, by five UN inspectors, advising that Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay should be shut immediately because prisoners there are being tortured. The report was published on Thursday, as a senior High Court judge, Mr Justice Collins, stated that American actions over Guantanamo's Camp Delta do not "appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations". CLIP

US Church Alliance Denounces Iraq War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022106T.shtml
A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the US-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown."

US Force-Feeding Prisoners in Torture Camp
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006J.shtml
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Commission reported that the violent force-feeding of detainees by the US military at its Guantanamo prison camp amounts to torture. More than a third of the prisoners held there have refused food to protest being held incommunicado for years with no hope of release. They have concluded that death could not be worse than the living hell they are enduring.

Senior Lawyer at Pentagon Broke Ranks on Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006K.shtml
One of the Pentagon's top civilian lawyers repeatedly challenged the Bush administration's policy on the coercive interrogation of terror suspects, arguing that such practices violated the law, verged on torture and could ultimately expose senior officials to prosecution, a newly disclosed document shows. The lawyer, Alberto J. Mora, a Republican appointee who retired last month after more than four years as general counsel of the Navy, was one of many dissenters inside the Pentagon.

Bush Royalty Plan Biggest Oil and Gas Giveaway in History
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406D.shtml
The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Nigeria militants threaten to target international oil tankers (February 19, 2006)
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/19/apworld/20060219194357&sec=apworld
WARRI, Nigeria (AP) _ Militants responsible for a string of attacks and kidnappings that have cut Nigerian oil exports by 20 percent threatened for the first time Sunday to target international oil tankers coming into this West African nation's waters to load crude oil. The country is already reeling from violence a day earlier that saw nine foreigners abducted and oil installations destroyed across the volatile southern delta region. A self-declared commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta told The Associated Press by telephone his group was poised to escalate the violence by firing rockets at crude oil tankers offshore. "We'll use our rockets on the ships to stop them from taking our oil,'' said the man, who gave his name as Efie Alari. His identity could not be independently verified, but the call came from a number used by the group before. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claims to be fighting for a greater local share of Nigeria's oil wealth, said Saturday's attacks were in retaliation for assaults this week by military helicopters. The militants threatened more violence on "a grander scale.''

Nigeria oil 'total war' warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4723076.stmBR> Despite the money generated from oil, many people still live in poverty A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta has told the BBC his group is declaring "total war" on all foreign oil interests. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has given oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region. It recently blew up two oil pipelines, held four foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged two major oilfields. The group wants greater control of the oil wealth produced on their land. CLIP

Nuking the Economy
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02112006.html
Forget Iran, Americans Should be Hysterical About This. - Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics re-benchmarked the payroll jobs data back to 2000. Thanks to Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services, I have the adjusted data from January 2001 through January 2006. If you are worried about terrorists, you don't know what worry is.Job growth over the last five years is the weakest on record. The US economy came up more than 7 million jobs short of keeping up with population growth.That's one good reason for controlling immigration. An economy that cannot keep up with population growth should not be boosting population with heavy rates of legal and illegal immigration. Over the past five years the US economy experienced a net job loss in goods producing activities. The entire job growth was in service-providing activities--primarily credit intermediation, health care and social assistance,waiters, waitresses and bartenders, and state and local government.US manufacturing lost 2.9 million jobs, almost 17% of the manufacturing work force. The wipe out is across the board. Not a single manufacturing payroll classification created a single new job. CLIP

Killer Drought Threatens East Africa
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022106EC.shtml
In cracked riverbeds once flowing with water, dozens of hippos lie decomposing in the stifling heat. The thin, delicate frames of rare Grevy's zebras lie on parched grass, felled by anthrax. The wildlife in East Africa is dying of thirst and starvation, the people are suffering - and now the lack of rain threatens even the Serengeti migrations.

Zimbabwe's shortages, inflation blamed for rise in illegal abortions
http://tinyurl.com/b6otp
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- The corpses of at least 20 newborn babies and fetuses are found each week in the sewers of Zimbabwe's capital, some having been flushed down toilets, Harare city authorities said, according to state media Friday. Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya said the babies' remains were found among a wide variety of waste and garbage cleared by city council workers unblocking sewers and drains in Harare. "Apart from upsetting the normal flow of waste, it is not right from a moral standpoint. Some of the things that are happening now are shocking," the state Herald, a government mouthpiece, reported Chideya as saying. Acute shortages of revenue and gasoline in the nation's worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 have crippled public utilities and garbage collection services across Zimbabwe. Hospital fees and charges for scarce medicines have soared. Church and charity groups blame economic hardships for an increase in illegal back-street abortions. Chideya said workers removed at least 20 tons of sand from sewers every day. Inflation is running at 613 percent and many impoverished Zimbabweans, unable to afford cleaning materials or detergents, use sand to scour cooking pots and household dishes. Salt is also used as a substitute for toothpaste.

Haitians Dance for Joy as Preval Is Declared Winner
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021706F.shtml
The protests that paralyzed cities across the country turned into celebrations on Thursday as news spread that Rene Preval, a former president with overwhelming support among this country's poor, had been declared the next president.

Zimbabwean Women Protesters Held
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021606WA.shtml
About 200 women are in police custody in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, after a protest on Tuesday over food prices and human rights violations.

The Lowdown on Sweet? (February 12, 2006) AT LONG LAST A MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE U.S. BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON THE LETHALLY NEUROTOXIC ASPARTAME KILLER!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12sweet.html
WHEN Dr. Morando Soffritti, a cancer researcher in Bologna, Italy, saw the results of his team's seven-year study on aspartame, he knew he was about to be injected into a bitter controversy over this sweetener, one of the most contentiously debated substances ever added to foods and beverages. A study conducted at an Italian cancer research center, above, has rekindled the debate on aspartame. Aspartame is sold under the brand names Nutra-Sweet and Equal and is found in such popular products as Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Snapple and Sugar Free Kool-Aid. Hundreds of millions of people consume it worldwide. And Dr. Soffritti's study concluded that aspartame may cause the dreaded "c" word: cancer.The research found that the sweetener was associated with unusually high rates of lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers in rats that had been given doses of it starting at what would be equivalent to four to five 20-ounce bottles of diet soda a day for a 150-pound person. The study, which involved 1,900 laboratory rats and cost $1 million, was conducted at the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, a nonprofit organization that studies cancer-causing substances; Dr. Soffritti is its scientific director. (...) No regulatory agency has yet acted on Dr. Soffritti's findings, although Roger Williams, a member of Parliament, called for a ban on aspartame in Britain last December. Last month, the European Food Safety Authority, an advisory body for the European Commission, began to review 900 pages of data from Dr. Soffritti; the goal is to finish by May. A commission spokesman, Philip Tod, said it was too early to know what the next steps would be if the scientists reviewing the data concurred with Dr. Soffritti's findings. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration says it has also taken note of the study, which is available online (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/8711/abstract.html) and is scheduled to be published next month in a medical journal financed by the National Institutes of Health. F.D.A. officials say that they, too, intend to conduct a thorough review.But both the F.D.A. and the European Commission have cautioned that there is no need for people to avoid aspartame. "We don't see any concerns at this stage," said George H. Pauli, associate director for science policy in the F.D.A.'s Office of Food Additive Safety. "We've gone through a humongous amount of data on aspartame over the years."Putting restrictions on aspartame would come at a significant cost. Food companies and consumers around the world bought about $570 million worth of it last year. New regulatory action on aspartame would also jeopardize the billions of dollars worth of products sold with it. Already, in the United States, many companies are opting to use sucralose, or Splenda, in their new low-calorie products, in part because it is less controversial. Lance Collins, chief executive of Fuze Beverage in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., said that safety concerns about aspartame were a "major contributing factor" in his decision to use sucralose in his tea and juice drinks. Sucralose, however, is made by under a patent by just one company, Tate & Lyle of London, and is in desperately short supply. Dr. Soffritti, who has spent 28 years doing research on potential carcinogens, said he was trying to steer clear of the growing political maelstrom. But he added that he was concerned about the large numbers of people who use aspartame, particularly children and pregnant women. "If something is a carcinogen in animals," he said, "then it should not be added to food, especially if there are so many people that are going to be consuming it." (...) Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, said he did not think that Dr. Soffritti's study could be considered definitive, but that it should prompt an "urgent re-examination. "For a chemical that is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, it should be absolutely safe," Mr. Jacobson said. "There shouldn't be a cloud of doubt." Recommended by "Betty Martini" Bettym19@mindspring.com

Heroic NM Senator Fights Aspartame Machine (2-19-06) http://www.rense.com/general69/nmm2.htm
(...) As an artificial sweetener, one now being added to some 6,000 products, it is difficult for most Americans to not consume aspartame daily. Its safety (and clearing up any doubts about that safety) would seem to be of critical importance to millions of us. But any discussion of this topic has been postponed in New Mexico indefinitely-through influence exerted by representatives hired by the Japanese manufacturer of aspartame, the Ajinomoto Corporation. Those well-connected hired hands managed, in December, to frighten the State Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) into backing off of the public hearings into aspartame's safety that they had originally agreed to conduct this coming summer. They managed this delay by challenging the authority of the State of New Mexico to review anything already approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by threatening to sue the state if we tried to do so. Then those same hired hands resurfaced (augmented by the addition to their team roster of Butch Maki, a close confidant of Gov. Bill Richardson) in time to quash all attempts to discuss the matter during the just-concluded State Legislature. There was one hearing on the subject and it drew significant numbers of the industry lobbyists, all of whom asserted the same party line: The substance is perfectly safe; the Federal Government has looked at it carefully and who the heck is New Mexico, anyway, to raise any questions about it? The committee succumbed, and turned down the measure to ban aspartame 7-2. That half-hour hearing was the total discussion of the matter this year in the public arena in New Mexico, unless the EIB board changes its mind and decides to call Ajinomoto's bluff by going ahead and holding a hearing. CLIP

Smallpox vaccine 'triggered Aids virus'
http://www.wanttoknow.info/870511vaccineaids
The Aids epidemic may have been triggered by the mass vaccination campaign which eradicated smallpox. The World Health Organization, which masterminded the 13-year campaign, is studying new scientific evidence suggesting that immunization with the smallpox vaccine Vaccinia awakened the unsuspected, dormant human immuno defence virus infection (HIV). Some experts fear that in obliterating one disease, another disease was transformed from a minor endemic illness of the Third World into the current pandemic. While doctors now accept that Vaccinia can activate other viruses, they are divided about whether it was the main catalyst to the Aids epidemic. CLIP

Call for Openness at NASA Adds to Reports of Pressure (February 16, 2006)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/science/16nasa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Top political appointees in the NASA press office exerted strong pressure during the 2004 presidential campaign to cut the flow of news releases on glaciers, climate, pollution and other earth sciences, public affairs officers at the agency say. The disclosure comes nearly two weeks after the NASA administrator, Michael D. Griffin, called for "scientific openness" at the agency. In response to that, researchers and public affairs workers at the agency have described in fresh detail how political appointees altered or limited news releases on scientific findings that could have conflicted with administration policies. CLIP

Bush's Chat with Novelist Alarms Environmentalists
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022006EA.shtml
Bush invited fiction writer Michael Crichton to the White House last year to chat about his book "State of Fear," which dismisses global warming as a conspiracy by environmentalists. Bush read the book "avidly" according to a reporter, and agreed with everything in it.

Hooked on fishing, and we're heading for the bottom, says scientist http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/nsae-hof021706.php
The world has passed "peak fish" and fishermen's nets will be hauling in ever diminishing loads unless there's political action to stem the global tide of over fishing, says a fisheries expert based at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Daniel Pauly says the crisis in the world's fisheries is less about scientific proof than about attitude and political will. And, he says, the world's fish need a dynamic, high-profile political champion like a Bono or Mandela to give finned creatures the public profile of cute and furry ones. (...) Among its most notable findings, the research has revealed that the world passed "peak fish" – a peak in the biomass, or weight, of fish caught from the world's oceans – in the late 1980s. Since then, while there have been regional variations, the global fish haul has gradually sunk. "There's no doubt about this," says Dr. Pauly whose findings have been published in the world's leading peer-reviewed journals, including Science and Nature. "We're in a phase where increasing fishing effort produces less catch." (...) While the situation is dire, Dr. Pauly believes this situation can be turned around. He believes that a reduction of excess fishing capacity, the creation of "no-take zones" covering about 20 per cent of habitats, and political enforcement of sustainable fishing levels will result not just in pulling back from the brink, but more fish for our tables. "The irony is that reducing fishing actually increases the catch in the long term," says Dr. Pauly. "Public policy must be downsizing the industry to a level that allows for sustained catch and stocks to rebound." CLIP

Reproducing the Amazon's black soil could bolster fertility and remove carbon from atmosphere, says Cornell biogeochemist
http://www.news.cornell.edu/pressoffice1/Feb06/AAAS-TerraPreta.bpf.html
ST. LOUIS -- The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground.That's not all. Scientists have a method to reproduce this soil -- known as terra preta, or Amazonian dark earths -- and say it can pull substantial amounts of carbon out of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, helping to prevent global warming. That's because terra preta is loaded with so-called bio-char -- similar to charcoal."The knowledge that we can gain from studying the Amazonian dark earths, found throughout the Amazon River region, not only teaches us how to restore degraded soils, triple crop yields and support a wide array of crops in regions with agriculturally poor soils, but also can lead to technologies to sequester carbon in soil and prevent critical changes in world climate CLIP

My Actual Position on the Star Visitors (Feb 16, 2006) http://snoedel.punt.nl/index.php?id=277244&r=1&tbl_archief=&
(...) Why do the Star Visitors intervene? Because they see that Earth is on an extremely dangerous course, facing collapse of ecosystems, nuclear war, biological warfare, continued concentration of power for total domination of fellow humans by the geo plutocratic cartel known as the Cabal, and potentially fatal failure to reach our potential as a mature species, constructing and living in a society of high social, moral and spiritual development. Their response is akin to that of fireman paramedics responding to a 911 call about persons unconscious on the floor of a burning house. If the Star Nations act with a sense of urgency, and don't wait for cowardly governments to eventually get around to informing their citizens about official contact, their sense of urgency seems eminently appropriate, moral and compassionate. CLIP

Omega-News Collection 18. February 2006
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1587153/