MAY LOVE PREVAIL ON EARTH
March 21, 2007
The Moment of Truth Series #8: Global Reality Checks
Hello everysoul!
I've never done that before... Here it goes!
Karl Anthony One Prayer video (5 min. 46 sec.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQeeZDkMCUQ
An absolutely soul-lifting experience and a perfect match to the current Meditation Focus...
It has been years since I cried that much!... If you are ready to be moved to tears, and if you want to better understand what Healing The Human Heart truly means, make time right away to watch this simple video and allow your Self to be enthralled by this so powerful and yet so simple song recommended by Doreen Agostino (isisconsulting@rogers.com). I provide the lyrics below but suggest you read them only as you listen to the song - if need be - or afterwards to get the best possible first experience of its power...
ONE PRAYER
by Karl Anthony
If I had one prayer, I'd pray for people who hate
Maybe I'm out of my mind ...or deep in my faith
A man grows old ...when his souls in pain
Only love can loosen that chain
But if I offer you grace, will it cause any change
And do I appear weak, if I calm my rage
I think of revenge, but will I become
The thing I despise, when a heart goes numb
I'll say a prayer, hoping it finds ...people who hate
I send it now, to heal the hearts ...of people who hate
If only one song ...could silence hate
And end all the war ...before its too late
If a cold mind ...could begin to feel
Then the fear in our world ...has a chance to heal
I'll say a prayer, knowing it finds ...people who hate
I send it now, to heal the hearts ...of people who hate
......pray for people who hate
All of our thoughts ...can set the stage
For the power of love ...is larger than rage
When we take revenge ...we will become
The hate we despise ...as our soul goes numb
I have One Prayer ...for the world to hear
It's a cry for mercy ...the last of our tears
Let hate dissolve ... let the past reveal
That love has shown us what is real
Angels above, quiet the pain ...in people who hate
I'm sending One Prayer, to heal the hearts ...in people who hate
One prayer.....Pray!
(May all be loved, may all be blessed, may all feel peace....pray for people who hate)
I'm sending love to people who hate
I must be out of my mind ...or deep in my faith
Taken from http://www.karlanthony.com/category/multimedia.lyrics/
I also recommend this really wonderful interview with Karl Anthony: 20 Years Later
You may listen to many of his songs (unabridged!) at http://www.karlanthony.com/category/multimedia.audio/ and 2 min. clips of his latest album at http://cdbaby.com/cd/karlanthony4
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com
P.S. Oh! I should mention that you will find in this compilation material (Items # 4, 5, 6 and 7 below) that completely turn on its head the "scientific" arguments alleging that global warming is almost entirely man-made. If you have time, watch this 74 min program, "The Great Global Warming Swindle: A droplet of common sense in an ocean of hysteria" which provides compelling arguments against the purely man-made cause of global warming -- at 20 minutes into the program, you will find what is to me the key argument that in the past (based on data found in ice cores drilled in 3 mile thick glaciers) the increase in C02 in the atmosphere always occurred about 400 years AFTER the onset of higher global temperatures, and thus was NOT a precursor causing global warming. The variations in the sun's total radiation output, influenced by the variations in the level of interstellar "wind" pushing against the heliosphere enveloping the entire solar system as it travels around the galactic center, is the real cause of the Earth's temperature variations over the millennia. This being said I would NEVER want that the fossil fuel lobby uses this information to prevent governmental actions to lower humanity's pollution and encourage the switch by everyone to cleaner technologies. If anything, reducing our pressure against all endangered vital ecosystems is critical to mitigate the incoming consequences of a hotter sun upon our global environment.
NOTE: The Ultimate Con 9/11 Documentary Trailer I've recommended in my last compilation has been pulled by YouTube on March 12 but not before 14,000 could see it. It is also available (since March 9) at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8014560849426995992&q=%22The+Ultimate+Con+9%2F11+Documentary and is again available on YouTube through http://100777.com/node/1674 -- Now, for the first time ever, DOZENS of live video references to the multiple internal explosions that brought down the Twin Tower and World Trade Center 7. What's amazing is not that it happened, but that it happened in broad daylight, thousands experienced it first hand, millions saw and heard the overwhelming evidence on TV and in spite of that, a government-created myth has become the official version of events. -- This movie is supposed to come out in April. Let's hope it does!
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.
Free subscription to a large weekly Earth Rainbow Network compilation by simply sending a blank email to earthrainbownetwork-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
This compilation is archived at http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/Archives2007/MomentTruth8.htm
STATS for this compilation: Over 37,400 words and 205 links provided.
To unsubscribe from the Earth Rainbow Network automated listserver, or change your listing on it when you have a new email address, the simplest way is to do it yourself by sending a blank email at earthrainbownetwork-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net -- IMPORTANT: You MUST do it from the email account you wish to unsubscribe otherwise the system won't recognize your request.
THE QUOTES
"Some call me Gaia. Others call me Mother Earth. I am the Spirit of Life on Earth. For billions of years now I have dwelt upon this magnificent planet. You can see me all around you and feel me within you. Without me nothing would exist. I manifest myself everywhere in this mighty Universe and without me nothing would be. I am the light pouring from the stars. I am the water bearing myriads of Life forms. I am the air protecting an infinite number of planets from the cold of outer space. I am the Earth nurturing innumerable manifestations of My creativity. I am the fire of Life within you as well as in everything else."
- Taken from http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/EarthConcert.htm
"Thanks for a very interesting newsletter. Most interesting was of course this documentary trailer.
The most relevant issue to arise from this is the fact, that those second explosions never have been discussed openly or given headlines in the media, which must add to the suspicions, one of the most disturbing ones being that this information has been suppressed deliberately, which must raise even graver
suspicions..."
— Christian Lanciai (clanciai@yahoo.co.uk)
Aloha Jean - I thought I would catch you up on the local response to the Navy's plans for local waters in the next two years. We are building a shield. The whales are under siege with a giant super ferry set to go in hawaiian whale breeding grounds and no environmental impact statement so far required (!)... then there's the next IWC and commercial whaling countries gathering forces... Speaking from a Gaian perspective, I am declaring whales to be a major focus for this year's Earth Day, We shall celebrate on behalf of the cetaceans... at least here on Maui. We are preparing... Still so grateful that you are such a wonderful planetary Hermes.... By the way I have several activist songs including the Ocean Song (LFA) and 11 minutes of the rock opera available (free streaming, nominal download fee) at http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?ID=49377
— Jaiia Earthschild (jaiia_earthschild@yahoo.com) who also included a letter from Marsha Green of the
International Ocean Noise Coalition who wrote: "I have attached a letter about the navy's plan to expose over 10,000 endangered humpback whales and over 900 sperm whales to over 173 decibels of sonar over the next two years around Hawaii. This noise level is over 100 times louder that the sonar that caused the stranding and death of whales in the Bahamas in March, 2000. The navy is claiming this will have no significant impact on the whales. However, just before they issued this announcement they exempted themselves from the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the next two years. You can ask yourself why they exempted themselves from this Federal law that protects marine mammals. (Info on a rally held last March 15 was included here.) Marine mammals around island archipelagos are especially vulnerable due to the reverberation of the sonar. This rally is part of a larger effort which will continue in Europe and the United Nations in June. Please join this effort. This is a critical time in Hawaii relative to the sonar issue and we would feel pretty bad if whales wash up on Hawaii's beaches and we had not done anything to prevent it." More on this issue from http://www.earthisland.org/project/viewProject.cfm?pageID=196&subSiteID=51 and in Impacts of Intense Underwater Noise on Marine Life
"Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reason."
— Douglas Noel Adams, author of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
"This is a deciding moment for Dennis Kucinich. He is trying to provide a leadership role as opposed to merely "posing" as an alternative peace candidate. I wrote him essentially agreeing with Cindy Sheehan, that IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDING AND SUBPOENA is the only thing which will tie the hands of the Junta thus the only thing which will stop the widening of the war. I urge you to write him, if nothing more than just telling him you agree with Cindy. Right now helping Kucinich onto the road to impeachment may be our best "sandbag" to carry to block the incubus of war. Please help by piling on some more right here... mailto:info%40kucinich.us">info@kucinich.us - http://kucinich.us/contact
— Larry Stell (lstell@glasgow-ky.com) - Check also Bush is over and this large nationwide coalition nationwide day of protest for impeachment on April 28
"Kucinich Proclaims "Impeachment May Well Be The Only Remedy" He needs your support today! Rep. Dennis Kucinich took a bold stand today on the floor of the House, saying: "This week the House Appropriations committee removed language from the Iraq war funding bill requiring the Administration, under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, to seek permission before it launched an attack against Iran. Since war with Iran is an option of this Administration and since such war is patently illegal, then impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran." (read full transcript) Kucinich is standing up for what he believes in despite a media blackout and in defiance of the Democratic party leadership. He needs to hear that we support him on this. Please call Kucinich at 202-225-5871 or send him a message at http://kucinich.us/contact and thank him for his courageous remarks today on the floor of the House. If you really want to encourage Dennis to move ahead on impeachment, one idea is to go to http://kucinich.us and donate to his presidential campaign. You can indicate that your donation is a result of his standing up for impeachment." Read also Transcript of "Impeachment: I'm asking you. Do you think it's time?" by Kucinich at http://kucinich.us/node/3705
— From the IMPEACH07 campaign - http://www.impeach07.org -- Recommended by Laurent Pirard (lpirard@bluewin.ch) who also recommends to watch this IMPORTANT 3 min videotaped statement by Kucinich on this critical issue.
"I was just watching TV and it appears that now KSM has also confessed to the murder of Danny Pearl. That just exposed this confession as a lie. Why? Danny Pearl was murdered by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, while tracking a money transfer from Pakistan (on the orders of then Pakistani General Mahmoud Ahmad to Dubai to September 11, 2001 lead hijacker Atta. More importantly, why are there only 2 pictures and no video of this man? Why is the tribunal closed? Why is he delivering his so-called confession in writing? I want to see a video of this man's confession, not a piece of paper. Where is Waldo?Does this administration think we are so stupid that we would confuse reality for made-for-politics justice? And where the hell is the healthy skepticism of the fourth estate? I mean really, if you cannot see the man or hear the man, then what makes you so certain he is even alive at this point? I see there is a transcript, so apparently someone actually spoke. Why can't we hear this? What possible reason is there for our limited access to information about an event that is so important to our nation? I call BS and I suggest that the media stop playing games with our national tragedy!"
— Larisa Alexandrovna -- Taken from Oh, KSM confession bogus folks -- Read about these ludicrous, fabricated claims in 9/11 mastermind admits killing reporter and read the cooked up Detainee transcripts as well as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: The Official Legend of 9/11 is a Fabricated Setup - MORE below in The Strange Fruit of Torture - The Confession Backfired
"KSM was arrested four years ago and has been tortured since that time. Now, had this confession showed up a bit, um, sooner, I might find it less staged. But given how the Bush administration abuses the tragedy of September 11 for political reasons and how often they do it, plus the timing of this "confession,' I am highly skeptical. No, I am more than skeptical. (...) A tortured captive delivering a just-in time PR gift is not news. It is manipulative and deceptive. It is ugly even."
— Larisa Alexandrovna -- Taken from KSM Deflector Apparatus Up and Running where the following comment was posted: "This has Rove's greasy fingerprints all over it. When I saw the headlines this morning, I thought that any news organization that didn't put "confessed" in quotes was lily-livered. Let's just hope the Dems have improved their attention span so that they can keep pressing the Bushies on Gonzalez et al." Read also E-Mails Show Rove Role in US Attorney Firings - 9/11 "Confession": How Real?
"Like you, I am just going on my intuition, but my scientist friend put so much effort into educating me, and made a point of asking me to "pay it forward", so I wanted to honor her request. She is a bit psychic, and she told me that she foresaw that McCanney would go down in history as a great thinker. I recommend that you read this one page on his website http://www.calculateprimes.com/BookDVDOrderSubPage.HTM
— Natalie (a long-time ERN subscriber)
"Please come. This is the time you have been waiting for. You will find it easy to do the work we have requested of you. We are all one. You are loved. You are safe. You will accomplish what you set out to do. You will know everything you need to know, when you need to know it. And why not you?"
— Taken from The Tablets of Light
"There are only a few years remaining of this cycle, and already the negativity and its ability to affect you is diminishing. The dark are being contained to limit the damage to the environment, and are held in check until they can be removed. They know of our existence, and have met us on a number of occasions and rejected our approaches. They cannot however override or alter the dictates of the Creator and the Brotherhoods of Light, and the many Councils that carry out the Creator’s bidding. You cry out for help and it is not far away, and soon through the action of the Galactic Federation there shall be immense changes. They will be far reaching, and bring results that will be well beyond your present expectations. All that holds you back and takes away your rights will be removed, and Humanity will be given back its freedom. The erosion of your rights will be halted, and we see great opposition against those who are responsible. You are in the midst of a great cleansing, and of necessity the negativity must be brought out into the open. The result is that you seem to be plunged into chaos, but it will not last too long. Those dark souls who refuse to respect the sovereignty of others will have no place here, and by their choice will leave this Earth in due course of time. There is no question of reprisal or punishment, and they will go their way with blessings of love and understanding. It would be as well if you were also able to support this way of being, by recognising that you are all One."
— Message from St Germain (March 19)
CONTENTS
1. Feedbacks on Ron Van Dyke's letter
2. 9/11: A Marine Pilot comes forth
3. The Strange Fruit of Torture - The Confession Backfired
4. SCORES OF TOP SCIENTISTS EXPOSE THE GLOBAL WARMING MYTH
5. Global Warming Replaces 9/11 As Justification To Do Anything
6. The truth about global warming - it's the Sun that's to blame
7. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
8. A Climate for Change
9. Increased illness linked to mystery powder
10. Fish and people are dying. So which issue to fight for?
11. Deep trouble, sea to dying sea
12. Destruction of Forests in Developing World 'Out of Control'
13. The Earth Charter
14. Doomed efforts to achieve world peace
15. New World Order
16. The truth is stranger than fiction
17. Psychiatric perspective on Bush
Worthy of Your Attention
The Great Descent - THE MOST DARING SNOWBOARD FEAT I'VE EVER SEEN!!
http://www.glumbert.com/media/descent
More such action at http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/snowboard and make sure to check the new craze: the freebord (top left video)
Introducing...................the Apple iRack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ
How smart are people in the good ol' USA???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
After watching this, you'll understand why W is president of the United States...
Dolphin massacre in Japan
http://www.glumbert.com/media/dolphin
WARNING! Gruesome movie on the abysmally inhumane butchering of alive dolphins. EXTREMELY disturbing! Recommended by Juliette Pearl Barmet (jbarmet@harmonie-corps-coeur-ame.org) who wrote: "It's up to us to do every possible thing to protect them... And first of all, to manifest our disapproval! Continue to support this country's economy with what we buy from them — this government violates international conventions, and the other nations consent and close their eyes... Or boycott all Japanese products... cameras, cars, motorcycles, electronics, sushis, etc...? Read the labels and choose with awareness!!"
Stop the dolphin and whale killings in Taiji
http://www.petitiononline.com/golfinho/
Sign this petition and add your name to the 690453+ signatures gathered so far.
On Gore, Eating Vegan, and Global Warming - 8 min. 18 sec.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwkbDubF2qM&NR
Recommended by Kathleen Roberts (weerkhr@pacbell.net) who wrote: "This guy's an idjit, but he's seeing the light.
Glenn Beck does strong piece on meat and global warming 3/15/07
You can watch Glenn Beck's Thursday, March 15, segment on meat eating and global warming on line at:
http://www.criticalmention.com/report/matt200703160443243434.htm
The transcript is on line at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/15/gb.01.html and I will paste
In it, Beck says how much he loves the taste of chicken and other animals, but he gives Prescott loads of space to discuss in detail the cruelty and the disastrous environmental impact of the modern meat industry. I hope many of you will send thanks in order to encourage similar guests in the future. Feedback makes a huge difference. Glenn Beck take comments at mailto:me@glennbeck.com">me@glennbeck.com and says that he reads all of them, though he cannot reply to each. Recommended by Karen Dawn from DawnWatch
Crystal Cave of the Giants - Discovery of the Largest Crystals on Earth - ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!
http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/crystals/index.html
(...) Found deep in a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico, these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in bedrock. When I first stepped into the cavern it was like walking into the Land of the Giants. I have often admired crystal geodes held in my hand, but when photographing these unique natural structures it was almost impossible to get any sense of scale. This is a geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference. They have formed beautiful crystals that are a translucent gold and silver in color, and come in many incredible forms and shapes. Some of the largest are essentially columnar in shape and stand thirty to fifty feet high and three to four feet in diameter. Many of the smaller examples are four to six feet in circumference, have many incredible geometrical shapes, and probably weigh in excess of ten tons. The columnar pillars are at first the most striking shape, but later I noticed there were thousands of "sharks teeth" up to three feet high placed row upon row and dispersed at odd angles throughout the caverns. While some of the crystals are attached to the ceiling walls and floors of the cave as might be expected, some exist in great masses of spikes and almost float in air. These crystals seem to defy gravity, as they must weigh several tons. CLIP The following Rainbow Plateau slideshow is also worth seeing... http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/rainbowPlateau/index.html (Click also on the Mogollon Rim link) Many more amazing canyons through http://www.canyonsworldwide.com and don't miss all the great pics through the links at http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/africa/pages/index.html - Check especially http://www.canyonsworldwide.org/tepui/tepui1a.html
WTC7 The Smoking Gun of 9/11 (updated) 16 min 24 sec Worth watching!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ek5w_wtc7-the-smoking-gun-of-911-updated
Revealing 9/11 Article
http://www.WantToKnow.info/070320worldtradecenter7wtc7collapse
Time Stamp Confirms BBC Reported WTC 7 Collapse 26 Minutes In Advance http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/280207timestamp.htm
Sign this petition to the BBC demanding that they tell the truth about how they got the information that WTC 7 was about to fall
http://www.petitiononline.com/wtc7bbc/petition.html
Part of the conspiracy? (BBC statement trying to explain away the accusations levelled against them)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part_of_the_conspiracy.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/03/part_of_the_conspiracy_2.html
Newly Unearthed Footage Exposes 9/11 Media Scripting (March 12)s
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2007/120307mediascripting.htm
Bizarre foreknowledge and explanation of towers' collapse more cryptic clairvoyance
Rosie O'Donnell Takes A Stand for 9/11 Truth
http://tinyurl.com/23ppu3
Talk show host lays out WTC 7 facts in blog
A 9/11 Video for Skeptics and Fence-Sitters - Only 18 min!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-649993991751648213&q=9%2F11+justice
A brief but carefully presented and supported criminal indictment of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Myers, and Condoleeza Rice for murder in the events of 9-11, presenting all the best evidence in a concise but powerful manner. It includes Larry Silverstein's admission that the explosives were used; and Norman Mineta's identification of Dick Cheney as the person who gave the order not to scramble jets, or fire any weapons in defense of the Pentagon.
The Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/index.php
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
50,000 TV Channels! The Skype Guys Strike Again
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595254,00.html
(...) You'll download the free Joost software, then use it to watch channels ranging from Lime, a lifestyle station, to National Geographic. And potentially thousands more, from anywhere, in real time--and without the stuttervision that dogs streaming video today. (...) While Joost now offers fewer than 50 channels, it will soon have hundreds, and eventually thousands. To keep things simple, you can stick to a few channels. Or you can open the floodgates. "Today TV is 500 channels but we're not far--maybe three years--from a 5,000-channel world," says Hilmi Ozguc, CEO of Maven, which powers Internet TV for media companies like CBS and Univision. "And in 10 years, we could easily be at 50,000 channels from all over the world. You'll have a fly-fishing channel and a channel just for Lost." Warner Music exec Alex Zubillaga says he can envision a Paris Hilton channel and one each for the Grateful Dead, Diddy and Madonna. CLIP
Apparently, this is the most popular screensaver in the US
http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm
If he gets stuck, just move him with your cursor or mouse.
WHAT: How to put leading neocons in jail
WHEN: This Monday and Tuesday, March 19 and 20, 2007
HOW: Make a phone call
Executive summary: Sibel Edmonds, the most gagged whistleblower in history, who the Department of Justice's Inspector General and several senators have called extremely credible, and who 30 conservative and liberal groups endorse, says that she has information of criminal wrongdoing that will put leading neoconservatives, war architects and dual loyalists Richard Perle, Doulas Feith and Dennis Hastert in jail. Edmonds claims that, when she worked as a translator for the FBI, she heard wiretaps which prove that high-level American officials such as Perle, Feith, Hastert and others were connected to 9/11, the nuclear black market and other weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking. Edmonds also claims that she has information linking AIPAC, a Turkish group, and criminal activity. Edmonds has briefed Congressman Henry Waxman, head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Waxman will decide EARLY THIS WEEK whether or not he will hold public hearings on Edmonds' allegations. Just Do It CALL Waxman Monday and Tuesday (or this weekend, if you can leave a message) and urge him to hold public hearings to let Edmonds speak about Perle, Feith and Hastert's unlawful activities:Washington, D.C. Phone Number(202) 225-3976 Los Angeles Phone Numbers(323) 651-1040 or (818) 878-7400or (310) 652-3095
Recommended by Mark Graffis (mgraffis@vitelcom.net)
Cash Machine Scam in the UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQUvySJeLdI&mode=related&search
End Injustice, Dismantle the wall!
http://www.petitiononline.com/qds44440/petition.html
Stop the beatings in Zimbabwe (More on this in the ALSO RECOMMENDED section below)
http://www.avaaz.org/en/zimbabwe/?cl=2403416
In the last few days, Zimbabwe has plunged further into crisis, with key democratic activists beaten by their government. Click below to sign the petition calling for stronger, targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders. On Sunday, while boarding a plane to an international meeting, Zimbabwe's democratic opposition spokesman was beaten so severely that he lost an eye. Last week, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten for attending a protest prayer vigil. Other democratic activists in Zimbabwe are under a terrible threat, with many still held in prison.We can't let this moment of international attention pass without pressing for effective action. We intend to deliver our petition by the end of the week. If Europe and neighbouring South Africa (Zimbabwe's largest trading partners) threaten tougher sanctions, Mugabe will be forced to stop his attacks. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from South Africa, is already calling on his country and others to take action. Click below to join him in calling for a response: http://www.avaaz.org/en/zimbabwe/?cl=2403416
Targeted sanctions (like freezing President Mugabe's assets in foreign banks) will not hurt ordinary Zimbabweans, and quick action now could prevent a catastrophe. And beyond this critical moment, standing in solidarity with the pro-democracy and human rights activists around the world is a first step towards creating the kind of world we want to live in.Zimbabwe is dangerously far along the road to tyranny and state collapse. It is time to draw the line. With hope, Ben, Hannah, Galit, Ricken, and the Avaaz team
Sent by Ben Wikler - Avaaz.org (avaaz@avaaz.org) on March 20
ALSO RECOMMENDED
Tens of Thousands March on the Pentagon
http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8423&JServSessionIdr004=susxnpsmj4.app8a
Riot Police Block Buses and Deny Access to People Coming to the Demonstration
Thousands protest as war enters 5th year (March 17, 2007)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070317/ap_on_re_us/iraq_protest;_ylt=AjgzJR4c24LVMd1FXmAq_52s0NUE
WASHINGTON - Denouncing a conflict entering its fifth year, protesters across the country raised their voices Saturday against U.S. policy in Iraq and marched by the thousands to the Pentagon in the footsteps of an epic demonstration four decades ago against another divisive war. (...) Thousands crossed the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to rally loudly but peacefully near the Pentagon. "We're here in the shadow of the war machine," said anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. "It's like being in the shadow of the death star. They take their death and destruction and they export it around the world. We need to shut it down." Smaller protests were held in other U.S. cities, stretching to Tuesday's four-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion. In Los Angeles, Vietnam veteran Ed Ellis, 59, hoped the demonstrations would be the "tipping point" against a war that has killed more than 3,200 U.S. troops and engulfed Iraq in a deadly cycle of violence. (...) Overseas, tens of thousands marched in Madrid as Spaniards called not only for the U.S. to get out of Iraq but to close the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Smaller protests were staged in Greece and Turkey. Speakers at the Pentagon rally criticized the Bush administration at every turn but blamed congressional Democrats, too, for refusing to cut off money for the war. "This is a bipartisan war," New York City labor activist Michael Letwin told the crowd. "The Democratic party cannot be trusted to end it." (...) People traveled from afar in stormy weather to join the march. (...) Protesters walked in a blustery, cold wind across the Potomac River with motorcycles clearing their way and police boats and helicopters watching.Police no longer give official estimates but said privately that perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 anti-war demonstrators marched, with a smaller but still sizable number of counterprotesters also out in force. LIP
Rallies in Canada and U.S. protest Iraq war, Afghan mission (March 17, 2007)
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/17/protest-afghanistan.html
Hundreds of demonstrators marched in cities across Canada and thousands also took to U.S. streets on Saturday to protest next week's fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. The Canadian rallies also took aim at the country's mission in Afghanistan. Raymond Legault, a Montreal protest organizer, said he believes the anti-war movement in Canada will eventually succeed in convincing the federal government to pull Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.
Protests in US Seek End to Iraq War Four Years On (March 19)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031907K.shtml
Peace demonstrators are ready for at least a thousand candlelight vigils around the US today and are demanding an end to the war in Iraq four years after it began. Between 25,000 and 30,000 people marched in New York's streets Sunday, braving near-freezing temperatures in a second day of national rallies marking the fourth anniversary of the war. (...) A demonstration was also held Sunday in San Francisco, where several thousand protesters carried anti-war banners and chanted slogans during a march to the city's Civic Center. CLIP
Project Censored graduate student Jeff Huling speaking on The National Shopping Boycott at the San Francisco Anti-War March last Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLWqVdDuJg
Christians Arrested at White House Opposing War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031707Y.shtml
Dozens of demonstrators, many of them Christian peace activists, were arrested outside the White House late last night and early this morning as part of a protest against the war in Iraq.
Behind the Sunni-Shi'ite Divide - VERY SAD EXAMPLE OF WHAT HATRED CAN BREED...
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031207L.shtml
The US army is lagging behind Iraq's insurgents tactically in a war that senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago. The gloomy assessment came as senior US and Iraqi officials sat down with officials from Iran, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to persuade them to help seal Iraq's borders against fighters, arms and money. In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan as "smart, agile and cunning."
From Shock and Awe to the "Surge" Without End
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031807Y.shtml
Four years ago this Tuesday, George Bush began his ill-fated Iraq campaign. Today's news that the US is sending an extra battalion to Baghdad will push troop levels to 160,000 - 10,000 more than at the time of the invasion.
James Petras on the Tactics of General Petraeus (March 9, 2007)
http://www.heartcom.org/VietnamInIraq.htm
(...) Your handbook's prescriptions borrow heavily from the Vietnam War era, especially General Creighton Abram's, "Clear and Hold" counter-insurgency doctrine. Abrams ordered a vast campaign of chemical warfare spraying thousands of hectares with the deadly "Agent Orange" to "clear" contested terrain. [Now witness the parallel genocide with Depleted Uranium -CR] Abram approved of the Phoenix Plan -- the systematic assassination of 25,000 village leaders to "clear" out local insurgents. Abrams implemented the program of "strategic hamlets", the forced re-location of millions of Vietnamese peasants into concentration camps. In the end Abram's plans to "clear and hold" failed because each measure extended and deepened popular hostility and increased the number of recruits to the Vietnamese national liberation army. Petraeus, you are following the Abram's doctrine. Large-scale bombing of densely populated Sunni neighborhoods took place between March 5-7 (2007); mass arrests of suspected local leaders is accompanied by the tight military encirclement of entire neighborhoods while arbitrary, abusive house-to-house searches turn Baghdad into one big concentrations camp. Like your predecessor, General Creighton Abrams, you want to destroy Baghdad in order to save it. In fact your policy is merely punishing the civilians and deepening the hostility of the Baghdad population, while the insurgents blend into the population or into the surrounding provinces of Al-Anbar, Diyala, and Salah and Din. Petraeus, you forget that you can "hold" a people hostage with armored vehicles but you cannot rule with guns. The failure of General Creighton Abrams was not due to the lack of "political will" in the US, as he complained, but that "clearing" a region is temporary, because the insurgency is founded on its capacity to blend in with the people. Your fundamental (and false) assumptions are that the "people" and the "insurgents" are two distinct and opposing groups, that your ground forces and Iraqi mercenaries can distinguish and exploit this divergence and "clear out" the insurgents and "hold" the people. The four-year history of the US invasion, occupation and imperial war provides ample evidence to the contrary. With upward of 140,000 US troops and close to 200,000 Iraqi and over 50,000 foreign mercenaries unable to defeat the insurgency for the entire four years of the colonial war, the evidence points to very strong, extensive and sustained civilian support for the insurgency. The high ratio of civilian to insurgent killings by the combined US-mercenary armies suggests that your own troops have not been able to distinguish (nor are interested in the difference) between civilians and insurgents. The insurgency draws strong support from extended kin ties, neighborhood friends and neighbors, religious leaders, nationalists and patriots: these primary, secondary and tertiary ties bind the insurgency to the population in a way which can not be replicated by the US military or its puppet politicians.General, you have already recognized after only one month as Commander that your plan to "protect and secure the civilian population" is failing. While you flood the streets of Baghdad with armored vehicles, you acknowledge that the "anti-government" forces are regrouping north of the capital?. You are condemned to play what Lt. General Robert Gaid un-poetically called "whack-a-mole": Insurgents will be suppressed in one area only to re-emerge somewhere else.It is presumptuous to assume, General, that the Iraqi civilian population does not know that the "special operations" forces of the Occupation, with whom you are rather intimately connected, is responsible for much of the ethno-religious conflict. Investigative reporter Max Fuller in his detailed examination of documents, stresses that the vast majority of atrocities -- attributed to "rogue" Shiite or Sunni militias -- were in fact the work of government-controlled commandos of "special forces", trained by the Americans, "advised" by Americans and "run largely by former CIA agents."
Schwartz, Iraq as a Cauldron of State Terrorism (11 March 2007)
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=173730_
If you are trying to figure out how the new Bush strategy is progressing, or just trying to figure out what is happening in Iraq, here is a diagnosis and a bit of a prognosis.In his speech, Bush promised three prongs to his new strategy: (1) attacking and neutralizing Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia; (2) confronting Iran; and (3) a new offensive against the Sunni insurgents. (...) Worse yet, in the confrontation with the Sadrists, the Bush administration appears to be edging toward search-and-destroy operations that will rubble-ize Shia neighborhoods; in the confrontation with Iran, it appears to be lurching toward a possible air assault on a remarkably wide range of targets inside that country, guaranteeing staggering levels of civilian casualties; in the confrontation with the Sunni insurgents, it is already mobilizing its ground and air power with the promise of the subsequent imposition o an extreme form of martial law. The hallmark of all these new strategies is the high level of destruction and mayhem they promise. There is a larger pattern that should, by now, be clear in these developments, and all that have come before. The architects of American policy in the Middle East tend to keep escalating the level of brutality in search of a way to convince the Iraqis (and now the Iranians) that the only path that avoids indiscriminate slaughter is submission to a Pax Americana. Put another way, American policy in the Middle East has devolved into unadorned state terrorism."
The Last Battle of Vietnam (Mar. 02, 2007)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595236,00.html
Clean up after yourself. It's a rule that we learn early in life. Now, more than 30 years after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, the time has come to follow that rule. (...) During the Vietnam War, America sprayed close to 20 million gal. of Agent Orange, a herbicide that defoliated forests and left behind a residue of dioxin. The U.S. military also left behind 28 hot spots where Agent Orange had been used or stored that have not been properly contained. The Vietnamese say the dioxin is responsible for such disabilities as muscular and skeletal disorders and such birth defects as mental retardation. Studies at the University of Hanoi indicate a higher incidence of these problems among people who were exposed to dioxin. (...) In low-lying Quang Ngai province, south of Da Nang, where the spraying of Agent Orange was especially heavy, there are almost 15,000 residents officially classified by the Vietnamese government as dioxin victims. We also went to Thai Binh province, along the northern coast. Although it is far from the sprayed areas, a large proportion of its male population fought in the war, and there is a high incidence of birth defects in subsequent generations there. CLIP
The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq (Mar. 11, 2007)
http://www.salon.com/news/2007/03/11/fort_benning/print.html
At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated incident or a trend? - "This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight." As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records. (...) Other soldiers slated to leave for Iraq with injuries said they wonder whether the same thing is happening in other units in the Army. "You have to ask where else this might be happening and who is dictating it," one female soldier told me. "How high does it go?"
The Seymour Hersh Mystery (March 13, 2007)
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=174764
A Journalist Writing Bloody Murder… And No One Notices (...) As far as I can tell, no one in the mainstream even blinked on the Iran-Contra angle or the possibility that a vast, secret Middle Eastern operation is being run, possibly illegally and based on stolen funds and Saudi money, out of the Vice President's office. You can certainly find a few pieces on, or reports about, "The Redirection" -- all focused only on the possible build-up to a war with Iran -- and the odd wire-service mention of it; but nothing major, nothing Earth-shaking or eye-popping; not, in fact, a single obvious editorial or op-ed piece in the mainstream; no journalistic questions publicly asked of the administration; no Congressional cries of horror; no calls anywhere for investigations or hearings on any of Hersh's revelations, not even an expression of fear somewhere that we might be seeing Iran-Contra, the sequel, in our own moment. (...) In addition, he reported that "a special planning group has been established in the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged with creating a contingency bombing plan for Iran that can be implemented, upon orders from the President, within twenty-four hours," and that its "new assignment" was to identify not just nuclear facilities and possible regime-change targets, but "targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq." Were there nothing else in Hersh's most recent piece, all of this would still have been significant news - if we didn't happen to live on a one-way imperial planet in which Iranian "interference" in (American) Iraq is an outrage, but secret U.S. operations in, and military plans to devastate, Iran are your basic ho-hum issue. Our mainstream news purveyors don't generally consider the issue of our "interference" in Iran worthy of a great deal of reporting, nor do our pundits consider it a topic worthy of speculation or consideration; nor, in a Congress where leading Democrats have regularly outflanked the Bush administration in hawkish positions on Iran, is this likely to be much of an issue. CLIP
The Redirection by Seymour M. Hersh (March 5, 2007)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?printable=true
Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism? In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq ha deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both it public diplomacy and its covert operations, ha significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the Unite States closer to an open confrontation with Ira and, in parts of the region, propelled it into widening sectarian conflict between Shiite an Sunni Muslims. To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. But, from the Administration’s perspective, the most profound—and unintended—strategic consequence of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. CLIP
Mother Of All Bunker Busters Detonated (March 16, 2007)
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/03/mother_of_all_b.html
The U.S. just detonated an absolutely enormous bomb, in an underground test: a king-sized bunker-buster, six times larger than what's currently in the American arsenal. No, it's not the famed Divine Strake, but something else entirely… You may remember the GBU-43 MOAB – Massive Ordnance Air Burst (or ‘Mother Of All Bombs’) the 21,000-pound megabomb that was wheeled out before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now MOAB is to get an even bigger sibling, the MOP, or Massive Ordnance Penetrator. It's a 30,000-pound weapon, designed to strike targets too deep or too hard for the biggest bunker-buster America's got, the 5,000-pound BLU-113. It can go through some 22 feet of concrete or over 100 feet of earth. MOP will go a lot deeper - 200 feet of 5,000 psi concrete. (...) Sometimes you don’t need to actually use a weapon. MOAB was only a prototype, but the video of the test was a potent propaganda weapon. MOP is being funded (to you, $30 million) by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA),which “safeguards America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction by providing capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat, and mitigate its effects.” In other words, it’s aimed at WMD sites, especially those dug too deep for the BLU-113. Perhaps this test is a really signal to someone that their deep bunkers are not deep enough.
Pelosi hears boos at AIPAC (March 13, 2007)
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-hears-boos-at-aipac-2007-03-13.html
Members of the main pro-Israel lobbying group offered scattered boos to a statement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that the Iraq war has been a failure on several scores. The boos, mixed with some polite applause, stood in stark contrast to the reception House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) received minutes earlier. Most of the crowd of 5,000 to 6,000 stood and loudly applauded Boehner when he said the U.S. had no choice but to win in Iraq. Pelosi and Boehner were speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual meeting. AIPAC has not taken a position on the war in Iraq or the supplemental spending bill to be considered this week by the House Appropriations Committee, but much of Boehner’s speech was about the future of the Iraq conflict. Boehner sought to link the fight in Iraq to the future of Israel, as he said a failure in Iraq would pose a direct threat to Israel. Pelosi said the U.S. military campaign in Iraq had to be judged on three accounts: whether it makes the U.S. safer, the U.S. military stronger and the region more stable. “The war in Iraq fails on all three counts,” Pelosi said. Some of the crowd applauded before catcalls and boos could be heard. A spokesman for AIPAC argued the boos were in response to those clapping for Pelosi. AIPAC leaders have said about 6,000 of their members are in town for this week’s annual meeting, which ends today. Members are set to lobby individual lawmakers on the Hill for the rest of today. A priority for the group is to convince Congress to approve tougher sanctions on Iran, which is seen as a growing threat to Israel.
Inside America's powerful Israel lobby (Mar. 16, 2007)
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/salon061.html
AIPAC's three-day summit included fiery evangelical oratory, adoration for Dick Cheney -- and new plans for going after Iran. At the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee this week in Washington, a conservative Christian couple from eastern Tennessee told me that their son had decided to join the Israeli army. It was one of many surreal moments during the three-day gathering hosted by AIPAC, the lobbying group devoted to ensuring close U.S.-Israel ties that remains extraordinarily influential in Washington. "We just love God, and we just love Israel," the couple beamed, when I asked why they had come to the conference.Amid an energized and at times almost circuslike atmosphere, just about everyone in attendance shared two main preoccupations: the 2008 U.S. presidential election and confronting Iran. And this year's conference saw record attendance: more than 6,000 people, coming from every state in the country and exceeding last year's crowd of around 5,000. Many of them were American Jews, of course, but the evangelical Christian community also made a strong showing. For those feeling apocalyptic about the turmoil in the Middle East, pastor John Hagee was there to greet them. Of the many prominent speakers at the conference, Hagee got one of the most enthusiastic receptions. "The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awoken!" Hagee proclaimed, taking the microphone at the opening dinner reception on Sunday. The electrified crowd -- most of it Jewish -- roared in support, pounding on the tables. Hagee went on to declare the United Nations a "political brothel" and asserted that Israel must never give up land. (...) Particularly striking, though, was the predominant attitude at the conference about the administration still in office. During the opening night's events, large video screens behind the speaker's podium showed a chronological slide show of U.S. presidents and their Israeli prime minister contemporaries, and when the display eventually reached George W. Bush, the room erupted into applause -- far more applause than the crowd had given for Reagan, Kennedy or even Truman. And when Cheney first appeared on the stage on Monday morning, the crowd immediately rose to its feet and filled the room with loud applause, which continued intermittently through his predictably hawkish speech. It seemed a remarkable contrast to the currently dismal public opinion polls regarding Bush and Cheney. As one delegate standing nearby commented during the vice president's speech, "This has got to be the last crowd that still greets him this way."
Israel-Palestine: Time for a bi-national state (20 March 2007)
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6702.shtml
There is talk once again of a one-state bi-national solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Oslo peace process failed to bring Palestinians their independence and the withdrawal from Gaza has not created a basis for a democratic Palestinian state as President George Bush had imagined: the Palestinians are watching their territory being fragmented into South African-style bantustans with poverty levels of over 75 percent. The area is heading to the abyss of an apartheid state system rather than to a viable two-state solution, let alone peace. There have been a number of recent publications proposing a one-state solution as the only alternative to the current impasse. CLIP
Bush hit-woman behind prosecutor firings - By Greg Palast (Mar 14, 2007)
http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=16636
MACON,GA.- The Mister Big behind the scandal of George Bush's firing of US Attorneys is not a 'mister' at all. The House Judiciary Committee has released White House emails indicating that the political operative who ordered the hit on prosecutors too honest for their own good was Harriet Miers, one-time legal counsel to the President.But this is not the first time that Miers has fired investigators to protect Mr. Bush. (...) Bush's attempt to appoint Hit-woman Harriet to the US Supreme Court in 2005 surprised many. Not me. Miers, personal and governmental lawyer for George Bush, had quite a file on her boss, and he must have been grateful for her discretion. Most crucially, she knew why Bush so desperately needed to give GTech the lottery contract. The heart of the matter was the then-successful cover-up of the Bush family's using its influence to get young George Bush into the Texas Air National Guard and out of the Vietnam war draft. CLIP MIERS SHOULD BE SUBPOENAED ET FORCED TO REVEAL ALL SHOW KNOWS IN RETURN FOR HER CONTINUED FREEDOM...
'Prosecutor-gate': Bush's Power Grab (March 14, 2007)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/031407.html
In 2005, when the White House launched a plan to oust U.S. Attorneys who showed insufficient political loyalty, George W. Bush was hoping to solidify one-party Republican control of American political life, in part, through aggressive prosecution of Democrats for alleged "voter fraud." One part of Bush's power grab was to unleash attack-dog GOP prosecutors to rip into Democrats who had been trying to get more Americans to vote. But where Republicans claimed "voter fraud," such as allowing some released felons to cast ballots, the Democrats saw Republican "voter suppression" aimed at frightening minority citizens away from the polls.But the swing of a few hundred votes in some districts could mean giving the Democrats control of the House and Senate -- and subjecting the Bush administration to some serious oversight. So, by October 2006, when the White House now admits that Bush personally passed on Republican complaints to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the lack of urgency in addressing Democratic "voter fraud" cases, the GOP dream of near-permanent one-party governance was in grave jeopardy. Ultimately, the refusal of U.S. Attorneys in New Mexico and elsewhere to fast-track the pre-election indictments of Democrats denied the Republicans a last-minute boost that might have kept one or both congressional chambers in GOP hands. Instead, the Democrats carried both the House and Senate, opening the Bush administration to oversight that had been virtually non-existent for the previous six years. Exactly one month after the election, Bush's Justice Department purged seven U.S. Attorneys on top of one who had been ousted earlier. Under questioning, Gonzales and other administration officials first denied that politics was involved in the unusual mass firing. But the emergence of e-mails between the White House and the Justice Department forced the Bush administration to change its story and toss Gonzales's chief of staff, D. Kyle Simpson, over the side. (...) To achieve Bush's vision of near-endless Republican dominance, the White House went to work trying to assert unprecedented control over the 93 U.S. Attorneys with Miers suggesting in February 2005 that all of them be fired and replaced with loyal Republicans. CLIP
Gonzales Survival Prospects Called 'Slim to None' (March 17, 2007)
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Politics/story?id=2960297&page=1
Attorney General Faces Pressure Over U.S. Attorney Firings - Some political odds makers are betting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will not make it through the week with the same job title."The chances of the attorney general surviving this, I think, are slim to none — and slim just left the building," said Norman Ornstein, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.Gonzales faces what could be the most challenging week of his career. On Monday, the Department of Justice is expected to release some 200 pages of potentially damaging e-mails to address accusations he fired eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons on behalf of a White House that felt they were not — in the words of Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson — "loyal Bushies."Sampson lost his job earlier this month. Now it is Gonzales' own job that's on the line. CLIP
Attorney Scandal Without Precedent: CRS Report Reveals Audacity of Dismissals
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032107K.shtml
Leahy Intends to Subpoena White House Officials
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031907J.shtml
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says he intends to subpoena White House officials involved in ousting federal prosecutors and is dismissing anything short of their testimony in public. The White House is expected to announce early this week whether it will agree to let political strategist Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, and other officials testify, or will seek to assert executive privilege in preventing their appearances.
Halliburton Chief's Move to Dubai Evokes Warnings on Hill (March 13, 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201299.html
(...) Dorgan, who said he would seek hearings on the move, added: "I want to know, is Halliburton trying to run away from bad publicity on their contracts? Are they trying to run away from the obligation to pay U.S. taxes? Or are they trying to set up a corporate presence in Dubai so that they can avoid the restrictions that currently exist on doing business with prohibited countries like Iran?"People familiar with investigations carried out by the Pentagon and special Iraq inspectors general said there were many aspects of Halliburton's contracts in Iraq that have not yet come under full scrutiny. With Democrats in control of Congress, further hearings on those contracts are likely. Last year, Halliburton received $6.1 billion of Defense Department contracts, the sixth-largest total of any company. In 2005, it received $5.8 billion.
The Prisoner Or: How I Planned To Kill Tony Blair (14 Mar 2007)
http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=31439
Shown in the Spotlight Premieres section of SXSW Festival, The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair is a powerfully moving documentary about one Iraqi man's mistreatment at the hands of the US military in that infamous hellhole borrowed from Saddam called Abu Ghraib. But anyone likely to watch a film like this already knows that the US occupation of that tragic country has been a ghastly mistake and that Iraqi human rights are routinely trampled upon by the frightened and overwhelmed US forces. CLIP
Don't like ID cards? Hand over your passport (9th March 2007) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=441329&in_page_id=1770
The first ID cards will be issued in 2009 - Anybody who objects to their personal details going on the new "Big Brother" ID cards database will be banned from having a passport.
Velkomin to the United States of Foreclosure By Mike Whitney (03/17/07)
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6180
The stock market is about to crash. The only question is whether it will quickly drop down the elevator shaft or follow the jerky flight-path of a man pushed down a stairwell. Either way, the outcome will be the same; stocks will nose-dive, the dollar will plummet, and the bruised US economy will be splattered on the canvas like George Foreman in Rumble in the Jungle. Troubles in the sub-prime market have just begun to materialize and already 38 main sub prime lenders have gone kaput. Foreclosures have reached a 37 year high, and an estimated 2 million homeowners will be put out on the street in the next few years. And that's just for starters. CLIP
Is Israel Falling Apart? (3-05-07)
http://hnn.us/articles/35958.html
Foreign observers of Israel tend to focus so intently on the dangers the country faces from its Arab neighbours that they have largely missed an astonishing story that has been accelerating over the past few months: that of the Jewish state‚s possible move toward internal collapse. If you consider this an exaggeration, just take note of what the past couple of weeks have brought about. A few days ago the chief of the Israeli police resigned after an investigation that found several of Israel's highest police officers guilty of corruption and negligence. This came within a week of the forced resignation of Israel's Chief of Staff from the military because of the fiascos of the second Lebanon war. It was also some ten days after Israel's minister of justice was convicted of sexual assault while on duty, and a couple of weeks after Israel's president — who holds a largely symbolic position — resigned temporarily following charges of rape and sexual misconduct. It was also the same day that the head of Israel's tax authority resigned because of possible corruption charges. In the meantime, several other investigations are still pending, not least two or three directed at the Prime Minister himself, Ehud Olmert, concerning corruption and favoritism. And an appeal to the Supreme Court has already been filed against the minister of police's choice for a new police chief — again, because of old charges of corruption of which the nominee had been acquitted only through a particularly narrow benefit of the doubt. Do these events really presage the collapse of the Israeli system of governance and democracy? There certainly has never been such a deep crisis of leadership in the country that touts itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. The leader of the ruling parliamentary coalition, Avigdor Yitzhaki, said so publicly a few days ago. And the Minister of Education has suggested that all schools devote special classes to the "government crisis", so that children can speak out about what might well seem to them like a total collapse of all systems that control their lives. Suddenly the Palestinians and the Hizbullah, and even Iranian nukes, have taken a back seat: Israel does indeed seem in danger of imploding from within, at least as a viable democracy. CLIP
Opposition leader 'has cracked skull' (March 14, 2007)
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21383008-5006506,00.html
ZIMBABWE opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was in intensive care with a broken skull today following what he says was a brutal police attack while in custody, his spokesman said. (...) Mr Tsvangirai was taken to hospital with a deep head wound on Tuesday soon after arriving at court. His condition and that of other opposition supporters fuelled world outrage over the crackdown on political protests by Mugabe's Government. The US condemned the police action as "ruthless and repressive" and even South Africa, which normally avoids direct comment on Zimbabwe's woes, called on Mugabe's Government to respect the rule of law. Sunday's arrests, which occurred as Mr Tsvangirai and other opposition supporters attempted to attend a prayer vigil, came as Zimbabwe faced a deepening economic crisis with inflation at more than 1700 per cent, unemployment of 80 per cent and frequent shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange. (...) Zimbabwe's political tensions have mounted in recent weeks because of plans by Mr Mugabe, now 83 and the country's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, to further extend his rule.
Zimbabwe: A Sense of Impunity (March 17, 2007)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703170186.html
A legacy of international inaction encourages Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to believe there is no price to pay for his crackdown on opponents.The universal condemnation of the police assault on Zimbabwean opposition leaders on March 11 is unlikely to move President Robert Mugabe. Ordinary Zimbabwean interviewed by IWPR say their president has got away with this kind of thing for decades, and the international community has done little more than issue protests from a safe distance.Fifty opposition leaders on their way to attend a prayer meeting at Zimbabwe Grounds in the working class suburb of Highfield, Harare, were arrested and then savagely assaulted in police cells on March 11.The images of a badly beaten Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, that flashed round the globe this week may have jolted the international community from its slumber.Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Tsvangirai was in intensive care after sustaining serious head injuries from a police beating. Other prominent opposition figures also suffered serious injuries. Tsvangirai left hospital on March 16. He and others had been released into the custody of their lawyers three days earlier as police had not completed the paperwork relating to possible charges.Yet the new international outcry seems unlikely to alarm President Mugabe, given that he has not been swayed by similar criticism of his past actions over the last 27 years."Mugabe's story since independence in 1980 is a bloody trail of mass murder and the torture of political opponents," said Thompson Zhou, a teacher in the farming town of Kadoma."With such a track-record, why would Mugabe lose sleep over the recent round of condemnation over the torture of Tsvangirai and company?" (...) Many Zimbabweans remain frustrated with the failure of the international community, and other African states in particular, to take decisive measures to curb Mugabe's policies."We know there is no one who can save us," said a woman at the funeral of Gift Tandare, killed by police as they moved to head off the March 11 meeting at Highfield. "We can't even save ourselves because of the brutality of the state machinery. So we have no choice but to leave this in the hands of the Creator."Although the European Union and North American countries have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, including an arms embargo, the country has other sources of military and security equipment. China provides weapons while Israel has supplied water cannons. Zimbabwe's cosy relationship with China has obstructed moves to address concerns at the United Nations Security Council, as Beijing simply exercises its veto. Within Africa itself, Mugabe has been under little pressure to change from fellow-leaders. South African president Thabo Mbeki, for example, refuses to condemn Mugabe's actions and instead promotes a policy of "quiet diplomacy". CLIP
Pressure for Zimbabwe change (17 March 2007)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6458979.stm
President Mugabe said Western critics of his rule could "go hang" after they blamed him for the mistreatment of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Observers are now asking if this week's events could lead to real change in Zimbabwe. As BBC News is banned from reporting inside Zimbabwe, Peter Biles has been following developments from Johannesburg: (...) As the battered MDC activists were treated in hospital, one of our local papers published a truly shocking picture on its front page, of Sekai Holland, a founding member of the Zimbabwean opposition. She is a roving ambassador for the MDC and I have met her on numerous occasions at international gatherings.This week's photograph - captioned "Mugabe's Dirty Work" - showed Sekai Holland lying in her hospital bed with her nightdress pulled up, to reveal massive bruising on her thighs.Her arm was in plaster and her eyes closed. She looked unconscious. It is thought she was beaten more severely because she was originally a member of the ruling party - Zanu PF - and defected to the MDC. These are, of course, images that the Zimbabwean government would prefer the world not to see. The authorities have made it as difficult as possible for us to report on Zimbabwe in recent years. (...) These days, there is not much to laugh about in Zimbabwe. The nation is on its knees. Inflation is running at 1,700%. There is said to be 80% unemployment, and most people are unable to buy even the most basic goods.The state health service has collapsed. Doctors and nurses have been on strike and people are leaving the country in huge numbers. Many Zimbabweans end up here in South Africa.There are thought to be about three million of them. And that is not good news for the government in Pretoria. No country can satisfactorily absorb an influx on this scale. CLIP
Mugabe’s latest victim unites West in anger (March 18, 2007)
http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1267684.0.0.php
DESTABILISED BY an economy that is in tatters, split apart by internal political disputes, hobbled by the lack of a coherent opposition and ruled by a despot whose bully-boys see nothing wrong with beating the leader of the opposition to within an inch of his life, Zimbabwe is a country in meltdown.The slump began in the 1990s with the land-grabs of white farms ordered by President Robert Mugabe. It is now reaching grim fruition with rampant inflation, massive unemployment and political mayhem. One statistic says it all: the average life expectancy for a Zimbabwean is 34 years, one of the worst in the world.In a last-ditch attempt to pull the country back from the brink of the abyss, the world has finally signalled that it is losing patience with Mugabe's rule and that there must be an end to the violence and mayhem which disfigured the country last week. (...) One possible avenue is China. As the West began sidelining Zimbabwe in an attempt to exert internal political pressure on the country, Mugabe started "looking East" and has built up strong diplomatic links with China and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam. However, as the West has used up most of its diplomatic capital in persuading Beijing to take a strong line with North Korea over its nuclear programme, there is unlikely to be much leverage there. A US diplomatic source explained the current thinking: "China hasn't learned yet to flex its muscles in the way a world power should. In any case, there's not much in it for them and they may enjoy the West's discomfiture over Zimbabwe. There's still a lot to play for in Africa." In this respect, neighbouring South Africa could also play a decisive role, but so far President Thabo Mbeki has been strangely silent and impotent. His country is being affected by Zimbabwe's plight, mainly by the influx of refugees and the growing regional instability, but unlike his illustrious predecessor Nelson Mandela, Mbeki has refused to criticise Mugabe. The shared memory of the liberation struggle against a white race is one reason. South Africa's own internal problems and the fear of further destabilisation are another, but these cannot disguise the fact that Mbeki is the key to the matter. CLIP
NAVY DEFIES CALIFORNIA ON DEADLY SONAR
http://www.savebiogems.org/newsletter/U.S.
The Navy has refused to comply with a decision by the California Coastal Commission requiring it to protect whales and other marine life during two years of ear-splitting sonar exercises off the southern California coast. After receiving more than 16,000 pro-whale messages from BioGems Defenders and other activists in California, commission officials voted in January to reject the Navy's plan unless it committed to taking common-sense protective measures, such as avoiding the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and other sensitive marine mammal habitats. We'll keep you posted on our ongoing campaign of legal action and public pressure to limit lethal military sonar.
The Space Cowboys (Feb. 22, 2007)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1592834,00.html
Rocket tourism may seem flighty. But Richard Branson and others might have the money and smarts to launch us all.
International Ocean Noise Coalition
http://awionline.org/whales/Noise/IONC/index.htm
The International Ocean Noise Coalition (IONC) is a partnership of over 150 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world. With representatives on every continent, IONC was created to address the need for a global approach to combating human-generated (or "anthropogenic") ocean noise. Sources of underwater noise include intense active mid-range and low frequency sonar, ship traffic, use of explosives, underwater construction, offshore oil drilling, and seismic testing for oil and other related activities. Anthropogenic noise levels in the marine environment are increasing at an alarming rate. Ocean noise levels in some areas have doubled every decade for the past 60 years. There is mounting concern that noise proliferation poses a significant threat to the survival of marine mammals, fish and other ocean wildlife. Marine animals use sound to navigate, find food, locate mates, avoid predators and communicate with each other. Flooding their world with intense sound interferes with these activities with serious consequences. A growing body of scientific research confirms anthropogenic noise can induce a range of adverse effects in marine mammals and other ocean creatures, from disturbance to injury and death. CLIP
Eating Better Than Organic
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595245,00.html
The new "local foods" movement is questioning whether that pesticide-free apple is better than one grown in your own backyard.
When Organic Isn't Really Organic (Mar. 14, 2007)
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1599110,00.html
When you buy a gallon of organic milk, you expect to get tasty milk from happy cows who haven't been subjected to antibiotics, hormones or pesticides. But you might also unknowingly be getting genetically modified cattle feed.Albert Straus, owner of the Straus Family Creamery in the small northern California town of Marshall, decided to test the feed that he gives his 1,600 cows last year and was alarmed to find that nearly 6% of the organic corn feed he received from suppliers was "contaminated" by genetically modified (GM) organisms. Organic food is, by definition, supposed to be free of genetically modified material, and organic crops are required to be isolated from other crops. But as GM crops become more prevalent, there is little that an organic farmer can do to prevent a speck of GM pollen or a stray GM seed from being blown by the wind onto his land or farm equipment and, eventually, into his products. In 2006, GM crops accounted for 61% of all the corn planted in the U.S. and 89% of all the soybeans. "I feared that there weren't enough safeguards," Straus says. (...) The organic and natural foods industry sees a huge opportunity in telling consumers even more about what's in their food. Few consumers would think about the pesticides and hormones in conventional foods without the organic alternative to remind them. Similarly, genetically modified crops have become so prevalent in the U.S. that chances are you've been buying and eating them for years. You just wouldn't know it from the label: the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unlike agencies in Europe and Japan, do not require GM foods to be labeled. While scientists have not identified any specific health risks from eating GM foods, anti-GM activists say there is not enough research yet into their long-term risks or impact on biodiversity. By telling consumers loud and clear which products are GM-free, organic-food producers will give them one more reason to choose organic. Says Jeffrey Smith, a longtime activist against genetically modified food: "The people served by the organic industry are very sensitive to GMO." And, the industry hopes, willing to pay to avoid it. CLIP
White House Seeks to Cut Geothermal Research Funds
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031407M.shtml
The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power just as many US states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output. The move has angered scientists who say there is enough hot water underground to meet all US electricity needs without greenhouse gas emissions. (...) New geothermal power projects by 2050 could provide 100,000 megawatts of electricity - enough to power about 80 million U.S. homes, or as much as U.S. nuclear power plants make today, the MIT study said. But U.S. geothermal development will need $300 million to $400 million over 15 years to make this type of power competitive versus other forms of power generation, the study said. The big hurdle for geothermal power is finding out where the hot water is and developing better ways to drill for it. Geothermal power plants use steam or water from underground to turn turbines to create electricity. CLIP
Scientist Accuses White House of "Nazi" Tactics
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032107N.shtml
Britain Proposes Bold Environmental Legislation That Could Pave Way for Post-Kyoto Pact
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031407EB.shtml
Britain's government proposed bold new environmental legislation that would set legally binding, long-term limits on carbon emissions - a move it hopes will prompt the United States, China and India to follow suit. The proposal would set binding targets as far ahead as 2050 for reducing carbon emissions.
Majority abroad find global warming a threat (March 14, 2007)
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/03/14/news/news16031407.txt
CHICAGO - A survey on climate change conducted in more than a dozen countries found that a majority of people in nations including South Korea, Australia, Iran and Mexico - but not the United States - view global warming as a critical threat.In the U.S., about 46 percent of those questioned said global warming is critical, while four in 10 labeled it "an important but not critical threat," in the survey conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, in cooperation with other polling organizations.Among the other countries where the question was asked, the Ukraine was the only nation where less than four in 10 participants found global warming to be a critical threat. There, it was 33 percent.The polling was conducted last year, with field periods varying from June to December. More than 20,000 people were polled. The margin of error ranged between 3 and 4 percent. The survey, which was released Tuesday, was first conducted in the United States, China and India. When organizations in other countries expressed interest, the effort was expanded, said Steven Kull, an editor at WorldPublicOpinion.org who took the lead in managing and analyzing the poll results. The survey was conducted in 17 countries plus the Palestinian territories - a total area representing more than 55 percent of the world's population. Not all questions were asked in all countries. Kull said he was struck by the widespread concern over climate change."If you think about the fact that just two decades ago, hardly anyone knew what climate change or global warming was, and now you have people all around the world - even in developing countries - really absorbing that there is something to address here," Kull said. "It's really quite phenomenal that this kind of change can happen." Another set of questions found strong support from residents in the United States, Poland and the Ukraine for the idea that developed countries should provide substantial aid to developing countries that commit to limiting their greenhouse gas emissions. On the flip side, the idea that developing countries should commit to limiting their emissions if developed countries were willing to provide aid was strongly supported in Armenia and China; in India 48 percent polled favored such a proposal, but 23 percent declined to answer. On a question that polled whether immediate steps should be taken to combat global warming even if it involves "significant costs," the strongest support was found in Australia (69 percent of those responding), Israel (54 percent), the United States (43 percent) and China (42 percent)
Rising Sea Levels Threaten Indian Islands
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031907P.shtml
After a 10-year study in and around the Bay of Bengal, oceanographers say the sea is rising at 3.14 millimeters per year in the Sunderbans, against a global average of 2 mm, threatening low-lying areas of India and Bangladesh. "At least 15 islands have been affected, but erosion is widespread in other islands as well," said Sugato Hazra, an oceanographer at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.
It's August in March for Fire Agencies (13 March 2007)
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031307EC.shtml
Record-low rainfall has created summer-like conditions and staffing demands. As Southern California endures its driest 12 months on record, firefighters are dealing with something new: the yearlong fire season. The region has not experienced a major rainstorm in nearly a year, with downtown Los Angeles recording just 2.42 inches of rain this season, more than nine inches below normal. The dry conditions are taking their toll. The Santa Ana winds that usually roar from October through December have continued with unusual frequency into March, helping fuel fires over the weekend in Orange and Riverside counties as well as smaller blazes Monday near the Griffith Observatory and in Agoura Hills. Cities across Southern California, including Los Angeles, Westwood, Burbank, San Gabriel, Long Beach, Riverside, Oxnard and Laguna Beach, all set new temperature records Monday, ranging from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. Local agencies have responded by beefing up fire staffing, treating late winter like the late summer and fall fire season. "You count on winter and spring as being a respite, a time to regroup, to heal and prepare for the upcoming fire season," said Tim Sappok, the assistant operations chief for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. "Now, normal is abnormal. We aren't seeing the seasonal cycle. We have fuels that are ready to burn. It looks like midsummer, vegetation-wise." The deep freeze that hit much of the region in January is also worrying firefighters because it killed or damaged countless trees and plants, leaving them vulnerable to fire. CLIP
Cheap Coal Threat to Global Climate
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031507EB.shtml
Ernest Moniz, director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is mentally counting down the narrowing window of time that remains for the US to address a looming environmental disaster fueled by the burning of mountains of cheap American coal.
Gore's Global-Warming Testimony Expected to Draw Big Crowds
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032007EA.shtml
When former Vice President Al Gore testifies on Capitol Hill Wednesday about the dangers of global warming, committees in both chambers expect huge turnouts. "We're seeing extremely strong interest in all quarters," a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee staffer said.
US Institutional Investors Call for "Green" Legislation
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032007EC.shtml
Dozens of institutional investors managing a combined $4 trillion in assets have signed a statement urging Congress to pass strict laws to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement calls for federal legislation that would reduce heat-trapping emissions of carbon dioxide by 60 to 90 percent by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.
Forests Still Shrinking, but Not as Fast
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031407EC.shtml
An area of forest twice the size of Paris disappears every day, although the rate of global deforestation has started to slow, according to a United Nations report. Demand for agricultural land is one of the main reasons forests continue to be erased, with the biggest losses occurring in Latin America and Africa.
Draft of new international climate report warns of droughts, starvation, disease (March 10, 2007)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/10/america/NA-GEN-US-Climate-Report.php
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of millions of people will not have enough water within a couple of decades as the harmful effects of global warming already start to appear, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.At the same time, tens of millions of people will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised. CLIP
Meet Kyoto or pay up, Dion tells big industry (March 17, 2007)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070317.wxenviro17/BNStory/National/home
OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has dramatically revamped his approach to climate change, unveiling a plan Friday that calls for stiff financial penalties for industry and a second round of Kyoto targets inspired by the European Union.The plan goes well beyond anything Mr. Dion proposed when he was environment minister in 2005, and is a significant departure from his campaign platform during the Liberal leadership race that ended just over three months ago.The Liberal environmental platform announced Friday would cap greenhouse-gas emissions from the country's approximately 700 industrial facilities. The cap would be the same as Canada's target under the Kyoto Protocol, which is to reduce greenhouse gases to 6 per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.Companies would be fined for every tonne of emissions above the Kyoto target, starting at $20 a tonne in 2008 and rising to $30 by 2011. The money would go into an independent account and companies could get their money back by investing in emission-reduction technology. Combined, the plants and refineries are responsible for nearly half Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions. The new policy is inspired by warnings from an increasing number of economists and academics that federal subsidies for industry have failed to encourage action on climate change, and financial penalties are needed to change corporate behaviour. “We can no longer use our atmosphere as a free garbage dump,” Mr. Dion said Friday morning.His plan borrows extensively from recent proposals from environmentalists who say Canada can still meet its targets under the first phase of the protocol. Those environmentalists were clearly pleased yesterday to see their suggestions adopted. Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute said the approximately $2-billion a year that would be raised through penalties is less than 1 per cent of the estimated $250-billion that heavy industry contributes to Canada's gross national product. (...) Canada's emissions are currently more than 30 per cent above its Kyoto target.NDP Leader Jack Layton welcomed Mr. Dion's new position, noting that the NDP had asked him to move in this direction when he was environment minister. CLIP
Troubled Waters on UN Oceans Treaty
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031407ED.shtml
Critics gave the US a D-minus because of its ongoing failure to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The convention is the framework treaty for international agreements relating to marine boundaries, economic and environmental resources, scientific research, pollution control and more. Some call it the constitution of the ocean, and 153 nations have signed on.
Collapse of Arctic Sea Ice "Has Reached Tipping Point (16 March 2007)
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031607EB.shtml
A catastrophic collapse of the Arctic sea ice could lead to radical climate changes in the northern hemisphere according to scientists who warn that the rapid melting is at a "tipping point" beyond which it may not recover. The scientists attribute the loss of some 38,000 square miles of sea ice - an area the size of Alaska - to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as to natural variability in Arctic ice. CLIP
Antarctic Glaciers' Sloughing Of Ice Has Scientists at a Los (March 16, 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501063.html
Some of the largest glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are moving in unusual ways and are losing increased amounts of ice to the sea, researchers said yesterday. Although the changes in Greenland appear to be related to global warming, it remains unclear what is causing the glaciers of frigid Antarctica and their "ice streams" to lose ice to the ocean in recent years, the researchers said. "In Greenland we know there is melting associated with the ice loss, but in Antarctica we don't really know why it's happening," said Duncan Wingham, an author of the review released today in Science magazine. "With so much of the world's ice captured in Antarctica, just the fact that we don't know why this is happening is a cause of some concern." (...) satellite radar readings show that overall, each year the ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica amounts to about 10 percent of the rise in the global sea level, which totals about one-tenth of an inch per year. The net loss of Antarctic ice is estimated to be 25 billion metric tons a year, despite the growth of the ice sheet in East Antarctica.Because such a large percentage of the world's ice is found in those two locations, scientists are carefully watching for signs of increased ice loss. If that process accelerates, researchers say, it could result in a substantial, and highly disruptive, increase in sea levels worldwide. (...) In the same issue of Science, other researchers report that air pollution from industrialized areas is collecting over the Arctic and creating "Arctic haze." The pollution comes from industrial and natural sources -- aerosols, chemicals that can form into ozone and black carbon, which is produced by incomplete burning of fossil fuels. The gradual warming of the large forests below the Arctic has resulted in an increase in forest fires, which produce air pollutants that can increase warming further.
World breaks temperature records (March 16, 2007)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story/0,,2035667,00.html
The world experienced its warmest period on record during this year's northern hemisphere winter, the US government said today.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report said the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature for December to February was the highest since records began in 1880.During the three-month period, known as boreal winter, temperatures were above average worldwide, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and areas in central United States. (...) During the past century, global temperatures had increased at about 0.06C each decade, but the increase had been three times larger since 1976, at about 0.18C per decade, the report said.The 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995. CLIP
Western US's stronger storms traced to Asia pollution (March 12, 200)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0312/p02s01-sten.html
Winter cyclones may be gaining intensity as they pick up soot and other particles, says a US research team. - Air pollution blowing over the western US from Asia has been a growing environmental concern for several years. Now, it seems, it's giving winter storms added punch as well.Tiny aerosols and soot from burning wood and coal in winter, especially in China, appear to be seeding clouds in large winter storms that churn thousands of miles east across the northern Pacific, says a team of US scientists. The pollution is turning relatively routine marine rain clouds into towering thunderheads, much like those seen above land.Previous studies have shown that during the last half of the 20th century, northern Pacific winter storms have become steadily more frequent and stronger, based on tracking wind speeds and atmospheric pressure. The latest results, published last week, indicate that ill winds blowing out of Asia are adding muscle to the types of clouds these stronger winter cyclones carry. CLIP
Eco-car more efficient than light bulb (2005-07-05)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/07/04/eco.car
An eco-car that can travel the world using a fraction of the electricity it takes to power a light bulb has been unveiled by its British creators. The hydrogen-powered Ech2o needs just 25 Watts -- the equivalent of less than two gallons of petrol -- to complete the 25,000-mile global trip, while emitting nothing more hazardous than water. But with a top speed of 30mph, the journey would take more than a month to complete. Ech2o, built by British gas firm BOC, will bid to smash the world fuel efficiency record of over 10,000 miles per gallon at the Shell Eco Marathon. The record is currently ... 5,385 km/per liter [12,900 mpg!]. John Carolin, BOC global director sustainable energy: "It sounds unbelievable how little power is used to keep the BOC Ech2o moving, but it demonstrates the impact of careful design and is a valuable lesson for car makers in the future. Many more related news through http://www.WantToKnow.info/070315newenergytechnologies
OOPS! DID VERICHIP HAVE A "SENIOR MOMENT?" (February 12, 2007)
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-ipo-omits-risks.html
Human Chipping Company Omits Salient Risks from IPO Disclosure (...) "Potential investors should be told how a hacker can simply walk by a chipped person and clone his or her VeriChip signal, a threat demonstrated by security researcher Jonathan Westhues months ago," CLIP more on this through http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/spychips-penguin-plume.html and http://www.spychips.com/
Revealing News: AIDS Myths, 'Dark Matter' Fills Universe, USS Liberty, Military Corruption, etc.
http://www.WantToKnow.info/070319newsaidsmythsdarkmatter
Progressive Talk Phoenix 1480 AM, Nova M Network Launch 'Exopolitics Radio' Weekly Extraterrestrial Politics Talk Show (March 13, 2007)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20070313/bs_prweb/prweb510819_3
Progressive Talk Phoenix 1480 AM, Nova M Network's flagship station has launched Exopolitics Radio, a weekly program reporting on "Exopolitics" or Extraterrestrial politics, broadcast every Saturday at 8 PM MT (10 PM ET; 7 PM PT).(...) Click to Listen to Inaugural Program Now: http://www.exopoliticsradio.com/3-10-07.html (...) Exopolitics is a new political science for outer space. The Associated Press reported in January 2006 that "Exopolitics" had been nominated for 2005 Word of the Year. According host Alfred Lambremont Webre, "Exopolitics is the science of relations between Earth and other intelligent civilizations in the Universe." Progressive Talk Phoenix 1480 AM's company motto is "We need to talk."Exopolitics Radio's expert guests will, each week, deal with in-depth public affairs developments in Exopolitics, such as: • New Energy- New, fuel-less, energy and propulsion systems, based on Extraterrestrial principles, may have been developed using U.S. taxpayer funds and may now be in use on large classified spacecraft. If released into the civilian economy, these New Energy systems could replace all petroleum and nuclear-based energy, triggering an era of prosperity and transformation of the permanent war economy into a sustainable, peaceful Space Age society. • Disarmament in Outer Space - Former Canadian Minister of defense Paul Hellyer has stated that the U.S. Space Command is now planning to place weapons in space, under the cover of "Star Wars," with the intent of starting an inter-stellar war with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations now visiting Earth. In fact, there is no evidence these advanced, ethical ETs are hostile. "Star Wars" may be the latest corporate welfare hoax for the defense industry. Advanced ETs appear to be here to help Earth transition into membership in organized Galactic society. In October 2006, the UN General Assembly nations voted 166-1 in favor of a Space Preservation Treaty banning all weapons in space (The USA was the sole dissenting vote). • Disclosure - Following the Disclosure Project National Press Club Press Conference in May 9, 2001, which brought together over 20 high level military-intelligence and governmental witnesses to the Extraterrestrial presence, disclosure initiatives are now active in the U.S. Congress, Canada, Brazil, the European Parliament, the United Nations and elsewhere. • Diplomacy - Updates on a Decade of Contact including public interest diplomacy with Off-planet cultures now visiting Earth, for mutual benefit. CLIP
Cell phone tower radiation may be killing plants and animals
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3430072/
"A study conducted by three departments of Panjab University has found that cell phone towers are the dominating source of electromagnetic radiations in environment in the city and this could lead to diseases in plants and animals."
EMF-Omega-News 17. March 2007
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3445629
Omega-News Collection 17. March 2007
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3445637/
ERRATUM: In my last compilation I had included an excerpt from an article that seemed to come from a credible source and which made the following allegation...
Auschwitz Museum Director Reveals ‘Gas Chamber’ Hoax - By P. Samuel Foner
http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=2730
A subscriber pointed to me that this article itself MUST be a hoax. So I searched the Web to verify this claim and found this rebuke from the person mentioned in this article above, Dr Franciszek Piper:
http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/piper.franciszek/press/daily.texan.1093
In his advertisement he introduces me as a "Head of Auschwitz Archives at the Auschwitz State Museum". This is untruth. I am not and I have been neither a head of Auschwitz Archives nor a director of Auschwitz Museum, as Cole maintains in other propaganda leaflets. (...) 4. The fact that the Nazi murderers used gas chambers (in Birkenau you can see the ruins of the other 5 gas chambers) for mass annihilation of innocent men, women and children, mostly Jews, has been proved by thousands of memoirs and depositions of eyewitnesses as well as by German official documents and plans. It is obvious fact for everybody who wants to approach the problem, to contact still living witnesses and to study historical sources. 5. I have devoted 28 years of my life to save the memory of the countless victims of the Nazi barbarity to warn people against indifference to all forms of racial, religious and national based hatred, which leads to injustice, suffering and killing of innocent people. Because of it I take the fact my name is used for disseminating such kind of lies and hiding of the obvious truth as a lack of honesty and dignity.
To listen to the actual statement made on camera by Dr. Piper, go at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2968377116621277074&q=David+Cole+Dr.+Franciszek+Piper and scroll the bar to 24 minutes into this video - which, I believe, is a crude attempt by a holocaust revisionist to rewrite history based on slanted views and on skewed "evidence" — as far as I can tell, but since I don't feel like I want to take time to watch it all, some may question my comment. See and decide for yourself...
Also, incidentally if you read to the bottom what is posted at http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=2730 you may have noticed this other very telling comment about this falsity:
What Really Happened. Comment From Jim Mortellaro Jsmortell@aol.com 5-31-4 When I read such as the above, I become angry. I want to hurl the lunatic who said it into the past to see what really did happen. No, I did not see what happened. But my aunt did. As did her brother, her mother, father, sister, uncles and aunts and cousins. A family of Budapest Jews, taken from their homes, packed into cattle cars and hauled into a place called Auschwits. There, my aunt and her brother were the only survivors in a family of 93. Ninety-three human beings, men, women and children were starved to death, forced into hard labor and those who could not cut the mustard were gassed. My uncle Mike, a Christian, and his fellow CIC Jewish CIC soldiers, liberated Olga’s family from Auschwits and saw with their own eyes, the ovens, the gas chambers and the bodies stacked high, stripped not only of belongings but of all their humanity. A hoax? Yes. But a hoax perpetrated by those who naysay a truth. And that truth will stand for as long as there are humans left to remember. I abhor Zionism. I abhor what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people. I abhor the fact that Israel is doing many of the same things the NAZI’s did to them. But it was done to them. Nothing can change that. Not the pap some people attempt to sell, which is tantamount to the worst kind of lying. Remember. For in remembering, there should be something called humanity. Some in Israel have not remembered. And that will be their downfall.
My apologies to all those who may haven been offended to see this material in my compilation. I've been had!
1.
Date: 11 Mar 2007
Subject: Re: The Perfect Storm Series #10: All Heaven Breaking Loose
From: Mark Gilliland mg@markg.org">
Jean
I read the recent posting from 3/10/07 9:09 PM, The Perfect Storm Series #10 - And this item caught my eye:
NOW AND THEN THERE'S A FOOL SUCH AS I AM
By Ron Van Dyke, March 7, 2007
I can’t help but think that what Ron was writing about has been the core of the Buddhist doctrine of Boddhisatva – the All Compassionate Beings - who, once enlightened rather than disappear into a Nirvanic state, remain within this dimension of duality and delusion in order that they may share their light – their wisdom heart stream – with all suffering beings. Until all beings are lifted up and the world of delusion can finally be transformed into a world of Bliss. Some of these beings we may have heard of or encountered in meditation – Avalokasavara and Tara come immediately to mind.
But it is the practice of Boddhisatva heart/mind which I feel is the most important aspect to learn, supremely difficult and yet subtly easy at the same time! To begin this practice, one centers oneself in meditation. Then, on the in-breath, you breath in all of the suffering, pain, anger, fear and so forth of the beings around you. Take it in. Sacrifice yourself, in a sense offering your being, to this overwhelming grief. Then, on the out-breath, breath out the pure light of compassion and love to all beings, to the world.
The practice is hard for the Ego – and so one is instructed to begin with visualizing beings that are immediately around you, your loved ones, your family. Eventually, expand this out to include friends, then acquaintances, then strangers. Finally, begin to expand to include those folks you don’t like, your enemies and so on. Everyone. All sentient beings who suffer.
What I like about this meditation is that it centers you in the understanding not only that All Is One, but also that we each share a responsibility to act in behalf of those around us who may be unable to recognize the delusions of the ego mind, lost in the dream of Maya. Our light is their light. Our heart is their heart. Our bliss is their bliss.
-
As you might recall from past emails, I am an artist living in the NYC area. I recently posted some new Medicine Buddha images on my art blog: http://www.image-maya.org-- These Medicine Buddha images are intended to help heal the world, each person’s heart. I have also posted the Medicine Buddha mantra with the images so that one can repeat the mantra for more rapid healing, if so inclined.
Best Regards,
-mg-
Mark Gilliland
---
Date: 11 Mar 2007
From: Bonnie Mandell-Rice velsubus@yahoo.com">
Subject: Re: The Perfect Storm Series #10: All Heaven Breaking Loose
Hi Jean
Re: Ron Van Dyke's article about the Secret (Now and Then There's a Fool Such as I am). A few thoughts/observations:
Ron wrote: "If there is any singular message that comes through to me more loudly than others, it is the message of unity, of oneness, of my interconnectedness with ALL THAT IS. As Sue was speaking at church on Sunday, she referred to a teaching of some metaphysical guru expounding on the Law of Attraction and saying that we would get to a point where we would be so focused on the good things in our lives that we would be completely unaware of any other reality, and certainly the reality we label: "negative" that encompasses so many in our world. Maybe I did not hear or understand correctly, but if I did hear it, it sounded an awful lot like separation, lack of compassion, and even ignorance."
My reply: This is where simplicity is a "problem." Being focused on what is good in our lives causes good to expand. It doesn't mean we can't look at the "bad" and do something about it. The key to me is that when we are looking at the "bad," first we notice that we are judging. If we can let go of the charge of judgment, we still can decide that we prefer some other thing and can look at ways we can shift the situation. If I see trash on the trail, I notice that I feel annoyed/angry at people who do that - clearly I think trash on the trail is "bad." So - I feel annoyed/angry. Who am I? What do I choose to do given that my preference is that there not be trash on the trail? I pick the trash up!)
Ron wrote: "Hello God (yes, that's a link), the song by Dolly Parton I wrote about a short time ago, expresses that cry. Of course it is not the cry of consciousness. On the contrary, it is the cry from the unconscious disconnect within humanity. God hears it! That is why so many helpers are in, on, and around the Earth at this time. God is crying, too! Why? Because so many who claim enlightenment lack the compassion and will necessary to transmute the negative energies…too busy focusing on what is wanted and desired in the physical reality to pay attention to the challenging task before us to heal ourselves and the planet."
My reply: On the other hand, what if by focusing on what we wish to create in our reality IS healing ourselves and the planet? If we change our consciousness to one of abundance, for example, that autormatically shfts the collective consciousness toward abundance. If, like Oprah, we manifest abundance, then look how much more we might do to help lift others! Same with peace and kindness and........)
Ron wrote: "We see Mother Theresa as a saint, and rightly so. Why? It's not because of her doctrinal purity as a champion of Catholicism. On the contrary, even those of other, non-Christian religions see her as a saint. Mother Theresa identified with the poor, the lost, the sick, the helpless; and she was not afraid to touch their lives with her grace and caring. Not only was she not afraid of expanding those conditions by focusing on them, she did what she could to alleviate them. She was a woman of the heart, a true lady of compassion. She did not turn her back on the neediness of others, seeing them, instead, as family. That, my friends, is universal godliness. "
My reply: Mother Teresa was not focused, however, on the people's sickness and poverty, she was focused on the Christ within them, on love and compassion. She said once something about bathing the feet of the Untouchables was like bathing the feet of the Christ. She focused on the Christ within them. If we all did that, we would know exactly what to do and say upon meeting another, seeing them, whatever their situation.
Ron wrote: "Compassion is the key to lessening the angst of the shift in reality. It will unlock the door to untold blessings; but the way is not by avoidance and denial of what we don't want. Please understand that. What you focus on and uplift is transformed and transmuted. What you avoid expands and keeps on expanding until you can embrace it with all the love and truth you can muster."
My reply: I like the way he describes this. Interesting though - the idea of embracing what you would avoid with love. When you embrace with love what you would deny or avoid, you are being love and so that light then shines on what you would deny, transforming and transmuting it. And, in a sense, your focus is on love and that is what expands.
Blessings
Bonnie
---
Related article:
The Secret: Is It the Real Deal?
http://www.webmd.aol.com/balance/features/the-secret-is-it-the-real-deal
A theory about the power of positive thinking draws adherents -- and controversy.
---
NOTE from Jean: Ron just wrote a new article and introduced me to it this was:
Hi Jean,
I posted this on my website on Saturday. I wasn't going to send it to you because I don't want you to think I expect you to post all of my articles. However, I received this from one of my subscribers,
Hi Ron, I just read your most recent posting. It about blew me away. You were voicing all my own fears and struggles. Then it was as if God really took up the conversation. (And he did.) Thank you for being open, honest and vulnerable. Those are some of your most charming qualities. Thanks also for sharing all of your thoughts and struggles with us because we are all on the same journey. Your writing helps to light the way. That is your gift. I look forward to see you again on Wednesday and to some good conversation? Have a great day.
Judy
This one, and perhaps more incubating in my soul, are for a wider audience than I can provide. Of all the places where my articles have been posted, none bring as great a response as when they are posted on Earth Rainbow Network. Thank you for being my friend, though we have never me in this lifetime. We will. Oh, do I have hugs for you!
Namaste,
Ron
CONVERSATION WITH MY (HIGHER) SELF By Ron Van Dyke (March 17, 2007)
http://metagroups.divinespectrum.net/Articles.html#Conv
NOTE: The title began as WANTING TO BE REAL IN A PHONY WORLD. By the time I finished, it had taken on a life of its own and gone where I had not expected. Hence, the new title was applied. You will see why. As I explore my feelings ever more deeply, it comes to me that this is something I’ve wanted to write my entire life. Of course it deals with shadow issues—delving into feelings always deals with that part of ourselves that haunts many (all?) of us throughout our lives. It’s the part that we are told is unacceptable from earliest childhood. Innocently, our parents program us the same way they were programmed; and expressing emotions is frowned upon--especially for boys. When we buy into that “reality” we become emotionally handicapped, often for the rest of our lives. Well, I’m going to let it fly to the best of my ability to express myself. I want to be real even if it is unacceptable, even if it makes me vulnerable, and even if it opens yet more doors to judgment and ridicule. That’s nothing new to me. CLIP - Since it is quite long and this compilation was already full when I got this, please read the rest on Ron's website at the URL above.
2.
From: "Mark Graffis" mgraffis@gmail.com">
Subject: 9/11: A Marine Pilot comes forth
Date: 12 Mar 2007
From: http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/#Lankford
Lt. Col. Shelton F. Lankford, U.S. Marine Corps (ret) – Retired U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot with over 300 combat missions flown. 21-year Marine Corps career.
- Letter to the Editor 2/5/07: Regarding 9/11 "Our government has been hijacked by means of a "new Pearl Harbor" and a lot of otherwise good and decent people who are gullible enough to think that the first three steel-framed buildings in history fall down because they have some fires that the fire fighter on the scene said could be knocked down with a couple of hoses and through which people walked before they were photographed looking out the holes where the plane hit. One of these - bldg 7, [570 feet tall, 47 stories] was never hit by a plane and even NIST is ashamed to advance a reason for its collapse. And, miracle of miracles, these three buildings just happened to be leased and insured by the same guy who is on tape saying they decided to "PULL" the last one to fall." http://www.michigandaily.com
- Statement to this website 2/20/07: "This isn't about party, it isn't about Bush Bashing. It's about our country, our constitution, and our future. ...
Your countrymen have been murdered and the more you delve into it the more it looks as though they were murdered by our government, who used it as an excuse to murder other people thousands of miles away.
If you ridicule others who have sincere doubts and who know factual information that directly contradicts the official report and who want explanations from those who hold the keys to our government, and have motive, means, and opportunity to pull off a 9/11, but you are too lazy or fearful, or ... to check into the facts yourself, what does that make you? Scholars for 9/11 truth http://911scholars.org/ have developed reams of scientific data.