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American Airlines to lay off more than 3,100 flight attendants
July 1
CNN
May 15, 2003
"Today's announcement by American is indeed very sad for all of
us at the APFA," said John Ward, president of the flight
attendants' union. "The news that so many of our co-workers will
now face unemployment is another in a long line of very
disheartening events of late."
Comment: Thank you, Bush Reich!
"Human, almost
human"
By
Paul Harris
YellowTimes.org Columnist (Canada)
Most
countries have laws against acts of murder, arson, sabotage, wanton
destruction, vandalism, kidnapping, and so on. Increasingly,
countries are beginning to have specific laws against "terrorism"
even though "terrorism" is usually accomplished by one, some, or
all of those same crimes. Under the rubric of a "war against
terrorism," countries have joined together in a loose alliance with
the vague goal of "eliminating terrorism." Since they are
apparently making a distinction between the crimes listed above and
"terrorism," it has to be assumed that there is no war against
those specific crimes, just the terrorist version of them.
[...]
Consider the American Revolution; consider the resistance
fighters in France during World War II; consider the Israelis in
Palestine, and later the Palestinians in Israel. Objectively, there
is no difference in their motivation, their actions, and some of
their tactics; yet only the latter group is labeled
"terrorist."
In
reality, these laws against terrorism are actually laws against
Arabs and Islamic people. [...] the current object of derision
among westerners is the swarthy Ay-rab. Even the usual victims of
racism have joined in this distrust and dislike of all things
Islamic and this distaste has become so widespread and so
acceptable in otherwise decent circles that it is becoming almost
obligatory. [...]
What
qualifies something as "terrorism"? We have all heard the notion
that what is terrorism to one person is freedom fighting to
another, that terrorism is in the eye of the beholder. The fact is
that terrorism is anything someone declares it to be; generally,
fighting for a cause you don't support with methods you don't like
makes someone a "terrorist" and it allows you to declare that
cause, those actions, and the perpetrator to be the ultimate evil.
Even concepts like "mass murder" and "sabotage" don't carry the
demonizing power of the word "terrorism." And yet the actions are
almost always the same. [...]
When
Churchill ordered the senseless bombing of Dresden during World War
II, or the Shah of Iran ordered mass killings of his people, or
Janet Reno ordered the attack on the Koresh compound in Waco --
what makes these actions escape being labeled as "terrorism"? [...]
Any dispassionate analysis of the use of the word 'terrorism' also
reveals that the choice to use or not to use the word is frequently
based not on the act itself but on who is doing it to whom." (John
V. Whitbeck) [...] [A]sk yourself if the leaders of the "war" have
not openly declared that the quiet racism against Islam no longer
needs to kept in the closet. It has become almost mandatory among
"civilized" people. Arabs and Muslims have long been aware of a
tendency to consider them something less than fully human, or at
least not entitled to the same level of human rights as everyone
else. The blinding hatred against them that arose after September
11 is a truly frightening thing.
A
"war on terrorism" which labels all efforts by Arabs and Muslims to
correct deeply felt wrongs as not only illegitimate but also
criminal, and treats Arabs and Muslims as suspects with "terrorist"
intent and unworthy of basic human rights, is almost certain to
produce even worse instances of precisely what this war is
supposedly intended to eradicate.
Therein lies the great peril before us: terror begets
terror.
[The
events on 9-11] succeeded in bringing about suspension or removal
of many of the rights and liberties of the country claiming to be
the freest on earth. [...]
Acts
of terrorism are usually committed by the weak against the strong
and generally the actions committed are the only useful options
available to the weaker party. Most "terrorists" would far prefer
to fight with sophisticated weapons, to drop bombs and missiles
from the safety of the sky or the ocean, but such weaponry is not
usually within their grasp. So they use the delivery systems they
can muster, be that commandeered aircraft or their own
bodies.
No
one dares to criticize the countries involved in the war on
terrorism. Even accepting that some people labeled as "terrorists"
are truly reprehensible people, many others are simply idealists of
one stripe or another motivated by very legitimate grievances which
are completely incapable of being redressed in the absence of
dramatic and catastrophic action.
In
the United States, where a national fever has gripped since
September 11 that calls out for revenge, civil liberties are
shredded and constitutional protections are abrogated to thunderous
applause in some circles, and at least quiet acquiescence in most
others.
There is an old adage that if someone is cornered and the only
way out is over the top of you, that's the route he will choose. We
have repeatedly failed to notice when the other guy was trapped in
a corner, or we have been so cocky as to assume he wouldn't dare.
But the world must recognize that it is full of injustice. In a
world where the only tool available to the oppressed in their
efforts to alleviate their misery might be violence, it must be
expected that violence will occur. Rather than fighting back with
even greater oppression, it behooves those in power to seek to
redress some of the concerns of the complainants; it may be very
possible to avoid a lot of unnecessary violence and death. But if
our only response is to fight fire with even more fire, then we
better break out the asbestos suits.
Comment: The only problem we see with the
above analysis is the simple fact that there has NOT been much in
the way of "reprisals" against America in response to the War in
Iraq. The recent bombing in Saudi Arabia - not in Iraq or
Afghanistan, mind you - is more suggestive of further CIA
COINTELPRO than anything else. We have frequently noted that the
so-called Palestinian Sucide Bombers usually show up when there is
a possibility of progress that is favorable TO the Palestinians
than at other times. This is also strongly suggestive that it is
Mossad COINTELPRO. How otherwise can we explain the consistent acts
of "shooting themselves in the foot" that the Palestinians commit?
Again and again what we see is that there is very likely a
calculated, Machiavellian effort to demonize the Arabs. And again
we say: it is only a matter of time before the rest of the Semitic
peoples - Jews specifically - will find themselves in the same
position vis a vis George Bush and the Skull and Bones
gang.
RUMSFELD'S "NOTVERORDNUNG"
Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
May 10, 2003
On
the subject of the proposed "Defense Transformation Act of the 21st
Century," which has been presented on behalf of Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
1.
Our U.S. Federal Constitution was crafted under the authority of
that natural law stipulated by our 1776 Declaration of Independence
and Preamble of that Constitution. The separation of powers is the
principal functional distinction of that Constitution as a whole.
In the matter of the proposed legislation, the authorities demanded
for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would be a grave material
breach of that Constitution, a leak in the dike which opens the way
for the kinds of dictatorial powers assumed by the Adolf Hitler
regime on February 28, 1933, powers from which all the principal
crimes of the Hitler regime ensued.
2.
In this matter, we can not be blind to the fact that leading
members of the present administration, such as Vice-President
Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld, have associated themselves with a
philosophy of unconstitutional and other insurrectionary practices
formerly identified as "Synarchist: Nazi-Communist." The stated
premises for the most clearly objectionable features of the draft
legislation are also peculiarly consistent with the Nazi legal
doctrine of Carl Schmitt, a notorious confederate of the late
Professor Leo Strauss and Alexander Kojeve whose synarchist
connections and style in
philosophy are those of relevant high-ranking officers of Secretary
Rumsfeld's Department of Defense. The relevant language presented
within the proposed legislation should therefore be outlawed, root
and branch.
3.
Such features of the proposed legislation might be grounds to seek
impeachment of those who are considered as conspiring to destroy
our Constitution through imitation of Nazi-like emergency
powers.
Basic freedoms,
R.I.P.
San
Francisco Bay Guardian
By Nessie
Even the serious paranoids didn't see this level of
crackdown coming.
[...] Terror reigns supreme. Whether it is grounded
in fact or grown from propaganda is irrelevant. Either way, we're
scared and it shows. Most of the world is against us, and if that
doesn't scare you, it should. But wait. There's another front in
this war that bears watching- the home front. It is here at home
that the war on (some) terrorism is having what could easily prove
to be it's greatest impact. While American air power crams what
some call democracy down the throat of the third world, democracy
at home is gasping for breath. Some would say it is already locked
in its death throes. A case can be made that it's already
dead.
Basic freedoms that every American once took for
granted have become, at best, fading, cherished memories. The
purportedly paranoid ravings of '60s-era leftist doomsayers had
already become the commonplace reality of the '90s. Then came 9/11,
an event so cloaked in mystery that even the official version of
what really happened is a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy or not, it
was certainly convenient. The forces of repression, never been far
behind the scenes, found themselves unleashed with a speed and fury
the world has not seen since right after the Reichstag fire.
Compared to the stark reality of war on the home front, warnings we
once dismissed as histrionic hyperbole now seem to have been
understated at best. The paranoids, it turns out, were right all
along. The Constitution really is nothing but a scrap of
paper.
Rights? What rights? America's at war. Rights are
on hold for the duration. This has not gone unnoticed by grassroots
America, nor has criticism been forthcoming solely from urban
progressives. Country music star Merle Haggard, longtime darling of
the redneck right, for example, has been recently quoted as saying
that he had more freedom as an exconvict on parole in 1960 than the
average American has today. Progressives across the country have
had to swallow our pride and admit that, at least as far as
individual liberty issues go, the rednecks have been way ahead of
us. Early grassroots, and overwhelmingly conservative, resistance
to driver license fingerprinting seems strangely prescient these
days. Why, progressives must ask, were we too not alarmedat what we
see now was obvious writing on the wall? What are we, anyway,
dumber than rednecks? Apparently so. What they saw coming, we
didn't. [...]
Comment: We here at Cassiopaea DID see it
coming. And we said so, and continue to say so. And there is MORE
coming. You can take that to the bank.
Stop Him Before He Kills Again
John
David Rose
Carolina Morning News
"The
White House Lied" was the headline on the ABCNews.com Web site on
April 25. They weren't harking back to the days of Clinton and
Monica Lewinsky. Nobody died from Clinton's dalliance or his
lies.
The
ABC News report reveals a White House so depraved that it makes
Clinton seem like a choir boy.
Wrote ABC News reporter John Cochran: "To build its case for
war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein
had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately
acknowledge the White House had another reason for war - a global
show of American power and democracy."
That
poor dupe Colin Powell stood before the United Nations narrating a
slide- show of phony intelligence trying to convince the world that
Hussein was a threat.
Was
he lying or was he lied to?
"We're not lying," said a White House official to ABC News.
"But it was just a matter of emphasis."
A
matter of emphasis? Good lord, it's a matter of life and
death!
Tell
that "emphasis" story to [the] 150 American families now grieving
over lost sons and daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers.
They thought their loved ones were sent to protect America from
Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Now they learn they died for
a "show," a bit of entertainment for Rumsfeld and his warhawk
friends.
This
was no fight for freedom or to liberate Iraq. There were no huge
stores of weapons of mass destruction that threatened
us.
The
United States didn't win a victory, we committed an
atrocity.
Writes ABC News' Cochran: "Officials feared that young Arabs,
angry about their lives and without hope, would always look for
someone to hate - and that someone would always be Israel and the
United States."
Give
Arab youth hope by killing them? Shades of the Spanish Inquisition
when people were "saved" for Christianity by burning them at the
stake.
The
brutal truth is that American soldiers were sacrificed for nothing
that this nation can be proud of. No amount of White House "spin"
or hype can gloss over it.
Congress - all those who voted to give Bush the power to mount
an attack on Iraq, Republicans and Democrats alike - should be
outraged at how they were misled and ashamed at what they allowed
to happen.
Every American who did not protest against this war should get
down on his/her knees and beg forgiveness from the parents of those
who were killed. We sent their children on a cruel fool's
errand.
We
are not naturally a nation of brutish intimidators, attacking
anyone who won't bow and scrape at our command, who don't pray to
our particular interpretation of God. But we stupidly allowed such
people into high office and now we and the rest of the world are
paying the price.
Bush
has got to go. Join those who are trying to retrieve our nation's
honor by logging onto www.VotetoImpeach.org.
Stop
him before he kills again.
Your Bill of Rights repealed
By
John David Rose
Think About It - May 9, 2003
In
the Stalin era of the Soviet Union, Americans arrested for spying
disappeared into the gulag without an opportunity for legal
assistance or even to contact their families. My high school social
science teacher illustrated how different America was from Russia
by explaining to us the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: "No
person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due
process of law." We were proud to be citizens of a country where
peoples' rights were guaranteed, protected against even the
government. We foolishly believed those rights would last as long
as the United States. Today, through presidential fiat, the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution is no longer in force. The government
can take liberty from American citizens without a trial. Attorney
General John Ashcroft asserts that President Bush has the power to
hold any American citizen incommunicado, in solitary confinement
for a month, a year, even life if Bush designates that citizen an
"enemy combatant." The accused may not have access to a lawyer or
visits by a member of the family or even a priest. Shades of Joseph
Stalin. The prisoner has no right to know what proof the government
has of the offense and is given no opportunity to present a
defense. If a court orders a hearing for habeas corpus, the
government can assert that you're a danger to the country, and
presto, even that right is revoked. Ironic, isn't it? To protect
our "freedom" and preserve our "liberty," the administration takes
away the most basic right of all, our right to life, liberty and
property protected by the courts.
The Manipulation Of America
Diana Rogers
05/13/03: (Information Clearing House)
For
months Americans have been kept in a whipped frenzy with daily
bombardment of intense and stressing news: SARS, the unstoppable
disease, the gut wrenching war on Iraq, and Israel's usual
slaughter of Palestinians. But the past three days, the American
media has been ominously silent. They've carried only a few brief
reports on SARS and no mention at all of our loved ones still in
Iraq, or even Israel's slaughters. Did the unstoppable disease of
the century suddenly stop? Is the war on Iraq over and they simply
forget to send our loved ones home? Or is this a calculated
reprieve to set the stage for Phase Two: the whipping of the masses
to support a war? For answers look to the news reported and the men
who are making it. For several days Colin Powell's itinerary has
subtly dominated the news. His location and next stop was so
fastidiously reporte d Americans knew his schedule better than
their own. Yet in stark contrast, not one report of Donald
Rumsfield, who was dispatched to the Middle East a week ago and
promptly disappeared. Had he fall en in a middle eastern black hole
or is it simply the powers that "would be" wanted all eyes on Colin
Powell, and the very coincidental bombing that occurred just as he
arrived in Saudi A rabia? What a golden opportunity to reaffirm the
war on terrorism, but more to REINTRODUCE Americans to the elusive
and almost forgotten Al Queda. And to make sure we get it; Powell
immediately goes on record as outraged "Secretary of State Colin
Powell said the attack, which killed at least 29 people, had
"
all the fingerprints of an al Qaeda operation." .
President Bush promptly followed his lead, and to really make
sure we got it Ari Fleischer reinterated: "White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer said Bush was angered by the attack. "He is angry.
Terrorists attacked our fellow citizens and took innocent lives.
This is a war against terror and he is determine= d to wage it,"
Fleischer said. [...]
"We'll be on the hunt and we'll find them and they will be
brought to justice," Bush said before flying to Missouri -- the
home state of Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Richard Gephardt
--to inspect damage by tornadoes in Pierce City.
Notice a pattern yet? If not, keep watching the news and you
will. And brace yourself! Because I doubt it was coincidence that
the one "reported" place in the world that warned more 9/11 attacks
would occur in the US was itself bombed. And bombed seven days
after the American media conveniently ran stories of Saudi Arabia
notonly warning us of this but also foiling several US-aimed
terrorist attempts in their country. Proof positive that terrorism
was not only alive and well but still very active and working to
get us. Yet somehow this same country that was so on top of it 7
days ago suddenly lagged enough to be bombed itself. And not just
bombed by some errant or unknown terrorists but Al queda with a
renewed vigor to get the US. Could the connection be more perfect?
Could the swift assignment of blame be more planned? And by the
very players who had assigned the same swift blame to 9/11. It
seems we've been this way before, only this time in reverse. But
then it wouldn't do to have those nasty, lingering questions
hampering the next phase as it did the last. "Wasn't there
foreknowledge? Why didn't they act on it?" This time they can
safely say they did.
BushCo Reams
Nation Good
By
Mark Morford
SF Gate Columnist, May 14, 2003
No
WMDs after all, no excuse for war, too late for anyone to care
anymore. Ha- ha, suckers
Ha-ha-ha oh man did we ever get smacked on that one. Conned big
time. Punk'd like dogs. Just gotta shake your head, laugh it off.
They reamed us but good, baby! Damn.
Turns out it really was all a big joke after all. The war, that
is. All a big fat nasty murderous oil-licking lie, a sneaky little
power-mad game with you as the sucker and the world as the pawn and
BushCo as the slithery war thug, the dungeon master, the prison
daddy. You really have to laugh. Because it's just so wonderfully
ridiculous. In a rather disgusting, soul-draining sort of
way.
See,
there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. No WMDs at all.
Isn't that great? What's more: There never were. Ha-ha-ha.
Gotcha!
No
warehouses teeming with nuclear warheads, no underground bunkers
packed with vats of boiling biotoxins, no drums of crazy-ass
chemical agents that will melt your skin and turn us all into
drooling flesh-eating zombies -- unless, of course, you count the
sneering vat of conservative biotoxin that is, say, Fox News, in
which case, hell yeah baby, we gotcher WMDs right here
beeyatch.
Go
figure. Those lowly U.N. inspectors were right after all. Who knew?
It was all a ruse. We've been sucker-punched and ideologically
molested and patriotically sodomized and hey, what the hell, who
cares anyway, we "liberated" an oppressed people most Americans
secretly loathe and fear and don't understand in the slightest,
even though that was never the point, or the justification, or the
goal. Go team.
But
wait, is liberation of a brutalized and tormented people now the
reason? The justification for our thuggery? That is so cool! So
that means we're going to blow the living crap out of Sri Lanka and
Sudan and Tibet and North Korea and about 47 others, right? Right?
Maybe Saudi Arabia, too, second only to the Talilban itself in its
abuse of women? Cool! As if.
Ah,
but screw the liberal whiny peacenik U.N. inspectors, right? Let's
ask the U.S. search teams themselves, ShrubCo's own squadrons of
biologists, chemists, arms-treaty enforcers, nuclear operators,
computer and document experts and Special Forces troops who've been
in Iraq for weeks now, searching frantically.
Surely they've found something, right? Surely we can now prove
that Saddam was fully intending to fillet our babies and annihilate
Florida and poke the eyes out of really cute kittens on national TV
for sadistic pleasure, right? Gimme a hell yeah!
Whoops. Bad news. As The Washington Post reports, the 75th
Exploitation Task Force, the very serious-minded group heading up
all U.S. inspections in Iraq, the group absolutely certain it would
immediately find steaming neon-lit stockpiles of WMDs piled right
next to Saddam's personal stash of gay porn and Britney Spears
posters and opium pipes, is coming home with its tail between its
legs. Found nothing. Nada.
Psychopatriots are a little nonplussed. Bush is merely
"embarrassed." Peace advocates are sighing and drinking heavily. We
have done this ghastly horrible inane hate-filled entirely
unprovoked thing in the name of power and petroleum and military
contracts and strategic empire building, our nation is numb and
more bitterly divisive than ever and our leaders are not the
slightest bit ashamed.
But
of course you're not the slightest bit shocked. You knew it all
along. The WMD line was just a ploy that, tragically, much of the
nation bought into like a sucker pyramid scheme after being pounded
into submission with hammers of fear and Ashcroftian threats and
bogus Orange Alerts and having their tweezers confiscated at the
airport.
And
of course the capacity to be outraged and appalled has been
entirely drained out of you, out of this nation, replaced by raging
ennui and sad resentment and the new fall season on NBC. This is
what they're counting on. Your short attention span. WMDs? That's
so, like, last February. Hey look, the swimsuit model won
"Survivor"!
It's
all over but the shouting. And the screaming. And the endless years
of U.S. occupation in the Middle East, the quiet building of U.S.
military bases in Iraq so we can keep those uppity bitches Syria
and Egypt and Lebanon in line, forge ahead with the long-standing
plan to strong-arm those damn Islamic nuts into brutal compliance
with Bushco's bleak blueprint for World Inc. What, too bitter?
Hardly.
Should we care that Osama, the actual perp of 9/11, is still
running around free? That terrorism hasn't been quelled in the
slightest? That the Mideast is more of a U.S.-hating powder keg
than ever, thanks to BushCo? That the economy is in the worst shape
it's been in decades?
Should we care that we just massacred tens of thousands of
Iraqi (and Afghani) civilians and soldiers and suffered a little
more than 100 U.S. casualties and have absolutely nothing to show
for it except bogus force-fed pride and this weird, sickening sense
that we just executed something irreparable and ungodly and
karmically poisonous?
Nah.
Just laugh it off. Have a glass of wine, make love, go play Frisbee
with the dog. Breathe deep and focus on what's truly important and
try to assimilate this latest atrocity into your backstabbed
worldview, add it to the list of this lifetime's spiritual
humiliations, as you wait for the next barrage, the imminent
announcement that we're about to do it all again.
Steel yourself. Protect your soul. Because man, they reamed us
good. Slammed this nation like a bad joke. Gotcha!
Ha-ha-ha.
Worldwide UFO Sightings On the Increase
George A. Filer, Director, Mutual UFO Network Eastern Filer's
Files #20 5-13-03
Defendant obsessed
with Bible
By
Jerry Urban
The Daily News - Galveston - May 14, 2003
The
man accused of trying to kill family members by driving a minivan
into Offatts Bayou was obsessed with the Bible and responding to
what he thought was a series of divine signs and orders from God,
according to testimony Tuesday in a Galveston courtroom.
Sgt.
Victor Trevino of the Galveston Police Department testified he
interrogated Jose Arnulfo Rodriguez on Feb. 23, 2002 [...]
Rodriguez, in the videotaped interview, told Trevino he had a dream
the night before that suggested his final day on earth was coming.
Then the first sign on the morning of Feb. 23 came when Rodriguez
and his family went to a garage sale in Houston, Trevino quoted
Rodriguez as saying. The garage sale to him "looked like Bethlehem.
It was just like out of the Bible." [...]
Other religious signs followed, Trevino said, including family
plans to go to Kemah after the garage sale to buy fish, somehow
tying that to "be a fisherman of men." They never arrived in Kemah.
As Rodriguez drove along Interstate 45 Southand near NASA, another
sign came to him, one of rockets and their connectionsto the
heavens. He then saw a white boat being pulled by a truck, Trevino
said. Later testimony from a medical expert was that the boat
reminded Rodriguez of Noah's Ark. Other signs included a red
motorcycle, a color that he associated with saving lives - and then
he the words Santa Fe. The exit sign that he apparently saw was
another divine sign. Santa Fe means "holy faith." Trevino said much
of Rodriguez's comments were "gibberish." "I'm thinking he's in
another world," Trevino said. "He didn't appear to understand the
gravity of the situation."
Slayings' similarities jar police
BY
AMY MAYRON
Pioneer Press Minneapolis - Wed, May. 14, 2003
In
two unrelated shootings within 11 hours of each other and eight
blocks apart, two men fatally shot women and then tried to kill
themselves. "Not only were two women killed, but they (the men)
both tried to kill themselves, and, thus far, both were
unsuccessful," said Minneapolis police Lt. Mike Carlson. "It's very
weird." Even stranger are other similarities in the cases, which
occurred in Minneapolis. In each, a third person was present during
the quarrels and witnessed some of the events. [...]
In
about six years as a homicide detective, Carlson said he has not
seen any unrelated cases with such striking coincidences and
similarities. Danielle Kluz, spokeswoman for the Minnesota
Coalition for Battered Women, said similarities occur but not to
the degree of Monday and Tuesday's shootings.
Comment: You don't suppose it's those pesky
EM waves again, do you?
Mysteries of Mexico's Past?
Harvard Crimson Wednesday, May 14, 2003
After nearly two decades of
sitting in a cramped safety deposit box, a 16th century manuscript
called crucial to understanding Mexican history has resurfaced, and
scholars from Harvard are joining an effort to decipher the
long-lost historical gem. Scholars from Harvard's David Rockefeller
Center will join Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Anthropologia, to
study, restore and publish their findings about the rare codex,
which survived the Spaniards' purge of manuscripts in the 16th
century. "The codex is, in terms of importance to scholars, like
finding the Dead Sea Scrolls in a rural town in Mexico," said Ann
Seiferle-Valencia, a third-year graduate student in anthropology
who is writing a dissertation on the code. [...]
The
codex has a long and murky history. In 1963 the codex was declared
a national treasure of Mexico, but sometime after that it
disappeared from the public eye - until Espinosa recovered it. The
codex, painted on indigenous paper, dates back to the 16th century
and tells the story of a community through pictoral representations
of its history. In the 16th century Spanish explorers burned many
documents, including many similar codices, Carrasco said.
[...]
Espinosa, an art enthusiast
who owns a private art museum, first heard about the codex almost
two decades ago, when its previous owners contacted her and invited
her to see it. "It is very powerful," she said. "If you asked a
child to read it, maybe they could understand it better than we
do...I saw it, and I kept dreaming about it." But the owners
refused to sell Espinosa the treasure. After viewing the codex
three times -folded and tucked away in its dark safety deposit box
- andrepeated attempts to acquire it, the owners finally agreed to
sell it to her.
Although the codex project
will be privately funded, and the work itself cannot leave Mexico
for legal reasons. Espinosa, a trustee of the David Rockefeller
Center, approached Coatsworth about getting the Center involved
with the project after a board meeting.
Comment: Wonder if this is going to be
another "Rockybux Snow Job?"
Vampires or
Aliens?
Ananova
Wednesday 14th May 2003
Farmers in a Chilean village are reportedly blaming vampires or
aliens for the deaths of 40 chickens.
According to El Diario Austral newspaper, the chickens were
found dead with their insides scattered all over their owner's
backyard in Perquenco. Juana Raasch, owner of the farm, said: "It
was a horrible scene. But the strangest thing was that there was no
trace of any other animal that could have done it. "I have owned
this farm for seven years and I have never seen anything like that.
"I would know if it were the work of a pig, dog, wolf or cat. What
happened here was out of this world."
Police sent to the farm were puzzled by the fact that there was
no evidence of an intruder, either animal or human. A spokesman
said: "It seems silly to talk about vampires and aliens, but you
never know around here.
"Policy through
rose-colored pilot's goggles"
John
Chuckman
YellowTimes.org Columnist (Canada)CNN
Everyone, not attached by threadbare ideology or plain old war
profiteering to President Bush's War on Terror, knows that even on
its own terms, it can only fail miserably in a great waste of lives
and substance. You cann ot fight a war against religious faith and
opposition to injustice unless you are prepared to be as utterly
ruthless as Stalin, and even then, when you lie pickled in your
tomb, the roots you missed destroying will grow h ardy new plants,
as they have in contemporary Russia. But I would never have
expected stark evidence for failure to come so quickly.
Massive explosions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just before the
arrival of Colin Powell for talks, have left a smoking mass of
blood and charred bodies.
Before this, only hours after talks in Israel about easing
restrictions on the Palestinians, Mr. Powell was rewarded by Mr.
Sharon's sealing Gaza. Already Sharon had dismissed the new peace
plan, and already he has publicly broadcast that Israel will
continue to build new settlements.
Comment: Don't we find it interesting that
this "explosion" in Saudi Arabia came just after Powell was talking
to the Israelis about easing restrictions on the Palestinians???
Sharon "dismissed" the new peace plan, and then, as if to "put a
period to the matter," the bombing occurred in Saudi Arabia just
before Powell stepped ashore, so to say. Hmmm... those whacked out
Palestinians must have been shooting themselves in the foot again,
eh? Either that, or Sharon already KNEW something when he gave his
answer... Naah! That's just TOO conspiratorial!
Two days before
bombings, U.S. asked Saudis to hike
security
CNN
Nail
al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, said:
"Anything the United States asked for as a matter of security was
delivered."
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal conceded Wednesday that
there were security "shortcomings" before the attacks and said: "We
have to learn from our mistakes." But al Jubeir said warnings of a
possible terrorist attack in the kingdom were too vague to have
prevented Monday night's attack.
"Unless it was specific, it makes it difficult to go around and
protect every housing project in Saudi Arabia," he said.
Comment: But it isn't every "housing project" that
needs to be protected. The target was a building housing Vinnell
Corporation, a company that has played a very definite role in
maintaining the repressive Saudi regime in power. See the articles
below.
U.S.
warns of possible attacks in Africa, Asia, Mideast
The
State Department has ordered all non-essential U.S. personnel and
their families out of Saudi Arabia in the wake of Monday night's
attack, and U.S. officials told CNN they have information
suggesting that additional terrorist attacks have been plotted in
Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Targets could include official buildings such as embassies and
consulates as well as "softer targets," but none of the information
is considered "specific and credible," one official told
CNN.
Comment:
Welcome to the new world order of vague
warnings of terrorist threats, and a protracted state of fear and
loathing designed to keep everyone on edge, looking for Osama under
the bed.
Firm was 'cover for CIA'
Times Online
By Ian
Cobain
AS
BEFITS a company that has been accused of being a CIA front, of
recruiting 'executive mercenaries' and attempting to overthrow the
Prime Minister of a Commonwealth state, the Vinnell Corporation
kept a low profile in Riyadh.
Its
discreet security fooled nobody, however: the bomb attack was the
second it has suffered in eight years. In 1995 seven people were
killed. This shadowy corporation is said to have been founded
during the Depression. Dan Briody, author of The Iron Triangle, a
study of Vinnell's one-time owners, the Carlyle Group, serialised
last week in The Times, says that there is "no publicity, no press
releases, no news clippings".
He
adds: "No one knows who the original owners were."
Vinnell's work in Saudi
Arabia dates back almost 30 years, when it won a contract to train
Saudi troops to guard oilfields. A congressional inquiry found that
it had agreed a 'no Jews' clause. In the 1991 Gulf War Vinnell
employees were seen fighting alongside Saudi troops.
The
company has helped the Saudis build their National Guard from
26,000 troops to around 70,000.
In
the early Eighties Time magazine reported that two employees were
embroiled in a failed attempt to overthrow Maurice Bishop, the
left-wing Prime Minister of Grenada, and soon after that a former
employee was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Vinnell Corporation: 'We Train People to Pull
Triggers'
Special Series
By Pratap Chatterjee
Special to CorpWatch
March 20, 2003
Vinnell corporation ... has been controlled in the past through
a web of interlocking ownership by a partnership that included
James A. Baker III and Frank Carlucci, former U.S. secretaries of
state and defense under presidents George Bush senior and Ronald
Reagan respectively.
Perhaps the most important military contract Vinnell landed was
in 1975 when the Pentagon helped the company win a bid to train the
75,000 strong Saudi Arabian National Guard, a military unit
descended from the Bedouin warriors who helped the Saud clan impose
control on the peninsula early in last century.
An
article in Newsweek at the time described the company's first
recruitment efforts with the aid of "a one-eyed former U.S. Army
colonel named James D. Holland" in a cramped office in the Los
Angeles suburb of Alhambra to put together "a ragtag army of
Vietnam veterans for a paradoxical mission: to train Saudi Arabian
troops to defend the very oil fields that Henry Kissinger recently
warned the U.S. might one day have to invade."
"We
are not mercenaries because we are not pulling triggers," a former
U.S. Army officer told the magazine. "We train people to pull
triggers." One of his colleagues wryly pointed out: "Maybe that
makes us executive mercenaries."
The Perfect Enemy: Terrorists Who Can't Be Caught Because
They Don't Exist Or Because They Are CIA Assets
by
John Kaminski skylax@comcast.net 5-11-3
[...] Today, we hear all sorts of childish whimpering about the
terrorist threat, even though a cursory examination of recent
history would reveal that most of these threats have been
deliberately created by the nation doing most of the complaining
about these very threats.
[...] Al-Qaeda are claimed to the boogeymen who perpetrated
9/11 and were supposedly connected to Saddam.
And
yet when you go to find out about them, they disappear in a cloud
of undercover spy dust, with no leads suddenly unavailable as to
where they might have disappeared. How utterly convenient. The real
reason is because their controllers live at the Pentagon and other
prestigious Washington addresses, not to mention a few palaces in
Saudi Arabia that have ties to many American corporations.
Occasionally, the powers that be throw us a bone, like
Moussaoui, or Richard Reid, just to try to prove there are actual
terrorists out there. But how many more so-called terrorists have
been allowed to slip away, under cover of CIA assistance? And, as
in Yemen, how many more are prevented from being sought, lest they
reveal their ties to the government in Washington?
[...] For endless war, you must have an enemy who cannot be
caught, who is completely vaporous, therefore necessitating nonstop
aggressive emergency measures, variously colored alerts and tough
talk for those who are unable to understand words.
The
perfect enemy for a state that seeks endless war and seeks forever
to pull the wool over the eyes of its own citizens for purposes of
endless robbery and implementing slavery where freedom previously
existed would be an enemy who cannot, under any circumstances, ever
be caught. Osama and Saddam doubtless know this.
In
the literal sense, this perfect enemy does not exist, which makes
him perfect for a society determined to make war, because he will
never be caught, and the war can continue forever.
The
harder an enemy is to find and defeat, the better it is for those
who seek to destroy that enemy. The CIA's creation of al- Qaeda is
the perfect recipe for those billionaires whose objective is
endless conflict from which to make more money. This is the new era
in which we find ourselves.
[...] Only now it's worse, because the enemy is now a
fabricated fiction, available for convenient blame in any and all
disasters, no matter who actually perpetrated them.
And
thanks to media shills who don't ask real questions, well-bribed
legislators devoid of conscience, law enforcers who help their
patrons cover up crimes, and judges who have no interest in real
justice, there is no end in sight for this war on
freedom.
Panel Pans U.S.
Over Saudi Arabia
By Carol Eisenberg STAFF WRITER
Newsday
May 14, 2003
For
the fourth year in a row, an independent advisory panel criticized
the State Department for failing to designate Saudi Arabia as one
of the world's most egregious violators of human rights and as an
exporter of extremist Islam.
[T]he U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom released its
annual report yesterday urging an investigation
of the Saudis' propagation of radical Islam around the world,
including in the United States. It also called on the State
Department to press the country's rulers to overhaul school
curricula that explicitly promote hatred of Jews, Christians and
members of non-Wahhabi strands of Islam.
The
report cites such examples as an eighth-grade textbook, published
by the Saudi Ministry of Education, that labels Christians and Jews
as "apes" and "pigs," and another that refers to Jews as a "wicked
nation," characterized by bribery, deception and
betrayal.
...Saudi Arabia, the
world's biggest oil exporter and a longtime U.S. ally, has never
been placed on the State Department's watch list of human rights
violators, despite similar past recommendations. State Department
spokesman Jeffrey Jamison said he could not comment on the latest
report until it had been thoroughly studied but added that the
government continues to try to work with the Saudis to improve its
human rights record.
The
10-member advisory panel on international religious freedom -
created by Congress to prod a State Department that is historically
reluctant to emphasize human rights issues - also urged the
protection of freedom of belief in the political reconstruction of
Afghanistan and the use of economic leverage to halt religious
persecution in Vietnam, China, Sudan, Russia, North Korea, Laos and
Belarus.
In
the 18 months since a U.S. invasion overthrew the Taliban in
Afghanistan, the panel reported some progress but also "significant
disappointments," particularly outside of Kabul, where tribal war
lords continue a lawless reign.
"Many of the human rights
abuses practiced by the Taliban are reportedly continuing today,"
the report found, "including political killings, torture, coercion
to enforce social and religious conformity and abuses against women
and girls, sometimes with the active support of the courts and
police."
Copyright © 2003,
Newsday, Inc.
Comment:
We see what kind of "democracy" has been
brought to Afghanistan by Bush's psychopaths. This is what the
Iraqis have to look forward to. So, let's get this straight. Saddam
was an evil man who killed his political opponents and tortured
people. So, I guess the Saudis and the new Afghani government are
OK because they also oppress women as well as practising
torture.... Perhaps Saddam's real problem was that he wasn't evil
enough for the fundamentalist Christians and Zionists in the Bush
Reich and all those who give it explicit or tacit support who think
women should be kept in the home to raise kids.
Jupiter's
satellite count jumps by 23
CBC On-Line
HONOLULU, HAWAII - Astronomers have discovered nearly two dozen
more satellites orbiting Jupiter. They say the study offers a
window into what happened in the early solar system.
Scott Sheppard and David Jewitt of the Institute for Astronomy
at the University of Hawaii found the satellites, which are between
two and eight kilometres in diameter – the smallest yet
spotted from Earth.
The
newly found moons have irregular, tilted orbits. The orbits suggest
they were lonely bodies wandering the heavens until they collided
with Jupiter billions of years ago and were captured by its
gravitational grip.
In a
second study appearing in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature,
Stephen Wiggins of the University of Bristol and his colleagues
used mathematical models to explain how irregular satellites might
be captured.
The
new finds raise Jupiter's moon tally to 60; eight are regular with
small, untilted, circular orbits, and 52 are irregular.
The
discovery restores Jupiter's pre-eminence as the planet with the
most moons.
"Although ever smaller moons around the giant planets will
undoubtedly be discovered, it is likely that Jupiter, whose
satellites appear brightest because of their proximity to the Earth
and the sun, will continue to dominate the moon count for the
foreseeable future," said Douglas Hamilton of the University of
Maryland in a paper accompanying the studies.
Comment:
Maybe these new "moons" are the remains of
Nibiru? Just kidding. See Laua's
latest article. Read it before the world ends later
today. If not, we'll be back tomorrow with
details...
These WMD are
Right in Front of Their Noses America's Dirty
Bombs
By DAVE LINDORFF
The
Pentagon has announced plans to send several thousand specialists
into Iraq to join the search for those "weapons of mass
destruction" of Saddam Hussein's-- remember the ones that Iraq was
supposedly brimming over with, and which were the stated reason for
America's invasion? But while it is stepping up that effort, the
Pentagon says it has no intention to do anything about the
consequences of America's own "dirty bomb" campaign against Iraq.
Although the U.S. and Britain reportedly dropped as much as 2000
tons of depleted uranium weapons on Iraq, including in the center
of densely populated Baghdad, a Pentagon spokesman last month told
the BBC that it has "no plans to do a DU clean-up in
Iraq."
Nor
is the U.S. allowing inspectors from the U.N. environmental Program
into Iraq to look for signs of DU contamination. It seems that just
as the U.S. government doesn't want U.N. weapons inspectors to come
into Iraq where they might undermine any U.S. claims to have found
evidence of Saddam's WMDs, they don't want any U.N. environmental
inspectors to come in and find evidence of U.S. use of a weapon
that the U.N. has condemned as a weapon of mass
destruction.
...The notion of Baghdad, a city of five million, being dusted
with uranium oxide, is grim, as it will likely produce widespread
injuries and death, particularly among children, who are closer to
the ground and who routinely play in the dirt.
No
wonder the U.S. government is so anxious to keep U.N. environmental
experts at bay.
Comment:
Can it be any clearer, folks? The US believes
it is above the law, that what applies to the rest of the world
doesn't apply to them. WMD in the hands of the US warmongers is
OK.
Congress moves to
back tactical nukes
By Steve Schifferes
BBC News Online in Washington
The
US House of Representatives looks set to approve funds for the
research and development of a new generation of small tactical
nuclear weapons which could be used to attack deep bunkers holding
weapons of mass destruction...
The
move would overturn a ten-year ban on such developments, and still
has to be approved by the full House and Senate.
The
shift of policy has been sought by the Pentagon since last summer,
when it began to develop plans to reshape the US nuclear arsenal to
take account of the new doctrine of pre-emption.
...the chairman of the committee, Republican Senator John
Warner, said that it was a prudent step to defend the US against
enemies.
...The new weapons under consideration include low-yield
tactical nuclear weapons, which yield under five kilotons, less
than one-third of the first atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, and a
"robust nuclear earth penetrator", designed to bury deep into the
ground before exploding.
The weapons of
bloodless war
BBC
On-Line
The
idea of bloodless wars on the battlefield of the future has been
the subject of much debate among war strategists for a long
time.
But
the massive media attention focused on the civilian casualties
during the recent war on Iraq has again raised the question of how
viable use of so-called non-lethal weapons may be....
"There is a misconception that war is about killing," said Dr
John Alexander, formerly in the US Army with Special Operations and
now a leading advocate for the development of non-lethal
weapons.
"War
is about imposition of will. Non-lethal weapons fit in the spectrum
of this," he told the BBC World Service's Agenda
programme.
Advocates of non-lethal weapons say they have been frustrated
by international treaties covering certain ways of using
weapons.
He
added as a result of the laws, a different type of development was
being tried.
"If
we had the opportunity, we would develop hole-burners - that is
where we are going to go.
"In
the future we will have lasers on the battlefield, but they won't
be intended to blind you, they will be intended to drill a hole in
you, which is perfectly legal."
Comment:
You can find out about John Alexander's past
and curious connections reading the
Sorcerers' Star.
U.S., U.K. Waged
War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser
Says
Sir Jonathan Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development
Commission, which advises Blair's government on ecological issues,
said the prospect of winning access to Iraqi oil was ``a verylarge
factor'' in the allies' decision to attack Iraq in March.
``I
don't think the war would have happened if Iraq didn't have the
second- largest oil reserves in the world,'' Porritt said in a Sky
News television interview.
Bush Officials Change Tune on Iraqi
Weapons
Wed
May 14, 2003 12:51 PM ET
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has changed its
tune on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the reason it went to
war there. Instead of looking for vast stocks of banned materials,
it is now pinning its hopes on finding documentary
evidence.
The
change in rhetoric, apparently designed in part to dampen public
expectations, has unfolded gradually in the past month as special
U.S. military teams have found little to justify the
administration's claim that Iraq was concealing vast stocks of
chemical and biological agents and was actively working on a covert
nuclear weapons program.
"The
administration seems to be hoping that inconvenient facts will
disappear from the public discourse. It's happening to a large
degree," said Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, a
liberal think-tank which opposed the war.
Comment: More evidence that this illegal war
was justified using lies, manipulation and disinformation, in other
words, the usual bag of tricks of the psychopath.
Powell in Moscow for Iraq talks
BBC News On-Line
Powell
will attempt to patch up America and Russia's strained relations
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell has arrived in Moscow
for talks with President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov.
The
talks are expected to focus on the post-war situation in Iraq and
Russia's nuclear co-operation with Iran.
But
the war on terror, which united the two countries in the wake of
the 11 September attacks, is likely to be high on the agenda
following the bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia...
Comment:
Yup, the show goes on. Disagreements here.
Squabbles there. But they all have the same desire to control,
manipulate, and deceive. This world is STS through and through. The
shocks you get from SEEing the reality of the situation can be
transmuted into AWARENESS. LOOK and SEE. And use the energy to
DO.
Will Europe and
Russia seek to curb US power?
Yellowtimes
Now
that the United States has expressed its desire to weaken the
United Nations politically and to create a new world order in which
the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it
will be important to watch how Europe responds. Prior to the war in
Iraq, the European states of France and Germany were unwilling to
support a U.S. led invasion. With the weight of the Security
Council behind these two states, governments around the world
watched to see if the U.S. would defy the United Nations and thus
upset the balance of world order. The Bush administration decided
to attack Iraq without U.N. support, which sent ominous signals
throughout the world that the U.S. would no longer be restrained by
the decrees of the U.N.
In
this new state of affairs, the U.S. will continue to stand
unchallenged on the world stage until another state or group of
states attempts to check its power. As of now, no such entity
exists, and the members of the Bush administration have taken note
of this situation and are thus pushing U.S. interests on the world.
[...]
China, for example, has the potential to check U.S. power;
however, its growth potential is reliant on good relations with
Washington. Because of the Sino- U.S. relationship, it will be
France, Germany and Russia that will most likely be able to check
U.S. power.
Comment: Might one aspect of SARS be related
to "stopping" China? We don't know, but the epidemic is having a
definite effect on the Chinese economy.
The
major power brokers within the European Union -- France and Germany
-- are unhappy with the recent changes in world order. Until
recently, France was able to influence global relations through its
permanent member status in the United Nations Security Council.
Now, with the U.S. replacing the U.N. as the formal center of world
order, France's power on the world stage has been greatly
diminished, if not eradicated altogether.
Germany is also unhappy with the United States limiting the
power of Europe so it can become a global hegemon.
Russia, like France, has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security
Council; due to Washington's weakening of the U.N., Russia also
lost considerable power in global affairs. For these reasons,
France, Germany and Russia took a strong stance against a U.S.
attack on Iraq.
But
now there are signs that these states are willing to put up even
more resistance. On April 29, the leaders of France, Germany,
Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to work towards a European Security
and Defense Union by the end of 2004. As part of this union, the
four member states would combine resources to create a rapid
reaction force capable of preventing conflicts and managing
military problems anywhere in the world. [...]
New Iraqi TV
complains of US censorship
REUTERS [ WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2003 08:57:48 AM
]
BAGHDAD: The US-sponsored Iraqi television station began
broadcasts on Tuesday after complaining of American censorship,
including efforts to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the
Muslim holy book.
...Deprived of any locally produced television since US troops
ousted president Saddam Hussein, Iraqis watched canned interviews
and decades-old music shows.
But
the Iraqi Media Network postponed plans to air a half-hour live
news programme because of disputes over editorial
control.
...The charges of censorship could reaffirm for many Iraqis the
perception that Washington is not allowing them a free hand in
building democratic institutions.
..."This is not American propaganda. This is the first time in
25 years Iraqis are getting TV that is not propaganda," said Robert
Teasdale, a US adviser to the network.
But
North said the US-led administration's Office of Reconstruction and
Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) had requested the station's news
programmes be reviewed by the wife of Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish
leader and a major figure in the postwar politics of
Iraq.
"Could you imagine a political leader being able to check the
content of any Western media?" North said.
Comment:
Here's a good one. Western political leaders
don't have to check the media because the corporate watchdogs that
own and run the media do it for them. What we are seeing in Iraq is
just a blatant example of what happens with more subtlety in the
west.
America challenges
GM crops ban
Charlotte Denny
Wednesday May 14, 2003
The Guardian
President Bush launched a legal challenge at the World Trade
Organisation yesterday, to force Europe to accept imports of
American genetically modified crops.
U.S. trade deficit hits second-highest level on
record
(AP)
-- The U.S. trade deficit widened in March to $43.5 billion, the
second-highest on record, as imports of foreign-made industrial
supplies, including crude oil, rose to an all-time monthly
high.
Fed Paints Itself Into a Corner
Last
week, the Federal Reserve sent financial commentators and traders
into a frenzy. It announced that, although it had left the federal
funds rate target unchanged, it is ready to lower the rate
aggressively if economic activity does not improve. Also, the
central bank expressed concern that a strong downtrend in the
growth momentum of price inflation, as depicted by the CPI, less
food and energy, could pose a threat to the economy.
[...]
It
seems that the Fed is signalling to the market that it is shifting
from its traditionally advertised role of fighting inflation to
fighting deflation. Most experts, including Fed officials, are of
the view that deflation is a much greater menace than inflation and
therefore deserves special attention.
It
is held that a fall in prices, which is termed deflation, causes
consumers to postpone their buying of goods and services. In short,
if people hold on to their money during deflation its purchasing
power will increase and this will enable them to buy more goods
some time in the future. It is for this reason, so it is held, that
people choose to spend less once prices are falling.
It
is further believed that since consumer spending is almost 70% of
GDP this means a cut in consumer spending would slow down the
economy. A slower economy in turn, would cause businesses to
retrench labor, increasing unemployment and slowing consumer
spending further. All this intensifies the economic slump and
depresses prices further. According to this way of
thinking, falling prices set in motion a vicious downward
spiral that spreads economic havoc.
The
usual examples cited are the U.S. 1930's Great
Depression and the current Japanese economic slump. In the U.S.
between January 1930 and May 1933 the consumer price index (CPI)
fell by 26.3%. This fall in the CPI was accompanied by a sharp
decline of 47% in industrial production between January 1930 and
July 1932. [...]
Despite all the attempts that the Fed is likely to make in
order to inflate the economy there is a possibility that it may
fail. Why is that so? The main reason is that the current
aggressive loose monetary policy, in addition to previous loose
monetary policies, may have severely weakened the pool of real
funding—the heart of economic growth. Various indications
raise the likelihood that this pool is in trouble. For instance the
income-to-consumption ratio is in free fall. In fact the fall in
this ratio is currently much steeper than during the Great
Depression.
PRESIDENT BUSH'S DUBIOUS ECONOMIC
ACHIEVEMENTS
Randolph T. Holhut
American Reporter Correspondent Dummerston, Vt.
DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In the first two years of George W. Bush's
presidency, more than two million Americans lost their jobs. He's
well on his way to becoming the first president since Herbert
Hoover to preside over an actual decline in employment in the
U.S.
The
unemployment rate now stands at 6 percent, the highest its been
since the early 1990s. There are now more than 10.2 million
unemployed workers in the U.S., and another 4.8 million who are
working part-time because they can't get full-time
employment.
The
stock market has seen its biggest and longest sustained losses
since the 1929 crash. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost about
20 percent of its value and the NASDAQ lost more than 40 percent of
its value.
The
federal deficit now stands at $6.4 trillion and is increasing at an
average rate of $1.1 billion each day. Almost every state is in a
budget crisis. Private bankruptcies are at an all-time
high.
In
short, the U.S. economy isn't in great shape right now.
President Bush entered office with the strongest economy in
U.S. history. Unemployment was at its lowest levels since the
1960s. The federal budget was balanced and generating surpluses.
And in two short years, he has managed to send every major economic
indicator straight down.
This
is why you won't likely hear President Bush talk about his economic
achievements during the 2004 campaign. He hasn't any.
Instead, we Americans can expect a steady diet of fear and
misinformation regarding the "war on terror" - a war without end
against an ever-growing list of foes. The Bush administration seems
to think we'll forget about our economic woes as long as they can
keep us afraid.
Comment:
"One of the main differences between Bush and
Hitler as leaders is that the later built a nation out of rubble."
Quote from
Now and Then- Part I Hitler's Playbook: Bush and the
Abuse of Power by W. David Jenkins III and Sara
DeHart
Will the World End Tomorrow?
The
Independent
The
Earth is about to be zapped by deadly waves, according to members
of Japan's Panawave cult. But even if doomsday doesn't happen,
should we be worried by the nation's proliferation of bizarre
sects?
[...] The question being asked, then, in homes and bars across
Japan, is: are Panawave members harmless hippies or s omething more
sinister? Certainly, they appear to be unlikely inheritors to the
legacy of Aum Shinrikyo, whose articulate members came from the
cream of Japan's universities. Even as their crimes publicly
unravelled, the Aum leaders often ran verbal rings around their
opponents in televised confrontations. [...]
By
contrast, none of the Panawavists seem especially bright, and far
from embracing the media age, the cult's members do not even watch
television, fleeing from "radiation-emitting" cameras whenever
possible. Few seem capable of winning the world over with a witty
soundbite.
"It's become difficult to spread the word of Chino, so most of
our studies are now done among ourselves." Chino's last public
statement, issued on 5 May, said that the end would come "when
electromagnetic waves strike the Japanese archipelago and the
delicate gravitational balance between the Andromeda nebula and
other nebulas is altered." [...]
Despite the looming doomsday, however, Fukui residents report
nothing odd from their years living next-door to their kooky
neighbours, unlike the locals around Aum facilities, some of whom
were gassed in Sarin leaks. "They look weird, but they never did
anything to me," says 70-year-old Miyoko Miyashita, as she bundles
up vegetables on her allotment near the Panawave camp. "They seem
to go away for long periods, then come back. To be honest, I hardly
even noticed them any more until you media people came
round."
Comment:
In the worst case scenario, it's been nice
knowin' ya'll. If not, see you tomorrow. For more on this, take a
look at
Laura's Tuesday column.
Autism Rates Double in California
Reuters: May 13, 2003
Autism cases in California nearly doubled over the past four
years to more than 20,000 -- a phenomenon whose cause may be
difficult to pinpoint because it is not related to population
increases or the way the disorder is diagnosed, a state study said
on Tuesday...
The
report showed that the agency's caseload increased 97 percent --
from 10,360 in December 1998 to 20,337 four years later.
[...]
"The
study has proven two very clear things: the validity of the
diagnosis has not changed and the kids are not moving to California
for the services," the study's author, Dr. Marian Sigman, said.
"That still leaves us with the puzzle of why are we getting this
increase in number of cases."
Tornados Attacking US in
Retaliation?
CNN
Last
week's almost 400 tornadoes set a record for the number of twisters
in the United States during a single week, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
A
preliminary count showed 384 tornadoes in 19 states between May 4
and May 10, NOAA's National Weather Service said.
Comment:
In the final showdown between the US and
Mother Nature, we don't need to tell you where the smart money
lies. And, no, this wasn't CNN's headline. They don't read symbols:
they read from the text handed to them by the Bush
Reich.
Iran Warns US Against Creating "Other
Crises"
The
Washington Times
Iranian President Mohammed Khatami Tuesday: "We warn the
U.S. administration against creating other crises in the region and
the world after the Iraq case," Khatami said on the second day of a
three-day visit to Lebanon. [...]
Khatami's comments came as the United States has been exerting
pressure on Lebanon and Syria over Hezbollah, which Washington
regards as a terrorist organization. Iran is a key supporter of
Hezbollah, which also has the support of Syria, the main power
broker in Lebanon.
Referring to U.S. warnings to Lebanon and Syria over
Hezbollah's activities, Khatami said: "Any party or group which
enjoys credibility and respect with the Lebanese people should not
be dismissed with accusations or threats."
In
Lebanon, Hezbollah is regarded as a resistance group that fought
and ended the 22-year Israeli occupation of the country.
"Defending the land and expelling occupation is resistance
while terrorism is occupation of land and ousting its inhabitants
and this is what Israel is doing," Khatami was quoted as saying by
Hezbollah-run al-Nur radio.
Khatami said terrorism was "killing innocent people for
achieving political interests" and described Israeli occupation of
parts of Lebanon from 1978 to May 2000 as "the ugliest kind of
terrorism." [...]
Khatami also warned that Israel would spare no effort to
realize some of its historical ambitions since U.S. military forces
have taken control of Iraq.
"Israel should not be given a pretext to find new excuses for
recruiting the U.S. force to serve its goals," he said.
Iran, like most Middle Eastern nations, does not recognize the
state of Israel.
Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Addresses UN
Forces in Iraq
My
name is Charlie Liteky, a U.S. citizen, a Vietnam Veteran, and a
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. However, I renounced the
Medal of Honor on July 29,1986 in opposition to U.S foreign policy
in Central America. What the U.S. was supporting in El Salvador and
Nicaragua, namely the savagery and domination of the poor, reminded
me of what I was a part of in Vietnam 15 years earlier.
I
placed the medal at the apex of the Vietnam Memorial Wall into
which are etched the names of 58 thousand young American men. In
depth study of the Vietnam War revealed political and military
liars insensitive to the value of human life, inclusive of their
own countrymen. The biggest liar was the Commander in Chief of U.S.
armed forces, President Lyndon Johnson, who lied to Congress about
the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It was this lie that motivated
Congress to vote the money for the war. As a veteran of an
ill-fated war, in the waning years of my life, I’d like to
share some reflections on my country’s attack on
Iraq.
Once
again, I find myself in protest of a U.S. military action that no
court in the world will declare legal. The U.S. attack on the
sovereign country of Iraq fails to meet any of the necessary
provisions of a just war. Iraq on the other hand, met the most
fundamental condition for a country to use military force against
an adversary, namely the defense of its homeland against an unjust
aggressor. But, because of the incredible superiority of the U.S.
military, there was no possibility of a successful
defense.
In
its attack on Iraq, the U.S. violated the UN Charter, international
law and universal standards of morality. This is borne out by the
worldwide condemnation of the U.S. attack by mainstream religious
denominations and spiritual leaders.
Claiming liberation of the Iraqi people as a just cause for a
war that kills thousands of innocents is hypocrisy at its worst. If
liberation of an oppressed people were the real motive behind the
invasion of Iraq - why did the U.S. wait 25 years to act? Why did
the U.S. refrain from condemning Saddam Hussein’s use of
chemical weapons in its war with Iran in the 80s? Why did the U.S.
fail to prevent chemicals critical to the production of biological
weapons from reaching Iraq? How is it that what we condemn today we
approved yesterday? [...]
A
two-time Medal of Honor recipient, General Smedley Butler, said
that “War is a Racket” and that he spent his 33 year
military career being a bodyguard for U.S. business interests. I
submit that protecting U.S. business interests, sometimes referred
to as “national interests” is still the primary mission
of the U.S. military. Wartime profits go to a select few at the
cost of many. Again to quote Gen. Smedley:
“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the
oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is
the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which
the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A
racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what
it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small
‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted
for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.
Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
This
letter containing some of my reflections is not meant to cast blame
for an attack on Iraq on U.S. military personnel. I’m sure
you believe that what you are a part of is right and just. I once
believed the same of my participation in the Vietnam War. I share
my thoughts and conclusions as gifts of truth revealed to me
through years of studying U.S. foreign policy.
To Those Americans Who Waved The Flag And Cursed Those Who
Didn't, WELCOME TO THE NEW AMERICA YOU HELPED
CREATE…
By
D. Rogers
05/12/03: (Information Clearing House)
Where FEAR and a new, improved sense of DUTY TO COUNTRY and
PRESIDENT has turned every speaking American into a national spy
whose soul aim is to keep the country pure of anti-America
dissenters; such as: · Lawyers wearing Peace tee shirts in
malls · John and Jane Citizen who participate in Peace marches
· Mary and Dick Student who participate in a classroom
discussion on presidential policies · Artists who voice
disagreement about war
With
your approval and assistance the New America can now arrest,
harass, fire, or incarcerate for life these Anti-America
dissenters, making the New America pure for Real Americans to enjoy
benefits; such as: · Monitoring your reading, your credit
record, your medical records, oh and what you may say in a mall, a
classroom, at a luncheon, or basically anywhere, since every Real
American is now a Real American Spy. · More cuts to your
schools, your pension benefits, your medical benefits, and the
benefits of your veterans, whom I'm certain you support. · No
separation of state and federal government, now giving those few
neurotic police a bit more authority to beat, harass and kill you
and your loved ones. · More taxes to support the life style of
your New American Congress, President, and of course his friends.
· More tragedies like 9/11, more scares like anthrax, more
drugs, and more cover-ups to keep you manipulated and swayed to the
dictates of the New America. Your lack of questions about these
last events assures more or as they say on the streets, "Stick with
what works".
I've
no doubt this New America will work very well for the future New
& Real Americans, who by then should be dumbed down quite
nicely by the educational cuts. I'm fairly certain they won't be
smart enough to see the wool being pulled over their eyes. And if a
few manage to, they will no doubt be too tired from paying all
those taxes or too sick from not having proper health care to
really have the time or energy to say so. But fortunately, the New
America as the old one will make drugs and entertainment abundantly
available to take the edge off. Perhaps they can combine the two in
a new and improved entertainment show, something like "Drug
Survivor/Bachelor/American Idol". I can hardly wait.
Now and Then- Part III Hitler's Playbook: Bush and the
Abuse of Power by W. David Jenkins III and Sara
DeHart
We
all know that our European neighbors notice the similarities
discussed in this series. They wonder when we are going to finally
wake up. So many Americans have given their lives to defend that
which makes this country a unique and special place. Will we let
the noble experiment in democracy die in the 21st Century? Will we
let it die at the hands of George W. Bush's version of the Third
Reich?
Frauds R-Us
Information Clearinghouse
It’s as well to remember that the Web never forgets, at
least the US pres should take note of this fact and be careful of
his utterances and how they can come back to haunt him. In fact
four generations of Bush family history and too many skeletons in
too many closets to count are to be found on the Web.
"You
can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones
you have to focus on" – GW Bush
"You
have to look at the entire Bush Family in this context -- as if the
family ran a corporation called
‘Frauds-R-Us,’
George Jr.’s specialty was insurance and security fraud.
Jeb’s specialty was oil and gas fraud. Neil’s specialty
was real estate fraud. Prescott’s specialty was banking
fraud. And George Sr.’s specialty? All of the above." -- Lt.
Cmdr. Al Martin, US Navy,(Ret)
And
given all the ‘pullpit pounding’ (more of which below)
by ol’ Duyba and his minions, over the dubious moral
character of Saddam and his cronies, much of which has underpinned
the justification for the invasion and occupation of Iraq,
it’s as well to compare the two sets of rogues. Not
surprisingly, there’s little to choose between the two except
that, in the case of the Bush gang, they have a
‘pedigree’ in perfidy which extends back almost a
century and four generations that makes Saddam look positively
angelic by comparison. [...]
Not
content with digging up the ancestors, supporting
Fascism,laundering Nazi money through a Dutch-based bank, selling
weapons to the mullahs of Iran, trading guns for drugs, doing
business deals with Osama bin Laden, the Bush family in the form of
ol’ granpa Prescott was an early supporter of the Eugenics
movement (or racial purity, to give it its real name).
[...]
how
can one family which has so many skeletons in the family closet,
get away with such dirty dealings and over such a long period of
time without being called to task? It’s as if the mass media
goes deaf, dumb and blind when the name Bush comes up. For no
matter what your politics are, left, right or indifferent, a family
which has its fingers in so many dirty dealings has surely got to
get you thinking about exactly what kind of country it is you live
in (if you’re an American) and what kind of world is it
that’s dominated by a country with a media (not to mention a
legal system) that’s quite content not to challenge its
president or his lying, thiefing family and their tenticular
network of associations which includes: the Mafia, the Chinese
Communist Party, Japanese Triads, the Vatican, Central American
drug smugglers and gun runners, international arms dealers, the
Ayotollah Khomeini (RIP), Cuban-American terrorists, money
laundering, illegal arms sales, countless conflicts of interests,
nepotism, coverups, tax avoidance, SEC fiddles and banking
scams?
Bush Should Be Impeached
Common Dreams
[...] Here is what is coming clear. George W. Bush and his
cabal lied to the American people so they could attack another
country to seize its oil wealth. Bush has, as Doonesbury and others
have pointed out, assumed the mantle of Julius Caesar. He is in the
process of ruining the American republic and establishing an
American/corporate empire. A favorite motto at the White House is
“Let them hate us, as long as they fear us.” Emperor
Caligula liked that saying too.
The
American people should be clear about two things. History never
judges kindly a rich, powerful nation that attacks a small, poor
one. The second is that empires — all empires — end up
on the ashbin of history.
George W. Bush should be impeached. After that, he should stand
beside Saddam Hussein in the dock to be tried for war
crimes.
Comment:
We've been saying this for a long
time.
Are We the New Nazis?
Gott
Mit Uns. I felt a little shock and awe, actually disbelief, seeing
the antique belt buckle for the first time. Worn by a Nazi
German soldier, the aluminum, World War II era buckle carried the
imperial eagle of the Third Reich above the familiar
Swastika. Surrounding the eagle and Swastika was the motto,
"Gott Mit Uns," or "God With Us."
Certainly the Nazi Germans, villains in history and Hollywood
movies, couldn’t really have believed in God, could
they? Certainly the common German soldier fought with great
courage, discipline and fervor, following orders given by the High
Command. Yet the Nazis fought a ruthless war against smaller
countries, attacking them after planting false evidence,
overpowering them with a combination of vicious air strikes and
crushing armored superiority and then installed corrupt or cruel
puppet leaders.
The
Nazis demonized and then destroyed their enemies, after first
intimidating and then liquidating their domestic opponents.
The German propaganda machine cranked out misinformation and
outright lies in the state-supported media, suppressing the truth
and threatening anyone who dared to speak or print opposition to
the war regime...
Is
it curious or ironic how Blitzkrieg resembles Shock and Awe?
Is it curious or ironic how Wolf Blitzer and Charles Krauthammer
provide the running commentary for the war? Is it curious or
ironic how Rumsfeld and Rommel are so similar, how each needed a
desert for a dramatic stage? Yes, I know, Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated to the “free” media our
“humanitarian” method of war, but then German general
Erwin Rommel or Joseph Goebbels could have said the very same thing
to the German press.
Are
we the New Nazis? Could it happen here? Has it already
begun? Absurd, you say. God is on our side. The
God of Christians and Jews...
God
is on our side, but which one? The vengeful God, the
one guiding our radioactive armor-sheathed battle tanks
as they slice through families of frightened civilians? Or the
merciful one, providing protection to those same civilians?
Is ours the God of the Gospels and Torah--or the horrible,
hydra- like god of cluster bombs? Do our coins--comparable to
the Nazi belt buckles-- really carry the motto, “In God
We Trust"? [...]
Truthfully, to the rest of the world, we already are the New
Nazis.
Comment:
Those that do not pay attention to History
are doomed to repeat it. Until you learn your lessons, you stay in
the same grade.
U.S. Vigilantes Test Drones on Mexican
Border
Reuters Tuesday, May 13, 2003; 7:40 PM
By Deborah Tedford
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - An Arizona vigilante group is
testing homemade "drone" reconnaissance planes on the U.S.-Mexican
border to monitor illegal immigrants entering the United States in
lonely desert areas.
Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol vigilante
group, said on Tuesday the group has been testing two Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles for about a month and plans to have a fleet making
passes over the border by early July.
...Hundreds of thousands of illegal Mexican immigrants cross
the border in search of work every year. Three vigilante groups,
some of them armed, have sprung up in Arizona in the last three
years to monitor the border and hand over any illegal immigrants
they find to U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Comment:
The notion of the vigilante runs deep in the
US. When you have a President who plays vigilante with the world,
is it surpising that others will mimic those actions at home? The
actions of the Bush Reich in flaunting international law are no
different. If people want to take back control over their lives,
they would be better off doing everything they can to impeach the
would-be dictator who stole the 2000
election.
Police in Taiwan go house-to-house to enforce SARS
quarantine
Canadian Press
03:37 AM EDT May 15
AUDRA ANG
BEIJING (AP) - Police in Taiwan went house-to-house to enforce
SARS quarantines Wednesday, while railway authorities in China
installed thermal scanners at some train stations to check
passengers for fevers and keep the disease from spreading via that
country's vast rail networks.
"The
infectious outbreak is our call to arms. Time is lives," said a
front-page article in the newspaper Beijing Daily. As regional
airlines cut more flights, the United Nations issued a new
prediction about the economic fallout of the SARS outbreak: five
million job losses in the global tourism sector this year, with
Asia hit the worst.
...The number of deaths worldwide from the flu-like disease
rose Wednesday to at least 588. Eight new SARS deaths were reported
in east Asia - five in Beijing, two in Hong Kong, and one in
Taiwan. Canada's death toll remained at 24, all in the Toronto
area, with just 14 probable SARS cases still in
hospitals.
...But Taiwan faced a worsening outbreak, and Singapore - which
had hoped to deem itself SARS-free as early as this week - may have
suffered a setback amid reports of a possible outbreak at its
largest mental health facility, officials said.
The
Institute of Mental Health was sealed off and all 1,800 patients
and 1,600 workers quarantined as tests were run to confirm whether
there was a SARS outbreak after some began showing symptoms
Friday.
...Meanwhile, countries that have reported no SARS cases yet,
adopted strict measures Wednesday to avoid an outbreak of the
illness.
The
Ukrainian government banned travel to countries hardest hit by SARS
and instructed officials to deny entry to citizens from those
countries, news reports said Wednesday. Two leading Ukrainian
airlines have suspended flights to China.
Turkish airline also has suspended flights to China Wednesday
because of reduced demand for the route amid fears over SARS. The
company recently suspended flights to Hong Kong.
...The more than 10,000 Taiwanese under quarantine also face
fines of up to $11,000 Cdn if they leave their homes. Taipei Mayor
Ma Ying-jeou said police would conduct house-to-house checks to
make sure people obeyed orders to stay put.
Authorities will also phone those under quarantine between 8
p.m. and midnight "because we are afraid that some people will go
out at night," Ma said.
Comment:
Turning the terror and panic up another
notch.
Lecturer discovers formula for making hit
films
ArtsCanada
LONDON - A British university lecturer... claims she has
discovered the winning formula to making successful
movies...
Sue
Clayton...says that a movie must have the right mix of seven
essential elements to become a big hit.
She
said the film must be made up of action - 30 per cent, comedy - 17
per cent, good versus evil - 13 per cent, love/sex/romance - 12 per
cent, special effects - 10 per cent, plot - 10 per cent and music -
8 per cent.
...Clayton said she conducted a detailed examination on the top
grossing films in the UK over the past 10 years.
Comment:
Geez. What a load of horse hockey! Look at
the criteria she used: the top grossing films, that is, the
Hollywood formula. This is the OP view of "creation": the same-old
same-old reworked in countless ways. Nothing new. Nothing really
creative.
Moon could turn red Thursday night
ANNE
McILROY
Globe and Mail
The
moon could turn an eerie shade of red Thursday night during the
first full lunar eclipse in three years.
The
best views will be in Eastern Canada, if there are no
clouds.
Lunar eclipses occur when the full moon moves into the shadow
of the Earth, which blocks sunlight that would normally reflect off
the moon's surface.
In
North America, the moon will be totally eclipsed for 53 minutes and
should turn red or orange.
Comment:
Or maybe it'll just be dust from
Nibiru....
DNA study deals blow to Neanderthal breeding
theory
CBC
On-Line
FLORENCE, ITALY - Neanderthals and early human ancestors
probably did not interbreed, according to Italian
researchers.
Scientists know Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons were different
species who both lived at the same time, about 40,000 years
ago.
Scientists know that Neanderthals and early human ancestors
were distinct species, even though they lived during the same
period. However, there is controversy over theories that
Neanderthals made a contribution to the modern human gene pool. A
skeleton uncovered in Portugal appeared to show both Neanderthal
and human features.
The
latest research, from the University of Ferrara in Italy, compared
genetic material from Neaderthals, Cro-Magnon humans and modern
Europeans. [...]
They
found that while, unsurprisingly, modern humans show clear genetic
signs of their Cro-Magnon ancestry, no such link between
Neanderthal DNA and modern European DNA could be established. The
results, they say, indicate that Neanderthals made little or no
contribution to the genes of modern humans. [...]
"This discontinuity is difficult to reconcile with the
hypothesis that both Neanderthals and early anatomically modern
humans contributed to the current European gene
pool."
Comment:
For a good look at how confused this issue
is, how contradictory the evidence for the evolution of man, take a
look at
The Neanderthal Enigma. And to see how the
"evolutionary record" is distorted and twisted to fit the Academy's
preconceived ideas, check out
The Hidden History of the Human
Race.
Humans similar to Dolphins
[A}
comparison of dolphin and human chromosomes shows that the genetic
make-up of dolphins is amazingly similar to humans.
In
fact, researchers at Texas A&M University have found that
dolphins have more in common with us genetically than cows, horses
or pigs. "The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real
surprise to us," says David Busbee of Texas A&M University, who
published his results in last week's Cytogenetics and Cell
Genetics. [...]
"Dolphins are marine mammals that swim in the ocean and it was
astonishing to learn that we had more in common with the dolphin
than with land mammals," says Horst Hameister, professor of medical
genetics at the University of Ulm in Germany.
Big fish disappearing from oceans
CBC
On-Line
HALIFAX - The world's oceans have lost 90 per cent of prized
tuna, swordfish and marlin since industrialized fishing began,
Canadian scientists warned Wednesday.
Fisheries biologists Ransom Myers and Boris Worm of Dalhousie
University in Halifax analyzed nearly 50 years of data on predatory
fish catches worldwide.
Their findings debunk the notion that oceans are picture
perfect blue frontiers teaming with life. "What we've done is
sliced the head off of the world's marine ecosystem and we don't
know the consequences," said Myers.
Grapes can fuel electric power without
side-effects
ANI[
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2003 02:00:20 AM ]
WASHINGTON: Scientists in the US are now on their way to
discover electric power from grapes and research shows that plants
and animals can now power tiny sensors.
Adam
Heller and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin have
come up with a set-up called the "biofuel cell", which could
harness metabolic energy without generating any toxic
by-product.
Capable of producing only about 2.4 microwatts, the biofuel
cell could be used to derive power from body fluids...
The
device works best when there is plenty of glucose around -as in a
grape.
Comment:
We prefer getting our energy from grapes via
a good bottle of wine....
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