Today's conditions brought to you by the Bush Junta -
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Directed by the CIA, based on an original script by Henry
Kissinger, with a cast of billions.... The "Greatest Shew on
Earth," no doubt, and if you don't have a good sense of humor,
don't read this page! It is designed to reveal the "unseen."
If you can't stand the heat of Objective Reality, get out of the kitchen! |
August 8, 2003
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By David McGowan August 2, 2003—There have been many attempts made, by both the legal and mental health communities, to define "insanity." But it seems to me that that term can be most succinctly defined as: "a disconnection from reality." And the severity of any individual's insanity is a function of the degree of that person's disconnection from reality. That definition, of course, is entirely dependent on how "reality" is defined. From the point of view of the state, "reality" is whatever the shapers of public opinion say it is. Anyone who disagrees with the voices of authority is, therefore, insane. From that perspective, people such as, for instance, yours truly, are completely bonkers. But if we base our definition on a relatively objective reality, then most of the people that I know are, without question, insane. Most of my relatives are insane. Most of my friends are insane. Most of the people that I work with are insane. Damn near everyone in the country is at least mildly insane. A very large majority are moderately to severely insane. And according to polls, at least a third are stark raving mad. These people hold beliefs that are clearly delusional—that have absolutely no connection to reality. And they persist in holding these beliefs even when not a shred of evidence can be produced to support them. And no, I'm not talking about people who believe in UFOs, reincarnation, and the Loch Ness Monster. And I'm also not talking about people who believe in some supreme spiritual entity. I'm talking about people who believe that 'weapons of mass destruction' have been uncovered in Iraq . . . who believe that 'weapons of mass destruction' were used against our troops over there . . . who even believe that 'weapons of mass destruction' is something other than a arbitrary term cooked up recently by Uncle Sam to describe weapons systems possessed by our 'enemies,' regardless of the actual destructive capability of those systems. The functionally insane also believe that Iraqis were among the hijackers who allegedly commandeered the planes on September 11, 2001. It is difficult to fathom, but these people are so crazed that they have actually taken the government's already fanciful conspiracy theory, which is itself totally disconnected from reality, and they have made it even more ludicrous by adding some Iraqis to the mix. I'm betting that a few years down the road these same people will also believe that there were a couple of Liberians on one of the planes, as well as an Iranian guy, a couple of North Koreans, a Syrian, and perhaps a Cuban or two. Maybe even a French couple. Reader's comment on a story from yesterday: Wolfowitz said: "I'm not sure even now that I would say Iraq had something to do with it," Wolfowitz said in the interview... This is NLP: embedded in the statement about Iraq not being connected to 9/11 is the statement, "Iraq had something to do with it." I have noticed this NLP embedding about Iraq and 9/11 multiple times on CNN, too; the conscious mind is told that there is no connection, the subconscious is told the exact opposite. Example: "We want to be clear that there is no evidence that IRAQ WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR 9/11." See? September 11 - US Government accused A Portugal-based investigative journalist has presented THE NEWS with version of the September 11th attacks that has to date failed to attract the attention of the international press. The report, compiled by an independent inquiry into the September 11th, World Trade Centre attack, warns the American public that the government’s official version of events does not stand up to scrutiny. A group of military and civilian US pilots, under the chairmanship of Colonel Donn de Grand, after deliberating non-stop for 72 hours, has concluded that the flight crews of the four passenger airliners, involved in the September 11th tragedy, had no control over their aircraft. In a detailed press communiqué the inquiry stated: “The so-called terrorist attack was in fact a superbly executed military operation carried out against the USA, requiring the utmost professional military skill in command, communications and control. It was flawless in timing, in the choice of selected aircraft to be used as guided missiles and in the coordinated delivery of those missiles to their pre-selected targets.” [...] Colonel Donn de Grand said that if President Bush is lying it would not be the first time that the American people had been mislead by its government. He cited the recently published official government archives describing President Roosevelt’s duplicity in deceiving Americans about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, which triggered the US entry into WWll. He also highlighted the role of the country’s government in misleading its citizens in respect of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and the events that brought about the Spanish American war in the late 19th, century. “Whilst considering who committed this act of war on September 11th,” he said, “albeit Russia, China, an Islamic country or NATO, we must also consider that the enemy may well be within the gates. “Not for the first time the American public might be being mislead, by those with ulterior motives, into lending its support to a war, this time against Iraq, that has no bearing whatsoever on the interests of the people of the USA.” So far the mainstream American news media has failed to publish or broadcast any details regarding the independent inquiry. Similarly, the White House, whilst having received a copy of the report, has remained silent on its findings. Claims military involved in Jakarta blast 08/08/2003 12:50:39 An advisor to the Indonesian government claims the armed forces may have been involved in the recent car bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. A car bomb killed at least 10 people and injured scores more at the luxury hotel. The advisor, Jawanda, has told our South East Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd that attempts to blame Muslim extremists for the suicide bombing may be premature. He says Indonesia's naval intelligence has launched an informal investigation into the possibility the attack may have been part of a campaign to undermine the president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. "That is already in the works," he said. When asked if there are people who want to undermine President Megawati, Jawanda said yes. "Undermine, but at the same time to make a path for them taking the power, so, creating the political tension," he said. Comment: This sounds like an operation straight out of the CIA "how to overthrow a government" manual. Perhaps the Indonesian president has not been "playing ball" with the US interests in the region, and this is somewhat of a shot across the bow to either get in line or have the forces of "the land of the free" come and show him what democracy is all about. Indeed the results seem to have been similar to the 9/11 attacks according to this article. Alternatively the CIA could merely providing the Indonesian government with fuel for their "fight against terrorism". Indeed the Indonesian police say that the recent bombing in Jakarta bore several similarities to the Bali attack last October which killed 202 people, which means that it wasn't a "terrorist attack" Jakarta bomb triggers fears of prolonged terror action By John
Burton Regional terrorism experts say the most troubling aspect of the Jakarta blast was that it proved Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the regional militant Islamic group linked to al-Qaeda, could still mount a big attack in spite of the arrest of nearly 200 suspected supporters in south-east Asia since 2001. [...] Although known for its moderate Islam beliefs, Indonesia is considered a fertile recruiting ground because of poverty, ethnic conflicts between Muslims and Christians, and an increase in anti-American sentiment over the Iraq war. [...] Downing Street plans new Iraq WMD report By
Kim Sengupta and Paul Waugh Downing Street is planning to publish yet another Iraq weapons dossier in September, in time for the Labour Party conference. [...] No evidence has been unearthed so far that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. But members of the ISG are said to be optimistic that they will find plans to develop WMD "programmes". According to a report in The Economist, MI6 is also confident that the investigations will vindicate last September's Iraq dossier. The magazine says that there appears to be "hard evidence" of cover-up programmes designed to conceal WMD. "We would hope to be able to demonstrate, in the fullness of time, that almost all the information in the [September] dossier was accurate," an insider" told the magazine
Inocencio Arias admite que si no aparecen las
armas de Sadam todo 'se pondría en tela de juicio' El
Mundo, Internacional The Spanish ambassador to the UN, Inocencio Arias, stated that the existence of WMDs was the "main reason" that Spain participated in the recent attack on Iraq, and if none are found it will be "a matter for the courts" [...] Iraqi Body Count Extraction of media-reported civilian injuries from the Iraq Body Count database and archive of war reports provides evidence of at least 20,000 civilian injuries on top of the maximum reported 7798 deaths. 8,000 of these injuries were in the Baghdad area alone, suggesting that the full, countrywide picture, as with deaths, is yet to emerge. [...] By Chris Floyd Pope John Paul George Ringo II (or was Pete Best really one of the original apostles? The doctrinal debates rage on) launched his broadside against homosexual marriage last week in a well-timed one-two punch with President George W.M.D. Bush, who pronounced his own anathema on gay monogamy. In a rare incarnation at a formal press conference (only his eighth blessed appearance since the Lord appointed him to office), Bush sidestepped unimportant issues like, oh, launching unjust wars on the basis of known lies, and instead thrust boldly into the open maw of gay sex -- a rampaging obsession with his "core supporters" on the hard Christian right. (Bush also took the opportunity to warn Americans of imminent terrorist attacks from al-Qaida -- before taking himself off for a monthlong vacation at his fortified ranch in Texas. Well, discretion is the better part of valor, they say. And no one knows that better than Ole AWOL Bush.) With the linguistic precision for which he is so justly famous, Bush told reporters that unspecified "lawyers" in the White House were working on unspecified measures to make sure that "someone like me" doesn't have to "compromise on issues such as marriage." It wasn't immediately clear if someone who wasn't like Bush would be allowed to compromise on issues such as marriage, but no doubt it will all come out in the wash. At any rate, we will probably see a Bush-sponsored "Preserve Gay Promiscuity" Act in Congress real soon. Perhaps Bush's eagerness to protect his homosexual subjects from the ravages of matrimony was inspired by the recent travails of his brother, Neil. (Yes, the same Neil Bush whose insider savings-and-loan scamming cost taxpayers $1 billion to clean up during Daddy's presidency.) Neil, who has ditched the old ball-and-chain for a racier model, admitted during his rancorous divorce proceedings that he'd engaged in extramarital sex with "three or four women" during supposed business trips. Three, four, who can say? They all look alike to a really manly man. Especially one who has as much trouble with numbers as Neil does. Al Gore's Speech On President Bush's Iraq Policy Thu Aug 07 2003 11:48:22 ET Moreover, the global capital markets have begun to recognize the unprecedented size of this emerging fiscal catastrophe. In truth, the current Executive Branch of the U.S. Government is radically different from any since the McKinley Administration 100 years ago. The 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, George Akerlof, went even further last week in Germany when he told Der Spiegel, "This is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of history...This is not normal government policy." In describing the impact of the Bush policies on America's future, Akerloff added, "What we have here is a form of looting." [...] Sharon's tactics are tried and tested, their outcome consequently well-known Ibrahim Nafie Ariel Sharon insists that Egypt must release Azam Azam, an Israeli Druze currently serving a 15 year sentence for espionage, if it expects to continue to play a part in the peace process. The Israeli prime ministers' recent statement to this effect underscores once again how warped his thinking is on questions of peace and security. Sharon, prime minister since February 2001, champions the Israeli ultra right, which holds that recourse to force is the only way Israel can realise security and compel the Arabs to reach a political settlement. [...] It is striking that Sharon issued this statement immediately after President Mubarak had stated that Sharon, should he summon the necessary will, was the individual best poised to conclude a peace agreement with the PA. In so saying Mubarak honed in on the crucial issue, which is that Israel's current leadership lacks the desire to pursue negotiations with the PA. Once again, too, the Israeli government missed the point of Mubarak's statement. To Egypt, it is not the role it plays that counts but rather the need to ensure that the peace process on the Palestinian track continues until the Palestinians obtain their legitimate rights in full. {...] I believe that the US can sympathise with Egypt's position. Washington, too, had to contend with Israeli pressure to release a convicted spy -- Jonathan Pollard, the US naval officer found guilty of transmitting naval intelligence to Israel. Undeterred by the damning evidence against Pollard Netanyahu, during the Wye River talks in 1998, pressed Clinton to allow Pollard to fly back with Netanyahu to Tel Aviv. Just before that, Cabinet Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister Dani Naveh visited Pollard in prison and awarded him a medal and Israeli nationality. Although Clinton had indicated that he was willing to release Pollard, he was overridden by the relevant committees in Congress. This did not prevent the government of Ehud Barak, during Camp David II in July 2000, from picking up where Netanyahu had left off, even though this effort failed as well and Pollard remains behind bars in the US serving out his sentence. There is, thus, nothing new in the game Sharon is playing. The Israeli army controls the consciousness of the Israeli public by keeping it ignorant of the realities of occupation, Ran HaCohen How do Israelis view current developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The key term appears to be ignorance. Except for a few hundred peace activists Israelis have no idea of the realities of occupation: they have at best an extremely vague idea of what the checkpoints, the siege, the apartheid wall or the economic catastrophe in the territories look like. It is an institutionalised ignorance: it has been Israel's policy for at least 10 years to keep the Palestinians out of Israeli consciousness. The roots of the process can be traced to the Oslo years. The continuous "closure" of the occupied territories, combined with a massive import of foreign workers to push out Palestinians from the labour market, left the Israeli street virtually free of Palestinians. Israelis who used to visit the territories for shopping or tourism have been deterred by actual violence and by official warnings and prohibitions. The physical separation is complemented by the media. Israel's public television channel has not nominated a "territories reporter" for three years. Ha'aretz is the only Israeli newspaper which regularly gives good information about the occupied territories, but it is marginalised even within this small-circulation daily. [...]
Powell
says U-S not ready to penalize Israel on fence
construction Powell also took aim at Syria -- saying the US isn't satisfied with officials in Damascus. He says Syria hasn't done enough to shut down terrorists. [...] Comment: So the previous press release that the media uncritically published was just a song and dance pretending to care for Palastinians. While Powell is up there blabbing he decides to beat the war drum a bit, and inject the word Syria into American's mind yet again, reinforcing the perpetual "war for peace" idiocy. A right-wing US lawmaker urges Israel to ignore the truce and go on killing Palestinians, writes Ali Abunimah* from Chicago As President Bush met with Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon in Washington last week, one of Bush's closest allies in Congress was in Israel. Tom DeLay, the influential leader of the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives was accorded the privilege of addressing members of the Knesset on 30 July. His speech was so extreme it prompted Labour Party lawmaker Danny Yatom to comment, "Geez, Likud is nothing compared to him." In his speech, DeLay, a representative from a suburban district near Houston, Texas, dismissed the unilateral cease-fire by Palestinian factions, which has resulted in a virtual cessation of violence against Israeli civilians and occupation forces, as nothing more than a "90-day vacation" for "terrorists" and "murderers". He urged Israel to ignore the truce and go on killing Palestinian activists. DeLay informed the Israeli lawmakers that he was an "Israeli at heart", and acknowledged that Palestinians "have been oppressed and abused", though only by their own leaders, never by Israel. DeLay's central point was that the entire burden of ending the decades-old conflict lay on the shoulders of the Palestinians. Knesset members gave DeLay a standing ovation. [...] DeLay is an avowed Christian Zionist and fundamentalist -- an influential constituency for the Bush administration. A key tenet of Christian Zionists is absolute support for Israel, whose establishment and existence, they believe, heralds Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ. In the final conflagration, this belief system holds, Jews gathered back into Israel would either convert to Christianity or perish and go to Hell. [...] Last October, Sharon's minister of tourism and leader of Israel's pro-ethnic cleansing Moledet Party, Benny Elon, appeared with DeLay at the Washington convention of the influential Christian Coalition. The crowd of thousands cheered and waved Israeli flags as Elon called openly for the expulsion of all Palestinians from Israel and the occupied territories, and cited Biblical authority for this ultimate "solution". DeLay also received an enthusiastic welcome when he called for activists to back pro- Israel candidates who "stand unashamedly for Jesus Christ". Such comments, which reveal the absolute contradiction between avowed support for Israel and a theology that views Jews as damned, has gotten DeLay into trouble before. Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory suggested that DeLay's sponsorship of a May 2002 congressional resolution that gave unconditional support to Israel's campaign of assassinations and violence against Palestinians might have been prompted by a need to appease ill feelings caused by a speech he gave in Pearland, Texas. According to McGrory, the speech "sounded like a warning to non-Christians that they might not be saved". The resolution passed by 352-21. DeLay papers over such problems with glib statements that "Jesus Christ was a Jew," and "The Jewish people were God's chosen people." Why Do Arabs Hate The West, Especially The U.S.? Zuheir Abdullah Since 1948, the primitive Arab fascism was given free reign, and boosted by the backwards soldiers, from the officers to reactionary parties (sometimes self-dubbed progressive), and other times allied with fundamentalist Islam. It has nothing to offer to its people except empty slogans revolving around the themes of resistance and struggle, for no voice can be louder than that of the fight, and consequently, corruption spread, and this Arab fascism was constantly being defeated in its Don-Quichotte-like-battles with any foreign force (except its people, as it always vanquished them). All around the world, extremist slogans and concepts are falling one after the other; but in the Arab world, they have reached such a level that many simple-minded people and ignorant persons were unfortunately brainwashed and turned into the fuel of this extremism. When discussing with many Arab citizens, even those claiming to be educated, about the reason for our backwardness, you get a preset answer to the effect that the West with the U.S. in particular are stopping the Arabs from progressing. If this hypothesis is true, then why did certain Arab and Islamic countries, such as Malaysia and Dubai, manage to achieve progress (even if partially)? [...] Anti-globalisation activists descend on southern France Friday August 8, 12:09
PM
Pentagon says attacks on US forces decline because of
anti-Baathist offensive Rather than alienating Iraqis, the US military's offensive against former Baathists in Iraq has resulted in a decline in attacks on coalition forces over the past few weeks, senior Pentagon officials said here Thursday. The Pentagon's assessment appeared at odds with those of Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of coalition ground forces, who told the New York Times he had decided to limit the scope of the raids because of growing signs they were alienating Iraqis. [...] Deleted Material from the Website for Guantanamo Bay Battle Brews Over Detainee's Rights By
Tom Brune August 6, 2003 (Newsday) Washington - Accused "dirty bomb" terrorist suspect Jose Padilla has been isolated in a naval brig for more than a year, ever since President George W. Bush classified him as an "enemy combatant" and called him a "threat to the nation." But last week, nine thick friend-of-the-court briefs were filed in Padilla's appellate case, arguing against what they see as just as serious a threat to the nation: Bush's assertion that he can, as commander-in-chief, order the military to detain an American citizen picked up on U.S. soil indefinitely without charges, a trial or access to a lawyer. "The precedent the executive [Bush] asks this court to set, represents one of the gravest threats to the rule of law, and to the liberty our Constitution enshrines, that the nation has ever faced," said one brief by 14 retired federal appellate judges and former government officials, including Abner Mikva, Harold Tyler and Philip Allen Lacovara. [...] Living Terror: Lab secrets in dispute By
Dee Ann Divis and Nicholas M. Horrock The Sunshine Project of Austin, Texas, is seeking the minutes of a key local safety committee that sets and monitors precautions taken during potentially dangerous experiments with recombinant DNA -- artificially created DNA -- often made by splicing together DNA molecules from different organisms. Such DNA research will play a significant role in roughly $10.5-billion worth of Bush administration programs to develop countermeasures against bioterror weapons. Minutes of the meetings of such committees, called Institutional Biosafety Committees, or IBCs, could provide insight into biodefense research, including the degree of risk involved. The risk information is increasingly important as nearly two dozen new biodefense labs are being built or proposed across the nation -- many of them in the middle of densely populated areas. [...] Sshhhh, someone may hear you exercising free speech Is free speech the latest casualty of the war in Iraq? THESE ARE troubling times for Americans who cherish their freedom. A few days ago, a public official called me over to his car to discuss his displeasure with the war in Iraq and the way the Bush administration is handling the nation's economy. This well-respected man would talk only from his vehicle, saying he was fearful of criticizing the president or his policies in public. Before our conversation ended, the man told me of other public officials who also are fearful of speaking out. "You have to be careful what you say in public these days," he added. I instinctively looked around to see if anyone was hiding in the gathering twilight. For a moment, I felt like I was in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Never did I think I would live to see the day when an honest man was afraid to speak his mind on political issues in America. [...] Court Orders Sex-Offender Status for Minnesota Man Without a Sex-Crime Conviction John Ashcroft has deported more Arabs and Muslims in 2002 than all the foreigners deported in the infamous Palmer raids of 1919. Robert Younes writes from Maryland The United States is moving to deport 13,000 Arabs and Muslims to the Middle East. These are men and woman who came to the US to seek a better life and were subsequently caught up in the wave of hysteria about Middle Easterners after the tragedy of 11 September 2001. Almost all of the people involved have either overstayed their visas, entered the US illegally, or have an infraction of US immigration laws. Armed with new legislation, it appears that the Bush administration is applying the laws without exception and without exercising any discretion when reviewing individual cases. [...] In addition, a recent Justice Department report found "significant problems" in the way that many immigrants arrested after 11 September were treated. Many were chained and verbally abused, held without bail and denied access to lawyers. Worse yet, many arrested after 11 September were held incommunicado for months on the basis of secret evidence to which the detainees and defence attorneys were denied access. One report on National Public Radio described the separation of a Syrian family who had been in America for more than 12 years. Three of their four children, all American-born, were placed in detention with their parents and another was placed in a government children's centre. Ashcroft Memo Targets Lenient Sentences By
CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft wants prosecutors to closely monitor which judges impose more lenient sentences than federal guidelines recommend, a step some critics say could limit judicial independence. Ashcroft directed U.S. attorneys nationwide to promptly report to Justice Department headquarters when a sentence is a "downward departure" from guidelines and not part of a plea agreement in exchange for cooperation. [...] "It's telling judges from the get-go, 'If you want to depart that you will be put on a list and you will be watched,'" said Ryan King, research associate with The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group seeking alternatives to prison. "We're no longer judging a case on the merits." [...] President Bush in April signed into law the wide-ranging child protection legislation that, among other things, will establish a national "Amber Alert" communications network to respond to child abductions. Tucked into that measure was a provision sponsored by Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., intended to make it more difficult for federal judges to depart from federal sentencing guidelines and easier to appeal light sentences. [...]
Postal Service Researches 'Smarter' Mail Dan
Verton, Computerworld WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A presidential commission charged with studying ways to make the U.S. Postal Service more efficient has recommended that the agency work with the Department of Homeland Security to develop sender identification technology for all U.S. mail. In a final report released last week, the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service says sender identification technologies such as "personalized stamps" that embed digital identification information would not only improve mail tracking and delivery operations but would also enhance the security of the entire mail system. [...] Convicted felons responsible for thousands of deaths are calling the shots at the White House Isabel Hilton The announcement that Admiral John Poindexter's latest brainwave - to encourage betting on the likelihood of a terrorist attack - had been terminated was characteristically bland. It began: "The Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced today that DARPA's participation in the Futures Markets Applied to Prediction (FutureMAP) program has been withdrawn" The language does not betray the repugnant nature of the project, but then Poindexter is expert at disguising repugnant projects in bland language. He came to prominence in the Reagan administration, where the word "freedom" was used to justify renewed support for Latin American military dictatorships guilty of some of the most egregious human rights abuses on the planet. President Jimmy Carter had frozen them out, but Ronald Reagan's election meant a renewed round of invitations to Pentagon cocktail parties for Latin American torturers. [...] Comment: This article outlines the illegal activities of White House insiders such as Poindexter, Powell, Armitage, and Abrams. Website against media terrorism Terrorists suspected of having been involved in the Kennedy assassination thought to be the same as those engaged in operations against Cuba and other countries for 44 years BY
JOAQUIN ORAMAS One of the central articles on the web page is an interview with retired General Fabián Escalante on his upcoming book in which he narrates his experiences of U.S. aggression against Cuba from 1959 to 1963. The author refers to suspicions that Cuban counterrevolutionaries were involved in the assassination of President J. F. Kennedy, many of whom were named by the Warren Commission. Their names reappear in the frustrated Bay of Pigs invasion, in the Watergate scandal, military repression in South America, the dirty Contra war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the guerrilla movement in El Salvador, and the murder of ex Chilean foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, among other incidents in the last 44 years. The author highlights U.S. government links with the mafia and terrorist individuals of Cuban origin located in Florida. He cites the loose ends not investigated in the Kennedy assassination, such as alleged assassin Oswald’s links with Cuban counterrevolutionaries. He also notes that President Kennedy’s U.S. tour was diverted in Denver, for reasons that have not been clarified, nor by whom it was ordered, and evidence that the object of the president’s slaying was to blame Cuba and create a pretext for launching an aggression against the island.
US seeks tougher security at foreign airports over missile
threat The United States has sent aviation security experts to Iraq, Europe and Asia amidst fears that terrorists could use shoulder-fired missiles to shoot down passenger jets, officials said Thursday. Brian Roehrkasse, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said US experts have been sent to help improve security in Basra and Baghdad in Iraq, as well as in a number of Asian and European airports, which he declined to specify. [...] U.S. Won't Resume Nuclear Tests for Now The
Associated Press Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday a resumption of U.S. nuclear testing could not be ruled out forever but there was no need to test now. "The president has no intention of testing nuclear weapons," Powell said at a news conference. "We have no need to." [...] Some Bush administration officials have suggested that tests may be necessary if there is a decision to develop new U.S. nuclear weapons. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association, said, "It's useful that the secretary is reinforcing the current commitment to the test ban." However, Kimball said in an interview, "That commitment is not solid, given the view of others in the administration that nuclear testing might be needed to develop and produce new types of nuclear weapons." He said nuclear testing "definitely should be on the agenda with Russia because the United States and Russia continue to be concerned about activities at each other's test sites and there is an important opportunity to reach agreement on transparency measures to allay concerns about cheating." Comment: "The president has no intention of testing nuclear weapons". Indeed, shrub is not going to test nuclear weapons, first he has to learn how to pronounce the word "nucular" correctly. With the above little comment, Powell seeks to perpetuate the myth that Bush, as president, is anything but a puppet. The very idea that "the president of the USA" is the "commander in chief" and was elected by the people for his proven ability to lead the country onwards and upwards is such a ridiculous concept that it is surprising that anyone believes it, yet millions do. I suppose there is a red telephone - "the hotline to the White House" - that is used to call Shrub for his expert opinion on matters of extreme importance when no one else can figure out what to do, right? This enduring image of the president that has been presented to Americans is for one reason only: Deception. Our desire to holiday in an earthly paradise has created a hell for those we shut out George Monbiot It
is surely one of the most brazen evasions of reality ever painted.
John Constable's The Cornfield - completed in 1826 and now hanging
in the National Gallery's new exhibition, Paradise - evokes, at the
very height of the enclosure movement, a flawless rural
harmony. In the midst of a rural hell, Constable invents his heaven. It is a glittering lie, and we should not be surprised to read in the gallery's brochure that this is "one of the nation's favourite paintings, reproduced countless times and in thousands of homes". For what Constable has done is what human beings have always done, and continue to do today. Confronted by atrocities, we invoke a prelapsarian wonder. We construct our Gardens of Eden, real or imagined, out of other people's hell. The timing of the exhibition is good, as it is in this season that we leave our homes in search of paradise. In doing so, we immiserate other people. It is not just the noise with which we fill their lives while pursuing our own tranquillity. In order to create an Eden in which we may disport ourselves in innocence and nakedness, we must first commission others to clear its inhabitants out of the way. Like Constable, we are adept at hiding this truth from ourselves. [...] Today, we find such lies repeated on our television screens, in the travel and wildlife programmes that seek to persuade us that all is well in the white man's playground. The BBC's recent series on Congo, filmed in the midst of the massacres there, informed us that "Congo may once have been known as the 'heart of darkness' - today it seems more like a bright, beautiful wilderness." It ignored the killings altogether. Paradise is the founding myth of the colonist. Unable to contemplate the truth of what we do, we extract from our fathomless collective guilt a story of primordial innocence.
Canadian deputy PM touted as new NATO
boss
Calif.
Recall Leader Says He Won't Run Comment from a reader and California resident: It is said that California is the Granola state, because it is filled with fruits, flakes and nuts. Today I shake my head and work ever more feverishly toward getting myself out of here. The psychopath circus has come to town. Darrell Issa, the psychopathic, gun waving, convicted car thief, US Representative who started the whole media feeding frenzy to oust Governor Gray Davis, has folded up his tent and walked away from his attempt to weasel his way into the governor's mansion. His reason: He doesn't stand a chance, now that the Austrian weightlifter has announced his run. One pundit said about Arnold: "We could have a governor who can explain Bush's domestic policy, in it's original German."
Gary Coleman for California governor
Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis? Gary Coleman, the 4-foot 8- inch actor who gained fame as Arnold Jackson on "Diff'rent Strokes," is a candidate for California governor, thanks to the northern California alternative newspaper East Bay Express. Comment: And there are still people that would try to convince us that the world has NOT gone mad...
Bush May Consider Schwarzenegger
Support CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush is leaving the door open to campaigning for California Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger if it could help tip the balance in a close recall election, officials said Thursday. [...] Schwarzenegger met in April with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser. White House officials said at the time that Schwarzenegger simply dropped by to talk about an after-school program that California voters approved last year and to see what he could do to support U.S. troops overseas. While Hollywood has explored the possibility of an asteroid or comet colliding catastrophically with the Earth, off-screen there are no plans for civil defense in case an unexpected impact occurs, no international agreements on how to respond if a threatening asteroid is detected, and no current studies of deflection technology. Although the probability of a fatal impact is extremely small, the consequences would be so great that it is necessary to understand and establish realistic societal goals, scientists said at the 2003 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held this year in Denver. [...] About 2000 such objects are believed to exist in near-Earth space. Between a quarter to one-half of them will eventually impact the Earth. But the average interval between such impacts is long--more than 100,000 years. One of the more notable impacts occurred in 1908, when a relatively small asteroid struck Tunguska, Siberia, downing hundreds of miles of forest. [...] BY
MARK ALPERT [...]Recently declassified Cold War era data compiled by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in New Mexico, suggest the Earth takes more nuclear-weapon-sized hits than previously believed. In the '80s, scientists estimated that a doomsday rock was a once-in-100-million-years event. The "new" data--which was drawn from a network of ultrasensitive sensors designed to locate nuclear blasts--reduces the odds to once every 10 million years. And it isn't just these planet-crushers we have to worry about. A small object can cause a tremendous amount of damage. The data revealed that a 7-ft. object can produce a 1-kiloton blast, the equivalent of igniting 1000 tons of high explosives. Between 1975 and 1992, the sensors detected the sonic signatures of 136 explosions ranging in size from 1/2 kiloton to a Hiroshima-sized 15 kilotons. In 1990, Congress ordered NASA to study the threat posed by asteroids and comets. [...] Comment: The article continues with various methods scientists have been discussing in dealing with NEO's on a collision course, some sound like they come from a science fiction novel. The article is from Popular Mechanics. The same magazine that promised we would have flying cars by the turn of the century. Signs Supplement - Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and NEOs, No sign of reprieve as Europe swelters in heatwave Friday August 8, 3:27
AM Authorities in Switzerland reported that Alpine glaciers as high up as 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) were melting in the unaccustomed heat, creating dangerous conditions for climbers and hikers and leading to the closure of some walking routes. In France state-owned rail operator SNCF shut down part of the line between the eastern towns of Nancy and Belfort after tracks buckled. The metal reached a temperature of 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, officials said. [...] The heatwave was caused by an anticyclone which has anchored itself firmly over the west European land mass, holding off rain-bearing depressions over the Atlantic and funnelling hot air north from Africa. [...] Europe Gasps in Heat, Dutch Schools Go Tropical By
Ian Simpson LISBON (Reuters) - Europe sweltered on Thursday in a heatwave that has killed at least 35 people, fanned wildfires, devastated crops and forced some Dutch schools to adopt a "tropical roster." [...] Meteorologists blame the heat on high pressure reaching from west of the Iberian Peninsula into central Europe, along with a depression from North Africa into the peninsula. The combination is pumping hot air from North Africa and interior Spain north. [...] Students on the Netherlands' northern islands are working on a "tropical roster," attending school from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. [...] Comment: Hmm, just what is causing the heat wave? The experts do not seem to agree. Perhaps there is more than just one cause. So much science that is reported in the media seems fixated on finding that one cause for everything. We have discussed this before on the Signs page in reference to the one germ theory for all the illness that mysteriously keep springing up. We live in a complex, dynamic universe, and for some reason many do not take that into account when developing hypotheses which are then trotted out as fact. Homes evacuated, scenic tourist routes closed by fires in Italy Friday August 8, 12:53
AM Heatwave Claims Its First Victims In England Reuters 2003/08/6 The heatwave gripping Britain claimed its first victims after two boys drowned while cooling off during near-record temperatures, police said on Wednesday. Two 17-year-old boys died in separate accidents on Tuesday as temperatures reached about 35 degrees Celsius. Weather experts give fire and drought warnings as the heatwave continues Aug
8 THE heatwave sweeping Europe could last till September, meteorologists said yesterday, with the risk of further deaths, dried out rivers, and forest fires. In Scotland, police warned that remote Highland regions could see a repetition of the wildfires that ravaged rural areas in April, as the hot, dry conditions were predicted to continue tomorrow. However, while England is on the brink of breaking the 100F mark on Saturday, thunderstorms north of the border are predicted to destroy hopes of the 1908 Scottish record of 32.8C being exceeded. Scientists at the CNR research centre in Italy said that the heatwave, helped along by intense monsoon activity in Africa, is among the five worst in the past 150 years. It had claimed 38 lives by last night through fires and soaring temperatures. The latest casualty was a 41-year-old Croatian policeman who died of heart failure triggered by the heat while guarding the American embassy in Zagreb [...]
Shivering in the
Surf By
John F. Kelly David Quillin, a surfer from Maryland's Eastern Shore, knows what cold seawater feels like: It makes exposed flesh feel like it's burning, sets hands and feet to tingling, numbs the body and, after repeated dunkings, produces a painful "ice cream" headache. The 38-year-old architect expects all of this when he surfs the frigid waters off Ocean City in January. He didn't expect it in the middle of summer. But it's just what Quillin encountered when he paddled his board into the surf two weeks ago. "I've never experienced it in my whole life," he recounted, "where the water right along shore could be that radically cold." Quillin isn't alone in his observation. [...]
Savage weather kills 14 in Indian ski
resort At least 14 people were washed away and killed when a savage downpour caused flash-flooding in the popular northern Indian ski resort town of Solan Nallah, police said Friday. [...] Tornado Destroys About 500 Florida Homes Thu Aug 7,10:31 PM ET RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. - About 500 homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that touched down Thursday in north Palm Beach County, flipping semitrailers, snapping power poles and tearing roofs off businesses. Only minor injuries were reported. [...] Thunder Storms And Lightning Killed Three People In Yemen AP 2003/08/6 Lightning killed three people in the Yemeni capital Wednesday during a storm that flooded homes, police said. Police said the three men were killed when lightning struck their home in northern Sanaa. Houses in central San'a were inundated by rain water rushing down from the hills. People in the area fire shots into the air as distress calls. The rains also damaged roads and brought down electricity and telephone lines in the capital. At least 10 people have been killed in July due to torrential rains, and six others died in June in this impoverished nation at the southern end of the Arabian peninsula. Lightning strikes spark 200 new B.C. fires CANADIAN PRESS KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Lightning has started 200 more fires across British Columbia, an official said this morning. "Since midnight it was a little over 1,700 strikes," said Steve Bachop, fire information officer with the B.C. Forest Service. We're going to have some lightning fires that are popping up today." Lightning accompanied thunderstorms that brought a little bit of rain to the parched province, welcome especially in the Kamloops area, where crews are fighting three major fires that at the peak displaced 10,000 people National Geographic Lightning strikes somewhere on the surface of the earth about 100 times every second. [...] Climate Change Spurs Epidemics BY NANCY ROSS-FLANIGAN [..] With predictions that ENSO [El Nino-Southern Oscillation] will become stronger and more variable in coming years under a global warming scenario, understanding how its connection to human disease changes will be increasingly important, says Pascual. Often, it's difficult to tell whether disease cycles are driven by environmental factors or by processes intrinsic to disease transmission. The professor and her co-workers recently developed a method that makes it possible to distinguish between the two possibilities. [...] From
correspondents in Tokyo AN earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale jolted northern Japan today, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The quake struck at 9.51 am local time in Miyagi, some 350km north of Tokyo. Its focus was about 10km deep, an agency official said. No tidal wave warning was issued. In July, the Miyagi region was hit by powerful earthquakes including one registering 6.2 on the Richter scale. No lives were lost in the quakes.Japan-quake By
UNB, Rangamati A
mild tremor jolted Barkal upazila twice on Wednesday. Meanwhile, an expert team of Dhaka University’s Geology Department visiting the earthquake prone area for the last two days, has suggested the government to shift inhabitants of Kolabunia from both sides of the Karnafuli River. They said although there is no possibility of major earthquake, danger looms large of big landslide. Moderate earthquake shakes Algeria 2003-08-07 Quake measuring 4.4 on Richter scale shakes northern Algeria where major quake killed thousands in late May. California Announces New Earthquake Shelter System The California Office of Emergency Services (OES) has announced plans for a comprehensive new earthquake shelter system that will be implemented throughout the state. [...] Environmentalists burn while Bush promotes park plan By
BILL STRAUB President Bush has issued his prescription for what ails the deteriorating national park system, but environmentalists and conservationists are becoming increasingly wary about his actions.[...] Improving the national parks, generally in a state of disrepair owing to a $4.9 billion maintenance backlog, was a major cog in Bush's 2000 campaign. He is hoping that any progress on this front will help his re-election effort. [...] Early last month, Interior Secretary Gale Norton gave the president a progress report. It showed that $2.9 billion has either been spent or committed to park maintenance, that 900 projects were completed and another 900 have been scheduled. The president's initiative, Norton said, was on track. The report establishes "the good work the Interior Department is doing to safeguard these treasures and provide a better experience for visitors," she said. However, conservationists offer a different view. They complain that although $2.9 billion has been spent on the maintenance backlog, all but $363 million were funds shifted from other vital parks programs, like conservation, that are now under-funded as a result. Elliott Negin, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, compared the shifting of funds to a shell game. "He's not putting his money where his mouth is," Negin said. Comment: For another great perspective on the Bush Reich privatization plan, see this Flash animation by cartoonist Mark Fiore. Four die of West Nile virus in United States Friday August 8, 12:45
AM The first deaths from the virus this year occurred between July 31 and August 6 in three states, Alabama, Colorado and Texas, according to officials. Comment: Here we go again. Readers might want to take a look at the facts about West Nile Virus. According to a Colorado news site, there were 4,156 recorded West Nile cases in the Unites States in 2002. Of these cases, only 284 resulted in death. That's a 6.8% mortality rate, with less than 0.002% of the population actually contracting the virus at all. But never mind the pesky facts, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!! Measles nearly endemic as parents refuse MMR jabs By
Steve Connor, Science Editor Measles is on the verge of becoming endemic in Britain because of the reluctance of some parents to inoculate their children with the three-in-one MMR vaccine, researchers say. Scientists have predicted that outbreaks of the viral disease will get worse as the proportion of unvaccinated children in the population increases. And the new research warns that if the number of unprotected children continues to grow at the present rate, a national epidemic is inevitable. Roman dig backs ancient writers' portrait of megalomaniac Caligula Ruins reveal ruler extended palace into Forum temple John
Hooper in Rome British and American archaeologists digging in the Roman Forum
said yesterday they had uncovered evidence to suggest that the
emperor Caligula really was a self-deifying megalomaniac, and not
the misunderstood, if eccentric, ruler that modern scholars have
striven to create. But Darius Arya of the American Institute for Roman Culture said a 35-day dig by young archaeologists from Oxford and Stanford universities had reinstated a key element in the traditional account. [...] August 7, 2003 It's not every day you get to watch a planetary ice cap melt, but this month you can. All you need are clear skies, a backyard telescope, and a sky map leading to Mars. Actually, you won't need the sky map because Mars is so bright and easy to find. Just
look south between midnight and dawn on any clear night this month.
Mars is that eye-catching red star, outshining everything around
it. It's getting brighter every night as Earth and Mars converge
for a close encounter on August 27th. Don't wait too long to look, though, because the ice is melting. [...] Update: Area farmer may sue over crop circle case Radio station backs off its
earlier claim of responsibility News Staff Reporter HOWELL TOWNSHIP - A farmer is threatening to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission and perhaps a lawsuit against a Detroit radio station for "lying" about creating a mysterious crop circle on his land. [...] Comment: The farmer may be up against COINTELPRO. There have also been rumors circulating that Lucy Pringle, the famous aerial photographer of crop formations, has had her life threatened.The Signs Team has not found confirmation if there is any truth to the rumor or not. Thursday, August 7 The latest report of a UFO over Hemel Hempstead was made today. There have been over 20 reports over the past two weeks of unexplained bright objects in the sky. Today's report came from Deaconsfield Road where Ray Tomlin saw two strange objects giving off a bright orange light shortly before 1am. He's mystified as they made no noise, but moved too fast to have been any sort of hot air balloon. By Lucy Beaumont Email users are only six mouse-clicks away from anyone else in cyberspace, a team including two Australian researchers at New York's Columbia University has found. Drawing on the six degrees of separation theory, the experiment involved more than 60,000 participants in 166 countries who registered online. [...] Firefighters admit defeat in battle against rats By
David Usborne in New York Rats in New York are a fact of life. They scurry between the rails in subway stations. They startle late-night strollers, shooting across the pavement and vanishing into piles of rubbish bags. The city's residents know they are there and ignore them. But sometimes, they just can't. The fire station in Queens has been battling rats for several weeks and, finally, the rodent army has triumphed. [...] Dog becomes dying vagabond's best friend Woman Gets Bottled Message From Father Lost At Sea In 1977 AP 2003/08/6 More than 26 years after her father died at sea, a Norwegian woman was shocked to receive a message from him in a bottle. The crinkled note, with her father's handwriting in red marker pen, aroused "powerful feelings" in her, Guri Abelsen said Wednesday. Abelsen said her father, Ola Abelsen, had told her he wrote a message in a bottle which he had thrown into the sea from his fishing boat, Utvik Senior, in February 1977. Later that month, the boat sank with Abelsen and eight other men on board, after disappearing off the Norwegian coast. The Secret Ingredient of the Pyramids
THAT PYRAMID EFFECT: A model of the Pyramids, made out of cake ingredients, is displayed at the Indian Consumer Exhibition in Madras. The cake, which weighs in at 300kg, is one of seven edible reconstructions of the wonders of the ancient world (photo: AFP) Comment: Gives new meaning to Dine-asty. We wonder, if you wore one on your head, would it sharpen your thoughts? Most Egyptologists could use some sharpening of their thoughts. A civilization as stagnant as theirs for so many centuries reminds us of the Neanderthals. Where is the divine creative spark that permits one to make something genuinely new? It is apparent that it was missing in the Land of the Pharoahs. Hawks grounded after Chihuahua attack Trained hawks employed to keep pigeons from making a mess on visitors in a Manhattan park have been grounded because one of the birds mistook a Chihuahua as its lunch... And Finally... Toy company announces new product : The AWOL Doll JK News Wire HA Toys president of development, Chick McGee, briefed reporters today on their new product, the AWOL Doll, that will compete with KB Toys Elite Force Aviator series. The new 13" action figure modeled after infamous President George Dubya Bush comes complete with a quart of Coors Light, a rolled up $100 bill, a modified lighter, and an empty coke can. Mr. McGee expects the AWOL Doll to exceed sales of HA Toys' Benedict Arnold and George Washington Dolls, which recently came under fire by the Christian Coalition because they are accompanied by several poseable mistresses, and removable wooden teeth. Exacting in detail and fully equipped with authentic paraphernalia, this limited-edition action figure is a meticulous 1:6 scale recreation of the Commander-in-Chief's appearance during his historic week while AWOL from the National Guard. This fully poseable figure features a realistic head sculpt, fully detailed pajamas, realistic Coors Lite Bottle, Rolled up $100, Coke can and modified lighter. The realism and exacting attention to detail demanded by today's 12-inch action figure enthusiast are met and exceeded with this action figure. This incredibly detailed figure is a fitting addition to the collection of those interested in U.S. Tyrant memorabilia and toy action figures.
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