From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 1 08:33:15 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 07:33:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup? Message-ID: <009e01c9b2d6$ce11ac60$6a350520$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:24 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Sweetness and Blight Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup? By Tom Philpott 20 Feb 2009 http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2009/02/20/ High-fructose corn syrup doesn't just deliver a jolt of sweetness to thousands of processed food items consumed by tens of millions of Americans each day. It also may add a touch of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that may not be safe to consume at any level. That's the message of two separate studies published last month. The first, led by a former FDA researcher named Renee Dufault and published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Health Journal, found mercury in nearly half of high-fructose corn syrup samples collected in 2005. Dufault had alerted her superiors about the finding in 2005 and got no response, she told me in a recent interview. She began the process of publishing her research after retiring from the FDA last year. The other study, conducted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy [PDF], found traces of the toxic heavy metal in one-third of HFCS-containing products its researchers pulled off of supermarket shelves last year. I wrote about the studies when the first media reports came out. Since then, I've been shocked at the official silence. While the researchers haven't proven conclusively (nor have they claimed to) that the vast array of products containing HFCS are imparting damaging levels of mercury to the people who consume them, their findings raise serious and troubling questions -- ones that aren't, from what I can tell, being looked into by any public-health agency. Story continues below ADVERTISING POLICY The FDA's response to Dufault's study hasn't changed since she first presented it to her superiors in 2005: The agency refuses to investigate the HFCS-mercury link. FDA press officer Michael L. Herndon told me via email this week that "there will be no testing based on" the research. Meanwhile, mainstream news organizations have largely ignored the story. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans continue to consume products containing high-fructose corn syrup. The USDA reckons that the average American consumes 40 pounds of HFCS every year. Paging Erin Brockovich The Environmental Health and IATP studies speculated that the mercury is seeping into HFCS through an industrial substance called caustic soda, used by HFCS producers to break down corn. Until a decade or so ago, most caustic soda was manufactured in chlorine plants that relied on mercury. This "mercury-grade" caustic soda is being phased out in favor of a new kind made without the toxic heavy metal. For this reason, the FDA press officer I corresponded with called it an "outdated process." But it remains in use -- and there are no regulations preventing it from being used to make food products like HFCS. Today, just 10 percent of U.S. caustic soda comes from four remaining mercury-using plants, according to the IATP study. But in Europe, 60 percent of caustic soda production relies on mercury -- and there are no restrictions on importing it into the United States. "The HFCS companies use what's cheapest," Dufault told me in a phone interview. "They have no obligation to report whether they're using it [mercury-grade caustic soda] or not." Dufault emailed data compiled from the U.S. International Trade Commission suggesting a trend of rising imports of mercury-grade caustic soda, particularly from Great Britain. The corn industry reacted swiftly to the research linking HFCS and mercury. On Jan. 26 -- the same day the Dufault and IATP studies were released -- the Corn Refiners Association issued a curt press release casting doubt on the "relevance and accuracy" of the test results. The CRA called the mercury-based caustic soda process "outdated," but never mentioned that it's still being used to make ingredients used in a wide range of consumer food products. A few days later, the CRA released a harsh assessment of the test results prepared by Dennis J. Paustenbach of ChemRisk, a self-described "leading scientific consulting firm." "To imply that there is a safety concern to consumers based on the findings presented, both incorrect and irresponsible," concluded Paustenbach. Yet in Paustenbach, critics say the corn industry has settled on a particularly dubious defender. The researcher has a storied history as a hired gun for industries seeking to avoid responsibility for the messes they create. The Environmental Working Group has described him like this: "Dr. Paustenbach has spent virtually his entire career as a paid expert for polluting corporations arguing for weaker health protections for workers and the public from some of the most notorious toxic substances ever known." Paustenbach's most notorious foray into public debates around toxins involves chromium-6, a once-widely used industrial chemical now known to be carcinogenic. In an excellent 2005 expos?, The Wall Street Journal detailed Paustenbach's dodgy dealings on behalf of PG&E, the California utility accused of leaking toxic levels of chromium-6 into one town's groundwater (a case made famous by the 2000 Julia Roberts film Erin Brockovich). Paustenbach's critique of the two studies ultimately hinges on the type and amount of mercury detected by Dufault in HFCS samples and by IATP in supermarket products. "Even if it were assumed that the mercury content found in the extremely limited sampling of foods and beverages was representative," he wrote, "the amounts are far lower than levels of concern set by government agencies." He adds: "The authors ignore important distinctions between organic and other forms of mercury and their implications for assessing human health risk." The FDA official I corresponded with echoed Paustenbach's assertion. "It is very probable that the total mercury level represents mostly inorganic mercury, this represents no health hazard since it is so poorly absorbed when ingested," the official wrote. Dufault agrees that organic mercury, also known as methylmercury, is the most bio-available and therefore dangerous kind. It's the mercury that's found in fish -- and extremely toxic. Her tests measured total mercury -- both organic and inorganic. But she disputed the Paustenbach and FDA assertions that inorganic mercury poses no threat, even when it's consumed daily. "There have been no long-term studies of the long-term effects of inorganic mercury exposure -- none," she told me. "Does that mean it's not harmful? No." She said that even in small doses, inorganic mercury accumulates in the body -- and can be particularly harmful to very young and very old people. Dufault pointed to a 2001 technical report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics calling for the minimization of exposure to all forms of mercury. "Mercury in all of its forms is toxic to the fetus and children, and efforts should be made to reduce exposure to the extent possible to pregnant women and children as well as the general population," the paper concludes. Don't Test, Don't Find While researchers like Dufault and her colleagues at the IATP draw attention to the potential risks posed by low levels of mercury in HFCS, the FDA and the industry resort to a "don't test, don't find" mentality and obfuscations about an "outdated process." As the IATP put it in a recent report, "Americans get 10 percent of their calories from HFCS, on average." Children ages 6 to 11 -- key years for neurological development -- are among the highest HFCS-consuming age groups, topped only by the 12-to-18 and 19-to-30 groups (the latter being people in their prime childbearing years). The solution seems simple enough: If the mercury-based process for producing caustic soda is "outdated," why doesn't the United States ban it? And given the wide availability of non-mercury-grade caustic soda, the FDA should ban the mercury-grade stuff from the food supply -- even when it's imported from Europe. Maddeningly, the agency now refuses even to test for mercury in high-fructose corn syrup -- much less act decisively to banish it. From brock_moore at accountant.com Wed Apr 1 06:21:11 2009 From: brock_moore at accountant.com (Brock Moore) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 07:21:11 -0500 Subject: [GJM] Interest v. Usury: Reply from the Submission Webpage Message-ID: <20090401122111.682A01BF28D@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> This is the reply I just received from the Submission webpage explaining their understanding of the demarcation of interest from usury: From: "Islam's best source" To: Brock Moore Subject: Re: question Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:35:35 -0700 (PDT) Peace be upon you, Thank you for contacting us and for trying to verify the truth. Unfortunately, the response you received is a simple justification for the use of some man-made, brain washing doctrines instead of the clear and divine word of God which He revealed in a perfect Arabic tongue. The Quran [26:192] This is a revelation from the Lord of the universe. [26:193] The Honest Spirit (Gabriel) came down with it. [26:194] To reveal it into your heart, that you may be one of the warners. [26:195] In a perfect Arabic tongue. [26:196] It has been prophesied in the books of previous generations. [12:2] We have revealed it an Arabic Quran, that you may understand.* [20:113] We thus revealed it, an Arabic Quran, and we cited in it all kinds of prophecies, that they may be saved, or it may cause them to take heed. Again, the Arabic of the Quran is perfect, and there is no need to complicate matters when God uses a specific and a clear word for usury which is Reba. There are no alternative meanings for that word. Usury Prohibited* [2:275] Those who charge usury are in the same position as those controlled by the devil's influence. This is because they claim that usury is the same as commerce. However, GOD permits commerce, and prohibits usury. Thus, whoever heeds this commandment from his Lord, and refrains from usury, he may keep his past earnings, and his judgment rests with GOD. As for those who persist in usury, they incur Hell, wherein they abide forever. In 2:275, God made a clear distinction between usury and commerce which interest rates can be labeled by. The word interest in Arabic simply means "faedah", which literally means something that we receive in return of something we offer; an exchange of business just like trade or commerce. Again, the interest rate which is a set percentage to be paid off or gained in return of a certain service and based on mutual agreement between parties is a form of lawful trade or commerce. This should never be mixed up with a totally different and clear word such as usury or "reba and bahith" in Arabic, which only means outrageous, excessive, and beyond all means, charge of an interest rate in return of a service. God condemns such behavior because of its wicked, abusive, victimizing, and oppressive nature. Usury Prohibited* [3:130] O you who believe, you shall not take usury, compounded over and over (adaafan mudaafatan). Observe GOD, that you may succeed. In 3:130, besides using the word for usury which is self explanatory, God clearly used other wording and grammatical exaggerating formats, "adaafan mudaafatan, " to describe the excursiveness and the exaggeration in charging people for the services and this is exactly what usury is. I'm a native Arabic speaker, and a college graduate. However, I do not even need a dictionary for the above explanation of words. These words are simple, clear and straightforward Arabic words that God used in His scripture. I hope this clarifies your concern, God willing. Peace and God bless, B.K. Submitter to God alone http://www.submission.org The Best Source of Islam (Submission) On The Internet Verify and witness the mathematical miracle of the Quran at: http://submission.org/miracle/ Read the Best Hadith at: http://www.submission.org/Q-T.html --- On Sat, 3/21/09, Brock Moore wrote: From: Brock Moore Subject: question To: info at submission.org Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 9:41 AM I am intrigued by the argument on your page http://www.submission.org/islam/interest-usury.html that there are two Arabic words that make a distinction between interest and usury, that the Koran bans usury and does not ban interest. When I first saw your argument I immediately remembered this commentary about John Calvin's letter of 1545: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/jones.usury "John Calvin's letter on usury of 1545 made it clear that when Christ said 'lend hoping for nothing in return,' He meant that we should help the poor freely. Following the rule of equity, we should judge people by their circumstances, not by legal definitions. Humanist that he was, Calvin knew there were two Hebrew words translated as 'usury.' One, neshek, meant 'to bite'; the other, tarbit, meant 'to take legitimate increase.' Based on these distinctions, Calvin argued that only 'biting' loans were forbidden. Thus, one could lend at interest to business people who would make a profit using the money. To the working poor one could lend without interest, but expect the loan to be repaid. To the impoverished one should give without expecting repayment." After I circulated your argument, I received this reply: "From: info at islamicparty.com "Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:08:51 +0000 "Subject: (Fwd) Seeking opinion Fw: Re: [GJM] Appeal for Jewish brothers "Dear Daud, as-salamu alaykum, my own brief comment on this idea that usury only applies to excessive interest is that it is impermissible to interpret the meaning of an Arabic term in the Qur'an by the dictionary definition for a translated term. The term riba can only be interpreted by reference to classical Arabic language sources as well as other Qur'anic and Hadith references. The Hadith quoted in the judgment of the Pakistani Supreme Court that every loan attracting a benefit (over and above the loan amount) is riba clearly settles the question whether interest is usurious or not. Even the argument of an interest element limited to counter-acting inflation is not valid against that authoritative definition. wa salam, Sahib" - Will you please reply to this counter-argument?: "...it is impermissible to interpret the meaning of an Arabic term in the Qur'an by the dictionary definition for a translated term. The term riba can only be interpreted by reference to classical Arabic language sources as well as other Qur'anic and Hadith references." Thanks. Brock Moore - -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 1 08:33:15 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 07:33:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Electric cars Message-ID: <009f01c9b2d6$d1d82a40$75887ec0$@net> From: Nance ~ [mailto:planetnews8 at gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:21 PM Subject: Electric cars -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Electric_Vehicles.pps Type: application/vnd.ms-powerpoint Size: 2521600 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Thu Apr 2 03:35:25 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 09:35:25 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] G20, The Sector Myth and FInancial LIteracy - FAE Bulletin April 09 Message-ID: <685485.44460.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ?? Dear All, ???????????? Maybe of interest, and the links may, or may not work. However, you would have not missed much especially the iYouTube nterivew with the academic Christopher Houghton Budd which is mind numbingly dull which is a shame! ? Do these people have any real creativity for Gods sake? Can they are not understand the full serious of the situation? What is it with them..and I am not just talking about CHB but other academics as well...especially economists including those claiming to follow heterodox economics!!!! ? R.Searle --- On Wed, 1/4/09, CfAE AE Bulletin wrote: From: CfAE AE Bulletin Subject: G20, The Sector Myth and FInancial LIteracy - FAE Bulletin April 09 To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Date: Wednesday, 1 April, 2009, 7:59 PM April 2009 1) Why Does 'The Financial Sector' Exist? 2) Forthcoming Events 3) Associate! April 2009 - Concerning Regulation 4) The Colours of Money - A Report 5) A Catch-21 Video Interview With Christopher Houghton Budd on the G20 Summit and Financial Literacy for Youth 1) Why does 'the financial sector' exist? On the ae-exchange, as elsewhere, there has been discussion of current banking practices. The normal suggestion is that a thoroughgoing reform of the 'financial sector' is needed that will lead to 'more ethical', 'sustainable', 'less risky', and 'traditional' banking. >From an associative perspective a crucial question to ask, however, is whether, if we were able to manage our finances without the existence of banks, we would in fact invent them. Are they so mysterious or necessary? The notion of a separate 'financial sector' overlooks the fact that financing is implicit in any activity, whether it is consciously managed or not. If not, then the financing aspect gets hived off to 'specialist' entities which are then described together as a 'sector', allowing them to make a special case for their continued existence. The subtle point is that what matters economically is the continued healthy functioning of finance, hence financial literacy, not the existence financial institutions.Do those 'in charge of the banking system' really understand and feel responsible for it? Just as, when the priests leave the temple the administrators keep the show running, so too when true banking is no longer practiced (investing in initiative) functionaries will go through the motions (lending against security). The whole process appears to work as long as the music never stops, but then, when it does, it quickly becomes clear with how much insight banking was being practiced. Instead of asking 'what are banks for?', therefore, it would be more interesting to ask 'what is banking?' In that way the assumption that a bank as an entity needs to exist can be addressed. In essence, 'banking' consists of three main distinct functions: 1. The settlement of accounts through a payment system 2. Intermediation between those with surpluses and those seeking capital 3. Economic oversight (ensuring the integrity of the whole process through 'sound' judgement) However all these functions can be exercised without reference to banks. In fact, one could ask whether the very existence of banks really helps humanity to better understand its economic interrelationships. By occupying the central ground, banks effectively obscure what is taking place by maintaining the illusion of 'undifferentiated' money. Rudolf Steiner's economic analysis does not make the case for a 'banking sector'. Indeed, his version of a bank was simply an association of what in the West we would call for-profits and not-for-profits, which linked their finances. Clearly, Steiner had in mind the need to manage economic life through the medium of three kinds of money, which look not dissimilar to the three banking functions described above. It may be too great a shift in understanding for some to make, habituated as they are to the idea of money as a thing, subject to the control of the banking community (or the state). The challenge of radical reform, however, may consist in being prepared to revisit one's assumptions in this area and strike new ground, rather than raking over the old. Arthur Edwards 2) Forthcoming Events Making Credit Less Crunchy:?19 Mar / Rudolf Steiner House, London The Colours of Money: 3-5 April / Stroud, England Inner and Outer Aspects of Associative Economics: 17 May & 21 June / Rudolf Steiner House, London 3) Associate! Apr 09 - Concerning Regulation Click image to subscribe ? Lead: False Idolatry - The Challenge of Banking and Accounting Reform. A Sign of Our Time: A Capitalism Less Selfish Feature: Beware Global Regulation. Christopher Houghton Budd Archive: Rights and Economics. Rudolf Steiner 21 Policies: Access to Credit Glossary: Youthfulness AE Hero:? The Colours of Money Seminar Accounting Corner: Painting Reality 4) The Colours of Money - A Review A report by Daniel Osmer of The Colors of Money Seminar. Wisconsin, February 20-22, 2009. The seminar is designed to introduce some basic ideas, their place in the history of economic thought and policy, and thus how they can be applied in today's world. Read the report 5) A Catch-21 Video Interview With Christopher Houghton Budd on the G20 Summit and Financial Literacy for Youth As the G20 summit commences, Catch 21 speaks to Dr Christopher Houghton Budd, of the Centre for Associative Economics, to learn the significance of the summit and how young people can become more involved in finances and the economy. catch21.co.uk/video www.youtube.com/watch The Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin provides an overview of what is going on around the world?in the associative economics movement. The bulletin is viewable as a webpage at www.cfae.biz/fae-bulletin/09apr/ ? Click here to unsubscribe or edit your subscription A service provided by the Centre for Associative Economics Copyright 2009 Centre for Associative Economics. All rights reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Thu Apr 2 06:04:38 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:04:38 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] [graduatesofeconomics] Transfinancial Economics................................... Message-ID: <59672.15499.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ??? Maybe of interest! Apparently, TFE is like Islamic economics!!! Another economist regarded it as being like a cult.....! ? --- On Thu, 2/4/09, robert searle wrote: From: robert searle Subject: Re: [graduatesofeconomics] Transfinancial Economics................................... To: graduatesofeconomics at yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, 2 April, 2009, 1:02 PM ?Thank you for your response, and yes it is new, and revolutionary. It is ofcourse still under development but the whole thing is shaping up. It can work for, or against the banking elite, and yet it can ?lead to global justice with the help of better financed ngos, and more enlightened governments in the future. ? ? ? Robert Searle --- On Thu, 2/4/09, nilgun tonguc wrote: From: nilgun tonguc Subject: Re: [graduatesofeconomics] Transfinancial Economics................................... To: graduatesofeconomics at yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, 2 April, 2009, 11:46 AM Dear R.Searle, I read the article on transfinancial economies which include many interesting and reformatory -or it is possible to say revolutionary - items. To me, it seems like a list of proposals, instead of creating a theory. Furthermore, the proposals might remind that they are coming from an islamic-economical model. While the discussions are going on under the G-20 summit in London, it is difficult to judge the applicability of such proposals. Thank you for informing us about the transfinancial economies, anything new is always challenging. ntonguc --- On Thu, 4/2/09, dharao4 wrote: From: dharao4 Subject: [graduatesofeconomi cs] Transfinancial Economics... ......... ......... ......... ..... To: graduatesofeconomic s at yahoogroups. com Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 12:38 PM Dear All, It would be nice to have some feedback on this subject.I do not mind if people try, and rubbish it...but dead silence is rather insulting! http://www.p2pfound ation.net/ Transfinancial_ Economics R.Searle. __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (2) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | Calendar Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity Visit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others. . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Thu Apr 2 06:44:03 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:44:03 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Zeitgeist Related Vid of Protest Message-ID: <176882.69184.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Maybe of interest.......... ? ? http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/joomla/ ? ? R.Searle. http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Transfinancial_Economics ? ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 13:25:12 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:25:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Monetary Reform Seminars in New York City, Chicago and the West Coast Message-ID: <008e01c9b3c8$c1d3bcc0$457b3640$@net> From: AMI [mailto:ami at taconic.net] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 7:29 AM To: AMI Subject: Monetary Reform Seminars in New York City, Chicago and the West Coast Dear Friends of the American Monetary Institute, Attend if you are able, and let your friends know about these upcoming seminars in New York, Chicago, and on the West Coast. We must not allow the criminal element within the banking industry to continue pretending they can re-establish their faulty system. The gangsters among them are using their political power to grab as much as they can. This scam will be ended now in the name of justice and sanity. The AMI is holding a free monetary reform seminar in New York City on Wednesday April 15th at 6:30 PM at the Henry George School of Social Science at 121 E. 30th St. (between Park and Lex) On Wednesday April 29th we have a free monetary reform Seminar from 6:30 to 9 PM, at Roosevelt University in Chicago at 430 S. Michigan. Details at the welcome desk. The AMI is also holding free seminars in: San Francisco, May 2nd thru 5th; Los Angeles, May 5th thru 8th; Portland, May 11th & 12th; Seattle, May 13th & 14th. Times and locations to be announced. Email us for details! The following announcement describes all the seminars: AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE http://www.monetary.org ami at taconic.net Stephen Zarlenga, Director FREE MONETARY SEMINAR How did the Banks Break our Money System Again? Why doesn't it work for America? Learn more about money in 3 hours than most economists learn (or will tell) in a lifetime! The Seminar will Discuss: * America's Monetary Power has been usurped and privatized, leading to collapse and ultimately unemployment and warfare! * How and why the money power must be restored to society where it can be used to promote the general welfare, instead of corrupt private agendas. * How the money power became privatized, and is kept in place by false theory. * A three step program that restores it to society. * Why we should nationalize the Money System (the Federal reserve) NOT the banking system. (banking isn't a proper function of government, but the money supply is a government prerogative) * Why inflation need not be a problem. * How the facts demonstrate that counter to prevailing prejudice, governmental control of money has a far superior record than private control. * Why it is crucial that the power to create any part of our money supply be completely removed from banks, for any reform to work. This is a hands on do-able reality based program, not a theory, with many U.S. historical precedents, and more going as far back as Classical Greece and Rome. The Money system acts like a fourth branch of government, generally affecting our daily lives more than the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches combined. Yet it has been privatized and is largely outside the control of our democratic system of checks and balances where it has unfairly concentrated wealth to obscene levels among other injustices. The American Monetary Institute is America's leading think tank focusing on monetary history, theory and reform. Each September we hold a 3 day monetary reform conference at Roosevelt University, where cutting edge experts speak on those subjects. Each quarter the Institute offers this free introductory seminar. This seminar is designed for Chicago area people who'd like a good background on how our money system works, why its not working well, how to fix it, and what benefits would follow in terms of infrastructure and health care and education; and how our society has the power to begin creating a superior future world, instead of getting mired in stupidity and warfare. Times and Places announced for various cities. Contact us! Dress: Informal; all are welcome Reservations really appreciated so that light refreshments can be arranged Call 224-805-2200 or email ami at taconic.net RETURN TO AMI HOME PAGE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: April & May 09 Seminars.doc Type: application/msword Size: 29696 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 13:36:08 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:36:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: The Work Continues Message-ID: <009e01c9b3ca$4a15fb10$de41f130$@net> From: The Orion Project [mailto:info at theorionproject.org] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 10:07 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: The Work Continues The Orion Project Non-Profit The Work Continues... A quarter of 2009 is over. We continue working to find solutions to the energy crisis. We are supporting innovative inventors. The work is intense, as with any ground-breaking endeavor. And, because we have not had the funds to build a central campus to bring them all together, each inventor is working at his own location. We wish we could bring you news of a breakthrough each week. What we can bring news of is the fact that though progress is not always rapid, it is steady. We are often asked when we will have that one central facility we envision that will bring our inventors together - along with many more great minds to drive a peaceful Manhattan Project for new energy development. The answer - it is up to you, as well as us. Those of us working at The Orion Project do so because we believe in our mission. All the funds we receive go to finding the best researchers and funding their work. Help us make that vision a reality - we are buying equipment for a recently identified inventor who has a track record of past achievements in energy projects. He wishes anonymity while he works on his most important project to date. We urgently need $100,000 to buy fabricating equipment, parts and supplies - fund his efforts - and hopefully, change the world. We are working hard to find solutions for our world - won't you help us? Donate to Our Research Forward email Safe Unsubscribe This email was sent to maryrose333 at att.net by info at theorionproject.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe T | Privacy Policy . Email Marketing by The Orion Project | PO Box 4347 | Charlottesville | VA | 22905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 15:57:46 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 14:57:46 -0700 Subject: [GJM] =?utf-8?q?FW=3A_Academic_Mayor_Transforms_Bogot=C3=A1_-_A_H?= =?utf-8?q?ighly_Inspiring_Story?= Message-ID: <014b01c9b3de$3433a040$9c9ae0c0$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 9:14 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Academic Mayor Transforms Bogot? - A Highly Inspiring Story To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list (one email every few days) or to reply to this message, see end of email This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/050305mockustransformsbogota The following, deeply inspiring story from the Harvard University Gazette shows how one man's vision transformed the lives of over six million people in Columbia's capital of Bogot?. In his 10-year tenure, Mayor Mockus focused on changing hearts and minds - not through preaching but through artistically creative strategies that employed the power of individual. He also spoke openly of his own failings, not suggesting that he was more moral than anyone else. May we all focus on creatively changing hearts and minds for the good of all people with whom we share this beautiful planet. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html Academic turns city into a social experiment Mayor Mockus of Bogot? and his spectacularly applied theory By Mar?a Cristina Caballero Special to the Harvard News Office Antanas Mockus had just resigned from the top job of Colombian National University. A mathematician and philosopher, Mockus looked around for another big challenge and found it: to be in charge of, as he describes it, "a 6.5 million person classroom." Mockus, who had no political experience, ran for mayor of Bogot?. He was successful mainly because people in Colombia's capital city saw him as an honest guy. With an educator's inventiveness, Mockus turned Bogot? into a social experiment just as the city was choked with violence, lawless traffic, corruption, and gangs of street children who mugged and stole. It was a city perceived by some to be on the verge of chaos. People were desperate for a change, for a moral leader of some sort. The eccentric Mockus, who communicates through symbols, humor, and metaphors, filled the role. When many hated the disordered and disorderly city of Bogot?, he wore a Superman costume and acted as a superhero called "Supercitizen." People laughed at Mockus' antics, but the laughter began to break the ice of their extreme skepticism. Mockus recently came to Harvard for two weeks as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics to share lessons about civic engagement with students and faculty. "We found Mayor Mockus' presentation intensely interesting," said Adams Professor Jane Mansbidge of the Kennedy School, who invited Mockus to speak in her "Democracy From Theory to Practice" class. "Our reading had focused on the standard material incentive-based systems for reducing corruption. He focused on changing hearts and minds - not through preaching but through artistically creative strategies that employed the power of individual and community disapproval. He also spoke openly of his own failings, not suggesting that he was more moral than anyone else. He is a most engaging, almost pixieish math professor, not a stuffy 'mayor' at all. The students were enchanted, as was I." A theatrical teacher The slim, bearded, 51-year-old former mayor explained himself thus: "What really moves me to do things that other people consider original is my passion to teach." He has long been known for theatrical displays to gain people's attention and, then, to make them think. Mockus, the only son of a Lithuanian artist, burst onto the Colombian political scene in 1993 when, faced with a rowdy auditorium of the school of arts' students, he dropped his pants and mooned them to gain quiet. The gesture, he said at the time, should be understood "as a part of the resources which an artist can use." He resigned as rector, the top job of Colombian National University, and soon decided to run for mayor. The fact that he was seen as an unusual leader gave the new mayor the opportunity to try extraordinary things, such as hiring 420 mimes to control traffic in Bogot?'s chaotic and dangerous streets. He launched a "Night for Women" and asked the city's men to stay home in the evening and care for the children; 700,000 women went out on the first of three nights that Mockus dedicated to them. When there was a water shortage, Mockus appeared on TV programs taking a shower and turning off the water as he soaped, asking his fellow citizens to do the same. In just two months people were using 14 percent less water, a savings that increased when people realized how much money they were also saving because of economic incentives approved by Mockus; water use is now 40 percent less than before the shortage. "The distribution of knowledge is the key contemporary task," Mockus said. "Knowledge empowers people. If people know the rules, and are sensitized by art, humor, and creativity, they are much more likely to accept change." Mockus taught vivid lessons with these tools. One time, he asked citizens to put their power to use with 350,000 "thumbs-up" and "thumbs-down" cards that his office distributed to the populace. The cards were meant to approve or disapprove of other citizens' behavior; it was a device that many people actively - and peacefully - used in the streets. He also asked people to pay 10 percent extra in voluntary taxes. To the surprise of many, 63,000 people voluntarily paid the extra taxes. A dramatic indicator of the shift in the attitude of "Bogotanos" during Mockus' tenure is that, in 2002, the city collected more than three times the revenues it had garnered in 1990. Another Mockus inspiration was to ask people to call his office if they found a kind and honest taxi driver; 150 people called and the mayor organized a meeting with all those good taxi drivers, who advised him about how to improve the behavior of mean taxi drivers. Yet Mockus doesn't like to be called a leader. "There is a tendency to be dependent on individual leaders," he said. "To me, it is important to develop collective leadership. I don't like to get credit for all that we achieved. Millions of people contributed to the results that we achieved ... I like more egalitarian relationships. I especially like to orient people to learn." Taking a moral stand Still, there were times when Mockus felt he needed to impose his will, such as when he demanded that every bar and entertainment place close at 1 a.m. with the goal of diminishing drinking and violence. Most important to Mockus was his campaign about the importance and sacredness of life. "In a society where human life has lost value," he said, "there cannot be a higher priority than re-establishing respect for life as the main right and duty of citizens." Mockus sees the reduction of homicides from 80 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993 to 22 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2003 as a major achievement, noting also that traffic fatalities dropped by more than half in the same time period, from an average of 1,300 per year to about 600. Contributing to this success was the mayor's inspired decision to paint stars on the spots where pedestrians (1,500 of them) had been killed in traffic accidents. "Saving a single life justifies the effort," Mockus said. The former mayor had to address many fronts simultaneously. In his struggle against corruption, he closed down the transit police because many of those 2,000 members were notoriously bribable. When he assumed power, many city positions were distributed according to council members' recommendations. "I stopped that, and some called me an anti-patronage fundamentalist," Mockus said. He remembers that when he handed a text explaining his goals of transparency to one key council member, the council member first smiled, but later resigned. Mockus was a constant presence in the media, promoting his civic campaigns. "My messages about the importance of protecting children from being burned with fireworks, protecting children from domestic violence, and the sacredness of life reached many, including the children," he said. Once the mother of a 3-year-old girl called his office to say that meeting Mockus was her daughter's only birthday wish. But the meeting also revealed, said Mockus, that Colombian society has a long way to go. During the visit, the mother told him: "When I am going to hit her, she runs to the telephone and says that she is going to call Mockus. She doesn't even know how to dial a number, but obviously she thinks that you would protect her." Mockus, who has two daughters himself, was shocked at the woman's nonchalance about striking her daughter. There is almost always a civics lesson behind Mockus' antics. Florence Thomas, a feminist and a professor at Colombian National University, pointed out to Mockus that in Bogot? women were afraid to go out at night. "We were looking for what would be the best image of a safe city, and I realized that if you see streets with many women you feel safer," Mockus explained. So he asked men to stay home and suggested that both sexes should take advantage of the "Night for Women" to reflect on women's role in society. About 700,000 women went out, flocking to free, open-air concerts. They flooded into bars that offered women-only drink specials and strolled down a central boulevard that had been converted into a pedestrian zone. To avoid legal challenges, the mayor stated that the men's curfew was strictly voluntary. Men who simply couldn't bear to stay indoors during the six-hour restriction were asked to carry self-styled "safe conduct" passes. About 200,000 men went out that night, some of them angrily calling Mockus a "clown" in TV interviews. But most men graciously embraced Mockus' campaign. In the lower-middle-class neighborhood of San Cristobal, women marched through the streets to celebrate their night. When they saw a man staying at home, carrying a baby, or taking care of children, the women stopped and applauded. That night the police commander was a woman, and 1,500 women police were in charge of Bogot?'s security. A bigger classroom? Mockus noted that his administrations were enlightened by academic concepts, including the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Douglass North, who has investigated the tension between formal and informal rules and how economic development is restrained when those rules clash; and J?rgen Habermas' work on how dialogue creates social capital. Mockus also mentions Socrates, who said that if people understood well, they probably would not act in the wrong way. Mockus?a sterling example of the current vogue in Latin America for "anti-politicians"?says that transforming Bogot?'s people and their sense of civic culture was the key to solving many of the city's problems. He is looking forward to returning to the classroom at Colombian National University after a sabbatical year. But Mockus is also considering the possibility of launching a presidential campaign?and perhaps being in charge of a 42 million student classroom. See full original article with photos at: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html maria_cristina_caballero at ksg.harvard.edu See our collection of inspirational resources at http://www.WantToKnow.info/inspirational Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work. To make a donation by credit card, check, or money order: http://www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore these empowering websites coordinated by the nonprofit PEERS network : http://www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart http://www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all http://insightcourse.net - The Insight Course: Best of the Internet all in one free course Educational websites promoting transformation through information and inspiration To reply to this message, visit http://www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): http://www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Hosting by YourMailingListProvider -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 17:44:23 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 16:44:23 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Organic chocolate eggs and bunny cookies adorn this yummy Easter basket Message-ID: <01ba01c9b3ec$fe36d570$faa48050$@net> This company has always been a favorite of mine. Not that I order from them, because the prices are inhibiting to someone on a small Social Security income, but because I love to browse the pages and select what I can obtain locally that provides so much healthy fuel for my body. You know the old saying: "we are what we eat is true." The food we intake is equivalent to putting gasoline in one's car - without fuel and of the right kind it isn't going to go very far. So, it pays to be selective about what you eat. However, when I looked at the food sampler for a family of four with a price tag on it of $129.00 that is sufficient for a week, at today's supermarket food prices this seems to be a real bargain, especially when one considers the fresh and organic factor. And, if your family is taking vitamins which you are paying for as well, let me tell you something else. I'll dig it out and send it; but a recent major study conducted on women showed that the women who took vitamins were no healthier than those who did not take them.. But that doesn't mean that vitamins are not only good for you, but necessary as well. What the difference appears to be according to the report is that the most benefit from vitamins is gained when they are contained in the food itself - in other words, it's the "sum of the parts is greater than the whole" effect, and vitamins provide the most benefit when they are contained in the food itself as the vitamins enhance one another - something that does not happen when they are separated out and recombined in pills." Happy browsing. From: Kathleen, Diamond Organics [mailto:news at diamondorganics.com] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 12:32 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Organic chocolate eggs and bunny cookies adorn this yummy Easter basket View in Browser To ensure delivery of Diamond Organics e-mails please add news at diamondorganics.com to your address book or safe sender list. Diamond Organics PRODUCE | DAIRY | MEAT | TAKE-OUT | BAKERY | GROCERIES | WINE & FLOWERS | GIFT BASKETS | RAW FOODS | WELLNESS FEATURED RECIPE Organic Egg Dye Kids will enjoy dyeing eggs naturally Click for Recipe Organic Fruit | Organic Vegetables | Organic Coffee | Organic Meat | Organic Beef | Organic Buffalo Meat | Organic Ham Organic Chicken | Organic Flowers | Organic Edible Flowers | Organic Mushrooms | Organic Wheatgrass Organic Skin Care | Organic Cosmetic | Organic Gifts | Organic Wine | Organic Milk | Organic Herbs | Organic Tea Organic Oils | Organic Snacks | Organic Pasta | Organic Nuts | Organic Dried Fruit | Gift Certificates 1-888-ORGANIC (888-674-2642) Live Customer Service: Mon - Fri 7am to 6pm Pacific; Saturday 9am to 2pm Pacific C 1996 - 2008 Diamond Organics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you would like to discontinue receiving our emails, click here Diamond Organics * 1272 Highway 1 * Moss Landing, CA 95039 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 21:49:59 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:49:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Moneynews - Soros: If G20 Fails, Global Depression Ahead Message-ID: <002f01c9b40f$4611a380$d234ea80$@net> http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/soros_global_depression/2009/04/01/1 98390.html Soros: If G20 Fails, Global Depression Ahead Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:33 AM By: Gene J. Koprowski Article Font Size http://moneynews.newsmax.com/images/layout/minus.jpg http://moneynews.newsmax.com/images/layout/plus.jpg If the G20 meeting of world leaders this week results in nothing but more hot air, billionaire George Soros says all bets are off - the global economy is heading for a huge meltdown. "That could push the world into depression. It's really a make-or-break occasion. That's why it's so important. The chances of a depression are quite high - even if that is averted, the recession will last a long time. Look, we are not going back to where we came from. In that sense it's going to last forever." While most investors are worried about the sorry state of the global markets, Soros finds the economic gloom-and-doom "exhilarating," and reckons a full-blown depression is inevitable. "I have to admit that actually I flourish, I'm more stimulated by the bust," Soros said in an interview with the Times of London. "On the one hand, there's the tremendous human suffering, which is very distressing. On the other hand, to be able to handle the situation is exhilarating." This recession, Soros said, is a "once-in-a-lifetime event," particularly in Britain and the United States. "This is a crisis unlike any other. It's a total collapse of the financial system with tremendous implications for everyday life. On previous occasions when you had a crisis that was threatening the system the authorities intervened and did whatever was necessary to protect the system," said Soros. "This time they failed." A financial mystic - Soros believes his body aches and pains give him signals as to when to invest, or when to short - he does not know how long the current climate will continue. "That depends on how it's handled. Allowing Lehman Brothers to fail was the game-changing event. That's when the financial crisis went over the brink. The size of the problem is actually bigger than in the 1930s," said Soros. Soros refuses to say what he is doing in the markets now. Has he shorted the pound recently? "I had shorted it last year, but I'm not shorting the pound now." Is the euro under threat? "There is stress in the euro because of the differential in the interest rate that the different countries have to pay," he said. Though one would be hard pressed to find another economist who agrees with Soros that the recession is an "exhilarating" experience, his hypothesis that the debt burden by governments of the world is the real problem for the economy is shared by many. "A Congressional office asked me what the estimated national debt in President Obama's fiscal year 2010 budget submission would be on a per-U.S.-household basis. I think the answer is worth sharing," writes Tad DeHaven, an analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington D.C. "According to the White House budget, the estimated national debt, or debt held by the public, in fiscal year 2010 would equal approximately $81,000 per U.S. household." C 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 493 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Fri Apr 3 04:22:08 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 15:52:08 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Fw: 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement :: Pedal People :: 30-Day Organic Challenge Message-ID: <251315.20546.qm@web94915.mail.in2.yahoo.com> local food movement is critical for preparing for the end of petro-modern time and for ensuring that travels for transporting food within and across the cities and withing and across the nations is minimised with great gains in reduction of emission of GHG --- On Fri, 3/4/09, YES Magazine wrote: From: YES Magazine Subject: 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement :: Pedal People :: 30-Day Organic Challenge To: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Date: Friday, 3 April, 2009, 6:08 AM YES! 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{FONT-WEIGHT:bold;FONT-SIZE:13px;COLOR:#333333;FONT-FAMILY:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;TEXT-DECORATION:none;} ???SENT TO mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com??????MANAGE/CHANGE EMAIL????|???? VIEW AS A WEB PAGE ?????? SHARE?? ??? ??? ??? Building a Just and Sustainable World???April 2009 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement Looking for a way out of the supermarket? YES! has harvested eight things you can do to join the local food revolution. From Lawn to Lunch Ann Lovejoy explains how to convert your lawn to a lunch box.??READ ON ? Eat Your Vegetables Follow food columnist Michael Pollan's simple rule: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."??FIND OUT MORE ? Party with Your Preserves You'll be amazed by what can be preserved from the season's bounty. Food Routes has five tips to get you started.??READ ON ? Glean Those Fields Clean A lot of perfectly good food is left to rot in fields and under trees. With a bit of work, your group can ?glean? free produce and provide fresh, nutritious food to your community.??HERE'S HOW ? Shop Outside of Supermarkets Discover the ways you can find local food sources in your area.?? READ MORE ? Start a Community Garden Start with a meeting (better yet, a potluck) to decide what kind of garden you want, where to put it, and how to manage plots.??READ MORE ? Plant a Row for the Hungry As unemployment rises, more people are wondering how they will put food on the table. Learn how you can boost food security at home ... and in your community.??READ MORE ? Share Your Table? The best antidote to fast-food culture is as close as your table. Invite friends and a few strangers to a local-foods potluck.??READ MORE ? :: NOT YET A SUBSCRIBER TO YES! ? ? Take us up on this introductory offer to subscribe today, starting with the Food for Everyone issue. [Free book with subscription] :: SPREAD THE WORD Forward this email to your friends and family?or send it to your entire email list! SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORKS ??? ?Facebook??? ?del.icio.us??? ?Digg????? Pedal People Pedal People Put the Cycling in Recycling What's a cleaner, quieter alternative to garbage trucks? Bicycles! Pedal People Cooperative Inc. is a "human-powered delivery and hauling service" for Northampton, Massachusetts. In all types of weather, you can find them hauling up to 300 pounds of trash, recycling and compost on trailers hitched to the back of their bikes. Go Organic! YES! Intern Takes on a 30-Day Organic Challenge! We've all heard how difficult and expensive eating organic food can be. But is it really as challenging as it seems? Our online intern Laura Kaliebe is eating only organic food for an entire month. Follow her blog to see how she fares?and what she finds out ? YES! Photo Essays Art and Upheaval Can the arts bridge our world's deep divides? William Cleveland's remarkable stories of artists who resolve conflict, give voice to the forgotten and disappeared, and restitch the cultural fabric of their communities. :: PHOTO ESSAY "Day by Day, Years Go By" Iraqi Families on the Borders More than tales of bombs and battles, the real war stories are of refugees. 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Resource Guide Join the local food revolution with these groups, initiatives, and a library about good food. YES! is published by the Positive Futures Network ?::? www.yesmagazine.org 284 Madrona Way NE, Suite 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2870, USA ?::? Phone: 206-842-0216 ???We never sell or share our email list. Use this link if you wish to unsubscribe from this list. ???Manage your email subscriptions??|??If this email was forwarded to you, sign up for your own YES! newsletters ???Contact YES! ? Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India Messenger at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Thu Apr 2 05:00:38 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 16:30:38 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: Monetary Reform Seminars in New York City, Chicago and the West Coast In-Reply-To: <49D42833.2050406@taconic.net> References: <49D42833.2050406@taconic.net> Message-ID: <31f677a30904020400y58dbc3cdrf4fac078c4314514@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: AMI Date: Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 8:21 AM Subject: Monetary Reform Seminars in New York City, Chicago and the West Coast To: AMI Dear Friends of the American Monetary Institute, Attend if you are able, and let your friends know about these upcoming seminars in New York, Chicago, and on the West Coast. We must not allow the criminal element within the banking industry to continue pretending they can re-establish their faulty system. The gangsters among them are using their political power to grab as much as they can. This scam will be ended now in the name of justice and sanity. The AMI is holding a free monetary reform seminar in New York City on Wednesday April 15th at 6:30 PM at the Henry George School of Social Science at 121 E. 30th St. (between Park and Lex) On Wednesday April 29th we have a free monetary reform Seminar from 6:30 to 9 PM, at Roosevelt University in Chicago at 430 S. Michigan. Details at the welcome desk. The AMI is also holding free seminars in: San Francisco, May 2nd thru 5th; Los Angeles, May 5th thru 8th; Portland, May 11th & 12th; Seattle, May 13th & 14th. Times and locations to be announced. Email us for details! The following announcement describes all the seminars: AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE** http://www.monetary.org* ami at taconic.net* *Stephen Zarlenga, Director* * *FREE MONETARY SEMINAR How did the Banks Break our Money System Again?* * *Why doesn?t it work for America?* ** Learn more about money in 3 hours than most economists learn (or will tell) in a lifetime! The Seminar will Discuss: * America's Monetary Power has been usurped and privatized, leading to collapse and ultimately unemployment and warfare! * How and why the money power must be restored to society where it can be used to promote the general welfare, instead of corrupt private agendas. * How the money power became privatized, and is kept in place by false theory. ** A three step program that restores it to society. * ** Why we should nationalize the Money System (the Federal reserve) NOT the banking system. (banking isn't a proper function of government, but the money supply is a government prerogative) * ** Why inflation need not be a problem.* * How the facts demonstrate that counter to prevailing prejudice, governmental control of money has a far superior record than private control. * Why it is crucial that the power to create *any part* of our money supply be completely removed from banks, for any reform to work. This is a hands on do-able reality based program, not a theory, with many U.S. historical precedents, and more going as far back as Classical Greece and Rome. The Money system acts like a fourth branch of government, generally affecting our daily lives more than the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches combined. Yet it has been privatized and is largely outside the control of our democratic system of checks and balances where it has unfairly concentrated wealth to obscene levels among other injustices. The American Monetary Institute is America?s leading think tank focusing on monetary history, theory and reform. Each September we hold a 3 day monetary reform conference at Roosevelt University, where cutting edge experts speak on those subjects. Each quarter the Institute offers this free introductory seminar. This seminar is designed for Chicago area people who?d like a good background on how our money system works, why its not working well, how to fix it, and what benefits would follow in terms of infrastructure and health care and education; and how our society has the power to begin creating a superior future world, instead of getting mired in stupidity and warfare. Times and Places announced for various cities. Contact us! Dress: Informal; all are welcome** * Reservations really appreciated so that light refreshments can be arranged* * Call 224-805-2200 or email ami at taconic.net * * *RETURN TO AMI HOME PAGE -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: April & May 09 Seminars.doc Type: application/msword Size: 29696 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Thu Apr 2 05:10:55 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 16:40:55 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Carbon Neutral Neighborhood Discussions for minimizing the use of Cars Message-ID: <31f677a30904020410r1f8dc6f8w22f45811b2896dca@mail.gmail.com> *Multiplying Carbon Neutral Neighborhood Discussions (CNNDs) for reducing the emission of GHGs, access to clean drinking water, food security and ecological sustainability of habitats* * * The reports on the impacts of climate change caused by the globalization of non-renewable resource based consumption, production, habitats and transport and so on are well known such as global warming, deforestation, rise in sea level, melting of glaciers and others. International Panel on Climate on Climate Change has been producing reports on the impacts of the climate change. We need to work for minimizing the emissions of the green house gases. Climate change through with rise in temperature of earth, change in rainfall patterns caused due to emission of gases that is raising the temperature of earth as the amount of green house gases generated is much more than the capacity of the green cover for absorbing. Impact are being felt everywhere with impacts beyond the national boundaries. There are several recorded evidences that has caused nations to take on the challenge of global warming .Since 1997 UN intergovernmental panel on climate change has been meeting and deliberating on the issue . There are several national responses and international agreements. Recently China and United States has expressed agreement work on climate. Speaking on occasion of APEC summit in Sydney, Australia Mr. Hu Jintao maintained that "the United Nations Framework convention remain the main channel for the international efforts" to address climate change (The Hindu, September 7, 2007). The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which emphasised the far-reaching consequences that continued global warming would have across the world, has given fresh impetus to finding solution to the problem. The summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised countries (G8) held in June 2007 in Germany saw the launch of new initiatives for collective action by both rich nations and fast-growing developing countries to combat climate change. In its Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC, the international body that has the task of weighing scientific evidence on climate change, pointed to definitive evidence that global atmospheric concentration of key greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide had "increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750". These gases were trapping the Earth's heat that would otherwise have radiated out into space. If the build-up of greenhouse gases and the resultant warming of the planet were allowed to continue unchecked, there would be irreversible damage to the eco-systems across the world with suffering for the billions. Already we have evidences about the villages in Gujarat relocating itself away from sea as more and more coastal area are getting submerged in the sea. Considering the urgent need to respond to climate change, Sewa, Labour League Foundation, Sufi Trust, Centre for Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance, a joint initiative of Sewa, Labour Foundation and Sufi Trust has suggested the following measures: 1. *Multiplication of carbon neutral neighbourhood discussions across the cities and villages:* These discussions will be initiated by youth and community elders in the neighbourhood where they gather for collective prayer, discussions. The recommendations of the discussion simultaneous action may be presented in the form of a memorandum to the world leader gathered in various summits. The first summit that was covered was the Green House Gas Summit held in Indonesia. The discussions will have local, national and global impacts. Local impact will be generated through transformation of the leisure use pattern, consumption pattern. Email would be used for transmitting the message globally through the e-group posts. The discussions could be facilitated by volunteers or the resident welfare associations who could be provided with discussion kits. Volunteers could collect feedback on improving the mass communication strategies for reducing personal contribution to the green house gases. It is believed that the discussions on the urgency of reducing green house gases will lead to the transformation of personal level consumption patterns. CEASIG believes that personal responses are critical for transformation of the consumption of pattern. Unsustainable consumption patterns can be halted with the personal responses. Personal responses are always part of the global responses. Carbon neutral neighbourhood discussions (CNNDs) will multiply ecologically safe responses across the urban and rural areas. 2. *Multiplication of ecologically safe responses through promotion of* *green journalism: *Production of analytical and advisory outputs through journalists is critical and they are one of the major stakeholders in shaping the opinions, consumption patterns. Journalists writing on lifestyle can substantially influence the consumption pattern of people in the urban. They can help in shaping the tastes and defining the choices. Journalists are important is generating democratic consensus for halting unsustainable consumption patterns. In our times, journalists play a very critical and sometimes they are responsible for defining the social, cultural and political trends. Labour League Foundation wishes to secure the future of working class with ecologically sustainable habitats, livelihoods and consumption patterns. 3. *Catalysing green politics /open politics:* Labour league Foundation and Centre for Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance calls for supporting the process for open and transparent politics for instilling the importance of green ideals. It calls for organising meetings with the representatives of the various political parties and seek inclusion of ecological emergencies in the election manifestoes. 4. *Transformation of leisure use patterns*: Labour League Foundations wishes to realise the millennium development goals for eliminating the unsustainable consumption patterns and it wishes to do so through suggesting transformation of the leisure use pattern. It wishes to do so through suggesting adoption of faith based measures that are common across the religious texts. As indicated through adoption of faith based measures, it wishes to generate interfaith consensus for acting simultaneously for transforming the leisure use patterns. 5. *Calculation of ecological footprints, eliminating ecological rucksacks: *Labour League Foundation wishes to disseminate the practice of measuring ecological footprints for getting the desired actions for reducing the number of decisions involving emission of green house gases. 6. *Ecological Audit of the consumption patterns:* The ecological audit is a concept proposed by Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam, Chairman, Labour League Foundation. It could be used along with the calculation of ecological footprints for assessing the impact of various decision, consumption and production patterns. 7. *Ecological Audit of the production patterns: *Production processes need to be assessed for ecological sustainability. There are ecologically sustainable and unsustainable production processes. The workshops with corporations interested in realising the millennium development goals could be conducted for getting in the changes in production processes.** 8. *Ecological Audit of the transport patterns:* Renewable resource based transport systems are sustainable and non-renewable resource based transport systems are not sustainable. Ecological Audit of the transport systems will be done with ministries dealing with transport. 9. *Ecological Audit of the leisure use patterns: *There are leisure use patterns that do not use green house gas producing fossil fuels and there are leisure use pattern that are based on renewable resources and that does not involve consumption of fossil fuels. Workshop with the neighbourhood discussion leaders and resident welfare associations should be conducted for necessary transformation of leisure use patterns. Children, youths and elders should be encouraged to adopt faith based measures for relaxation and stress busting*.* 10. *Interfaith dialogue for addressing the climate change, farmer's suicides, and social security for workers in unorganized sector, transforming finance sector: *Appreciation of the common commands for prayer, donation, compassion, charity and prohibition of usury, adultery, and homosexuality is needed with wider dissemination of the same. Adoption of these commands addresses the challenge of climate change, ecologically hostile usurious system; Inter-faith dialogue will ensure generation of responses across the faith groups. Delhi has a vibrant culture of interfaith dialogue. Sant Rajinder Singh of Sawan Kripal Ashram has been conducting the same for many years. Organisations/ individuals independently or in collaboration with other organisation may work for generating more forums of interfaith dialogue with special reference to mitigating climate change. 11. *National Convention on Inter Faith common responses for addressing the climate change:* A national convention could be organised for generating consensus for adoption of faith based measures for addressing the climate change. There are cultural responses for fighting the atheistic neo-liberal cultural trends emanating from Europe and copied by youth in the name of globalisation and modernity. National Convention could address the issue of climate change through adopting the interfaith commons while maintaining in some forms of dietary, sartorial, linguistic, religious diversity. 12. *Youth colloquiums ( Majlis-e-Naujawan)for contributing in the mitigation of the impacts of climate change:* LLF recognises the critical role of youths as an organisation led by youths. Green youth forums formed and discussions are held for getting the desired response pattern for halting the expansion of unsustainable consumption pattern and leisure use pattern through adoption of faith based measures. *WHAT ARE CARBON NEUTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD DISCUSSIONS/ CONSULTATIONS (CNND/Cs)?* The discussions, conversation, conferences that are held in the neighborhood with all who can be reached by foot or carbon neutral transport such as bicycle, bullock carts, horse driven carriages and others The discussion that we hold at home and in the neighborhood spaces such as parks, tea/ coffee ,vegetable shops, milk shops-all in the neighborhood and nearby habitations and localities that are accessible by foot . *CNNDS ON WHAT?* Personal responses for reducing the emission of green house gases Transforming travel decisions for energy intensive leisure i.e. Leisure using GHG emitting transport and venues such as bars and discotheques Alternative ways for getting the feeling of wellbeing including faith base practices such as practice of prayer, meditation individually and collectively *CNNDS WITH WHOM?* With all irrespective of class, caste, race, religion, ethnicity, gender etc. as we all are contributors to the emission of green house gases in various measures and the impacts of the climate change are affecting us all. With children who could contribute through avoiding the green house gas emitting engagements. With women who are the potential consumers of the fossil fuel based energy, services and leisure. With youth who are the potential consumers of the fossil fuel based energy, services and leisure. With community leaders who are the potential consumers of the fossil fuel based energy, services and leisure. *WITH ALL POTENTIAL EMITTER OF GREEN HOUSE GASES:* Who are potential contributors to the emission of green house gases? All of us are the potential contributor to the emission of green house gases. Both poor and rich, black and white, brown and yellow. Across the nations, across the neighborhoods With men and women across the age groups With friends and foes *WHAT IS NEEDED FOR CNNDS?* Information on climate change and its reasons Commitments for communicating the same to all with whom one relates at home, workplace and elsewhere Setting personal examples of one is responding for addressing the impacts of climate change Desire to talk to people in the neighborhood Spaces for conducting the CNNDs A group of friends or relatives in the neighborhood *COMMUNICATING ECOLOGICAL AUDIT:* *Ecological audit of the consumption patterns*: there is need to communicate ecological audit of the consumption patterns so that we are sure that we consume for survival and not for luxury and exhibition. Ecological audit of the transport patterns- reduction in fossil fuel based transport is critical for reducing emission of green house gases. It is important to consider the interests of future generations for ecological safe habitats. Fossil fuel based transports have a short history and short future. There is need to prepare for the end of Petro-modern times Ecological audit of the use of water, energy, food and time Ecological audit of the travel needs *IMPACTS:* Reduction in the personal contribution to the emission of green house gases Multiplication of the discussion across the neighborhoods Multiplication of the personal decisions for reducing the emission of green house gases Adoption of neighborhood carbon neutral measures for leisure ,relaxation, spiritual wellbeing and procuring the provisions *Draft: Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Alam, Executive Director (hon), CEASIG, 58-C, DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052* *December 3, 2008*** 2009/4/1 mary rose > > > > > *From:* Nance ~ [mailto:planetnews8 at gmail.com] > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:21 PM > *Subject:* Electric cars > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 13:36:08 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:36:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Who is the Better Mother? Message-ID: <00a301c9b3ca$4e2800e0$ea7802a0$@net> From: TrueProphet"WATCHMAN" [mailto:prophet2 at cwjamaica.com] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 12:04 PM To: Br Yoel Israel Subject: Fw: Who is the Better Mother? What we must begin to understand here is that human behavior is largely dictated by the system (environment) in which we live. To construct a system that is "life-enhancing," rather than "death-defining" as is the one in which we presently live, would allow the people in it to change. We need a model that is more aligned with that of nature - if it were available we would see the same type of behavior as we see in animals who live in natural, caring environments uninfluenced by the depredations' of human kind. ----- Original Message ----- From: TrueProphet "WATCHMAN" To: TrueProphet "WATCHMAN" Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 3:37 AM Subject: Fw: Who is the Better Mother? Who is the Better Mother Here! Animal or Human? ----- Original Message ----- From: Betty Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 8:40 PM Subject: Fw: Who is the Better Mother? ----- Original Message ----- From: AvenueOfLight To: Harold P Wright Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 1:38 AM Subject: Re: Who is the Better Mother? UNreal........ ----- Original Message ----- From: Harold P Wright To: harold P Wright Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:44 PM Subject: Who is the Better Mother? Who is the better mother? Nice Green Lawn Nice New Stroller Nice New POOR BABY Nice New Quilt Ole BAG! Wat a JEZEBELL!!!! _____ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 22600 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 27357 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 33455 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 31370 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 28522 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 36211 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Thu Apr 2 05:32:00 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 17:02:00 +0530 Subject: [GJM] FW: Electric cars In-Reply-To: <009f01c9b2d6$d1d82a40$75887ec0$@net> References: <009f01c9b2d6$d1d82a40$75887ec0$@net> Message-ID: <31f677a30904020432y616c22bbp5fa57827e291e56f@mail.gmail.com> Dear Mary , It is indeed horrifying to learn that oil lobbies are so powerful that they would destroy electric cars. Even so, I would like to work for reducing the travel needs as even the electricity generation is based on GHG emitting and fossil fuel guzzling electricity generating plans. I do not own a car but I am amazed that in my neighborhood people are showing off their wealth through increasing the number of cars. Most of people in Ashok Vihar do not have their space for parking. So they are using roadside and encroached upon footpaths for parking their cars. In the lane where I live, car owners find it difficult to sometimes move in but sometime they find a way out. In 1986, when I first came to this city, I did not realise that liberalisation would create such a mess. Most of the young girls are choosing tight fitting jeans giving up modest pajamas and loose shirts with dupattas. Exhibitionist dressing, do not you think is ecologically hostile too. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 2009/4/1 mary rose > > > > > *From:* Nance ~ [mailto:planetnews8 at gmail.com] > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:21 PM > *Subject:* Electric cars > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 16:19:40 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 15:19:40 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Healing Water Message-ID: <016701c9b3e1$2149d4b0$63dd7e10$@net> This is indeed an extraordinary presentation. Thanks to Nance for forwarding it. Studies by Dr. Masuru Emoto show that blessing the water you drink and sending it love, changes its molecular structure. Be sure to do this every time to drink water and also when you bathe. http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/entop.htm From: Nance ~ [mailto:planetnews8 at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 9:52 AM Subject: Healing Water THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL SLIDE SHOW - ENJOY....... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: HealingWater.pps Type: application/vnd.ms-powerpoint Size: 4950528 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Fri Apr 3 05:07:42 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 16:37:42 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: [se-watr] FOR INFO: New White Paper on International Development In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <31f677a30904030407x7a2deefai6f7c96e7c179be01@mail.gmail.com> Dear freinds in London, I am forwarding the mail that calls for inputs for white paper. You may like to see and respond. I think it is an opportunity to share the best of solution and shape the policy development. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Michael Anderson Date: Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 3:19 PM Subject: [se-watr] FOR INFO: New White Paper on International Development To: se-wes at solutionexchange-un.net.in *Moderator?s Note:** Dear Members, please find below a request from Mr. Michael Anderson, Head, Department for International Development (DFID), India. Given the vast experience of members on DFID supported development interventions in India, we are certain that you can provide valuable ideas and suggestions. Since this is an international consultation, the sections in the proposed paper cover a range of issues. For our purpose, we will particularly request you to have a look at Question 3.1-3.5 (* http://consultation.dfid.gov.uk/*) that covers the following:** * * * *What more could the UK Government do to ensure that the developing countries are not left behind in a global shift to low carbon development pathways? DFID would particularly welcome your thoughts on: (1) Support needed to integrate climate resilience into development plans; (2) Development and use of new technologies for low carbon growth (3) Use of economic recovery plans as a stimulus towards a low carbon development pathway (4) Sources of finance to fund a climate change response (5) International institutional architecture required to ensure the needs of developing countries are not neglected.* * * * * Dear members, The UK Department for International Development has launched a consultation for a new White Paper on International Development. The White Paper will set out how the UK Government aims to continue helping deliver better lives for the world's poorest and most vulnerable people in an increasingly interdependent world. It will argue that reducing poverty is not only a moral imperative, but in our increasingly interdependent world, it is in our long-term interests. The consultation document (available on DFID's website http://consultation.dfid.gov.uk/) sets the current context and then outlines some preliminary ideas and poses a series of questions on four priority areas. One of the priority areas is Climate Change. Throughout the world, the effects of climate change are already being felt and are set to get much worse. The economic downturn may threaten global commitment to tackling climate change, but the economic costs of ignoring climate change and its impacts on water resources would far outweigh the cost of taking action now. As trusted partners in addressing poverty in India, we'd really value your thoughts on how the UK can further refine our existing agenda. I invite you to visit the website and post comments. Alternatively, you can send thoughts by email to Karen Mahy (*K-mahy at dfid.gov.uk*) who is co-ordinating the consultation in India. The consultation deadline is 27th May, but we'd appreciate comments from our India colleagues by 17 April 2009. Best wishes, Michael Anderson, Head, DFID India, New Delhi * * -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 2 21:27:23 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:27:23 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Follow Up From Reinhold Ziegler, Synergy California L.P. Message-ID: <000701c9b40c$256541d0$702fc570$@net> From: Reinhold Ziegler [mailto:synergyca at earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 11:22 PM To: 'Robert Francis'; klausner at coretalk.net; 'mary rose'; 'Mark Winstein'; 'Vernon Woolf'; 'Tony Woicekowski' Cc: james.amann at bluewin.ch; 'Jared Rosen'; 'Graber, Craig'; 'Karen Castelli'; merrinell at aol.com; 'Henry Adams' Subject: Follow Up From Reinhold Ziegler, Synergy California L.P. Thank you for your positive response to our recent project animation found at: http://www.newsok.com/multimedia/video/17760665001 Attached is a brochure of our company and a list of our services. I you wish to look further at our work with building-integrated wind, solar and aeroponic growing systems, click on: http://www.synergyii.com/Solartecture/Solartecture3.pdf Let us stay in touch and remain cautiously optimistic about this year. We are at a point where the alternative solutions have become main-stream. Best to be right on time rather than ahead of your time. I will keep you on our mailing list if you would like. Contact us if you need more specifics or our professional services which includes third party financing. Reinhold Ziegler, R.E. Engineer/Solartect, LEED R AP, SBA Principal Laurie Rolfe, Project Manager/Architect, SBA, Partner SYNERGY CALIFORNIA L.P. Tel: (415) 290 4990 FAX (707) 459-6210 synergyca at earthlink.net , www.synergyii.com Solartecture Group: http://www.synergyii.com/Solartecture/Solartecture3.pdf Biotecture Group: http://www.edburtoncompany.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SYNERGYCABrochureFINAL2008.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1641423 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 01:55:54 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 00:55:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement Message-ID: <000001c9b4fa$d0671510$71353f30$@net> This is an excellent article on how to personally ensure your food supply. http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3284 &utm_source=apr09&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N2_TopPic Please join Transition US as well. www.transitionUS.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 01:55:54 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 00:55:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] With capitalism in ruins, what's to protest? Message-ID: <001a01c9b4fa$d801f380$8805da80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 12:11 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] With capitalism in ruins, what's to protest? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090401.wg20_protests02/ BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090401.wg20_protests02 With capitalism in ruins, what's to protest? As world leaders nationalize banks and regulate the economy, the activists of Genoa and Quebec find they have little to disagree with April 1, 2009 at 9:48 PM EDT Ten years ago in Seattle, a summit of world leaders was paralyzed by 40,000 furious protesters calling for a greater government role in the economy, more regulation, and, by only the most radical demonstrators, the nationalization of banks. In London yesterday, it became apparent how far history has taken us. A much-anticipated mass protest, intended to be an "apocalyptic" event that would shut down the City, London's financial district, for a full day, seemed to dissolve under the weight of the moment and the dizzying pace of change. If the financial world came to a halt yesterday, it was only because so many bankers avoided coming to work for fear of traffic congestion and flying bricks. Then again, London's financial world has been operating at something close to a halt for months now, and the black-hooded anarchists were expressing views not too far from those held by London bankers these days. The sight of hundreds of protesters throwing rocks and paint-bombs at the Bank of England's historic headquarters on Threadneedle Street was an image likely to resonate with millions of Britons who have suffered from a severe economic collapse created by this city's freewheeling practices. But as an actual protest, compared with earlier, smaller summits or even London's annual May 1 protests, it was mild. At its peak, the protest saw a modest crowd of 4,000 people throwing themselves at a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland - one of the few buildings in the district that, for reasons unknown, had not boarded up its windows in anticipation of a much larger action. The more adventurous anti-capitalist rioters smashed its windows, threw flares inside, and entered its vacant lobby. The irony was hard to avoid: RBS, along with most other British banks, was nationalized last year in an effort to save it from collapse. It now effectively belongs to the people, for what it's worth. "Even if we break through to the vault, I doubt we'll find much in there," protester Steve Elmond said as he backed away from truncheon-waving police during one of a handful of skirmishes outside the bank. One protester reportedly died after collapsing at an anti-capitalist protest camp outside the Bank of England. But reports last night suggested that he had not been subject to police violence and died of natural causes. Since the number of protesters was smaller than the crowds that have expressed their anger at G8 summits in Genoa, Quebec City and Seattle, even though today's expanded G20 summit is the largest gathering of leaders in recent history in the usually volatile and riot-prone city of London, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that something is different this time. "We've decided not to chant, 'Smash capitalism' because it's done a good job of smashing itself," said Aminta Xenakis, a protester who was putting on a tartan facemask to protect herself against tear gas that was never fired. Much of the force of the anti-capitalism movement appears to have been diluted by capitalism's own self-immolation, and by the extraordinary decisions being made only a few blocks away. At meetings in east London today, leaders of the world's 19 largest economies, plus the European Union, will be proposing levels of government spending, regulation of markets and public-sector control of industry that most protesters a decade ago would not have dreamed of proposing. Among the beleaguered bank workers of the Square Mile, yesterday was known as "don't dress like a banker day," and a surreal scene was created as gangs of protesters dressed as satirical bowler-hatted bankers milled, unawares, with real-life bankers hiding themselves beneath bulky sweaters and khakis. Among the bankers who enjoyed a normal day of work was Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England. As the bank's ancient granite headquarters was pummelled and spray-painted by rioters, he reportedly worked calmly inside, undisturbed. "The recurring joke of the day has been 'spot the banker,'" said Dan Wheeldon, who works near Moorgate tube station, a protest clash point. "There seemed to be more of a festival atmosphere than anything else." With a report from freelance reporter Julia Belluz From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 02:57:42 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 01:57:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] =?utf-8?q?FW=3A_Member_Updates_=E2=80=93_The_Living_Matrix_?= =?utf-8?q?-_Upcoming_Events_-_Webinars?= Message-ID: <014701c9b503$6da307a0$48e916e0$@net> From: Global Coherence Initiative [mailto:info at glcoherence.org] Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 9:37 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Member Updates ? The Living Matrix - Upcoming Events - Webinars Click here for online version. Global Coherence Initiative Greetings from the Global Coherence Initiative Global Coherence Initiative www.glcoherence.org GCI Message Greetings Mary, There?s a lot to share with you in this update ? new Web site features, upcoming events and Webinars, and a special emWave? offer for GCI members. First, in case you haven?t noticed, Global Coherence Initiative membership has increased substantially recently, with 61 countries now represented. Also, the recently released movie, The Living Matrix, about alternative healing, features GCI board members Dr. Rollin McCraty, Deborah Rozman, Howard Martin and many others. Watch a trailer or obtain the movie at www.thelivingmatrixmovie.com/trailer. Creators Greg and Susan Becker created a short introductory movie for GCI. emWave Personal Stress Reliever? ? Created from decades of research on heart-brain communication and human performance, this hand-held device is designed to help increase your heart coherence. Get one through the end of April at the GCI Web store for just $149 ? $50 off the regular price. Use coupon code, SPRING2009, at checkout for discount. All emWave? PSR profits support GCI. New on GCI site ? On the Live Data page, www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/live-data.html, you can see GCI?s spectrograms calendar with daily information from the ionosphere. Click any day for a detailed view. On the Commentaries page, www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/commentaries.html, find interesting information about Earth?s energetic fields compiled by scientist Annette Deyhle, Ph.D., a Global Coherence Monitoring System Research Team member. Community building ? GCI allied with the Gaia social networking site, where people interested in personal growth and planetary change meet. Gaia Community Director Siona van Dijk is a strong GCI supporter and helped us create the Global Coherence Community. Tell about yourself, learn about GCI members, participate in discussions and get GCI news. Register at http://groups.gaia.com/gci. Webinar download ? Global Coherence Initiative: Exploring its Social Change Model and Social Return on Investment (SROI). Claudia Welss and Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., put together a great program on a model for social change. Download it from your My Members page in the Downloads section. Upcoming Events, Webinars April 7 ? 4 to 6 p.m. PDT: Howard Martin will be a featured speaker in Healing with the Masters, a free teleseminar series hosted by acclaimed author and speaker, Jennifer McLean. The 12-week series gives exclusive access to 24 of the world?s leading experts in spirituality, wellness and healing, including Gregg Braden, Jack Canfield, Bruce Lipton, Neale Donald Walsch, Gary Zukav and Martin. They?ll discuss their success and how to accelerate your own consciousness and evolution. Learn about free series downloads and register at http://budurl.com/Howard. April 10-11 ? Shattering False Limits and Activating Your Heart?s Intelligence, with Gregg Braden and Howard Martin, Wyndham O?Hare Hotel, Chicago: Learn how to create a more coherent environment in every aspect of your life and scientifically valid techniques for increasing access to intuition and improving health, performance and well-being. Information and registration: www.conferenceworks.com/speakers/braden_martin.html. April 23 ? 5 to 6 p.m. PST. Powering Up Your Coherence Webinar, with GCI Steering Committee member Howard Martin: This members-only Webinar is about increasing the effectiveness of your coherence practices. Learn to better manage the stress of daily living while adding clarity and potency to your efforts at helping the world. Information and registration: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/865878576. April 24-26 ? Creating Personal and Global Coherence. During this weekend of events, sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Howard Martin, executive vice president of HeartMath LLC, will give instruction on HeartMath techniques, concepts and science that help people manage change, increase effectiveness and better understand and experience the current global shift in consciousness. Information and registration: www.noetic.org/retreat/transformlearning.html#schedule. June 17-21 ? Institute of Noetic Sciences 13th International Conference at JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort, Tucson, Ariz.: Among the conference presentations will be HeartMath: Practical Science-Based Tools for Personal, Social and Global Transformation, with Institute of HeartMath Director of Research and GCI Steering Committee member Dr. Rollin McCraty. Information and registration: http://ionsconference.org/2009/. The Global Coherence Initiative is growing! Thanks for your help and participation. With care, The Global Coherence Initiative Steering Committee Global Coherence Initiative 14700 West Park Ave., Boulder Creek, CA 95006 | tel (831) 706-2981 | fax (831) 338-8504 | info at glcoherence.org To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 02:57:42 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 01:57:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Hemp Bill Introduced In Congress Message-ID: <014c01c9b503$73f70e30$5be52a90$@net> I just brought this up today on Facebook in a discussion which involved some posts by Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Hemp could produce 20,000 different natural products. Lexus is now using hemp to make dashboards for its cars. From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 9:46 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Fw: Hemp Bill Introduced In Congress Hemp makes better paper than wood pulp, makes much better cloth than synthetics, would be a boon to agriculture, saving forests. So we can be sure the silly ban will remain in place. Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP From: Phyllis Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 6:25 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Hemp Bill Introduced In Congress ----- Original Message ----- From: TradingPostPaul To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 12:59 AM Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Hemp Bill Introduced In Congress (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Hemp Bill Introduced In Congress http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/03/hemp-bill-introduced-in-c_n_182880. html April 3, 2009 at 01:42 PM A bipartisan group of agitating members of Congress introduced legislation Thursday to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Currently eight states -- Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia -- allow industrial hemp production or research, but federal law, which requires nearly-impossible-to-obtain-permits to grow hemp, trumps those state laws. The new bill would allow states to craft their own policy. Hemp, a cousin of marijuana that can't get you stoned, is considered by the Drug Enforcement Administration to be a controlled substance because it kind of looks like pot. Synthetic fabric makers have long opposed hemp, which they see as competition. The United Sates is the only nation that blocks its farmers from growing hemp, though hemp products are legal to import and to sell. Somebody would have to smoke several acres worth of hemp, which has negligible psychoactive properties, for that policy to make any sense. But wild hemp continues to grow across the country. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan took the anti-hemp policy to its logical conclusion and ordered law enforcement to uproot wild hemp wherever it was found. It was a wild success: by 1989, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimated it uprooted 120 million of the plants that year, which it referred to in government reports as "ditchweed." In 2001, it eradicated half a billion such plants, though not even that total could get someone high. The war on ditchweed continues today, but the DEA has stopped its embarrassing habit of disclosing the total amount of useless plants it uproots. The industrial hemp bill is being championed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a powerful committee chairman and outspoken critic of the drug war, as well as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a libertarian-leaning former presidential candidate suspicious of federal power. Nine other members, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's close ally, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), cosponsored the bill. "Federal law is standing in the way of farmers in these states growing what may be a very profitable crop," said Paul when introducing the bill. Frank and Paul,in a letter [PDF] to congressional colleagues, note that "during World War II, the federal government encouraged industrial hemp farming to help the war effort." The industrial hemp bill comes as policymakers are taking a fresh look at the war on drugs in light of the very real war in Mexico between the government and rival drug cartels. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has proposed an overhaul of the criminal justice system and Attorney General Eric Holder has vowed not to prosecute medical marijuana patients and clinics that are in compliance with state law. Though the bill faces long odds in Congress, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has said it "supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp." The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has also passed a pro-hemp resolution. Obama could change hemp policy without congressional action, noted Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra. "Obama should direct the DEA to stop confusing industrial hemp with its genetically distinct cousin, marijuana. While the new bill in Congress is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that the new leadership in the White House will prioritize the crop's benefits to farmers," he said. Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.41/2040 - Release Date: 04/03/09 17:54:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 02:57:42 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 01:57:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Summers Received Hundreds Of Thousands In Speaking Fees From TARP Recipients Message-ID: <015101c9b503$7825ead0$6871c070$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 10:50 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Summers Received Hundreds Of Thousands In Speaking Fees From TARP Recipients (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Summers Received Hundreds Of Thousands In Speaking Fees From TARP Recipients http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/03/summers-received-hundreds_n_183058. html April 3, 2009 at 09:29 PM Barack Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year from firms that have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs. The White House released late Friday the personal financial disclosure forms of many high-ranking administration officials. The document provided for Summers, who serves as one of the president's closest confidants, underscores just how close some of these officials are to the industry over which they now have oversight. Among the firms that paid Summers large amounts in speaking fees include J.P. Morgan Chase. That bank offered the former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary $67,500 for a February 1, 2008 engagement. It has received $25 billion in government bailout funds. Citigroup, which has received $50 billion in taxpayer help, paid Summers $45,000 for a speech in March 2008 and another $54,000 for a speech that May. Goldman Sachs, which has received $10 million in bailout funds, paid Summers $135,000 for a speech on April 16, 2008 and another $67,500 for a speech on June 18, 2008. Summers also received about $5.2 million over the past year in salary from the major hedge fund D.E. Shaw. The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president. Already viewed as too favorably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry. In a prepared statement, spokesman Ben LaBolt said that, "From the first days of the administration, we have bolstered accountability over banks and reformed the TARP process so that taxpayers can see how their money is being spent, the influence of lobbyists is curbed, executive compensation is reined in, and firms are required to show how they will preserve or expand lending using government funds. Dr. Summers has been at the forefront of this administration's work to shore up our nation's financial system and to put in place a regulatory framework that will strengthen the financial system and its oversight - all in an effort to help the families across America who have paid a very steep price for risky decisions made by Wall Street executives." Story continues below Below is a list of the notable speeches given by Summers last year, the amount he was paid, and the date of the address. Further down is a PDF of Summers' Personal Financial Disclosure form, released on late Friday afternoon. Tell us what you see. Skagen Funds, $60,300, (1/9/2008) Skagen Funds, $60,300, (1/10/2008) Skagen Funds, $59,400, (1/11/2008) JP Morgan, $67,500, (2/1/2008) Itinera Institute, $62,876 (1/8/2008) Citigroup, $45,000 (3/3/2008) Goldman Sachs Co., $135,000, (4/16/2008) Associon de Bancos de Mexico, $90,000, (4/3/2008) Lehman Brothers, $67,500, (4/17/2008) State Street Corporation, $45,000, (4/18/2008) Siguler Guff & Company, $67,500, (5/7/2008) Hudson Institute, $10,000, (05/28/2008) Citigroup, $54,000, (5/30/2008) Investec Bank, $157,500, (6/13/2008) Goldman Sachs, $67,500, (6/18/2008) Lehman Brothers, $67,500, (7/30/2008) Tata Consultance Services, $67,500, (9/21/2008) State Street Corporation, $112,500, (10/2/2008) McKinsey and Company, $135,000, (10/19/2008) Charles River Ventures LLC, $67,500, (11/112008) Pricewaterhouse Coopers, $67,500 (9/9/2008) American Chamber of Commerce In Argentina, $135,000 (10/7/2008) American Express, $67,500 (5/7/2008) From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 03:06:59 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 02:06:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Asparagus and Cancer Message-ID: <016001c9b504$c9a3c660$5ceb5320$@net> From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 2:44 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Fw: Asparagus and Cancer Shouldn't a bunch be called Asparageese? Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP From: Sallie Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 6:49 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Re: Asparagus and Cancer Larry, I found DL's article when I did a search ASPARAGUS CURES CANCER 69 http://hubpages.com/hub/asparaguscurescancer You have to toggle down to CANCER CURE? ASPARAGUS! Cancer News Journal, December 1979 Also read the article right before it by Lucinda Ball ASPARAGUS FIGHTS CANCER Lucinda Ball (UK 2005) writes: "Asparagus is one of nature's most perfect foods. Asparagus are poor in calories and loaded with vitamins and minerals. Asparagus also contains the phyto-chemical glutathione, which has antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties. According to the National Cancer Institute, asparagus is the highest tested food containing glutathione, one of the body's most potent cancer fighters. Additionally, asparagus is high in rutin, which is valuable in strengthening the blood vessels. Avocado and walnuts are also particularly rich in dietary sources of glutathione. Glutathione is a small protein composed of three amino acids; cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. Glutathione is involved in detoxification. It binds to fat-soluble toxins, such as heavy metals, solvents, and pesticides, and transforms them into a water-soluble form that can be excreted in urine." I love Asparagus and have several recipes and it's only $.88 cents a bunch. I like to cook it in a skillet in a small amount of water and olive oil, pour off the water and oil and then sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. I never used it for cancer we just like it and has been well known that it contains phyto-chemical glutathione which is an antioxidant and anticarcinogenic. All the green or highly colored vegetables and fruits are good for you. I like spinach too and make spinach lasagna and spinach filled manicotti. I use Ronzoni Smart Taste. Ronzoni Smart Taste is the first white pasta to be enriched with fiber and calcium-and lots of it. Three times the fiber and calcium equal to an eight-ounce glass of milk. Studies show that many diets are lacking in these two important nutrients. ----- Original Message ----- From: Reclusive To: DL Whipple Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 4:46 PM Subject: Re: Asparagus and Cancer Gonna see a few more mailboxes'n figure it's worth a try anyway, especially since I just found out I supposedly don't have lung cancer. On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 8:59 AM, DL Whipple wrote: Not tried this personally, but often make asparagus soup and it's quite good. It sure would not harm a person to try this. dl Subject: Asparagus and Cancer Dear Friends and Family, After reading this article over a month ago, I could not remember where it was. So I asked my sister to send it to me again. I am asking you to read it to the end. My Mom had been taking the full-stalk canned style asparagus that she pureed and she took 4 tablespoons in the morning and 4 tablespoons later in the day. She did this for over a month. She is on chemo pills for Stage 3 lung cancer in the pleural area and her cancer cell count went from 386 down to 125 as of this past week. Her oncologist said she does not need to see him for 3 months. THE ARTICLE: Several years ago, I had a man seeking asparagus for a friend who had cancer. He gave me a photocopied copy of an article,entitled 'Asparagus for cancer' printed in Cancer NewsJournal, December 1979. I will share it here, just as it was shared with me: 'I am a biochemist,and have specialized in the relation of diet to health for over 50 years. Several years ago, I learned of the discovery of Richard R. Vensal, D.D.S. that asparagus might cure cancer. Since then, I have worked with him on his project. We have accumulated a number of favorable case histories. Here are a few examples: Case No. 1, A man with an almost hopeless case of Hodgkin's disease (cancer of the lymph glands) who was completely incapacitated. Within 1 year of starting the asparagus therapy, his doctors were unable to detect any signs of cancer, and he was back on a schedule of strenuous exercise. Case No. 2, a successful businessman 68 years old who suffered from cancer of the bladder for 16 years. After years of medical treatments, including radiation without improvement, he went on asparagus. Within 3 months, examinations revealed that his bladder tumor had disappeared and that his kidneys were normal. Case No. 3, a man who had lung cancer. On March 5th 1971, he was put on the operating table where they found lung cancer so widely spread that it was inoperable. The surgeon sewed him up and declared his case hopeless. On April 5th he heard about the asparagus therapy and immediately started taking it.By August, x-ray pictures revealed that all signs of the cancer had disappeared.. He is back at his regular business routine. Case No. 4, a woman who was troubled for a number of years with skin cancer. She finally developed different skin cancers which were diagnosed by asking specialist as advanced.. Within 3 months after starting on asparagus, her skin specialist said that her skin looked fine and no more skin lesions. This woman reported that the asparagus therapy also cure her kidney disease, which started in 1949. She had over 10 operations for kidney stones, and was receiving government disability payments for an inoperable, terminal, kidney condition. She attributes the cure of this kidney trouble entirely to the asparagus. I was not surprised at this result, as `The elements ofmateria medica', edited in 1854 by a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, stated that asparagus was used as a popular remedy for kidney stones. He even referred to experiments, in 1739, on the power of asparagus in dissolving stones. We would have other case histories but the medical establishment has interfered with our obtaining some of the records. I am therefore appealing to readers to spread this good news and help us to gather a large number of case histories that will overwhelm the medical skeptics about this unbelievably simple and natural remedy. For the treatment, asparagus should be cooked before using, and therefore canned asparagus is just as good as fresh. I have corresponded with the two leading canners of asparagus, Giant and Stokely, and I am satisfied that these brands contain no pesticides or preservatives. Place the cooked asparagus in a blender and liquefy to make a puree, and store in the refrigerator. Give the patient 4 full tablespoons twice daily, morning and evening. Patients usually show some improvement in from 2-4 weeks. It can be diluted with water and used as a cold or hot drink. This suggested dosage is based on present experience, but certainly larger amounts can do no harm and may be needed in some cases. As a biochemist I am convinced of the old saying that `what cures can prevent'. Based on this theory, my wife and I have been using asparagus puree as a beverage with our meals. We take 2 tablespoons diluted in water to suit our taste with breakfast and with dinner. I take mine hot and my wife prefers hers cold. For years we have made it a practice to have blood surveys taken as part of our regular checkups. The last blood survey, taken by a medical doctor who specializes in the nutritional approach to health, showed substantial improvements in all categories over the last one, and we can attribute these improvements to nothing but the asparagus drink... As a biochemist, I have made an extensive study of all aspects of cancer, and all of the proposed cures. As a result, I am convinced that asparagus fits in better with the latest theories about cancer. Asparagus contains a good supply of protein called histones,which are believed to be active in controlling cell growth. For that reason, I believe asparagus can be said to contain a substance that I call cell growth normalizer. That accounts for its action on cancer and in acting as a general body tonic. In any event, regardless of theory, asparagus used as we suggest, is a harmless substance. The FDA cannot prevent you from using it and it may do you much good.. It has been reported by the US National Cancer Institute, that asparagus is the highest tested food containing glutathione, which is considered one of the body's most potent anticarcinogens and antioxidants. Please spread the news... the most unselfish act one can ever do is paying forward all the kindness one has received even to the most undeserved person. God bless. GLORY BE THINE IN 2009! _____ _____ New Low Prices on Dell Laptops - Starting at $399 -- Independent thinker, not one of the Sheople! http://www.notgovernmentapproved.com "As of January 20, 2009 the Federal Reserve became the SECOND biggest hoax foisted upon this nation!" E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.1.440) Database version: 6.12100 http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.39/2038 - Release Date: 04/02/09 19:07:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 16:31:21 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 15:31:21 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. takes back seat as power balance shifts Message-ID: <000301c9b575$2070bc30$61523490$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:35 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. takes back seat as power balance shifts (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090403.wg20analysis03/B NStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090403.wg20analysis03 U.S. takes back seat as power balance shifts April 3, 2009 at 1:30 AM EDT LONDON - In a conference hall built atop the Blitz-scarred ruins of the east London Docklands, the leaders of the world's largest rich and poor nations huddled for a few hours yesterday and put an end to the postwar era. "The old Washington consensus is over; today we have reached a new consensus," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who convened the summit and proposed many of its ideas, declared at its conclusion yesterday. "I think a new world order is emerging." It was no mere rhetoric. No longer, after yesterday's G20 declaration, is the world governed by the logic and structures that have defined it since the final days of the Second World War, when the similarly momentous 1944 Bretton Woods summit set up global institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to rebuild Europe and Asia under U.S. guidance. "Since Bretton Woods, the world has been living on a financial model, the Anglo-Saxon model. . Clearly, today, a page has been turned," French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared in a statement broadcast at the same time as Mr. Brown's. Significantly, U.S. President Barack Obama didn't challenge those assessments and played a major role in building a 19-nation agreement that comes very close to making them true. The Bretton Woods institutions, and the U.S. government's financial arms, have overseen the expanding world economy for six decades and they were at the centre of yesterday's proposals to rescue that economy from its debt-driven collapse. But their role, and the shape of the world, is permanently altered. Until 2009, the fundamental goal of the IMF and its sister organizations was to deregulate the world economy, to remove restrictions from finance capital. Under yesterday's agreement, those organizations will serve as regulators: As well as keeping the financial system working and rescuing nations from bankruptcy, the IMF and new organizations will aggressively police the worldwide credit, finance and banking systems to prevent a recurrence of the bad-credit spiral that led to the current crisis. In exchange, they will become far less U.S.-dominated: In exchange for substantial contributions to the fund, formerly developing countries such as China, India and Brazil will play a larger role controlling them. Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia University economist who has been a leading critic of the "Washington consensus" of freewheeling finance, described yesterday's agreement as a seismic event in financial history. "It's a historic moment when the world came together and said we were wrong to push deregulation," he said. "It is a major step forward." Yet it is not as dramatic a change as some leaders had hoped. This is not the "new kind of capitalism" proposed by Mr. Sarkozy, a system that would feature more state ownership and protectionism than before. Nor, in the long term, is it a turn away from the successful postwar combination of liberal economics, privatization and open foreign investment. Instead, it is a shift from the era of unrestrained globalization into a new era of what might be called "managed globalization." The London G20 summit has changed the power relations behind globalization, probably permanently. Even if its proposals fail to arrest the deep recession, even if yesterday's proposals prove to be a mere speed bump on the road to ruin, it will be almost impossible to return to the old system. It was not the headline figure of $1-trillion in new credit, trade finance and fiscal assistance - a large part of it coming from China and other non-wealthy countries - although that news was enough to send stock markets soaring. Nor was it the surprisingly large sums to be spent on the world's poorest countries, an amount capable of making a huge difference to hundreds of millions of very poor people. The biggest difference lies in the summit itself and in the way it has been approached by the United States and its allies. The rise of the G20 as an instrument for mending the economy, and the new structure of the IMF, paves the way to a world in which the United States is no longer the necessary partner in any major economic dealings. The presence of the world's top "developing" countries - notably China, India and Brazil - was not tokenism or ornament, as it has largely been at past summits. Those countries are now contributors, rather than recipients, of finance; without China's $50-billion commitment yesterday, the trade-finance package would not have worked. But something important changed yesterday. It is no longer a case of Washington bailing out the world, with the help of a small group of wealthy European nations and sometimes Canada. Yesterday, to an important degree, the world bailed out the United States. Mr. Brown compared it to the Marshall Plan, in which the U.S. government injected hundreds of millions into the European and Japanese economies after the war in exchange for Washington holding decisive power in most international bodies. Yesterday, 65 years after Bretton Woods, the favour was returned. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 4 16:46:39 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 15:46:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Barack Obama's New World Order Message-ID: <006401c9b577$3b0419f0$b10c4dd0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:52 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Barack Obama's New World Order (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Since the corporate U.S. press has almost totally blacked out the President's sensational Europe trip, we try to focus on it. listowner -------------- "At the end of Obama's Friday press conference, French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the issue directly, speaking through an interpreter. "It feels really good to be able to work with a U.S. President who wants to change the world and who understands that the world does not boil down to simply American frontiers and borders," he said. "And that is a hell of a good piece of news for 2009." Barack Obama's New World Order By Michael Scherer / Strasbourg Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1889512,00.html?xid=rss-tops tories-cnnpartner The United States is still the same country it was a year ago, give or take about 6 million jobs. But its international branding campaign, as led by the new President, Barack Obama, is so different that the rest of the world might be forgiven if it has to do a double take. Most of the hallmarks of the foreign policy of George W. Bush are gone. The old conservative idea of "American exceptionalism," which placed the U.S. on a plane above the rest of the world as a unique beacon of democracy and financial might, has been rejected. At almost every stop, Obama has made clear that the U.S. is but one actor in a global community. Talk of American economic supremacy has been replaced by a call from Obama for more growth in developing countries. Claims of American military supremacy have been replaced with heavy emphasis on cooperation and diplomatic hard labor. (Read "Obama in Europe: Facing Four Big Challenges.") The tone was set from Obama's first public remarks in London on Wednesday, at a press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, where the American President said he had come "to listen, not to lecture." At a joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Baden-Baden on Friday, a German reporter asked Obama about his "grand designs" for NATO. "I don't come bearing grand designs," Obama said, scrapping the leadership role the U.S. maintained through the Cold War. "I'm here to listen, to share ideas and to jointly, as one of many NATO allies, help shape our vision for the future." On Thursday night, after the G-20 summit ended, Obama took so many questions from the foreign press, including British, Indian and Chinese reporters, that a group of them applauded when he left the stage. Two American reporters asked Obama for his response to the claim by Brown that the "Washington consensus is over." Obama all but agreed with Brown, noting that the phrase had its roots in a significant set of economic policies that had shown itself to be imperfect. He went on to talk about the benefits of increasing economic competition with the U.S. "That's not a loss for America," he said of the economic rise of other powers. "It's an appreciation that Europe is now rebuilt and a powerhouse. Japan is rebuilt, is a powerhouse. China, India - these are all countries on the move. And that's good." At a town hall in Strasbourg, France, Obama stood before an audience of mostly French and German youth and admitted that the U.S. should have a greater respect for Europe. "In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world," he said before offering other European critical views of his country. "There have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." The contrast is striking. Only four years ago, George W. Bush, in his second Inaugural Address, described what he called America's "considerable" influence, saying, "We will use it confidently in freedom's cause." Bush's vision of American power was combative and aggressive. He said the U.S. would "seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture." He continued, "We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom." Obama, by contrast, is looking for collaboration. He is looking to build a collective vision, not to impose an American one. And the response has been notable, from the endless flashbulbs that fired off at his town hall to the cheers of spectators who lined his motorcade routes and gathered outside his events in London. At the end of Obama's Friday press conference, French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the issue directly, speaking through an interpreter. "It feels really good to be able to work with a U.S. President who wants to change the world and who understands that the world does not boil down to simply American frontiers and borders," he said. "And that is a hell of a good piece of news for 2009." From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Sun Apr 5 09:50:44 2009 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 16:50:44 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Sparky TV program References: <000701c9b40c$256541d0$702fc570$@net> Message-ID: <002601c9b606$487c8970$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> Dear All, There have been several TV programs recently and you may like to look at one of them because Max Keiser and I join up to make it a sparky occasion. a.. Go to www.presstv.com b.. Then put your pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" c.. Then click on Fine Print d.. Then 4th April -- US & Global Economy (G20 summit). Rodney Shakespeare -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 10:30:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 09:30:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Europe melts for Michelle Message-ID: <000f01c9b60b$e2bc8170$a8358450$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:23 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Europe melts for Michelle (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Europe melts for Michelle By NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON & JONATHAN MARTIN | 4/4/09 8:19 PM EDT http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20897.html He was cool and understated, the slightest bit aloof. She choked up as she told young minority girls to follow their dreams. He gave speeches. She gave hugs. And while Barack Obama came to Europe as the American president, Michelle Obama came as something entirely different - almost an American tourist, but the kind even jaded Europeans could love, big-hearted, curious, sophisticated yet accessible. They simply melted for Michelle. Of course, the Europeans were eager to gush over a First Couple not named Bush. In fact, if one of the White House's goals for this trip is repair the U.S. reputation abroad after the Bush era, Michelle was an equal partner in the effort, in ways different from her husband. Barack Obama wins them over with a personal style and an embrace of internationalism that seems almost European. Michelle Obama is the approachable one, fashionable yet down-to-earth, and effusive (rubbing the Queen's back!) in an endearing way. "She still seems to be wide eyed in the job and pinching herself as if she can't believe it, because who would have predicted this?" said Joanna Coles, who is British and is editor-in-chief of Marie Claire. "And that's what's exciting about her, and that's what exciting about America, and that's what she represents," Coles said. Whatever it was, the Europeans fell hard. Dubbed Mighty Michelle by one British tab-because of her sculpted arms, her Ivy League pedigree, fashion sense and her power as a cultural symbol-Obama's star power grew with every day of her European tour. Her fashion choices were front-page news. Coverage of her every move kept pace with coverage of the president. She was careful never to overshadow him, but many observers noted that she seemed to resonate with the public in a way that even the popular president did not. To writer Tina Brown, Michelle Obama became "the inspirational It Girl and iconic female African-American role model"-the new Oprah, with a dash of Princess Di. The Guardian Newspaper put it plainly, saying that the success of the Europe trip for "Brand Michelle .. was not that the international public think of her as more beautiful, or even as more stylish, but that they like her more, they relate to her more, and they trust her more." Part of it was simply the novelty - Barack Obama had swept through Europe last summer but this was Michelle's first high-profile trip. In her designer clothes and off the rack ensembles, she broke through the obvious stagecraft in a way that the president, busy shuttling from meeting to meeting about the global economic meltdown, never did, and frankly never could. And it was clear at some point that Michelle Obama could do no wrong. Take her meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. She not only touched the Queen. She rubbed her back gently at one point - a breach of traditional royal protocol-yet nobody seemed to care. The London tabs that feasted for days on Obama's gift of DVDs to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave her a pass, as did Buckingham Palace. The Queen's arm-in-arm exchange with Obama "was a mutual and spontaneous display of affection," the Palace said. Case closed. And the Queen's parting words to Obama certainly suggested that the pair hit it off: "Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?" the British Monarch reportedly said as they parted ways. Aides to Obama said they weren't surprised with the coverage of the first lady - seeing in Europe what they've seen since the first lady's day in the White House, where her approval ratings now stand at 72 percent. "They appreciate the fact that she is so authentically herself. That she is very comfortable in her own skin and that her spirit comes through when she meets people," Camille Johnston, Obama's director of communications said. "People who have come to know her in the U.S. have seen that and now it's become apparent to people around the world." One question for Michelle Obama now - what to do with this global platform? Anyone expecting that Obama will become a permanent fixture on the world stage, or use her newfound global fame to expand her portfolio into the international realm, will be disappointed. Aides said she has an event planned next week, and the Easter Egg Roll is scheduled for the following week, and she'll begin to turn her attention to her commencement speeches. The family dog arrives near the end of the month. So the next months will look much like the last two months, without the globe-hopping. She will continue to focus on "family, community and service and her role in helping this administration accomplish its goals," Johnston said. While her meetings with the Queen, Sarah Brown and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy were the most anticipated, the most-remembered image of Michelle Obama might well be her meeting with a group of minority girls at a London school. She gave the same up-from-the-South-Side speech she often gives at home, yet her aides said she recognized what a moment it was in history, for her to be on the world stage as the first African-American first lady. Her voice broke with emotion, and her aides said that she saw herself in the faces of the students. Afterward, she practically dove into the crowd, kneeling at the edge of the stage to dole out hugs. "People identify with her, even here, she is seen as a woman of the people," said Crystal Fleming, who is affiliated with the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. "The French magazine Le Point dubbed her 'the princess of the people,' which is pretty impressive when you think about it. She's an African American woman." Fleming said that for non-Americans, Michelle Obama, even more so than her husband, "incarnates how far African-Americans have come, she's the descendant of slaves, Barack is not, and that is really a source of inspiration that she is in the White House. She is seen as a symbol of progress and source of pride." From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 10:30:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 09:30:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama to call for nuclear-free world Message-ID: <001c01c9b60b$e8211ef0$b8635cd0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:13 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama to call for nuclear-free world (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Obama to call for nuclear-free world Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090404/pl_nm/us_obama_europe Sat Apr 4, 6:14 pm ET PRAGUE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in remarks on Sunday he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea. Visiting Prague during an eight-day visit to Europe, Obama plans to deliver what his aides have billed as a major speech on weapons proliferation. Obama, who is making his debut on the world stage, said in Strasbourg, France on Friday that he would lay out an agenda to secure the world's loose nuclear materials and halt the spread of illicit weapons. He added that he wanted to offer an agenda "to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons." "Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," Obama said. Obama, a former U.S. senator who succeeded President George W. Bush in January, has long shown interest in the issue of halting weapons proliferation and wants to make it a signature foreign policy issue for his new administration. "The president has been very focused on these issues of proliferation for many years," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough told reporters. "Tomorrow, I think you'll hear the president, in a very comprehensive way, outline many of the things that he's been talking about and working on for some time," McDonough said. While in Prague, Obama will also discuss climate change and energy security with the 27 leaders of European Union countries at a summit hosted by the Czech EU presidency, undermined by a government collapse last week. Thousands of Czechs are expected to turn up for Obama's speech at a square outside the medieval Prague Castle, with the panorama of the historic Czech capital in the background. The call for renewed efforts at global nuclear disarmament is likely to be well received in Europe, where Obama is seeking to use his strong popularity to advance his agenda on issues such as Iran and the war in Afghanistan. The proliferation speech comes after Obama met on Wednesday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit, where the two leaders pledged to pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads. The aim to is agree to a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), which led to the biggest-ever bilateral cuts in nuclear weapons, but expires in December. Obama is seeking support from Russia, China and other countries to pressure Iran over its disputed nuclear program and ratchet up pressure on North Korea, which has said it will send a satellite into space between April 4 and 8. The launch is widely seen abroad as a disguised long-range missile test. The United States and its European allies accuse Iran of planning to build an atomic bomb. But Iran denies this, saying its nuclear program is aimed at the peaceful purpose of generating electricity. McDonough said Obama will urge a revival of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which was ratified in 1970 and calls on nuclear states to take steps to disarm and forbids non-nuclear states from trying to acquire them. "That is an age-old bargain that the president wants to reinforce and it will strengthen our hand with countries like Iran that continue to pursue an illicit nuclear technology," he said. George Perkovich, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington, said that unlike issues such as the economic downturn and the Iraq war, the proliferation agenda is not an issue he inherited from the Bush administration but one he is actively promoting. "This is one of the few things that is not part of his inheritance," Perkovich said. The visit to the Czech Republic, a central European NATO-member country about to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communist rule, has been marred by the collapse of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's cabinet. After losing a no-confidence vote, his government is expected to leave power soon. The Czech government is a close U.S. ally that has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Topolanek, who is chairing the European Union in the first half of this year, caused a stir last week when he described U.S. prescriptions to fix the economic crisis as a "road to hell." Topolanek plans to ask Obama about plans to build a missile defense radar southeast of Prague, a project firmly backed by the Czech government but opposed by most Czechs. The Czech radar system and plans to site missile shield bases in Poland have angered Russia but lost pace under Obama's administration. Obama has told Moscow he is willing to slow the deployment of the system in Europe if Russia helps in curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 10:30:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 09:30:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Startling Revelations about Three Mile Island Disaster Raise Doubts Over Nuke Safety Message-ID: <001d01c9b60b$ebdd3c90$c397b5b0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:16 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Startling Revelations about Three Mile Island Disaster Raise Doubts Over Nuke Safety (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Startling Revelations about Three Mile Island Disaster Raise Doubts Over Nuke Safety http://www.alternet.org/environment/134977/startling_revelations_about_three _mile_island_disaster_raise_doubts_over_nuke_safety/ By Sue Sturgis, Facing South. Posted April 3, 2009. A growing body of personal and scientific evidence contradicts the official story that the accident posed no threat to the public. This story originally appeared on Facing South, online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies. It was April Fool's Day, 1979 -- 30 years ago this week -- when Randall Thompson first set foot inside the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa. Just four days earlier, in the early morning hours of March 28, a relatively minor problem in the plant's Unit 2 reactor sparked a series of mishaps that led to the meltdown of almost half the uranium fuel and uncontrolled releases of radiation into the air and surrounding Susquehanna River. It was the single worst disaster ever to befall the U.S. nuclear power industry, and Thompson was hired as a health physics technician to go inside the plant and find out how dangerous the situation was. He spent 28 days monitoring radiation releases. Today, his story about what he witnessed at Three Mile Island is being brought to the public in detail for the first time -- and his version of what happened during that time, supported by a growing body of other scientific evidence, contradicts the official U.S. government story that the Three Mile Island accident posed no threat to the public. "What happened at TMI was a whole lot worse than what has been reported," Randall Thompson told Facing South. "Hundreds of times worse." Thompson and his wife, Joy, a nuclear health physicist who also worked at TMI in the disaster's aftermath, claim that what they witnessed there was a public health tragedy. The Thompsons also warn that the government's failure to acknowledge the full scope of the disaster is leading officials to underestimate the risks posed by a new generation of nuclear power plants. While new reactor construction ground to a halt after the 1979 incident, state leaders and energy executives today are pushing for a nuclear energy revival that's centered in the South, where 12 of the 17 facilities seeking new reactors are located. Fundamental to the industry's case for expansion is the claim that history proves nuclear power is clean and safe -- a claim on which the Thompsons and others, bolstered by startling new evidence, are casting doubt. An unlikely critic randall_thompson_fire.jpgRandall Thompson could never be accused of being a knee-jerk anti-nuclear alarmist. A veteran of the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine program, he is a self-described "nuclear geek" who after finishing military service jumped at the chance to work for commercial nuclear power companies. He worked for a time at the Peach Bottom nuclear plant south of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania's York County, but quit the industry six months before the TMI disaster over concerns that nuclear companies were cutting corners for higher profits, with potentially dangerous results. Instead, he began publishing a skateboarding magazine with his wife Joy. But the moment the Thompsons heard about the TMI incident, they wanted to get inside the plant and see what was happening first-hand. That didn't prove difficult: Plant operator Metropolitan Edison's in-house health physics staff fled after the incident began, so responsibility for monitoring radioactive emissions went to a private contractor called Rad Services. The company immediately hired Randall Thompson to serve as the health physics technician in charge of monitoring radioactive emissions, while Joy Thompson got a job monitoring radiation doses to TMI workers. "I had other health physicists from around the country calling me saying, 'Don't let it melt without me!" Randall Thompson recalls. "It was exciting. Our attitude was, 'Sure I may get some cancer, but I can find out some cool stuff.'" What the Thompsons say they found out during their time inside TMI suggests radiation releases from the plant were hundreds if not thousands of times higher than the government and industry have acknowledged -- high enough to cause the acute health effects documented in people living near the plant but that have been dismissed by the industry and the government as impossible given official radiation dose estimates. The Thompsons tried to draw attention to their findings and provide health information for people living near the plant, but what they say happened next reads like a John Grisham thriller. They tell of how a stranger approached Randall Thompson in a grocery store parking lot in late April 1979 and warned him his life was at risk, leading the family to flee Pennsylvania. How they ended up in New Mexico working on a book about their experiences with the help of Joy's brother Charles Busey, another nuclear Navy vet and a former worker at the Hatch nuclear power plant in Georgia. How one evening while driving home from the store Busey and Randall Thompson were run off the road, injuring Thompson and killing Busey. How a copy of the book manuscript they were working on was missing from the car's trunk after the accident. These allegations were detailed in several newspaper accounts back in 1981. Eventually, after a decade of having their lives ruled by TMI, the Thompsons decided to move on. Randall Thompson went to college to study computer science. Joy Thompson returned to publishing and writing. Today they live quietly in the mountains of North Carolina where, inspired by time spent seeking refuge with a traveling circus, they have forged a new career for themselves as clowns -- or what they like to call "professional fools." As Joy Thompson wrote in the fall 2001 issue of Parabola, a journal of myth, the role of the fool is to help people "perceive the foolishness in even ... the most powerful institutions," noting the medieval court jester's role of telling the King what others dare not. That conviction has led the Thompsons to tell their story today. "They haven't told the truth yet about what happened at Three Mile Island," says Randall Thompson. "A lot of people have died because of this accident. A lot." Anomalies abound That a lot of people died because of what happened at Three Mile Island, as the Thompsons claim, is definitely not part of the official story. In fact, the commercial nuclear power industry and the government insist that despite the meltdown of almost half of the uranium fuel at TMI, there were only minimal releases of radiation to the environment that harmed no one. For example, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying group for the U.S. nuclear industry, declares on its website that there have been "no public health or safety consequences from the TMI-2 accident." The government's position is the same, reflected in a fact sheet distributed today by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency charged with overseeing the U.S. nuclear power industry: TMI, it says, "led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community." [The watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert offers their take on the NRC factsheet here.] Those upbeat claims are based on the findings of the Kemeny Commission, a panel assembled by President Jimmy Carter in April 1979 to investigate the TMI disaster. Using release figures presented by Metropolitan Edison and the NRC, the commission calculated that in the month following the disaster there were releases of up to 13 million curies of so-called "noble gases" -- considered relatively harmless -- but only 13 to 17 curies of iodine-131, a radioactive form of the element that at even moderate exposures causes thyroid cancer. (A curie is a measure of radioactivity, with 1 curie equal to the activity of one gram of radium. For help understanding these and other terms, see the glossary at the end of this piece.) But the official story that there were no health impacts from the disaster doesn't jibe with the experiences of people living near TMI. On the contrary, their stories suggest that area residents actually suffered exposure to levels of radiation high enough to cause acute effects -- far more than the industry and the government has acknowledged. Some of their disturbing experiences were collected in the book Three Mile Island: The People's Testament, which is based on interviews with 250 area residents done between 1979 and 1988 by Katagiri Mitsuru and Aileen M. Smith. It includes the story of Jean Trimmer, a farmer who lived in Lisburn, Pa. about 10 miles west of TMI. On the evening of March 30, 1979, Trimmer stepped outside on her front porch to fetch her cat when she was hit with a blast of heat and rain. Soon after, her skin became red and itchy as if badly sunburned, a condition known as erythema. About three weeks later, her hair turned white and began falling out. Not long after, she reported, her left kidney "just dried up and disappeared" -- an occurrence so strange that her case was presented to a symposium of doctors at the nearby Hershey Medical Center. All of those symptoms are consistent with high-dose radiation exposure. There was also Bill Peters, an auto-body shop owner and a former justice of the peace who lived just a few miles west of the plant in Etters, Pa. The day after the disaster, he and his son -- who like most area residents were unaware of what was unfolding nearby -- were working in their garage with the doors open when they developed what they first thought was a bad sunburn. They also experienced burning in their throats and tasted what seemed to be metal in the air. That same metallic taste was reported by many local residents and is another symptom of radiation exposure, commonly reported in cancer patients receiving radiation therapy. Peters soon developed diarrhea and nausea, blisters on his lips and inside his nose, and a burning feeling in his chest. Not long after, he had surgery for a damaged heart valve. When his family evacuated the area a few days later, they left their four-year-old German shepherd in their garage with 200 pounds of dog chow, 50 gallons of water and a mattress. When they returned a week later, they found the dog dead on the mattress, his eyes burnt completely white. His food was untouched, and he had vomited water all over the garage. They also found four of their five cats dead -- their eyes also burnt white -- and one alive but blinded. Peters later found scores of wild bird carcasses scattered over their property. Similar stories surfaced in The People of Three Mile Island, a book by documentary photographer Robert Del Tredici. He found local farmers whose cattle and goats died, suffered miscarriages and gave birth to deformed young after the incident; whose chickens developed respiratory problems and died; and whose fruit trees abruptly lost all their leaves. Local residents also collected evidence of deformed plants, some of which were examined by James Gunckel, a botanist and radiation expert with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Rutgers University. "There were a number of anomalies entirely comparable to those induced by ionizing radiation -- stem fasciations, growth stimulation, induction of extra vegetative buds and stem tumors," he swore in a 1984 affidavit. Scientists say these kinds of anomalies simply aren't explained by official radiation release estimates. Evidence of harm wing_tmi_cancer_map.gifThe evidence that people, animals and plants near TMI were exposed to high levels of radiation in the 1979 disaster is not merely anecdotal. While government studies of the disaster as well as a number of independent researchers assert the incident caused no harm, other surveys and studies have also documented health effects that point to a high likelihood of significant radiation exposures. In 1984, for example, psychologist Marjorie Aamodt and her engineer husband, Norman -- owners of an organic dairy farm east of Three Mile Island who got involved in a lawsuit seeking to stop TMI from restarting its Unit 1 reactor -- surveyed residents in three hilltop neighborhoods near the plant. Dozens of neighbors reported a metallic taste, nausea, vomiting and hair loss as well as illnesses including cancers, skin and reproductive problems, and collapsed organs -- all associated with radiation exposure. Among the 450 people surveyed, there were 19 cancer deaths reported between 1980 and 1984 -- more than seven times what would be expected statistically. That survey came to the attention of the industry-financed TMI Public Health Fund, created in 1981 as part of a settlement for economic losses from the disaster. The fund's scientific advisors verified the Aamodts' calculations and launched a more comprehensive study of TMI-related cancer deaths led by a team of scientists from Columbia University. The researchers found an association between estimated radiation doses received by area residents and instances of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, lung cancer, leukemia and all cancers combined. Crucially, however, the researchers decided there wasn't "convincing evidence" that TMI radiation releases were linked to the increase in cancers in the area because of the "low estimates of radiation exposure." The paper did not consider what conclusions could be drawn if those "low estimates" turned out to be wrong. By the time the Columbia research was published in the early 1990s, a class-action lawsuit was underway involving about 2,000 plaintiffs claiming that the radiation emissions were much larger than admitted by the government and industry. (The federal courts eventually rejected that suit, though hundreds of out-of-court settlements totaling millions of dollars have been reached with victims, including the parents of children born with birth defects.) Consulting for the plaintiffs' attorneys, the Aamodts contacted Dr. Steven Wing, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in Chapel Hill to provide support for the plaintiffs. Dr. Wing was reluctant to get involved because -- as he wrote in a 2003 paper about his experience -- "allegations of high radiation doses at TMI were considered by mainstream radiation scientists to be a product of radiation phobia or efforts to extort money from a blameless industry." But impressed with the Aamodts' compelling if imperfect evidence, Wing agreed to look at whether there were connections between radiation exposure from TMI and cancer rates. Wing reanalyzed the Columbia scientists' data, looking at cancer rates before the TMI disaster to control for other possible risk factors in the 10-mile area. His peer-reviewed results, published in 1997, found positive relationships between accident dose estimates and rates of leukemia, lung cancer and all cancers. Where the Columbia study found a 30 percent average increase in lung cancer risk among one group of residents, for example, Wing found an 85 percent increase. And while the Columbia researchers found little or no increase in adult leukemias and a statistically unreliable increase in childhood cases, Wing found that people downwind during the most intense releases were eight to 10 times more likely on average than their neighbors to develop leukemia. Dr. Wing reflected on his findings at a symposium in Harrisburg marking the 30-year anniversary of the Three Mile Island disaster last week. "I believe this is very good evidence that releases were thousands of times greater than the story we've been told," he said. "As we think about the current plans to open more nuclear reactors, when we hear -- which we hear often -- that no one was harmed at Three Mile Island, we really should question that." Documenting discrepancies Randall and Joy Thompson couldn't agree more. If anything, they think Dr. Wing's findings understate the impact of Three Mile Island because they're based on low-ball estimates of radiation releases. "Given what he was allowed to know or could figure out, he did a slam-bang job of it," Joyce Thompson says. In 1995, the Thompsons -- with the help of another health physics expert who was also hired to monitor radiation after the TMI disaster, David Bear (formerly Bloombaum) - prepared a report analyzing the Kemeny Commission findings. Their research, which hasn't been covered by any major media, documents a series of inconsistencies and omissions in the government's account. For example, the official story is that the TMI incident released only 13 to 17 curies of dangerous iodine into the outside environment, a tiny fraction of the 13 million curies of less dangerous radioactive gases officials say were released, primarily xenon. Such a number would seem small compared with, for example, the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, which released anywhere from 13 million to 40 million curies of iodine and is linked to 50,000 cases of thyroid cancer, according to World Health Organization estimates. But the Thompsons and Bear point out that the commission's own Technical Assessment Task Force, in a separate volume, had concluded that iodine accounted for 8 to 12 percent of the total radioactive gases leaked from Three Mile Island. Conservatively assuming the 13 million curie figure was the total amount of radioactive gases released rather than just the xenon portion, and then using the Task Force's own 8 to 12 percent estimate of the proportion that was iodine, they point out that "the actual figure for Iodine release would be over 1 million curies" -- a much more substantial public health threat. In another instance, the Kemeny Commission claimed that there were 7.5 million curies of iodine present in TMI's primary loop, the contained system that delivers cooling water to the reactor. But a laboratory analysis done on March 30 found a higher concentration of iodine in the reactor water, which would put the total amount of iodine present -- and which could potentially leak into the environment -- at 7.65 million curies. "Thus, while the apparent difference between 7.5 and 7.65 seems inconsiderable at first glance," the Thompson/Bear report states, "this convenient rounding off served to 'lose' a hundred and fifty thousand curies of radioactive Iodine." They also offer evidence of atmospheric releases of dangerously long-lived radioactive particles such as cesium and strontium -- releases denied by the Kemeny Commission but indicated in the Thompsons' own post-disaster monitoring and detailed in the report -- and show that there were pathways for the radiation to escape into the environment. They demonstrate that the plant's radiation filtration system was totally inadequate to handle the large amounts of radiation released from the melted fuel and suggest that the commission may have arbitrarily set release estimates at levels low enough to make the filtration appear adequate. Shockingly, they also report that when readings from the dosimeters used to monitor radiation doses to workers and the public were logged, doses of beta radiation -- one of three basic types along with alpha and gamma -- were simply not recorded, which Joy Thompson knew since she did the recording. But Thompson's monitoring equipment also indicated that beta radiation represented about 90 percent of the radiation to which TMI's neighbors were exposed in April 1979, which means an enormous part of the disaster's public health risk may have been wiped from the record. Finally, in a separate analysis the Thompsons point to discrepancies in government and industry accounts of the disaster that suggest the TMI Unit 2 suffered a scram failure -- that is, a breakdown of the emergency shutoff system. That would mean the nuclear reaction spiraled out of control and therefore posed a much greater danger than the official story allows. The Thompsons aren't the only ones who have produced evidence that the radiation releases from TMI were much higher than the official estimates. Arnie Gundersen -- a nuclear engineer and former nuclear industry executive turned whistle-blower -- has done his own analysis, which he shared for the first time at a symposium in Harrisburg last week. "I think the numbers on the NRC's website are off by a factor of 100 to 1,000," he said. Exactly how much radiation was released is impossible to say, since onsite monitors immediately went off the scale after the explosion. But Gundersen points to an inside report by an NRC manager who himself estimated the release of about 36 million curies -- almost three times as much as the NRC's official estimate. Gundersen also notes that industry itself has acknowledged there was a total of 10 billion curies of radiation inside the reactor containment. Using the common estimate that a tenth of it escaped, that means as much as a billion curies could have been released to the environment. gundersen_pressure_spike_slide.jpgGundersen also offered compelling evidence based on pressure monitoring data from the plant that shortly before 2 p.m. on March 28, 1979 there was a hydrogen explosion inside the TMI containment building that could have released significant amounts of radiation to the environment. The NRC and industry to this day deny there was an explosion, instead referring to what happened as a "hydrogen burn." But Gundersen noted that affidavits from four reactor operators confirm that the plant manager was aware of a dramatic pressure spike after which the internal pressure dropped to outside pressure; he also noted that the control room shook and doors were blown off hinges. In addition, Gundersen reported that while Metropolitan Edison would have known about the pressure spike immediately from monitoring equipment, it didn't notify the NRC about what had happened until two days later. Gundersen maintains under the NRC's own rules an evacuation should have been ordered on the disaster's first day, when calculated radiation exposures in the town of Goldsboro, Pa. were as high as 10 rems an hour compared to an average cumulative annual background dose of about 0.125 rems. No evacuation order was ever issued, though Gov. Dick Thornburgh did issue an evacuation advisory on March 30 for pregnant women and preschool children within 5 miles of the plant. The government also did not distribute potassium iodide to the public, which would have protected people from the health-damaging effects of radioactive iodine. Lessons for the future? When asked by Facing South to respond to these allegations, a spokeswoman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not address them directly, instead stating that it continues to stand by the Kemeny Commission report. The NRC further insists that the radiation releases from Three Mile Island had only "negligible effects" on the physical health of humans and the environment, citing other reports from federal agencies [For a PDF of the NRC's response to Facing South, see here.] But Gundersen and the Thompsons argue such claims don't address new findings at odds with the government's account. "I believe [the] data shows releases from TMI were significantly greater than reported by the federal government," Gundersen says. They also say their findings that releases were potentially much larger have important ramifications for current plans to expand the nuclear power industry. With more than $18 billion in federal subsidies at stake, 17 companies are seeking federal licenses to build a total of 26 nuclear reactors across the country, the first applications since the 1979 disaster. The Atlanta-based Southern Co. plans to begin site work this summer for two new reactors at the Vogtle site in Georgia, where state lawmakers recently approved legislation forcing ratepayers to foot the bill for those facilities up front. Florida and South Carolina residents have also begun paying new utility charges to finance planned reactors, USA Today reports. Plans are in the works as well for new reactors in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Harold Denton, a retired NRC official who worked in Three Mile Island during the crisis, recently told Greenwire that changes made after the 1979 disaster "significantly reduced the overall risks of a future serious accident." But the Thompsons and Gundersen point out that the standards the NRC is applying to the new generation of nuclear plants are influenced by assumptions about what happened at Three Mile Island. They say the NRC's low estimates of radiation exposure have resulted in inadequate requirements for safety and containment protocols as well as the size of the evacuation zones around nuclear plants. Other nuclear watchdogs have also raised concerns that the NRC's standards for protection against severe accidents like TMI remain inadequate. In a December 2007 report titled "Nuclear Power in a Warming World," the Union of Concerned Scientists notes that the worst accident the current generation of reactors was designed to withstand involves only partial melting of the reactor core but no breach of containment. And the NRC requires operators of plants found to be vulnerable to severe accidents to fix the problem "only if a cost-benefit analysis shows that the financial benefit of a safety backfit - determined by assigning a dollar value to the number of projected cancer deaths that would result from a severe accident - outweighs the cost of fixing the problem," the report states. Given their personal experiences, the Thompsons warn that we may be fooling ourselves into believing nuclear power is safer than evidence and history suggest. "Once you realize how deep and broad the realignment of facts about TMI has been, it becomes really pretty amazing," Randall Thompson says. "I guess that's what it takes to protect this industry." From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:10:51 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:10:51 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Right-wing's false claims that Obama will take away guns 'has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms.' Message-ID: <005201c9b611$7c70b430$75521c90$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 9:50 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Right-wing's false claims that Obama will take away guns 'has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms.' (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Right-wing's false claims that Obama will take away guns 'has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms.' http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/04/right-wing-guns-claim/ In Pittsburgh today, a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them. Many bloggers have noted that the shooter, 23-year old Richard Poplawski, irrationally feared for "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." In a presciently-timed op-ed, Charles Blow warns of the disturbing escalating rhetoric of right-wingers like Chuck Norris, Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, and others: Lately I've been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right. My read: They're apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their "leaders" seem to be trying to mold them into militias. [.] At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That's 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann's Minnesota. Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling. (Where's that Pepto-Bismol?!) John Cole wrote, "Sure, crazy people do crazy things. But that doesn't make it responsible to encourage them, which is what a lot of really foolish people are doing right now for purely political reasons." From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:10:51 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:10:51 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama In Prague: Launches Effort To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons Message-ID: <005301c9b611$7fb90160$7f2b0420$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:16 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama In Prague: Launches Effort To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Obama In Prague: Launches Effort To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/05/obama-in-prague-launches-_n_183221. html JENNIFER LOVEN | April 5, 2009 11:00 AM EST PRAGUE - Declaring it "matters to all people everywhere," President Barack Obama promised on Sunday to lead the world into a nuclear-free future, giving a hawkish edge to a peacenik pursuit even as North Korea upstaged him with the launch of a long-range rocket that theoretically could carry a warhead. Obama made his pledge before 20,000 flag-waving Czechs outside the gates of picturesque Prague Castle. He chose a nation that peacefully threw off communism and helped topple nuclear power Soviet Union as the backdrop for presenting an ambitious plan to stop the global spread of dangerous weapons. "Let us honor our past by reaching for a better future," Obama said. Shifting on an eight-day European trip from the economic crisis to the war in Afghanistan and now nuclear capabilities, Obama said his goal of "a world without nuclear weapons" won't be reached soon, "perhaps not in my lifetime." But he said the United States, with one of the world's largest arsenals and the only nation to have used an atomic bomb, has a "moral responsibility" to start taking steps now. It is not only a lofty goal. Gary Samore, Obama's arms control coordinator, said the plan has a strategic aim: to give the U.S. extra leverage in opposing the pursuit of nuclear arms in adversarial countries such as North Korea and Iran. "We are trying to seek the moral high ground," Samore said. Devoting an entire speech to the longtime "no nukes" cause of the political left is more popular in Europe than in the United States. Obama signaled he would not allow America to become more vulnerable, saying that surrendering nuclear weapons must be a global all-for-one, or not-at-all, endeavor. "Make no mistake: As long as these weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies," he said. Story continues below He also gave his most unequivocal pledge yet to proceed with a missile defense system in Europe while Iran pursues nuclear weapons, as the West alleges. That shield is to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Those countries are on Russia's doorstep, and the move has contributed to a significant decline in U.S.-Russia relations. In the interest of resetting ties with Moscow, Obama previously had appeared to soft-pedal his support for the Bush-era shield proposal. But he adopted a different tone in Prague. "As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven," Obama said, earning cheers from the crowd. This was in part a message to Russia, which has balked at using its influence to press Iran to drop its nuclear pursuits. North Korea's launch, in the works for weeks, could not have been better timed to achieve the reclusive communist country's goal of grabbing attention. An aide awoke Obama in his hotel room to tell him of the launch in the early morning hours here. By lunchtime, the president had addressed it publicly nearly half a dozen times. North Korea claimed it had sent up a satellite, not a missile. The West says it hardly matters because such a rocket presumably could carry a warhead into Japanese, South Korea or even U.S. airspace. North Korea declared the launch a success, saying an experimental communications satellite reached outer space. The U.S. military said "no object entered orbit." Obama said the North Korean action served only to underscore the need for the actions he outlined. "Rules must be binding," he said. "Violations must be punished. Words must mean something." "Now is the time for a strong international response," he said. He offered few details of how he would accomplish his larger goal, which has eluded presidents and foreign policy lions, including Ronald Reagan, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger. Obama acknowledged this. "In a strange turn of history," he said, "the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up." To combat the risk from countries, and possibly terrorists, with nuclear weapons, Obama said he would: _"Immediately and aggressively" seek ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, which he may not get. Signed by President Bill Clinton, it was rejected by the Senate in 1999. Overall, 140 nations have ratified the ban. But they include only 35 of the 44 states that possess nuclear technology, and the United States is the most prominent holdout. _Host a summit within the next year on nuclear weapons. _Undertake a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide within four years. _Try to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by providing more resources and authority for international inspections and mandating "real and immediate consequences" for countries that violate the treaty. _Pursue by the end of the year a new treaty with Russia to reduce the two nations' nuclear arsenals. _Seek a new international treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons. _Build a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation. Obama spoke after conferring with Czech leaders, including Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, just two weeks after his government collapsed. Topolanek is remaining in office until President Vaclav Klaus names a replacement. Obama also participated Sunday in a hastily arranged U.S.-EU summit; the Czech Republic holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Obama met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and later was having an audience with playwright and former president Vaclav Havel, who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution that peacefully toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia. As he has throughout the trip, Obama emphasized priorities that closely match Europe's, such as promising to tackle climate change. But he had requests as well. He asked European nations to accept detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison, which he has ordered closed, and to bring in Turkey as a member of the European Union to send a positive signal to the Muslim world. Turkey is the next and final stop on Obama's European tour. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:10:51 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:10:51 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama vs. the Washington Establishment Message-ID: <005401c9b611$833f1ae0$89bd50a0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:28 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Obama vs. the Washington Establishment (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Obama vs. the Washington Establishment http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/obama-v-washington/obama- vs-the-washington-establ.html By Dan Froomkin | March 2, 2009; 1:03 PM ET President Obama boldly -- and accurately -- cast his ambitious and profoundly course-changing budget proposal as an assault on establishment Washington and its entrenched interests. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," he said. And he made it clear that he is girding for the inevitable backlash: "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: "So am I. "The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't. I work for the American people. I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward, I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November. That is the change this budget starts to make, and that is the change I'll be fighting for in the weeks ahead - change that will grow our economy, expand our middle-class, and keep the American Dream alive for all those men and women who have believed in this journey from the day it began." It was his boldest acknowledgment yet of what is slowly becoming clear to the rest of us: That his proposals represent such a dramatic reversal from the course the nation has been following over the last eight years -- and even the last three decades -- that they will inevitably face intense resistance from Washington's traditional power centers. And it's not just industry lobbyists, either, although Obama was most specific about them: "I know that the insurance industry won't like the idea that they'll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that's how we'll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families," he said "I know that banks and big student lenders won't like the idea that we're ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that's how we'll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won't like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that's how we'll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries." It's arguably almost the entire Washington political and media establishment that finds itself on the defensive. A central part of Obama's message, in both his budget and his address to a joint session of Congress last week, has been that we find ourselves at a "day of reckoning" not out of bad luck or by happenstance, but as the direct result of Washington's profound irresponsibility. It's worth revisiting Obama's explanation of "how we arrived at this moment" from that joint address: "The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy, yet we import more oil today than ever before. The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. "And though all of these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before. In other words, we have lived through an era where too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. "A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations... were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day." The inevitable conclusion here is that establishment Washington is complicit in what went wrong. That includes all the people in positions of power who accepted what was happening as simply politics as usual -- even as the country was slowly but inevitably headed to that day of reckoning. After all, since the Reagan era, even mainstream Democratic leaders have internalized the trickle-down, free-market, small-government mentality which Obama now blames for our woes. Few in the Democratic party -- or the mainstream media -- did much more than watch as the economic playing field tilted further and further to the advantage of the rich. And yes, it's true that many of Obama's initiatives could well be described as pent-up Democratic goals. But you might also call them nearly-forgotten goals, as far as the current batch of Democratic leaders is concerned. Even when they controlled Congress, they failed to block budgets that turned out to be blueprints for disaster. And they either didn't fight for their principles or flinched in a pinch. I described some of their capitulations to former president George W. Bush in this December 2007 column. These very same leaders may well be motivated to -- at least -- complicate or modify Obama's proposals to validate their own previous inaction. David E. Sanger of the New York Times sees how dramatic Obama's thinking is, writing that it may be "a postmodern, post-Clinton form of liberalism.... "If Johnson's rallying cry was an end to poverty in the world's richest nation, Mr. Obama's is an end to the Reagan Revolution. With the proposed tax increases on couples making more than $250,000, Mr. Obama has declared that trickle-down economics - the theory that the entire country benefits as the nation's richest amass and spend - was a fantasy. He denounced it in moral terms, declaring in his budget that 'there is something wrong when we allow the playing field to be tilted so far in the favor of so few.'" E.J. Dionne Jr. writes in his Washington Post opinion column that Obama has "transformed the terms of the nation's debate. "The central issue in American politics now is whether the country should reverse a three-decade-long trend of rising inequality in incomes and wealth." So is the resistance to Obama's plans building in Washington? It sure is. Business interests won't take this lying down. Greg Hitt and Jesse Drucker write in the Wall Street Journal: "'You don't build a house by blowing up its foundation,' said Bruce Josten, the [U.S. Chamber of Commerce]'s executive vice president for government affairs, who contended the plan would penalize small businesses and entrepreneurs.... "Exxon Mobil Corp. and other U.S. oil and gas companies would pay $31.4 billion in taxes over the next 10 years under a proposal to eliminate or scale back a range of tax-production incentives currently available to the industry. The energy industry is also a big beneficiary of a tax-accounting principle -- known as LIFO, or last-in-first-out -- which would be repealed, raising $61 billion. "A spokesman for Exxon Mobil said higher taxes 'make it more difficult to invest in new energy supplies that are necessary to meet future demand.'" (And yes, that's the same Exxon that posted an all-time record $45.2 billion in profits last year.) Military contractors are running scared. Christopher Drew writes in the New York Times: "The big contractors 'are sitting on the edge of their seats,' said Gordon Adams, a professor at American University in Washington and an expert on the defense budget." Polluters are gnashing their teeth. John M. Broder writes in the New York Times: "Business lobbies and many Republicans raised loud objections to the cap-and-trade program Mr. Obama proposed as part of his budget this week, saying the plan amounted to a gigantic and permanent tax on oil, electricity and manufactured goods, a shock they said the country could not handle during economic distress." The health-care industry is gearing up for a possible epic confrontation. Robert Pear writes in the New York Times: "The powerful interests that dominate the health care industry could challenge even Mr. Obama's political deftness." And the prospects in Congress are decidedly mixed. Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles illustrates the Capitol Hill bottleneck. David Lightman writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "President Barack Obama's ambitious plans will face immediate political difficulty in a wary - and often parochial - Congress that's long resisted such fast, radical change. "It's not only lawmakers who tend to resist overturning the status quo. An army of lobbyists, grassroots interests, campaign contributors and others who make up insider Washington await, all eager to express their views on why Obama's plans need to be amended, if not defeated. "'He's going to get it from all sides,' said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington budget watchdog group." The New York Times warns of problems from both sides of the aisle. Peter Baker writes: "Some of his ideas have attracted criticism across party lines. Republicans deride the overall plan as a 'job killer' intended to revive class warfare, soak the rich and burden business too much at a time of economic hardship. The plan means 'the era of big government is back,' said Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader... "Certain provisions in Mr. Obama's plan may strike special interests, but they also affect favored programs for Democrats as well as Republicans. "Senators Kent Conrad and Byron L. Dorgan, both North Dakota Democrats, for instance, declared opposition to Mr. Obama's proposal to phase out agricultural subsidies for farmers with gross receipts over $500,000. "Mr. Conrad, the Budget Committee chairman, said some tax increases on high-income workers 'may well not survive' and expressed concern about the buildup of debt." Jo Biddle writes for AFP: "Republicans Sunday signaled they are ready to seize a gauntlet thrown down by US President Barack Obama over his whopping 3.55 trillion dollar budget, heralding a bruising Congress battle ahead... "'What we see in this budget, frankly, is an attempt, again, to try and stimulate the economy through government expenditure. And, you know, at best what that can do is redistribute wealth,' Republican House minority whip Eric Cantor told ABC... "Influential radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, giving the keynote address at a leading conservative conference on Saturday, slammed the new administration's approach. "'Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen and some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure,' he said." Newsweek sees a Pelosi problem for Obama. Holly Bailey writes that various tensions have left Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "with a complicated relationship that hovers somewhere between friend and frenemy." The Washington Post sees the central political battle as one over cost. Lori Montgomery writes: "As Congress this week begins reviewing Obama's request, Republicans are blasting the proposal as a historic and irresponsible enlargement of the federal bureaucracy that ultimately will force Obama to break his pledge to avoid a broad-based tax increase.... "Democratic congressional leaders say they expect to endorse Obama's agenda in April. But they warned that it will not be easy and predicted that a proposal to limit tax deductions taken by the wealthy for charitable giving, mortgage interest and other items may not survive." So. What would be Obama's most effective strategies when it comes to fighting -- and beating -- the Washington establishment? I'll have some thoughts about that tomorrow. In the meantime, I welcome yours, in comments. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:23:17 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:23:17 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Let's follow up on this....... Message-ID: <005e01c9b613$3679de00$a36d9a00$@net> Eating lower on the food chain and thus changing dramatically what we grow and how we grow it, is imperative to our survival on GAIA our "life support system". We cannot keep on raping it by "living to eat" rather than "eating to live." Thanks to Steph Sutton for forwarding this. From: Mary Rose [mailto:dustysummerrose at gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 2:30 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Fwd: Let's follow up on this....... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stephanie Sutton Date: Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 8:49 PM Subject: Let's follow up on this....... To: Mary Rose , Sara Nelson , Marilyn Winfield , dennis Marini , Hareesh Onmars http://animalrights.change.org/blog/view/honoring_csar_chvez--and_his_call_t o_stop_eating_animals -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:32:48 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:32:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Conservatives Holding Up Increasing Number Of Key Obama Nominees Message-ID: <009f01c9b614$8d16e9a0$a744bce0$@net> Here we see more of the "political shit" that has gotten us into the mess we are in, as we see "special interests" blocking what has to be done in "the best interests of all concerned". Not, for just one state, and with the representative for that state lobbying for the company under consideration to be placed there, so he can win votes in order to keep his job. We must have a new system -- the old one no longer works in the best interests of society as a whole. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 9:47 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Conservatives Holding Up Increasing Number Of Key Obama Nominees (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Conservatives Holding Up Increasing Number Of Key Obama Nominees http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/04/nominees-held-up/ Conservatives in Congress and in the media are attempting to block or delay a growing number of critical nominees for what amount to ideological witch hunts and self-interested horse-trading. As the President attempts to deal with the significant legal and logistical questions surrounding two wars, closing Guantanamo Bay, and caring for our nation's veterans, the people Obama has picked to assist him with such issues are being forced to wait in the wings. In the last week alone, at least four separate nominees who thought they were on track to be approved will have to wait at least a few more weeks: Department of Defense: Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) announced today that "they are blocking President Barack Obama's nomination of Ashton Carter as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics." The senators want assurances that Carter will not "change the criteria" on which the Pentagon considers a refueling tanker contract that could benefit defense contractors in their state. Department of Veterans Affairs: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) asked the Senate Veterans Affairs committee to delay voting on the "nomination of Tammy Duckworth, an injured Iraq war helicopter pilot, to be an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs." Contacted by ThinkProgress, Burr's Press Secretary, David Ward said that Burr is waiting for the answers to several questions he's put to the White House and Duckworth, but would not disclose what those questions were. White House Office of Legal Council: Dawn Johnsen's nomination as head of the OLC has been delayed in part because Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has ideological differences with her. As the Legal Times explained, "citing Johnsen's criticisms of Bush national security policies, [Cornyn] accused her of lacking 'the seriousness and necessary resolve' to fight terrorism," while "other Republicans have targeted her work as legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America from 1988 to 1993." Department of State: Right wing commentators are working to block the appointment of Harold Koh to the State Deptment's top legal adviser, smearing him as a "threat to democracy" for his being an international law expert. As the Century Foundation notes, "The fervent opponents of Harold Koh turn out to be enthusiastic defenders of John Yoo." Additionally, Chris Hill's nomination as ambassador to Iraq is still being held up by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the behest of the right wing. This despite the fact that Secretary of State Robert Gates recently issued a rare statement on a diplomatic appointment saying, it is "vital that we get an ambassador in Baghdad as soon as possible." These delays are just the latest in a long string of delays. The nominations of Attorney General Eric Holder, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren were also held up for largely partisan reasons. UpdateLast night, Rachel Maddow reported Sen. Burr's efforts to block Duckworth's appointment. Addressing Burr, Maddow said, "How about diligently doing the right thing right now and picking a different high horse to ride in on, ok? You picked the wrong thing here." Watch it: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 11:50:36 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:50:36 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: new discovery points to explosives at ground zero on 911investigation. Message-ID: <00b401c9b617$0a9accf0$1fd066d0$@net> This is vital information that must be taken into consideration on the 911 investigation. . I hope Fred Burks over at "Want to Know" has this information and Is getting it disseminated. Please distribute this widely. The person sending this has asked me not to include his name and email address. I am sorry that so many of us are still so afraid of reprisals for sharing knowledge. From: Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:13 PM To: Subject: new discovery points to explosives at ground zero http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Scientists_find_active_superthermite_in_WTC_04 04.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 12:35:02 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 11:35:02 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] How Our Public Colleges Are Turning into Gated Communities for the Wealthy Message-ID: <00fb01c9b61d$3ead4760$bc07d620$@net> While the author of this article sees the inability to attend college today as a misfortune, I see it as a blessing. IMHO all college does is to program your mind in the fashion that the corporations desire it to be so that you serve their ends and not your own. Read "The Biology of Belief" by Dr. Bruce Lipton and find out why he left the Ivy-league university in which he was teaching and conducting research in order to take "the road less traveled". The life you save may be your own. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:56 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] How Our Public Colleges Are Turning into Gated Communities for the Wealthy (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) A Crisis of Affordability: How Our Public Colleges Are Turning into Gated Communities for the Wealthy http://www.alternet.org/workplace/134770/a_crisis_of_affordability%3A_how_ou r_public_colleges_are_turning_into_gated_communities_for_the_wealthy/?page=e ntire By Andy Kroll, Tomdispatch.com. Posted April 3, 2009. Attending a four-year public college may soon be out of reach for all but the wealthiest. This is the greatest assault yet to the American dream. Editor's Note: Just this week, on the front page of my hometown paper was the less-than-shocking news that, in our new economically wounded world, if your parents can pay the staggering tuition demanded by our top private colleges in full, you have a major leg up in the race to the college of your choice. New York Times reporter Kate Zernike quotes Robert A. Sevier, an "enrollment consultant to colleges," saying, "If you are a student of means or ability, or both, there has never been a better year." And as fans of my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers used to say in my childhood, "Wait till next year!" In the meantime, college and university endowments are plummeting, non-tenured professors and teaching assistants are being dropped, and classes cut back on campuses nationwide. Going to college was, of course, something only a thin slice of the American elite once did. If it turns out that we are indeed in a twenty-first century version of the Great Depression, who knows what a college campus will look like, or who will be walking its paths to class, a decade from now? As the latest entry in TomDispatch's ongoing series on the fallout in the U.S. from the global economic meltdown, Andy Kroll, who last wrote on the ways in which new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan militarized Chicago's school system, explores higher education in the financial doldrums. Still a college student himself, in a state that's been clobbered by bad times and the collapse of the American auto industry, Kroll considers an American world in which the door to college could be slammed shut on so many. --- Tom Engelhardt A few months ago, Bobby Stapleton, a 21-year-old student at the University of Michigan, received a phone call from his younger brother. The good news came first: a senior in high school, he, too, had been accepted by the university, the fourth sibling in his family to have the opportunity to make the move to Ann Arbor from rural Hemlock, Michigan. Then came the bad news: his brother had no intention of telling their parents, because as Bobby put it, "he knew the money just wasn't there anymore, and that it wasn't realistic." The financial crisis had plunged the Stapleton family into severe debt. At this point, paying Michigan's modest (by college standards) $11,000 tuition for another child appeared unlikely. As his younger brother told their younger sister, Bobby recalled, "Things were just going to have to be different for the two of them." Since that moment, Bobby and his older sisters have tirelessly searched for a way to change that fate. He has sought advice from older relatives who attended the university, met with members of its financial aid office, and explained his brother's situation to officials at the Michigan Education Trust, a statewide tuition payment program; all this in addition to a full class schedule and a dormitory dining-hall job that often keeps him at work until one or two in the morning. Still, Bobby wasn't about to give up. "I can truly say that being part of this university is one of the best things that's ever happened to me." He was, he swore, going to do everything he could to make sure that his brother and sister had that same opportunity. Engines of Inequality Welcome to the other crisis spreading quietly across the country: the crisis of college affordability. Talk to enough students and families on a college campus like the University of Michigan, where I'm a student, and you'll hear plenty of stories like Bobby Stapleton's -- of families scraping by in increasingly tough times as tuition bills rise, of students working second and third jobs, of newly minted graduates staggering into an ever more jobless world under the weight of tens of thousands of dollars in student-loan debt. This crisis has been a long time coming, but bad times have brought it into clearer focus. In the past several decades, the cost of higher education has climbed at an astounding pace -- faster than the Consumer Price Index, faster even than the cost of medical care. Over the past 30 years, the average cost of college tuition, fees, and room and board has increased nearly 100%, from $7,857 in 1977-1978 to $15,665 in 2007-2008 (in constant 2006-2007 dollars). Median household income, on the other hand, has risen a mere 18% over that same period, from about $42,500 to just over $50,000. College costs, in other words, have gone up at more than five times the rate of incomes. Simply to ensure that a child attends a four-year public university, a family in the country's lowest-income bracket now has to pay, on average, 55% of total income (up from 39% in 2000); for a middle-income family, the average is 25% (up from 18% in 2000); and for an upper-income family, 9% (up from 7%), according to "Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education" by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Similar figures hold for four-year private schools: In Missouri and Texas, almost 70% of family income is needed to pay college expenses for a four-year private school, after financial aid is included; in New York and Pennsylvania, it's nearly 90%. Over the same decades, colleges and universities have stepped up competition for affluent students. As a result, many institutions have actually increased the amount of aid they pay out to higher-income students, and done so at a far faster rate than for lower-income students who obviously need it more. "Engines of Inequality," a 2006 report by The Education Trust, a national education advocacy and policy organization, found that state flagship universities and a group of other major research universities spent $257 million in 2003 on financial aid for students from families earning more than $100,000 a year. Those same universities spent only $171 million on aid to students from families who made less than $20,000 a year. Similarly, between 1995 and 2003, according to the report, grant aid from the same public universities to students from families making $80,000 or more increased 533%, while grant aid to families making less than $40,000 increased only 120%. "Indeed, the highest achieving students from high-income families -- those who earned top grades, completed the full battery of college prep courses, and took AP courses as well -- are nearly four times more likely than low-income students with exactly the same level of academic accomplishment to end up in a highly selective university," the report concluded. The current financial meltdown, of course, only exacerbates this crisis in college affordability. With the national unemployment rate now at 8.1 percent and climbing -- 12% in hard-hit Michigan -- those still holding onto jobs often face scaled-back hours. Meanwhile, states weigh ever more severe cuts to education funding, universities watch as donations drop, and the largest university endowments record losses in the billions. Officials at Harvard University, with its higher-education-leading endowment valued at $36.9 billion, reported in December that they anticipate losses of 30%, or over $11 billion, this fiscal year. Here at the University of Michigan, the financial crisis and its educational twin, the crisis of college affordability, are palpable. On a recent Saturday, I shared a couch at the campus union with Rachel Long, a sophomore and first-generation college student from Romeo, Michigan. The description she offered me of her "school" life was typical these days. Long constantly juggles studying for her environmental studies program and helping her parents pay for her education. She already works spare hours at a local ice cream parlor and is considering teaching at a test prep center as well. Whatever it takes, she told me, to help her mom, a hairdresser, and dad, an electrician, pay for her future. "It weighs on my mind when I'm at work, or studying," she said. "I just see the numbers in my bank account decreasing and tuition prices increasing." The longer this crisis continues, the more our four-year public and private colleges are likely to be transformed into "gated communities of higher education" (in the phrase of Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity) and engines of inequality. Meanwhile, for those priced out of the four-year college market, the job of education will be left to public community colleges with fast growing student bodies, the least funding, and the fewest class offerings, as well as overcrowded classrooms and faculties stretched to the breaking point. How did college, once seen as an increasingly democratic path to advancement, become so expensive? A Squeeze Play in Higher Education At the heart of the modern American Dream has been access to affordable higher education. The G.I. Bill, passed in 1944, helped instill this belief by giving returning World War II veterans unprecedented amounts of financial aid for college and spurring one of the most prosperous eras in the past century. In 1972, the federal government broke new educational ground by creating the non-repayable Pell Grant, awarded solely on the basis of a student's income and the amount of money his or her family could contribute to college costs. The Pell Grant advanced what the G.I. Bill had begun, greatly expanding access to colleges and universities for low-income individuals and families who otherwise couldn't afford it. From the later 1970s on, however, the access promised by the G.I. Bill and the Pell Grant has slowly slipped away. Published in 2008 before the full force of the economic meltdown had hit, the "Measuring Up 2008" report graded states on the affordability of their colleges and universities based on the percentage of family income needed to pay for college, strategies available to increase affordability, and how much loan debt students take on. The result? It gave failing grades to a whopping 49 of the 50 states. With a "C-," California was the sole exception. Colleges and universities have also undergone a dramatic shift in the kinds of financial aid they give out. Grants have been largely replaced by student loans issued by governments and private lenders. In the decade between the 1997-1998 and 2007-2008 academic years, student loans more than doubled -- from $41 billion to $85 billion -- and the number of students taking out those loans soared from 4,100,000 to 6,111,000, according to "Measuring Up 2008." Between the 1992-1993 and 2003-2004 academic years, student borrowing rose by 89%, from an average of $3,884 to $7,336 per year. Meanwhile, grant aid lagged, increasing only 57% from $3,545 per year to $5,565, while the Pell Grant lost much of its purchasing power: In 1979, it paid for 75% of the cost of attending a four-year public college or university; today, only about 30%. As with the Michigan Alternative Student Loan Program, state governments, facing budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have only deepened the affordability crisis by slashing or suspending lending programs. At the same time, hard-pressed public and private colleges are raising tuition costs. Not surprisingly, hardest hit by the crisis are those who can least afford college to begin with, low-income families for whom the financial burden of education has increased fastest. According to "Measuring Up 2008," the lower-middle class and lowest income groups have seen the largest increases in percentages of income needed to pay college costs -- more than three to four times the increases experienced by higher income groups. Even as access to college is dwindling, opinion polls indicate that more Americans believe a college education is essential to a successful, productive life, and that those without a degree will be left behind. Recent unemployment figures reflect that. Only 4.1% of those with a bachelor's degree or higher are, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployed at the moment. An August 2008 poll by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that the percentage of Americans who believe that "a college education is necessary for a person to be successful in today's work world" increased from 31% in 2000 to 50% in 2007. More than 60% of those polled believe, however, that "many people who are qualified don't have the opportunity to go to college," and that college expenses are increasing at an equal or faster rate than health care in this country. This is especially true among black and Hispanic parents, the poll found. Between hopes and grim realities, students and families find themselves caught, as the poll's authors put it, in a higher education "squeeze play." Leveling the Playing Field How, then, to make college affordable again? With the education funding in the Obama administration's stimulus package and the proposed fiscal 2010 budget now before Congress, the Obama administration has made addressing the cost of higher education a national issue -- at the very moment when it also threatens to become a national scandal. Included in the two pieces of legislation are increases in the maximum value of Pell Grants and tuition tax credits, as well as programs to make aid more available to more colleges, and to create a $2.5 billion program to increase support for access to, and completion of, college (with a needed focus on low-income students). The crisis of college affordability is too severe, however, for reinvestment at the federal level alone to make the difference. Need-based financial aid programs -- for instance, the University of Michigan's community college transfer program, which focuses on increasing access for high achieving, lower-income students at community colleges -- are no less crucial. Indeed, as more students enroll in less expensive, open admissions two-year colleges, hoping later to transfer to a four-year college, investing in this educational pipeline will increase affordability and accessibility for lower-income students. What higher education leaders could also try, says Don Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University, is more convincingly selling their message for increased education funding to state and federal lawmakers. "We need to try to sell the message that investments in post-secondary education don't just reap private returns for individuals but also social returns, or societal benefits," Heller said. "We need to do more to get that message out about societal returns. We need to reach the key people." Speaking of reaching key people, when next I ran into Bobby Stapleton at a campus coffee shop, he was far more confident that his younger brother would make it to Ann Arbor. In the previous month, his parents' financial situation had improved, making it more likely that they could contribute toward tuition costs, and the state had finally agreed to come up with some financial assistance as well. So his younger brother might just slip through the "squeeze" and into college. If, however, a serious, comprehensive effort isn't soon launched to address the mounting cost of higher education, Americans might emerge from economic disaster with their college and university system looking unrecognizably different and staggering numbers of potential students shut out of an education -- and a dream. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 12:35:02 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 11:35:02 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Creating a Natural Economy: An Open Letter to Wage Slaves Message-ID: <00fc01c9b61d$42eee8b0$c8ccba10$@net> What Dave Pollard is talking about here is what Future Dawning is all about. While we don't pretend to be "the answer" the format we are launching goes a long way toward providing a space in which people can enable and empower themselves in being free. It is only our own belief systems that limit us and we can write new scripts which take down the barriers anytime we so choose to do so. As Mahatma Gandhi said: Your beliefs become your thoughts Your thoughts become your words Your words become your actions Your actions become your habits Your habits become your values Your values become your destiny One of the most important books available today is Dr. Bruce Lipton's: The Biology of Belief - The science of how thoughts control life. Ask yourself a question: "Is your belief system (your operating system)one that is "life-enhancing," or is it one that pulls you down into the darkness? If it is of the latter kind, then perhaps all you need to do is to insert a new program into the sub-conscious mind just as you do with your computer. And just as a new program inserted into your computer enhances the ability to process information on it, so will a new program inserted into your sub-conscious mind allow you to move into another level of conscious awareness so that you may make more life-enhancing choices. But what you do is totally up to you. You are the decision-maker in how you want your life to work. However if you are operating in the darkness and don't want out into the light, perhaps you might ask yourself some questions like: what is it I are getting out of staying in the dark -- what is it I am getting out of the pain? What lesson is it that I am trying to learn for yourself? What is the fear I have associated with moving into the light? What would I have to give up if I moved further into the light? With love and appreciation for all that we do together. m r -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:38 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Creating a Natural Economy: An Open Letter to Wage Slaves (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Creating a Natural Economy: An Open Letter to Wage Slaves http://www.alternet.org/environment/134196/creating_a_natural_economy%3A_an_ open_letter_to_wage_slaves/ By Dave Pollard, Chelsea Green Publishing. Posted March 30, 2009. I'm asking you to do more than just freeing yourself from a life of grinding, miserable, meaningless work by creating your own "Natural Enterprise." The following is an open letter from Dave Pollard to the readers of his book, Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur's Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work. It has been adapted for the web. In our modern society, we rely on the education system to teach us what we need to know to live and make a living. That system has let us down badly. It is in the interest of those who control the current economic system, those with the established wealth and power, that we not know that there is a better way to make a living than working for them, doing meaningless work as wage slaves, just to buy ourselves some leisure time to do what has meaning for us. We each need, personally, to rediscover the joy and meaning of natural work, of Natural Entrepreneurship. Finding the Sweet Spot is an attempt to get you started on that journey. We need a blossoming of millions of Natural Enterprises, connected and collaborating and supporting each other as part of a dynamic Natural Economy. But what we also need, collectively, as a society, is a blossoming of thousands, millions of Natural Enterprises, connected and collaborating and supporting each other generously as part of a dynamic new Natural Economy. Is such a thing possible? Buckminster Fuller, who accomplished some pretty amazing things in his areas of expertise, said: You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. And Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, chimed in: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. This is where you come in. I'm asking you to do more than just freeing yourself from a life of grinding, miserable, meaningless work by creating your own Natural Enterprise. I'm asking you to join me in being a part of a model "that makes the existing model obsolete." A model of a million Natural Enterprises, all communities within their own physical communities, the places they live and call home, and all communities within a new community of Natural Economy. It's not enough that I show you, dear readers, the way to create a Natural Enterprise, and start you on this journey. We owe it to our larger community, our fragile planet struggling under the oppressive weight of an industrial economy that is destroying it, the larger community of all-life-on-Earth, that we take heart from Bucky Fuller and courage from Margaret Mead and create, together, a model that will show the world that there is a better way to make a living, and a better way to live. We can do this. This Natural Economy could come about as quickly and miraculously as the Industrial Economy was ushered in by the steam engine and the division of labor, and could transform the way we make a living just as dramatically. This Natural Economy is nothing more than a huge Natural Enterprise in which we will all be, must all be, partners. Its collective Purpose is nothing less than to save the world. Between us, we have the collective Gifts and collective Passions and the capacities and knowledge that are "on Purpose" to make it happen. When you first go to the Natural Enterprise Web site you will find a Pledge. This Pledge is to join in equal partnership with others creating Natural Enterprises, to be a model, to help show the whole world a better way to make a living, responsibly, sustainably, joyfully. Please join me in taking that Pledge, and becoming part of what might be, through the power of people, knowledge, innovation, partnership, collaboration, and generosity, the most important enterprise the world has ever known. A related website: http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/stories/2003/05/02/businessPapersTableOfConte nts.html#09 ----------- From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 18:23:37 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 17:23:37 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic Message-ID: <004f01c9b64d$f13ccb00$d3b66100$@net> With scientists not understanding much of what is taking place, it appears that no real projection with regard to the affects of climate change can be ascertained. The only thing we can do is to prepare ourselves for as many eventualities as is possible. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 3:13 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) 07:13 GMT, Sunday, 5 April 2009 08:13 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7984054.stm Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped. Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region. Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s. Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place. Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean. Bridge splinters at narrowest point - 05/04/2009 (Esa) The ice bridge has splintered at its thinnest point European Space Agency satellite pictures had indicated last week that cracks were starting to appear in the bridge. Newly created icebergs were seen to be floating in the sea on the western side of the peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America's southern tip. Professor David Vaughan is a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey who planted a GPS tracker on the ice bridge in January to monitor its movement. He said the breaking of the bridge had been expected for some weeks; and much of the ice shelf behind is likely to follow. "We know that [the Wilkins Ice Shelf] has been completely or very stable since the 1930s and then it started to retreat in the late 1990s; but we suspect that it's been stable for a very much longer period than that," he told BBC News. "The fact that it's retreating and now has lost connection with one of its islands is really a strong indication that the warming on the Antarctic is having an effect on yet another ice shelf." Map While the break-up will have no direct impact on sea level because the ice is floating, it heightens concerns over the impact of climate change on this part of Antarctica. Over the past 50 years, the peninsula has been one of the fastest warming places on the planet. Many of its ice shelves have retreated in that time and six of them have collapsed completely (Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf). Separate research shows that when ice shelves are removed, the glaciers and landed ice behind them start to move towards the ocean more rapidly. It is this ice which can raise sea levels, but by how much is a matter of ongoing scientific debate. Such acceleration effects were not included by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it made its latest projections on likely future sea level rise. Its 2007 assessment said ice dynamics were poorly understood. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 18:23:37 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 17:23:37 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... Message-ID: <005001c9b64d$f484a300$dd8de900$@net> Meantime back at the ranch, more people are moving into a science-based view of life which relies heavily on biology as actually seen through a microscope, along with quantum physics which provides authenticity, rather than reliance on a "faith-based" version emanating from a Bible which is now proving to have been substantially altered by the Romans. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 2:35 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) April 5, 2009 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017609.php A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... In general, the most noticeable fissure among politically conservative evangelical Christians is generational. In this dynamic, older evangelicals see themselves as an appendage of the Republican Party, and consider abortion and gay rights as the only "moral" issues that matter. Younger evangelicals are less partisan, and consider poverty and global warming important, too. But there's another fissure, which in the short term, may be even more consequential. It's between leaders of the religious movement vs. those more inclined to take John 18:36 to heart (Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world"). The split first emerged, on a conceptual level, about a decade ago, when Cal Thomas, a far-right columnist and founding member of the Moral Majority, write a book called "Blinded by Might," arguing that conservative evangelical Christians have been going about their efforts all wrong. Religious right activists, Thomas said, should focus less on political power and influence -- having a seat at the proverbial GOP table -- and more on religion and family. In her Washington Post column today, Kathleen Parker reports on how this kind of thinking as grown considerably more common, to the point that many "principled Christians" are now "finished with politics." Parker highlights a recent argument between Tom Minnery, head of the political arm of Focus on the Family, and Steve Deace of WHO Radio in Iowa. Deace's point was that established Christian activist groups too often settle for lesser evils in exchange for electing Republicans.... Compromise may be the grease of politics, but it has no place in Christian orthodoxy, according to Deace. Put another way, Christians may have no place in the political fray of dealmaking. That doesn't mean one disengages from political life, but it might mean that the church shouldn't be a branch of the Republican Party. It might mean trading fame and fortune (green rooms and fundraisers) for humility and charity. Deace's radio show may be beneath the radar of most Americans and even most Christians, but he is not alone in his thinking. I was alerted to the Deace-Minnery interview by E. Ray Moore -- founder of the South Carolina-based Exodus Mandate, an initiative to encourage Christian education and home schooling. Moore, who considers himself a member of the Christian right, thinks the movement is imploding. "It's hard to admit defeat, but this one was self-inflicted," he wrote in an e-mail. "Yes, Dr. Dobson and the pro-family or Christian right political movement is a failure; it would have made me sad to say this in the past, but they have done it to themselves." For Christians such as Moore -- and others better known, such as columnist Cal Thomas, a former vice president for the Moral Majority -- the heart of Christianity is in the home, not the halls of Congress or even the courts. And the route to a more moral America is through good works -- service, prayer and education -- not political lobbying. It's worth noting that both sides of the fissure believe the culture war has effectively been lost, but they differ wildly on the diagnosis. For religious right leaders, the culture war flopped because they faced too many enemies (popular culture, changing norms, progressive interest groups) with too few allies (no Republican follow-through). For those like Deace and Thomas, the war never should have been fought in the first place, because it required principled Christians to effectively become political lobbyists. Thomas told Parker, "If people who call themselves Christians want to see any influence in the culture, then they ought to start following the commands of Jesus and people will be so amazed that they will be attracted to Him. The problem isn't political. The problem is moral and spiritual.... You have the choice between a way that works and brings no credit or money or national attention. Or, a way that doesn't work that gets you lots of attention and has little influence on the culture." The movement, in other words, has a decision to make. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 5 18:35:43 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 17:35:43 -0700 Subject: [GJM] MUST READ: Entering solar cycle 24. Maximum expected in 2012 Message-ID: <000001c9b64f$a6133cc0$f239b640$@net> From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 4:00 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Fw: Entering solar cycle 24. Maximum expected in 2012 Another pin-point at 2012. We've put our monetary-energy eggs in one basket and are suffering the consequences. We have also put our electrical-energy eggs in one basket. Can we not expect similar consequences? Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP From: sooriuk at yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:47 AM To: david soori Subject: Fw: Entering solar cycle 24. Maximum expected in 2012 There is an old saying in the oldest language scripts of Sanskrit and Tamil, so I gather 'What you know is a hand full of sand what you do not know is bigger than the universe'' Well they gave us the numerals and the decimal point, least we struggle with the Roman numerals, perhaps they may be saying some thing. Similarly the Mayans, so view the posting dipassionately ds --- On Sun, 5/4/09, Vera Gottlieb wrote: From: Vera Gottlieb <> Subject: Entering solar cycle 24. Maximum expected in 2012 To: Undisclosed-Recipient at yahoo.com Date: Sunday, 5 April, 2009, 9:59 AM And "2012" is the year that the Mayan Prophecies are talking about: in December, the end of the Mayan 5000-year cycle. Will this affect humankind? And if so, how? > The solar maximum is expected in 2012. University of New Hampshire > scientist Jimmy Raeder states, ?"We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For > reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles > (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized > north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere > with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect > sequence for a really big event." http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner%7Ey2009m4... http://tinyurl.com/c6ox7g 2012 may bring the ?perfect storm? ? solar flares, systems collapse April 1, 11:53 AM ? 3 comments This article is part of a continuing series on the implications of 2012. Long scorned as ?mysticism? and ?parascience,? concern about the year 2012 has now surfaced in a mainstreamNASA report on the potential impacts on human society of solar flares anticipated to peak in 2012. The Obama administration and other national governments are not aggressively focused on contingency preparations for the 2012 solar flare impacts, or on introducing available anti-gravitic, new energy sources that would transform centralized high-power electrical grid systems into de-centralized, anti-gravitic and quantum process energy sources. These new energy sources are less vulnerable to destructive solar storms, have no negative environmental impact, and could unleash unprecedented economic and social transformation. Electrical grids & anticipated solar flares of 2012 Mainstream scientific concern about 2012 has grown since a recent National Research Council report funded by NASA and issued by the National Academy of Sciences, entitled ?Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Economic and Societal Impact? which details the potential devastation of 2012 solar storms on the current planetary energy grid and because of the inter-linkages of a cybernetic society, on our entire human civilization. According to New Scientist, science?s concern is a repetition of the 8- day 1859 ?Carrington event,? a large solar flare accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that flung billions of tons of solar plasma onto the earth?s magnetosphere and disrupted Victorian-era magnetometers and the world telegraph system. The New Scientist states, ?The report outlines the worst case scenario for the US. The ?perfect storm? is most likely on a spring or autumn night in a year of heightened solar activity - something like 2012. Around the equinoxes, the orientation of the Earth's field to the sun makes us particularly vulnerable to a plasma strike.? The next solar maximum is expected to occur in 2012. New Scientist reports that Mike Hapgood, head of the European Space Agency's space weather team states, "We're in the equivalent of an idyllic summer's day. The sun is quiet and benign, the quietest it has been for 100 years," "but it could turn the other way." The modern electrical high-power grid magnifies the impact of solar flares. Since the grid is linked into major aspects of modern society, the effects of another Carrington event would be devastating. The National Academy of Sciences report states: ?A severe space weather event in the US could induce ground currents that would knock out 300 key transformers within about 90 seconds, cutting off the power for more than 130 million people.? The New Scientist states: ?According to the NAS report, the impact of what it terms a "severe geomagnetic storm scenario" could be as high as $2 trillion. And that's just the first year after the storm. The NAS puts the recovery time at four to 10 years. It is questionable whether the US would ever bounce back.? China, which is installing a high-power electrical grid more vulnerable than that of the U.S., Europe and other developed nations will be similarly impacted. The solar coronal mass ejection from the 1859 Carrington event arrived on earth in less than 15 minutes, which is faster that our early warning system NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) can detect. European Space Agency space weather head Mike Hapgood states, "I don't think the NAS report is scaremongering. ?Scientists are conservative by nature and this group is really thoughtful," he says. "This is a fair and balanced report." More perfect storm: the hole in the earth?s magnetic field According to a December 16, 2008 report, NASA?s THEMIS spacecraft has discovered a hole in earth?s magnetic field which is 10 times as large as previously thought. The magnetosphere, which is designed to protect earth from the plasma of solar flares, now has a hole in it four time the size of the earth. According to the NASA report, ?Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.? The solar maximum is expected in 2012. University of New Hampshire scientist Jimmy Raeder states, ?"We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event." The Obama administration, 2012 and new energy The Obama administration and most modern governmental energy departments in the 192 U.N. member nations have focused on reducing dependence on conventional energy grids (petroleum, coal or nuclear power) by introducing renewable energy sources such as wind, geo- thermal, and tidal power. These alternative sources are thought to supply about 10% of current energy needs. For example, the Obama policy with regard to the electrical energy grid is stated its official energy and the environment agenda on the White House website: ?Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.? This policy, which replicates energy grid policy in many advanced industrialized nations, is not adequate for the challenges of 2012 solar flares. The policy does not promote new fuel-less non-polluting energy sources now sequestered in secret, national security and black budget projects, and which have been developed using U.S. tax-payer funds. These included reported anti-gravitic technology and free energy technologies, based on Tesla (a Czech inventor/scientist) technology. So here is a key question: Is human society being set up to fail and suffer an effective systems collapse with great loss of life and property if 2012 solar flares materialize in the worst case scenario? Image of areas of North America affected by 2012 solar flares: The good news: 2012 galactic alignment To be continued in Part II of this article ___________________________ subscribe mailto: newslog-subscr... @yahoogroups.com websites: http://www.governourselves.org/ http://escapingthematrix.org/ http://cyberjournal.org recent archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newslog/messages http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberjournal/messages old archives: http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/?lists=newslog http://cyberjournal Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things faster. (annon) _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.42/2042 - Release Date: 04/05/09 10:54:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 14:36:01 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:36:01 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Peak Moment TV - April 2009 News Message-ID: <000001c9b6f7$571d86e0$055894a0$@net> From: Janaia and Robyn, Peak Moment Television [mailto:Janaia_and_Robyn_Peak_Moment_Tel at mail.vresp.com] Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:37 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Peak Moment TV - April 2009 News Click to read newsletter online "Given the current world and economic situation, nothing could be more timely than Peak Moment. They?re interesting and engaging to people who care about what?s happening to the world. And they certainly aren?t something viewers would see on corporate television." . . . generous words from Robert Nichols, Maine Coast TV ? the genius behind PegMedia.org, bringing programs to community stations around the country Hello Mary, We're poised at the transition between winter and spring. The returning spring birds are feeding on lush green shoots and dipping their toes in the birdbath. In this season of fresh beginnings, Water is on my mind. It feels like the summer season is beginning a month early, and we have but half our normal rainfall. With the smoke from three wildfires last June are all-too-fresh in our memory, we are bolstering our homestead water resilience by adding a gravity-fed water system to our existing pressurized system. Watch the latest Conversations Here at home, we collect graywater and rainwater in five-gallon buckets for toilet-flushing. It's a modest first step towards Creating a Home Graywater System like Trathen Heckman demonstrates in the step-by-step tour of his safe, ecological and legal suburban system. Follow the water as it drains from the bathroom tub (and sink and laundry) through a unique valve leading into the backyard garden, where it supplies water for plants growing above it. (Peak Moment Conversation 141) In Energy Co-op Brings Power to the People, Jessica Nelson describes a cooperatively-owned electric utility that serves its community rather than paying a for-profit company. Besides lower rates, customers benefit from incentives to conserve electricity, install geothermal heating/cooling systems, and solar panels (photovoltaics).(Peak Moment Conversation 142) What if you could make a call at any time on your cell phone and have a vehicle come to you within minutes, take you to your local destination, and cost about as much as a bus ride? In Transit on Demand (Have Cell Will Travel) Allen Hancock presents a brilliant vision of an efficient, flexible transportation method that fills the gap between the private automobile and public transit. (Peak Moment Conversation 140) Did you know that all Peak Moment Conversations are on DVD? The most recent set of four encompasses the challenges ( Peak Oil - Politics, Geopolitics and Choke Points), the prospects for a long gradual collapse ( Twilight of an Age), a fast-growing activist movement ( The Transition Movement Comes to America), and a low-tech adaptation ( Transit on Demand (Have Cell Will Travel)). You can order Conversations 137-140 ? and all others ? here for $20 each. Or subscribe for your library or community television station. New DVDs We just released Reclaiming Democracy: How Communities are saying "NO" to Corporate Rights and Recognizing the Rights of Nature. That's a mouthful, but it fits the big picture it covers. Thomas Linzey and Shannon Biggs talk of empowering over a hundred communities to do something radical ? enact laws that place the rights of communities and nature over the claimed "rights" of corporations. You'll be astounded and inspired at their approach, a powerful tool in relocalizing our communities. Shan has added a bonus Recipes and Resources CD to her Preparing Traditional Nutrition 5-class DVD set, full of heart-warming stories along with the food preparation demos. The other evening we visited Shan along with her happy hens and goats. We enjoyed a richly satisfying dinner (naturally!) and good conversation with she and Dave, which you can share in Janaia's journal: Knowing what you know, what are you doing for yourself(s)?) You can also meet Shan in Sustaining Food, Sustainable Food, Peak Moment Conversation 12. No April Foolin' ? Half Price DVD sale continues We've kept most of our prices at repression-sympathetic lows, now adding the 5-dvd set from A Renaissance of Local. Top sellers are David Korten's inspiring The Great Turning, Richard Heinberg's stunning Peak Oil, and Guy Dauncey's The Great Energy Revolution. Still at introductory prices In Permaculture Perspective: Living in Authenticity During Energy Descent Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture shows that in a good permaculture design, work is minimized, yields (food, energy, income) increase, waste is eliminated and the environment is restored. His presentation is also online. Five presentations about Communities Preparing for Energy and Climate Change summarize the problem of diminishing energy sources and intelligent responses. Very timely to show and discuss with your friends and community. Online links are below. Richard Heinberg ? Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines Julian Darley ? Preparing Our Communities for Climate and Energy Change Daniel Lerch ? Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty: Guidelines for Local Governments Michael Brownlee ? Relocalization: Making Friends with an Unthinkable Future Janaia Donaldson ? A Video Buffet of Local Help expand Peak Moment on the net Will you embed or link to Peak Moment Conversations on your own or favorite blogs, social networks and websites? We'd especially love a representative in each state and province on the Transition US ning site. It takes only a few minutes each month to bring more viewers to these free online programs! Email janaia [at] peakmoment [dot] tv to pitch in. Put Peak Moment on Your TV station for FREE! Do you have a community-access TV station in your town? We're thrilled that most Peak Moment Conversations are now available for free download by community-access TV stations on PegMedia.org. We're looking for volunteers to contact their local station, inviting them to show the series. Are you a catv afficionado? Help us invite other stations. Email janaia [at] peakmoment [dot] tv. On the Home Front Along with the supplemental water system, we're building soil for a future garden. Our dreams of an orchard are being redirected towards a community gleaning project instead. We figure Bear would not only harvest the works but likely flatten a few things, too. Why is Janaia down and dirty? Send us your caption for this picture. We'll print the best one in next month's newsletter! Thanks for your support. Even in lean times, your $1 or $2 donation for each program you've watched keeps new programs coming to the internet every two weeks for free. Donate online. Thanks for befriending Peak Moment TV ? Robyn and Janaia Peak Moment TV is produced by Robyn Mallgren and Janaia Donaldson Yuba Gals Independent Media, 15504 Lone Bobcat Way, Nevada City, CA 95959 530-265-4244 _____ We send this occasional newsletter to folks interested in Peak Moment TV. Our list is strictly private; we don't sell or exchange information. To unsubscribe from Peak Moment newsletters, please click Reply with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe _____ Peak Moment Television 15504 Lone Bobcat Way Nevada City, California 95959 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy. Non-Profits Email Free with VerticalResponse! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 14:47:38 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:47:38 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Revealing News: Bonuses from Bailouts, Habeas Corpus for Bagram, Mark-to-Market, More Message-ID: <000f01c9b6f8$ef94f0b0$cebed210$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 9:20 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Revealing News: Bonuses from Bailouts, Habeas Corpus for Bagram, Mark-to-Market, More To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list (one email every few days) or to reply to this message, see end of email This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/009/090406_bailout_bonuses_bagram_habeas_mark_market Dear friends, Below are one-paragraph excerpts of important news articles you may have missed. These news articles include revealing information on the new bonuses enabled by taxpayers' bailout monies to be issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a ruling giving habeas corpus rights to detainees at Bagram prison in Afghanistan, the change of accounting rules to end the requirement of "mark-to-market" for toxic mortgage securities held by Wall Street financial corporations, and more. Each excerpt is taken verbatim from the major media website listed at the link provided. If any link fails to function, click here . Key sentences are highlighted for those with limited time. By choosing to educate ourselves and to spread the word, we can and will build a brighter future. With best wishes, Tod Fletcher and Fred Burks for PEERS and the WantToKnow.info Team Big Bonuses at Fannie and Freddie Draw Fire April 4, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/business/04bonus.html Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two troubled companies at the heart of the nation?s mortgage market, are set to pay their employees ?retention bonuses? totaling $210 million, despite calls from lawmakers to cancel the payments. The bonuses, which were made public on Friday, were defended by the companies? federal regulator, James B. Lockhart, who said he intended to let them proceed. In a letter sent last week to Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, Mr. Lockhart disclosed that 7,600 Fannie and Freddie workers were scheduled to receive payouts aimed at retaining those ?employees most critical to keep and difficult to replace.? Under the plan, 213 employees will receive retention bonuses worth more than $100,000 this year, and one Freddie Mac executive will receive $1.3 million. Those figures drew sharp rebukes from Mr. Grassley and other lawmakers, who noted that Fannie and Freddie had received pledges of $400 billion from taxpayers to offset huge losses since they were seized by the government in September. Similar bonuses paid by the American International Group, which was also bailed out by taxpayers, incited fiery attacks from the White House and legislators when they were revealed last month. ?It?s hard to see any common sense in management decisions that award hundreds of millions in bonuses when their organizations lost more than $100 billion in a year,? Mr. Grassley said in a statement. ?It?s an insult that the bonuses were made with an infusion of cash from taxpayers.? Note: For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here . Judge Rules Some Prisoners at Bagram Have Right of Habeas Corpus April 4, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/washington/03bagram.html A federal judge ruled on Thursday that some prisoners held by the United States military in Afghanistan have a right to challenge their imprisonment, dealing a blow to government efforts to detain terrorism suspects for extended periods without court oversight. In a 53-page ruling that rejected a claim of unfettered executive power advanced by both the Bush and Obama administrations, United States District Judge John D. Bates said that three detainees at the United States? Bagram Air Base had the same legal rights that the Supreme Court last year granted to prisoners held at the American naval base in Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. The three detainees ? two Yemenis and a Tunisian ? say that they were captured outside Afghanistan and taken to Bagram, and that they have been imprisoned for more than six years without trials. Arguing that they were not enemy combatants, the detainees want a civilian judge to review the evidence against them and order their release, under the constitutional right of habeas corpus. The importance of Bagram as a holding site for terrorism suspects captured outside Afghanistan and Iraq has increased under the Obama administration, which prohibited the Central Intelligence Agency from using its secret prisons for long-term detention and ordered the military prison at Guant?namo closed within a year. The administration had sought to preserve Bagram as a haven where it could detain terrorism suspects beyond the reach of American courts, telling Judge Bates in February that it agreed with the Bush administration?s view that courts had no jurisdiction over detainees there. Note: For key articles from major media sources on threats to civil liberties, click here . Banks Get New Leeway in Valuing Their Assets April 3, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/business/03fasb.html A once-obscure accounting rule that infuriated banks ... was changed Thursday to give banks more discretion in reporting the value of mortgage securities. The change seems likely to allow banks to report higher profits by assuming that the securities are worth more than anyone is now willing to pay for them. But critics objected that the change could further damage the credibility of financial institutions by enabling them to avoid recognizing losses from bad loans they have made. Critics also said that since the rules were changed under heavy political pressure, the move compromised the independence of the organization that did it, the Financial Accounting Standards Board. During the financial crisis, the market prices of many securities, particularly those backed by subprime home mortgages, have plunged to fractions of their original prices. That has forced banks to report hundreds of billions of dollars in losses over the last year, because some of those securities must be reported at market value each three months, with the bank showing a profit or loss based on the change. At first FASB ... resisted making changes, but that changed within a few days of a Congressional hearing at which legislators from both parties demanded the board act. ?There is a perception that we are yielding to political pressure,? one board member, Lawrence W. Smith, said as he voted for the changes. A group headed by two former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, one who served under President Bill Clinton and one who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said that it feared that politicization of accounting standards would destroy the credibility of the board. Note: For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here . NATO Meeting to Highlight Strains on Afghanistan April 3, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/europe/03nato.html NATO leaders gathered here Friday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of [the] alliance ... also must face the harsh reality that NATO?s first military mission outside Europe is failing in a way that risks fracturing the alliance. Obama, [by] increasing American troops in Afghanistan to some 68,000 by the end of the year from 38,000 today, is also likely to significantly Americanize an operation that in recent years had been divided equally between American troops and allied forces. By year?s end, American troops will outnumber allied forces by at least two to one. His NATO allies are giving ... him very few new troops on the ground, underlining the fundamental strains in the alliance. The allies will offer more funds but no more than several thousand new personnel members, according to alliance military planners. Many of those will not be soldiers, but police trainers to meet a central pillar of the president?s new Afghan strategy, which focuses on an expansion of Afghan security forces. But even for the small numbers of European combat reinforcements, check the fine print: Nearly all will be sent to provide security for Afghanistan?s elections this summer, and will not be permanently deployed. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his British counterpart, John Hutton, have publicly warned that the performance of some European troops demonstrates that NATO risks slipping toward a two-tiered alliance. In that event, it would be divided between those that can and will fight, like Britain, Canada, France and Poland, and those that cannot or will not because of public opinion at home. Note: Why does the U.S. need a strong presence in Afghanistan? Obama is clearly giving in to the military/industrial complex by pouring billions of tax dollars into operations in this country where military contractors can reap huge profits. For the comments of a top U.S. general revealing the deeper reasons behind war, click here. For further important revelations from reliable sources about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here . Financial Industry Paid Millions to Obama Aide April 4, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/us/politics/04disclose.html Lawrence H. Summers, the top economic adviser to President Obama, earned more than $5 million last year from the hedge fund D. E. Shaw and collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from Wall Street companies that received government bailout money, the White House disclosed. Mr. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, wields important influence over Mr. Obama?s policy decisions for the troubled financial industry, including firms from which he recently received payments. Last year, he reported making 40 paid appearances, including a $135,000 speech to the investment firm Goldman Sachs, in addition to his earnings from the hedge fund, a sector the administration is trying to regulate. Mr. Summers?s role at the White House includes advising Mr. Obama on whether ? and how ? to tighten regulation of hedge funds, which engage in highly sophisticated financial trading that many analysts have said contributed to the economic collapse. Mr. Summers ... appeared before large Wall Street companies like Citigroup ($45,000), J. P. Morgan ($67,500) and the now defunct Lehman Brothers ($67,500), according to his disclosure report. While Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to restrict lobbyists from working in the White House, a step intended to reduce any influence between the administration and corporations, the ban did not apply to former executives like Mr. Summers, who was not a registered lobbyist. In 2006, he became a managing director of D. E. Shaw, a firm that manages about $30 billion in assets, making it one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. Note: For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here . Obama?s Ersatz Capitalism April 1, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/opinion/01stiglitz.html The Obama administration?s $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America?s ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win ? and taxpayers lose. Treasury hopes to get us out of the mess by replicating the flawed system that the private sector used to bring the world crashing down, with a proposal marked by overleveraging in the public sector, excessive complexity, poor incentives and a lack of transparency. In theory, the administration?s plan is based on letting the market determine the prices of the banks? ?toxic assets? ? including outstanding house loans and securities based on those loans. The reality, though, is that the market will not be pricing the toxic assets themselves, but options on those assets. The two have little to do with each other. The government plan in effect involves insuring almost all losses. Since the private investors are spared most losses, then they primarily ?value? their potential gains. This is exactly the same as being given an option. Under the plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the government would provide about 92 percent of the money to buy the asset but would stand to receive only 50 percent of any gains, and would absorb almost all of the losses. Some partnership! What the Obama administration is doing is far worse than nationalization: it is ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a ?partnership? in which one partner robs the other. Note: The author of this analysis, Joseph E. Stiglitz, is a professor of economics at Columbia University. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, and was awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001. For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here . Inquiry Asks Why A.I.G. Paid Banks March 27, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/business/27cuomo.html Members of Congress and the New York State attorney general demanded detailed information Thursday on how tens of billions of taxpayer dollars flowed through the American International Group during its crisis last fall and ended up in the coffers of several dozen big banks, shielding them from losses. The new inquiries shine a spotlight on a question that is exponentially bigger, in dollars, than the $165 million in bonuses that A.I.G. paid out this month, but which has been overshadowed until now by the uproar over the bonuses. ?We would like to know if the A.I.G. counterparty payments, as made, were in the best interests of the taxpayers who provided the funding,? said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, in a letter to Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The banks and investment firms that ended up with A.I.G.?s bailout money last fall were, in many cases, counterparties to derivatives contracts it had sold, known as credit-default swaps, which guaranteed the value of assets in their investment portfolios. They included Wall Street firms, like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Merrill Lynch, that have successfully resisted efforts to regulate credit derivatives in the past. In several hearings this month, members of Congress said they believed the derivatives had often been used to speculate, not to manage risk. They have expressed outrage that A.I.G.?s trading partners got 100 cents on the dollar for their money-losing trades when ordinary Americans paying for the bailout have suffered big losses in their 401(k) accounts and other investments. Note: For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here . Powerful proponent of psychiatric drugs for children primed for a fall March 27, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/27/EDAF16N963.DTL Dr. Joseph Biederman, chief of the Massachusetts General Pediatric Psychopharmacology Clinic, is already under investigation by Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health for failing to report income received from drug companies. Biederman has strongly pushed treating children's mental illnesses with powerful antipsychotic medicines. Diagnoses like ADHD and pediatric bipolar disorder, along with psychiatric drug use in American children, have soared in the last 15 years. No other country medicates children as frequently. Now, in newly released court documents, Biederman appears to be promising drugmaker Johnson & Johnson in advance that his studies on the antipsychotic drug risperidone will prove the drug to be effective when used on preschool age children. Biederman's status at Harvard and his research have arguably made him, until recently, America's most powerful doctor in child psychiatry. Reports from court actions, along with an ongoing investigation of conflict of interest charges led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, threaten to topple Biederman from his heretofore untouchable Olympian heights. Biederman's conflict of interest problems have exposed his strong pro-drug views to the public for scrutiny. Until now, fear of the Biederman team has operated quietly on the small club of child psychiatric researchers. Only when 2-year-olds started taking three psychiatric drugs simultaneously under a Biederman protocol for bipolar disorder did the emperor's clothes become so invisible as to begin the naming of names. Biederman's personal travails tragically inform us about a crisis in academic medicine that must be resolved. Note: For a powerful overview of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, click here . CIA expert: Electronic voting not secure March 25, 2009, Miami Herald/McClatchy News http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/966214.html The CIA, which has been monitoring foreign countries' use of electronic voting systems, has reported apparent vote-rigging schemes in Venezuela, Macedonia and Ukraine and a raft of concerns about the machines' vulnerability to tampering. In a presentation that could provide disturbing lessons for the United States, where electronic voting is becoming universal, [CIA cybersecurity expert] Steve Stigall summarized what he described as attempts to use computers to undermine democratic elections in developing nations. His remarks have received no news media attention until now. Stigall told the Election Assistance Commission ... that computerized electoral systems can be manipulated at five stages, from altering voter registration lists to posting results. Stigall said voting equipment connected to the Internet could be hacked, and machines that weren't connected could be compromised wirelessly. Eleven U.S. states have banned or limited wireless capability in voting equipment, but Stigall said elections officials didn't always know it when wireless cards were embedded in their machines. Stigall said that most Web-based ballot systems had proved to be insecure. The commission has been criticized for giving states more than $1 billion to buy electronic equipment without first setting performance standards. Numerous computer-security experts have concluded that U.S. systems can be hacked, and allegations of tampering in Ohio, Florida and other swing states have triggered a campaign to require all voting machines to produce paper audit trails. Note: For key articles from reliable sources exposing the many flaws in electronic voting systems, click here . A lesson for Detroit - Tata Nano March 31, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/30/EDTK16PF19.DTL Don't dismiss the Nano as a small, poor man's car that will cause a mere ripple on the world market. The Nano is a radical innovation, with the potential to revolutionize automobile manufacturing and distribution. The tiny Nano incorporates three innovations, which together make it huge. First, the Nano uses a modular design that enables a knowledgeable mechanic to assemble the car in a workshop. Thus, Tata can outsource assembly to independent workshops that can then assemble the car on buyers' orders. This innovation not only removes costly labor from the manufacturer's side but also allows for distributed entrepreneurship on the dealer's side. Second, the low cost of the Nano comes from a combination of its no-frills design and its use of numerous lighter components, from simple door handles and bulbs to the transmission and engine parts. The lighter vehicle enables a more energy-efficient engine that gets 67 miles to the gallon. Third, at just 122 inches long, the Nano is one of the shortest four-passenger cars on the market, yet it allows for ample interior space. These innovations have enabled Tata to introduce the Nano at a base price of $2,000. The low price has triggered worldwide interest in the car and a surge of orders, even in a struggling auto market. The Nano has the potential of flourishing despite the recession or softening its sting because of its extraordinary low price. It's a radical innovation precisely because it is a poor man's car. Note: For a treasure trove of inspiring developments in new energy and automotive technologies, click here . Key Articles From Years Past Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Vaccine Autism Coverup June 22, 2005, MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8316237 JOE SCARBOROUGH, Host: Six out of every 1,000 kids get it, and nobody knows exactly why. But my next guest says ... part of the blame ... needs to fall on government. And it has to do with a drug called thimerosal. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense [Council]. Let's talk tonight about thimerosal. There are a lot of people out there ... very concerned about the impact of this drug, which is found in vaccines, and how it causes autism. Talk about that. KENNEDY: That's right. Thimerosal is a preservative that was put in vaccines back in the 1930s. Almost immediately after it was put in, autism cases began to appear. Autism had never been known before. It was unknown to science. Then the vaccines were increased in 1989 by the CDC and by a couple of other government agencies. What happened was the vaccine schedule was increased. We went up from receiving about 10 vaccines in our generation to these kids receive 24 vaccines. And they all had this thimerosal in them, this mercury. And nobody bothered to do an analysis of what the cumulative impact of all that mercury was doing to kids. As it turns out, we are injecting our children with 400 times the amount of mercury that FDA or EPA considers safe. A child on his first day that he is born is injected with a hepatitis B shot. Under EPA guidelines, he would have to be 275 pounds to safely absorb that shot. What happened was that, in 1988, one in every 2,500 American children had autism. Today, one in every 166 children have autism. Note: For an excellent article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. revealing the severe manipulations around vaccines, click here . For a seven-minute video clip of the above interview, click here . For lots more on autism and vaccines from reliable, verifiable sources, click here Congress Passes Wide-Ranging Bill Easing Bank Laws November 5, 1999, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congress-passes-wide-ranging-bill-easing-bank-laws.html Congress approved landmark legislation today that opens the door for a new era on Wall Street in which commercial banks, securities houses and insurers will find it easier and cheaper to enter one another's businesses. The measure, considered by many the most important banking legislation in 66 years, was approved in the Senate by a vote of 90 to 8 and in the House tonight by 362 to 57. The bill will now be sent to the president, who is expected to sign it, aides said. ''Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century,'' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said. ''This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy.'' The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression. Consumer groups and civil rights advocates criticized the legislation for being a sop to the nation's biggest financial institutions. The opponents of the measure ... predicted that by unshackling banks and enabling them to move more freely into new kinds of financial activities, the new law could lead to an economic crisis down the road when the marketplace is no longer growing briskly. Note: Clearly these critics of the elimination of Glass-Steagall have been proven right by the financial crisis which has unfolded less than 10 years later. Note the key role played by President Obama's top economic advisor, Larry Summers. If the players haven't changed, how likely is it that the game has? Special note: For the full text of a history-making new article in the peer-reviewed scientific journal The Open Chemical Physics Journal, presenting detailed evidence of abundant nano-thermitic residue in dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and thus virtually proving that they were brought down by controlled demolition, click here . For discussion, click here. For an important analysis by WantToKnow.info team member Kristina Borjesson of the authenticity of purported audiotapes from Osama bin Laden that have been repeatedly reported in the mainstream press, click here . Final Note: WantToKnow.info believes it is important to balance disturbing cover-up information with inspirational writings which call us to be all that we can be and to work together for positive change. Please visit our Inspiration Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/inspirational for an abundance of uplifting material. See our archive of revealing news articles at http://www.WantToKnow.info/indexnewsarticles Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work. To make a donation by credit card, check, or money order: http://www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore these empowering websites coordinated by the nonprofit PEERS network : http://www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart http://www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all http://insightcourse.net - The Insight Course: Best of the Internet all in one free course Educational websites promoting transformation through information and inspiration To reply to this message, visit http://www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): http://www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Hosting by YourMailingListProvider -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 14:47:38 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:47:38 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [James Robertson's Newsletter] G20 Monetary Reform Update Message-ID: <001401c9b6f8$f6ce7540$e46b5fc0$@net> From: Desmond Berghofer and Geraldine Schwartz [mailto:desgerri at direct.ca] Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 11:38 AM To: Michael Ellis; Mary Rose Subject: Fw: [James Robertson's Newsletter] G20 Monetary Reform Update This is packed with rich information. Desmond ----- Original Message ----- From: James Robertson To: Desmond Berghofer Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 10:13 AM Subject: [James Robertson's Newsletter] G20 Monetary Reform Update FINAL PROGRESS REPORT ON THE G20 MONETARY REFORM CAMPAIGN EDITORIAL. This Progress Report will be the last about the campaign to put national and international monetary reform on the G20 agenda for 2nd April. That short campaign has contributed to growing awareness of the need for international and national monetary reform. But it also strengthens one's sense of the urgency of convincing a wider range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of that need. Even in normal times our skewed system of financial rewards and penalties motivates almost everyone in the world to get and spend money destructively - socially, environmentally, and economically. That results from creating money as profit-making debt, together with dysfunctional tax systems and public spending programmes. This means that a wide range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should support monetary reform as part of wider money system reform . It is important for social issues (poverty, welfare, social injustice, health, human rights, etc), environmental issues (climate change, energy supply and use, water, food and agriculture, etc); the problems of ?developing? countries; and general economic and public policy issues (world future prospects; local and community economic development; ethical investing, trading and consuming; corporate social responsibility; etc). Most NGOs still give priority to getting money from the existing money system for their own projects. Natural enough but, if the existing system remains unreformed, they will all continue to swim against a very powerful tide. If you find target dates useful, the Copenhagen UN Climate Conference - http://en.cop15.dk - will be on 7th - 18th December, 2009. We must persuade it to recognise the key importance of having a money system that encourages everyone to save, not destroy, the world. 1. THE AFTERMATH OF THE G20 MEETING. Mainstream opinion has cautiously deemed it successful so far. But disagreements between G20 countries have not been resolved. More important, as the economic situation worsens and anger grows against the bankers and the rich. It is likely to become more widely accepted that serious study of the feasibility of national and international monetary reform is needed. (For more about that, see Item 4 of Newsletter 22). We can encourage this by publicising the questions in the one-page Note on "THE ROOT OF THE PRESENT CRISIS AND ITS CURE: Who Should Create The Money Supply? Should It Be Created As Debt Or Debt-Free?". You can read it at www.jamesrobertson.com/presentcrisisroot.htm. 2. THE PROBLEM FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA is that, like Prime Minister Brown, he is insulated from reality by advisers from the conventional school of financial experts, who have never questioned if it's right to depend on the commercial banks to create our public money supply. However, there are green shoots of hope in the USA, as elsewhere. Stephen Zarlenga and the American Monetary Institute - www.monetary.org - have prepared an American Monetary Act based on the necessary reform. They have backing in Congress from influential Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Please look at their website if you don't already know it. Hazel Henderson has been a friend and colleague since the 1970s. Her "Ethical Markets" website is strong on Reforming Global Finance - www.ethicalmarkets.com/category/reforming-global-finance . It's good to see, if you scroll down the page, that she includes contributions from John Bunzl - www.simpol.org - on "The G20 Can Change The Rules For Global Trade", and from me on " The Root Of The Present Crisis: Who Should Create The Money Supply? As Debt Or Debt-Free?" In David Korten's (www.davidkorten.org ) "Agenda for a New Economy"(Berrett-Koehler Publishers - 2009, pbk, 196pp), he asks whether commercial banks are so vital for the national interest to justify showering them with trillions of dollars to save them from the consequences of their own excess (Answer, No), and whether there might be other more effective and less costly ways of providing necessary and beneficial financial services (Answer, Yes). One of these would be to "transfer to the federal government the responsibility for issuing money" (pp142-144). This widely ranging, strongly decentralising book has been rightly acclaimed. It deserves a longer review at a later date. Its conclusion is surely correct. The people must first show the way we insist the leaders must follow. That will allow President Obama to join a people's declaration of independence from Wall Street. The same goes for citizens and our leaders in other countries too. 3. THE PROBLEM FOR PRIME MINISTER BROWN is that the past ten years have left him with a "boom and bust" reputation - exaggerated boasting followed by conspicuous failure. The recent short YouTube film - www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9sO25aFjDs by "renegade economist" Fred Harrison on "How Gordon Brown Broke Britain" presses it home - a relentless shredding. Fred doubts if Gordon Brown has the flexibility to flip to the escape route in the scenario sketched in Item 4 of Newsletter 22. I nurse the hope that Brown, or a successor Prime Minister, will take it up when enough people have understood the facts as explained at www.endtherecession.org and other comparable websites. 4. THERE WAS A VERY ENCOURAGING BLOG POST from former nef director Ed Mayo on 19 March - http://edmayo.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/monetary-reform. It reflects his perceptive and enthusiastic foreword that launched the publication of "Creating New Money" by nef nearly ten years ago - www.jamesrobertson.com/books.htm . As he now says, "We are moving into a new financial system as well as a downturn or depression. The radical toolkit deserves a fair hearing. The idea that this was all the fault of Fred Goodwin (who I understand now has two bodyguards) is simply lazy thinking. It was not just individuals. There was a system at work and it is the system that we need to think anew." 5. BRYAN GOULD (www.bryangould.net ), the former Labour Shadow Cabinet member who is now back in New Zealand, contributes the last chapter in "The Crash - a view from the left". He says, "In particular, we should re-examine the role of the privately owned banks in the light of the current debacle and question whether they should ever again be allowed a virtual monopoly of credit creation. In view of the burden that bank failure has imposed on the taxpayer, should the banking function not be seen as essentially a public responsibility?". The book is published by Soundings and can be downloaded from www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/crash.html. Other contributors include Colin Hines, Toby Lloyd, Richard Murphy and Ann Pettifor. 6. TWO ORGANISATIONS that I hope will call for monetary reform next time. (1) Global Coalition for Responsible Credit: A call on G20 leaders - www.responsible-credit.net/index.php?id=1980&viewid=42636. (2) Rights and Humanity: Ubuntu Declaration for a Just and Sustainable World Economy. 7. THE NUMBER 10 PETITION to the Prime Minister has collected nearly 500 signatories since 2nd March - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ G20moneyreform. It will remain open until 30 April. If you haven't already signed it, please do; the eventual number will be a useful measure of support. If you have signed it, but have not checked that your name is on the list, please look at it and check. We know of a number of people who thought they had signed, but had failed to confirm it on the automatic reply e-mail sent to them from No 10. 8. VIDEO NEWS. Nearly 2,500 people have watched Fred Harrison's Renegade Economist film of me explaining the need for international and national monetary reform. Click here or on the image below to watch it. 9. Thanks. Finally, thank you to everyone who has supported this Crash Campaign. I hope to be in touch again in early May. James Robertson 6th April 2009 PS. A Massive Fraud. I wonder whether Geithner or Summers will show this to President Obama - www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/ profile.html. Black is clearly a respectable and knowledgeable witness. Thanks to Steve Kurtz and David Weston who have both just sent me this. james at jamesrobertson.com www.jamesrobertson.com/g20monetaryreform.htm The Old Bakehouse Cholsey Oxfordshire OX10 9NU United Kingdom You may unsubscribe or change your contact details at any time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 14:47:38 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:47:38 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [James Robertson's Newsletter] PS. Excellent article on Guardian website Message-ID: <001901c9b6f8$fbccafd0$f3660f70$@net> From: Desmond Berghofer and Geraldine Schwartz [mailto:desgerri at direct.ca] Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 1:14 PM To: Michael Ellis; Mary Rose Subject: Fw: [James Robertson's Newsletter] PS. Excellent article on Guardian website ----- Original Message ----- From: James Robertson To: Desmond Berghofer Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 12:15 PM Subject: [James Robertson's Newsletter] PS. Excellent article on Guardian website A Post-Script to Newsletter 23 Money for Nothing - www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/03/g20-economics-banks. I got news of this truly excellent article by Mark Braund literally minutes after Newsletter 23 went out. Please read it and add a supportive comment if you can. James Robertson 6th April 2009 james at jamesrobertson.com www.jamesrobertson.com/g20monetaryreform.htm The Old Bakehouse Cholsey Oxfordshire OX10 9NU United Kingdom You may unsubscribe or change your contact details at any time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 15:42:04 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 14:42:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing Message-ID: <008f01c9b700$8cf52990$a6df7cb0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 9:53 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm?loc=interstit ialskip A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses. The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount - say, 95 cents for $1 value - and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency. Workers with dwindling wages are paying for groceries, yoga classes and fuel with Detroit Cheers, Ithaca Hours in New York, Plenty in North Carolina or BerkShares in Massachusetts. Ed Collom, a University of Southern Maine sociologist who has studied local currencies, says they encourage people to buy locally. Merchants, hurting because customers have cut back on spending, benefit as consumers spend the local cash. "We wanted to make new options available," says Jackie Smith of South Bend, Ind., who is working to launch a local currency. "It reinforces the message that having more control of the economy in local hands can help you cushion yourself from the blows of the marketplace." About a dozen communities have local currencies, says Susan Witt, founder of BerkShares in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts. She expects more to do it. Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses. Since its start in 2006, the system, the largest of its kind in the country, has circulated $2.3 million worth of BerkShares. In Detroit, three business owners are printing $4,500 worth of Detroit Cheers, which they are handing out to customers to spend in one of 12 shops. During the Depression, local governments, businesses and individuals issued currency, known as scrip, to keep commerce flowing when bank closings led to a cash shortage. By law, local money may not resemble federal bills or be promoted as legal tender of the United States, says Claudia Dickens of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "We print the real thing," she says. The IRS gets its share. When someone pays for goods or services with local money, the income to the business is taxable, says Tom Ochsenschlager of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "It's not a way to avoid income taxes, or we'd all be paying in Detroit dollars," he says. Pittsboro, N.C., is reviving the Plenty, a defunct local currency created in 2002. It is being printed in denominations of $1, $5, $20 and $50. A local bank will exchange $9 for $10 worth of Plenty. "We're a wiped-out small town in America," says Lyle Estill, president of Piedmont Biofuels, which accepts the Plenty. "This will strengthen the local economy. ... The nice thing about the Plenty is that it can't leave here." From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 15:42:04 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 14:42:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness Message-ID: <009001c9b700$8fda4820$af8ed860$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:36 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness by Carolyn Baker 05 April 2009 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1056/1/ It's happening daily now, almost hourly -- rampant eruptions of violence throughout the so-called developed world. As civilization unravels, the uncivilized behavior of humans is becoming viral, and the culture of empire is quite simply going mad as its values, assumptions, and reasons for existing are evaporating with dizzying speed. For those who are and have been collapse-aware for some time, it is important not only to make sense of the epidemic violence, but to incorporate skillful responses to it. First, I believe we need to deeply discern what is actually happening psychologically. The current outbreaks of violence are about more than unemployment and financial stressors. Yes, job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, homelessness, and loss of health care are breaking people and communities in pieces. Yet something even more fundamental is seething beneath the surface -- something of which these losses are symptomatic. Underlying the chaos is the reality of civilization's dissolution. But what does that actually mean? For one thing, it means that civilization has been inherently infantilizing. It teaches its members that their reason for existing on earth is to consume -- that they have absolutely no other meaning or purpose but to produce money in order to spend it and thereby incessantly oil the machinery of maniacal, unrestrained growth. A world view of this kind can only result in a culture that has virtually no inner life -- a culture in which one's reason for being lies entirely outside of oneself. We're not talking compassion or altruism here as in mindfulness of the well being of others. That results only from a highly developed inner life that understands that consuming is a miniscule aspect of life based on fundamental survival needs and that is willing to put even survival needs on the back burner in order to support other members of the earth community. Empire, which I use synonymously with civilization, is all about keeping the focus external to oneself for the purpose of enhancing the well being of a few dominant individuals in a strictly prescribed hierarchical system which encompasses all of the culture's institutions. From birth, citizens of empire are taught to serve that system by way of education, career choices, work, marriage, family, home ownership, political participation, and religion. When citizens reach a certain age, they are thrown away by the culture because they no longer have value in perpetuating the system but now require service from the system. Until that time, throughout adult life, one's primary identity is that of a producer who willingly focuses above all else on working, consuming, and paying taxes. Any other role the producer has -- parent, spouse, volunteer -- must be secondary to the role of worker/consumer/taxpayer. Naturally, to maintain the level of growth the ruling elite of the culture believe is necessary, a certain level of production/consumption is required. I hasten to add that as I use the word "producer", I'm not referring to producing anything sustainable, but rather the production of whatever is of value to the system which that system compensates in the form of money which then, by way of the system, becomes debt. Citizens of empire are taught that the total abdication of inner life on behalf of decades of servitude to the needs of the external hierarchical machine is not only normal and natural, but their fundamental duty as human beings. In other words, traversing any other path than this one is synonymous with "failure", "ingratitude", "slothfulness", even "treason." Nowhere is this more exquisitely depicted, in my opinion, than in the recent film "Revolutionary Road" by actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo De Caprio. Moreover, citizens are constantly rewarded for refusing to question these assumptions. To question would be to demonstrate disturbing symptoms of adulthood. Empire needs infantile servility in order to perpetuate itself indefinitely. The psyches, then, of empire's citizens are ill-equipped to deal with variation from the system's proscribed roles or functions. Empire, like a "good" parent, gives one everything one "needs" in return for production -- until it doesn't, and when it doesn't, the citizen has no recourse emotionally because he/she has lived in psychological symbiosis with empire since birth. Does this sound like the relationship between an abuse victim and the abuser? "I've been used!", cries the abused, having believed that to keep quiet and play by the rules would be better than breaking silence. But we have only to ask the currently unemployed, homeless, foreclosed upon, and bankrupt how well credit scores and paying their bills on time served them. So now it becomes clearer to us what is happening in the psyches of millions of individuals who are losing their roles in the imperial system -- and in the psyches of those who are not. The entire culture is under unprecedented stress, except perhaps for those old enough to have lived through the Great Depression. On some level, many of them "grew up" and stopped being infants during their ordeal. The 1930s in America was an enormous initiation which they moved through and became wiser and more authentically adult for having done so. This is not to say that every person now alive who lived through the Great Depression is a paragon of wizened maturity, but rather to notice that their survival of it has informed their behavior and attitudes since and actually equipped many of them to face the current crisis more skillfully than younger generations. As for those in the present moment who have jobs, homes, and health care, they realize on some level how precarious their position is. They have these things now, but it's only a matter of time until they may not. And consciously or unconsciously, this is creating gargantuan levels of stress among "more fortunate" Americans. But none of this is likely to be new information for those reading this article, and you may be wondering much more about the second half of the title than the first. Before addressing that, however, I believe that it's important to understand that the current epidemic of violence is likely to become far more severe and widespread. Understanding why it's happening is crucial, but if you have a beating heart, you have to be concerned about when and where it's going to erupt next. You also need to understand that as the violence exacerbates, more individuals and groups will be perceived as scapegoats. Currently, in France, CEO's are being taken hostage as they are experienced as the primary culprits of that nation's economic crisis. In the United States, we are likely to see as we did in Binghamton, New York this past week, the targeting of immigrant groups -- even by other immigrants, or just intensifying family or random violence. Some collapse-aware individuals have chosen to purchase weapons for protection. In a culture gone mad, it's debatable how much protection firearms can actually offer, but if it feels right to do so, in my opinion, one should respect that and act accordingly. Dialog at this point is still an enormously important option, especially as we interact with folks who've been telling us for years that we are lunatics for preparing for collapse. In fact, the timing couldn't be better for these kinds of conversations, but we need to maintain an innocent, open attitude, not one of "I told you so," as much as some part of us might wish project it. Equally vital and life-supporting is our involvement in community efforts such as Transition Town and relocalization groups which offer us the opportunity to take local action, develop deep connections, and delight in the healing energy of validation and support from our peers. I believe that as cultural violence spreads in reaction to the trauma of collapse, these groups will be forced to strategize methods for looking out for each other's well being. Dmitry Orlov has a great deal to say about this in Re-Inventing Collapse which I highly recommend reading. Shamelessly, I must recommend my book Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse which is not primarily a book of information, but contains at the end of nearly every chapter, experiential exercises that both individuals and groups can engage in and which could be very useful in alleviating stress and promoting understanding. I wrote Sacred Demise specifically to offer the kind of introspection in the face of collapse that is going to be crucial for all of us in order to navigate it emotionally and spiritually. Empire has stolen so much of the inner world from us, and in order to make sense of the turbulent unraveling, we must reclaim our interiority. John Michael Greer brilliantly titled his recent review of my book, "Facing Decline, Facing Ourselves." In truth, we cannot face one without facing the other, for only both in tandem will allow us to navigate the madness. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 15:42:04 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 14:42:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... Message-ID: <009101c9b700$93475b60$b9d61220$@net> Thanks MaryNelson. What I feel is happening, is that people, and in particular women, are growing up and realizing the sacredness within themselves. Thus as a collective consciousness, we no longer need the patriarchal dominator paradigm with its suppression of women that has been so prevalent in the past several thousand years, and are at last throwing off its desire for control over us as we reclaim our own power. Perhaps the defining moment of change was when George W. Bush declared war "in the name of God" on Iraq. -----Original Message----- From: Mary Nelson [mailto:m_nelson at aperdat.com] Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 6:11 PM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... NEWSWEEK also. This via Carolyn Baker. NEWSWEEK: THE END OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583 MaryNelson -----Original Message----- From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 5:24 PM To: 'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'; FixGov at yahoogroups. com Subject: FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... Meantime back at the ranch, more people are moving into a science-based view of life which relies heavily on biology as actually seen through a microscope, along with quantum physics which provides authenticity, rather than reliance on a "faith-based" version emanating from a Bible which is now proving to have been substantially altered by the Romans. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 2:35 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) April 5, 2009 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017609.php A RELIGIOUS RIGHT CRACK-UP?.... In general, the most noticeable fissure among politically conservative evangelical Christians is generational. In this dynamic, older evangelicals see themselves as an appendage of the Republican Party, and consider abortion and gay rights as the only "moral" issues that matter. Younger evangelicals are less partisan, and consider poverty and global warming important, too. But there's another fissure, which in the short term, may be even more consequential. It's between leaders of the religious movement vs. those more inclined to take John 18:36 to heart (Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world"). The split first emerged, on a conceptual level, about a decade ago, when Cal Thomas, a far-right columnist and founding member of the Moral Majority, write a book called "Blinded by Might," arguing that conservative evangelical Christians have been going about their efforts all wrong. Religious right activists, Thomas said, should focus less on political power and influence -- having a seat at the proverbial GOP table -- and more on religion and family. In her Washington Post column today, Kathleen Parker reports on how this kind of thinking as grown considerably more common, to the point that many "principled Christians" are now "finished with politics." Parker highlights a recent argument between Tom Minnery, head of the political arm of Focus on the Family, and Steve Deace of WHO Radio in Iowa. Deace's point was that established Christian activist groups too often settle for lesser evils in exchange for electing Republicans.... Compromise may be the grease of politics, but it has no place in Christian orthodoxy, according to Deace. Put another way, Christians may have no place in the political fray of dealmaking. That doesn't mean one disengages from political life, but it might mean that the church shouldn't be a branch of the Republican Party. It might mean trading fame and fortune (green rooms and fundraisers) for humility and charity. Deace's radio show may be beneath the radar of most Americans and even most Christians, but he is not alone in his thinking. I was alerted to the Deace-Minnery interview by E. Ray Moore -- founder of the South Carolina-based Exodus Mandate, an initiative to encourage Christian education and home schooling. Moore, who considers himself a member of the Christian right, thinks the movement is imploding. "It's hard to admit defeat, but this one was self-inflicted," he wrote in an e-mail. "Yes, Dr. Dobson and the pro-family or Christian right political movement is a failure; it would have made me sad to say this in the past, but they have done it to themselves." For Christians such as Moore -- and others better known, such as columnist Cal Thomas, a former vice president for the Moral Majority -- the heart of Christianity is in the home, not the halls of Congress or even the courts. And the route to a more moral America is through good works -- service, prayer and education -- not political lobbying. It's worth noting that both sides of the fissure believe the culture war has effectively been lost, but they differ wildly on the diagnosis. For religious right leaders, the culture war flopped because they faced too many enemies (popular culture, changing norms, progressive interest groups) with too few allies (no Republican follow-through). For those like Deace and Thomas, the war never should have been fought in the first place, because it required principled Christians to effectively become political lobbyists. Thomas told Parker, "If people who call themselves Christians want to see any influence in the culture, then they ought to start following the commands of Jesus and people will be so amazed that they will be attracted to Him. The problem isn't political. The problem is moral and spiritual.... You have the choice between a way that works and brings no credit or money or national attention. Or, a way that doesn't work that gets you lots of attention and has little influence on the culture." The movement, in other words, has a decision to make. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 21:54:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 20:54:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Colorful new Bush library-theme park Message-ID: <00c001c9b734$ac2f6760$048e3620$@net> From: Marilyn Nyborg [mailto:marilyn at nydow.com] Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 2:11 PM To: Subject: Colorful new Bush library-theme park You'll want to visit here soon!! Could be the new DisneyWorld!! http://www.goodnightbush.com/librarium/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue Apr 7 02:33:33 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 14:03:33 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness Message-ID: <466351.49856.qm@web94910.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Mary, As a psychologist who having seen the suffering of mentally ill men and women in asylums in Delhi at Shahdra Mental Hospital as? part of course work in Clinical Psychology under the guidance of my respected teacher Prof. Aroona Broota ( Jackobson-Broota Relaxa and then later following on some of the cases personally, I would like to read post carefully and may be send in some advice that could be used. It is from that experience, that I gathered that it is not only the individuals who are responsible for the conditions they are in but it is also overal civilisational ethos, social support systems known as environmental factors that are responsible for state of mental health and wellbeing. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Delhi --- On Tue, 7/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 3:12 AM -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:36 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness by Carolyn Baker??? 05 April 2009 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1056/1/ It's happening daily now, almost hourly -- rampant eruptions of violence throughout the so-called developed world. As civilization unravels, the uncivilized behavior of humans is becoming viral, and the culture of empire is quite simply going mad as its values, assumptions, and reasons for existing are evaporating with dizzying speed. For those who are and have been collapse-aware for some time, it is important not only to make sense of the epidemic violence, but to incorporate skillful responses to it. First, I believe we need to deeply discern what is actually happening psychologically. The current outbreaks of violence are about more than unemployment and financial stressors. Yes, job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, homelessness, and loss of health care are breaking people and communities in pieces. Yet something even more fundamental is seething beneath the surface -- something of which these losses are symptomatic. Underlying the chaos is the reality of civilization's dissolution. But what does that actually mean? For one thing, it means that civilization has been inherently infantilizing. It teaches its members that their reason for existing on earth is to consume -- that they have absolutely no other meaning or purpose but to produce money in order to spend it and thereby incessantly oil the machinery of maniacal, unrestrained growth. A world view of this kind can only result in a culture that has virtually no inner life -- a culture in which one's reason for being lies entirely outside of oneself. We're not talking compassion or altruism here as in mindfulness of the well being of others. That results only from a highly developed inner life that understands that consuming is a miniscule aspect of life based on fundamental survival needs and that is willing to put even survival needs on the back burner in order to support other members of the earth community. Empire, which I use synonymously with civilization, is all about keeping the focus external to oneself for the purpose of enhancing the well being of a few dominant individuals in a strictly prescribed hierarchical system which encompasses all of the culture's institutions. From birth, citizens of empire are taught to serve that system by way of education, career choices, work, marriage, family, home ownership, political participation, and religion. When citizens reach a certain age, they are thrown away by the culture because they no longer have value in perpetuating the system but now require service from the system. Until that time, throughout adult life, one's primary identity is that of a producer who willingly focuses above all else on working, consuming, and paying taxes. Any other role the producer has -- parent, spouse, volunteer -- must be secondary to the role of worker/consumer/taxpayer. Naturally, to maintain the level of growth the ruling elite of the culture believe is necessary, a certain level of production/consumption is required. I hasten to add that as I use the word "producer", I'm not referring to producing anything sustainable, but rather the production of whatever is of value to the system which that system compensates in the form of money which then, by way of the system, becomes debt. Citizens of empire are taught that the total abdication of inner life on behalf of decades of servitude to the needs of the external hierarchical machine is not only normal and natural, but their fundamental duty as human beings. In other words, traversing any other path than this one is synonymous with "failure", "ingratitude", "slothfulness", even "treason." Nowhere is this more exquisitely depicted, in my opinion, than in the recent film "Revolutionary Road" by actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo De Caprio. Moreover, citizens are constantly rewarded for refusing to question these assumptions. To question would be to demonstrate disturbing symptoms of adulthood. Empire needs infantile servility in order to perpetuate itself indefinitely. The psyches, then, of empire's citizens are ill-equipped to deal with variation from the system's proscribed roles or functions. Empire, like a "good" parent, gives one everything one "needs" in return for production -- until it doesn't, and when it doesn't, the citizen has no recourse emotionally because he/she has lived in psychological symbiosis with empire since birth. Does this sound like the relationship between an abuse victim and the abuser? "I've been used!", cries the abused, having believed that to keep quiet and play by the rules would be better than breaking silence. But we have only to ask the currently unemployed, homeless, foreclosed upon, and bankrupt how well credit scores and paying their bills on time served them. So now it becomes clearer to us what is happening in the psyches of millions of individuals who are losing their roles in the imperial system -- and in the psyches of those who are not. The entire culture is under unprecedented stress, except perhaps for those old enough to have lived through the Great Depression. On some level, many of them "grew up" and stopped being infants during their ordeal. The 1930s in America was an enormous initiation which they moved through and became wiser and more authentically adult for having done so. This is not to say that every person now alive who lived through the Great Depression is a paragon of wizened maturity, but rather to notice that their survival of it has informed their behavior and attitudes since and actually equipped many of them to face the current crisis more skillfully than younger generations. As for those in the present moment who have jobs, homes, and health care, they realize on some level how precarious their position is. They have these things now, but it's only a matter of time until they may not. And consciously or unconsciously, this is creating gargantuan levels of stress among "more fortunate" Americans. But none of this is likely to be new information for those reading this article, and you may be wondering much more about the second half of the title than the first. Before addressing that, however, I believe that it's important to understand that the current epidemic of violence is likely to become far more severe and widespread. Understanding why it's happening is crucial, but if you have a beating heart, you have to be concerned about when and where it's going to erupt next. You also need to understand that as the violence exacerbates, more individuals and groups will be perceived as scapegoats. Currently, in France, CEO's are being taken hostage as they are experienced as the primary culprits of that nation's economic crisis. In the United States, we are likely to see as we did in Binghamton, New York this past week, the targeting of immigrant groups -- even by other immigrants, or just intensifying family or random violence. Some collapse-aware individuals have chosen to purchase weapons for protection. In a culture gone mad, it's debatable how much protection firearms can actually offer, but if it feels right to do so, in my opinion, one should respect that and act accordingly. Dialog at this point is still an enormously important option, especially as we interact with folks who've been telling us for years that we are lunatics for preparing for collapse. In fact, the timing couldn't be better for these kinds of conversations, but we need to maintain an innocent, open attitude, not one of "I told you so," as much as some part of us might wish project it. Equally vital and life-supporting is our involvement in community efforts such as Transition Town and relocalization groups which offer us the opportunity to take local action, develop deep connections, and delight in the healing energy of validation and support from our peers. I believe that as cultural violence spreads in reaction to the trauma of collapse, these groups will be forced to strategize methods for looking out for each other's well being. Dmitry Orlov has a great deal to say about this in Re-Inventing Collapse which I highly recommend reading. Shamelessly, I must recommend my book Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse which is not primarily a book of information, but contains at the end of nearly every chapter, experiential exercises that both individuals and groups can engage in and which could be very useful in alleviating stress and promoting understanding. I wrote Sacred Demise specifically to offer the kind of introspection in the face of collapse that is going to be crucial for all of us in order to navigate it emotionally and spiritually. Empire has stolen so much of the inner world from us, and in order to make sense of the turbulent unraveling, we must reclaim our interiority. John Michael Greer brilliantly titled his recent review of my book, "Facing Decline, Facing Ourselves." In truth, we cannot face one without facing the other, for only both in tandem will allow us to navigate the madness. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India Messenger at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue Apr 7 03:19:23 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 09:19:23 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Special Washington Action Alert Message-ID: <717938.1749.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Tue, 7/4/09, AMI wrote: From: AMI Subject: Special Washington Action Alert To: "AMI" Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 3:53 AM Dear friends of the American Monetary Institute, ???? This is an action alert! Please forward to your email list! We have watched the same people who created the crisis brazenly grab more loot, even pretending that so called bonus "contracts" must be honored; until the public outcry shut them up. Now there's something you can do to end these injustices; to take? back control of our nation and our money system and start the rebuilding process on a solid and just foundation. ? A special presentation of The American Monetary Act will be made on Capitol Hill, April 23, 2009 in Room 304 of the Cannon House Office Building.? Please ask your Congressmen to attend. This presentation has been requested by a House member to explain the American Monetary Act to members of Congress and their staff.? It will describe what the Act does and exactly how it benefits each Congressional District. It will show that it contains the minimum reform actions needed, for monetary reform to work - to place time on the side of justice. THEY will understand that it is workable. Your request for them to attend can be made by phone, or by letter. Modify the sample letter below to fit your style, or better yet, write a letter in your own words.? Its important to send the letter now, since the anthrax scare it takes extra time for letters to reach Congress. OR Your Congressmen are on spring break until April 20th and so you can reach them at their home office right now. Stop by in person - It will have an effect! Print out and hand them a copy of the American Monetary Act (attached). At the very least phone and ask them to attend the April 23rd Cannon 304 presentation, and send a copy of your letter to their local office as well. Thanks people for your attention. Stephen Zarlenga Director, Ami ? NOTE: If you do not know your representative's addresses, you can find your Representatives at https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml??????? Your Senators addresses are at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm ??? Here's a sample letter - modify it to fit your style. Remember this is a non partisan educational event - all political parties are welcome. Dear Congressman/Senator: ???? I am writing to ask you to attend a meeting in Room 304 of the Cannon House Office Building on Thursday, April 23, 2009.so you can learn about the American Monetary Act - legislation prepared by The American Monetary Institute, which fundamentally reforms our private credit system, replacing it with a government money system. ???? Under this Act, the Federal Reserve becomes incorporated into the U.S. Treasury. Banks would no longer have the privilege of creating our money supply. (Just look how they have abused it!)? The government will take back control of our money, and our nation.? Banks will continue to loan money, but will not create it. They must cease to dominate our government. ???? The American Monetary Act nationalizes the money system, not the banking system. Banking is not a proper function of government, but providing the nation's money supply is a key function of government. This Act begins our national rebuilding process based on a solid and just foundation.? ???? Stephen Zarlenga, Director of the Institute will be in room 304 the whole day to answer questions that arise, so whatever your schedule, you and your aides will have an opportunity to attend. In addition a formal presentation with several speakers will be made at a time to be determined. After hearing the presentation and if all your questions are answered satisfactorily, I hope you will become a co-sponsor when this Act is introduced as a bill.? Please mark April 23rd on your calendar now.? ???? Go to the following links to learn more about monetary reform: http://www.monetary.org http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf Sincerely, ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue Apr 7 03:42:59 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 09:42:59 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Max Keiser Message-ID: <262546.77869.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Dear All, ? ?????????? Rodney Shakespeare had as he put it a "sparky" encounter on Press TV with Max Keiser. I thought it would be interesting to show some bio-data on the latter with the following link.. ? ???????? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Keiser ? ? ? R.Searle. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue Apr 7 05:18:47 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 16:48:47 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Fw: U.S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President's Address in Turkey Message-ID: <401572.25643.qm@web94913.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Vatican approving Islamic banking, AMI presenting American Monetary Act ( with demand for public control on the creation of money), Obama seeking conciliation with Muslim world? and declaring peace with Islam, recession exposing the Washington Consensus economists, we indeed have an opportunity to maximise endeavour for reforming finance system for global equity ,ecological safety within and across the nations. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam --- On Tue, 7/4/09, CAIR wrote: From: CAIR Subject: U.S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President's Address in Turkey To: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 5:43 AM The Council on American-Islamic Relations #yiv1668729605 .PoweredByConvio {display:none;} #yiv1668729605 { background-color:#f7f7f7;} April 6, 2009 Forward to a Friend Support CAIR Contact Us Update Your Profile Untitled DocumentFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U.S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President?s Address in Turkey President Obama: America ?is not and will never be at war with Islam? (WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/6/09) - The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, today applauded President Obama?s Monday address to the Turkish parliament. SEE: In Turkey, Obama Stresses Partnership, Peace (Washington Post) SEE ALSO: Muslims Voice Support for Obama's Message (OC Register) A statement issued today at a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., read in part: ?We applaud President Obama?s remarks and hope that they are a sign of improved relations between America and the Muslim world. In his speech, President Obama rightly said that the United States ?is not and will never be at war with Islam.? This is a position that needs restating at every opportunity. ?We also agree with the president?s statement that better relations with the Muslim world are vital in ?rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject.? ?We appreciate that the president noted the contributions of American Muslims and recognized that many Americans ?have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country.? ?Turkey is a key player in the region and is well-placed to assist the United States in reaching out to nations such as Iran and Syria and to help achieve a just and comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We also support President Obama?s backing of Turkey?s entry into the European Union. ?The American Muslim community believes President Obama?s new policy of dialogue and mutual respect will serve our nation and the cause of world peace and stability much better than past policies of unilateralism and confrontation.? At today?s briefing, AMT representatives also called on President Obama to address domestic issues such as the rising level of Islamophobic attitudes in the United States, the deteriorating relations between the FBI and American Muslims, the dissemination of inaccurate and agenda-driven information by DHS-recognized "fusion centers," and Muslims' concerns about Justice Department guidelines implemented in December 2008 that allow race and ethnicity to be factors in opening an FBI probe. SEE: Poll: Most Back Outreach to Muslim Nations, but Suspicion and Unfamiliarity Persist SEE ALSO: Muslims Fear FBI Spies on Mosques On March 17, AMT announced that it is considering suspending outreach relations with the FBI, citing recent incidents in which American mosques and Muslim groups have been targeted. To date, 38 organizations and 117 community activists and scholars have endorsed AMT's statement. SEE: U.S. Muslim Coalition Considers Suspending Relations with FBI To endorse the AMT statement online, click here. AMT is an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County (IEC). CONTACT: AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed, Tel: 510-299-9313, E-Mail: aghaksaeed at yahoo.com Update email preferences | Unsubscribe | Forward to a friend | Visit our web site Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003 Council on American-Islamic Relations Copyright ? 2008 All rights reserved. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: GCI Alert - Italy Message-ID: <000c01c9b7df$eb1f8030$c15e8090$@net> From: Global Coherence Initiative [mailto:info at glcoherence.org] Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:40 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: GCI Alert - Italy GCI Alert - Italy The people of Italy need our help. A powerful earthquake has struck Italy (magnitude 6.3). Tens of thousands of people are homeless, 1,500 are injured and at least 150 are dead. These numbers are rising, as is the suffering caused by this seismic event. Please come together now as a community and offer your heart-focused care with the intention to help ease the emotional pain, fear, insecurity and loss these people are experiencing. Dedicate focused time using the Coherence Building technique (found in your Membership Guidelines and in the Coherence Tools section on your my Members page) or whatever method you choose and provide energetic support through radiating heart coherent compassion and care to the people affected by this event. Thanks for your participation. The Global Coherence Steering Committee P.S. For the Introductory Coherence Technique, copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.glcoherence.org/index.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=67 Most everyone knows that increased stress and mounting problems are going on throughout the world. This makes it difficult to choose a GCI alert issue that would suit everyone at any given time. Please understand there is personal choice and flexibility in these alerts. At times your heart will feel that some issue is more critical to address than what we have selected. If so, please feel free to send your heart care to what you feel is most urgent. When our meditations and prayers are genuine they count and can help to reduce planetary discord wherever they are focused. All of our efforts add to the whole, which increases the power of our individual and collective intention to help. Global Coherence Initiative ? 14700 West Park Ave ? Boulder Creek, California 95006 ? 831-338-8500 To unsubscribe, reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Important Update from Dr. Steven Greer Message-ID: <001701c9b7df$f02e83a0$d08b8ae0$@net> From: The Orion Project [mailto:info at theorionproject.org] Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 11:45 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Important Update from Dr. Steven Greer The Orion Project Non-Profit Important Update from Dr. Steven Greer WE NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY The Orion Project- thanks to your very generous support- has set up a small lab and research project staffed with four dedicated scientists and workers. They are working on a modest budget to do what billions of our tax dollars spent at the Department of Energy have failed to do: Create a fundamentally new way of generating clean energy. The team is headed by a brilliant physicist- a man who I have known for years and has a deep understanding of the secrets of Nicola Tesla and the secrets of electromagnetism. Within the coming weeks, we hope to complete the first prototype of a device running purely off of the electromagnetic energy in the space around us. No input from fossil fuels, no emissions, no pollution of any kind! This team has already had very worrisome surveillance by shadowy people around their homes and an attempted break-in to the inventor's home. This harassment may escalate as we get closer to completing the device. We have two security people working with them, and have put security monitoring equipment in place. All of this is costly and we need your help NOW. Please make a very generous contribution to The Orion Project today- we need an additional $100,000 immediately to safely continue this work. Click here to donate. Also, write to President Obama and encourage him to read our Energy Briefing and provide funding for new energy projects such as this one. Also, ask the President to investigate the harassment of such inventors by a shadowy cabal of operatives intent on keeping our civilization addicted to oil and coal. As taxpayers, we are spending billions of dollars on energy projects in the stimulus bill - yet not one dime is going into these new advanced energy solutions- or protecting these inventors from this type of harassment! Thank you for your generous support of this breakthrough energy project, which is being solely funded by generous contributions from people like YOU! We need your help now more than ever and we appreciate whatever help and support you can give for this historic project. Steven M. Greer MD Founder The Orion Project Donate to Our Research Forward email Safe Unsubscribe This email was sent to maryrose333 at att.net by info at theorionproject.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe T | Privacy Policy . Email Marketing by The Orion Project | PO Box 4347 | Charlottesville | VA | 22905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A new deal on sacred lands Message-ID: <001c01c9b7df$f3e91aa0$dbbb4fe0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 2:05 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A new deal on sacred lands (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) A new deal on sacred lands By SIBYLLA BRODZINKSY http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/986151.html The indigenous name of this tiny village of thatch-roofed homes on the northwestern slopes of Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta means ``where knowledge is stored.'' For decades, this sacred place of knowledge and wisdom had been lost to the Arhuaco Indians who once made spiritual offerings here. Expanding peasant colonization had driven the indigenous communities higher up the mountain. But now, thanks to an unusual convergence of interests, the Arhuacos have returned to their fountain of wisdom by founding Kankawarwa (pronounced Kan-ka-WAHR-wuh) using government money and support. This mountain village is the sixth of 10 ''barrier'' villages being built by the Colombian government in a pact between President Alvaro Uribe and the joint governing council of the four different indigenous tribes that share these mountains: the Arhuaco, Kogi, Wiwa, and Kankuamo. Once completed, the 10 villages will effectively form a new buffer zone between indigenous lands and private property owners in the foothills of the mountains. ''From here on up, you are the ones in charge of protecting the environment,'' Uribe told the Arhuaco, Kogi and Wiwa Indians at the recent inauguration of the village, sweeping his hand toward the high mountain peaks. ``You are the best cultivators of the forests, the best protectors of the water.'' That's what they had been trying to tell a succession of governments for decades, repeatedly asking for financial and legal support to reoccupy the lowlands by buying off lands owned by peasants and coca leaf farmers. Private donors have been helping the four indigenous groups buy back almost 90,000 acres in an effort to protect the ecologically fragile midlands and highlands in an area these groups consider to be the heart of the world. Seeing environmental, political, and security advantages, the Uribe government joined the effort, buying land and funding the construction of the new ring of villages. In addition to helping the Colombian government establish state control over the region once overrun with leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries, the village project is billed as a program to recuperate the watersheds and forests in the Sierra Nevada -- the world's tallest coastal mountain range whose snow-capped peaks rise nearly 18,900 feet above sea level. Much of the mountain has been ravaged by five decades of colonization, intensive farming, deforestation, drug crops and the presence of illegal armed groups fighting for control. Fleeing conflict, the indigenous groups were pushed higher into the mountains, losing part of their pastoral lands and putting a strain on the more delicate high mountain ecosystems. They also lost many of their sacred areas where spiritual offerings are made, such as Kankawarwa. And while most in the indigenous communities support the goal of recovering sacred and ancestral lands, some are wary of the government's newfound generosity, including building them schools, health clinics, and funding the construction of the thatched homes. Some see the government's efforts as undermining the autonomy of the tribes, and by creating a culture of dependency on government assistance, such as free school lunches and free healthcare. And they're concerned about the government soldiers who now patrol the mountains. Leonor Zalabata, in charge of human rights issues for the Arhuaco governing council, says that while her tribe was hard-hit by guerrilla and paramilitary presence, the solution is not more men with more guns. ''Our security is not assured by people with guns traipsing over our lands,'' said Zalabata. ``Militarization guarantees the recuperation of territory for the state, but the soldiers aren't there to protect us.'' DISSENTERS Rogelio Mej?a, governor of the Arhuaco reserve, acknowledges that there are dissenters in his community who see the Indians playing into Uribe's hands. 'People ask me `what is the government asking for in exchange?' They haven't asked for anything,'' Mej?a said. But some government officials have been pushing the idea of developing ecotourism in the Sierra. Mej?a said the tribes won't accept such plans because ''it could be dangerous for our cultures.'' Already, hundreds of adventurous backpackers trek each year to the archaeological ruins known as the Lost City, one of the largest and oldest pre-Columbian settlements in the Americas within the Kogi reservation. Trying to attract more tourism ''is crazy,'' Mej?a said. ''Our only interest is to save nature and to save our culture,'' he says. ``We don't care who helps us with this, as long as we recover our territories.'' Territorial recovery is key. According to the U.N. refugee agency, at least 27 of Colombia's 80 different indigenous groups are at risk of extinction, mostly because the three decades of civil war have pushed them off their territory. ''Their survival depends greatly on being able to remain on their traditional lands,'' UNHCR Spokesman Ron Redmond said in a recent statement. FORCED TO FLEE Last month, some 2,000 Embera Indians in northwest Colombia were forced to flee their territory because of fighting between warring illegal groups. And in February leftist guerrillas murdered 14 Aw? Indians in southern Narino province for allegedly cooperating with the Army. Of the estimated 300 guerrilla fighters that once roamed the Sierra, ''few remain,'' said Army Col. Ricardo Sandoval, a special liaison officer named to coordinate security issues with the Sierra Nevada Indians. And while most right-wing paramilitary groups demobilized in 2005, new rural gangs have filled the organized crime void. Mej?a said the barrier villages and expanded reserve lands are a way to prevent conflict from returning to their lands. But as the indigenous groups here seek to continue to expand their territories, the potential for conflict with the local peasant communities remains strong. At the recent inauguration of the Kankawarwa village, farmers from the nearby town of Cristalina Baja complained to Uribe that while tens of thousands of dollars were spent on the Indian communities, the peasants continue to wait for electricity, water, and road improvements. Mej?a recognizes that it is in his tribe's interest that the government attends to the needs of the farmers as well to reduce pressure on the indigenous communities. ''All we want is to be left in to live in peace with nature, with the water, with the forest,'' he said. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc? Message-ID: <001d01c9b7df$f7ab04a0$e7010de0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 2:13 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/255/story/65374.html Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc? VOLTA GRANDE, Brazil - The Xingu River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, runs wide and swift this time of year. Its turquoise waters are home to some 600 species of fish, including several not found anywhere else on the planet. A thick emerald canopy of trees hugs its banks, except in places where man has carved out pastures for cattle. Now man, in the form of the Brazilian state power company, wants to harness a section of the Xingu by building the world's third-biggest dam. Called the Belo Monte, the dam would drown 200 square miles of tropical rainforest - an area equivalent to the sprawling city of Tucson, Ariz. - and would flood the homes of 19,000 people. It would be only one of more than a dozen dams that the Brazilian government is planning to construct on tributaries of the Amazon, the world's mightiest river. Belo Monte would be only the latest assault on the Amazon tropical rainforest, which is home to one in 10 of the world's known species and covers an area as large as the United States west of the Mississippi River. Stephan Schwartzman, the director of tropical forest policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said that 18 percent of the Amazon, an area nearly two times the size of California, had been cleared since the mid-1960s. He added that deforestation peaked in 2004 and has since declined because of falling beef and soybean prices and because the government has stepped up enforcement of protected areas. What happens to the Amazon rainforest has wide consequences, because a shrinking rainforest hampers the planet's ability to rid the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that trees and other green plants absorb. Brazilian government officials, however, say that Belo Monte and the other dams are necessary to switch on more living room lights, power expanding companies in the world's ninth largest economy and create jobs as Brazil begins to slide into recession. The impact of Belo Monte on the Indians who'd be displaced is central to the dam's opponents. Under Brazil's Constitution, Indians must "be heard" when dams would affect their land, which potentially gives them veto power over new dams. Environmentalists are organizing riverside dwellers to rise up against Belo Monte by describing how it would submerge their homes and land. They organized a meeting March 21 in the community that locals call Volta Grande, which in Portuguese refers to a curve in the Xingu known as the Big Bend. It took place in a barnlike house on the banks of the Xingu, about an hour downriver by motorboat from Altamira, the closest city. Euclides de Oliveira listened quietly in a portion of the home that had been converted into a makeshift classroom with a dirt floor. De Oliveira, a wiry 32-year-old fisherman with a dark mustache, sat on a bench with his back to a wall on which schoolwork covered the wooden planks. He wore a T-shirt and flip-flops, like most everyone else there. The heat was stifling, and everyone swatted at the mosquitoes as activists described an unhappy future. "What you say makes me afraid," de Oliveira said when he finally spoke up. "It will end our way of life." Environmentalists emphasize the bigger picture, that Belo Monte would increase global greenhouse gases by devastating the rainforest and by releasing the methane gas stored in river vegetation. They add that the Xingu's low level during the dry season would force the government to build five more dams to regulate the water flow. Some critics even say that dams such as Belo Monte could become white elephants if global warming dries up parts of the Amazon, as some computer models suggest. Instead of building dams, a World Wildlife Fund-Brazil analysis found, the government could meet the country's energy needs by upgrading existing energy systems and pushing for the rapid development of wind, solar and biomass. In one example, the study reported that Brazil loses 16 percent of the power it generates through an old and faulty distribution system, compared with an international rate of about 6 percent. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won plaudits worldwide for his role in pushing for Brazilian cars to switch from gasoline to cleaner ethanol produced from sugarcane. However, Lula has continued to champion big energy projects that create jobs, devastate the rainforest and produce campaign contributions to his Workers Party from big construction companies. He also has said pointedly: "The Amazon belongs to Brazilians." Lula provided crucial support for two controversial dams that are under construction on the Madeira River, in the western Amazon. Belo Monte would be built in the heart of Para, a state that's home to an explosive mix of poor settlers, cattle ranchers, loggers and scammers who fake land titles. The latter are known as "grileiros." They draw up backdated land deeds and put them in a drawer full of crickets, "grilos" in Portuguese. The crickets secrete acids that yellow the deeds and allow the scammers to pass them off as years older. In 2005, a gunman in Para hired by a wealthy rancher shot and killed Dorothy Stang, an American nun who'd fought the powerful on behalf of the landless. A sign of the tension over Belo Monte came at a public meeting in Altamira last May. There, Indians in feathers and war paint clubbed and slashed an electric company executive. After the bloody executive was led away, the Indians danced in celebration, waving their machetes. "It was a shocking and regrettable act," said Glenn Switkes, the Brazil-based representative of International Rivers, a California-based nonprofit group. "But it defines what's at stake and shows that the determination and resistance by indigenous people is likely to be strong." Bishop Erwin Kraulter has 24-hour police protection because of death threats for opposing the dam and butting heads with the powerful ranchers association. "The dam will have an irreversible impact," Kraulter said in his residence in Altamira. He has some hope that the government won't advance the dam after he met with Lula on March 19 and got the president to agree to meet with opponents in late April. Business and political leaders in Altamira support Belo Monte because of the development it will bring. "With the dam, we'd have more income to improve infrastructure," said Altamira's mayor, Odileida Sampaio. She hopes that the dam will produce money to pave 600 miles of the Transamazon highway and connect Altamira to the city of Maraba to the east. Altamira's streets were paved only five years ago. Its population has doubled in the past 20 years to 62,000, but it retains a small-town feel. It has two stoplights, and all its telephone numbers have the same prefix. Sampaio and others in Altamira fear that the expected influx of job seekers would overwhelm the city's ability to handle them. "The population of Altamira will double in three or four years," said Silverio Fernandez, Altamira's deputy mayor. Sampaio said the company that wins the project to build the dam must pay for new roads, schools, health clinics and houses. She said she'd heard that an avalanche of unemployed workers flooded Tucurui when a massive dam was built on the Tocantins River, east of Altamira, during the 1970s. The debate over whether to build dams in the Amazon isn't new. Opponents stopped one massive dam planned for the Amazon in 1989. It was an earlier version of Belo Monte. A coalition of U.S.-based environmentalists, Brazil's Kayapo Indians and the star wattage of Sting, who shone an international spotlight, prompted the World Bank to withdraw needed loans. Jose Antonio Muniz remembers that episode. Now the president of Eletrobras, the gigantic state power company, Muniz showed a 1989 magazine article to a visitor to his Rio de Janeiro office. The article featured a photo of a Kayapo Indian placing a hunting knife against Muniz's left cheek in Altamira. It was a friendly warning not to mess with the indigenous people. Belo Monte now is a kinder and gentler dam, Muniz said. "It's the best site in the world for a dam," he said during an hour-long interview. "It will produce a lot of energy and have a minimal impact on people and the environment." Eletrobras submitted its environmental impact statement on Feb. 27 to Brazil's environmental agency. It has yet to be made public. Muniz said he expected to win approval to let construction bids in October and begin work on Belo Monte next year. The dam would cost $10 billion and wouldn't open until 2014 at the earliest. Muniz said the government had learned from its mistakes and was taking many steps to protect the environment and minimize the impact on indigenous peoples. He promised to compensate those affected, even those without land titles. "Brazil needs dams if it wants to become a developed country," Muniz said. "It is a clean form of energy." Opponents, who've already won several court orders halting the project temporarily, hope that the courts will reject it because of the damage it will do to indigenous people and the rainforest. At the meeting March 21, about 70 people gathered at one of the riverside dwellings in Volta Grande. It was the home of Fernando Florencio de Sousa, who grows cacao, coffee, rice, corn and yucca on 600 acres that abut the Xingu River. Officials from the electric company have visited the area four or five times. "They promise us that we'll have a much better life," de Sousa said, "that we'll have electricity, running water and live in a nice house. I don't believe it." Antonia Melo, an activist for a nonprofit group called Xingu Lives, which organized the meeting, showed an hour-long documentary on the destruction and failed promises of the Tucurui and Madeira River dams. Afterward, she and Ignez Wenzel, a nun from Altamira, taught the group a chant against Belo Monte. A stout man in a red baseball cap named Liro Moraes, who'd been silent for most of the meeting, recalled a recent meeting with electric company officials. "They only talk about the good things," said Moraes, 51, his voice rising. "We shouldn't let them into our communities anymore!" Everyone burst into applause and began chanting, "Down with Belo Monte." From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Absolutely Must Read: Madoff Was A Piker -- America's Big Banks Are a Far Larger Fraudulent Ponzi Scheme Message-ID: <001e01c9b7df$fc103380$f4309a80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 2:43 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Madoff Was A Piker -- America's Big Banks Are a Far Larger Fraudulent Ponzi Scheme (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Moyers Journal: Madoff Was A Piker -- America's Big Banks Are a Far Larger Fraudulent Ponzi Scheme http://www.alternet.org/workplace/135161/moyers_journal%3A_madoff_was_a_pike r_--_america%27s_big_banks_are_a_far_larger_fraudulent_ponzi_scheme/ By Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal. Posted April 6, 2009. One of America's top bank fraud experts explains the financial industry's "liar's loans" and wholesale greed that got us in this mess. Bill Moyers: For months now, revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street have reminded us that "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." In fact, the man you're about to meet wrote a book with just that title. It was based upon his experience as a tough regulator during one of the darkest chapters in our financial history: the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980s. Bill Black was in New York for a conference at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice where scholars and journalists gathered to ask the question, "How do they get away with it?" Well, no one has asked that question more often than Bill Black. The former Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention now teaches Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. During the savings and loan crisis, it was Black who accused then-house speaker Jim Wright and five US Senators, including John Glenn and John McCain, of doing favors for the S&L's in exchange for contributions and other perks. The senators got off with a slap on the wrist, but so enraged was one of those bankers, Charles Keating -- after whom the senate's so-called "Keating Five" were named -- he sent a memo that read, in part, "get Black -- kill him dead." Metaphorically, of course. Of course. Now Black is focused on an even greater scandal, and he spares no one -- not even the President he worked hard to elect, Barack Obama. But his main targets are the Wall Street barons, heirs of an earlier generation whose scandalous rip-offs of wealth back in the 1930s earned them comparison to Al Capone and the mob, and the nickname "banksters." Bill Black, welcome to the Journal. William K. Black: Thank you. Bill Moyers: I was taken with your candor at the conference here in New York to hear you say that this crisis we're going through, this economic and financial meltdown is driven by fraud. What's your definition of fraud? Black: Fraud is deceit. And the essence of fraud is, "I create trust in you, and then I betray that trust, and get you to give me something of value." And as a result, there's no more effective acid against trust than fraud, especially fraud by top elites, and that's what we have. Moyers: In your book, you make it clear that calculated dishonesty by people in charge is at the heart of most large corporate failures and scandals, including, of course, the S&L, but is that true? Is that what you're saying here, that it was in the boardrooms and the CEO offices where this fraud began? Black: Absolutely. Moyers: How did they do it? What do you mean? Black: Well, the way that you do it is to make really bad loans, because they pay better. Then you grow extremely rapidly, in other words, you're a Ponzi-like scheme. And the third thing you do is we call it leverage. That just means borrowing a lot of money, and the combination creates a situation where you have guaranteed record profits in the early years. That makes you rich, through the bonuses that modern executive compensation has produced. It also makes it inevitable that there's going to be a disaster down the road. Moyers: So you're suggesting, saying that CEOs of some of these banks and mortgage firms in order to increase their own personal income, deliberately set out to make bad loans? Black: Yes. Moyers: How do they get away with it? I mean, what about their own checks and balances in the company? What about their accounting divisions? Black: All of those checks and balances report to the CEO, so if the CEO goes bad, all of the checks and balances are easily overcome. And the art form is not simply to defeat those internal controls, but to suborn them, to turn them into your greatest allies. And the bonus programs are exactly how you do that. Moyers: If I wanted to go looking for the parties to this, with a good bird dog, where would you send me? Black: Well, that's exactly what hasn't happened. We haven't looked, all right? The Bush Administration essentially got rid of regulation, so if nobody was looking, you were able to do this with impunity and that's exactly what happened. Where would you look? You'd look at the specialty lenders. The lenders that did almost all of their work in the sub-prime and what's called Alt-A, liars' loans. Moyers: Yeah. Liars' loans-- Black: Liars' loans. Moyers: Why did they call them liars' loans? Black: Because they were liars' loans. Moyers: And they knew it? Black: They knew it. They knew that they were frauds. Black: Liars' loans mean that we don't check. You tell us what your income is. You tell us what your job is. You tell us what your assets are, and we agree to believe you. We won't check on any of those things. And by the way, you get a better deal if you inflate your income and your job history and your assets. Moyers: You think they really said that to borrowers? Black: We know that they said that to borrowers. In fact, they were also called, in the trade, ninja loans. Moyers: Ninja? Black: Yeah, because no income verification, no job verification, no asset verification. Moyers: You're talking about significant American companies. Black: Huge! One company produced as many losses as the entire Savings and Loan debacle. Moyers: Which company? Black: IndyMac specialized in making liars' loans. In 2006 alone, it sold $80 billion dollars of liars' loans to other companies. $80 billion. Moyers: And was this happening exclusively in this sub-prime mortgage business? Black: No, and that's a big part of the story as well. Even prime loans began to have non-verification. Even Ronald Reagan, you know, said, "Trust, but verify." They just gutted the verification process. We know that will produce enormous fraud, under economic theory, criminology theory, and two thousand years of life experience. Moyers: Is it possible that these complex instruments were deliberately created so swindlers could exploit them? Black: Oh, absolutely. This stuff, the exotic stuff that you're talking about was created out of things like liars' loans, that were known to be extraordinarily bad. And now it was getting triple-A ratings. Now a triple-A rating is supposed to mean there is zero credit risk. So you take something that not only has significant, it has crushing risk. That's why it's toxic. And you create this fiction that it has zero risk. That itself, of course, is a fraudulent exercise. And again, there was nobody looking, during the Bush years. So finally, only a year ago, we started to have a Congressional investigation of some of these rating agencies, and it's scandalous what came out. What we know now is that the rating agencies never looked at a single loan file. When they finally did look, after the markets had completely collapsed, they found, and I'm quoting Fitch, the smallest of the rating agencies, "the results were disconcerting, in that there was the appearance of fraud in nearly every file we examined." Moyers: So if your assumption is correct, your evidence is sound, the bank, the lending company, created a fraud. And the ratings agency that is supposed to test the value of these assets knowingly entered into the fraud. Both parties are committing fraud by intention. Black: Right, and the investment banker that -- we call it pooling -- puts together these bad mortgages, these liars' loans, and creates the toxic waste of these derivatives. All of them do that. And then they sell it to the world and the world just thinks because it has a triple-A rating it must actually be safe. Well, instead, there are 60 and 80 percent losses on these things, because of course they, in reality, are toxic waste. Moyers: You're describing what Bernie Madoff did to a limited number of people. But you're saying it's systemic, a systemic Ponzi scheme. Black: Oh, Bernie was a piker. He doesn't even get into the front ranks of a Ponzi scheme. Moyers: But you're saying our system became a Ponzi scheme. Black: Our system. Moyers: Our financial system. Black: Became a Ponzi scheme. Everybody was buying a pig in the poke. But they were buying a pig in the poke with a pretty pink ribbon, and the pink ribbon said, "Triple-A." Moyers: Is there a law against liars' loans? Black: Not directly, but there, of course, many laws against fraud, and liars' loans are fraudulent. Moyers: Because. Black: Because they're not going to be repaid and because they had false representations. They involve deceit, which is the essence of fraud. Moyers: Why is it so hard to prosecute? Why hasn't anyone been brought to justice over this? Black: Because they didn't even begin to investigate the major lenders until the market had actually collapsed, which is completely contrary to what we did successfully in the Savings and Loan crisis, right? Even while the institutions were reporting they were the most profitable savings and loan in America, we knew they were frauds. And we were moving to close them down. Here, the Justice Department, even though it very appropriately warned, in 2004, that there was an epidemic. Moyers: Who did? Black: The FBI publicly warned, in September 2004 that there was an epidemic of mortgage fraud, that if it was allowed to continue it would produce a crisis at least as large as the Savings and Loan debacle. And that they were going to make sure that they didn't let that happen. So what goes wrong? After 9/11, the attacks, the Justice Department transfers 500 white-collar specialists in the FBI to national terrorism. Well, we can all understand that. But then, the Bush administration refused to replace the missing 500 agents. So even today, again, as you say, this crisis is 1000 times worse, perhaps, certainly 100 times worse, than the Savings and Loan crisis. There are one-fifth as many FBI agents as worked the Savings and Loan crisis. Moyers: You talk about the Bush administration. Of course, there's that famous photograph of some of the regulators in 2003, who come to a press conference with a chainsaw suggesting that they're going to slash, cut business loose from regulation, right? Black: Well, they succeeded. And in that picture, by the way, the other -- three of the other guys with pruning shears are the. Moyers: That's right. Black: They're the trade representatives. They're the lobbyists for the bankers. And everybody's grinning. The government's working together with the industry to destroy regulation. Well, we now know what happens when you destroy regulation. You get the biggest financial calamity of anybody under the age of 80. Moyers: But I can point you to statements by Larry Summers, who was then Bill Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury, or the other Clinton Secretary of the Treasury, Rubin. I can point you to suspects in both parties, right? Black: There were two really big things, under the Clinton administration. One, they got rid of the law that came out of the real-world disasters of the Great Depression. We learned a lot of things in the Great Depression. And one is we had to separate what's called commercial banking from investment banking. That's the Glass-Steagall law. But we thought we were much smarter, supposedly. So we got rid of that law, and that was bipartisan. And the other thing is we passed a law, because there was a very good regulator, Brooksley Born, that everybody should know about and probably doesn't. She tried to do the right thing to regulate one of these exotic derivatives that you're talking about. We call them C.D.F.S. And Summers, Rubin, and Phil Gramm came together to say not only will we block this particular regulation. We will pass a law that says you can't regulate. And it's this type of derivative that is most involved in the AIG scandal. AIG all by itself, cost the same as the entire Savings and Loan debacle. Moyers: What did AIG contribute? What did they do wrong? Black: They made bad loans. Their type of loan was to sell a guarantee, right? And they charged a lot of fees up front. So, they booked a lot of income. Paid enormous bonuses. The bonuses we're thinking about now, they're much smaller than these bonuses that were also the product of accounting fraud. And they got very, very rich. But, of course, then they had guaranteed this toxic waste. These liars' loans. Well, we've just gone through why those toxic waste, those liars' loans, are going to have enormous losses. And so, you have to pay the guarantee on those enormous losses. And you go bankrupt. Except that you don't in the modern world, because you've come to the United States, and the taxpayers play the fool. Under Secretary Geithner and under Secretary Paulson before him. we took $5 billion dollars, for example, in U.S. taxpayer money. And sent it to a huge Swiss Bank called UBS. At the same time that that bank was defrauding the taxpayers of America. And we were bringing a criminal case against them. We eventually get them to pay a $780 million fine, but wait, we gave them $5 billion. So, the taxpayers of America paid the fine of a Swiss Bank. And why are we bailing out somebody who that is defrauding us? Moyers: And why. Black: How mad is this? Moyers: What is your explanation for why the bankers who created this mess are still calling the shots? Black: Well, that, especially after what's just happened at G.M., that's. it's scandalous. Moyers: Why are they firing the president of G.M. and not firing the head of all these banks that are involved? Black: There are two reasons. One, they're much closer to the bankers. These are people from the banking industry. And they have a lot more sympathy. In fact, they're outright hostile to autoworkers, as you can see. They want to bash all of their contracts. But when they get to banking, they say, contracts, sacred.' But the other element of your question is we don't want to change the bankers, because if we do, if we put honest people in, who didn't cause the problem, their first job would be to find the scope of the problem. And that would destroy the cover up. Moyers: The cover up? Black: Sure. The cover up. Moyers: That's a serious charge. Black: Of course. Moyers: Who's covering up? Black: Geithner is charging, is covering up. Just like Paulson did before him. Geithner is publicly saying that it's going to take $2 trillion -- a trillion is a thousand billion -- $2 trillion taxpayer dollars to deal with this problem. But they're allowing all the banks to report that they're not only solvent, but fully capitalized. Both statements can't be true. It can't be that they need $2 trillion, because they have masses losses, and that they're fine. These are all people who have failed. Paulson failed, Geithner failed. They were all promoted because they failed, not because. Moyers: What do you mean? Black: Well, Geithner has, was one of our nation's top regulators, during the entire subprime scandal, that I just described. He took absolutely no effective action. He gave no warning. He did nothing in response to the FBI warning that there was an epidemic of fraud. All this pig in the poke stuff happened under him. So, in his phrase about legacy assets. Well he's a failed legacy regulator. Moyers: But he denies that he was a regulator. Let me show you some of his testimony before Congress. Take a look at this. TIMOTHY GEITHNER:I've never been a regulator, for better or worse. And I think you're right to say that we have to be very skeptical that regulation can solve all of these problems. We have parts of our system that are overwhelmed by regulation. Overwhelmed by regulation! It wasn't the absence of regulation that was the problem, it was despite the presence of regulation you've got huge risks that build up. Black: Well, he may be right that he never regulated, but his job was to regulate. That was his mission statement. Moyers: As? Black: As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is responsible for regulating most of the largest bank holding companies in America. And he's completely wrong that we had too much regulation in some of these areas. I mean, he gives no details, obviously. But that's just plain wrong. Moyers: How is this happening? I mean why is it happening? Black: Until you get the facts, it's harder to blow all this up. And, of course, the entire strategy is to keep people from getting the facts. Moyers: What facts? Black: The facts about how bad the condition of the banks is. So, as long as I keep the old CEO who caused the problems, is he going to go vigorously around finding the problems? Finding the frauds? Moyers: You-- Black: Taking away people's bonuses? Moyers: To hear you say this is unusual because you supported Barack Obama, during the campaign. But you're seeming disillusioned now. Black: Well, certainly in the financial sphere, I am. I think, first, the policies are substantively bad. Second, I think they completely lack integrity. Third, they violate the rule of law. This is being done just like Secretary Paulson did it. In violation of the law. We adopted a law after the Savings and Loan crisis, called the Prompt Corrective Action Law. And it requires them to close these institutions. And they're refusing to obey the law. Moyers: In other words, they could have closed these banks without nationalizing them? Black: Well, you do a receivership. No one -- Ronald Reagan did receiverships. Nobody called it nationalization. Moyers: And that's a law? Black: That's the law. Moyers: So, Paulson could have done this? Geithner could do this? Black: Not could. Was mandated-- Moyers: By the law. Black: By the law. Moyers: This law, you're talking about. Black: Yes. Moyers: What the reason they give for not doing it? Black: They ignore it. And nobody calls them on it. Moyers: Well, where's Congress? Where's the press? Where-- Black: Well, where's the Pecora investigation? Moyers: The what? Black: The Pecora investigation. The Great Depression, we said, "Hey, we have to learn the facts. What caused this disaster, so that we can take steps, like pass the Glass-Steagall law, that will prevent future disasters?" Where's our investigation? What would happen if after a plane crashes, we said, "Oh, we don't want to look in the past. We want to be forward looking. Many people might have been, you know, we don't want to pass blame. No. We have a nonpartisan, skilled inquiry. We spend lots of money on, get really bright people. And we find out, to the best of our ability, what caused every single major plane crash in America. And because of that, aviation has an extraordinarily good safety record. We ought to follow the same policies in the financial sphere. We have to find out what caused the disasters, or we will keep reliving them. And here, we've got a double tragedy. It isn't just that we are failing to learn from the mistakes of the past. We're failing to learn from the successes of the past. Moyers: What do you mean? Black: In the Savings and Loan debacle, we developed excellent ways for dealing with the frauds, and for dealing with the failed institutions. And for 15 years after the Savings and Loan crisis, didn't matter which party was in power, the U.S. Treasury Secretary would fly over to Tokyo and tell the Japanese, "You ought to do things the way we did in the Savings and Loan crisis, because it worked really well. Instead you're covering up the bank losses, because you know, you say you need confidence. And so, we have to lie to the people to create confidence. And it doesn't work. You will cause your recession to continue and continue." And the Japanese call it the lost decade. That was the result. So, now we get in trouble, and what do we do? We adopt the Japanese approach of lying about the assets. And you know what? It's working just as well as it did in Japan. Moyers: Yeah. Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong? Black: Absolutely. Moyers: You are. Black: Absolutely, because they are scared to death. All right? They're scared to death of a collapse. They're afraid that if they admit the truth, that many of the large banks are insolvent. They think Americans are a bunch of cowards, and that we'll run screaming to the exits. And we won't rely on deposit insurance. And, by the way, you can rely on deposit insurance. And it's foolishness. All right? Now, it may be worse than that. You can impute more cynical motives. But I think they are sincerely just panicked about, "We just can't let the big banks fail." That's wrong. Moyers: But what might happen, at this point, if in fact they keep from us the true health of the banks? Black: Well, then the banks will, as they did in Japan, either stay enormously weak, or Treasury will be forced to increasingly absurd giveaways of taxpayer money. We've seen how horrific AIG -- and remember, they kept secrets from everyone. Moyers: A.I.G. did? Black: What we're doing with -- no, Treasury and both administrations. The Bush administration and now the Obama administration kept secret from us what was being done with AIG. AIG was being used secretly to bail out favored banks like UBS and like Goldman Sachs. Secretary Paulson's firm, that he had come from being CEO. It got the largest amount of money. $12.9 billion. And they didn't want us to know that. And it was only Congressional pressure, and not Congressional pressure, by the way, on Geithner, but Congressional pressure on AIG. Where Congress said, "We will not give you a single penny more unless we know who received the money." And, you know, when he was Treasury Secretary, Paulson created a recommendation group to tell Treasury what they ought to do with AIG. And he put Goldman Sachs on it. Moyers: Even though Goldman Sachs had a big vested stake. Black: Massive stake. And even though he had just been CEO of Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury Secretary. Now, in most stages in American history, that would be a scandal of such proportions that he wouldn't be allowed in civilized society. Moyers: Yeah, like a conflict of interest, it seems. Black: Massive conflict of interests. Moyers: So, how did he get away with it? Black: I don't know whether we've lost our capability of outrage. Or whether the cover up has been so successful that people just don't have the facts to react to it. Moyers: Who's going to get the facts? Black: We need some chairmen or chairwomen-- Moyers: In Congress. Black: --in Congress, to hold the necessary hearings. And we can blast this out. But if you leave the failed CEOs in place, it isn't just that they're terrible business people, though they are. It isn't just that they lack integrity, though they do. Because they were engaged in these frauds. But they're not going to disclose the truth about the assets. Moyers: And we have to know that, in order to know what? Black: To know everything. To know who committed the frauds. Whose bonuses we should recover. How much the assets are worth. How much they should be sold for. Is the bank insolvent, such that we should resolve it in this way? It's the predicate, right? You need to know the facts to make intelligent decisions. And they're deliberately leaving in place the people that caused the problem, because they don't want the facts. And this is not new. The Reagan Administration's central priority, at all times, during the Savings and Loan crisis, was covering up the losses. Moyers: So, you're saying that people in power, political power, and financial power, act in concert when their own behinds are in the ringer, right? Black: That's right. And it's particularly a crisis that brings this out, because then the class of the banker says, "You've got to keep the information away from the public or everything will collapse. If they understand how bad it is, they'll run for the exits." Moyers: Yeah, and this week in New York, at this conference, you described this as more than a financial crisis. You called it a moral crisis. Black: Yes. Moyers: Why? Black: Because it is a fundamental lack of integrity. But also because, if you look back at crises, an economist who is also a presidential appointee, as a regulator in the Savings and Loan industry, right here in New York, Larry White, wrote a book about the Savings and Loan crisis. And he said, you know, one of the most interesting questions is why so few people engaged in fraud? Because objectively, you could have gotten away with it. But only about ten percent of the CEOs, engaged in fraud. So, 90 percent of them were restrained by ethics and integrity. So, far more than law or by F.B.I. agents, it's our integrity that often prevents the greatest abuses. And what we had in this crisis, instead of the Savings and Loan, is the most elite institutions in America engaging or facilitating fraud. Moyers: This wound that you say has been inflicted on American life. The loss of worker's income. And security and pensions and future happened, because of the misconduct of a relatively few, very well-heeled people, in very well-decorated corporate suites, right? Black: Right. Moyers: It was relatively a handful of people. Black: And their ideologies, which swept away regulation. So, in the example, regulation means that cheaters don't prosper. So, instead of being bad for capitalism, it's what saves capitalism. "Honest purveyors prosper" is what we want. And you need regulation and law enforcement to be able to do this. The tragedy of this crisis is it didn't need to happen at all. Moyers: When you wake in the middle of the night, thinking about your work, what do you make of that? What do you tell yourself? Black: There's a saying that we took great comfort in. It's actually by the Dutch, who were fighting this impossible war for independence against what was then the most powerful nation in the world, Spain. And their motto was, "It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere." Now, going forward, get rid of the people that have caused the problems. That's a pretty straightforward thing, as well. Why would we keep CEOs and CFOs and other senior officers, that caused the problems? That's facially nuts. That's our current system. So stop that current system. We're hiding the losses, instead of trying to find out the real losses. Stop that, because you need good information to make good decisions, right? Follow what works instead of what's failed. Start appointing people who have records of success, instead of records of failure. That would be another nice place to start. There are lots of things we can do. Even today, as late as it is. Even though they've had a terrible start to the administration. They could change, and they could change within weeks. And by the way, the folks who are the better regulators, they paid their taxes. So, you can get them through the vetting process a lot quicker. Bill Moyers is president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] The Great Unraveling: Global System Fractures as Countries Strive to Fix National Economies Message-ID: <001f01c9b7e0$005ef430$011cdc90$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 3:23 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Great Unraveling: Global System Fractures as Countries Strive to Fix National Economies (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) The Great Unraveling: Global System Fractures as Countries Strive to Fix National Economies http://www.alternet.org/workplace/135288/the_great_unraveling%3A_global_syst em_fractures_as_countries_strive_to_fix_national_economies/?page=entire By Arun Gupta, Indypendent. Posted April 6, 2009. As the global economy heads for its first year of decline since WWII, commentators are using the term "depression" to describe the collapse. As the global economy heads for its first annual decline since WWII and the biggest decline in trade in 80 years, more and more commentators are using the term depression to describe the vertiginous economic collapse. The rate of the decline is astonishing. Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. "Dr. Doom," writes, "The scale and speed of synchronized global economic contraction is really unprecedented (at least since the Great Depression), with a free fall of GDP, income, consumption, industrial production, employment, exports, imports, residential investment and, more ominously, capital expenditures around the world." During the Great Depression the global economy fragmented, leading to the rise of competing power blocs. Eventually, fascist Germany and imperial Japan launched wars of conquest for new markets and lands because they lacked the territorial and trade outlets possessed by the United States, England and the Soviet Union. This crisis is at an early stage, but the process of global fragmentation has already begun, which means a greater likelihood of interstate military conflict. With the fading of the "war on terror" as the central U.S. battleground, China will probably return as the pre-eminent peril in the minds of the U.S. economic and political elite. Recently, a sea-going confrontation and China's lecturing the United States over debt indicates how the powers are skirmishing over military and economic interests. CHINA RISING China is using the economic crisis as an opportunity by dipping into its gargantuan cash reserves to stoke demand with a two year stimulus plan of $586 billion, which amounts to 14 percent of its annual gross domestic product, versus the Obama plan, which at $797 billion is less than 6 percent of U.S. GDP. China is focusing on improving its industrial competitiveness, but has yet to address its minimal social welfare spending, which provides greater stimulus than infrastructure spending and spurs demand by allowing the Chinese to lower their high savings rate. The bigger problem is the Asian economic model may be finished, with exports declining 33 percent in South Korea, where exports account for 60 percent of GDP, and 46 percent in Japan. Industrial output has dropped 43 percent in Taiwan. With consumer demand and business investment collapsing worldwide, countries can no longer export their way to recovery (a policy known as export-oriented industrialization). These export drops are showing up in China, where imports have declined significantly. It plays a critical intermediary role in the global economy. Walden Bello describes China's economy as the "overwhelming driver of export growth in Taiwan and the Philippines and the majority buyer of products from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia." Even if China can spur domestic demand, it's not a long-term solution. Production can't survive on internal demand alone, and prioritizing domestic manufacturing over foreign trade inevitably devolves into "beggar-thy-neighbor" economic warfare. EUROPE'S SWAN SONG? This is precisely what's happening in the 27-member European Union, where "peripheral states such as Latvia, Bulgaria and even Ireland have been brutally whipsawed from an era of heady growth to shockingly fast decline," according to the Wall Street Journal. The crisis threatens to unravel the post-Cold War economic order in which the West administered "shock therapy" to former Soviet Bloc countries by restructuring them along neoliberal lines. Twenty years ago, Soviet Bloc populations largely accepted the shock therapy with passivity, disoriented by the rapid collapse of Communism. Peter Gowan, author of The Global Gamble, argues that the Western-imposed shock therapy in the early 1990s bankrupted and privatized East Europe's industrial enterprises and dismantled the region's integrated economy, known as Comecon. This paved the way for unsustainable bubbles in housing and construction, foreign credit and capital flows, low-wage manufacturing and remittances. Central and East European (CEE) countries are dependent on exporting to meet Eurozone demand, which has collapsed. Net private capital inflows are expected to drop in the region by almost 90 percent this year to just $30 billion. Remittances, which account for 2.5 percent of Poland's GDP and 8 percent of Ukraine's GDP, are evaporating as migrant workers head back home jobless. Germany and France are telling Eastern countries to look to the International Monetary Fund for help. While European institutions are giving East Europe the cold shoulder, offering only $30 billion in financing assistance for banks in Eastern Europe, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to double its $250 billion fund "to fight the financial crisis in emerging markets," according to the Financial Times. THE IMF RETURNS Neoliberalism has led to a historic crisis and been discredited as a political ideology and economic program, but international institutions like the IMF that enforce neoliberal policies are implementing a new phase of structural adjustment programs that will make weaker economies pay for the excesses of Western capital. The IMF is disbursing loans while instituting new regimes of shock therapy to countries that include Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine. Analyst Adam Hanieh writes: "The conditions that come with this latest round of IMF lending have been particularly opaque. . Hungary has agreed to cuts in welfare spending, a freeze in salaries and canceling bonuses for public sector workers yet the final details have not been made public. Iceland was required to raise interest rates to 18 percent with the economy predicted to contract by 10 percent and inflation reaching 20 percent." West Europe, meanwhile, is turning inward. In England protests are increasing against foreign investment and the 2.4 million foreign workers in the country. Xenophobia and economic nationalism will likely rise as unemployment does across the continent. More joblessness and bankruptcies will increase pressure by labor and capital for protectionist measures ranging from supporting domestic industries and more national stimulus plans to forcing out foreign workers and passing "buy national" provisions. The effect could lead to greater pressure on Europe's weaker economies, the growth of radical political movements on the left and right and perhaps the eventual disintegration of the Europe's common market and currency. Already, large-scale protests or riots having occurred in Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Ukraine and Greece. RUSSIA LOOKS EAST Russia would like to benefit from the turmoil both as a response to 20 years of U.S. policy to encircle it militarily and economically and out of rising nationalism. But its economy has been bloodied over the last year. The ruble, Russian stock market and oil and natural gas prices have all tanked, draining away $200 billion in the government's hard currency reserves. Nonetheless, Russia will probably gain leverage over littoral states like the Ukraine and the Baltic region and Ukraine because of their lack of options. Russia is trying to promote greater regionalization, and has cast its eyes east as part of this strategy. President Dmitry Medvedev predicted last November that "the high human and technological potential" of Asian-Pacific countries "will become the locomotive of sustainable world economic development in the future." Recently, China inked a $25 billion deal to aid Russia's state-controlled energy industry in exchange for about 100 million barrels of oil a year for 20 years. But this pact points to the limited role Russia plays in China's economy, as a supplier of commodities and military hardware, while China exports more valuable consumer and industrial goods to Russia. THE LATIN AMERICAN MODEL As for Latin America, its 2.2 percent GDP growth from 2002 to 2006, the highest level since the 1960s, was fueled by exports, mainly commodities, and remittances, which accounted for $59 billion or 2 percent of the continent's GDP by 2006. With the contracting U.S. economy and plunging commodity prices, remittances and exports are falling quickly. The difference in Latin America is the ascension of leftist governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador that are forging new economic relations by "nationalizing natural resources and redistributing the subsequent wealth to social programs to benefit the countries' poor majorities," writes Benjamin Dangl, founder of the website upsidedownworld.org. Venezuela is promoting the "Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas" (in opposition to the neoliberal Free Trade Area of the Americas) as a regional economic pact based on "cooperation and solidarity," and which encompasses related agreements on energy, finance and media. It's mostly been limited to technical cooperation, subsidized oil supplies and barter agreements, particularly in healthcare, which have proven effective and popular, but are a long way from creating a regional economy. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Washington may look to Latin America as an outlet for capital expansion, such as with the Plan Puebla Panama, which has been in the works for a decade. Public funds and money from international institutions would be used to create an export-oriented industrial zone from southern Mexico through all of Central America. These types of projects provide a "spatial fix" for capitalism by reorganizing new spaces that serve as sites where surplus capital (and labor) can be deployed as a way to alleviate crises of overproduction. More ominously, Washington may seek to renew its imperial project in Latin America. Greg Grandin writes in Empire's Workshop that the United States used Latin America historically as a "staging ground" for the "early push towards empire," then as a school to study how to "execute imperial violence through proxies," and most recently as a site for a resurgent "nationalist militarism" that began with the Central America wars of the Reagan presidency and culminated in the post-Sept. 11 wars. Thus, given a declining economy and the need for domestic capital to find new markets, the United States may be tempted to use the Pentagon to launch adventurist wars in Latin America as a solution to its economic woes. While many people fondly talk of a return to New Deal economics, it was World War II that pulled the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression. The solution to the global crisis requires restructuring economies to stimulate widespread demand while not feeding production and speculative bubbles, which means a redistribution of resources. Absent such measures, authoritarianism and militarism will have growing appeal. Just like the 1930s. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession Driving You Insane? The Government's Here to Help Message-ID: <002001c9b7e0$06daf520$1490df60$@net> We haven't talked about this for awhile, but recall that I recommended we all get familiar with ways to treat "Post-traumatic stress disorder" a good year ago. And one of main ways is to practice Tai Chi or Qigong on a daily basis so that you are keeping your body/mind system balanced and in good working order. Combine this with raising your own food and practicing "Nature's Health Plan" and get back on the road to excellent mental and physical health in no time. Food sovereignty is the cornerstone of freedom, and the "healthy you" is less fearful and more courageous. So, this is the way to take back your power. We need wellness programs like this more than we need health insurance that really only makes the insurance industry wealthy while the rest of us suffer. If you are involved in a community currency program, which let's one opt even further out of the current system which, as we are witnessing, is a "crazy maker," then you are gaining even more control over your own life. Getting a bicycle and pedaling is even healthier and gets one off of gasoline dependence where you are subject to the whims of the marketplace. So this too can provide another cornerstone for freedom. Isn't it time we smartened up and got rid of all our dependencies? How about eating a vegetarian raw food diet that is pH balanced and is rich in live enzymes, and which provides an atmosphere in which disease has a difficult time surviving. The manner in which we eat affects the state of our immune system according to many studies. (This information take from the "pH Miracle - Balance Your Diet and Reclaim Your Health" by Robert O. Young, PhD., et al. as well as information gained from raw foods health specialist: David Woolf. www.davidwolfe.com/ And, don't forget to bless your water before you drink it and bathe in it. For so long we have allowed the food industry to cajole us into "living to eat" so they could get wealthy from our addictions -- isn't it about time we got smart and began doing like our animal and bird friends do: that is "eating to live". -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 3:16 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession Driving You Insane? The Government's Here to Help (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Recession Driving You Insane? The Government's Here to Help http://www.alternet.org/blogs/workplace/134441/recession_driving_you_insane_ the_government%27s_here_to_help/#more Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 4:47 AM on April 1, 2009. In 2005, one of the largest studies of mental illness ever conducted found: One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day... But ... Less than half of those in need get treated. Those who seek treatment typically do so after a decade or more of delays, during which time they are likely to develop additional problems. And the treatment they receive is usually inadequate. And, as the level of economic pain increases, so does the need for services, as Bloomberg reported last Fall ... A tidal wave of anxiety is washing over America, from Wall Street's concrete canyons to the lettuce fields of California, propelled by the mortgage industry collapse, costly gasoline, tight credit and rising unemployment. Operators of telephone help lines, insurers, hospital administrators and therapists, interviewed over the last month, say the financial services crisis, which has caused an explosion of foreclosures, is sending everyday people to mental-health services at levels not seen since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. But the piss poor mental health care in the US is only getting worse as the econopocalypse unfolds ... Three years ago, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) gave the United States a D for its mental health care system for adults. The new report, it said, shows only marginal progress -- not enough to warrant a better grade. Additionally, a "major dark shadow" looms as downturn-forced state budget cuts are threatening such care, according to NAMI. "Ironically, state budget cuts occur during a time of economic crisis, when mental health services are needed even more urgently than before," NAMI's executive director Michael Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "It is a vicious cycle that can lead to ruin." Lacking professional treatment, we tend to self-medicate more than the citizens of most other countries as well. Despite tough anti-drug laws, a new survey shows the U.S. has the highest level of illegal drug use in the world. The World Health Organization's survey of legal and illegal drug use in 17 countries, including the Netherlands and other countries with less stringent drug laws, shows Americans report the highest level of cocaine and marijuana use. So, what to do? Well, maybe a government-run website might help. LA Times: While the $800-billion stimulus package is designed to boost the economy, the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, today unveils a new website to boost your mood and help you cope with the psychological effects of unemployment, foreclosure, bankruptcy and financial losses and generalized financial worry (which is not yet characterized as a psychiatric disorder). It's a first-of-its-kind website designed to be one-stop shopping (except that it's free to use) for information and resources on how to protect, sustain and improve your mental health in the midst of economic hardship. That's all fixed, then. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness Message-ID: <002101c9b7e0$0a099fd0$1e1cdf70$@net> From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 1:34 AM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: Re: [GJM] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness Dear Mary, As a psychologist who having seen the suffering of mentally ill men and women in asylums in Delhi at Shahdra Mental Hospital as part of course work in Clinical Psychology under the guidance of my respected teacher Prof. Aroona Broota ( Jackobson-Broota Relaxa and then later following on some of the cases personally, I would like to read post carefully and may be send in some advice that could be used.. It is from that experience, that I gathered that it is not only the individuals who are responsible for the conditions they are in but it is also overal civilisational ethos, social support systems known as environmental factors that are responsible for state of mental health and wellbeing. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Delhi Dear Mukhtar: What you are saying here is quite right. Dr. Bruce Lipton, a cellular biologist, and the author of: "The Biology of Belief - The science of how thoughts control life" is a pioneer in the field of "epigenetics". What studies in epigenetics are revealing is that genes do not control life and how it evolves. The control factor is our environment, or more accurately our "perception" of our environment. Thus, since our social systems make up a large part of our environment, changing them in ways that make them more "life-enhancing" is critical to changing behavior patterns. I do believe this is the path we are now on and the "shift" that is taking place is enormous. I will look forward to your comments as to how we might change our social systems so that they support people in living longer and more life-fulfilling lives. With love and appreciation m r --- On Tue, 7/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 3:12 AM -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:36 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Collapse Psychosis: Navigating the Madness by Carolyn Baker 05 April 2009 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1056/1/ It's happening daily now, almost hourly -- rampant eruptions of violence throughout the so-called developed world. As civilization unravels, the uncivilized behavior of humans is becoming viral, and the culture of empire is quite simply going mad as its values, assumptions, and reasons for existing are evaporating with dizzying speed. For those who are and have been collapse-aware for some time, it is important not only to make sense of the epidemic violence, but to incorporate skillful responses to it. First, I believe we need to deeply discern what is actually happening psychologically. The current outbreaks of violence are about more than unemployment and financial stressors. Yes, job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, homelessness, and loss of health care are breaking people and communities in pieces. Yet something even more fundamental is seething beneath the surface -- something of which these losses are symptomatic. Underlying the chaos is the reality of civilization's dissolution. But what does that actually mean? For one thing, it means that civilization has been inherently infantilizing. It teaches its members that their reason for existing on earth is to consume -- that they have absolutely no other meaning or purpose but to produce money in order to spend it and thereby incessantly oil the machinery of maniacal, unrestrained growth. A world view of this kind can only result in a culture that has virtually no inner life -- a culture in which one's reason for being lies entirely outside of oneself. We're not talking compassion or altruism here as in mindfulness of the well being of others. That results only from a highly developed inner life that understands that consuming is a miniscule aspect of life based on fundamental survival needs and that is willing to put even survival needs on the back burner in order to support other members of the earth community. Empire, which I use synonymously with civilization, is all about keeping the focus external to oneself for the purpose of enhancing the well being of a few dominant individuals in a strictly prescribed hierarchical system which encompasses all of the culture's institutions. From birth, citizens of empire are taught to serve that system by way of education, career choices, work, marriage, family, home ownership, political participation, and religion. When citizens reach a certain age, they are thrown away by the culture because they no longer have value in perpetuating the system but now require service from the system. Until that time, throughout adult life, one's primary identity is that of a producer who willingly focuses above all else on working, consuming, and paying taxes. Any other role the producer has -- parent, spouse, volunteer -- must be secondary to the role of worker/consumer/taxpayer. Naturally, to maintain the level of growth the ruling elite of the culture believe is necessary, a certain level of production/consumption is required. I hasten to add that as I use the word "producer", I'm not referring to producing anything sustainable, but rather the production of whatever is of value to the system which that system compensates in the form of money which then, by way of the system, becomes debt. Citizens of empire are taught that the total abdication of inner life on behalf of decades of servitude to the needs of the external hierarchical machine is not only normal and natural, but their fundamental duty as human beings. In other words, traversing any other path than this one is synonymous with "failure", "ingratitude", "slothfulness", even "treason." Nowhere is this more exquisitely depicted, in my opinion, than in the recent film "Revolutionary Road" by actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo De Caprio. Moreover, citizens are constantly rewarded for refusing to question these assumptions. To question would be to demonstrate disturbing symptoms of adulthood. Empire needs infantile servility in order to perpetuate itself indefinitely. The psyches, then, of empire's citizens are ill-equipped to deal with variation from the system's proscribed roles or functions. Empire, like a "good" parent, gives one everything one "needs" in return for production -- until it doesn't, and when it doesn't, the citizen has no recourse emotionally because he/she has lived in psychological symbiosis with empire since birth. Does this sound like the relationship between an abuse victim and the abuser? "I've been used!", cries the abused, having believed that to keep quiet and play by the rules would be better than breaking silence. But we have only to ask the currently unemployed, homeless, foreclosed upon, and bankrupt how well credit scores and paying their bills on time served them. So now it becomes clearer to us what is happening in the psyches of millions of individuals who are losing their roles in the imperial system -- and in the psyches of those who are not. The entire culture is under unprecedented stress, except perhaps for those old enough to have lived through the Great Depression. On some level, many of them "grew up" and stopped being infants during their ordeal. The 1930s in America was an enormous initiation which they moved through and became wiser and more authentically adult for having done so. This is not to say that every person now alive who lived through the Great Depression is a paragon of wizened maturity, but rather to notice that their survival of it has informed their behavior and attitudes since and actually equipped many of them to face the current crisis more skillfully than younger generations. As for those in the present moment who have jobs, homes, and health care, they realize on some level how precarious their position is. They have these things now, but it's only a matter of time until they may not. And consciously or unconsciously, this is creating gargantuan levels of stress among "more fortunate" Americans. But none of this is likely to be new information for those reading this article, and you may be wondering much more about the second half of the title than the first. Before addressing that, however, I believe that it's important to understand that the current epidemic of violence is likely to become far more severe and widespread. Understanding why it's happening is crucial, but if you have a beating heart, you have to be concerned about when and where it's going to erupt next. You also need to understand that as the violence exacerbates, more individuals and groups will be perceived as scapegoats. Currently, in France, CEO's are being taken hostage as they are experienced as the primary culprits of that nation's economic crisis. In the United States, we are likely to see as we did in Binghamton, New York this past week, the targeting of immigrant groups -- even by other immigrants, or just intensifying family or random violence. Some collapse-aware individuals have chosen to purchase weapons for protection. In a culture gone mad, it's debatable how much protection firearms can actually offer, but if it feels right to do so, in my opinion, one should respect that and act accordingly. Dialog at this point is still an enormously important option, especially as we interact with folks who've been telling us for years that we are lunatics for preparing for collapse. In fact, the timing couldn't be better for these kinds of conversations, but we need to maintain an innocent, open attitude, not one of "I told you so," as much as some part of us might wish project it. Equally vital and life-supporting is our involvement in community efforts such as Transition Town and relocalization groups which offer us the opportunity to take local action, develop deep connections, and delight in the healing energy of validation and support from our peers. I believe that as cultural violence spreads in reaction to the trauma of collapse, these groups will be forced to strategize methods for looking out for each other's well being. Dmitry Orlov has a great deal to say about this in Re-Inventing Collapse which I highly recommend reading. Shamelessly, I must recommend my book Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse which is not primarily a book of information, but contains at the end of nearly every chapter, experiential exercises that both individuals and groups can engage in and which could be very useful in alleviating stress and promoting understanding. I wrote Sacred Demise specifically to offer the kind of introspection in the face of collapse that is going to be crucial for all of us in order to navigate it emotionally and spiritually. Empire has stolen so much of the inner world from us, and in order to make sense of the turbulent unraveling, we must reclaim our interiority. John Michael Greer brilliantly titled his recent review of my book, "Facing Decline, Facing Ourselves." In truth, we cannot face one without facing the other, for only both in tandem will allow us to navigate the madness. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemo vement.net _____ Download prohibited? No problem. CHAT from any browser, without download. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: ATT00018.txt URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:20:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:20:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Fw: U.S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President's Address in Turkey Message-ID: <002d01c9b7e1$42f1b070$c8d51150$@net> From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 4:19 AM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice; ami at taconic.net Subject: [GJM] Fw: U.S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President's Address in Turkey Vatican approving Islamic banking, AMI presenting American Monetary Act ( with demand for public control on the creation of money), Obama seeking conciliation with Muslim world and declaring peace with Islam, recession exposing the Washington Consensus economists, we indeed have an opportunity to maximise endeavour for reforming finance system for global equity ,ecological safety within and across the nations. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam --- On Tue, 7/4/09, CAIR wrote: From: CAIR Subject: U..S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President's Address in Turkey To: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 5:43 AM April 6, 2009 Forward to a Friend Support CAIR Contact Us Update Your Profile FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U..S. Muslim Coalition Applauds President?s Address in Turkey President Obama: America ?is not and will never be at war with Islam? (WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/6/09) - The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, today applauded President Obama?s Monday address to the Turkish parliament. SEE: In Turkey, Obama Stresses Partnership, Peace (Washington Post) SEE ALSO: Muslims Voice Support for Obama's Message (OC Register) A statement issued today at a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., read in part: ?We applaud President Obama?s remarks and hope that they are a sign of improved relations between America and the Muslim world. In his speech, President Obama rightly said that the United States ?is not and will never be at war with Islam.? This is a position that needs restating at every opportunity. ?We also agree with the president?s statement that better relations with the Muslim world are vital in ?rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject.? ?We appreciate that the president noted the contributions of American Muslims and recognized that many Americans ?have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country.? ?Turkey is a key player in the region and is well-placed to assist the United States in reaching out to nations such as Iran and Syria and to help achieve a just and comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We also support President Obama?s backing of Turkey?s entry into the European Union. ?The American Muslim community believes President Obama?s new policy of dialogue and mutual respect will serve our nation and the cause of world peace and stability much better than past policies of unilateralism and confrontation.? At today?s briefing, AMT representatives also called on President Obama to address domestic issues such as the rising level of Islamophobic attitudes in the United States, the deteriorating relations between the FBI and American Muslims, the dissemination of inaccurate and agenda-driven information by DHS-recognized "fusion centers," and Muslims' concerns about Justice Department guidelines implemented in December 2008 that allow race and ethnicity to be factors in opening an FBI probe. SEE: Poll: Most Back Outreach to Muslim Nations, but Suspicion and Unfamiliarity Persist SEE ALSO: Muslims Fear FBI Spies on Mosques On March 17, AMT announced that it is considering suspending outreach relations with the FBI, citing recent incidents in which American mosques and Muslim groups have been targeted. To date, 38 organizations and 117 community activists and scholars have endorsed AMT's statement . SEE: U.S. Muslim Coalition Considers Suspending Relations with FBI To endorse the AMT statement online, click here . AMT is an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County (IEC). CONTACT: AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed, Tel: 510-299-9313, E-Mail: aghaksaeed at yahoo.com Update email preferences | Unsubscribe | Forward to a friend | Visit our web site Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003 Council on American-Islamic Relations Copyright ? 2008 All rights reserved. Powered by Convio. _____ Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00060.txt URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 19:22:58 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 18:22:58 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] The Untold Story of Climate Change: No Time to Lose for Our Oceans Message-ID: <000301c9b7e8$90567290$b10357b0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:15 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Untold Story of Climate Change: No Time to Lose for Our Oceans (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) The Untold Story of Climate Change: No Time to Lose for Our Oceans http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-packard/the-untold-story-of-clima_b_1840 03.html April 7, 2009 | 11:32 AM (EST) There's a lot more to the climate change story than you might have heard. There is compelling evidence that our environment is suffering at the hands of global climate change, and that human production of greenhouse gases is accelerating the pace of that degradation. But that story only covers what is happening on a small portion of our planet - the terrestrial environment. Few are talking about the effects of climate change on the other 72 percent - our oceans. There is compelling scientific evidence that climate change is dramatically affecting oceans worldwide in ways that threaten the survival of marine ecosystems and - ultimately - our human societies. But opinion polling shows that our knowledge and concern about climate change ends at the shore. The most visible impacts of climate change on the oceans - rising sea levels and an increase in storm severity - can be easily seen. Others are less apparent. We face saltwater contamination of the water we depend on for drinking and agriculture. We risk alteration of ecosystems that underlie world fisheries, as species distributions shift with changing temperatures. And, we face dramatic increases in coastal erosion affecting man-made structures along the shore. The most critical impact of climate change on our oceans lies beyond our view. As the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, they grow more acidic - threatening the survival of plankton that forms the basis of the ocean food web. Disrupt this system, and we put at risk a major source of food for people worldwide, and even the oxygen we breathe. (Most of our oxygen is produced by microscopic plants in the ocean, not by forests on land.) We need to address these threats with effective climate change policy. In the last few days, Representatives Ed Markey and Henry Waxman have recognized the key role oceans play in climate change and set ambitious goals for regulating emissions that affect our global climate. This is an important step. Now we must ensure that a portion of any funds generated by the sale of carbon credits pursuant to a cap-and-trade or tax system are dedicated to protecting, maintaining and restoring ocean and coastal ecosystems, as well as promoting greater scientific understanding of the relationship between the oceans and climate change. Coastal counties contribute $4.5 trillion to the nation - approximately 50 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Yet for too long, the value of our coasts and oceans has been left out of the equation. Sadly, it's been a case of "out of sight, out of mind." Our concern for the environment and the threat of climate change seems to stop at the shore, when in fact our lives and our livelihoods depend on healthy oceans. As executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, I've seen the power of ocean animals to motivate and inspire the public. And I've seen the capacity of the public to move from caring about to caring for our oceans, as thousands of people have helped create new marine protected areas and are choosing sustainable seafood. As fisheries collapse, freshwater ecosystems decline and ocean dead zones expand, global climate change looms as the overarching environmental challenge of this century. Those of us who recognize our connection to the ocean and to the animals that call it home have a greater responsibility than ever before to protect it. We must act, and encourage others to recognize their responsibility as stewards of the oceans. Toward this goal, our elected leaders have a critical role to play. Today, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a bipartisan coalition committed to ocean policy reform of which I'm a member, releases an ambitious but achievable blueprint for federal ocean policy. Our platform reflects the ideas of diverse interests - from the environmental, academic, energy, and industry communities. It offers specific, practical steps for the new administration and Congress to take if we want to secure healthy oceans, improve human well-being, create national wealth, and provide responsible stewardship of our resources. A key recommendation is that the administration and Congress must integrate ocean and coastal science into the broader national climate agenda. It recognizes that many of the limitations in climate science result from an inadequate understanding of ocean-related processes and their interactions with land and atmosphere. Today, I will join many of my fellow commissioners in Washington, DC to deliver these recommendations to administration officials who have the power to infuse climate change policies with robust investments for our oceans. But our efforts will not be enough until individuals like you join us in telling this untold story. In the fight to counter the affects of climate change, the oceans will be our most important battleground. We need your help to protect our oceans, and ultimately, our ocean planet. From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Wed Apr 8 01:34:59 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 13:04:59 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Obama Assassination Plot By Israeli-Vatican Faction Foiled Message-ID: <437590.41821.qm@web94910.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distinguished members, I would like to share this mail for urgent attentions and prayers for plotters messianic millennialists in this mail.I am surprised that Vatican recently sharing the approved should be accused of being in the plot along with the bankers for whom looting the world in name of non-believers has been a legitimate vocation through charging usury, creating mischiefs and promoting adultery and all that is against the inter-faith common pious standards. We can not make war but we can assuredly pray as communicators and writers. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Tue, 7/4/09, Sorcha Faal wrote: From: Sorcha Faal Subject: Obama Assassination Plot By Israeli-Vatican Faction Foiled To: sorchafaal at fastmail.fm Date: Tuesday, 7 April, 2009, 8:16 PM [Ed. Note: This report should be read from its website location at http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1220.htm as this email copy does not contain the links embedded in the original report.] April 7, 2009 Obama Assassination Plot By Israeli-Vatican Faction Foiled By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers Russian Intelligence Analysts are reporting in the Kremlin today that Turkish and US Security Police foiled an assassination attempt on President Obama due to take place yesterday during his visit to the Islamic Nation of Turkey. United States officials are also confirming this aborted attempt on President Obama?s life with US Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan further stating that Obama was ?never in any immediate danger? and Turkish Police reporting that the 3 assassins planning to carry out the attack were in custody and being interrogated. These reports state that the 3 assassins planning Obama?s murder had arrived in Turkey last week on a flight from Rome carrying Moroccan and Syrian passports and what are believed to be forged press credentials from the Arab News Service Al-Jazeera and that one of the cell phones recovered from the ?safe house? being used by these plotters in Istanbul showed ?repeated? calls placed to and from Tel Aviv and the Vatican.? It is believed by Russian Intelligence Experts that both Israel and the Vatican harbor strong fears against President Obama who they believe is in the process of shifting American Foreign Policy towards the Arab and Persian peoples and that by his assassination in a Muslim Nation, by what was intended to be Islamic terrorists, would re-shift United States power back towards the Jewish state. Israel?s new right-wing government under Prime Minister Netanyahu is stated in these reports to be ?enraged? over the United States opening up to the Islamic Nation of Iran, with whom Obama expressed his willingness to meet with Iran?s former president Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of Alliance for Civilizations summit in Istanbul and US diplomat Richard Holbrooke had what was described as a cordial meeting with Iran's deputy foreign minister at the Hague Conference on Afghanistan last week. Netanyahu and his new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have angered the US in recent weeks by single handedly destroying years of work for achieving peace between the Israelis and Palestinians by the trashing of the Annapolis accords that called for a two-state solution and today announcing the largest preparations for war in their history, and as we can read as reported by the Haaretz News Service: ?The Home Front Command is preparing to hold the largest exercise ever in Israeli history, scheduled to take place in about two months, in hopes of priming the populace and raising awareness of the possibility of war breaking out. Should there be a war, Israel would have insufficient emergency and rescue response units, according to a senior Home Front Command officer. Speaking with Haaretz, Col. Hilik Sofer, who is in charge of the Department for Population at the Home Front Command, said that "in wartime there will be insufficient Magen David Adom, rescue and chemical and biological warfare units. Even if we call up the reserves of the Home Front Command, we will have to rely on the population itself.? Russian political experts state that Israel?s present elite leadership class feels it has no course to take other than perpetual war as their crimes are continuing to be uncovered and many of them expecting to be indicted soon, including the radical right-wing Foreign Minister Lieberman and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, both of whom are said to be involved in the collapse of the Global banking system they have long manipulated with the European banking allies the Rothschild?s. Of the greatest danger being faced by both the Israeli?s and the Vatican, these reports continue, is President Obama?s attempt to shatter what has been the European Royal Houses main paradigm of Messianic Millennialism supported and financed by both the Vatican and Jewish power elites for the past 3 centuries to cement their control over the entire World and its peoples in order to keep our human race divided by war and economic turmoil so that a very few powerfully entrenched families can benefit over the billions of truly deserving peoples who presently inhabit our Earth. Opposed to these Messianic Millennialists, however, are those Orthodox, Islamic and Eastern power blocs nominally headed by President Obama and who seek the outright destruction of all National borders and institutions in favor of a New World Order of Global Leadership which they believe is the only form of rule that can manage our World and its peoples as it hurtles towards they believe are the many cataclysmic changes our Earth is to encounter in but a very few years time. It is interesting to note that in this titanic battle unfolding between the Messianic Millennialists and New World Orderists, the Millennialists received a crippling blow against them when Obama forged an agreement with the leaders of the World?s most powerful Nations to abolish bank secrecy wherever found in an effort to cripple the financial power of both the Vatican and Israel, but which Russian experts state neither the Vatican or Israelis will succumb to without Total Global War. To how ruthless the Vatican-Israeli factions are to protect what they believe is rightfully theirs, one need look no further that Pope John I, and who as described in David Yallop?s investigative book ?Murder At The Vatican? says: ?The book by David Yallop, an English Roman Catholic by birth, IN GOD?S NAME, is not an ?inferior whodunnit?, as Jean Potin, Assumptionist and editor-in-chief of La Croix would have us believe. It is the full result, verifiable in a thousand points, of a skilled piece of investigative journalism. The author is recognised by the entire London press as a ?persistent and serious investigator?, a ?highly competent investigative journalist.? All the articles written about his book, whatever the tendency of their authors, conclude that ?the affair merits the opening of an official enquiry.? That much is self-evident. What does he prove? He proves the assassination by poisoning, previously suspected although none of the details were known, of Pope John Paul I during the night of 28 to 29 September 1978, after a reign of thirty-three days on the throne of Saint Peter. Yallop denounces the six presumed partners or authors of this crime, men who were also bound up in a tissue of other sordid and financial crimes both before and after. It is a very fine and intelligent piece of work. He determines their motives, and then minutely reconstitutes, in an amazing manner, Cardinal Villot?s activity during the twelve hours following the crime to make it look like a natural death.? To an unsuspecting World ready to be plunged into the full horrors of this gigantic war one can only say?to be forewarned is to be forearmed. ? April 7, 2009 EU and US all rights reserved http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1220.htm Important Notice: Please see the below email for your consideration: I am a member of the Appalachian project and sell 100 OP and heirloom seed packs for only $49. My website is www.getseeds.net? Please allow 2 to 4 weeks for delivery because of crop failures and many buying up seeds because of the economic doom we face here and world wide that seed is getting more difficult to find. If you would like to contact me concerning seed questions or info. you can reach me at (352) 613-0923. Karianna Perry ezhook at mail.com Founder www.getseeds.net -- ? Sorcha Faal ? sorchafaal at fastmail.fm Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 06:46:45 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 05:46:45 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] The dark side of Dubai Message-ID: <005101c9b848$16a9e980$43fdbc80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 8:26 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The dark side of Dubai (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1 664368.html The dark side of Dubai Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports Tuesday, 7 April 2009 The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed ? the absolute ruler of Dubai ? beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqu? skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world ? a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history. But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed's smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions ? like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island ? where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never ? and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert. Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing ? at last ? into history. I. An Adult Disneyland Karen Andrews can't speak. Every time she starts to tell her story, she puts her head down and crumples. She is slim and angular and has the faded radiance of the once-rich, even though her clothes are as creased as her forehead. I find her in the car park of one of Dubai's finest international hotels, where she is living, in her Range Rover. She has been sleeping here for months, thanks to the kindness of the Bangladeshi car park attendants who don't have the heart to move her on. This is not where she thought her Dubai dream would end. Her story comes out in stutters, over four hours. At times, her old voice ? witty and warm ? breaks through. Karen came here from Canada when her husband was offered a job in the senior division of a famous multinational. "When he said Dubai, I said ? if you want me to wear black and quit booze, baby, you've got the wrong girl. But he asked me to give it a chance. And I loved him." All her worries melted when she touched down in Dubai in 2005. "It was an adult Disneyland, where Sheikh Mohammed is the mouse," she says. "Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all. It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time." Her husband, Daniel, bought two properties. "We were drunk on Dubai," she says. But for the first time in his life, he was beginning to mismanage their finances. "We're not talking huge sums, but he was getting confused. It was so unlike Daniel, I was surprised. We got into a little bit of debt." After a year, she found out why: Daniel was diagnosed with a brain tumour. One doctor told him he had a year to live; another said it was benign and he'd be okay. But the debts were growing. "Before I came here, I didn't know anything about Dubai law. I assumed if all these big companies come here, it must be pretty like Canada's or any other liberal democracy's," she says. Nobody told her there is no concept of bankruptcy. If you get into debt and you can't pay, you go to prison. "When we realised that, I sat Daniel down and told him: listen, we need to get out of here. He knew he was guaranteed a pay-off when he resigned, so we said ? right, let's take the pay-off, clear the debt, and go." So Daniel resigned ? but he was given a lower pay-off than his contract suggested. The debt remained. As soon as you quit your job in Dubai, your employer has to inform your bank. If you have any outstanding debts that aren't covered by your savings, then all your accounts are frozen, and you are forbidden to leave the country. "Suddenly our cards stopped working. We had nothing. We were thrown out of our apartment." Karen can't speak about what happened next for a long time; she is shaking. Daniel was arrested and taken away on the day of their eviction. It was six days before she could talk to him. "He told me he was put in a cell with another debtor, a Sri Lankan guy who was only 27, who said he couldn't face the shame to his family. Daniel woke up and the boy had swallowed razor-blades. He banged for help, but nobody came, and the boy died in front of him." Karen managed to beg from her friends for a few weeks, "but it was so humiliating. I've never lived like this. I worked in the fashion industry. I had my own shops. I've never..." She peters out. Daniel was sentenced to six months' imprisonment at a trial he couldn't understand. It was in Arabic, and there was no translation. "Now I'm here illegally, too," Karen says I've got no money, nothing. I have to last nine months until he's out, somehow." Looking away, almost paralysed with embarrassment, she asks if I could buy her a meal. She is not alone. All over the city, there are maxed-out expats sleeping secretly in the sand-dunes or the airport or in their cars. "The thing you have to understand about Dubai is ? nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing ? a modern kind of place ? but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship." II. Tumbleweed Thirty years ago, almost all of contemporary Dubai was desert, inhabited only by cactuses and tumbleweed and scorpions. But downtown there are traces of the town that once was, buried amidst the metal and glass. In the dusty fort of the Dubai Museum, a sanitised version of this story is told. In the mid-18th century, a small village was built here, in the lower Persian Gulf, where people would dive for pearls off the coast. It soon began to accumulate a cosmopolitan population washing up from Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and other Arab countries, all hoping to make their fortune. They named it after a local locust, the daba, who consumed everything before it. The town was soon seized by the gunships of the British Empire, who held it by the throat as late as 1971. As they scuttled away, Dubai decided to ally with the six surrounding states and make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The British quit, exhausted, just as oil was being discovered, and the sheikhs who suddenly found themselves in charge faced a remarkable dilemma. They were largely illiterate nomads who spent their lives driving camels through the desert ? yet now they had a vast pot of gold. What should they do with it? Dubai only had a dribble of oil compared to neighbouring Abu Dhabi ? so Sheikh Maktoum decided to use the revenues to build something that would last. Israel used to boast it made the desert bloom; Sheikh Maktoum resolved to make the desert boom. He would build a city to be a centre of tourism and financial services, sucking up cash and talent from across the globe. He invited the world to come tax-free ? and they came in their millions, swamping the local population, who now make up just 5 per cent of Dubai. A city seemed to fall from the sky in just three decades, whole and complete and swelling. They fast-forwarded from the 18th century to the 21st in a single generation. If you take the Big Bus Tour of Dubai ? the passport to a pre-processed experience of every major city on earth ? you are fed the propaganda-vision of how this happened. "Dubai's motto is 'Open doors, open minds'," the tour guide tells you in clipped tones, before depositing you at the souks to buy camel tea-cosies. "Here you are free. To purchase fabrics," he adds. As you pass each new monumental building, he tells you: "The World Trade Centre was built by His Highness..." But this is a lie. The sheikh did not build this city. It was built by slaves. They are building it now. III. Hidden in plain view There are three different Dubais, all swirling around each other. There are the expats, like Karen; there are the Emiratis, headed by Sheikh Mohammed; and then there is the foreign underclass who built the city, and are trapped here. They are hidden in plain view. You see them everywhere, in dirt-caked blue uniforms, being shouted at by their superiors, like a chain gang ? but you are trained not to look. It is like a mantra: the Sheikh built the city. The Sheikh built the city. Workers? What workers? Every evening, the hundreds of thousands of young men who build Dubai are bussed from their sites to a vast concrete wasteland an hour out of town, where they are quarantined away. Until a few years ago they were shuttled back and forth on cattle trucks, but the expats complained this was unsightly, so now they are shunted on small metal buses that function like greenhouses in the desert heat. They sweat like sponges being slowly wrung out. Sonapur is a rubble-strewn patchwork of miles and miles of identical concrete buildings. Some 300,000 men live piled up here, in a place whose name in Hindi means "City of Gold". In the first camp I stop at ? riven with the smell of sewage and sweat ? the men huddle around, eager to tell someone, anyone, what is happening to them. Sahinal Monir, a slim 24-year-old from the deltas of Bangladesh. "To get you here, they tell you Dubai is heaven. Then you get here and realise it is hell," he says. Four years ago, an employment agent arrived in Sahinal's village in Southern Bangladesh. He told the men of the village that there was a place where they could earn 40,000 takka a month (?400) just for working nine-to-five on construction projects. It was a place where they would be given great accommodation, great food, and treated well. All they had to do was pay an up-front fee of 220,000 takka (?2,300) for the work visa ? a fee they'd pay off in the first six months, easy. So Sahinal sold his family land, and took out a loan from the local lender, to head to this paradise. As soon as he arrived at Dubai airport, his passport was taken from him by his construction company. He has not seen it since. He was told brusquely that from now on he would be working 14-hour days in the desert heat ? where western tourists are advised not to stay outside for even five minutes in summer, when it hits 55 degrees ? for 500 dirhams a month (?90), less than a quarter of the wage he was promised. If you don't like it, the company told him, go home. "But how can I go home? You have my passport, and I have no money for the ticket," he said. "Well, then you'd better get to work," they replied. Sahinal was in a panic. His family back home ? his son, daughter, wife and parents ? were waiting for money, excited that their boy had finally made it. But he was going to have to work for more than two years just to pay for the cost of getting here ? and all to earn less than he did in Bangladesh. He shows me his room. It is a tiny, poky, concrete cell with triple-decker bunk-beds, where he lives with 11 other men. All his belongings are piled onto his bunk: three shirts, a spare pair of trousers, and a cellphone. The room stinks, because the lavatories in the corner of the camp ? holes in the ground ? are backed up with excrement and clouds of black flies. There is no air conditioning or fans, so the heat is "unbearable. You cannot sleep. All you do is sweat and scratch all night." At the height of summer, people sleep on the floor, on the roof, anywhere where they can pray for a moment of breeze. The water delivered to the camp in huge white containers isn't properly desalinated: it tastes of salt. "It makes us sick, but we have nothing else to drink," he says. The work is "the worst in the world," he says. "You have to carry 50kg bricks and blocks of cement in the worst heat imaginable ... This heat ? it is like nothing else. You sweat so much you can't pee, not for days or weeks. It's like all the liquid comes out through your skin and you stink. You become dizzy and sick but you aren't allowed to stop, except for an hour in the afternoon. You know if you drop anything or slip, you could die. If you take time off sick, your wages are docked, and you are trapped here even longer." He is currently working on the 67th floor of a shiny new tower, where he builds upwards, into the sky, into the heat. He doesn't know its name. In his four years here, he has never seen the Dubai of tourist-fame, except as he constructs it floor-by-floor. Is he angry? He is quiet for a long time. "Here, nobody shows their anger. You can't. You get put in jail for a long time, then deported." Last year, some workers went on strike after they were not given their wages for four months. The Dubai police surrounded their camps with razor-wire and water-cannons and blasted them out and back to work. The "ringleaders" were imprisoned. I try a different question: does Sohinal regret coming? All the men look down, awkwardly. "How can we think about that? We are trapped. If we start to think about regrets..." He lets the sentence trail off. Eventually, another worker breaks the silence by adding: "I miss my country, my family and my land. We can grow food in Bangladesh. Here, nothing grows. Just oil and buildings." Since the recession hit, they say, the electricity has been cut off in dozens of the camps, and the men have not been paid for months. Their companies have disappeared with their passports and their pay. "We have been robbed of everything. Even if somehow we get back to Bangladesh, the loan sharks will demand we repay our loans immediately, and when we can't, we'll be sent to prison." This is all supposed to be illegal. Employers are meant to pay on time, never take your passport, give you breaks in the heat ? but I met nobody who said it happens. Not one. These men are conned into coming and trapped into staying, with the complicity of the Dubai authorities. Sahinal could well die out here. A British man who used to work on construction projects told me: "There's a huge number of suicides in the camps and on the construction sites, but they're not reported. They're described as 'accidents'." Even then, their families aren't free: they simply inherit the debts. A Human Rights Watch study found there is a "cover-up of the true extent" of deaths from heat exhaustion, overwork and suicide, but the Indian consulate registered 971 deaths of their nationals in 2005 alone. After this figure was leaked, the consulates were told to stop counting. At night, in the dusk, I sit in the camp with Sohinal and his friends as they scrape together what they have left to buy a cheap bottle of spirits. They down it in one ferocious gulp. "It helps you to feel numb", Sohinal says through a stinging throat. In the distance, the glistening Dubai skyline he built stands, oblivious. IV. Mauled by the mall I find myself stumbling in a daze from the camps into the sprawling marble malls that seem to stand on every street in Dubai. It is so hot there is no point building pavements; people gather in these cathedrals of consumerism to bask in the air conditioning. So within a ten minute taxi-ride, I have left Sohinal and I am standing in the middle of Harvey Nichols, being shown a ?20,000 taffeta dress by a bored salesgirl. "As you can see, it is cut on the bias..." she says, and I stop writing. Time doesn't seem to pass in the malls. Days blur with the same electric light, the same shined floors, the same brands I know from home. Here, Dubai is reduced to its component sounds: do-buy. In the most expensive malls I am almost alone, the shops empty and echoing. On the record, everybody tells me business is going fine. Off the record, they look panicky. There is a hat exhibition ahead of the Dubai races, selling elaborate headgear for ?1,000 a pop. "Last year, we were packed. Now look," a hat designer tells me. She swoops her arm over a vacant space. I approach a blonde 17-year-old Dutch girl wandering around in hotpants, oblivious to the swarms of men gaping at her. "I love it here!" she says. "The heat, the malls, the beach!" Does it ever bother you that it's a slave society? She puts her head down, just as Sohinal did. "I try not to see," she says. Even at 17, she has learned not to look, and not to ask; that, she senses, is a transgression too far. Between the malls, there is nothing but the connecting tissue of asphalt. Every road has at least four lanes; Dubai feels like a motorway punctuated by shopping centres. You only walk anywhere if you are suicidal. The residents of Dubai flit from mall to mall by car or taxis. How does it feel if this is your country, filled with foreigners? Unlike the expats and the slave class, I can't just approach the native Emiratis to ask questions when I see them wandering around ? the men in cool white robes, the women in sweltering black. If you try, the women blank you, and the men look affronted, and tell you brusquely that Dubai is "fine". So I browse through the Emirati blog-scene and found some typical-sounding young Emiratis. We meet ? where else? ? in the mall. Ahmed al-Atar is a handsome 23-year-old with a neat, trimmed beard, tailored white robes, and rectangular wire-glasses. He speaks perfect American-English, and quickly shows that he knows London, Los Angeles and Paris better than most westerners. Sitting back in his chair in an identikit Starbucks, he announces: "This is the best place in the world to be young! The government pays for your education up to PhD level. You get given a free house when you get married. You get free healthcare, and if it's not good enough here, they pay for you to go abroad. You don't even have to pay for your phone calls. Almost everyone has a maid, a nanny, and a driver. And we never pay any taxes. Don't you wish you were Emirati?" I try to raise potential objections to this Panglossian summary, but he leans forward and says: "Look ? my grandfather woke up every day and he would have to fight to get to the well first to get water. When the wells ran dry, they had to have water delivered by camel. They were always hungry and thirsty and desperate for jobs. He limped all his life, because he there was no medical treatment available when he broke his leg. Now look at us!" For Emiratis, this is a Santa Claus state, handing out goodies while it makes its money elsewhere: through renting out land to foreigners, soft taxes on them like business and airport charges, and the remaining dribble of oil. Most Emiratis, like Ahmed, work for the government, so they're cushioned from the credit crunch. "I haven't felt any effect at all, and nor have my friends," he says. "Your employment is secure. You will only be fired if you do something incredibly bad." The laws are currently being tightened, to make it even more impossible to sack an Emirati. Sure, the flooding-in of expats can sometimes be "an eyesore", Ahmed says. "But we see the expats as the price we had to pay for this development. How else could we do it? Nobody wants to go back to the days of the desert, the days before everyone came. We went from being like an African country to having an average income per head of $120,000 a year. And we're supposed to complain?" He says the lack of political freedom is fine by him. "You'll find it very hard to find an Emirati who doesn't support Sheikh Mohammed." Because they're scared? "No, because we really all support him. He's a great leader. Just look!" He smiles and says: "I'm sure my life is very much like yours. We hang out, have a coffee, go to the movies. You'll be in a Pizza Hut or Nando's in London, and at the same time I'll be in one in Dubai," he says, ordering another latte. But do all young Emiratis see it this way? Can it really be so sunny in the political sands? In the sleek Emirates Tower Hotel, I meet Sultan al-Qassemi. He's a 31-year-old Emirati columnist for the Dubai press and private art collector, with a reputation for being a contrarian liberal, advocating gradual reform. He is wearing Western clothes ? blue jeans and a Ralph Lauren shirt ? and speaks incredibly fast, turning himself into a manic whirr of arguments. "People here are turning into lazy, overweight babies!" he exclaims. "The nanny state has gone too far. We don't do anything for ourselves! Why don't any of us work for the private sector? Why can't a mother and father look after their own child?" And yet, when I try to bring up the system of slavery that built Dubai, he looks angry. "People should give us credit," he insists. "We are the most tolerant people in the world. Dubai is the only truly international city in the world. Everyone who comes here is treated with respect." I pause, and think of the vast camps in Sonapur, just a few miles away. Does he even know they exist? He looks irritated. "You know, if there are 30 or 40 cases [of worker abuse] a year, that sounds like a lot but when you think about how many people are here..." Thirty or 40? This abuse is endemic to the system, I say. We're talking about hundreds of thousands. Sultan is furious. He splutters: "You don't think Mexicans are treated badly in New York City? And how long did it take Britain to treat people well? I could come to London and write about the homeless people on Oxford Street and make your city sound like a terrible place, too! The workers here can leave any time they want! Any Indian can leave, any Asian can leave!" But they can't, I point out. Their passports are taken away, and their wages are withheld. "Well, I feel bad if that happens, and anybody who does that should be punished. But their embassies should help them." They try. But why do you forbid the workers ? with force ? from going on strike against lousy employers? "Thank God we don't allow that!" he exclaims. "Strikes are in-convenient! They go on the street ? we're not having that. We won't be like France. Imagine a country where they the workers can just stop whenever they want!" So what should the workers do when they are cheated and lied to? "Quit. Leave the country." I sigh. Sultan is seething now. "People in the West are always complaining about us," he says. Suddenly, he adopts a mock-whiny voice and says, in imitation of these disgusting critics: "Why don't you treat animals better? Why don't you have better shampoo advertising? Why don't you treat labourers better?" It's a revealing order: animals, shampoo, then workers. He becomes more heated, shifting in his seat, jabbing his finger at me. "I gave workers who worked for me safety goggles and special boots, and they didn't want to wear them! It slows them down!" And then he smiles, coming up with what he sees as his killer argument. "When I see Western journalists criticise us ? don't you realise you're shooting yourself in the foot? The Middle East will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails. Our export isn't oil, it's hope. Poor Egyptians or Libyans or Iranians grow up saying ? I want to go to Dubai. We're very important to the region. We are showing how to be a modern Muslim country. We don't have any fundamentalists here. Europeans shouldn't gloat at our demise. You should be very worried.... Do you know what will happen if this model fails? Dubai will go down the Iranian path, the Islamist path." Sultan sits back. My arguments have clearly disturbed him; he says in a softer, conciliatory tone, almost pleading: "Listen. My mother used to go to the well and get a bucket of water every morning. On her wedding day, she was given an orange as a gift because she had never eaten one. Two of my brothers died when they were babies because the healthcare system hadn't developed yet. Don't judge us." He says it again, his eyes filled with intensity: "Don't judge us." V. The Dunkin' Donuts Dissidents But there is another face to the Emirati minority ? a small huddle of dissidents, trying to shake the Sheikhs out of abusive laws. Next to a Virgin Megastore and a Dunkin' Donuts, with James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" blaring behind me, I meet the Dubai dictatorship's Public Enemy Number One. By way of introduction, Mohammed al-Mansoori says from within his white robes and sinewy face: "Westerners come her and see the malls and the tall buildings and they think that means we are free. But these businesses, these buildings ? who are they for? This is a dictatorship. The royal family think they own the country, and the people are their servants. There is no freedom here." We snuffle out the only Arabic restaurant in this mall, and he says everything you are banned ? under threat of prison ? from saying in Dubai. Mohammed tells me he was born in Dubai to a fisherman father who taught him one enduring lesson: Never follow the herd. Think for yourself. In the sudden surge of development, Mohammed trained as a lawyer. By the Noughties, he had climbed to the head of the Jurists' Association, an organisation set up to press for Dubai's laws to be consistent with international human rights legislation. And then ? suddenly ? Mohammed thwacked into the limits of Sheikh Mohammed's tolerance. Horrified by the "system of slavery" his country was being built on, he spoke out to Human Rights Watch and the BBC. "So I was hauled in by the secret police and told: shut up, or you will lose you job, and your children will be unemployable," he says. "But how could I be silent?" He was stripped of his lawyer's licence and his passport ? becoming yet another person imprisoned in this country. "I have been blacklisted and so have my children. The newspapers are not allowed to write about me." Why is the state so keen to defend this system of slavery? He offers a prosaic explanation. "Most companies are owned by the government, so they oppose human rights laws because it will reduce their profit margins. It's in their interests that the workers are slaves." Last time there was a depression, there was a starbust of democracy in Dubai, seized by force from the sheikhs. In the 1930s, the city's merchants banded together against Sheikh Said bin Maktum al-Maktum ? the absolute ruler of his day ? and insisted they be given control over the state finances. It lasted only a few years, before the Sheikh ? with the enthusiastic support of the British ? snuffed them out. And today? Sheikh Mohammed turned Dubai into Creditopolis, a city built entirely on debt. Dubai owes 107 percent of its entire GDP. It would be bust already, if the neighbouring oil-soaked state of Abu Dhabi hadn't pulled out its chequebook. Mohammed says this will constrict freedom even further. "Now Abu Dhabi calls the tunes ? and they are much more conservative and restrictive than even Dubai. Freedom here will diminish every day." Already, new media laws have been drafted forbidding the press to report on anything that could "damage" Dubai or "its economy". Is this why the newspapers are giving away glossy supplements talking about "encouraging economic indicators"? Everybody here waves Islamism as the threat somewhere over the horizon, sure to swell if their advice is not followed. Today, every imam is appointed by the government, and every sermon is tightly controlled to keep it moderate. But Mohammed says anxiously: "We don't have Islamism here now, but I think that if you control people and give them no way to express anger, it could rise. People who are told to shut up all the time can just explode." Later that day, against another identikit-corporate backdrop, I meet another dissident ? Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, Professor of Political Science at Emirates University. His anger focuses not on political reform, but the erosion of Emirati identity. He is famous among the locals, a rare outspoken conductor for their anger. He says somberly: "There has been a rupture here. This is a totally different city to the one I was born in 50 years ago." He looks around at the shiny floors and Western tourists and says: "What we see now didn't occur in our wildest dreams. We never thought we could be such a success, a trendsetter, a model for other Arab countries. The people of Dubai are mighty proud of their city, and rightly so. And yet..." He shakes his head. "In our hearts, we fear we have built a modern city but we are losing it to all these expats." Adbulkhaleq says every Emirati of his generation lives with a "psychological trauma." Their hearts are divided ? "between pride on one side, and fear on the other." Just after he says this, a smiling waitress approaches, and asks us what we would like to drink. He orders a Coke. VI. Dubai Pride There is one group in Dubai for whom the rhetoric of sudden freedom and liberation rings true ? but it is the very group the government wanted to liberate least: gays. Beneath a famous international hotel, I clamber down into possibly the only gay club on the Saudi Arabian peninsula. I find a United Nations of tank-tops and bulging biceps, dancing to Kylie, dropping ecstasy, and partying like it's Soho. "Dubai is the best place in the Muslim world for gays!" a 25-year old Emirati with spiked hair says, his arms wrapped around his 31-year old "husband". "We are alive. We can meet. That is more than most Arab gays." It is illegal to be gay in Dubai, and punishable by 10 years in prison. But the locations of the latest unofficial gay clubs circulate online, and men flock there, seemingly unafraid of the police. "They might bust the club, but they will just disperse us," one of them says. "The police have other things to do." In every large city, gay people find a way to find each other ? but Dubai has become the clearing-house for the region's homosexuals, a place where they can live in relative safety. Saleh, a lean private in the Saudi Arabian army, has come here for the Coldplay concert, and tells me Dubai is "great" for gays: "In Saudi, it's hard to be straight when you're young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys ? 15- to 21-year-olds. I'm 27, so I'm too old now. I need to find real gays, so this is the best place. All Arab gays want to live in Dubai." With that, Saleh dances off across the dancefloor, towards a Dutch guy with big biceps and a big smile. VII. The Lifestyle All the guidebooks call Dubai a "melting pot", but as I trawl across the city, I find that every group here huddles together in its own little ethnic enclave ? and becomes a caricature of itself. One night ? in the heart of this homesick city, tired of the malls and the camps ? I go to Double Decker, a hang-out for British expats. At the entrance there is a red telephone box, and London bus-stop signs. Its wooden interior looks like a cross between a colonial clubhouse in the Raj and an Eighties school disco, with blinking coloured lights and cheese blaring out. As I enter, a girl in a short skirt collapses out of the door onto her back. A guy wearing a pirate hat helps her to her feet, dropping his beer bottle with a paralytic laugh. I start to talk to two sun-dried women in their sixties who have been getting gently sozzled since midday. "You stay here for The Lifestyle," they say, telling me to take a seat and order some more drinks. All the expats talk about The Lifestyle, but when you ask what it is, they become vague. Ann Wark tries to summarise it: "Here, you go out every night. You'd never do that back home. You see people all the time. It's great. You have lots of free time. You have maids and staff so you don't have to do all that stuff. You party!" They have been in Dubai for 20 years, and they are happy to explain how the city works. "You've got a hierarchy, haven't you?" Ann says. "It's the Emiratis at the top, then I'd say the British and other Westerners. Then I suppose it's the Filipinos, because they've got a bit more brains than the Indians. Then at the bottom you've got the Indians and all them lot." They admit, however, they have "never" spoken to an Emirati. Never? "No. They keep themselves to themselves." Yet Dubai has disappointed them. Jules Taylor tells me: "If you have an accident here it's a nightmare. There was a British woman we knew who ran over an Indian guy, and she was locked up for four days! If you have a tiny bit of alcohol on your breath they're all over you. These Indians throw themselves in front of cars, because then their family has to be given blood money ? you know, compensation. But the police just blame us. That poor woman." A 24-year-old British woman called Hannah Gamble takes a break from the dancefloor to talk to me. "I love the sun and the beach! It's great out here!" she says. Is there anything bad? "Oh yes!" she says. Ah: one of them has noticed, I think with relief. "The banks! When you want to make a transfer you have to fax them. You can't do it online." Anything else? She thinks hard. "The traffic's not very good." When I ask the British expats how they feel to not be in a democracy, their reaction is always the same. First, they look bemused. Then they look affronted. "It's the Arab way!" an Essex boy shouts at me in response, as he tries to put a pair of comedy antlers on his head while pouring some beer into the mouth of his friend, who is lying on his back on the floor, gurning. Later, in a hotel bar, I start chatting to a dyspeptic expat American who works in the cosmetics industry and is desperate to get away from these people. She says: "All the people who couldn't succeed in their own countries end up here, and suddenly they're rich and promoted way above their abilities and bragging about how great they are. I've never met so many incompetent people in such senior positions anywhere in the world." She adds: "It's absolutely racist. I had Filipino girls working for me doing the same job as a European girl, and she's paid a quarter of the wages. The people who do the real work are paid next to nothing, while these incompetent managers pay themselves ?40,000 a month." With the exception of her, one theme unites every expat I speak to: their joy at having staff to do the work that would clog their lives up Back Home. Everyone, it seems, has a maid. The maids used to be predominantly Filipino, but with the recession, Filipinos have been judged to be too expensive, so a nice Ethiopian servant girl is the latest fashionable accessory. It is an open secret that once you hire a maid, you have absolute power over her. You take her passport ? everyone does; you decide when to pay her, and when ? if ever ? she can take a break; and you decide who she talks to. She speaks no Arabic. She cannot escape. In a Burger King, a Filipino girl tells me it is "terrifying" for her to wander the malls in Dubai because Filipino maids or nannies always sneak away from the family they are with and beg her for help. "They say ? 'Please, I am being held prisoner, they don't let me call home, they make me work every waking hour seven days a week.' At first I would say ? my God, I will tell the consulate, where are you staying? But they never know their address, and the consulate isn't interested. I avoid them now. I keep thinking about a woman who told me she hadn't eaten any fruit in four years. They think I have power because I can walk around on my own, but I'm powerless." The only hostel for women in Dubai ? a filthy private villa on the brink of being repossessed ? is filled with escaped maids. Mela Matari, a 25-year-old Ethiopian woman with a drooping smile, tells me what happened to her ? and thousands like her. She was promised a paradise in the sands by an agency, so she left her four year-old daughter at home and headed here to earn money for a better future. "But they paid me half what they promised. I was put with an Australian family ? four children ? and Madam made me work from 6am to 1am every day, with no day off. I was exhausted and pleaded for a break, but they just shouted: 'You came here to work, not sleep!' Then one day I just couldn't go on, and Madam beat me. She beat me with her fists and kicked me. My ear still hurts. They wouldn't give me my wages: they said they'd pay me at the end of the two years. What could I do? I didn't know anybody here. I was terrified." One day, after yet another beating, Mela ran out onto the streets, and asked ? in broken English ? how to find the Ethiopian consulate. After walking for two days, she found it, but they told her she had to get her passport back from Madam. "Well, how could I?" she asks. She has been in this hostel for six months. She has spoken to her daughter twice. "I lost my country, I lost my daughter, I lost everything," she says. As she says this, I remember a stray sentence I heard back at Double Decker. I asked a British woman called Hermione Frayling what the best thing about Dubai was. "Oh, the servant class!" she trilled. "You do nothing. They'll do anything!" VIII. The End of The World The World is empty. It has been abandoned, its continents unfinished. Through binoculars, I think I can glimpse Britain; this sceptred isle barren in the salt-breeze. Here, off the coast of Dubai, developers have been rebuilding the world. They have constructed artificial islands in the shape of all planet Earth's land masses, and they plan to sell each continent off to be built on. There were rumours that the Beckhams would bid for Britain. But the people who work at the nearby coast say they haven't seen anybody there for months now. "The World is over," a South African suggests. All over Dubai, crazy projects that were Under Construction are now Under Collapse. They were building an air-conditioned beach here, with cooling pipes running below the sand, so the super-rich didn't singe their toes on their way from towel to sea. The projects completed just before the global economy crashed look empty and tattered. The Atlantis Hotel was launched last winter in a $20m fin-de-siecle party attended by Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan and Lily Allen. Sitting on its own fake island ? shaped, of course, like a palm tree ? it looks like an immense upturned tooth in a faintly decaying mouth. It is pink and turreted ? the architecture of the pharaohs, as reimagined by Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Its Grand Lobby is a monumental dome covered in glitterballs, held up by eight monumental concrete palm trees. Standing in the middle, there is a giant shining glass structure that looks like the intestines of every guest who has ever stayed at the Atlantis. It is unexpectedly raining; water is leaking from the roof, and tiles are falling off. A South African PR girl shows me around its most coveted rooms, explaining that this is "the greatest luxury offered in the world". We stroll past shops selling ?24m diamond rings around a hotel themed on the lost and sunken continent of, yes, Atlantis. There are huge water tanks filled with sharks, which poke around mock-abandoned castles and dumped submarines. There are more than 1,500 rooms here, each with a sea view. The Neptune suite has three floors, and ? I gasp as I see it ? it looks out directly on to the vast shark tank. You lie on the bed, and the sharks stare in at you. In Dubai, you can sleep with the fishes, and survive. But even the luxury ? reminiscent of a Bond villain's lair ? is also being abandoned. I check myself in for a few nights to the classiest hotel in town, the Park Hyatt. It is the fashionistas' favourite hotel, where Elle Macpherson and Tommy Hilfiger stay, a gorgeous, understated palace. It feels empty. Whenever I eat, I am one of the only people in the restaurant. A staff member tells me in a whisper: "It used to be full here. Now there's hardly anyone." Rattling around, I feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, the last man in an abandoned, haunted home. The most famous hotel in Dubai ? the proud icon of the city ? is the Burj al Arab hotel, sitting on the shore, shaped like a giant glass sailing boat. In the lobby, I start chatting to a couple from London who work in the City. They have been coming to Dubai for 10 years now, and they say they love it. "You never know what you'll find here," he says. "On our last trip, at the beginning of the holiday, our window looked out on the sea. By the end, they'd built an entire island there." My patience frayed by all this excess, I find myself snapping: doesn't the omnipresent slave class bother you? I hope they misunderstood me, because the woman replied: "That's what we come for! It's great, you can't do anything for yourself!" Her husband chimes in: "When you go to the toilet, they open the door, they turn on the tap ? the only thing they don't do is take it out for you when you have a piss!" And they both fall about laughing. IX. Taking on the Desert Dubai is not just a city living beyond its financial means; it is living beyond its ecological means. You stand on a manicured Dubai lawn and watch the sprinklers spray water all around you. You see tourists flocking to swim with dolphins. You wander into a mountain-sized freezer where they have built a ski slope with real snow. And a voice at the back of your head squeaks: this is the desert. This is the most water-stressed place on the planet. How can this be happening? How is it possible? The very earth is trying to repel Dubai, to dry it up and blow it away. The new Tiger Woods Gold Course needs four million gallons of water to be pumped on to its grounds every day, or it would simply shrivel and disappear on the winds. The city is regularly washed over with dust-storms that fog up the skies and turn the skyline into a blur. When the dust parts, heat burns through. It cooks anything that is not kept constantly, artificially wet. Dr Mohammed Raouf, the environmental director of the Gulf Research Centre, sounds sombre as he sits in his Dubai office and warns: "This is a desert area, and we are trying to defy its environment. It is very unwise. If you take on the desert, you will lose." Sheikh Maktoum built his showcase city in a place with no useable water. None. There is no surface water, very little acquifer, and among the lowest rainfall in the world. So Dubai drinks the sea. The Emirates' water is stripped of salt in vast desalination plants around the Gulf ? making it the most expensive water on earth. It costs more than petrol to produce, and belches vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as it goes. It's the main reason why a resident of Dubai has the biggest average carbon footprint of any human being ? more than double that of an American. If a recession turns into depression, Dr Raouf believes Dubai could run out of water. "At the moment, we have financial reserves that cover bringing so much water to the middle of the desert. But if we had lower revenues ? if, say, the world shifts to a source of energy other than oil..." he shakes his head. "We will have a very big problem. Water is the main source of life. It would be a catastrophe. Dubai only has enough water to last us a week. There's almost no storage. We don't know what will happen if our supplies falter. It would be hard to survive." Global warming, he adds, makes the problem even worse. "We are building all these artificial islands, but if the sea level rises, they will be gone, and we will lose a lot. Developers keep saying it's all fine, they've taken it into consideration, but I'm not so sure." Is the Dubai government concerned about any of this? "There isn't much interest in these problems," he says sadly. But just to stand still, the average resident of Dubai needs three times more water than the average human. In the looming century of water stresses and a transition away from fossil fuels, Dubai is uniquely vulnerable. I wanted to understand how the government of Dubai will react, so I decided to look at how it has dealt with an environmental problem that already exists ? the pollution of its beaches. One woman ? an American, working at one of the big hotels ? had written in a lot of online forums arguing that it was bad and getting worse, so I called her to arrange a meeting. "I can't talk to you," she said sternly. Not even if it's off the record? "I can't talk to you." But I don't have to disclose your name... "You're not listening. This phone is bugged. I can't talk to you," she snapped, and hung up. The next day I turned up at her office. "If you reveal my identity, I'll be sent on the first plane out of this city," she said, before beginning to nervously pace the shore with me. "It started like this. We began to get complaints from people using the beach. The water looked and smelled odd, and they were starting to get sick after going into it. So I wrote to the ministers of health and tourism and expected to hear back immediately ? but there was nothing. Silence. I hand-delivered the letters. Still nothing." The water quality got worse and worse. The guests started to spot raw sewage, condoms, and used sanitary towels floating in the sea. So the hotel ordered its own water analyses from a professional company. "They told us it was full of fecal matter and bacteria 'too numerous to count'. I had to start telling guests not to go in the water, and since they'd come on a beach holiday, as you can imagine, they were pretty pissed off." She began to make angry posts on the expat discussion forums ? and people began to figure out what was happening. Dubai had expanded so fast its sewage treatment facilities couldn't keep up. The sewage disposal trucks had to queue for three or four days at the treatment plants ? so instead, they were simply drilling open the manholes and dumping the untreated sewage down them, so it flowed straight to the sea. Suddenly, it was an open secret ? and the municipal authorities finally acknowledged the problem. They said they would fine the truckers. But the water quality didn't improve: it became black and stank. "It's got chemicals in it. I don't know what they are. But this stuff is toxic." She continued to complain ? and started to receive anonymous phone calls. "Stop embarassing Dubai, or your visa will be cancelled and you're out," they said. She says: "The expats are terrified to talk about anything. One critical comment in the newspapers and they deport you. So what am I supposed to do? Now the water is worse than ever. People are getting really sick. Eye infections, ear infections, stomach infections, rashes. Look at it!" There is faeces floating on the beach, in the shadow of one of Dubai's most famous hotels. "What I learnt about Dubai is that the authorities don't give a toss about the environment," she says, standing in the stench. "They're pumping toxins into the sea, their main tourist attraction, for God's sake. If there are environmental problems in the future, I can tell you now how they will deal with them ? deny it's happening, cover it up, and carry on until it's a total disaster." As she speaks, a dust-storm blows around us, as the desert tries, slowly, insistently, to take back its land. X. Fake Plastic Trees On my final night in the Dubai Disneyland, I stop off on my way to the airport, at a Pizza Hut that sits at the side of one of the city's endless, wide, gaping roads. It is identical to the one near my apartment in London in every respect, even the vomit-coloured decor. My mind is whirring and distracted. Perhaps Dubai disturbed me so much, I am thinking, because here, the entire global supply chain is condensed. Many of my goods are made by semi-enslaved populations desperate for a chance 2,000 miles away; is the only difference that here, they are merely two miles away, and you sometimes get to glimpse their faces? Dubai is Market Fundamentalist Globalisation in One City. I ask the Filipino girl behind the counter if she likes it here. "It's OK," she says cautiously. Really? I say. I can't stand it. She sighs with relief and says: "This is the most terrible place! I hate it! I was here for months before I realised ? everything in Dubai is fake. Everything you see. The trees are fake, the workers' contracts are fake, the islands are fake, the smiles are fake ? even the water is fake!" But she is trapped, she says. She got into debt to come here, and she is stuck for three years: an old story now. "I think Dubai is like an oasis. It is an illusion, not real. You think you have seen water in the distance, but you get close and you only get a mouthful of sand." As she says this, another customer enters. She forces her face into the broad, empty Dubai smile and says: "And how may I help you tonight, sir?" Some names in this article have been changed. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 15:55:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 14:55:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: More on: The dark side of Dubai from Deki Fox. Message-ID: <001901c9b894$c10ee820$432cb860$@net> When there was three trillion dollars missing and unaccountable from the DOD budget when the Bush was in office, I wondered then if it had not gone to build Dubai. The husband of a good friend was employed by an architectural and electrical engineering firm which was engaged in contracts in Dubai. I got to see some of the photos of planned projects - very elaborate things like indoor ski resorts, etc. It was rumored at that time that Wall Street would be moved to Dubai where it would be in a better position to control and manipulate oil in the Middle East. And certainly the elaborate U.S. embassy built there attests to the probability. But, I also want to say that my observation of Bush being in office at this time is not in any way meant to negate the facts that he and the others of his cabal were only puppets in the game, and the real string pullers are still in control pulling Obama's strings now. When one enters into the presidency, it must be noted that one has sold one's soul. Although I do feel that some of the good things we see happening are due to Obama's ability to push back especially when we are behind him. Thanks for your observations and input, Deki. Had not heard from you for so long was getting concerned. With love and appreciation. m r From: DekiFox at aol.com [mailto:DekiFox at aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:23 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Re: The dark side of Dubai Really great article on Dubai! This Burj Dubai Lightning Strike seems to compliment the article nicely... Lightning strikes the Burj Dubai Lightning strikes the Burj Dubai http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3137618&origin=bldgdailynewsle tter ~ Deki Fox Lake Geneva, Wisconsin How do we do that? And, what kind of language do we come up with? How do we expand a sense of empathy and allow each and every one of us to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see the world through their eyes, and as a consequence see ourselves in other people? Because it strikes me that that's the only way that we are going to survive as a planet. ~ Barack Obama November 23rd, 2004 In a message dated 4/8/2009 7:47:30 A.M. Central Daylight Time, maryrose333 at att.net writes: The dark side of Dubai _____ Worried about job security? Check out the 5 safest jobs in a recession. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 16:19:10 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 15:19:10 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Bruce Recommends - The I Can Do It Conference Message-ID: <003201c9b898$0dbb2c80$29318580$@net> From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:19 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Bruce Recommends - The I Can Do It Conference View this email online by clicking here. Hello Friends, I would like to recommend Now you can spend an upcoming weekend listening to some of the most inspiring authors of today in a unique setting, the I Can Do It! Conference. April 30th - May 3rd San Diego Convention Center San Diego, CA Speakers include Bruce H. Lipton, Gregg Braden, Wayne Dyer, Louise L. Hay, Deborah King and many more. See entire list of speakers here >> Louise L. Hay founded the I Can Do It! Conference four years ago as a forum for kindred spirits to gather, commune, and heal themselves and each other. The I Can Do It! Conference is intended to revitalize your soul, charge your body's subtle energy centers, and bring a sparkle to your eyes. Here is a sample of what prior conference attendees have said: - My spiritual journey has been elevated to a whole new emotional level. - It was very nice to see so many like-minded people all together in one place. - Fully satisfied my intellectual and spiritual side. - The love and acceptance I felt was unconditional. - Just the boost I needed to stay on the spiritual path and be true to myself. - Exceeded all my expectations. The Conference provides an opportunity to step outside your normal day-to-day life and wholly concentrate on yourself. How will the I Can Do It! Conference affect you? The only way to find out is to show up! You can participate for the entire event, a single day or an evening. There are many options for registration . After each session, speakers will be available to meet fans and autograph books. For complete information, visit the I Can Do It website. Bruce Design:OneGraphic.com This message was sent from Spiritcrossing to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: Spirit 2000, SpiritCrossing P.O. Box 11736 , Murfreesboro, TN 37129-0035. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing Software To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 16:21:10 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 15:21:10 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Free Webinar: Transforming Stress during Economic Turmoil Message-ID: <003701c9b898$557fabe0$007f03a0$@net> From: HeartMath [mailto:info at heartmath.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:27 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Free Webinar: Transforming Stress during Economic Turmoil Having trouble viewing our html email? VIEW IT HERE Reminder: Forward this email to a Friend HeartMath 4.08.09 Free Webinar: Transforming Stress during Economic Turmoil with Bruce Cryer, HeartMath President/CEO Thursday, April 9th at 1:00pm EST (10:00am PST) Register Enter promotion code HEARTBPI1 in the 'Webinar Promotion' box, then click 'view now'. _____ Today's economic crisis is hitting like powerful waves of new stress, making it difficult to perform at our best while maintaining balance at work and home. 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Your Subscription maryrose333 at att.net,we would love to hear from you. Please reply to this e-mail to send your comments and suggestions. To Unsubscribe from all HeartMath, LLC lists, please email 'info at heartmath.com' with your unsubscribe request from all HeartMath lists. HeartMath is a registered trademark of the Institute of HeartMath. Freeze-Framer is a registered trademark of Quantum Intech, Inc. emWave and personal stress reliever are registered trademarks of Quantum Intech, Inc. Quick Coherence is a registered trademark of Doc Childre. You are receiving this message because you are subscribed as maryrose333 at att.net to this mailing list. Copyright 2009 HeartMath LLC. All rights reserved. HeartMath LLC. 14700 West Park Avenue Boulder Creek, CA 95006 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:07:55 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:07:55 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Bruce Recommends - The I Can Do It Conference Message-ID: <001b01c9b8d1$270f2770$752d7650$@net> From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:19 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Bruce Recommends - The I Can Do It Conference View this email online by clicking here. Hello Friends, I would like to recommend Now you can spend an upcoming weekend listening to some of the most inspiring authors of today in a unique setting, the I Can Do It! Conference. April 30th - May 3rd San Diego Convention Center San Diego, CA Speakers include Bruce H. Lipton, Gregg Braden, Wayne Dyer, Louise L. Hay, Deborah King and many more. See entire list of speakers here >> Louise L. Hay founded the I Can Do It! Conference four years ago as a forum for kindred spirits to gather, commune, and heal themselves and each other. The I Can Do It! Conference is intended to revitalize your soul, charge your body's subtle energy centers, and bring a sparkle to your eyes. Here is a sample of what prior conference attendees have said: - My spiritual journey has been elevated to a whole new emotional level. - It was very nice to see so many like-minded people all together in one place. - Fully satisfied my intellectual and spiritual side. - The love and acceptance I felt was unconditional. - Just the boost I needed to stay on the spiritual path and be true to myself. - Exceeded all my expectations. The Conference provides an opportunity to step outside your normal day-to-day life and wholly concentrate on yourself. How will the I Can Do It! Conference affect you? The only way to find out is to show up! You can participate for the entire event, a single day or an evening. There are many options for registration . After each session, speakers will be available to meet fans and autograph books. For complete information, visit the I Can Do It website. Bruce Design:OneGraphic.com This message was sent from Spiritcrossing to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: Spirit 2000, SpiritCrossing P.O. Box 11736 , Murfreesboro, TN 37129-0035. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing Software To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:19:34 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:19:34 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] "I was put on what looked like a hospital bed . . ." Message-ID: <002501c9b8d2$c8318020$58948060$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:30 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] "I was put on what looked like a hospital bed . . ." (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0408/1224244213140.html "I was put on what looked like a hospital bed . . ." 2007 RED CROSS REPORT: THE RED Cross February 2007 report on 14 people held for 16 months by the US Central Intelligence Agency during the Bush presidency is not intended for publication, in line with how the ICRC works. The report, marked "Strictly Confidential", details a wide range of human rights abuses and torture. "Throughout the entire period during which they were held in the CIA detention program . . . the detainees were kept in continuous solitary confinement and incommunicado detention," it says. "They had no knowledge of where they were being held, no contact with persons other than their interrogators or guards . . . "None had any contact with legal representation. The 14 had no access to news from the outside world, apart from in the later stages of their detention when some of them occasionally received printouts of sports news from the internet and one reported receiving newspapers. "None of the 14 had any contact with their families, either in written form or through family visits or telephone calls." The report itemised the sort of torture inflicted: "Suffocation by water poured over a cloth placed over the nose and mouth, alleged by three of the 14. "Prolonged stress standing position, naked, held with arms extended and chained above the head, as alleged by 10 of the 14, for periods of two or three days continuously, and for up to two or three months intermittently, during which period toilet access was sometimes denied resulting in allegations from four detainees that they had to defecate and urinate over themselves. "Beatings by use of a collar held around the detainees' neck and used to forcefully bang the head and body against the wall, alleged by six of the 14. "Beating and kicking, including slapping, punching kicking to the body and face, alleged by nine of the 14. "Confinement in a box to severely restrict movement alleged in the case of one detainee. "Prolonged nudity alleged by 11 of the 14 during detention, interrogation and ill-treatment; this enforced nudity lasted for periods ranging from several weeks to several months. "Sleep deprivation was alleged by 11 of the 14 through days of interrogation, through use of forced stress positions (standing or sitting), cold water and use of repetitive loud noise or music. One detainee was kept sitting on a chair for prolonged periods of time. "Exposure to cold temperature was alleged by most of the 14, especially via cold cells and interrogation rooms, and for seven of them, by the use of cold water poured over the body or, as alleged by three of the detainees, held around the body by means of a plastic sheet to create an immersion bath with just the head out of the water. "Prolonged shackling of hands and/or feet was alleged by many of the 14. "Threats of ill-treatment to the detainee and/or his family, alleged by nine of the 14. "Forced shaving of the head and beard, alleged by two of the 14. "Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food from three days to one month after arrest, alleged by eight of the 14." The report details selected case histories: ABU ZUBAYDAH, a Palestinian arrested in Pakistan, told the Red Cross: "I was put on what looked like a hospital bed, and strapped down very tightly with belts. A black cloth was then placed over my face and the interrogators used a mineral water bottle to pour water on the cloth so that I could not breathe. After a few minutes the cloth was removed and the bed was rotated into an upright position. The pressure of the straps on my wounds caused severe pain. I vomited. The bed was then again lowered to a horizontal position and the same torture carried out with the black cloth over my face and water poured on from a bottle... I lost control of my urine. Since then I still lose control of my urine when under stress." KHALED SHAIK MOHAMMED, a Pakistani arrested in Pakistan, said: "I would be strapped to a special bed, which can be rotated into a vertical position. A cloth would be placed over my face. Water was then poured on to the cloth by one of the guards so that I could not breathe. This obviously could only be done for one or two minutes at a time. The cloth was then removed and the bed was put into a vertical position. The whole process was then repeated during about one hour." WALID BIN ATTASH, a Yemeni arrested in Pakistan, said: "... on a daily basis during the first two weeks a collar was looped around my neck and then used to slam me against the walls of the interrogation room. It was also placed around my neck when being taken out of my cell for interrogation and was used to lead me along the corridor. It was also used to slam me against the walls of the corridor during such movements." The full report may be read online, www.irishtimes.com/indepth From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:24:42 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:24:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Fighting the recession, armed with seeds Message-ID: <002601c9b8d3$80056fe0$80104fa0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 3:03 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Fighting the recession, armed with seeds (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Fighting the recession, armed with seeds Home gardening experiences a boom as families seek to cut food costs By Alex Johnson Reporter msnbc.com updated 1:07 p.m. MT, Fri., April 3, 2009 Hoe in hand, Kate Kinne works her field on a cold March day. "I do seven kinds of berries," Kinne said. "I have an apple tree, [a] fig tree, all vegetables, eggs." All that production notwithstanding, Kinne's farm doesn't stretch over acres of rolling land. In fact, it isn't a farm at all. It's the small backyard of her house in Portland, Ore. Kinne is part of a growing movement of Americans who are turning to their own resources to fight the economic recession, now in its 16th month. As paychecks and job opportunities shrink in tandem with rising prices at the store, more and more households are growing their own food in their backyards, in shared community-run gardens and even on their windowsills. Kinne estimates that her garden saves her at least a $150 a month in grocery bills. And that doesn't include the money she saves on services from professionals whom she pays with the fresh food she grows and the labor she provides helping them plant their own gardens. "I do a chiropractor and a massage therapist, so pretty much my whole health care is taken care of," Kinne said. The National Gardening Association, a nonprofit research group based in South Burlington, Vt., projects that 43 million of the nation's 111 million households will grow at least some of their own fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs this year - a rise of more than 19 percent over last year. More than half - 54 percent - said they were looking to save on their food bills, the association said in its annual report on home and community gardening in the United States. Seed industry bucks the tough times "They're calling them 'recession gardens' because of the economic crisis we're in right now," said Brad Melzor, a gardener with the Ohio State University Extension service. The plots are explicitly modeled on the Victory Gardens many Americans planted during World War II. And the trend is showing up in sales figures for garden shops and seed suppliers. W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the nation's largest seed retailer, projects sales will jump by as much as 20 percent this year, which is leading to a boom in business at the local garden store. "With the interest, we just can't keep them on the shelf," said Tyler Reynolds, manager of Zamzows Garden Centers in Boise, Idaho. Across the city, garden stores report a 40 percent jump in seed sales this year. At Al's Garden Center in Sherwood, Ore., "we planned for more, and we're even outselling what we planned for," said Mark Bigej, a gardening expert at the store. "Last year, we saw a trend in the edibles," Bigej said. "People started planting more edibles gardening themselves, and this year we're seeing more." More than 80 people showed up recently for a vegetable garden class at Paulino Gardens in Denver, where seed sales have risen nearly 30 percent this year, said John Smith, the store's garden manager. 'You can quickly calculate the savings' Part of the boom can be attributed to advances in seed technology that allow home gardeners to harvest a sizable yield from a very small amount of space. The National Gardening Association said its survey, conducted in January by Harris Interactive Inc., showed that 57 percent of American home gardens were smaller than 100 square feet. It projected that the average garden could produce 300 pounds of fresh produce worth $600, a return of $530 based on an average investment of $70. A family can plant a garden "anywhere - on an apartment terrace or in a south-facing window," said Wendy Hanson Mazet, a master gardener with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Service. "And you can do it in small containers," Mazet said. "Peas don't take up much room - you just have to give them some upward lift - and leaf lettuce is easy, too. You just clip it with a pair of scissors, and it keeps on reproducing." Cheryl Carson of Atlanta said she planted just 56 square feet last year and "probably [grew] 50 percent of the produce my family ate from spring until the fall." "I can put 16 carrots in one square foot," Carson said. "That means a seed packet could literally last me - if I could keep them viable - 20 years. One seed packet for $2." Curt Holmquist of Minneapolis, Minn., also did the math, and he was sold. "I've seen packages of three bell peppers for $2.69 in the store," Holmquist said. "And we've had plants that produce 30 of those. So you can quite quickly calculate the savings." Initial investment can be costly Experts warn, however, that maintaining a home garden isn't as easy as it looks, and they say you shouldn't expect to save quite as much money as the catalogs and the salesmen tout. "There is a lot to plan for before you ever put a shovel in the ground," said Keith Funk of Gard'n Wise Distributors Inc. in Denver, where he hosts a gardening radio show. Productive gardening requires much more than just putting seeds in dirt, Funk said, ticking off some of the variables: "soil prep, what you need for light, what varieties to choose, how much to plant for a family of four." There's also the initial investment, which can be considerable, he said. "Especially with the cost of water and fertilizer and compost and getting everything ready to go - if you are having to buy tools and those sorts of things - it can be fairly expensive to start up with," Funk said. "There is some money involved." Ken Creel, a regional master gardener program coordinator with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, acknowledged that once you get up and going, "you may end up saving money down the road." In the first year, however, it's likely that "you're not going to save any money, and it may end up costing more," he said. But dedicated home gardeners say the eventual rewards are worth the trouble. "Gardening is our passion in our family," Michele Kommen said as she shopped at Bachman's Floral, Gift & Garden in Richfield, Minn. "And it's never too young to start. That's why I've got the boys along with me to get some seeds." Vick Andrews of Boise, Idaho, grows so much of her own food that she said she could feed her family for three months just on what came out of her garden. "I have a calm and peace, and I know if my husband lost his job or if he got sick and couldn't provide for us, we could survive for a while," Andrews said. C 2009 msnbc.com Reprints URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30017483/ From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:30:52 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:30:52 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? Message-ID: <002701c9b8d4$5cd41430$167c3c90$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:56 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? http://www.scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/02/How-Many-Windmills-D oes-It-Take-to-Power-the-World/ 26 Feb, 2008 10:51 am Power densities are a measure of the land required for both energy sources and energy users. The current infrastructure matches the small footprint of energy sources against the large footprint of energy users. With the drive toward renewable energy sources, this relationship is about to be reversed with consequences few people understand. Though nowadays people sometimes rail against the deployment of wind generators because they mar the view, such deployments are the logical outcome of our desire to move away from fossil fuels. We may be concerned about the greenhouse gasses and toxic pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants, but most people do not worry about such plants ruining their view unless they live very nearby. Neither do they worry about coal mines unless, of course, they live in proximity to them, and only a very small segment of the population does. But windmills can be put anywhere there is sufficient wind. And, that often conflicts with the aesthetic desires of people who must look at them and deal with the attendant disruption that servicing them causes. It's not just that coal-fired power plants can be plunked down pretty much wherever we want them. It's also that watt for watt they are far more compact than their equivalent in wind turbines. Let's take a 500-megawatt power plant which by itself can power a city of 300,000. (A megawatt is one million watts.) It will sit astride a fairly large plot of land. A coal-fired plant near me is just under that capacity (495 MW) and sits on about 300 acres. Most of that land, however, is essentially devoted to undeveloped transmission right-of-way filled with ponds, woods and streams. Only a small portion is covered by plant facilities including coal storage. I estimate less than 30 acres. For new wind projects huge 5-megawatt wind generators are just now being deployed. If we take these as typical (and they are not), then using an estimate of the direct land footprint for wind towers of 0.38 acres per tower, we find that we'd need 100 towers covering 38 acres. But wind turbines run at only about 30 percent capacity because the wind doesn't blow all the time. This compares to about 70 percent capacity for coal-fired power plants. So we need to multiply 100 towers by about 2 1/3 to get the number of towers we'd need to match the operating capacity of one coal-fired plant. That means we'd need about 233 towers with a direct land footprint of 87 acres. That doesn't seem too bad. And, the land under the turbines is still available for farming and other purposes. The overall direct effects on the land and water are certainly less when compared to the coal plant. But we're not done. The spacing between towers is typically at least five diameters of the rotor. That doesn't sound like much. But for the 5-megawatt towers in this example, the spacing would be 2,065 feet times 232--we don't need to separate the last tower from another tower beyond it. Then we'd add the diameter of the rotors--413 feet times 233--and we get a distance equivalent to about 110 miles. So, we'd need a line of 5-megawatt turbines stretching 110 miles. In theory, we'd want to split them up and put them in various locations in which the wind blows hardest at different times. But the total length of the line would still be at least 110 miles. If we take the largest separation recommended between towers which is 10 diameters of the rotors, we'd have to just about double that distance. By comparison most people who live 110 miles from a coal-fired power plant are rarely even aware that it might be a source of electricity for them. And, the plant is certainly not a direct irritation. The lesson here, however, is not one of aesthetics. It is an illustration of the disparity in power densities between those energy sources on which we currently rely and the alternatives now being proposed and deployed. The power density problem for solar energy is no less daunting. Vaclav Smil, who has investigated the power density problem carefully, described it this way: [I]n order to supply a house with electricity, photovoltaic cells would have to cover the entire roof. A supermarket would require a photovoltaic field roughly ten times larger than its own roof, or 1,000 times larger in the case of a high-rise building. When we contemplate renewable energy sources, we rarely contemplate the land area required to deploy them. Just the problems involved in obtaining rights-of-way alone are beyond anything we've ever experienced. And, the enormous scale of manufacturing required to produce the panels and wind towers would dwarf our current energy industries. The coal-fired power plant by comparison seems like a wonder of compact energy generation. This is not to make a case against renewable energy. We will need it and deploy it because we must--either because of the dangers that burning fossil fuels pose to the climate or because of increasing fossil fuel scarcity, or both. The real case to be made here is against business-as-usual. It is hard to see how a transition to a renewable energy society, however rapid and earnest, will give us all the energy we want at prices we will like. In the graph which follows, it is glaringly obvious that the energy sources we rely on now are one to two orders of magnitude smaller by land area per unit of energy produced than the industries and buildings they service are per unit of energy consumed. That means it takes a relatively small land area to service the enormous area devoted to commercial, residential and industrial buildings. Just the opposite will become the case using renewable energy sources. We will be obliged to devote vast tracts of space--far more vast than the buildings they serve--to support the energy use of our current infrastructure. This may not be impossible, but it will certainly be costly and socially disruptive. And, that brings us back to the windmills now increasingly dotting our landscape. We can certainly look forward to many more of them. But if we choose to oppose them on the grounds that they are "ugly" or "disruptive," then we will essentially be choosing a much lower energy future, far below what we've come to expect from fossil fuels. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:36:00 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:36:00 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] In economic slump, seniors paying more for assisted living services Message-ID: <002801c9b8d5$146ecb80$3d4c6280$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:49 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] In economic slump, seniors paying more for assisted living services (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040809dnme tunassisted.3f4d43f.html In economic slump, seniors paying more for assisted living services 11:49 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 By SHERRY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News sjacobson at dallasnews.com Settled into a retirement community in North Dallas, Marian Yordy can't hide from an unsettling economy. It's the little things that hurt, from having to pay as much as $50 for a ride to and from the beauty shop to being charged a quarter for a carton of milk that used to be free. The small economic changes at her independent-living apartment complex - the Treemont Retirement Community - could be a sign of trouble in the larger retirement world: What you get could be less than you expected. "We've had anecdotal reports that this is happening around the country, and if it's true, it represents a troubling trend," said Rafael Ayuso, a spokesman for AARP Texas. "Housing is the single largest expense for older Americans, who already are stressed out about the state of the economy." If seniors are living independently in a retirement community, as opposed to being in an assisted-living facility or a nursing home, they have virtually nowhere to take their complaints. Yordy, 81, said she started noticing a hit on her pocketbook in recent weeks. Hoping to halt the trend, she complained to management, started a petition drive among the residents and, eventually, alerted a number of government agencies. "They couldn't help me," said Yordy, who moved into the community in September 2007. Transportation concerns Treemont's managers insist no operational changes have been made in recent months at the Harvest Hill Road retirement community. They did say, however, that one of the home's two vans is being sold to cut expenses, which resulted in a stricter transportation schedule for the residents. Most are in their 80s and no longer drive. Rides to doctors' appointments, grocery stores and church services are free as long as they follow the prearranged schedule. Anyone needing to go elsewhere, such as the beauty shop or post office, must pay $15 to $50 per round trip. "I'm trying to operate efficiently," Doris Lea, the home's former acting director, said last week. Lea is also a regional vice president of operations for Horizon Bay Senior Communities, which manages more than 75 retirement complexes around the country. "We always do our best to minimize any impact on our residents," she said. "We've been here a long time, and we have a very good reputation." Nonetheless, the recent departure of several popular Treemont staff members - including the home's director and activities director - has been upsetting to some residents, Lea said. They were not laid off.More than 200 seniors live at Treemont, which was built in the mid-1970s as Dallas' first luxury retirement community. After 35 years, the three-story complex still has a well-maintained appearance with large common areas for dining and social activities. Unhappy over changes It is difficult to gauge the level of discontent among the residents, although a dozen people indicated to Yordy that they were unhappy with some of the recent changes, she said. Several residents said they were afraid to challenge management and risk being evicted from a place that they otherwise enjoy living and that is more affordable than other retirement communities. "I believe Treemont management needs some help - or interference," one resident wrote in a note to Yordy. "But I believe this will not bring good results!" Ramon Arguelles, 81, was willing to join Yordy in her public protest, speaking to a reporter and posing for a photograph with his fellow resident in front of the building. It reminded him of the times he would take his complaints to the DISD board of trustees when he was a Spanish teacher in Oak Cliff. "I had to give up my car, so they give you only 20 minutes to buy groceries when you take the van," said Arguelles, a Treemont resident for more than a year. The complex, like other independent-living facilities for seniors, has no government oversight. So whatever their age, seniors living in these communities must fight their own battles. "Independent-living facilities are not licensed," said Suzanna Swanson, director of the long-term care ombudsman program at The Senior Source. The program visits and investigates complaints at assisted-living facilities and nursing homes in Dallas County. "Occasionally, our agency does get calls and complaints about independent-living facilities," she said. "But we don't have jurisdiction." And there is little recourse when the changes do not violate a lease agreement, said Yasmin Thomas, project director for the Texas Tenants Union, which helps renters understand their housing rights."If management is within its legal rights to do this, the changes should have been phased in," she advised. "I can relate to it with my own parents because people are stunned that they can't expect what they had been getting." Yordy conceded that she could move out, but she professed to love her fellow residents and, especially, her small, one-bedroom apartment, for which one of her daughters is paying almost $1,200 a month. Even those residents who pay more to get additional services consider Treemont a bargain. Everyone gets three meals a day and the promise of an active social life. "They promised me yoga and real exercise classes," said Yordy, who tries to stay active. Until further notice, she and the other residents are attending an exercise class led by the home's van driver. Lea said she asked the driver to take over several classes a week because she didn't want to cancel them. "Sometimes, the smallest change can feel dramatic," Lea said. What's for dinner? Residents also complained about apparent cost cutting in the home's menus, including the loss of favorites such as crab cakes and chicken-fried steak. Lea said the menu was streamlined on a five-week cycle that features "always available" items such as chicken, fish and hamburger. Most upsetting was the disappearance three weeks ago of Treemont's "Mystery Ride." On Saturdays, a group of 20 or so residents used to head out for an unknown destination with the van driver providing a history lesson en route. "I've learned so much about Texas on that ride," said Dorris Repass, 89, who grew up in West Texas and enjoyed visiting Denton, McKinney and Tyler. Lea promised to restore those rides as soon as an activities director is hired. But she disputed the residents' claim that Treement had begun charging unfair transportation fees for rides in the van. However, when pressed, she said she was not certain that previous administrators had ever charged transportation fees, although the practice was allowed under lease agreements signed by every resident. "We're trying to administer the contract the way we said we'd do it," she said. "I cannot take 200 people to their beauty shop every day." From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:39:29 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:39:29 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Rapid Economic Contraction May Lead to New Wars and Radicalized Politics Message-ID: <004001c9b8d5$90608800$b1219800$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 12:04 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Rapid Economic Contraction May Lead to New Wars and Radicalized Politics (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Shocking Scenarios: Rapid Economic Contraction May Lead to New Wars and Radicalized Politics http://www.alternet.org/workplace/135288/shocking_scenarios%3A_rapid_economi c_contraction_may_lead_to_new_wars_and_radicalized_politics/ By Arun Gupta, Indypendent. Posted April 6, 2009. Economic contraction could provoke: confrontation between U.S. and China or an unraveling of the European Union. As the global economy heads for its first annual decline since WWII and the biggest decline in trade in 80 years, more and more commentators are using the term depression to describe the vertiginous economic collapse. The rate of the decline is astonishing. Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. "Dr. Doom," writes, "The scale and speed of synchronized global economic contraction is really unprecedented (at least since the Great Depression), with a free fall of GDP, income, consumption, industrial production, employment, exports, imports, residential investment and, more ominously, capital expenditures around the world." During the Great Depression the global economy fragmented, leading to the rise of competing power blocs. Eventually, fascist Germany and imperial Japan launched wars of conquest for new markets and lands because they lacked the territorial and trade outlets possessed by the United States, England and the Soviet Union. This crisis is at an early stage, but the process of global fragmentation has already begun, which means a greater likelihood of interstate military conflict. With the fading of the "war on terror" as the central U.S. battleground, China will probably return as the pre-eminent peril in the minds of the U.S. economic and political elite. Recently, a sea-going confrontation and China's lecturing the United States over debt indicates how the powers are skirmishing over military and economic interests. CHINA RISING China is using the economic crisis as an opportunity by dipping into its gargantuan cash reserves to stoke demand with a two year stimulus plan of $586 billion, which amounts to 14 percent of its annual gross domestic product, versus the Obama plan, which at $797 billion is less than 6 percent of U.S. GDP. China is focusing on improving its industrial competitiveness, but has yet to address its minimal social welfare spending, which provides greater stimulus than infrastructure spending and spurs demand by allowing the Chinese to lower their high savings rate. The bigger problem is the Asian economic model may be finished, with exports declining 33 percent in South Korea, where exports account for 60 percent of GDP, and 46 percent in Japan. Industrial output has dropped 43 percent in Taiwan. With consumer demand and business investment collapsing worldwide, countries can no longer export their way to recovery (a policy known as export-oriented industrialization). These export drops are showing up in China, where imports have declined significantly. It plays a critical intermediary role in the global economy. Walden Bello describes China's economy as the "overwhelming driver of export growth in Taiwan and the Philippines and the majority buyer of products from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia." Even if China can spur domestic demand, it's not a long-term solution. Production can't survive on internal demand alone, and prioritizing domestic manufacturing over foreign trade inevitably devolves into "beggar-thy-neighbor" economic warfare. EUROPE'S SWAN SONG? This is precisely what's happening in the 27-member European Union, where "peripheral states such as Latvia, Bulgaria and even Ireland have been brutally whipsawed from an era of heady growth to shockingly fast decline," according to the Wall Street Journal. The crisis threatens to unravel the post-Cold War economic order in which the West administered "shock therapy" to former Soviet Bloc countries by restructuring them along neoliberal lines. Twenty years ago, Soviet Bloc populations largely accepted the shock therapy with passivity, disoriented by the rapid collapse of Communism. Peter Gowan, author of The Global Gamble, argues that the Western-imposed shock therapy in the early 1990s bankrupted and privatized East Europe's industrial enterprises and dismantled the region's integrated economy, known as Comecon. This paved the way for unsustainable bubbles in housing and construction, foreign credit and capital flows, low-wage manufacturing and remittances. Central and East European (CEE) countries are dependent on exporting to meet Eurozone demand, which has collapsed. Net private capital inflows are expected to drop in the region by almost 90 percent this year to just $30 billion. Remittances, which account for 2.5 percent of Poland's GDP and 8 percent of Ukraine's GDP, are evaporating as migrant workers head back home jobless. Germany and France are telling Eastern countries to look to the International Monetary Fund for help. While European institutions are giving East Europe the cold shoulder, offering only $30 billion in financing assistance for banks in Eastern Europe, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to double its $250 billion fund "to fight the financial crisis in emerging markets," according to the Financial Times. THE IMF RETURNS Neoliberalism has led to a historic crisis and been discredited as a political ideology and economic program, but international institutions like the IMF that enforce neoliberal policies are implementing a new phase of structural adjustment programs that will make weaker economies pay for the excesses of Western capital. The IMF is disbursing loans while instituting new regimes of shock therapy to countries that include Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine. Analyst Adam Hanieh writes: "The conditions that come with this latest round of IMF lending have been particularly opaque. . Hungary has agreed to cuts in welfare spending, a freeze in salaries and canceling bonuses for public sector workers yet the final details have not been made public. Iceland was required to raise interest rates to 18 percent with the economy predicted to contract by 10 percent and inflation reaching 20 percent." West Europe, meanwhile, is turning inward. In England protests are increasing against foreign investment and the 2.4 million foreign workers in the country. Xenophobia and economic nationalism will likely rise as unemployment does across the continent. More joblessness and bankruptcies will increase pressure by labor and capital for protectionist measures ranging from supporting domestic industries and more national stimulus plans to forcing out foreign workers and passing "buy national" provisions. The effect could lead to greater pressure on Europe's weaker economies, the growth of radical political movements on the left and right and perhaps the eventual disintegration of the Europe's common market and currency. Already, large-scale protests or riots having occurred in Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Ukraine and Greece. RUSSIA LOOKS EAST Russia would like to benefit from the turmoil both as a response to 20 years of U.S. policy to encircle it militarily and economically and out of rising nationalism. But its economy has been bloodied over the last year. The ruble, Russian stock market and oil and natural gas prices have all tanked, draining away $200 billion in the government's hard currency reserves. Nonetheless, Russia will probably gain leverage over littoral states like the Ukraine and the Baltic region and Ukraine because of their lack of options. Russia is trying to promote greater regionalization, and has cast its eyes east as part of this strategy. President Dmitry Medvedev predicted last November that "the high human and technological potential" of Asian-Pacific countries "will become the locomotive of sustainable world economic development in the future." Recently, China inked a $25 billion deal to aid Russia's state-controlled energy industry in exchange for about 100 million barrels of oil a year for 20 years. But this pact points to the limited role Russia plays in China's economy, as a supplier of commodities and military hardware, while China exports more valuable consumer and industrial goods to Russia. THE LATIN AMERICAN MODEL As for Latin America, its 2.2 percent GDP growth from 2002 to 2006, the highest level since the 1960s, was fueled by exports, mainly commodities, and remittances, which accounted for $59 billion or 2 percent of the continent's GDP by 2006. With the contracting U.S. economy and plunging commodity prices, remittances and exports are falling quickly. The difference in Latin America is the ascension of leftist governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador that are forging new economic relations by "nationalizing natural resources and redistributing the subsequent wealth to social programs to benefit the countries' poor majorities," writes Benjamin Dangl, founder of the website upsidedownworld.org. Venezuela is promoting the "Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas" (in opposition to the neoliberal Free Trade Area of the Americas) as a regional economic pact based on "cooperation and solidarity," and which encompasses related agreements on energy, finance and media. It's mostly been limited to technical cooperation, subsidized oil supplies and barter agreements, particularly in healthcare, which have proven effective and popular, but are a long way from creating a regional economy. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Washington may look to Latin America as an outlet for capital expansion, such as with the Plan Puebla Panama, which has been in the works for a decade. Public funds and money from international institutions would be used to create an export-oriented industrial zone from southern Mexico through all of Central America. These types of projects provide a "spatial fix" for capitalism by reorganizing new spaces that serve as sites where surplus capital (and labor) can be deployed as a way to alleviate crises of overproduction. More ominously, Washington may seek to renew its imperial project in Latin America. Greg Grandin writes in Empire's Workshop that the United States used Latin America historically as a "staging ground" for the "early push towards empire," then as a school to study how to "execute imperial violence through proxies," and most recently as a site for a resurgent "nationalist militarism" that began with the Central America wars of the Reagan presidency and culminated in the post-Sept. 11 wars. Thus, given a declining economy and the need for domestic capital to find new markets, the United States may be tempted to use the Pentagon to launch adventurist wars in Latin America as a solution to its economic woes. While many people fondly talk of a return to New Deal economics, it was World War II that pulled the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression. The solution to the global crisis requires restructuring economies to stimulate widespread demand while not feeding production and speculative bubbles, which means a redistribution of resources. Absent such measures, authoritarianism and militarism will have growing appeal. Just like the 1930s. Arun Gupta is a founding editor of The Indypendent newspaper. He is writing a book on the decline of American Empire for Haymarket Books. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:43:44 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:43:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] BURNING OUR BRIDGES TO THE 21ST CENTURY, By Dmitry Orlov Message-ID: <004101c9b8d6$29836980$7c8a3c80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 1:49 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] BURNING OUR BRIDGES TO THE 21ST CENTURY, By Dmitry Orlov (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) BURNING OUR BRIDGES TO THE 21ST CENTURY, By Dmitry Orlov http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1058/1/ Tuesday, 07 April 2009 Reprinted from ENERGY BULLETIN http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48551 The future does not resemble the past - or does it? When the lights go out, people burn candles and oil lamps, just like they used to before the electric grid came into existence. No longer accustomed to working with open flame, they tend to set things on fire, and for a while, until they regain this experience or until natural selection whittles away the truly incompetent, the neighborhood is a constant blaze. When we find out that the supermarket is out of food and that the cupboard is bare, we hunt, fish, forage, plant kitchen gardens, and start experimenting with raising poultry and rabbits. Those who are incapable of doing so, or who feel that such lowly pursuits are beneath their dignity, become dependent on the charity of those who are more adaptable, or starve. As modernity runs out of resources (those photons sequestered eons ago in fossil form, now released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere) patterns of life naturally retreat to their pre-modern forms. If there are no more sneakers from China, we sew moccasins or whittle clogs. If we are resource-poor but resourceful, we can still weave basket-like shoes out of birch bark, stuffed with straw for insulation, called lapti. If we are truly destitute and feckless to boot, then we go barefoot. It seems commonsense to accept this reversion to norm as natural, and to strive to have enough of whatever we are going to need, be it tools for working leather, a stock of paraffin, seeds, fishing tackle, and a myriad of other similar items that comprised the pre-industrial survival kit. The last thing we should want to do is to throw these things away at first sign of economic distress and for trivial reasons. And yet that seems to be the prevailing pattern. For instance, if the expectation is that foreigners will no longer want to trade their dwindling crude oil endowment in exchange for worthless US Dollars, and that the US will lose access to 2/3 of its liquid hydrocarbons, it would make sense to make some provisions for raising food and for moving freight. Since a John Deere won't run on hay, that calls for some horses. Furthermore, now is a perfect time for farms to get "horsed up" because so many horse-owners can no longer afford the luxury of keeping a horse, and it is possible to buy a horse very, very cheaply. Many horse-owners would be perfectly happy to donate their horse and take a tax write-off rather than see their beloved pet turned into glue. Instead, horses are trucked to rending facilities across the border in Mexico, to endure incredible suffering while in transit, and then to be incompetently hacked up with machetes. Before the advent of fossil fuels, freight that could not be moved by horse and wagon moved by sail. It would therefore make perfect sense that we keep all the sailboats we currently have, because they will surely be pressed into use once other transportation options are no longer available. Keeping a sailboat afloat is not particularly expensive; there are protected coves where a boat can be kept anchored free of charge, provided it is tended to once in a while. The smaller, trailerable boats are also useful, and can keep for years on the hard, under a tarp in someone's back yard. And yet what is happening now is that sailboat owners, unable to pay the slip fees and the upkeep of their luxury toy, abandon it, simply letting it float away and eventually sink, with its mast protruding out of the water at low tide, or to wash up on a beach, where the surf pounds it into rubble. Even if the boat itself is unsuited for any practical purpose (and, thanks to the combined detrimental effects of sport and luxury on the sailboat market, there are far too many of these) then at the very least they could be stripped of Dacron sailcloth, stainless steel and bronze fittings, lead ballast, marine-grade stranded copper wiring, aluminum spars, and many other items which are both very useful and unlikely to be manufactured in the future in an economy that runs on wind, hay and firewood. The remaining hollow fiberglass husks could make interesting, long-lasting treehouses. Not that, in general, there is a lack of effort to save things. We are making an effort to save financial institutions, which are the ultimate ephemera of industrial civilization, and are absolutely guaranteed to have no reason to continue into a future in which debt, denominated in future earnings that will be meager at best, and money, which will only hold its value for as long as it guarantees access to sources of pure, concentrated energy, all steadily dwindle to nothing. It is as if the doctors decided to only try to save persistent vegetative quadriplegics with terminal cancer, or if the environmentalists decided that the endangered species list only has room for one animal: the vampire bat. It would make much more sense to try to save small businesses, such as family businesses that serve local communities, because there is a good chance that they will find a use in the future, or at least facilitate the transition. Instead, we are squandering the remaining resources on the various dinosaurs of the industrial age. I believe in providing a hopeful vision of the future as much as I believe in providing a sufficiently horrific vision of the present for it to be, in my opinion, a realistic one. However, I am beginning to feel somewhat thwarted in my efforts by this new compulsion sweeping the land to shoot oneself in the foot while simultaneously setting one's hair on fire. The only hope I can offer you today is that this current trend toward suicidal stupidity is temporary, and that it will run its course long before we completely ruin our chances for an orderly regression. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 8 23:51:45 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:51:45 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] James Howard Kunstler: Investing In Infrastructure For An Age Of Scarcity Message-ID: <004201c9b8d7$47559400$d600bc00$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:02 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] James Howard Kunstler: Investing In Infrastructure For An Age Of Scarcity (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) James Howard Kunstler: Investing In Infrastructure For An Age Of Scarcity Posted on Thursday April 2nd by Jebediah Reed http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/04/02/james-howard-kunstler-how-to-inve st-infrastructure-for-an-age-of-scarcity/ A few years ago, author James Howard Kunstler famously convinced petro-billionaire and Bush crony Richard Rainwater to build an off-the-grid rural compound because the fabric of American society would soon be threatened by oil shortages and skyrocketing energy prices. The Long Emergency, Kunstler's pungent and highly influential book on the subject of peak oil, won a lot of other smart money converts as well. When a barrel of crude hit $147 last summer, he was looking more and more like a prophet. At the present $47, let's just say the jury is still out. But it's hard not to have the sense that Kunstler's ideas are worth careful consideration, even if one believes that future oil supplies might be a bit more abundant than he suggests. For instance, his 1994 book The Geography of Nowhere was a decade or more ahead of the cultural curve in describing the structural miscalculations of America's sprawling suburbs. Now, even with OPEC cutting production, Kunstler still predicts oil supply shortages dead ahead. Will we feel the bite this year? Next? The year after? "Soon enough," he says. Naturally, this informs his ideas about what kinds of infrastructure investments the nation ought to be making. Recently, he discussed that subject, the tragic nature of imaginary money, and "evangenical roller rinks" with the Infrastructurist. JR: So we're starting a major new round of investment in our national infrastructure. Can we agree that's a good thing? JHK: Well, for instance, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to devote a trillion dollars to fixing up the highways. I mean the days of "happy motoring" in this country truly are behind us. We should be planning for a period when energy resources are much more scarce. Throwing that kind of money at roads is not the way to go about doing this. How would you be doing it? I don't know that I would undertake a spending program like this at all. That said, I'm a pretty strong advocate of repairing the national rail system. It's obviously not the answer to everything. But it would certainly put a lot of people to work doing something that's meaningful for society. The infrastructure is out there, waiting to be fixed. I'm pretty adamant that we shouldn't be going the path of high-tech, maglev, high speed rail at this moment, because we need to prove that we can do this at the Hungarian level before we try to proceed past that. That doesn't sound very ambitious. I perceive one our biggest problems being techno-grandiosity. We are so full of ourselves and so sure that technology is going to rescue us and that we're so good at it that we can defeat every problem that faces us. It's a fatal hubris, and it's subscribed to by an awful lot people who have something to say about the course we take in this country. In the past, you've been critical of Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute on similar grounds. Don't get me started on Amory Lovins. His basic program for hypercars promotes car dependency. Why do that unless you think we're going to continue as a car dependent society? That's why the highway infrastructure thing is so bad, because we're not going to be able to continue the way we've been going. The car is not going to vanish overnight, of course. But it's certainly going to become a problem as people develop resentments because they can no longer afford to participate in it [as oil prices rise over time]. But you think the answer with rail is to keep it very simple. Absolutely. The infrastructure is already out there! The track beds are there! And you need an entirely new track corridor for high speed rail, because the high speed trains can't deal with the curves in the existing tracks. The idea that we would have to create a whole new set of right-of-ways is nuts when we're not even utilizing what we have. Another thing to keep in mind is that we're going to be facing a lot of adversity in the years ahead, and we are a culture that will require psychological reassurance. We should have a project that's achievable. We need to demonstrate to ourselves that we're still competent. And the simple version of the national rail buildout would do that. This rail project is ideal for that purpose. As I've said, we've got the tracks, and the rolling stock is pretty easy to get. You could argue that GM should be making this stuff. But it's terribly important that we fortify ourselves psychologically so we have some faith in our ability to face all the other really important challenges that lie in front of us. For instance what to do with all this ill-conceived suburban development, a lot of which is falling into vacancy. I was at a half-empty "powercenter" in Tulsa recently with a local wag, and he looked at a vacant big box store and turned to me and deadpanned, "I don't think we need anymore evangelical roller rinks." A lot of smart people are warning that if we're going make this kind of enormous national investment, it would be a political disaster for Obama not to have some very tangible things to show for it. Well, 2009 could turn out to be a politically rocky year. It's really not clear how things are going play out in terms of the energy picture, the oil picture, and the picture for finance and capital. I'm afraid what's really going on here is that a huge amount of capital is gone and is never, ever coming back again in any form. If that's true it would have been nice to have converted more of it into real and useful things while it was around - like, say, a good national rail network and a better electrical grid. It would have been nice, but what we were dealing with there was essentially a fraud-a comprehensive fraud. The money was only notionally there. The reason that it's still such a problem is that it was so fraudulent that the people who created it are sitting on a lot of those toxic assets and can't come clean about what they did. They can't take it out of their vaults and say, "This is our bad bet," because they swindled so many people and they know they're culpable. Of course, now it's not just an issue of so many banks having crap in their vaults. It's pensions and fixed income funds. As evidence of how linked together all this is: CALPERS, the California state employee pension fund, which is one the biggest investors in the world, made huge investments in exurban land. Tracts around Merced, for example, that were driven up in price by all that notional money you're talking about. Real estate was 20% of CALPERS's portfolio and now its value has all plummeted, of course. It's a pretty darn substantial problem. On a different note, you're pretty outspoken about what you beleive our national energy strategy should be - namely, dramatically reducing our dependence on oil. What do you think of an aggressive strategy of building out nuclear power? I think that's probably the best bet for this country. There are drawbacks, but my understanding from the physicists I've spoken with is that the waste disposal and storage hazard is much less of a big deal than people seem to think it is. Maybe the proliferation issue is more serious, but I don't think we're going to be able to stop anyone from developing nuclear weapons who really wants to. In any case, we really need to have a robust public debate about it. You predicted a major tumble in the stock market (if a few years on the early side). But you also seemed to think that the oil move to $150 represented real supply issues. But recently oil has been back in the $30s and $40s. What does this mean in your mind-does it undermine the idea that supply could be an issue anytime soon? It means a lot of things. Mainly it means that the American public is going to be confused again, and they are likely to make bad choices because they're confused. It means that the futures markets are disconnected from long-term supply and demand reality. It means that we're foreclosing future oil projects because they won't go through at these low prices. And, ultimately, that there is going to be a sharper and more severe snapback as we head into these predicted depletions. For instance, the EIA (Energy Information Administration) says there's going to be a 9.1 percent depletion rate for oil production this year. Other groups are more conservative, estimating something in the 3 to 4 percent range. But if we're not bringing any new projects on line, we're in trouble. The supergiant oil fields that have been giving us something like half our oil for decades now are still petering out. But supply tightness really just isn't happening yet. I know you think it's going to reappear sometime soon. How do you see that scenario going? That demand will stay the same or rise in other parts of the world, even if it doesn't in this country. We face a number of problems related to supply. One of them is what's called the "oil export problem", which is the idea that oil producing countries are using so much of their own oil that their export rates are going down more steeply than their depletion rates. That's pretty significant, especially for the US. We import more than two thirds of our oil. The major exporters to us like Mexico and Venezuela are in terrible trouble, as you know. A lot of people are worried that Mexico is coming apart at the seams. Mexico is a poster child for the dangers of an oil export economy. So much of their production comes from Cantarell, far and away their largest oil field, and it's depleting very rapidly now. Their export rate is down something like 30 percent year-to-year. That much? It's huge. They've been our number three source of oil for a long time, but in a few years they're not going to be selling any oil to us or anyone else. Venezuela has different logistical problems. They're in depletion, too, though. But they also have a lot more oil with that massive tar sands deposit under the Orinoco region. Venezuela's tar sands are mostly bullshit. They're not going to develop that. It's out in the middle of the jungle, not to mention the cost of getting it melted and processed. I think that's not something we should be counting on. So your view is that the price rise in 2007 and 2008 represented the real long-term story and what we're seeing now is some kind of weird deleveraging timeout? It's a deleveraging timeout. It's a dumping of assets timeout. It's an overshoot on the low end as much as we may have seen an overshoot on the high end previously. Apparently, most of the people who trade in a futures market use a set of abstact models for placing their positions and the models are based on nothing except past performance. The point is that traders are not, for the most part, trading on the basis of long-term supply and demand realities. So the low prices right now are quite unfortunate. The public is having their delusions reinforced that we don't have problems with oil - that it was all a conspiracy on the part of ExxonMobil or whatever. And where it takes you is exactly where Obama seems to want to go, and that's ramping up the highway spending. Which you think will look like a stupid investment if/when gas prices go back up. Yes. Beyond that, in the decades ahead I don't think that oil prices will matter as much as you might think. Why not? Just because there won't be that much oil around, and as a result our economy will be very different than it is today. The lack of resilience in our current societal arrangements will have taken their toll. We're talking about an entirely different country, essentially, in a way that most people simply can't figure into their political views. Last year, I and many other people would have taken hundred-to-one odds that oil would never go below $40 again. I dont think we realized how severe the shock to the financial system would be. Think about how stunning it would been even several months ago to learn that Lehman Bros, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Citi would all down, more or less. And JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are no longer investment banks. Imagine if you'd predicted at the beginning of 2008 that New York would no longer have an investment banking industry by the end of the year. You'd have been laughed at. Wall Street has dried up and blown away, and I still don't think we've adjusted to what that means or reckoned with how broke we are. From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 00:00:37 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:00:37 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] More seniors using vehicles as shelter Message-ID: <004301c9b8d8$84574b90$8d05e2b0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:46 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] More seniors using vehicles as shelter (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) More seniors using vehicles as shelter http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009004008_wheels08m.html By Nancy Bartley Seattle Times staff reporter Sporting a black cowboy hat, Gene Sargent steps up to the microphone at Dave's Restaurant in Milton, Pierce County, launching into an old Sons of the Pioneers tune. It conjures up his memories of when he was married the first time, had a wife with long brown hair; was a new father and had a job in Modesto, Calif. - before everything slowly came apart like the seeds of a tumbleweed. Sargent, 65, who most people know simply as "Sarge," has spent the past four years living in the cab of a pickup in South King County, pulling behind him a camp trailer packed with his life's possessions. With a Social Security income of less than $700 a month, he can't afford an apartment; RV spaces are difficult to find and even state-park camping spots run $150 a week. So he drifts, parking along side streets in Federal Way, in department-store parking lots and rest areas until police tell him, and many others like him, to move along. Sargent's situation is typical of what will be increasingly common in coming decades, say national advocates for the homeless. "The homeless population is graying along with the general population, and we're seeing more elderly people living out their final ... years on the streets," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. A King County/city of Seattle study released in February predicted the number of poor seniors will double by 2025, said Stephen Norman, executive director of the King County Housing Authority. The One-Night Count of the homeless on Jan. 30 showed parts of South King County's homeless population increased as much as 68 percent in the past year, compared with a slight increase in other parts of the county, said Alison Eisinger, executive director for the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness. No statistics are available to tell how many senior citizens spend their last days living in RVs, trucks and campers or trucks and trailers, like Sargent does, moving from parking space to parking space, waiting for Social Security checks, fearful of having their vehicles impounded or being told to leave. For the most part, they are an invisible group because they are unlikely to ask for services usually available to the homeless, say social-service providers such as those at Federal Way's Multi-Service Center. "My whole world" Sargent walks into a Wal-Mart store to wash up and have breakfast at a fast-food restaurant inside. "I don't want to be a burden on anyone," he says. He says he doesn't like staying away from his truck and trailer for long. And he never unhooks the trailer since it might be towed away - and with it "my whole world," he says. Over breakfast, he talks about his frustration of being booted out of the ample lot where he usually parks next to a sign threatening the owners of unauthorized vehicles with towing. The Wal-Mart Super Store manager, who refuses to be named, says there's never a problem with RVs or homeless people using the store's lot, and says if anyone was asked to leave it was at the police department's request. Police counter that there's no ordinance preventing sleeping in cars in Federal Way, and they only ask someone to move on when business or property owners request such action. Although he now spends his days doing crossword puzzles, he once set sprinklers in fields, drove forklifts and loaded potatoes into boxcars. Then came night school and learning to paint cars. In the meantime, his home life suffered as he tried to reconcile his rigid Pentecostal upbringing with his wife's refusal to go to church. His marriage soon ended. Before long, another began, but also ended. Then came another marriage and divorce. He then placed all that remained of his belongings in a trailer and hit the road. As he sits in his truck whiling away the hours, he reflects on his life. "The church didn't teach us about married life or how to treat a wife," he said. "I've learned a lot since, I respect women a lot more." At night, he's seen drug deals in the parking lot. He pulls a cloth over the windows of the truck and sleeps. He says he counts on and receives God's protection. He tallies the days until his next Social Security check is deposited in his bank account and he can go to his favorite karaoke bar and sing the old country songs he grew up with. Sometimes women ask him to dance. To them he's just Sarge, the man in the black hat who sings like an old-time cowboy. Few know he's homeless. Running out of options Federal guidelines say people aren't truly homeless if they can afford vehicles. But, "in our view, someone in an RV who is moving place to place ... is homeless," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Homelessness, advocates say, often happens in steps. "People who have never experienced homelessness before first downsize and move to cheaper accommodations," Stoops said. "That only lasts for a while. Then they turn to family and friends and when that runs out, cheap motels. Then they'll stay in cars or RVs. Their worst nightmare is having to knock on a shelter door and be considered homeless. But the reality is the shelters are full and we're not taking reservations." St. Martin de Porres Shelter in Seattle, which takes only homeless men 50 and older, operates at full capacity of more than 200 men nightly, the staff says. For more permanent housing, "there are huge waiting lists for the public housing that is available," said John Fox of the Displacement Coalition in Seattle. "From 2005 to 2007 we saw, just in Seattle, a loss of over 5,000 [low-cost housing units] to condominiums," he said. "The senior population is one of the first groups to be victimized by this trend" because older people are less likely to have other housing options. Kamal Ali Khan, 62, lives in an RV, and often parks near Sargent. A veteran, former automotive worker, security guard, dollar-store manager and temporary laborer, he continues to look for work, determined his days dodging police and store managers who will force him to move will end. His daughter loaned him money to buy a motor home several years ago so he'd have a roof over his head no matter what, he said. The refrigerator since has quit working, as has the toilet - requiring him to use facilities in public places. Kay Curtis, 58, a Wal-Mart worker married to a disabled man in his 60s, doesn't make enough money to pay rent. So they, too, shuffle from a Wal-Mart lot to side streets, dreading the knock on the RV door telling them to move. At a rest stop along Interstate 5, homeless seniors are common, say those who volunteer serving coffee. Roy Plunkett, with the Order of Eastern Star, Tacoma, has seen up to 20 RVs parked overnight, many filled with older people who "seem to have nowhere else to go," so they come up for the free coffee and cookies four and five times, he said. On one snowy March day, an 82-year-old man from Yakima spent the night and the next day at the rest stop in the car in which he now lives. A former merchant marine, he lost his money to a bad investment and the out-of-pocket medical costs of a longterm illness, he said. He refused to give his name because he didn't want his children to know he is homeless. Several churches in Ballard have been working to turn their parking lots into camping sites for homeless people living in vehicles. The project is delicate because many face opposition from neighbors, say members of the Ballard Homes for All Coalition. "We tend to blame the homeless for their situation," Stoops said. "It's often a minority of people causing the problem. But there's a tendency to treat all homeless - including the older homeless - as criminals. "People do make mistakes. The elderly should never spend their final days on the streets." "It could happen to anybody" Sargent and Khan were angry recently, when a manager of a fast-food restaurant near where they were parked in Federal Way summoned police to force them to move their vehicles - which had been parked on a public side street near the building overnight. "It's social bigotry. You're a nobody. You're not even considered an American," Khan said. "Nobody lives this way because they want to," Sargent said. "It's the last chance. ... It's survival. It could happen to anybody." Just before Christmas, the alternator in Sargent's truck failed. Then came the heater fan and the starter. Next, his rig needed tires. One by one he got them fixed. Whenever he thinks of the cost of an apartment, he figures it would buy a lot of gas. He plans to save up the gas money to get to Oregon, where there's no sales tax. Every penny he can save will help. Karaoke is a luxury he allows himself once or twice a month, when he can afford the gas to travel to Milton. He parks his truck and trailer out back, and when he walks through the door, he leaves the world of homelessness behind. "When I'm depressed I just sing a few songs and it goes away," Sargent says as he sits at a table, waiting for his turn. "We've got Sarge, and he's in charge," the host says. Sargent walks up front, takes the microphone, then "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" begins. "I'll keep rolling along," he sings, "deep in my heart is a song ... drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds." Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley at seattletimes.com Senior population According to the study "Quiet Crisis: Age Wave Maxes Out Affordable Housing, King County, 2008-2025": .. The number of poor seniors will double to more than 50,000 households by 2025; .. An additional 936 subsidized-housing units will be needed each year until 2025 just to maintain the current ratio of affordable housing for poor seniors; .. Those seniors will live longer, rely more on 401(k)s and less-reliable income, and will spend more years with limited mobility, requiring support services; .. A cooperative effort is needed to look at new housing options for seniors. Source: Seattle/King County From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 00:16:03 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:16:03 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will New Food Safety Bills Really Outlaw Backyard Gardening and End Farmers' Markets? Message-ID: <006d01c9b8da$ac498350$04dc89f0$@net> Sorry about the number of forwards of news items, but I really don't know where to stop because all of them seem so important as the economic world falls out from under us and new legislation threatens small farmers, while we see the elderly become increasingly marginalized. And, all the while there is pain everywhere, I cannot help but feel that what is happening is best in the long run if we see a social systems change. So long has the corruption been festering in the present system that it had to crumble in order for the Phoenix to rise again. With love and blessings to all. m r -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 12:01 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will New Food Safety Bills Really Outlaw Backyard Gardening and End Farmers' Markets? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Will New Food Safety Bills Really Outlaw Backyard Gardening and End Farmers' Markets? http://www.alternet.org/environment/135002/will_new_food_safety_bills_really _outlaw_backyard_gardening_and_end_farmers%27_markets/ By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet. Posted April 6, 2009. There's been a lot of hype about a few new food bills. And while most of it is conspiracy theory there are some reasons to be alarmed. My inbox has been pummeled in recent weeks by a barrage of emails warning me of the evils of HR 875, a bill currently working its way through Congress. Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn), the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 was one of several bills introduced in the wake of the peanut butter-borne salmonella outbreak. Each of these bills ostensibly seeks to improve food safety with increased regulation. Critics, paranoid and level-headed alike, point to the disproportionate burden that increased regulation places on small farmers, and many wonder if the banner of food safety is being used as a Trojan horse to create a more favorable business climate for corporate agriculture. "If [HR 875] passes, say goodbye to organic produce, your Local Farmer's market and very possibly, the GARDEN IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD!!!!!" announced one email." Another warned that HR 875 would result in "...criminalization of seed banking, prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers." And of course, no serious foodie conspiracy theory would be complete without Monsanto as the architect: "DeLauro's husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto!" claim nearly all of these emails. Stanley Greenberg is indeed the CEO of a polling firm that did, indeed, contract with Monsanto. But it's no more true to say he works for Monsanto than it is to say he works for Nelson Mandela - who was also a former client of his firm, according to factcheck.org, which did a detailed dissection of one of the viral emails. These emails seem to have been propagated largely by well-intentioned foodies, after having originated from a cadre of conspiracy theorists and Ron Paul supporters with too much time on their hands. "There is a perfectly legitimate conversation to be had about how we can have food safety regulation without jeopardizing small farms and local food systems," says Patty Lovera, Assistant director of Food and Water Watch. "But it's hard to have a rational conversation via forwarded emails. It's not happening in a way that's going to change the policy." Lovera says HR 875 won't regulate seed-saving, backyard gardens, or farmers markets. It would, however, split the Food and Drug Administration into separate bodies, one for food and one for drugs. This is a move that Food and Water Watch would support. But unfortunately, she says, it's likely to kill the bill, because splitting the FDA might be too daunting a task for lawmakers to take on right now. Another bill that's more likely to make it to a vote, Lovera says, is HR 759. While this bill, "the Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act," has drawn relatively little attention, she thinks it would be more likely to cause big problems for small farmers. HR 759 would extend traceability recordkeeping requirements that currently apply only to food processors to farms and restaurants - and require that recordkeeping be done electronically, placing a disproportionate burden, in terms of time and money, on small farmers. The bill would also establish production standards for fruits and vegetables, which are called "Good Agricultural Practices." Agriculture practices designed to improve food safety and address environmental, economic, and social sustainability, might sound like a good idea, Lovera says. But as written, the Good Agriculture Practices are mostly relevant to large, corporate farms - which are the source of most farm-related economic, social, environmental, and safety problems to begin with. All of these bills, ostensibly, are efforts to make factory-farmed food safer so we can avoid E.coli in spinach, downer cattle in school lunches, feathers in chicken patties, and other food-borne horror stories we've grown all-too used to hearing about. But if these regulations are extended to the small, family farms where the problems aren't coming from, it's more than just a legislative overextension. It's a tilting of the playing field grossly in favor of corporate agriculture. And on this point, we all should be paranoid. "What people don't realize is that if any of these bills pass, we lose. All we will have left is industrial food," says Deborah Stockton, executive director of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, which is dedicated to promoting and preserving unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade, and fostering the availability of locally grown or home-produced food products. One of Stockton's top priorities is stopping the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Implemented by USDA in 2003 without congressional approval, NAIS is a federal registry program for livestock and for the premises where animals live or visit. The stated purpose of the system is to aid state and federal government response to outbreaks of animal disease. "NAIS is a safety net for the corporate livestock industry," Stockton told me. "They're the ones with the practices that are creating problems for human and animal health, and they're the ones who need NAIS to cover their backs when something goes wrong. The main threats to food safety are centralized production, processing and long distance transportation." Food and Water Watch shares Stockton's distaste for NAIS. According ot its web page: "The current plan to create a federal animal identification system ignores existing state animal health programs, puts too much emphasis on privatizing the data collection (forcing small farmers to submit data about their operations to trade associations they don't support), and essentially forces small farmers and ranchers to pay for a safety net for agribusiness." But, says Lovera, the bills currently under consideration are aimed at the FDA, and NAIS is a USDA program. While she sees a lot of problems with many of the current bills, strengthening NAIS isn't one of them. Stockton doesn't buy it. If any of them pass, she says, it would ratify NAIS, and strengthen USDA's ability to make it mandatory for all livestock, including your flock of backyard chickens. So lawmakers, if you're listening, and you want these protestors, ballistic and level-headed alike, to chill out, here is how to get them off your backs: exempt local food systems from the current bills. Include specific language in the bills that will guarantee that small family farms, backyard gardens, personal livestock, farmers markets, and all forms of food self-sufficiency and farmer-direct purchasing are protected. Because the right to buy milk from your neighbor or grow your own food is as inalienable as the right to bear arms. And if you threaten to take away this right, you're going to face a backlash that will make the NRA seem like a bunch of flower-waving Hare Krishnas. From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 00:19:24 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:19:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A new path for Europe Message-ID: <006e01c9b8db$2390f1a0$6ab2d4e0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:22 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A new path for Europe (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) A new path for Europe http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/08/g20-capitalism-john-crud das-andrea-nahles * Jon Cruddas and Andrea Nahles * The Guardian, Wednesday 8 April 2009 Society led by markets and profits has failed. We are offering an alternative for the democratic left The economic wreckage of market failure is spreading across Europe. The G20 summit has begun a global effort to repair the system, but there must be no going back to business as usual. Neoliberal capitalism is destructive and unsustainable - we must create a new economy that is secure, green and fair. To this end, we are launching our declaration for a social Europe: Building the Good Society: The Project of the Democratic Left. Ten years ago, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schr?der, the then German chancellor, published their declaration for a European Third Way. Social democrats were in government in almost all the EU countries. Economies were booming, and neoliberal capitalism was uncritically embraced. Today, social democrats are out of government almost everywhere and the neoliberal model is in crisis. The era of the Third Way is over, and class inequality remains the defining structure of society. People have lost confidence in politicians and political parties. Many are pessimistic about our future. For 30 years our democracies have offered only one vision: a society governed by markets and profit. We are making a new politics of the democratic left in Europe. This politics is democratic because only the active interest and participation of individuals can guarantee liberty and progress. It is grounded in the interdependency of individuals and the need for a just society, free of class, race and gender inequalities. It is ecologically sustainable and pursues economic development within the constraints placed on us by the earth. And it is pluralist, because we need a diverse range of political institutions, and a variety of forms of economic ownership and cultural identities, to create a good society. Capitalism must be made accountable to democracy, and democracy needs to be renewed and deepened so it is fit for the task. We do not want to substitute monopoly capitalism for state monopoly. And we need a democratic state. The market state can be transformed into a civic state responsive to individual citizens and small businesses. Power needs to be devolved, for example by strengthening the advocacy roles of civil society organisations and the trade unions. A good society cannot be built from the top down. It can only grow from a movement made by and for the people. Nor can it be made in one country alone, because the power of capital is global. We need global alliances for social justice. In Europe, countries must work together to tackle the economic crisis. A co-ordinated, European fiscal stimulus will create a multiplier effect that will far outweigh national efforts. Alongside it we must introduce fair policies on taxation. The European Monetary Union needs reform and the mandate of the European Central Bank must be broadened to include social objectives and the prevention of unemployment. A more social Europe will improve the prospects of Britain joining the euro. A new industrial policy will map out Europe's priorities and needs. When public services and utilities are failing, we should consider the option of public ownership or placing them under public control. A secure Europe means a European minimum wage, corresponding to the national average income. It means restoring collective bargaining and workers' rights to strike, and we must establish equality for migrant workers. Transnational corporations must be made subject to democratic oversight. We need to aid the economic development of the global south, which will mean using capital controls, closing down tax havens, taxing global financial transactions, and creating fair-trade policies. Framing these policies is ecological sustainability. Climate change, peak oil and the need for energy and food security demand large-scale economic transformations. Only governments co-operating together on a European level can achieve the necessary reconstruction. Despite the disillusionment with political parties, there are extraordinary levels of political, cultural and community activism in our societies. The ideal of the good society resonates among millions of people who are searching for new ways to live together. It is a hope expressed in social movements, trade unions, single-issue campaigns, community actions, and by a multitude of individuals. Today we invite them and members of our political parties and those in other European nations to discuss and develop the ideas in the declaration. Creating the good society will be the greatest challenge of our time and it will shape the lives of generations to come. ? Andrea Nahles is vice-president of Germany's Social Democratic party (SPD) Jon Cruddas is MP for Dagenham goodsociety.eu From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 00:29:04 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:29:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money Message-ID: <006f01c9b8dc$7dde3400$799a9c00$@net> From: Dick Eastman [mailto:oldickeastman at q.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 6:35 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money I propose we use silver bullets as money. That way the next time markets are manipulated and our wealth must be transferred to the bankers we can sort of speed up the delivery. I hope that won't be necessary. If we can adopt some form of Social Credit I believe further violence and financial ruin can be averted. Silver and gold are not going to avoid the trouble we are facing. We have to use our intelligence and work out a better solution. In the meantime if the money system fails we can get by if cities issue their own paper money which can be used locally and is accepted by the town in payment of its property taxes and is used by the city to pay city employees when no other money is available. People who owe property taxes will not mind exchanging the other valuables in order to get City Notes with which to pay their taxes. The City Notes will therefore have value and local farmers and others will accept them. The notes will enable the city to maintain utilities and the functioning of local and county goverment. That will keep us from the panic and general breakdown that the Rothschild Gang are counting on. It will work if people know they can trust it. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 15977 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 7480 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 14936 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Thu Apr 9 04:41:30 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 16:11:30 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] =?utf-8?q?Fw=3A_World=E2=80=99s_Elite_Prepare_For_End_As_Ea?= =?utf-8?q?rth_Said_Ready_To_Hit_=E2=80=98Reset=E2=80=99_Once_Again?= Message-ID: <212410.61401.qm@web94916.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Thu, 9/4/09, Sorcha Faal wrote: From: Sorcha Faal Subject: World?s Elite Prepare For End As Earth Said Ready To Hit ?Reset? Once Again To: sorchafaal at fastmail.fm Date: Thursday, 9 April, 2009, 1:55 PM [Ed. Note: This report should be read from its website location at http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1221.htm as this email copy does not contain the links embedded in the original report.] April 9, 2009 World?s Elite Prepare For End As Earth Said Ready To Hit ?Reset? Once Again By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers A disturbing FSB report on the G-20, NATO and US-EU meetings in Europe involving the leaders of the Western Nations this past week states that on the evening of April 3rd, over 500 of our World?s most elite citizens attended a ?Black Mass? at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg presided over by Pope Benedict XVI who was secretly flown into France to preside over this most unusual ceremony. According to these reports, those attending this Black Mass included President Obama and his wife, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, nearly all senior members of Europe?s Royal Houses and the top American and European bankers and corporate leaders. Interesting to note too about those attending this ceremony was the presence of former US Congressional leader Newt Gingrich, who like former Prime Minister Blair made a surprise conversion to Roman Catholicism. Choosing the location of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg for the holding of this Black Mass provides clues as to greater meaning of this ceremony as this majestic edifice was built upon the much older foundations of a temple whose beginnings stretch back into our Earth?s pre-history and dedicated to the ancient goddess Cybele, meaning ?Mountain Mother?, or in the Greek language, Gaia (the Earth). During the 7th Century the worship of the Mountain Mother was changed to that of the Virgin Mary of the Christian religion at this ancient location and between the years of 1176-1439 the great cathedral was built and which remained the World?s tallest structure until 1874 and today remains the 6th tallest church of any kind on the whole Earth. Though ancient in origin, the history of the Black Mass, said in these reports to have been preformed by Pope Benedict XVI in Strasbourg, has its modern beginnings in France beginning during the 16th Century by The Queen of France Catherine de' Medici, and which to this day is known to be the ?official? mass of the Vatican and its elite rulers. Important to note is that the signature emblem of the Black Mass is the inverted (upside down) Christian Cross said to mock the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and which has been carved into every Papal Throne since the late 4th Century. [See bottom photo left] Though the exact rituals preformed by Pope Benedict XVI for these elite leaders remain shrouded in mystery, the reasons for them being done now is not as evidence continues to emerge that our Earth is undergoing the most profound changes in nearly 10,000 years, and which our most ancient myths state are but the beginning of the ending of our present age. In this past week alone, NASA has reported we are experiencing the ?quietest sun we've seen in almost a century?, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that the breakaway of a Jamaica-sized ice shelf from the Antarctic peninsula could accelerate global warming, and Australian astronomers are warning that the Death Star Wolf-Rayet 104 could go supernova and wipe out all life on Earth. While Western scientists continue to view these accelerating events as separate events and occurrences, Russian scientists have long viewed them as homogenous, meaning that one cannot be separated from another but all belong to a greater whole. Nowhere is this more evident then the West?s refusal to warn their peoples of the findings reported in Russian scientist Dr. Alexey N. Dmitriev?s 1997 scientific treatise PlanetoPhysical State of the Earth and Life, and which in its summary paragraph states: ?Current PlanetoPhysical alterations of the Earth are becoming irreversible. Strong evidence exists that these transformations are being caused by highly charged material and energetic non-uniformity's in anisotropic interstellar space which have broken into the interplanetary area of our Solar System. This "donation" of energy is producing hybrid processes and excited energy states in all planets, as well as the Sun. Effects here on Earth are to be found in the acceleration of the magnetic pole shift, in the vertical and horizontal ozone content distribution, and in the increased frequency and magnitude of significant catastrophic climatic events. There is growing probability that we are moving into a rapid temperature instability period similar to the one that took place 10,000 years ago. The adaptive responses of the biosphere, and humanity, to these new conditions may lead to a total global revision of the range of species and life on Earth. It is only through a deep understanding of the fundamental changes taking place in the natural environment surrounding us that politicians, and citizens a like, will be able to achieve balance with the renewing flow of PlanetoPhysical states and processes.? But, not to protecting their peoples are these Western leaders about as, instead, they seek only to protect and save themselves, and as new reports from the United States and Japan are showing that many of their elite are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars building underground bomb-type shelters to protect them from the many catastrophes that lie ahead of us all, and which was foretold in the Christian Bibles New Testament Book of Luke [22:30], and which says of these End Times these elites would ?Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.? To the greatest meaning, however, of all of these events it is this?to each many alone will their survival have to be found as those who rule over them care not at all of the billions soon to die, only themselves. And, in the search for that which may help them survive, those left alone by their leaders must seek above all else the truest information they can find, and which their elite rulers continually deny to these peoples who remain for the greater part totally lost, and even more confused. ? April 9, 2009 EU and US all rights reserved http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1221.htm -- ? Sorcha Faal ? sorchafaal at fastmail.fm Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Thu Apr 9 04:57:33 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 16:27:33 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] [GJM Getting rid of energy intensive services and commodities/How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? Message-ID: <836125.8636.qm@web94910.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Envision energy free village for is real and that is what we need to envision for transforming ecologically hostile energy guzzling habitats of which we are integral part. Personally, I am ensuring that my connections to village remains intact while using internet primarily for contributing my bit for minimizing personal and collective suffering. It is important to seek liberation from energy intensive processes and services. Eventually, we would have to give up internet as well. I remember my childhood when my mother used to prepare flour and all that was needed was done manually. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Thu, 9/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Thursday, 9 April, 2009, 11:00 AM -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:56 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? http://www.scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/02/How-Many-Windmills-D oes-It-Take-to-Power-the-World/ 26 Feb, 2008 10:51 am ??? Power densities are a measure of the land required for both energy sources and energy users. The current infrastructure matches the small footprint of energy sources against the large footprint of energy users. With the drive toward renewable energy sources, this relationship is about to be reversed with consequences few people understand. Though nowadays people sometimes rail against the deployment of wind generators because they mar the view, such deployments are the logical outcome of our desire to move away from fossil fuels. We may be concerned about the greenhouse gasses and toxic pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants, but most people do not worry about such plants ruining their view unless they live very nearby. Neither do they worry about coal mines unless, of course, they live in proximity to them, and only a very small segment of the population does. But windmills can be put anywhere there is sufficient wind. And, that often conflicts with the aesthetic desires of people who must look at them and deal with the attendant disruption that servicing them causes. It's not just that coal-fired power plants can be plunked down pretty much wherever we want them. It's also that watt for watt they are far more compact than their equivalent in wind turbines. Let's take a 500-megawatt power plant which by itself can power a city of 300,000. (A megawatt is one million watts.) It will sit astride a fairly large plot of land. A coal-fired plant near me is just under that capacity (495 MW) and sits on about 300 acres. Most of that land, however, is essentially devoted to undeveloped transmission right-of-way filled with ponds, woods and streams. Only a small portion is covered by plant facilities including coal storage. I estimate less than 30 acres. For new wind projects huge 5-megawatt wind generators are just now being deployed. If we take these as typical (and they are not), then using an estimate of the direct land footprint for wind towers of 0.38 acres per tower, we find that we'd need 100 towers covering 38 acres. But wind turbines run at only about 30 percent capacity because the wind doesn't blow all the time. This compares to about 70 percent capacity for coal-fired power plants. So we need to multiply 100 towers by about 2 1/3 to get the number of towers we'd need to match the operating capacity of one coal-fired plant. That means we'd need about 233 towers with a direct land footprint of 87 acres. That doesn't seem too bad. And, the land under the turbines is still available for farming and other purposes. The overall direct effects on the land and water are certainly less when compared to the coal plant. But we're not done. The spacing between towers is typically at least five diameters of the rotor. That doesn't sound like much. But for the 5-megawatt towers in this example, the spacing would be 2,065 feet times 232--we don't need to separate the last tower from another tower beyond it. Then we'd add the diameter of the rotors--413 feet times 233--and we get a distance equivalent to about 110 miles. So, we'd need a line of 5-megawatt turbines stretching 110 miles. In theory, we'd want to split them up and put them in various locations in which the wind blows hardest at different times. But the total length of the line would still be at least 110 miles. If we take the largest separation recommended between towers which is 10 diameters of the rotors, we'd have to just about double that distance. By comparison most people who live 110 miles from a coal-fired power plant are rarely even aware that it might be a source of electricity for them. And, the plant is certainly not a direct irritation. The lesson here, however, is not one of aesthetics. It is an illustration of the disparity in power densities between those energy sources on which we currently rely and the alternatives now being proposed and deployed. The power density problem for solar energy is no less daunting. Vaclav Smil, who has investigated the power density problem carefully, described it this way: ? ? [I]n order to supply a house with electricity, photovoltaic cells would have to cover the entire roof. A supermarket would require a photovoltaic field roughly ten times larger than its own roof, or 1,000 times larger in the case of a high-rise building. When we contemplate renewable energy sources, we rarely contemplate the land area required to deploy them. Just the problems involved in obtaining rights-of-way alone are beyond anything we've ever experienced. And, the enormous scale of manufacturing required to produce the panels and wind towers would dwarf our current energy industries. The coal-fired power plant by comparison seems like a wonder of compact energy generation. This is not to make a case against renewable energy. We will need it and deploy it because we must--either because of the dangers that burning fossil fuels pose to the climate or because of increasing fossil fuel scarcity, or both. The real case to be made here is against business-as-usual. It is hard to see how a transition to a renewable energy society, however rapid and earnest, will give us all the energy we want at prices we will like. In the graph which follows, it is glaringly obvious that the energy sources we rely on now are one to two orders of magnitude smaller by land area per unit of energy produced than the industries and buildings they service are per unit of energy consumed. That means it takes a relatively small land area to service the enormous area devoted to commercial, residential and industrial buildings. Just the opposite will become the case using renewable energy sources. We will be obliged to devote vast tracts of space--far more vast than the buildings they serve--to support the energy use of our current infrastructure. This may not be impossible, but it will certainly be costly and socially disruptive. And, that brings us back to the windmills now increasingly dotting our landscape. We can certainly look forward to many more of them. But if we choose to oppose them on the grounds that they are "ugly" or "disruptive," then we will essentially be choosing a much lower energy future, far below what we've come to expect from fossil fuels. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 07:59:55 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 06:59:55 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [GJM Getting rid of energy intensive services and commodities/How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? Message-ID: <003d01c9b91b$79d668c0$6d833a40$@net> Mukhtar, If we get behind the Zero Point Energy movement and bring this into being, we will not have to give up anything over the long run. But we very much need to change our values system and go for things that are really necessary like the Internet and mass transit instead of cars, cars, cars instead of going for things that are not practical and destroy our life support system instead of enhancing it. We must learn to eat lower on the food chain, and eat raw vegetables and fruits always instead of cooking them so we get all of the nutrients including the enzymes which are killed in the cooking process. We need to grow long no till grains with which to feed people instead of corn to feed cattle. We need to learn to grow our food in new ways that conserve the topsoil upon which civilization was built. We need to learn to "eat to live" instead of "living to eat" as so many of us here in the developed world do at the expense of those in the developing world. We need to move out of our old and limiting belief system and move into one that maximizes our full potential. This is going to be a steep learning curve and we need to do it together, providing support for one another in the process. With love and appreciation, m r. From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 3:58 AM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: Re: [GJM] [GJM Getting rid of energy intensive services and commodities/How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? Envision energy free village for is real and that is what we need to envision for transforming ecologically hostile energy guzzling habitats of which we are integral part. Personally, I am ensuring that my connections to village remains intact while using internet primarily for contributing my bit for minimizing personal and collective suffering. It is important to seek liberation from energy intensive processes and services. Eventually, we would have to give up internet as well. I remember my childhood when my mother used to prepare flour and all that was needed was done manually. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Thu, 9/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Thursday, 9 April, 2009, 11:00 AM -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:56 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? http://www.scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/02/How-Many-Windmills-D oes-It-Take-to-Power-the-World/ 26 Feb, 2008 10:51 am Power densities are a measure of the land required for both energy sources and energy users. The current infrastructure matches the small footprint of energy sources against the large footprint of energy users. With the drive toward renewable energy sources, this relationship is about to be reversed with consequences few people understand. Though nowadays people sometimes rail against the deployment of wind generators because they mar the view, such deployments are the logical outcome of our desire to move away from fossil fuels. We may be concerned about the greenhouse gasses and toxic pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants, but most people do not worry about such plants ruining their view unless they live very nearby. Neither do they worry about coal mines unless, of course, they live in proximity to them, and only a very small segment of the population does. But windmills can be put anywhere there is sufficient wind. And, that often conflicts with the aesthetic desires of people who must look at them and deal with the attendant disruption that servicing them causes. It's not just that coal-fired power plants can be plunked down pretty much wherever we want them. It's also that watt for watt they are far more compact than their equivalent in wind turbines. Let's take a 500-megawatt power plant which by itself can power a city of 300,000. (A megawatt is one million watts.) It will sit astride a fairly large plot of land. A coal-fired plant near me is just under that capacity (495 MW) and sits on about 300 acres. Most of that land, however, is essentially devoted to undeveloped transmission right-of-way filled with ponds, woods and streams. Only a small portion is covered by plant facilities including coal storage. I estimate less than 30 acres. For new wind projects huge 5-megawatt wind generators are just now being deployed. If we take these as typical (and they are not), then using an estimate of the direct land footprint for wind towers of 0.38 acres per tower, we find that we'd need 100 towers covering 38 acres. But wind turbines run at only about 30 percent capacity because the wind doesn't blow all the time. This compares to about 70 percent capacity for coal-fired power plants. So we need to multiply 100 towers by about 2 1/3 to get the number of towers we'd need to match the operating capacity of one coal-fired plant. That means we'd need about 233 towers with a direct land footprint of 87 acres. That doesn't seem too bad. And, the land under the turbines is still available for farming and other purposes. The overall direct effects on the land and water are certainly less when compared to the coal plant. But we're not done. The spacing between towers is typically at least five diameters of the rotor. That doesn't sound like much. But for the 5-megawatt towers in this example, the spacing would be 2,065 feet times 232--we don't need to separate the last tower from another tower beyond it. Then we'd add the diameter of the rotors--413 feet times 233--and we get a distance equivalent to about 110 miles. So, we'd need a line of 5-megawatt turbines stretching 110 miles. In theory, we'd want to split them up and put them in various locations in which the wind blows hardest at different times. But the total length of the line would still be at least 110 miles. If we take the largest separation recommended between towers which is 10 diameters of the rotors, we'd have to just about double that distance. By comparison most people who live 110 miles from a coal-fired power plant are rarely even aware that it might be a source of electricity for them. And, the plant is certainly not a direct irritation. The lesson here, however, is not one of aesthetics. It is an illustration of the disparity in power densities between those energy sources on which we currently rely and the alternatives now being proposed and deployed. The power density problem for solar energy is no less daunting. Vaclav Smil, who has investigated the power density problem carefully, described it this way: [I]n order to supply a house with electricity, photovoltaic cells would have to cover the entire roof. A supermarket would require a photovoltaic field roughly ten times larger than its own roof, or 1,000 times larger in the case of a high-rise building. When we contemplate renewable energy sources, we rarely contemplate the land area required to deploy them. Just the problems involved in obtaining rights-of-way alone are beyond anything we've ever experienced. And, the enormous scale of manufacturing required to produce the panels and wind towers would dwarf our current energy industries. The coal-fired power plant by comparison seems like a wonder of compact energy generation. This is not to make a case against renewable energy. We will need it and deploy it because we must--either because of the dangers that burning fossil fuels pose to the climate or because of increasing fossil fuel scarcity, or both. The real case to be made here is against business-as-usual. It is hard to see how a transition to a renewable energy society, however rapid and earnest, will give us all the energy we want at prices we will like. In the graph which follows, it is glaringly obvious that the energy sources we rely on now are one to two orders of magnitude smaller by land area per unit of energy produced than the industries and buildings they service are per unit of energy consumed. That means it takes a relatively small land area to service the enormous area devoted to commercial, residential and industrial buildings. Just the opposite will become the case using renewable energy sources. We will be obliged to devote vast tracts of space--far more vast than the buildings they serve--to support the energy use of our current infrastructure. This may not be impossible, but it will certainly be costly and socially disruptive.. And, that brings us back to the windmills now increasingly dotting our landscape. We can certainly look forward to many more of them. But if we choose to oppose them on the grounds that they are "ugly" or "disruptive," then we will essentially be choosing a much lower energy future, far below what we've come to expect from fossil fuels. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemo vement.net _____ Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: ATT00028.txt URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 11:47:44 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 10:47:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Spam level *declines*... to 97 percent of all email Message-ID: <000c01c9b93b$4c9dd170$e5d97450$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:28 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Spam level *declines*... to 97 percent of all email (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Spam level *declines*... to 97 percent of all email http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/137384 Wed Apr 8, 2009 2:15PM EDT If you think you're getting a lot of spam these days, well, that's because you are. In Microsoft's latest biannual report on the state of computer security, the company says that in the second half of 2008, a full 97.3 percent of email traffic was unwanted spam (or malicious email like phishing attacks and outright viruses). Surprisingly though, that's down a bit from the first half of last year, when total spam volume reached a whopping 98.4 percent of all email sent. The latest report (which covers security through the end of 2008, so Conficker isn't part of the package) is available for download here. (Be warned: The full report is 184 pages long. Consider checking out the smaller highlight report instead.) The good news: Spam filters are getting better than ever. Microsoft's filter system for Exchange now scrubs out 39 out of every 40 emails sent. Spam also saw that slight decline thanks to the shut down last year of the ISP McColo, a major haven for spammers who suddenly had to go shopping elsewhere. What are we being spammed about? Pharmacy and other product ads make up the lion's share of spam, accounting for 72.2 percent of all spam sent. Only 10 percent of the total spam share now involves sexually-oriented pharmaceuticals; that's a huge decline from previous studies, as apparently Viagra and Cialis are no longer that hard to come by. Image-only spam, dating come-ons, financial spam, and fraudulent diplomas round out the remainder of the most common spam subjects. Alternate statistics show the total spam level at lower -- one source pegs it at a mere 81 percent of mail traffic (a figure which seems awfully low) -- and also notes that even with the taking down of McColo and other spammer ISPs, spam traffic will inevitably rise again to "normal" levels. In the related world of malware infections, the Microsoft report noted that worldwide, 8.6 machines were suffering from malware for every 1,000 which were clean. That sounds pretty good, but it still translates to about 9 million computers worldwide suffering from malware attacks. What do you need to watch out for today, attack-wise? The most common attacks at the moment target Microsoft Office and PDF files, and those types of attacks are further on the rise. From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 9 14:13:57 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 13:13:57 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money Message-ID: <005301c9b94f$b9d615e0$2d8241a0$@net> Mary, from where I sit, most of the challenges we face today come about from the 75% of the population that is mainly "left brain-oriented," due to the way the educational system is designed and the manner in which it directs information (teaches) to the left hemisphere of the brain. Almost all children are born with a holographic mind/brain orientation, but by the time they are 7 - 10, they have been converted to a left-brain orientation which processes information differently than with the whole brain orientation. I really recommend reading Carla Hannaford's book: "The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand, and Foot Can Improve Your Learning." In this book, Hannaford shows the 32 different "dominance" configurations which affect the way we see, hear, feel, think learn and work. Each one of the 32 different configurations affects the way an individual receives information as well as what information is received. Which also explains why we could theoretically have 32 different individuals witnessing an automobile accident and have 32 different variations as to what happened. But Hannaford's overview does not reveal the whole big picture either, since she only explores the right and left hemispheres but fails to explore the dynamics which occur when the right and left hemispheres of the brain are entrained and connected with the heart brain to bring about the holographic brain/mind configuration. To gain more in detail on this, I also recommend reading Dr. V. Vernon Woolf's "Dance of Life" in which he explores the "linear," "wave" and "holodynamic" shape of human consciousness. And, as well, "The Biology of Transcendence - A Blueprint for the Human Spirit" by Joseph Chilton Pearce, in which Pearce explores brain dynamics as associated with the "heart brain" and how the two interact or not. From: Mary Nelson [mailto:m_nelson at aperdat.com] Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 10:24 AM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money This doesn't address the problem of "money" in general but is absolutely delicious! Another gift! And the crux of the matter - Trust! The Powers that Be are experts in ensuring via laws and the media that we don't trust each other. What steps can we take to start trusting each other instead of those "in power"? Thanks, MaryNelson "Taking in traumatic information and transmuting it into life-affirming action may turn out to be the most advanced and meaningful spiritual practice of our time." -- Richard Heinberg _____ From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:29 PM To: 'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'; FixGov at yahoogroups. com Subject: FW: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money From: Dick Eastman [mailto:oldickeastman at q.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 6:35 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Dick Eastman: I propose we use silver bullets as money I propose we use silver bullets as money. That way the next time markets are manipulated and our wealth must be transferred to the bankers we can sort of speed up the delivery. I hope that won't be necessary. If we can adopt some form of Social Credit I believe further violence and financial ruin can be averted. Silver and gold are not going to avoid the trouble we are facing. We have to use our intelligence and work out a better solution. In the meantime if the money system fails we can get by if cities issue their own paper money which can be used locally and is accepted by the town in payment of its property taxes and is used by the city to pay city employees when no other money is available. People who owe property taxes will not mind exchanging the other valuables in order to get City Notes with which to pay their taxes. The City Notes will therefore have value and local farmers and others will accept them. The notes will enable the city to maintain utilities and the functioning of local and county goverment. That will keep us from the panic and general breakdown that the Rothschild Gang are counting on. It will work if people know they can trust it. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 15977 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 7480 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 14936 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri Apr 10 04:46:50 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:46:50 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Where is President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Team Message-ID: <837882.15623.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Thu, 9/4/09, J.W. Smith wrote: From: J.W. Smith Subject: Where is President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Team To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Date: Thursday, 9 April, 2009, 6:52 PM Dear Contacts and Supporters of IED: Currently trillions of dollars are being poured at the very people who created this crisis. That?may fail. These simple answers, presented at the United Nations General Assembly hall on March 5, 2009, caught the attention of that?audience. ? This summary of the high point of that presentation?is quickly understood by almost everybody. Virtually every progressive cause is supported?by this simple 164 word thesis (that in boldface) and societies' deepest problems?are?resolved. ? Can you?alert all your contacts? Can you use it in your progressive work and writings? If teaching, can you use it in class??Reviews of the two books which tell this story appreciated.?? ? The?Institute for Economic Democracy ? Where is President Barack Obama's economic Recovery team? The simple answers Summary of J.W. Smith's one hour presentation at the United Nations General Assembly Hall 03/05/2009, providing those answers UNIS-UN International Students Conference http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1215100 Fast forward 70 minutes? Those Simple Answers are in 168 bold faced words below ? Visualize a fertile valley 10,000 years ago with fruits, nuts and vegetables growing wild along with lush thatch for building shelters. The new settlers have only to pick their food, build their thatch homes, and, once that home is built, relax most the day. ????? A cunning cabal form and each lay claim to a part of the land. They make a pact with toughies that they will share the spoils if they protect their unequal and unjust ?property rights.? The meek, mild, and law abiding now have to share the food they pick with those ?owners,? have to build their houses, and provide any and all other services. ?????? The primary cause of poverty among plenty is uncovered. Those cunning go on to claim their unearned wealth on through history and those are the property rights laws, as applied to nature?s resources and technologies, denying others their rightful share of what nature offers to all for free, that is in place today.? ??????? This exposes most current finance capital as unearned wealth. In the thesis below, note how, even as taxes disappear and honest capitalism is fully retained, those rental values paid to ourselves will fully fund?all social services currently starved for funds. ???????The economic thesis to eliminate this unequal economic structure created by many many cabals over the centuries, and they claiming your and my wealth yet today, can be?summarized in these 168 words: ? ????? By paying land (resource) rents to ourselves, meaning socially collected, a citizenry is quintuply repaid through those massive funds building roads, railroads, water systems, sewer systems, and electric grids (any natural monopoly) as well as fund governments, provide education, health care and retirement. Infrastructure and population, not capitalists, establish the use-value of land and resources and their rental values fund those same required infrastructures as well as essential social services (the community process). Restructure to the just described honest capitalism and taxes disappear as your employed working hours drop by half and all enjoy a quality, secure, life. This requires sharing the remaining ?productive? jobs and equal pay for equally productive labor. Each region of the world, each nation, each region of a nation, each state, each county, each community, and each entrepreneur must have equal rights to their share of both created and saved finance capital (created money and savings). With those rights, entrepreneurs (private industry), will fill every niche within the production-distribution process. ? You can follow those flows of money and commerce within this efficient economy in your head. Both the community process operating those natural monopolies and efficient private industry producing consumer products and services are fully visible. Both taxes and poverty disappear even as our employed working hours drop by half and the pressures on our resources and the environment are alleviated roughly to the same degree. Over half our labors and resources are wasted within the superstructures operating those monopolies we are told do not exist. The two books below that tell this story were started five years ago under the assumption this financial crash was coming. Both demonstrate how easy it would be to stop this crash in its tracks by pouring created money at the real economy, that is you and me if we are unemployed, and restructure the economy as outlined in this thesis. Currently trillions are being poured at the very people who created this crisis while the real economy is left to fend for itself and that may fail. The answers are simple. Where is President Barack Obama?s economic recovery team? ?????????????? ??? Thank you. The Institute for Economic Democracy ??????????????? ? Virtual tear sheet appreciated? ?????????? ???Available for lectures and workshops ? Economic Democracy: A Grand Strategy for World Peace and Prosperity ($35, 2009 edition) and Money: A Mirror Image of the Economy. ($32, 2009 edition) by J.W. Smith, can be ordered from any bookstore or Amazon.com. Signed copies, each 30% off (plus $5 S&H) if ordered from the address below. Thank you. ? For Book Reviews,?the manuscripts are ?at: Economic Democracy: A Grand Strategy for World Peace and Prosperity???and Money: A Mirror Image of the Economy ? The Institute for Economic Democracy 13851 N 103 Ave, Sun City , AZ 85351 623.583.2518 ?ied at ied.info? www.ied.info Please forward to others you think might be interested. Thank you More IED books -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 6 21:43:48 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 20:43:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Special Washington Action Alert Message-ID: <00af01c9b733$124a8ae0$36dfa0a0$@net> From: AMI [mailto:ami at taconic.net] Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 8:23 PM To: AMI Subject: Special Washington Action Alert Dear friends of the American Monetary Institute, This is an action alert! Please forward to your email list! We have watched the same people who created the crisis brazenly grab more loot, even pretending that so called bonus "contracts" must be honored; until the public outcry shut them up. Now there's something you can do to end these injustices; to take back control of our nation and our money system and start the rebuilding process on a solid and just foundation. A special presentation of The American Monetary Act will be made on Capitol Hill, April 23, 2009 in Room 304 of the Cannon House Office Building. Please ask your Congressmen to attend. This presentation has been requested by a House member to explain the American Monetary Act to members of Congress and their staff. It will describe what the Act does and exactly how it benefits each Congressional District. It will show that it contains the minimum reform actions needed, for monetary reform to work - to place time on the side of justice. THEY will understand that it is workable. Your request for them to attend can be made by phone, or by letter. Modify the sample letter below to fit your style, or better yet, write a letter in your own words. Its important to send the letter now, since the anthrax scare it takes extra time for letters to reach Congress. OR Your Congressmen are on spring break until April 20th and so you can reach them at their home office right now. Stop by in person - It will have an effect! Print out and hand them a copy of the American Monetary Act (attached). At the very least phone and ask them to attend the April 23rd Cannon 304 presentation, and send a copy of your letter to their local office as well. Thanks people for your attention. Stephen Zarlenga Director, Ami NOTE: If you do not know your representative's addresses, you can find your Representatives at https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml Your Senators addresses are at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Here's a sample letter - modify it to fit your style. Remember this is a non partisan educational event - all political parties are welcome. Dear Congressman/Senator: I am writing to ask you to attend a meeting in Room 304 of the Cannon House Office Building on Thursday, April 23, 2009.so you can learn about the American Monetary Act - legislation prepared by The American Monetary Institute, which fundamentally reforms our private credit system, replacing it with a government money system. Under this Act, the Federal Reserve becomes incorporated into the U.S. Treasury. Banks would no longer have the privilege of creating our money supply. (Just look how they have abused it!) The government will take back control of our money, and our nation. Banks will continue to loan money, but will not create it. They must cease to dominate our government. The American Monetary Act nationalizes the money system, not the banking system. Banking is not a proper function of government, but providing the nation's money supply is a key function of government. This Act begins our national rebuilding process based on a solid and just foundation. Stephen Zarlenga, Director of the Institute will be in room 304 the whole day to answer questions that arise, so whatever your schedule, you and your aides will have an opportunity to attend. In addition a formal presentation with several speakers will be made at a time to be determined. After hearing the presentation and if all your questions are answered satisfactorily, I hope you will become a co-sponsor when this Act is introduced as a bill. Please mark April 23rd on your calendar now. Go to the following links to learn more about monetary reform: http://www.monetary.org http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf Sincerely, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: latest American Monetary Act 12 March 13.doc Type: application/msword Size: 229376 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 7 18:31:07 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:31:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Air Traffic viewed from space Message-ID: <003601c9b7e1$52422140$f6c663c0$@net> This is amazing. Thanks Arlie From: Arlie Haig [mailto:ajhaig at sonic.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 12:17 AM To: mary rose Subject: Fw: Air Traffic viewed from space Notice the change in traffic during Night...then day. This is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to about 2 minutes. From space we look like a bee hive of activity. You could tell it was summer time in the north by the sun's footprint over the planet.. ?You could see that it didn't quite set in the extreme north and it didn't quite rise in the extreme south. ?The move of air traffic from the US to Europe and back to the US in the 24 hour period is something to focus on. ? ? _____ _____ _____ >> >> >> Notice the change in traffic during >> Night...then day. This is a 24 hour observation of all of the >> large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to about 2 >> minutes. From space we look like a bee hive of activity. >> You could tell it was summer time in the north by the sun's >> footprint over the planet.. You could see that it didn't quite >> set in the extreme north and it didn't quite rise in the extreme >> south. The move of air traffic from the US to Europe and back to >> the US in the 24 hour period is something to focus on. >> >> >> >> >> >> ? ? > _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.44/2044 - Release Date: 04/06/09 18:59:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WorldAirTraffic0-24h.wmv Type: video/x-ms-wmv Size: 6030001 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: _AVG certification_.txt URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Fri Apr 10 00:33:29 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:03:29 +0530 Subject: [GJM] FW: [GJM Getting rid of energy intensive services and commodities/How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? In-Reply-To: <003d01c9b91b$79d668c0$6d833a40$@net> References: <003d01c9b91b$79d668c0$6d833a40$@net> Message-ID: <31f677a30904092333g1964ee57x746cdc6cc21cba44@mail.gmail.com> Dear Mary, I am total agreement with you ecologically sustainable renewable resource based consumption and production processes and that is what I have been communicated in the e-forums of World Bank and UNDP as well. I would like to share that the all the great men who have been reverred in monotheistic tradition have been practioners of austerity. A famous saying renowned Persian poer Saadi Shiraji calls for eating only half of what can be taken in the stomach, filling a quarter with water and keeping a quarter empty in order to see the light of the Creator. Sharing links that shows the search for energy for energy intensive habitats: http://peswiki.com/index.php/Congress:Top_100:Complete_List http://peswiki.com/index.php/Congress:Top_100_Clean_Energy_Technologies_Exhibited_at_the_Chicago_Hall_of_Fame%2C_2008 With warmest regards mukhtar On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 7:29 PM, mary rose wrote: > Mukhtar, > > > > If we get behind the Zero Point Energy movement and bring this into being, > we will not have to give up anything over the long run. But we very much > need to change our values system and go for things that are really > necessary like the Internet and mass transit instead of cars, cars, cars > instead of going for things that are not practical and destroy our life > support system instead of enhancing it. We must learn to eat lower on the > food chain, and eat raw vegetables and fruits always instead of cooking them > so we get all of the nutrients including the enzymes which are killed in the > cooking process. We need to grow long no till grains with which to feed > people instead of corn to feed cattle. We need to learn to grow our food in > new ways that conserve the topsoil upon which civilization was built. We > need to learn to ?eat to live? instead of ?living to eat? as so many of us > here in the developed world do at the expense of those in the developing > world. > > > > We need to move out of our old and limiting belief system and move into one > that maximizes our full potential. > > > > This is going to be a steep learning curve and we need to do it together, > providing support for one another in the process. > > > > With love and appreciation, m r. > > > > *From:* discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto: > discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] *On Behalf Of *Dr.Muhammad > Mukhtar Alam > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2009 3:58 AM > *To:* Discussion Forum for Global Justice > *Subject:* Re: [GJM] [GJM Getting rid of energy intensive services and > commodities/How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? > > > > Envision energy free village for is real and that is what we need to > envision for transforming ecologically hostile energy guzzling habitats of > which we are integral part. Personally, I am ensuring that my connections to > village remains intact while using internet primarily for contributing my > bit for minimizing personal and collective suffering. It is important to > seek liberation from energy intensive processes and services. Eventually, we > would have to give up internet as well. I remember my childhood when my > mother used to prepare flour and all that was needed was done manually. > > Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam > 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 > Tel:9968345380 > > --- On *Thu, 9/4/09, mary rose * wrote: > > > From: mary rose > Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take > to Power the World? > To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" < > discussion at globaljusticemovement.net>, "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" > > Date: Thursday, 9 April, 2009, 11:00 AM > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net > [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] > On Behalf Of > TradingPostPaul > Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:56 PM > To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net > Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power > the World? > > > (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to > http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) > > How Many Windmills Does It Take to Power the World? > > http://www.scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/02/How-Many-Windmills-D > oes-It-Take-to-Power-the-World/ > 26 Feb, 2008 10:51 am > > > Power densities are a measure of the land required for both energy sources > and energy users. The current infrastructure matches the small footprint of > energy sources against the large footprint of energy users. With the drive > toward renewable energy sources, this relationship is about to be reversed > with consequences few people understand. > > > Though nowadays people sometimes rail against the deployment of wind > generators because they mar the view, such deployments are the logical > outcome of our desire to move away from fossil fuels. We may be concerned > about the greenhouse gasses and toxic pollution emitted by coal-fired power > plants, but most people do not worry about such plants ruining their view > unless they live very nearby. Neither do they worry about coal mines > unless, of course, they live in proximity to them, and only a very small > segment of the population does. > > But windmills can be put anywhere there is sufficient wind. And, that often > conflicts with the aesthetic desires of people who must look at them and > deal with the attendant disruption that servicing them causes. It's not > just that coal-fired power plants can be plunked down pretty much wherever > we want them. It's also that watt for watt they are far more compact than > their equivalent in wind turbines. > > Let's take a 500-megawatt power plant which by itself can power a city of > 300,000. (A megawatt is one million watts.) It will sit astride a fairly > large plot of land. A coal-fired plant near me is just under that capacity > (495 MW) and sits on about 300 acres. Most of that land, however, is > essentially devoted to undeveloped transmission right-of-way filled with > ponds, woods and streams. Only a small portion is covered by plant > facilities including coal storage. I estimate less than 30 acres. > > For new wind projects huge 5-megawatt wind generators are just now being > deployed. If we take these as typical (and they are not), then using an > estimate of the direct land footprint for wind towers of 0.38 acres per > tower, we find that we'd need 100 towers covering 38 acres. But wind > turbines run at only about 30 percent capacity because the wind doesn't > blow all the time. This compares to about 70 percent capacity for > coal-fired power plants. So we need to multiply 100 towers by about 2 1/3 > to get the number of towers we'd need to match the operating capacity of > one coal-fired plant. That means we'd need about 233 towers with a direct > land footprint of 87 acres. That doesn't seem too bad. And, the land under > the turbines is still available for farming and other purposes. The overall > direct effects on the land and water are certainly less when compared to > the coal plant. > > But we're not done. The spacing between towers is typically at least five > diameters of the rotor. That doesn't sound like much. But for the > 5-megawatt towers in this example, the spacing would be 2,065 feet times > 232--we don't need to separate the last tower from another tower beyond it. > Then we'd add the diameter of the rotors--413 feet times 233--and we get a > distance equivalent to about 110 miles. So, we'd need a line of 5-megawatt > turbines stretching 110 miles. In theory, we'd want to split them up and > put them in various locations in which the wind blows hardest at different > times. But the total length of the line would still be at least 110 miles. > If we take the largest separation recommended between towers which is 10 > diameters of the rotors, we'd have to just about double that distance. > > By comparison most people who live 110 miles from a coal-fired power plant > are rarely even aware that it might be a source of electricity for them. > And, the plant is certainly not a direct irritation. The lesson here, > however, is not one of aesthetics. It is an illustration of the disparity > in power densities between those energy sources on which we currently rely > and the alternatives now being proposed and deployed. > > The power density problem for solar energy is no less daunting. Vaclav > Smil, who has investigated the power density problem carefully, described > it this way: > > [I]n order to supply a house with electricity, photovoltaic cells would > have to cover the entire roof. A supermarket would require a photovoltaic > field roughly ten times larger than its own roof, or 1,000 times larger in > the case of a high-rise building. > > When we contemplate renewable energy sources, we rarely contemplate the > land area required to deploy them. Just the problems involved in obtaining > rights-of-way alone are beyond anything we've ever experienced. And, the > enormous scale of manufacturing required to produce the panels and wind > towers would dwarf our current energy industries. The coal-fired power > plant by comparison seems like a wonder of compact energy generation. > > This is not to make a case against renewable energy. We will need it and > deploy it because we must--either because of the dangers that burning > fossil fuels pose to the climate or because of increasing fossil fuel > scarcity, or both. The real case to be made here is against > business-as-usual. It is hard to see how a transition to a renewable energy > society, however rapid and earnest, will give us all the energy we want at > prices we will like. > > In the graph which follows, it is glaringly obvious that the energy sources > we rely on now are one to two orders of magnitude smaller by land area per > unit of energy produced than the industries and buildings they service are > per unit of energy consumed. That means it takes a relatively small land > area to service the enormous area devoted to commercial, residential and > industrial buildings. Just the opposite will become the case using > renewable energy sources. We will be obliged to devote vast tracts of > space--far more vast than the buildings they serve--to support the energy > use of our current infrastructure. > > This may not be impossible, but it will certainly be costly and socially > disruptive.. And, that brings us back to the windmills now increasingly > dotting our landscape. We can certainly look forward to many more of them. > But if we choose to oppose them on the grounds that they are "ugly" or > "disruptive," then we will essentially be choosing a much lower energy > future, far below what we've come to expect from fossil fuels. > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > > ------------------------------ > > Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 10 19:02:08 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:02:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Message-ID: <00a601c9ba41$26b29c50$7417d4f0$@net> Publicizing the Blessed Unrest Movement is one of the things Future Dawning is about. From a Co-learner's list member who has asked that his name not be disclosed. Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 4:09 PM Subject: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Subject: [ziraat] "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Paul Hawken gives us hope..... Pass it on!! "It is about possibilities and solutions. Humankind knows what to do." Paul Hawken http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html with all love, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 10 19:17:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:17:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Many of the jobless get no unemployment benefits Message-ID: <00d901c9ba43$4e3f8290$eabe87b0$@net> What a tragedy! What can we do to help? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 9:06 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Many of the jobless get no unemployment benefits (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Many of the jobless get no unemployment benefits http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2009-04-09-unemployed-but-n o-benefits_N.htm?csp= When Clarence Athy lost his job laying concrete just before Thanksgiving, the 56-year-old single father did what most people do: He applied to collect unemployment benefits. But like many Americans, Athy was denied. Athy, of Kalispell, Mont., was told by state workers that he was not at his job long enough to collect benefits. He has applied for jobs all over town - where the unemployment rate is in the double digits - without any luck. Now, he's trying to do what he can to feed himself and his son, Calvin, 15, and keep a roof over their heads. He is behind on his rent, has turned off his telephone and next week may lose his electricity. "I ought to get something," Athy says of unemployment benefits. "It's not like I'm not trying to get work. . I'm just trying to make a living." Millions of unemployed Americans who have lost their jobs are in Athy's shoes. While 13.2 million people were unemployed in March, approximately 5.8 million were collecting unemployment benefits at the end of the month, double the number from a year ago, the government said Thursday. That means less than half of those who were out of work and were actively trying to find a new job were receiving unemployment benefits. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Washington | Congress | New Jersey | Alabama | Massachusetts | Connecticut | South Carolina | Louisiana | Mississippi | Idaho | Montana | Maine | South Dakota | Rhode Island | Thanksgiving | United States Labor Department | Government Accountability Office | Rick Perry | Kalispell | Calvin | National Employment Law Project | Greater Boston Legal Services | Andrew Stettner "There are so many gaps," says Monica Halas, lead attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, which provides free legal aid to low-income people. "People think (if) they are unemployed, they are going to get unemployment. Not true." There are a number of reasons people are ineligible for unemployment benefits. Policies vary widely by state: The proportion of unemployed people who were collecting benefits in 2008 ranged from 18% in South Dakota to 61% in Idaho, according to the National Employment Law Project. Often, those who worked part time or who were not at their job for very long before being laid off are not eligible. That tends to disproportionately include women, low-income workers and people with more seasonal jobs, such as construction, according to the NELP. A 2007 report from the Government Accountability Office found low-wage workers were about one-third as likely to collect unemployment benefits as those earning more. People who are fired for performance issues, who quit or who were self-employed are immediately tossed out. There are no plans to expand the safety net to those in the latter category. But Congress, as part of the stimulus bill passed this year, included $7 billion to states that change their laws to make more employees who lose their jobs because of the bad economy eligible for benefits. Money for the unemployment insurance program, which began in 1935, comes from taxes paid by employers. Workers themselves do not pay into the unemployment insurance system. Nineteen states qualified to receive all or part of their funds based on existing policy. One was Maine, which has been providing benefits to a wider pool of workers, including part-timers and those who left jobs because of concerns about domestic abuse or because a spouse was relocating, according to the NELP. Other states that have been more generous with benefits include Rhode Island, Washington and Massachusetts. Policymakers in New Jersey and South Dakota have recently changed laws and received money from the stimulus pot, while others have legislation working their way through state capitals. This week, the Labor Department approved funds for Connecticut based on that state's policy of allowing employees with shorter work histories to collect unemployment. But lawmakers in other states have not acted, and those in at least one have actually shot down the money. Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Representatives, largely along party lines, rejected a measure to expand the pool of workers eligible for unemployment benefits, 46-53. Some Republican governors, including those in Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama, have spoken out against expanding unemployment benefits, arguing that eventually the federal government funds will run out, and the states will be left with a bigger cost for their unemployment insurance programs with a larger number of people on the rolls. Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said expanding the unemployment system would require raising taxes on businesses, thus "hurting our job-creation climate." Perry's "ultimate goal is to make sure there are jobs out there, so that when this economic climate turns, folks can get back to work," Cesinger said. Still, those backing expansion of benefits point out that there have been successes. "We have had more victories than we have had defeats," NELP deputy director Andrew Stettner says. A push from Washington The NELP estimates more than 500,000 additional people would be eligible to collect unemployment benefits if all the states take the needed legislative steps to collect the funds. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says she has personally been calling governors and state lawmakers to press them to quickly pass the laws to make them eligible to collect the federal money. "It's going to be a little tough, but overall, people are interested," Solis said, expressing confidence states will take action. State governments would "be leaving money on the table if they did not follow through, and that is a very bad idea in these tough economic times," says Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of MomsRising.org, an advocacy group of mothers. The group is conducting a letter-writing campaign urging state lawmakers to expand benefits. Any changes in law likely would only help people who lose their jobs going forward, not those who are already unemployed. Such action would be too late for David Bowman, 53, of Avondale, Ariz. On Dec. 31, Bowman lost his part-time job doing sales and marketing at a friend's plumbing wholesale business. He started the job in August after he had to stop driving a truck because he had a defibrillator inserted due to heart trouble. That meant Bowman neither had a long enough work history before he was laid off nor was he working full time, both conditions for collecting unemployment in Arizona. Bowman said he's been applying for jobs every day, but hasn't gotten an interview in more than a month. He gets a pension from the Army, but it's not enough to make ends meet, he says. He's depleted savings, lost his home in foreclosure, is behind on his rent and has filed for bankruptcy. "I'm right now almost dead in the water," he says, noting he considers himself better off than many people because he has health benefits from the military. But he wishes he could collect unemployment. "That kind of stings me a little bit," he says. Benefits running out for many Some people who are eligible are also running out of benefits before finding work. Benefits have been expanded in a number of states, but with the unemployment rate the highest in more than a quarter-century, workers are taking longer to find jobs, at times exhausting their eligibility. The NELP predicts more than 1.3 million people will run out of unemployment benefits during the first half of the year. In March, the average length of unemployment was 20.1 weeks, up four weeks from a year earlier. Nearly 3.2 million had been jobless for at least 27 weeks, vs. 1.3 million a year earlier. Legal aid groups are also reporting an increase in the number of employers contesting a former worker's claim for unemployment benefits. Because a company's future tax liability for the unemployment program is based on how many former employees have collected, it is in a firm's best interest to limit the number of those drawing benefits. Andrew Scherer, executive director of Legal Services NYC, a non-profit group that provides free legal assistance in New York City, says his organization is seeing "explosive growth" in contested unemployment insurance cases as employers claim workers were fired because of performance. "We are seeing more overblown reaction to what otherwise might have been a minor infraction of work rules," he said. When claims are contested, unemployment checks are delayed. That can lead to a number of issues, including possible eviction as families get behind on their rent and mortgage payments. That can put a strain on family relationships. Scherer says his organization is seeing an increase in domestic violence cases. "Any delay is tragic for people," says Greater Boston Legal Services' Halas. "It has really serious effects in this down economy where you can't turn around and get another job." Economists say providing money to people who are unemployed can have a broader impact on the economy. "If you can provide some kind of income support for them, then it might generate more spending in the economy," Forward Capital chief economist Richard Moody says. Because the unemployment insurance system is funded by companies, those who are self-employed are likely to continue to be left out. Dale Prost, 58, says he thinks there should be some help for out-of-work, self-employed people such as himself. "I don't think it's fair, because I pay taxes," he says. For 10 years, he worked as a self-employed manufacturing worker, most recently supporting a transmission assembly launch at a General Motors powertrain plant. He has not had work since December 2007, the month the economy slid into recession. Prost, of Commerce Township, Mich., said he has applied for numerous jobs, including those paying minimum wage, but for every job, there are hundreds of people applying. He and his wife are living off her salary as an office manager for a doctor, but it does not provide medical benefits. They are negotiating with their mortgage company to reduce the interest rate and lower monthly payments on their home. "We're sitting on eggshells, because we don't know what is going to happen," he says. "We are barely holding on. I don't think I've ever had this much stress." From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 10 19:30:12 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:30:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Commodifying Children: The Forgotten Crisis Message-ID: <00da01c9ba45$12389e60$36a9db20$@net> Something to really think about as we sell our children's future for a few dollars today! Marion Nestle covers this in her book "Food Politics" as she writes about the soft drink companies and how they buy their way into schools along with the fast food providers as they gain foothold through school lunch programs. Another issue is the TV programming in schools paid for by commercials that overwhelm the educational information provided. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:58 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Commodifying Children: The Forgotten Crisis (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Commodifying Children: The Forgotten Crisis http://www.countercurrents.org/giroux090409.htm By Henry A. Giroux 09 April, 2009 Truthout As the United States and the rest of the world enter into an economic free fall, the current crisis offers an opportunity not only to question the politics of free-market fundamentalism, the dominance of economics over politics, and the subordination of justice to the laws of finance and the accumulation of capital, but also the ways in which children's culture has been corrupted by rampant commercialization, commodification and consumption. There is more at stake in this crisis than stabilizing the banks, shoring up employment and solving the housing problem. There is also the issue of what kind of public spaces and values we want to make available, outside of those provided by the market, for children to learn the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to confront the myriad problems facing the twenty-first century. The road to recovery cannot be simply about returning to modified free-market capitalism and a re-established, utterly bankrupt consumer society. Given all the pain and suffering that the vast majority of Americans have endured, we should ask ourselves if there is not a teachable moment here. What kind of society and future do we want for our children given how obviously unsustainable and exploitative the now failed market-driven system has proven to be? In a society that measures its success and failure solely through the economic lens of the Gross National Product (GNP), it becomes difficult to define youth outside of market principles determined largely by criteria such as the rate of market growth and the accumulation of capital. The value and worth of young people in this discourse are largely determined through the bottom-line cost-benefit categories of income, expenses, assets and liabilities. The GNP does not measure justice, integrity, courage, compassion, wisdom and learning, among other values vital to the interests and health of a democratic society. Nor does it address the importance of civic participation, public goods, dissent and the fostering of democratic institutions. In a society driven entirely by market mentalities, moralities, values and ideals, consuming, selling and branding become the primary mode through which to define agency and social relations - intimate and public - and to shape the sensibiliti es and inner lives of adults as well as how society defines and treats its children. While the "empire of consumption" has been around for a long time,(1) American society in the last thirty years has undergone a sea change in the daily lives of children - one marked by a major transition from a culture of innocence and social protection, however imperfect, to a culture of commodification. This is culture that does more than undermine the ideals of a secure and happy childhood; it also exhibits the bad faith of a society in which, for children, "there can be only one kind of value, market value; one kind of success, profit; one kind of existence, commodities; and one kind of social relationship, markets."(2) Children now inhabit a cultural landscape in which they can only recognize themselves in terms preferred by the market. Subject to an advertising and marketing industry that spends over $17 billion a year on shaping children's identities and desires,(3) American youth are commercially carpet-bombed through a never-ending proliferation of market strategies that colonize their consciousness and daily lives. Multibillion-dollar corporations, with the commanding role of commodity markets as well as the support of the highest reaches of government, now become the primary educational and cultural force in shaping, if not hijacking, how young people define their interests, values and relations to others. Juliet Schor, one of the most insightful and critical theorists of the commodification of children, argues that, "These corporations not only have enormous economic power, but their political influence has never been greater. They have funneled unprecedented sums of money to political parties and officials.... The power wielded by these corporations is evident in many ways, from their ability to eliminate competitors to their ability to mobilize state power in their interest."(4) As the sovereignty of the market displaces state sovereignty, children are no longer viewed as an important social investment or as a central marker for the moral life of the nation. Instead, childhood ideals linked to the protection and well-being of youth are transformed - decoupled from the "call to conscience [and] civic engagement"(5) and redefined through what amounts to a culture of cruelty, abandonment and disposability. Childhood ideals increasingly give way to a market-driven politics in which young people are prepared for a life of objectification while simultaneously drained of any viable sense of moral and political agency. Moreover, as the economy implodes, the financial sector is racked by corruption and usury, the housing and mortgage market is in free fall, and millions of people lose their jobs, the targeting of children for profits takes on even more insistent and ominous tones. This is especially true in a consumer society in which children more than ever mediate their identities and relations to others through the consumption of goods and images. No longer imagined within language of responsibility and justice, childhood begins with what might be called the scandalous philosophy of money - that is, a logic in which everything, including the worth of young people, is measured through the potentially barbaric calculations of finance, exchange value and profitability. And this is part of the economic crisis that is barely mentioned in the mainstream media. What is distinctive about this period in history is that the United States has become the most "consumer-oriented society in the world." Kids and teens, because of their value as consumers and their ability to influence spending, are not only at "the epicenter of American consumer culture," but are also the major targets of those powerful marketing and financial forces that service big corporations and the corporate state.(6) In a world in which products far outnumber shoppers, youth have been unearthed not simply as another expansive and profitable market, but as the primary source of redemption for the future of capitalism - even as it implodes. Erased as future citizens of a democracy, kids are now constructed as consuming and saleable objects. Gilded Age corporations, however devalued, and their army of marketers, psychologists and advertising executives now engage in what Susan Linn calls a "hostile takeover of childhood,"(7) poised to take advantage of the economic power wielded by kids and teens. With spending power increasing to match that of adults, the children's market has greatly expanded in the last few decades, in terms of both direct spending by kids and their influence on parental acquisitions. While figures on direct spending by kids differ, Benjamin Barber claims that "in 2000, there were 31 million American kids between twelve and nineteen already controlling 155 billion consumer dollars. Just four years later, there were 33.5 million kids controlling $169 billion, or roughly $91 per week per kid."(8) Schor argues that "children age four to twelve made ... $30.0 billion" in purchases in 2002, while kids aged twelve to nineteen "accounted for $170 billion of personal spending."(9) Molnar and Boninger cite figures indicating that pre-teens and teenagers command "$200 billion in spending power."(10) Young people are attractive to corporations because they are big spenders, but that is not the only reason. They also exert a powerful influence on parental spending, offering up a market in which, according to Anap Shah, "Children (under 12) and teens influence parental purchases totaling over ... $670 billion a year."(11) One measure of the corporate assault on kids can be seen in the reach, acceleration and effectiveness of a marketing and advertising juggernaut that attempts to turn kids into consumers and childhood into a saleable commodity. Every child, regardless of how young, is now a potential consumer ripe for being commodified and immersed in a commercial culture defined by brands. According to Lawrence Grossberg, children are introduced to the world of logos, advertising and the "mattering maps" of consumerism long before they can speak: "Capitalism targets kids as soon as they are old enough to watch commercials, even though they may not be old enough to distinguish programming from commercials or to recognize the effects of branding and product placement."(12) In fact, American children from birth to adulthood are exposed to a consumer blitz of advertising, marketing, educating and entertaining that has no historical precedent. There is even a market for videos for toddlers as young as four months old. One such baby video called Baby Gourmet alleges to "provide a multi-sensory experience for children designed to introduce little ones to beautiful fruits and vegetables ... in a gentle and amusing way that stimulates both the left and right hemispheres."(13) This would be humorous if Madison Avenue were not dead serious in its attempts to sell this type of hype - along with other baby videos such as Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby, Sesame Street Baby, and Disney's Winnie the Pooh Baby - to parents eager to provide their children with every conceivable advantage over the rest. Not surprisingly, this is part of a growing $4.8 billion market aimed at the youngest children.(14) Schor captures perfectly the omnipotence of this machinery of consumerism as it envelops the lives of very young children: At age one, she's watching Teletubbies and eating the food of its "promo partners" Burger King and McDonald's. Kids can recognize logos by eighteen months, and before reaching their second birthday, they're asking for products by brand name. By three or three and a half, experts say, children start to believe that brands communicate their personal qualities, for example, that they're cool, or strong, or smart. Even before starting school, the likelihood of having a television in their bedroom is 25 percent, and their viewing time is just over two hours a day. Upon arrival at the schoolhouse steps, the typical first grader can evoke 200 brands. And he or she has already accumulated an unprecedented number of possessions, beginning with an average of seventy new toys a year.(15) Complicit, wittingly or unwittingly, with a politics defined by market power, the American public offers little resistance to children's culture being expropriated and colonized by Madison Avenue advertisers. Eager to enthral kids with invented fears and lacks, these advertisers also entice them with equally unimagined new desires, to prod them into spending money or to influence their parents to spend it in order to fill corporate coffers. Every child is vulnerable to the many advertisers who diversify markets through various niches, one of which is based on age. For example, the DVD industry sees toddlers as a lucrative market. Toy manufacturers now target children from birth to ten years of age. Children aged eight to twelve constitute a tween market and teens an additional one. Children visit stores and malls long before they enter elementary school, and children as young as eight years old make visits to malls without adults. Disney, Nickelodeon and other mega companies now provide web sites such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" for children under ten years of age, luring them into a virtual world of potential consumers that reached 8.2 million in 2007, while it is predicted that this electronic mall will include 20 million children by 2011.(16 ) Moreover, as Brook Barnes points out in The New York Times, these electronic malls are hardly being used either as innocent entertainment or for educational purposes. On the contrary, she states, "Media conglomerates in particular think these sites - part online role-playing game and part social scene - can deliver quick growth, help keep movie franchises alive and instill brand loyalty in a generation of new customers." (17) But there is more at stake here than making money and promoting brand loyalty among young children: there is also the construction of particular modes of subjectivity, identification and agency. Some of these identities are on full display in advertising aimed at young girls. Market strategists are increasingly using sexually charged images to sell commodities, often representing the fantasies of an adult version of sexuality. For instance, Abercrombie & Fitch, a clothing franchise for young people, has earned a reputation for its risque catalogues filled with promotional ads of scantily clad kids and its over-the-top sexual advice columns for teens and preteens; one catalogue featured an ad for thongs for ten-year-olds with the words "eye candy" and "wink wink" written on them.(18) Another clothing store sold underwear geared toward teens with "Who needs Credit Cards ...?" written across the crotch.(19) Children as young as six years old are being sold lacy underwear, push-up bras and "date night accessories" for their various doll collections. In 2006, the Tesco department store chain sold a pole dancing kit designed for young girls to unleash the sex kitten inside . Encouraging five- to ten-year-old children to model themselves after sex workers suggests the degree to which matters of ethics and propriety have been decoupled from the world of marketing and advertising, even when the target audience is young children. The representational politics at work in these marketing and advertising strategies connect children's bodies to a reductive notion of sexuality, pleasure and commodification, while depicting children's sexuality and bodies as nothing more than objects for voyeuristic adult consumption and crude financial profit. For the last few decades, critics such as Thomas Frank, Kevin Phillips, David Harvey and many others have warned us, and rightly so, that right-wing conservatives and free-market fundamentalists have been dismantling government by selling it off to the highest or "friendliest" bidder. But what they have not recognized adequately is that what has also been sold off are both our children and our collective future, and that the consequences of this catastrophe can only be understood within the larger framework of a politics and market philosophy that view children as commodities and democracy as the enemy. In a democracy, education in any sphere, whether it be the public schools or the larger media, is, or should be, utterly adverse to treating young people as individual units of economic potential and as walking commodities. And it is crucial not to "forget" that democracy should not be confused with a hypercapitalism. Inevitably, humans must consume to survive. The real enemy is not consumption per se, but a market-driven consumer society fueled by the endless cycle of acquisition, waste and disposability, which is at the heart of an unchecked and deregulated global capitalism. Under such circumstances, there are few remaining spaces in which to imagine a mode of consumption that rejects the logic of commodification and embraces the principles of sustainability while expanding the reach and possibilities of a substantive democracy. Juliet Schor touches on this issue by rightly arguing that the real issue is "what kind of consumers do we want to be?"(20) Or, to put it more broadly, what kind of society and world do we want to live in? As politics embraces all aspects of children?s lives, it is crucial to make clear that the rising tide of free markets has less to do with ensuring democracy and freedom than with spreading a rein of terror around the globe, affecting the most vulnerable populations in the cruellest of ways. The politics of commodification and its underlying logic of waste and disposability do irreparable harm to children, but the resulting material, psychological and spiritual injury they incur must be understood not merely as a political and economic issue but also as a pedagogical concern. At the same time, simply criticizing the market, the privatization of public goods and the commercialization of children, while helpful, is not enough. Stirring denunciations of what a market society does to kids do not go far enough. What is equally necessary is developing public spaces and social movements that help young people develop healthy notions of self, identities and visions of their future no longer defined - more accurately, defiled - by market values and mentalities. Obama's road to recovery must align itself with a vision of a democracy that is on the side of children, particularly young children in need. It must enable the conditions for youth to learn, to "grow," as John Dewey once insisted, as engaged social actors more alive to their responsibilities to future generations than contemporary adult society has proven capable. Such a project requires constructing a politics that refuses to be animated by populist rage so easily misdirected, or by a disdain for the social state, for mutuality, reciprocity and compassion, among other democratic values. In short, it must reject a society whose essence is currently refracted in the faces of children compelled to confront a future that as yet offers very little hope of happiness, or even survival. References: (1) Lizabeth Cohen, "A Consumer's Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America" (New York: Vintage, 2003). (2) Lawrence Grossberg, "Caught In the Crossfire: Kids, Politics, and America's Future" (Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2005), p. 264. (3) See Josh Golin, "Nation's Strongest School Commercialism Bill Advances Out of Committee," Common Dreams Progressive Newswire (August 1, 2007). Online: http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/newsprint.cgi?file=/news2007/0801-06.h tm. Juliet Schor argues that total advertising and marketing expenditures directed at children in 2004 reached $15 billion. See Juliet B. Schor, "Born to Buy" (New York: Scribner, 2005), p. 21. (4) Juliet Schor, "When Childhood Gets Commercialized Can Childhood Be Protected," in Regulation, Awareness, Empowerment: Young People and Harmful Media Content in the Digital Age, ed. Ulla Carlsson (Sweden: Nordicom, 2006), pp. 114?115. (5) Kiku Adatto, "Selling Out Childhood," Hedgehog Review 5: 2 (Summer 2003), p. 40. (6) Schor, "Born to Buy," p. 20. (7) Susan Linn, "Consuming Kids" (New York: Anchor Books, 2004), p. 8. (8) Benjamin R. Barber, "Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole" (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007), pp. 7?8. (9) Schor, "Born to Buy," p. 23. (10) Alex Molnar and Faith Boninger, "Adrift: Schools in a Total Marketing Environment," Tenth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends: 2006-2007 (Tempe: Arizona State University, 2007), pp. 6-7. (11) Anup Shah, "Children as Consumers," Global Issues (January 8, 2008). Online: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated /Consumption/Children.asp. (12) Grossberg, "Caught in the Crossfire," p. 88. (13) Linn, "Consuming Kids," p. 54. (14) Molnar and Boninger, "Adrift," p. 9. (15) Schor, "Born to Buy," pp. 19-20. (16) Cited in Brooks Barnes, "Web Playgrounds of the Very Young," New York Times, (December 31, 2007). Online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31 /business/31virtual.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. (17) Barnes, "Web Playgrounds of the Very Young." (18) Editorial, "Clothier Pushes Porn, Group Sex to Youths," WorldNetDaily.com (November 15, 2003). Online: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35604. See also Editorial, "Tell Nationwide Children's Hospital: No Naming Rights for Abercrombie & Fitch," Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (June 2006). Online: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/t/540 1/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23662. (19) Tana Ganeva, "Sexpot Virgins: The Media's Sexualization of Young Girls," AlterNet (May 24, 2008). Online: http://www.alternet.org/story/85977/. (20) Juliet Schor, "Tackling Turbo Consumption: An Interview With Juliet Schor," Soundings 34 (November 2006), p. 51. Henry A. Giroux holds the Global TV Network chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Canada. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 10 19:33:24 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:33:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] A must read: FW: [globalnetnews-summary] *US Envoy Writes of Israeli Threats* Message-ID: <00db01c9ba45$84b16da0$8e1448e0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:49 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] *US Envoy Writes of Israeli Threats* (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) *US Envoy Writes of Israeli Threats* http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135541/the_rise_of_glenn_beck%27s_bizar re_media_militia/?page=entire *By Barbara Crossette April 05, 2009 "**The Nation* *" March 31, 2009 -- -In* the wake of the accusation by Chas Freeman that his nomination to lead the National Intelligence Council was derailed by an "Israeli lobby," a forthcoming memoir by another distinguished ambassador adds stunning new charges to the debate. The ambassador, John Gunther Dean, writes that over the years he not only came under pressure from pro-Israeli groups and officials in Washington but also was the target of an Israeli-inspired assassination attempt in 1980 in Lebanon, where he had opened links to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Dean's suspicions that Israeli agents may have also been involved in the mysterious plane crash in 1988 that killed Pakistan's president, General Mohammed Zia ul Haq, led finally to a decision in Washington to declare him mentally unfit, which forced his resignation from the foreign service after a thirty-year career. After he left public service, he was rehabilitated by the State Department, given a distinguished service medal and eventually encouraged to write his memoirs. Now 82, Dean sees the subsequent positive attention he has received as proof that the insanity charge (he calls it Stalinist) was phony, a supposition later confirmed by a former head of the department's medical service. Dean, whose memoir is titled Danger Zones: A Diplomat's Fight for America's Interests, was American ambassador in Lebanon in August 1980 when a three-car convoy carrying him and his family was attacked near Beirut. "I was the target of an assassination attempt by terrorists using automatic rifles and antitank weapons that had been made in the United States and shipped to Israel," he wrote. "Weapons financed and given by the United States to Israel were used in an attempt to kill an American diplomat!" After the event, conspiracy theories abounded in the Middle East about who could have planned the attack, and why. Lebanon was a dangerously factionalized country. The State Department investigated, Dean said, but he was never told what the conclusion was. He wrote that he "worked the telephone for three weeks" and met only official silence in Washington. By then Dean had learned from weapons experts in the United States and Lebanon that the guns and ammunition used in the attack had been given by Israelis to a Christian militia allied with them. "I know as surely as I know anything that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, was somehow involved in the attack," Dean wrote, describing how he had been under sharp criticism from Israeli politicians and media for his contacts with Palestinians. "Undoubtedly using a proxy, our ally Israel had tried to kill me." Dean's memoir, to be published in May for the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Memoir Series by New Academia Publishing under its Vellum imprint, has been read and approved for publication by the State Department with only very minor changes, none affecting Dean's major points. Its underlying theme is that American diplomacy should be pursued in American interests, not those of another country, however friendly. A Jew whose family fled the Holocaust, Dean resented what he saw as an assumption, including by some in Congress, that he would promote Israel's interests in his ambassadorial work. Dean, a fluent French speaker who began his long diplomatic career opening American missions in newly independent West African nations in the early 1960s, served later in Vietnam (where he described himself as a "loyal dissenter") and was ambassador in Cambodia (where he carried out the American flag as the Khmer Rouge advanced), Denmark, Lebanon, Thailand (where Chas Freeman was his deputy) and India. He takes credit for averting bloodshed in Laos in the 1970s by negotiating a coalition government shared by communist and noncommunist parties. He was sometimes a disputatious diplomat not afraid to contradict superiors, and he often took--and still holds--contrarian views. He always believed, for example, that the United States should have attempted to negotiate with the Khmer Rouge rather than let the country be overrun by their brutal horror. As ambassador in India in the 1980s he supported then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's policy of seeking some kind of neutral coalition in Afghanistan that would keep the American- and Pakistani-armed mujahedeen from establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state. For several years after the Soviet withdrawal, India continued to back Najibullah, a thuggish communist security chief whom the retreating Soviet troops left behind. After the mujahedeen moved toward Kabul, Najibullah refused a United Nations offer of safe passage to India. He was slaughtered and left hanging on a lamppost. It was in the midst of this Soviet endgame in Afghanistan that Dean fell afoul of the State Department for the last time. After the death of General Zia in August 1988, in a plane crash that also killed the American ambassador in Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, Dean was told in New Delhi by high-ranking officials that Mossad was a possible instigator of the accident, in which the plane's pilot and co-pilot were apparently disabled or otherwise lost control. There was also some suspicion that elements of India's Research and Analysis Wing, its equivalent of the CIA, may have played a part. India and Israel were alarmed by Pakistan's work on a nuclear weapon--the "Islamic bomb." Dean was so concerned about these reports, and the attempt by the State Department to block a full FBI investigation of the crash in Pakistan, that he decided to return to Washington for direct consultations. Instead of the meetings he was promised, he was told his service in India was over. He was sent into virtual house arrest in Switzerland at a home belonging to the family of his French wife, Martine Duphenieux. Six weeks later, he was allowed to return to New Delhi to pack his belongings and return to Washington, where he resigned. Suddenly his health record was cleared and his security clearance restored. He was presented with the Distinguished Service Award and received a warm letter of praise from Secretary of State George Shultz. "Years later," he wrote in his memoir, "I learned who had ordered the bogus diagnosis of mental incapacity against me. It was the same man who had so effusively praised me once I was gone--George Shultz." Asked in a telephone conversation last week from his home in Paris why Shultz had done this to him, Dean would say only, "He was forced to." * About Barbara Crossette Barbara Crossette, United Nations correspondent for The Nation, is a former New York Times correspondent and bureau chief in Asia and at the UN. She is the author of So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995 and in paperback by Random House/Vintage Destinations in 1996, and a collection of travel essays about colonial resort towns that are still attracting visitors more than a century after their creation, The Great Hill Stations of Asia, published by Westview Press in 1998 and in paperback by Basic Books in 1999. In 2000, she wrote a survey of India and Indian-American relations, India: Old Civilization in a New World, for the Foreign Policy Association in New York. She is also the author of India Facing the 21st Century, published by Indiana University Press in 1993. * From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Sat Apr 11 04:30:55 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:00:55 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Message-ID: <26791.58058.qm@web94909.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Mary and all distinguished members, I wonder whether men and women in the Bless Unrest movement take rest at least 5 times a day for meditation, prayer and relaxations as lots of unrest involving ecologically hostile energy guzzling and GHG emitting travel is not needed for ecosafety. I recall Benjamin Puetter , speech writer of Late Petra Kelly and my friend writing blessed unrest in all his mails.I would be digging out his address from my mails and send some to GJM for needful. With prayers for temporal and eternal wellbeing of all, Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Sat, 11/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" Date: Saturday, 11 April, 2009, 6:32 AM Publicizing the Blessed Unrest Movement is one of the things Future Dawning is about.? From a Co-learner?s list member who has asked that his name not be disclosed.? ? Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 4:09 PM Subject: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it ? Subject: [ziraat] "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Paul Hawken gives us hope..... Pass it on!! "It is about possibilities and solutions. Humankind knows what to do." Paul Hawken http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html with all love, ? -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Check out the all-new Messenger 9.0! Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sun Apr 12 07:39:55 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:39:55 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] A Vitally Important Public Discussion That The World Should Undertake Message-ID: <764280.48363.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ??? Dear All, ? ? ???????????????? Many of you may have had this post sent to your inbox privately. I thought though it might as well be presented here onsite. The link here is to one of the videos by John DeSantis concerned with some of his "starting ideas" on social, economic, and political change as he puts it. ? ? http://www.publicandprivateenterprise.org/etetwp3.html ? John DeSantis?is a good presenter on camera, and expresses himself well. However, some people may find his?understanding "over-simplistic" though I believe? his ideas are? possible via Transfianancial Economics, or TFE which gives details on how this could come about. Yet, these details are subject to development, and improvement with the aid of experts. ? Anyway, DeSantis should be applauded for his efforts to get the "starting ideas" out there into the public domain. ? R.Searle ? --- On Sat, 11/4/09, John DeSantis wrote: From: John DeSantis Subject: A Vitally Important Public Discussion That The World Should Undertake To: "John DeSantis" Date: Saturday, 11 April, 2009, 3:11 AM A Vitally Important Public Discussion That The World Should Undertake Greetings, My name is John DeSantis (a senior citizen). I hope that every person, government & organization, after reading this e-mail will do their part -- whether the part they play is large or small -- to help get this very important issue to be a worldwide public discussion. For starters, simply forwarding a copy of this to your e-mail list of family, friends, associates & others would be very helpful. Please know that I first started to send the content of this e-mail all over the world on Monday, March 30, 2009. To both protect everyone's privacy that I send it to, as well as from spammers, I always send each e-mail "To" myself and a "Bcc" (Blind Carbon Copy) to the few e-mail addresses that I send it off to each time. Why am I steadily, every day & night, from my home, trying to reach such a large portion of the world in this way? And why am I telling you these few things? Because this is so very important for all of humanity to know about, I strategically want you and everyone else on our planet to absolutely know that they are not the only ones receiving this information. The bottom-line is that I want to inform people in so many different categories in every nation & territory in the world, such as, for example: citizens of every nation & territory; the media; the leaders & governments of each nation & territory; U.N. organizations; city, state & local politicians; high schools, colleges & universities; student groups; environmental & social justice movements; foundations; non-profit organizations; small & large businesses; labor unions; scholars & experts; think tanks; notable people in every field of human activity; religious congregations & organizations of all faiths; bloggers on the internet; television & radio stations; and so many more. For the sake of humanity, PLEASE read my web site and watch my videos that are on it so that you come to know why this is the most important discussion for humanity to engage in. For starters, and just in case you don't want to click on the below link to my web site right now, just below this paragraph is a copy of what is on my HOME page that I want you all to at least read. Why? Because I consider it more than enough BULLET POINTS to make it very clear to each of you what this is all about: http://www.PublicAndPrivateEnterprise.org TO HUMANITY WITH LOVE... BECAUSE OF THE CURRENT DESPERATE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN THE WORLD, DO YOU LONG FOR A VERY DO-ABLE VISION AND PLAN THAT CAN CREATE AN ABSOLUTELY SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIC WORLD? IF SO, FOR ALL OF US IN EVERY NATION TO FINALLY HAVE THE CHANCE TO COME TOGETHER AND CHANGE OUR WORLD FOR THE BETTER, ONCE AND FOR ALL, READ ABOUT THIS MOST IMPORTANT WORLDWIDE PUBLIC DISCUSSION THAT NEEDS TO GET GOING BASED ON MY 28-YEAR VISION THAT I PRESENT ON THIS WEB SITE. IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW TO VERY LOVINGLY, MORALLY, ETHICALLY, SKILLFULLY, AND EASILY CHANGE THE MONEY SYSTEM THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD SO THAT IT FINALLY WORKS ABSOLUTELY WELL FOR ALL OF HUMANITY, ALL OF THE TIME. I HAVE A VERY FIRM CONVICTION THAT ALL OF THE GREAT PROPHETS AND SAGES IN ALL OF HUMANITY'S HISTORY, SUCH AS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) BUDDHA, CONFUCIUS, GANDHI, JESUS, KRISHNA, LAO-TZU, MARTIN LUTHER KING, MOHAMMAD, MOSES, AND SO MANY OTHERS, WOULD WANT THE WHOLE WORLD TO BEGIN TO ENGAGE IN THIS IMPORTANT DISCUSSION IN THE VERY BRIGHT BLAZE OF THE WORLD-WIDE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT. WITH THAT SAID, I HUMBLY SAY THIS: "OPEN-MINDED CONSIDERATION IS THE KEY TO IMPLEMENTING NEW IDEAS." MY DEAR FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE WORLD COME ONE, COME ALL-- HELP US BUILD THIS VERY IMPORTANT WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT--A MOVEMENT THAT CAN END POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT WORLDWIDE, MAKE EVERY SINGLE NATION AND TERRITORY IN THE WORLD PROSPEROUS, PROTECT AND CLEAN UP THE ENVIRONMENT, SOLVE THE ENERGY CRISIS, PROVIDE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION TO EVERYONE IN EVERY NATION, END TAXATION FOR EVERY PERSON AND EVERY LARGE AND SMALL BUSINESS IN EVERY NATION, AND SO MUCH MORE. THIS WAY TO CREATING ECONOMIC SUCCESS AND ELIMINATING POVERTY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD! THE WISE WORKING TOGETHER OF "PUBLIC & PRIVATE ENTERPRISE" IS ONE OF THE WAYS TO THE WONDERFUL AGE-OLD DREAM OF A TRULY UNITED WORLD-WIDE HUMANITY. IT'S A VERY PRACTICAL, ETHICAL, AND SPIRITUAL ECONOMIC PLAN FOR ALL OF HUMANITY TO COME TOGETHER ON AND EMBRACE. SINCE ONE OF THE MAJOR ROOT CAUSES LEADING TO WARS, CRIME, AND TERRORISM IS POVERTY, THE WISE MARRIAGE OF "PUBLIC & PRIVATE ENTERPRISE" IS AN ECONOMIC WAY TO A TRULY PROSPEROUS WORLD-WIDE HUMANITY. IT'S THE SUREST AND QUICKEST WAY TO ORGANIZE AND FUND A NON-STOP, SUCCESSFUL ECONOMY IN EVERY SINGLE NATION AND THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD. FINALLY, I HOPE THAT I HAVE INSPIRED YOU TO START READING THE REST OF MY WEB SITE IN THIS LINK: MY VISION ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT (AS WELL AS WATCH MY VIDEOS) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 09:10:02 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:10:02 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Is Hysterical Right-Wing Media Pushing the Unhinged Over the Edge? Message-ID: <003101c9bb80$c4c6f130$4e54d390$@net> We live in interesting times when it is difficult to find our way out of the chaos and into a state of coherence. That insanity reigns among us is evident when we consider the use of depleted uranium in weapons of mass destruction with a half life of 4.5 million years which will cause untold consequences on humanity for centuries to come -- not only affecting the lives of those they are directed against but the lives of those who direct them. Or to witness the mass killings of Palestinians, many of them women and children, by Israeli's using decidedly inhuman weapons, paid for by the U.S., against which it is impossible for others to defend themselves. Should we not also be considering how we are using the soil upon which our life depends, poisoning it with chemicals that render it useless for years to come so we can create more food to feed more people in order to create more jobs which requires more food in order to feed people more adequately. Shouldn't we be asking ourselves questions relative to our sanity when we continue to do things that are known to be death-defining? For example, if driving our cars and eating beef are both known contenders for the number one place in atmospheric pollution, and knowing that if we continue on in this path our children and grandchildren will have no future, why do we continue on in doing it. I could go on and on with these kinds of questions for pages and pages and pages, ad nauseam, and still not cover all of the acts we do today that testify to our collective insanity. Especially with regard to our unmitigated consumption patterns directed by those considered to be "consumers," let alone get into the category labeled "producers". And, let's not even talk about the acts of those labeled "media". But rather than go through this tedious exercise, maybe it is just plain time for all of us to stop and consider what we are doing before we do it? How about "re-member-ing" to use both the left-side logical hemisphere of our brain coupled with the right-side emotional hemisphere, coupled with the heart brain, before arriving at any kind of decision that effects not only ourselves but those around us, and for generations to come. Let's make a pact to Stop the Insanity -- it's the loving thing to do. m r -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 9:24 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Is Hysterical Right-Wing Media Pushing the Unhinged Over the Edge? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Is Hysterical Right-Wing Media Pushing the Unhinged Over the Edge? http://www.alternet.org/story/135981/is_hysterical_right-wing_media_pushing_ the_unhinged_over_the_edge/ By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet. Posted April 11, 2009. AlterNet readers had a lot to say about a recent article arguing that right-wing media may have fueled the Pittsburgh killer's rage. Confronted with a wildly popular president prone to few gaffes, conservative media are having trouble coming up with ways to successfully smear Barack Obama's administration. So, they have resorted to propagating insane conspiracy theories. Fox News is giving airtime to 9/11-truther Alex Jones, while Fox anchor Glenn Beck has spouted off about a "new world order" and mused about the existence of "FEMA-managed concentration camps." The conservative media's embrace of paranoid right-wing ideas should serve as a mildly entertaining gauge of the movement's implosion. Except, Max Blumenthal points out in an article recently published on AlterNet, the legitimization of the uber-fringe may further unhinge mentally deranged individuals and spur them to act out their paranoid fantasies. Blumenthal points out that Richard Poplawski, the 22-year-old Pittsburgh man who allegedly killed three police officers, was an avid Jones fan and was reportedly petrified that the government would take away his guns. Blumenthal quotes David Neiwert, a veteran reporter on right-wing militia movements, who says: "It's always been a problem when major-league demagogues start promulgating false information for political gain. ... What it does is unhinge fringe players from reality and dislodges them even further. When someone like Poplawski hears Glenn Beck touting 'One World Government' and 'they're gonna take your gun' theories, they believe then that it must be true. And that's when they really become crazy. AlterNet's readers had a lot to say about the dangerous new turn taken by Fox News and other right-wing media. Aimleft writes: It is a thin line between talking about censoring ideas (which I'm not trying to do) and figuring out if expressing those ideas, continually and in a constantly outraged manner, is an actual incitement to violence, and not necessarily only for those who are already "crazy." Know what I'm saying? I'm not sure we should put limits on the expression of thought, but then again, there are reasons why it's wrong (and illegal?) to shout "fire" in a crowded theater. The article isn't saying the right wing BS caused this incident. It's just asking if their rhetoric fueled the rage. I'm in total agreement that it did, with this guy, and will continue to do so with others. You can't listen to that shit over and over again without getting all riled up. zola77 agrees, writing that media are a powerful force: It would be hard to make a case that conservative media had no impact on these actions. Media (of all political persuasions) tend to amp up the paranoia factor in their audiences to draw a crowd. The difference is that conservatives are naturally more prone to fear and are therefore already in a more paranoid mind-set. Scientific studies suggest that people who identify as politically conservative are by nature/genetically more prone to fear and paranoia. If someone is naturally in such a frame of mind, and then an external source amplifies that -- there is inevitably going to be a breaking point. snax writes that in general, the conservative mind frame is more susceptible to conspiracy theories: It's not whether somebody is a "nut" or not, but rather their propensity to regard others as inherently bad and needing to be controlled versus inherently good and needing freedom to grow. Conservatives by definition, because their ideology is based on fear of "evil," fall firmly into the former category and are thus far more likely to assume the worst and trample the rights of others to assure that the "evil inside" they fear cannot run amok. Note that I did not use political party in this assertion, however, as clearly there are plenty of misdirected Democrats to be watched as well. DrBrian points out though, that it is important to separate thought and words from actions: While I agree that raving lunatics can unsettle unstable minds, it would be a mistake to hold that they are responsible for the acts committed by their listeners. Unless they actively promote violence, the First Amendment protects their rights, as it should. But Cybershaman disagrees, pointing out that certain types of incendiary talk are in fact very dangerous: Using rhetoric to goad people into a state of mass hysteria is the equivalent of yelling "fire" in a crowded theater in order to start a panic. It's just on a bigger scale. We have a multitude of Walter Winchells trying to stir up another McCarthy movement. What amazes me is that he is blaming "liberals" for the programs created and nursed along by their "conservative" leaders. The New World Order was a Reagan-inspired and Bush I-implemented program. brunowe takes issue with Cybershaman's argument: "Using rhetoric to goad people into a state of mass hysteria is the equivalent of yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater in order to start a panic. It's just on a bigger scale." No it isn't. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater creates an imminent risk. Incendiary conspiracy-mongering over the airwaves doesn't. Ayla87 also disagrees with Cybershaman's point: "Using rhetoric to goad people into a state of mass hysteria is the equivalent of yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater in order to start a panic. It's just on a bigger scale." No it's not. Anyone with half a brain can tell when someone is blowing smoke up their ass. Just because one person was mentally unstable and took his words literally doesn't mean he intended for that outcome. No more than most pro-life advocates intend for abortion clinics to be blown up, or most Muslims clerics intend to instigate jihad against all infidels. People have misinterpreted the rhetoric of others and used it to justify their own atrocities for thousands of years. Punishing orators who come up with these ideas is counterproductive. Instead, we should be encouraging them to stand up and denounce misinterpretation as much as possible. Sister_Lauren however, points out that incendiary rhetoric by pundits has had some pretty serious repercussions: Incendiary conspiracy-mongering over the airwaves led us into an illegal occupation in Iraq, covered up a lot of serious crimes, continues to this day to mislead and misinform. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 09:27:41 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:27:41 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Say What? Message-ID: <003701c9bb83$3b8128c0$b2837a40$@net> In my book, this is definitely more left-brain thinking. All it takes really to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain and maintain body balance is to make a decision to do so. Then couple it with maintaining a healthy pH balanced body by eating foods supplying the necessary nutrients as evidenced by the writings of many naturopathic medical professionals . And maintain it by doing one of the martial arts known for thousands of years to accomplish this on a daily basis - again documented by scientific research. Why do we keep trying to find an easy way out that also makes money - giving our power over again to money? Thus repeating the same old cycle. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Maybe healing is "learning to think differently!" From: Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 10:08 PM Subject: Say What? ------------ Instantly Balance the Right & Left Hemispheres of the Brain, Bringing the Body into Immediate Homeostasis http://www.2ProsperWell.com ------------ The Whole Wellness Club... Holy Tea Cleanses Colon Top to Bottom; Cinnamon 6 for Continuous, Sustained Energy & Balance of Sugar Level; Coral Complex 3 is Most Advanced Mega-Mineral Supplement Available: www.ProsperTea.com - WISH FOR LOVE... www.PlanetaryLoveWish.com - LIBERTY in Our Lifetime! www.PlanetaryRepublic.com www.CampaignForLiberty.com - -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: unknown.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 35277 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 10:00:36 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:00:36 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: On Humanity Healing Network: Healing Wisdom 11 April Message-ID: <005b01c9bb87$d4dd45e0$7e97d1a0$@net> I recently joined this group on Ning with the thoughts of linking it with Future Dawning in order to more fully address our collective insanity. I received this message yesterday which makes a lot of sense to me and am passing it on. With love and appreciation for all that we do together. M R -----Original Message----- From: Humanity Healing Network [mailto:mail at humanityhealing.ning.com] Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 9:30 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: On Humanity Healing Network: Healing Wisdom 11 April A message to all members of Humanity Healing Network Blessings friend, "Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. " ~ Cherie Carter-Scott "When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free." ~ Catherine Ponder Forgiveness is the act of unchaining yourself from thoughts and feelings that bind you to an offense, imagined or real, committed against you. It is a commitment to a process of growth and change. The first step is to recognize the value of forgiveness and the positive impact it can have in our lives. When we forgive, we release the control and power of the offending person and stop playing the victim. We no longer define our lives by how we have been hurt and instead can define ourselves by how we have grown. Together we release, Humanity Healing Team Visit Humanity Healing Network at: http://humanityhealing.ning.com -- To control which emails you receive on Humanity Healing Network, go to: http://humanityhealing.ning.com/profiles/profile/emailSettings From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 10:32:34 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:32:34 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [FixGov] 'Capitalism is Organized Crime' Conference: Sun, April 19 in DC Message-ID: <006e01c9bb8c$4c01ed20$e405c760$@net> Something to think about here, but IMHO, we must move beyond both capitalism and socialism into something new. That something new is beginning to be presented by the Zeitgeist movement as "future by design" and by others as "netocracy". There are good things inherent within all of the 'isms" and the "ocracy's," and our job at this time is to look at all of the good things of each system and integrate them into a whole new system based in sustainable living and justice for all so that we may evolve into another level of consciousness. And not just get caught up in "either/or" dichotomies. From: FixGov at yahoogroups.com [mailto:FixGov at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Party for Socialism and Liberation Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 9:03 AM To: votepsl at yahoo.com Subject: [FixGov] 'Capitalism is Organized Crime' Conference: Sun, April 19 in DC You are invited to attend ... "CAPITALISM IS ORGANIZED CRIME" a conference taking place on Sunday, April 19 in Washington, D.C. The "Capitalism is Organized Crime" conference will take place on Sunday, April 19 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm at the Festival Center, located at 1640 Columbia Rd. NW, between 16th and 17th Sts. (green line metro to Columbia Heights), in Washington, D.C. The conference will link the struggles of those fighting for social and economic justice at home with those fighting against U.S. imperialism and for national liberation around the world, and will address the need for a society organized to meet the needs of the majority rather than to maximize the profit of a few. FEATURED SPEAKERS at the April 19th Conference will include: * Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice * Hodari Abdul-Ali, Chair of the Social Justice Task Force for MANA, the Muslim Alliance in North America * Prof. Zachary Wolfe, George Washington University, chair of the Amicus Curiae Committee of the National Lawyers Guild * Representative, Friends of the Congo * Frances Villar, Senator and Senate Parliamentarian of Bronx Community College Student Government, Vice Chair for Legislative Affairs for University Student Senate of City University of New York (CUNY) * Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition * James Circello, Iraq war veteran and co-coordinator of the Veterans and Service Members Task Force of the ANSWER Coalition * Eugene Puryear, Howard University student, PSL 2008 Vice-Presidential Candidate * Crystal Kim, PSL 2008 Candidate for D.C. Council At-Large SCHEDULE for the day 11:00 am: Doors open for registration 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm: Panel I Capitalism is Organized Crime 2:30 - 4:00 pm: Panel II The Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism and for National Liberation 4:30 - 5:15 pm: Panel III Is Socialism Possible in the United States? To PRE-REGISTER for the April 19th Conference, click here: http://www.pslweb.org/registerDCconference $20 donation requested. No one turned away for lack of funds. Childcare available. Please call to reserve. The April 19th "Capitalism is Organized Crime" Conference is hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). For more information, click here: http://www.pslweb.org/dcconference Email: dc at socialismandliberation.org Phone: 202-543-4900 __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Members Yahoo! Groups Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! 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URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 10:48:53 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:48:53 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it In-Reply-To: <26791.58058.qm@web94909.mail.in2.yahoo.com> References: <26791.58058.qm@web94909.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <007301c9bb8e$911c2220$b3546660$@net> Dear Mukhtar, Since I am ?in the flow? much of my day, as I operate from an altered state of mind (meditative state) most of the time when I am writing, it is not necessary for me to take the breaks you recommend. I simply live my life with respect for all, so there appears to be no reason for me to interrupt this with any other activity. I also do not pray for change of any circumstances as I hold that the Universal Mind knows best what is ?in the best interests of all concerned? and will act accordingly. So, I turn things over to the Akashic Field ? the mainframe computer ? to figure out, while I move on as a ?personal computer? doing my assigned tasks of feeding information into the mainframe. With love and appreciation for all that you do. From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 3:31 AM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: Re: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Dear Mary and all distinguished members, I wonder whether men and women in the Bless Unrest movement take rest at least 5 times a day for meditation, prayer and relaxations as lots of unrest involving ecologically hostile energy guzzling and GHG emitting travel is not needed for ecosafety. I recall Benjamin Puetter , speech writer of Late Petra Kelly and my friend writing blessed unrest in all his mails.I would be digging out his address from my mails and send some to GJM for needful.. With prayers for temporal and eternal wellbeing of all, Dr..Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Sat, 11/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" Date: Saturday, 11 April, 2009, 6:32 AM Publicizing the Blessed Unrest Movement is one of the things Future Dawning is about. From a Co-learner?s list member who has asked that his name not be disclosed. Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 4:09 PM Subject: "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Subject: [ziraat] "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and why no one saw it Paul Hawken gives us hope..... Pass it on!! "It is about possibilities and solutions. Humankind knows what to do." Paul Hawken http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html with all love, -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net _____ Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 18:25:40 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:25:40 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] TINY VIOLINS, PLAYING IN THE BANK LOBBY.... Message-ID: <000301c9bbce$636acad0$2a406070$@net> We the people could move our assets from the larger rotting banking system to the smaller community banks and credit unions which are still very viable since they didn't indulge themselves in gambling practices and pyramid schemes. And create community currencies as lifeboats in which to ride out the storm. Why do we continue on with these anchors around our necks going "glug, glug, glug" as they pull us under? Why don't we just change our belief system and move on? Is there any purpose in going down with a sinking ship when there are healthy viable alternatives that can keep us afloat while we restructure? There are more of us than there are them. And, they certainly need us more than we need them right now. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:08 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] TINY VIOLINS, PLAYING IN THE BANK LOBBY.... (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) TINY VIOLINS, PLAYING IN THE BANK LOBBY.... http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017702.php The New York Times reports today on "signs of growing tensions between the White House and the nation's banks." Apparently, industry executives are "bracing for fights with the government over repayment of bailout money and forced sales of bad mortgages." Reading over the piece, I'm not sure what the problem is, exactly. Some of the healthier banks want to pay back their bailout loans to avoid executive pay and other restrictions that come with the money. But the banks are balking at the hefty premium they agreed to pay when they took the money. Hmm. When the federal government rescued these institutions from collapse, the deal was the banks would pay back the money and then some. The banks agreed. Now, the banks no longer like the deal. Meanwhile, the Obama administration wants weaker banks to move more quickly to relieve their balance sheets of the toxic assets, the home loans and mortgage bonds that nobody wants to buy right now. But the banks are resisting because they would have to book big losses. Hmm. Banks that were reckless enough to take on the toxic assets don't want to take a loss on their bad bets. Finally, there is increasing anxiety in the industry that the administration could use the stress tests of the 19 biggest banks, due to be completed in the next three weeks, to insist on management changes, just as it did with General Motors when officials forced the resignation of its chief executive after examining that company's books. Hmm. Those who made reckless decisions while bringing their institutions -- and the global economy -- to the brink of collapse are worried about their job security. So, it appears there are "signs of growing tensions between the White House and the nation's banks" because the banks don't believe in consequences? From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 18:32:53 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:32:53 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Eat Healthy America: 52 Superfoods Message-ID: <000401c9bbcf$6589e4d0$309dae70$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 11:05 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Eat Healthy America: 52 Superfoods (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Eat Healthy America: 52 Superfoods Join WD's initiative to help make healthy eating a lasting part of your everyday By Karen Ansel, RD Posted December 04, 2008 from Woman's Day; January 1, 2009 Step into any supermarket and you?ll see thousands of labels shouting good-health claims: Whole grains! No trans fats! Essential vitamins and minerals! But figuring out what really is part of a healthy diet is getting harder and harder in these days of information overload. And it shows in the sobering statistics: 66% of Americans are overweight or obese?which is a big reason more of us are developing diseases such as diabetes, and at younger ages. That?s why Woman?s Day is launching a yearlong series, Eat Healthy America. Our goal is to make healthy eating a no-brainer. In every issue, you?ll find easy ideas and advice that?ll help you make smart choices, plan balanced (and great-tasting) meals, get a grip on portions, and more. We?ll also prompt you to take small, doable steps that will help you eat better for good. Start here: Clean out your kitchen, tossing as many unhealthy items as you can. Single-ingredient foods? apples, chicken, cooking oil, etc.?are keepers. Packaged foods with long lists of hard-to-pronounce ingredients go out, especially if they contain more than 7% of calories from saturated fat or more than 10% of calories from sugar. Now, turn the page and find out what you?ve made room for! 52 Superfoods Fill up on these nutrient packed foods, which can help you fight disease. Feel more energetic and even lose weight. 1 Eggs Each egg has 6 grams of protein but just 72 calories. No wonder researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, found that eating eggs for breakfast (as part of a low-cal diet) helps you slim down. 2 Tomato sauce It?s loaded with lycopene, which makes your skin look younger and keeps your heart healthy. In fact, a Harvard study found that women with the most lycopene in their blood reduced their risk of a heart attack by 34%. 3 Dried plums(prunes) They?re packed with polyphenols, plant chemicals that have been shown to boost bone density by stimulating your bone-building cells. 4 Walnuts Just 14 walnut halves provide more than twice your daily dose of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat that?s been shown to improve memory and coordination. 5 Brussels sprouts They have more glucosinolates (compounds that combat cancer and detoxify our bodies) than any other vegetable. For a side dish that will make you wonder why you?ve been avoiding them, slice each one into quarters, then saut? in olive oil with chopped sweet Vidalia onions. 6 Acai juice A glass or two of this anthocyanin-rich berry juice can dramatically boost the amount of antioxidants in your blood, say Texas A&M University researchers. 7 Apples They contain quercetin, an antioxidant that may reduce your risk of lung cancer. 8 Bok choy This calcium-rich veggie can protect your bones and may even ward off PMS symptoms. 9 Steel-cut oats Because they?re less processed than traditional oats, they?re digested more slowly?keeping you full all morning long. 10 Salmon You?ll get all the heart-smart omega-3s you need in a day from just 3 oz. 11 Avocados Their healthy fat keeps you satisfied and helps you absorb other nutrients. For a new u twist, brush a halved avocado (pit removed) with olive oil and grill 1 minute. Serve with red onion, sliced grapefruit and balsamic vinegar. 12 Spinach A half-cup provides more than five times your daily dose of vitamin K, which helps blood clot and builds strong bones. 13 Canned pumpkin It?s filled with natural cancer fighters alpha- and beta-carotene. 14 Cauliflower White foods can be good for you! This one is packed with cancer-fighting glucosinolates. 15 Scallops A 3-oz serving has 14 grams of protein but just 75 calories. 16 Collard greens They?re exploding with nutrients like vitamin A, zeaxanthin and lutein, which keep your eyes healthy. 17 Olives They deliver the same heart-healthy monounsaturated fat you get in olive oil, but for just 7 calories per jumbo olive! 18 Brown rice It?s a top source of magnesium, a mineral your body uses for more than 300 chemical reactions (such as building bones and converting food to energy). 19 Oysters These keep your immune system strong. A 3-oz serving (about 6 oysters) dishes up a quarter of your daily iron, plus nearly twice the zinc and all the selenium you need in a day. 20 Edamame One cup has a whopping 22 grams of plant protein, as well as lots of fiber, folate and cholesterol-lowering phytosterols. 21 Strawberries They?re loaded with ellagitannins, phytochemicals that may halt the growth of cervical and colon cancers. 22 Lentils A great source of meat-free protein, a half-cup of cooked lentils also gives you nearly half your daily folate, a B vitamin that protects a woman?s unborn baby from neural tube defects. 23 Bran flakes Their whole grains keep your heart in tip-top shape by reducing inflammation and melting away belly fat. 24 Kiwi Italian researchers found that it reduces asthma-related wheezing, thanks to its high vitamin C content (one kiwi has 110% of your daily requirement). 25 Black beans They?re loaded with protein, fiber, and flavonoids?antioxidants that help your arteries stay relaxed and pliable. 26 Sunflower seeds A quarter-cup delivers half your day?s vitamin E, which keeps your heart healthy and fights infection. 27 Sardines 3 oz provide more than 100% of your daily vitamin D. Sardines are also a top source of omega-3 fats. Try adding mashed canned sardines to marinara sauce and serving over whole-wheat pasta. 28 Asparagus A half-cup supplies 50% of your daily bone-building vitamin K and a third of your day?s folate, it?s a natural diuretic so it banishes bloating, too. 29 Bananas They?re loaded with several kinds of good-for-you fiber, including resistant starch (which helps you slim down). 30 Broccoli sprouts They have 10 times more of the cancer-preventing compound glucoraphanin than regular broccoli. 31 Fat-free milk With a third of the calcium and half the vitamin D you need in a day, plus 8 grams u of muscle-building protein, it?s the ultimate energy drink. 32 Baked potatoes Each one packs a megadose of blood-pressure?lowering potassium?even more than a banana. 33 Sweet potatoes Half of a large baked sweet potato delivers more than 450% of your daily dose of vitamin A, which protects your vision and your immune system. 34 Flaxseed Not only is flaxseed loaded with plant omega-3s, it also has more lignans (compounds that may prevent endometrial and ovarian cancer) than any other food. Store ground flaxseed in your refrigerator and sprinkle on yogurt, cold cereal or oatmeal. 35 Greek yogurt It has twice the protein of regular yogurt. 36 Dried tart cherries Researchers at Michigan State University found their potent anthocyanins help control blood sugar, reduce insulin and lower cholesterol. 37 Wheat germ A quarter-cup gives you more than 40% of your daily vitamin E and immune-boosting selenium. 38 Whole-wheat english muffins You get 4 ? grams of fiber for only 134 calories. 39 Tea Both green and black tea prevent hardening of the arteries, according to researchers at the University of Scranton. 40 Peanut butter This smart spread has arginine, an amino acid that helps keep blood vessels healthy. 41 Blackberries The king of the berry family boasts more antioxidants than strawberries, cranberries or blueberries. 42 Mustard greens These ?greens? (actually a cruciferous veggie) are a top source of vitamin K. For a tasty pesto, chop them in a food processor with garlic, walnuts, Parmesan and olive oil. 43 Grapes They?re a leading source of resveratrol, the plant chemical responsible for the heart-healthy benefits of red wine. 44 Soy milk A good source of vegetable protein, calcium-enriched soy milk has as much calcium and vitamin D as cow?s milk. 45 Brazil nuts They have more selenium than any other food. One nut delivers your entire day?s worth! 46 Canola oil A Tbsp of this heart-healthy oil has all the alpha-linolenic acid you need in a day, plus two different forms of vitamin E. 47 Blueberries They improve memory by protecting your brain from inflammation and boosting communication between brain cells. 48 Oranges One orange supplies more than 100% of the vitamin C you need in a day. It?s also a good source of calcium and folate. 49 Watercress With just 4 calories per cup, this cruciferous veggie delivers a hefty dose of vitamin K, zeaxanthin, lutein, beta-carotene and cancer-fighting phytochemicals. 50 Turkey breast It has 20 grams of satisfying protein but just 90 calories per 3-oz serving. 51 Barley A top source of beta-glucan, a fiber that lowers cholesterol and helps control blood sugar. 52 Shiitake mushrooms One serving (about ? lb) provides as much vitamin D as you?d get from a glass of milk. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 12 18:54:31 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:54:31 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Billions in Payroll Tax Remain Unpaid to IRS Message-ID: <001a01c9bbd2$6b1abb10$41503130$@net> Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe there just isn't enough money in a transaction to allow a business to stay in business when taxes are considered as part of the game. It's really the same thing as "externalizing costs" and passing them on to future generations, because if the costs were included now then no one would be able to afford the price of most of the things we manufacture. Has anyone considered that the system needs to be restructured in order to serve today's needs? Seems to me I've heard a lot about the way new systems could be structured to eliminate taxes. Why punish people when the system is at fault? Of course this would mean abolishing the IRS and a lot of jobs wouldn't it? But then, maybe it would be cheaper and more effective to pay people to stay home rather than go out and work. At least that's what Alvin Toffler's findings show in "The Third Wave." Especially when technological advances are rapidly replacing the need for human labor. Shouldn't labor be getting some of the benefits of technological advances and not letting it just accrue to the capitalists? Didn't human labor help get us to this point in time where people don't have to work so hard? Is anyone but me confused about why we have to hang on to this old belief system when it no longer serves us in the best interests of all concerned? Indeed if it ever did. Is it any wonder all of us are doing crazy things? The more I think about this system the more often the term "crazy-maker" pops up. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 11:03 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Billions in Payroll Tax Remain Unpaid to IRS (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072802 712.html Billions in Payroll Tax Remain Unpaid to IRS Number of Businesses in Arrears Soars Tuesday, July 29, 2008; Page A04 Businesses have shorted the Internal Revenue Service about $58 billion in federal payroll taxes they withheld from employees' wages over the past 10 years, congressional investigators have found. The Government Accountability Office says in a report to be published today that 1.6 million businesses did not forward to the IRS taxes they collected for employees' federal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare payments. The report was requested by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed outrage upon learning of the GAO's findings. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, called on the IRS "to take off the kid gloves" when dealing with such businesses. "You have a situation where, for example, construction companies can make lower bids knowing that they can make up the difference with this cushion. That's an unfair competitive advantage to those companies," he said. ad_icon "At a time when our nation is drowning in debt, it is appalling that delinquent businesses have cheated Uncle Sam," agreed Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the subcommittee chairman. The number of businesses with more than five years of payroll tax debt more than doubled in the past decade, from 5,367 to 14,681, while the number of businesses 10 years in arrears on payroll taxes had increased 470 percent. Beyond that point, under statutory limitation, the government usually writes off the tax debt. Coleman said the IRS placed too much emphasis on voluntary compliance, a policy abused by repeat offenders. He called on the IRS "to use liens and levies much earlier" in pursuing tax debts. "There needs to be a change of attitude," he said. "With the 10-year statute, the amount that they are writing off is going up and up. This year, it is $4 billion in payroll taxes." While some business owners are deliberately defrauding the government, others get into trouble by granting themselves a short-term break from paying the taxes -- perhaps to get through a particularly tight quarter -- and then find themselves in a hole they can never get out of, said Giovanni Coratolo, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's executive director of small and mid-market business councils. "We do not in any way condone" such a practice, Coratolo said, "but sometimes businesses do make mistakes, and down the line," as interest and penalties accumulate, "it can actually sink some companies." Coratolo warned that aggressive actions by tax collectors could be disastrous for small businesses. Steve Ellis, vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group, said: "Taxpayers need to be on a level playing field, or the people paying their fair share end up feeling like chumps." From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 13 08:53:58 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:53:58 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site Message-ID: <000e01c9bc47$b0351ae0$109f50a0$@net> More from this new era of "the way things are taking shape'!!!!! -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:17 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Gol dman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent Last Updated: 2:16PM BST 11 Apr 2009 The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website. Florida-based Mr Morgan began a blog entitled "Facts about Goldman Sachs" ? the web address for which is goldmansachs666.com ? just a few weeks ago. In that time Mr Morgan, a registered investment adviser, has added a number of posts to the site, including one entitled "Does Goldman Sachs run the world?". However, many of the posts relate to other Wall Street firms and issues. According to Chadbourne & Parke's letter, dated April 8, the bank is rattled because the site "violates several of Goldman Sachs' intellectual property rights" and also "implies a relationship" with the bank itself. Unsurprisingly for a man who has conjoined the bank's name with the Number of the Beast ? although he jokingly points out that 666 was also the S&P500's bear-market bottom ? Mr Morgan is unlikely to go down without a fight. He claims he has followed all legal requirements to own and operate the website ? and that the header of the site clearly states that the content has not been approved by the bank. On a special section of his blog entitled "Goldman Sachs vs Mike Morgan" he predicts that the fight will probably end up in court. "It's just another example of how a bully like Goldman Sachs tries to throw their weight around," he writes. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Morgan explained how he went through a similar battle with US homebuilder Lennar a few years ago after he set up a website to collect information on what he alleged was shoddy workmanship in its homes. The pair eventually settled out of court. "Since I went through this with Lennar, I've had advice from some of the best intellectual property lawyers, and I know exactly what I can and can't do. We're not going to back down from this," he promises. Mr Morgan adds that if Goldman manages to shut down his site, he has a number of other domain names registered. ? Speculation is mounting that Goldman Sachs is set to raise several billion dollars via a share sale, possibly next week, in order to pay down a $10bn (?6.8bn) US government loan, as revealed in The Sunday Telegraph last week. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 13 09:07:50 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:07:50 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Big Food Is Copying Big Tobacco's Disinformation Tactics Message-ID: <002101c9bc49$9ff64080$dfe2c180$@net> Appears to me there is a trend shaping up with more people concerned about the food we are eating and its affect on us. But then if one is going to wear the new swim wear, then one better be in shape, huh! -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:10 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Big Food Is Copying Big Tobacco's Disinformation Tactics (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Big Food Is Copying Big Tobacco's Disinformation Tactics, How Many Will Die This Time? http://www.alternet.org/environment/135965/big_food_is_copying_big_tobacco%2 7s_disinformation_tactics%2C_how_many_will_die_this_time_/ By Fen Montaigne, Yale Environment 360. Posted April 11, 2009. The playbook is the same, but this time the the lies and misinformation could be disastrous for everyone -- children especially. Increasingly, the question of what we eat and how it affects our health is a subject that is important not just to those concerned about nutrition but to environmentalists. Kelly D. Brownell, a psychologist who is director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, has been a leading researcher into America's obesity epidemic and its links to the practices of the food industry. Author of the 2004 book, Food Fight, Brownell has recently become interested in the connections between obesity, the environment, and hunger, believing that sustainably growing and producing more nutritious foods can help solve each of these challenges. Recently, Brownell and Kenneth E. Warner -- a prominent tobacco researcher who is Dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health -- met at a conference and began discussing the similar legal, political, and business strategies traditionally employed by "Big Tobacco" and the tactics now being used by "Big Food." Struck by the common playbook that both industries have used and concerned about the public health impacts of industry actions, Brownell and Warner decided to explore the topic more deeply. The result was a paper published earlier this year in the health policy journal, the Milbank Quarterly: "The Perils of Ignoring History: Big Tobacco Played Dirty and Millions Died. How Similar Is Big Food?" As Brownell explained in an interview with Yale Environment 360 senior editor Fen Montaigne, many of the tactics currently being used by Big Food now mirror those used by U.S. tobacco giants as they successfully fought off regulation for decades, thereby contributing to the deaths of millions of Americans. According to Brownell and Warner, the common strategies include dismissing as "junk science" peer-reviewed studies showing a link between their products and disease; paying scientists to produce pro-industry studies; sowing doubt in the public's mind about the harm caused by their products; intensive marketing to children and adolescents; frequently rolling out supposedly "safer" products and vowing to regulate their own industries; denying the addictive nature of their products; and lobbying with massive resources to thwart regulatory action. Fen Montaigne: Can you tell me about the genesis of the paper? Kelly Brownell: It came about as a result of a meeting I went to on cancer, where I met Ken Warner, an economist who's done a lot of interesting work on things like tobacco taxes. We talked about the similarities between food industry behavior now and tobacco industry behavior over the last four decades or so and it started to look as if there were a script or a playbook that industry was following. By any definition, the tobacco industry script had been deadly -- and successful for them because they forestalled government action. They had convinced the public that tobacco wasn't as bad as it really was. They fought off lawsuits. They got government to delay many (actions). We simply didn't want the food industry to be able to get away with some of those same tactics. The public has become skeptical of food industry behavior and a great deal of concern has been raised about things like marketing to children, selling unhealthy foods in schools. That means the industry is at a crossroads. They can behave as tobacco did, which is lie about the science, distort the truth, and buy up the scientists. Or they can come face-to-face with the reality that some of their products are helping people and some are hurting, and we need to shift the balance. There are some differences in the industries. Tobacco was one product -- cigarettes -- and about half a dozen big companies that sold it. With food, there are hundreds of companies and many thousands of products. But the behavior of the industry shows some pretty striking similarities. FM: I'd like to have you take us through some of those. KB: Well, one is distorting the science and denying the health effects of their products. (Recently) a study was done showing that how close people lived to fast food restaurants predicted their likelihood of obesity. The study was really quite well done. So the National Restaurant Association then came out with their own statement that basically trashed the study and more or less called it junk science. Now, this is a perfect repeat of what tobacco did for many years. They said smoking doesn't cause lung cancer. There is not definitive evidence. There aren't good-enough studies. It's junk science. It's just the advocates out to get us. And then they denied that second-hand smoke was killing people. They denied that nicotine was addictive. You can go on and on and on. Well, so here comes a (food) study that's pretty persuasive. It certainly supports other studies showing a link between fast food consumption and obesity, and what did they do? They trashed the science. They deny it's the case. In all likelihood, they will pay scientists who they know to produce results favorable to them to disprove this finding. It's all part of the same script. FM: You gave another example in your paper of a study about obesity and consumption of sodas. How did the industry react to that? KB: The results couldn't have been more clear that the more sugared beverages you're consuming, the more likely you are to have weight problems, the higher your risk for diabetes, and the less likely you are to be eating a healthier diet. The day the study came out, the trade association for the beverage companies, the American Beverage Association, trashed the study, said it was biased, accused us of cherry-picking only the studies that were in support of our position. And this study was published in the American Journal of Public Health, a good peer-reviewed journal. So attacking it was the first strategy that they used. Then the next strategy they used is they went and they paid some scientists who have produced in the past studies that are favorable to industry positions. They go and they review the literature, and then they do a study that says, "Oh, what do you know? There's no link between soft drink intakes and these bad outcomes." Now, I think if I were them, I would say that's not how we're going to behave. When we hear studies that are contrary to our interests, we're going to say, "Well, we'll take this seriously and we'll do what we can to change our products and change our marketing, and we'll work with the scientists." But that's not what they're doing, for the most part. FM: You also pointed out the link between what big tobacco did and what big food is doing, trying to sow doubt and confusion in the public's mind. KB: What the tobacco industry and other industries have done, they realized that if you can instill just enough doubt or impugn the integrity of the people who produce the science or get people second-guessing, then people will say, "Well, we're not sure if this is the case, so we're not going to go through with a public policy. We're not going to sue the industry or come down hard on them for anything." And so it basically does enough to stall action. And I imagine that's what the food industry is seeking here. Again, the food industry has some players who are quite progressive and others who are less so. FM: Tell us about some of the other similar strategies between tobacco and food in terms of trying to keep selling their product. KB: One is the introduction of what the industry will call safer products. And the classic example in tobacco was the introduction of filtered cigarettes. Now, the food industry has done this a lot. They've introduced and reformulated products. In some cases, it's exactly what public health people have been calling for -- take out some of the fat, take out some of the sugar, take out some of the salt. But sometimes, they take a little of these things out, but they make it sound as if they've taken a lot out. And so the health benefits that get promoted in the marketing aren't in concert with the actual benefits that have been achieved from reformulating their products. FM: You mention in your paper the example of a Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisement. KB: Right. Well, KFC is owned by a large parent company called Yum! Brands. And they own Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and some other restaurants. They were very resistant early on to taking the trans fats out of their food and then they got sued by an advocacy organization, and it got to the point where competitors were starting to take out the trans fats and they looked pretty bad for not doing it. So then they did take out the trans fats reluctantly but started this campaign that inferred that you can now eat this chicken with impunity because the trans fats had been removed. There is one advertisement where the husband came in and the mother and children were sitting there in the counter. The husband looked at the chicken and the wife said, "Guess what?" in words to this effect, "KFC is now free of trans fats." And so, he lets out a yelp of glee and starts gorging on the chicken. And so, somebody could look at that advertisement and say, "Okay. Well now it doesn't have trans fats, it means it's okay to eat it." Well in fact, if you swap out trans fat for another kind of fat, there's no calorie advantage at all. It's better for your heart because it's a healthier fat, but there's no calorie advantage. I like the fact that they took out the trans fat and we need more of that kind of thing happening. But if they oversold the benefits, this could be an example of introducing what the industry could call a safer product but consumption patterns wouldn't lead it to actually be safer. FM: What about the similarities of Big Food hitting this theme of personal responsibility? KB: People believe that personal responsibility should be the way we address problems. I don't have any quarrel with that. It's probably not a bad place to start, but when this industry behaves in a way that undermines personal responsibility, then we've got problems and that's usually a place where people feel government intervention is warranted. So with tobacco, you had a clearly addictive substance. So, people would start when they were teenagers. Their ability to behave in a responsible way was being undermined by the marketing and of course the addictive nature of the product. So, that means government could step in and so what do we do? We pass clean air laws, we tax the heck out of cigarettes, we sue the tobacco industry. And society now accepts that as responsible behavior on the part of government because personal responsibility was being eroded. So the question is, in food, does that same set of conditions exist and does that warrant government response? Well, everybody comes down in a different place, but there certainly are similarities, including very heavy duty marketing of these products, especially to children. I don't want to say that personal responsibility is not important, because it certainly is. But in some cases we've decided that's not enough and then government gets involved. With tobacco, with drugs, with alcohol, with immunizations for children, with fluoride in the water, with mandatory airbags in cars, we've decided that if we're serious about these public health things, the government should be involved. In the food arena, a great example of this would be in New York City, where the health department has banned trans fats in restaurants. So if you go to New York now, you can't get trans fats in the restaurants. Now you could try to solve that problem of people eating trans fats, and having heart disease as a consequence of it, by personal responsibility. You could say, "Okay, well, let's educate people about trans fats." But it's a pretty hard concept to understand. Restaurants would have to label them. People would have to have options within restaurants, trans fat versus no trans fat. And you see you'd have this complex, burdensome system that would never work. And so, that would be an example where personal responsibility wouldn't get the job done but government intervention would. And so, in New York City, they've decided that we can't default to personal responsibility there, we need to take action. And that would be an example of a real success story from a public health point of view. FM: Of course, with tobacco very clearly there was an issue of addiction. But one interesting point you raised is the addiction triggers in substances like caffeine and sugar? KB: We don't know the answer yet to the question about whether food can trigger an addictive process in the brain. But it's a darn important question that we need to know. Some addiction researchers have started studying this, including a few animal researchers in the obesity field. And the studies are pretty amazing so far. There are animal studies in the labs and there are brain imaging studies in humans. And what's been studied the most is sugar, which looks like it has effects on the brain like classic substances of abuse. Now, the magnitude of the effect, the addictive effect isn't that strong, but it does seem to exist. Why do we need to know this? Well, people are eating in ways that would suggest that addiction might be a possibility. I mean, people know it's bad for them to overeat these kinds of foods. But people do this anyway at great peril to their health. And if these foods are behaving on the brain in an addictive way, if that happens, even to a small extent, it could have pretty important public health consequences. Caffeine becomes a real issue because caffeine is addictive. And some people drink a little of it through beverages, some people drink a lot of it, but so much of it is added to foods now, in things like energy drinks. And now people are putting it in candy bars and in potato chips and jelly beans and selling it as energy versions of things. There's a version of Butterfinger candy bar out now that's called Butterfinger Buzz. And it says on the back, "Not recommended for children." But I mean, who's buying these things? Caffeine, because it's so often coupled with calories, could become a real player here that if you're consuming calories in something that has caffeine in it and the caffeine keeps you coming back for more because of its mildly addictive nature then, again, you've got enough to create real issues of health. FM: You mentioned with big tobacco that there was a massive lobbying effort spending countless millions of dollars to stifle government action. Could you describe the parallels, the efforts to undermine state and local efforts to crack down on fast food and trans fats? KB: There's a remarkable history there. As you might imagine, the food industry is enormously powerful. And the industry speaks as individual players but also through their trade associations. They have their lobbyists in Washington. They have a lot of money to use for this purpose, and they're effective. But does this help public health? New York City was the first city to pass a regulation that restaurants had to post calories on their restaurant menus, or on menu boards in the case of fast food restaurants. How did the restaurant industry respond to this? Well, they responded by lobbying heavily against it, but that didn't work. Then sued New York City, and finally lost. And so, the regulation is now in effect. When it looked like legal action wasn't going to help them so much, then they tried to weaken the legislation. A lot of other places around the country are now passing menu labeling, so the industry has managed to get several legislators in Washington to introduce a national bill that would override anything that can be done at local levels by having a weak national standard. So, there's a script that tobacco followed that food is following. If there's no threat, you ignore it. But then when it becomes a reality, you sue. When that doesn't work, you preempt it nationally. FM: In order for the food industry not to go down the same deadly path that tobacco went down, could you go into what you might call a good playbook for the food industry? KB: One is to stop playing the personal responsibility card as much as they have. That doesn't mean that they have to ignore personal responsibility, but they can't act as if that's the only reason that people are eating and developing nutrition and weight problems. Lying about the science, distorting scientific findings, and trashing the messenger, which they very often do -- I think that should stop. I believe they should also stop paying scientists to do studies that almost 100 percent of the time favor industry. Marketing unhealthy products to children should stop instantly. And we know what some of these products are that are hurting the health of children. FM: Can you list a few? KB: Well, sugared beverages would be at the top of the list. Fast foods would be second on that list. Sugared cereals, candy. There's just no reason at all to market those things to kids. It's not helping them, it's hurting them and it shouldn't be done. There are a number of other issues about responsible marketing practices: not overstating the health benefits, not implying that something is healthier than it really is, not marketing in ways that undermine the parental ability to moderate the health of their children. Most of all, they should reformulate their products and market the healthier versions as aggressively as possible, I think. FM: You say that it would be a trap to give the food industry the benefit of the doubt given their past behavior. Why? KB: Well, the tobacco history was so riddled with disaster and we gave them the benefit of the doubt and look at the millions of people that died as a consequence. Why are the motives of the food industry going to be any different? They want to sell as much as they can of their products. But on the other hand, the public is watching them now and government is watching them, plus some of them really may see that selling healthier products is in their best long-term interest. But it seems to me that defaulting to trusting the industry without any oversight is really a bad idea. And so, at the very least, we should have a set of conditions that we agree on that says, "If industry is to be proven trustworthy, if we're to grant them self-regulatory authority instead of government coming down on them, then they have to do these things." Like, for example, they have to work with the public health community to make business priorities. If they make self-regulatory promises like, "We're going to market less to kids," there has to be objective evaluation of that and there has to be some effect if they don't comply. From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Mon Apr 13 11:55:33 2009 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:55:33 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fw: Real news from within the G20 protests, London ... Message-ID: <007301c9bc61$0dd32200$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> ----- Original Message ----- From: Maria Maloney To: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 5:05 PM Subject: Real news from within the G20 protests, London ... Hi Rodney and Global Justice Movement Team, Award winning independent UK film director Bill Maloney and his camera person Lilly Starr joined protesters at the G20 London Summitt 2009. They filmed over two days and were held captive outside the Bank of England on 1st April and again on 2nd April when they attended, along with other protesters, to pay their respects to Ian Tomlinson (47) who tragically died at the protest after being aggressively pushed over by a Met Police officer. His coverage is honest and passionate and has provoked huge support from social networking sites for the following videos: BBC NEWSNIGHT INTERVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCcvTvfBGsg&feature=channel_page RUNNING WITH POLICE AND PROTESTERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw8YA8QHJC8&feature=channel_page PROTESTORS HELD CAPTIVE 'KETTLING' BY POLICE PAYING RESPECTS TO IAN TOMLINSON: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gnm2l-bIeA&feature=channel OBAMA INTERVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhGHi4m1wX4&feature=channel BILLY BRAGG INTERVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv5NCWHgG6w&feature=channel_page Please feel free to link our website: http://www.pienmashfilms.com or any of the above videos from the G20 protests if you think they are suitable for your audience. Let me know if you would like us to add your link to our site. If we all pull together we CAN make a difference. Keep on 'punching'. Best regards, Maria. Maria Maloney Producer www.pienmashfilms.com Tel: 07710 416470 Pie 'n' Mash Films latest shocking feature 'BILLY & LILLY GO TO NY' is available now on DVD. Buy this and other cutting edge films at: http://www.pienmashfilms.com/userimages/procart4.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Windows Live Messenger just got better. Find out more! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 13 13:37:25 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:37:25 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. Stocks Gain, Capping Biggest Jump Since 1933 as Banks Rise Message-ID: <003701c9bc6f$49686560$dc393020$@net> What I understand is that this gain is still being bought at the expense of the environment as we continue to pass external costs on to the next generation. When are we going to begin to "get this" in sufficient numbers capable of understanding the situation accurately enough to turn the tide? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 11:02 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. Stocks Gain, Capping Biggest Jump Since 1933 as Banks Rise (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9bx2uPiMUgw&refer =home U.S. Stocks Gain, Capping Biggest Jump Since 1933 as Banks Rise By Eric Martin and Lynn Thomasson April 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose for a fifth week, capping the steepest rally since 1933, as Wells Fargo & Co.'s higher-than-estimated earnings and speculation banks will pass government stress tests spurred optimism that the industry's slump is ending. Bank of America Corp., American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped drive a gauge of 80 financial companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a 9.4 percent advance. Wells Fargo surged 20 percent after reporting record first-quarter profit. Lincoln National Corp. and Principal Financial Group Inc. jumped at least 37 percent as the Treasury considered bailouts for life insurers. "This was a really, really positive start to the earnings season," Hugh Johnson, who oversees $750 million as chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, New York, told Bloomberg Television. "Banks are not going to be forced to take the kind of write-offs they had to take in prior quarters." The S&P 500 gained 1.7 percent to 856.56. It has soared 27 percent since March 9, the most in 23 days since the Great Depression, according to Howard Silverblatt, an analyst at S&P. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 percent to 8,083.38 this week. U.S. exchanges are closed today for Good Friday. The S&P 500 has rebounded off the 12-year low reached a month ago as Citigroup Inc., Bank of America and JPMorgan said they made money at the start of 2009. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spurred a 7.1 percent rally, the fourth-biggest gain since the 1930s, on March 23 after announcing a plan aimed at financing as much as $1 trillion in purchases of illiquid real- estate assets from banks. The index is now down 5.2 percent year to date after plunging 25 percent as of March 9. Wal-Mart, Soros Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retreated 5.8 percent, limiting the market's advance this week, after the world's biggest retailer reported March sales that increased less than analysts estimated. Sun Microsystems Inc. plunged 21 percent after takeover talks with International Business Machines Corp. failed. Investors from billionaire hedge-manager George Soros to Marc Faber predicted the rebound in equities will falter. Wells Fargo jumped 20 percent to $19.61. Net income rose about 50 percent from $2 billion a year earlier. Per-share profit equaled about 55 cents, more than double the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The acquisition of Wachovia Corp., whose overdue home loans helped cut Wells Fargo's stock price in half this year, is exceeding expectations, the company said. Bank Stress Test Citigroup gained 6.7 percent to $3.04, JPMorgan climbed 12 percent to $32.75, American Express rose 23 percent to $18.83 and Bank of America advanced 26 percent to $9.55. The New York Times said all 19 banks examined by the government will pass a review to determine their viability should the recession deepen. The S&P 500 Banks Index jumped 25 percent yesterday, the most since its creation in 1989, following Wells Fargo's report. "Investors believe we can't get anywhere without our financial system leading the way," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, which oversees $60 billion. "They're looking for any indication things are on the mend." Lincoln National advanced 51 percent to $10.40 and Principal Financial gained 37 percent to $14.47. The U.S. Treasury said life insurers that have bank or thrift holding companies are eligible for capital infusions from Troubled Asset Relief Program funds and applications are under review. Centex Corp. surged 12 percent to $9.48 as Pulte Homes Inc. said it will buy the company in a $1.3 billion stock deal to create the nation's largest homebuilder. Pulte dropped 12 percent to $10.11. Takeover Speculation Textron Inc. gained the most in the S&P 500, soaring 83 percent to $13.56 on speculation it will be acquired. Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper reported a United Arab Emirates group is preparing to buy the maker of Cessna aircraft and Bell helicopters for $21 a share. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. rallied 13 percent to $31.09 after the largest U.S. home-furnishings retailer said fourth-quarter profit beat the average analyst projection by 26 percent. Profits at S&P 500 companies probably fell 38 percent on average in the first quarter, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The stretch of quarterly declines is the longest since at least the Great Depression, data compiled by S&P and Bloomberg show. Missing Estimates Earnings may drop 31 percent in the second quarter and 18 percent in the next before gaining 74 percent in the last three months of the year, analysts predict. Banks are projected to account for all of the rebound in the final quarter. Without financial companies, the gain turns into a 5 percent decline, the data show. Wal-Mart fell 5.8 percent to $50.66 for the steepest decline in the Dow average. The world's largest retailer said revenue from U.S. stores open at least a year advanced 1.4 percent in the five weeks ended April 3. That missed the 3.2 percent average estimate compiled by Retail Metrics Inc. The highest U.S. unemployment since 1983 has forced consumers to restrain spending. The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance exceeded 600,000 for a 10th straight week. The total collecting benefits rose to a record in a sign that the labor market remains weak. The U.S. stock rally will sputter because the economic downturn hasn't been reversed, said Soros, whose Quantum Endowment Fund rose 8 percent last year, compared with the average 19 percent decline of hedge funds tracked by Chicago- based Hedge Fund Research Inc. Unlike Other Crises "This isn't a financial crisis like all the other financial crises that we have experienced in our lifetime," Soros said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Faber, who forecast a gain in U.S. stocks on March 9, said this week that the S&P 500 may decline to about 750 before rebounding after July. Sun dropped 21 percent to $6.68. Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Schwartz and the board, including co-founder Scott McNealy, unanimously rejected a buyout offer from IBM last weekend that valued Sun at about $7 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The talks have gone quiet for now, the person said. IBM lost 0.5 percent to $101.70. Reports next week will probably show sales at retailers rose in March as tax refunds put more money in consumers' pockets and car dealers boosted incentives to clear unwanted stockpiles, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Data may also show factory output kept slumping last month and inflation cooled. Citigroup, General Electric Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp. and JPMorgan are among 31 companies scheduled to announce quarterly results. To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Martin in New York at emartin21 at bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson in New York at lthomasson at bloomberg.net. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 13 13:50:11 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:50:11 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [SPAM]Revealing News: Medical Torture, Area 51 Military Witnesses, Nanothermite in 9/11 Dust, More Message-ID: <005101c9bc71$11d4b9d0$357e2d70$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:17 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: [SPAM]Revealing News: Medical Torture, Area 51 Military Witnesses, Nanothermite in 9/11 Dust, More To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list (one email every few days) or to reply to this message, see end of email This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/009/090413_medical_torture_area_51_witnesses_911_nanothermite Dear friends, Below are key excerpts of important news articles you may have missed. These news articles include revealing information on the suppressed report from the Red Cross on extensive involvement of medical professionals in the CIA torture in secret prisons worldwide, the testimony of top military witnesses to the existence of Area 51, the discovery by a team of scientists of a highly-explosive nanothermite compound in the collapse of buildings from the WTC on 9/11, and more. Each excerpt is taken verbatim from the major media website listed at the link provided. If any link fails to function, click here . Key sentences are highlighted for those with limited time. By choosing to educate ourselves and to spread the word, we can and will build a brighter future. With best wishes, Tod Fletcher and Fred Burks for PEERS and the WantToKnow.info Team _____ Report Outlines Medical Workers? Role in Torture April 7, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/07detain.html Medical personnel were deeply involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorist suspects held overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency, including torture, and their participation was a ?gross breach of medical ethics,? a long-secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded. Based on statements by 14 prisoners who belonged to Al Qaeda and were moved to Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, in late 2006, Red Cross investigators concluded that medical professionals working for the C.I.A. monitored prisoners undergoing waterboarding, apparently to make sure they did not drown. Medical workers were also present when guards confined prisoners in small boxes, shackled their arms to the ceiling, kept them in frigid cells and slammed them repeatedly into walls, the report said. Facilitating such practices, which the Red Cross described as torture, was a violation of medical ethics even if the medical workers? intentions had been to prevent death or permanent injury, the report said. But it found that the medical professionals? role was primarily to support the interrogators, not to protect the prisoners, and that the professionals had ?condoned and participated in ill treatment.? At times, according to the detainees? accounts, medical workers ?gave instructions to interrogators to continue, to adjust or to stop particular methods.? The Red Cross report was completed in 2007. It was obtained by Mark Danner, a journalist who has written extensively about torture, and posted Monday night with an article by Mr. Danner on the Web site of The New York Review of Books. Note: Much of content of the Red Cross report was revealed in a March article by Mr. Danner and in a 2008 book, The Dark Side, by Jane Mayer, but the reporting of the Red Cross investigators? conclusions on medical ethics and other issues are new. _____ The Road to Area 51 April 5, 2009, Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/la-mag-april052009-backstory,0,786384.story Area 51. It's the most famous military institution in the world that doesn't officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada's high desert. Then again, maybe not ? the U.S. government refuses to say. You can't drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted ? all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades. It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk ? in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors. Colonel Hugh "Slip" Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, .... spent three decades radar testing some of the world's most famous aircraft. Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the silver star. Thornton "T.D." Barnes, 72, was an Area 51 special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge of the base's half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. As for the underground-tunnel talk ... Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program ... in Area 51's backyard. "Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground," he says. Note: So the government has been lying to us for 50 years about Area 51 and underground research there. What else are they lying to us about? For a more powerful, incisive article on this development, click here . And why isn't this getting more coverage? For another report showing major media cover-up of UFOs, click here. _____ Traces of explosives in 9/11 dust, scientists say April 6, 2009, Deseret News (One of Salt Lake City's leading newspapers) http://www.deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705295677,00.html Tiny red and gray chips found in the dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center contain highly explosive materials ? proof, according to a former BYU professor, that 9/11 is still a sinister mystery. Physicist Steven E. Jones, who retired from Brigham Young University in 2006 after the school recoiled from the controversy surrounding his 9/11 theories, is one of nine authors on a paper published last week in the online, peer-reviewed Open Chemical Physics Journal. Also listed as authors are BYU physics professor Jeffrey Farrer and a professor of nanochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. For several years, Jones has theorized that pre-positioned explosives, not fires from jet fuel, caused the rapid, symmetrical collapse of the two World Trade Center buildings, plus the collapse of a third building, WTC-7. The newest research, according to the journal authors, shows that dust from the collapsing towers contained a "nano-thermite" material that is highly explosive. A layer of dust lay over parts of Manhattan immediately following the collapse of the towers, and it was samples of this dust that Jones and fellow researchers requested in a 2006 paper, hoping to determine "the whole truth of the events of that day." They eventually tested four samples they received from New Yorkers. Red/gray chips ... were found in all four dust samples. The chips were then analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and other high-tech tools. The red layer of the chips, according to the researchers, contains a "highly energetic" form of thermite. Note: For the full text of this path-breaking scientific report, click here . Note that other major media failed to pick up this important news, though you can watch a Dutch news report (with English subtitles) on YouTube available here. For more key reports on the cutting-edge research of Prof. Steven Jones, click here . _____ Fifth Alarm for That Haunted Fireman April 5, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/arts/television/05harr.html In Season 5 of ?Rescue Me,? which begins Tuesday on FX, the specter of 9/11 becomes a major character once again, when a French journalist starts interviewing firefighters about their experiences for a commemorative book. This season one major character will become seriously ill with cancer apparently caused by his work at ground zero. Another, Franco Rivera (Daniel Sunjata), will articulate his ... belief that 9/11 was ?an inside job,? the result of ?a massive neoconservative government conspiracy? that was designed to increase American power by creating a pretext for seizing control of the world?s oil supplies ? a view Mr. Sunjata himself happens to share. ?The reason we wrote it,? Mr. Tolan said, ?is that Danny was spouting this stuff and even some of the guys, the firefighters on the set, were saying ?What is this?? We saw how divisive this was and thought: We have to do this.? Mr. Sunjata admits to some trepidation about how the show?s audience will react to the story line. ?I won?t say that my opinions were warmly received on the set,? he said. ?At one point I thought, ?Maybe I?ll get fired if I keep opening my mouth.? But even though Peter and Denis didn?t sign on to this conspiracy, they were brave enough to include it in the show. I give them and FX and Fox ? I never thought I?d say this ? a big round of applause.? Mr. Sunjata certainly had reason to fear losing his job, since ?Rescue Me? has never been timid about dispatching major characters. Note: To read why hundreds of professors and professionals agree with Daniel Sunjata, click here and here . _____ ?No-Risk? Insurance at F.D.I.C. April 7, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/business/07sorkin.html The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was set up 76 years ago with the important but simple job of insuring bank deposits. Now, because of what could politely be called mission creep, it?s elbowing its way into the middle of the financial mess as an enabler of enormous leverage. In the fine print of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner?s plan to lend as much as $1 trillion to private investors to help them buy toxic assets from our nation?s banks, you?ll find some details of how the F.D.I.C is trying to stabilize the system by adding more risk, not less, to the system. It?s going to be insuring 85 percent of the debt, provided by the Treasury, that private investors will use to subsidize their acquisitions of toxic assets. These loans, while controversial, were given a warm welcome by the market when they were first announced. And why not? The terms are hard to beat. They are, for example, ?nonrecourse,? which means that if an investor loses money, he owes taxpayers nothing. It?s the closest thing to risk-free investing ? with leverage! ? around. But, as we?ve learned the hard way these last couple of years, risk-free investing is an oxymoron. So where did the risk go this time? To the F.D.I.C., and ultimately, to us taxpayers. A close reading of the F.D.I.C.?s statute suggests the agency is using a unique ? some might call it plain wrong ? reading of its own rule book to accomplish this high-wire act. Somehow, in the name of solving the financial crisis, the F.D.I.C. has seemingly been given a blank check, with virtually no oversight by Congress. Note: For a powerfully revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the financial bailout, click here . _____ U.S. May Enlist Small Investors in Bank Bailout April 9, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/business/09fund.html During World War I, Americans were exhorted to buy Liberty Bonds to help their soldiers on the front. Now, it seems, they will be asked to come to the aid of their banks ? with the added inducement of possibly making some money for themselves. As part of its sweeping plan to purge banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds. The idea is that these investments, akin to mutual funds that buy stocks and bonds, would give ordinary Americans a chance to profit from the bailouts that are being financed by their tax dollars. But there is another, deeply political motivation as well: to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats. If, as some analysts suspect, the banks? assets are worth even less than believed, the funds? investors could suffer significant losses. Nonetheless, the administration and executives in the financial industry are pushing to establish the investment funds, in part to counter swelling hostility against the financial industry. The embrace of smaller investors underscores the concern in Washington and on Wall Street that Americans? anger could imperil further efforts to stimulate the economy with vast amounts of government spending. Many Americans say they believe the bailout programs ... will benefit only a golden few, including some of the institutions that helped push the economy to the brink. Critics like Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, argue that the bailouts merely privatize profits and socialize losses. Note: For a powerfully revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the financial bailout, click here . _____ Why Creditors Should Suffer, Too April 5, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/business/economy/05view.html The Obama administration?s proposals to reform financial regulation sound ambitious enough as they aim to bring companies like A.I.G. under a broader umbrella of government rule-making and scrutiny. But there is a big hole in these proposals, as there has already been in the government?s approach to bailing out failing financial companies. Even as they focus on firms deemed too big to fail, the new proposals immunize the creditors and counterparties of such firms by protecting them from their own lending and trading mistakes. This pattern has been evident for months, with the government aiding creditors and counterparties every step of the way. Yet this has not been explained openly to the American public. In truth, it?s not the shareholders of the American International Group who benefited most from its bailout; they were mostly wiped out. The great beneficiaries have been the creditors and counterparties at the other end of A.I.G.?s derivatives deals ? firms like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Soci?t? G?n?rale, Barclays and UBS. These firms engaged in deals that A.I.G. could not make good on. The bailout, and the regulatory regime outlined by Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, would give firms like these every incentive to make similar deals down the road. In both the bailouts and in the new proposals, the government is effectively neutralizing creditors as a force for financial safety. This suggests a scary possibility ? that the next regulatory regime could end up even worse than the last. Note: For a powerfully revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the financial bailout, click here . _____ Revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street April 3, 2009, PBS Bill Moyers Journal http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/transcript1.html BILL MOYERS: For months now, revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street have reminded us that " The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." In fact, the man you're about to meet wrote a book with just that title. Bill Black, ... what's your definition of fraud? WILLIAM K. BLACK: Fraud is deceit. And the essence of fraud is, "I create trust in you, and then I betray that trust, and get you to give me something of value." And as a result, there's no more effective acid against trust than fraud, especially fraud by top elites, and that's what we have. Well, The way that you do it is to make really bad loans, because they pay better. Then you grow extremely rapidly, in other words, you're a Ponzi-like scheme. And the third thing you do is we call it leverage. That just means borrowing a lot of money, and the combination creates a situation where you have guaranteed record profits in the early years. That makes you rich, through the bonuses that modern executive compensation has produced. It also makes it inevitable that there's going to be a disaster down the road. BILL MOYERS: So you're ... saying that CEOs of some of these banks and mortgage firms in order to increase their own personal income, deliberately set out to make bad loans? WILLIAM K. BLACK: Yes. BILL MOYERS: If I wanted to go looking for the parties to this, with a good bird dog, where would you send me? WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, that's exactly what hasn't happened. We haven't looked, all right? You'd look at the specialty lenders. The lenders that did almost all of their work in the sub-prime and what's called Alt-A, liars' loans. Note: William K. Black is the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. He is now an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri. The video of this fascinating interview is available here . For a powerfully revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the financial bailout, click here . _____ Latest CIA Scandal Puts Focus on How Agency Polices Self March 20, 2009, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/19/AR2009031904134.html As a novice CIA case officer in the Middle East, Andrew Warren quickly learned the value of sex in recruiting spies. Colleagues say that he made an early habit of taking informants to strip clubs, and that he later began arranging out-of-town visits to brothels for his best recruits. Often Warren would travel with them, according to two colleagues who worked with him for years. His methods earned him promotions and notoriety over a lengthy career, until Warren, 41, became ensnared in a sex scandal. Two Algerian women have accused the Virginia native of drugging and sexually assaulting them, and, in one instance, videotaping the encounter. The episode -- one of three sex-related scandals to shake the CIA this year -- has drawn harsh questions from Congress about whether the agency adequately polices its far-flung workforce or takes sufficient steps to root out corrupt behavior. Former officers say the cases underscore a perennial challenge: guarding against scandal in a workforce -- the size of which is classified but is generally estimated to be 20,000 -- that prides itself on secrecy and deception. "You have an organization of professional liars," said Tyler Drumheller, who oversaw hundreds of officers as chief of the agency's European division. Experienced field managers are needed, he said, because inevitably "some people will try to take advantage of the system .. . . and it's a system that can be taken advantage of." The recent string of embarrassing revelations started with the CIA's former No. 3 officer, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who was indicted on corruption charges two years ago. Note: For in-depth analysis of the continuing revelations of a long history of the CIA's use of sex to control people, click here . _____ Why We Must Fix Our Prisons March 29, 2009, Parade magazine http://www.parade.com/news/2009/03/why-we-must-fix-our-prisons.html America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration. The United States has by far the world's highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world's reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year. Our overcrowded, ill-managed prison systems are places of violence, physical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate and magnify the same types of behavior we purport to fear. Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard or, in some places, nonexistent, making it more difficult for former offenders who wish to overcome the stigma of having done prison time and become full, contributing members of society. Note: The author of this analysis, Senator Jim Webb (D. Va.), is a PARADE Contributing Editor and the author of nine books, including A Time to Fight. _____ 'US graft adds to Mexico's woes' March 30, 2009, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7971335.stm Mexican President Felipe Calderon has warned that corruption among American officials may be making it harder to deal with drug-trafficking between Mexico and the US. Mr Calderon said violence in the border city of Juarez had fallen by 73% in the month since he sent 7,000 extra troops there. There has been open warfare in Juarez for more than a year; last year, 5,600 people were killed in drug-related attacks in Mexico, many in Juarez. President Calderon said it was impossible to smuggle [tons] of cocaine into the United States without the complicity of some American authorities. "There is trafficking in Mexico because there is corruption in Mexico," he told the BBC. "But by the same argument if there is trafficking in the United States it is because there is some corruption in the United States... It is impossible to pass tonnes of cocaine to the United States without the complicity of some American authorities." The situation along the border is very sensitive politically, and although the White House may wonder privately whether there is some corruption among some American customs, immigration and police officials, it is unlikely to admit it publicly. Note: For powerfully revealing information on involvement of U.S. officials in the illegal drug trade, click here . _____ Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing April 5, 2009, USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses. The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount ? say, 95 cents for $1 value ? and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency. Ed Collom, a University of Southern Maine sociologist who has studied local currencies, says they encourage people to buy locally. Merchants, hurting because customers have cut back on spending, benefit as consumers spend the local cash. "We wanted to make new options available," says Jackie Smith of South Bend, Ind., who is working to launch a local currency. "It reinforces the message that having more control of the economy in local hands can help you cushion yourself from the blows of the marketplace." About a dozen communities have local currencies, says Susan Witt, founder of BerkShares in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts. She expects more to do it. Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses. Since its start in 2006, the system, the largest of its kind in the country, has circulated $2.3 million worth of BerkShares. During the Depression, local governments, businesses and individuals issued currency, known as scrip, to keep commerce flowing when bank closings led to a cash shortage." _____ Special note: Kevin Ryan, who was fired from his job for investigating the 9/11 building collapses (click here for more), has just co-authored with Prof. Steven Jones and others a powerful paper on 9/11 in The Open Chemical Physics Journal. The article closes, ?Based on these observations, we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material." To read this article online, click here. Final Note: WantToKnow.info believes it is important to balance disturbing cover-up information with inspirational writings which call us to be all that we can be and to work together for positive change. Please visit our Inspiration Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/inspirational for an abundance of uplifting material. See our archive of revealing news articles at http://www.WantToKnow.info/indexnewsarticles Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work. To make a donation by credit card, check, or money order: http://www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore these empowering websites coordinated by the nonprofit PEERS network : http://www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart http://www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all http://insightcourse.net - The Insight Course: Best of the Internet all in one free course Educational websites promoting transformation through information and inspiration To reply to this message, visit http://www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): http://www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Hosting by YourMailingListProvider -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 00:44:15 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:44:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran Message-ID: <000001c9bccc$713ea150$53bbe3f0$@net> What flashes in front of my eyes are the words: the killing fields. Will it never stop? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:15 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will_israel_attack_mixed_messages_from _washington_could_lead_to_catastrophe_in_iran/ By Roane Carey, Tomdispatch.com. Posted April 13, 2009. Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal of an Israeli attack could have horrific consequences. JERUSALEM -- Israel has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on the United States concerning the grave threat allegedly posed by Iran, which seems poised to master the nuclear fuel cycle, and thus the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The new Israeli prime minister, Likud Party hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned President Barack Obama that if Washington does not quickly find a way to shut down Iran's nuclear program, Israel will. Some analysts argue that this is manufactured hysteria, not so much a reflection of genuine Israeli fears as a purposeful diversion from other looming difficulties. The Netanyahu government is filled with hardliners adamantly opposed to withdrawal from, or even a temporary freeze on, settlements in the occupied territories, not to mention to any acceptance of Palestinian statehood. On his first day as foreign minister, extremist demagogue Avigdor Lieberman, with characteristic bluster, announced that Israel was no longer bound by the 2007 Annapolis agreements brokered by Washington, which called for accelerated negotiations toward a two-state settlement. Such talk threatens to lead the Israelis directly into a clash with the Obama administration. In what can only be taken as a rebuttal of the Netanyahu government's recent pronouncements, in his speech to the Turkish Parliament Obama pointedly reasserted Washington's commitment to a two-state settlement and to the Annapolis understandings. So what better way for Netanyahu to avoid an ugly clash with a popular American president than to conveniently shift the discussion to an existential threat from Iran -- especially if he can successfully present it as a threat not just to Israel but to the West in general? All of this adds up to a plausible argument against undue alarm over the latest Israeli warnings about an attack on Iran, but it's flawed on several grounds. There is a broad, generally accepted paranoia in Israel about Iran, a belief that its leaders must be stopped before they proceed much further in their uranium enrichment program. (This view is not shared on the Israeli left, but it's now a ghost of its former self.) In an interview for TomDispatch, Ephraim Kam, deputy director of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a specialist on the Iran issue, commented, "Of course there are different opinions, but there is a general consensus, among both security experts and political leaders, from Labor to the right wing. This is not a controversial issue: if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it will pose a deep threat. It will be the first time in our history that another country can deal a major blow to Israel." Kam hastens to add that, in his own view, the scenario Netanyahu proposes -- that Iran is led by irrational fanatics who would nuke Israel at the first chance, even knowing that an Israeli nuclear counterstrike would be swift and catastrophic -- is false. "Iran is a pragmatic, logical player," Kam says. He remains convinced that "even a radical fundamentalist regime" wouldn't attack Israel, but he adds, "This is just my assessment, and assessments can go wrong. I wrote a study on wrong assessments, so I know something about this." In other words, if Kam's claims about the Israeli consensus are correct, the country's leadership takes it for granted that Iran is indeed hell-bent on producing a nuclear weapon and is not inclined to take a chance that a nuclear Iran will play by the MAD (as in mutually assured destruction) rules hammered out by the two Cold War superpowers decades ago and never use it. This attitude reflects a longstanding Israeli strategic principle: that no neighboring state or combination of states can ever be allowed to achieve anything faintly approaching military parity, because if they do, they will try to destroy the Jewish state. By this logic, Israel's only option is to establish and then maintain absolute military superiority over its neighbors; they will, so this view goes, accept Israel's presence only if they know they're sure to be defeated, or at least vastly outmatched. This is the famous "iron wall," conceived by early Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky more than 80 years ago, well before the founding of Israel itself. (Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist movement, which in opposition to the Labor mainstream refused to accept any territorial compromise regarding Zionist aims, such as partition. Although he and his followers were for years shut out of the political leadership, their views regarding Israel's neighbors became deeply lodged in the public psyche.) If Iran were to acquire the capacity to build even one nuke -- Israel itself is estimated to have 150-200 of them -- that iron wall would be considered seriously breached, and the country might no longer be able to dictate terms to its neighbors. Given Iran's support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Israel would then have to recalibrate its strategy both on its northern front and vis-?-vis the Palestinians. Recent developments in Israel could certainly give the impression of a nation preparing for war: the Home Front command, one of four regional divisions of the Israeli army, has just announced the largest defense exercise in the country's history. It will last an entire week and is intended to prepare the civilian population for missile strikes from both conventional warheads and unconventional ones (whether chemical, biological or nuclear). Meanwhile, the country is accelerating its testing of missile defense systems, having just announced the successful launch of the Arrow II interceptor. Can Israel Go It Alone? Would Israel really attack Iran without at least tacit approval from Washington? Could Israel do so without such approval? At the very least, Israel would need approval simply to get permission to fly over Iraq, whose airspace is controlled by the U.S. military, not the Iraqi government in Baghdad. As columnist Aluf Benn put it in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, "Defense experts say that without a green light from Washington, Netanyahu and Barak will not be able to send in the air force." Kam adds, "In my judgment, it is somewhere between difficult to impossible for Israel to do it alone, for both technical and political reasons." Most analysts here believe that a solo Israeli attack would, at best, set back Iran's nuclear program by several years -- not that this would necessarily be a deterrent to Netanyahu & Co. It's widely believed that, in their view, even a temporary delay in Iran's nuclear capability would be an improvement on the current course. It's worth recalling that Israel sought an explicit go-ahead from the Bush administration for an attack last year, which President Bush -- presumably fearing massive conventional retaliation from Iran in both Iraq and Afghanistan -- sensibly refused, a rare moment in his tenure when he did not accede to Israeli wishes. It's also clear that President Obama seeks to resolve the standoff with Iran through diplomatic means. He's abandoned the confrontational rhetoric of his predecessor and continues to extend peace feelers to the Islamic Republic. Tehran's response has been mixed, but at least a new mood of negotiation is in the air. Israeli strategists, however, see this new mood as threatening, not hopeful. Any U.S. rapprochement with Iran -- especially if carried out on terms that acknowledge Iran's status as a regional power -- could, they fear, undermine Israel's "special relationship" with Washington. As Iran analyst Trita Parsi put it in a recent piece in the Huffington Post, Iran would then "gain strategic significance in the Middle East at the expense of Israel." It's within the realm of possibility, for example, that Washington could work out a grand bargain with Tehran terminating its policy of regime change and ending sanctions in return for Tehran's vow never to weaponize its nuclear program. Intrusive international inspections would presumably guarantee such a bargain, but Tehran's national pride would remain intact, as it would be allowed to retain the right to enrich uranium and develop a peaceful nuclear infrastructure. There has even been some recent slippage in Washington's language when it comes to demands placed on Iran -- with an insistence on an end to all nuclear enrichment evidently being replaced by an insistence on no weapons development. To Israel, this would be a completely unsatisfactory compromise, as its leaders fear that Iran might at some point abandon such an agreement and in fairly short order weaponize. Given Obama's new approach, it might seem that Israel is stymied for now. After all, it's hard to imagine Obama giving the go-ahead for an attack. Just this week, Vice President Joe Biden told CNN that he thought such an Israeli attack "would be ill-advised." Other factors, however, play in the hardliners' favor: the Obama administration's new special envoy for Iran, Dennis Ross, is himself a hardliner. Last year, Ross was part of an ultra-hawkish task force that predicted the failure of any negotiations and all but called for war with Iran. Ross is a man who not only knows how to play the bureaucratic game in Washington, but has powerful backers in the administration, and his views will have plenty of support from pro-Israel hawks in Congress. The attitude of another key sector in decision-making, the high command of the U.S. military, may also be evolving. Washington's dilemma in Iraq is not nearly as dire as it was two years ago. The nightmare envisioned by the American generals running the Iraq campaign in recent years -- that, in response to an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran could send tens of thousands of well-trained commandos across the border and inflict grave damage on U.S. forces -- has faded somewhat. The Iraqi government's military has much better control of the country today, with insurgent violence at far lower levels. The Shiite Mahdi Army and Iran-connected "special groups" seem to be mostly quiescent. Of course, the situation in Iraq is still unstable, and any attack on Iran could easily throw the country back into ungovernable chaos. Still, given the role we know American commanders played in nixing such an attack in the Bush years, the question remains: Has resistance to such an attack lessened in the military? It's unclear, but an issue worth monitoring, because American commanders were the most consistent, persuasive voices for moderation during the Bush administration. It should go without saying that an Israeli attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences. No matter what Washington might claim, or how vociferously officials there denounce it, such an attack would be widely understood throughout the Muslim world as a joint U.S.-Israeli operation. It would, as a start, serve as a powerful recruiting tool for extremist Islamist groups. In addition, an outraged Iran might indeed send commandos into Iraq, aid armed Iraqi groups determined to attack U.S. and government forces, shoot missiles into the Saudi or Kuwaiti oilfields, and attempt to block the Straits of Hormuz though which a significant percentage of global oil passes. Washington would certainly have to write off desperately needed cooperation in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Any attack would only strengthen the reign of the mullahs in Iran and reinforce the country's determination to acquire a nuclear deterrent force that would prevent future attacks. And keep in mind, Iran's nuclear program has overwhelming public support, even from those opposed to the current regime. Given the Netanyahu government's visible determination to attack, an ambiguous signal from Washington, something far less than a green light, could be misread in Tel Aviv. Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal to countenance an Israeli attack might have horrific consequences. So here's a message to Obama from an observer in Israel: Don't flash the yellow light -- not even once. From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue Apr 14 01:15:33 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:45:33 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Ecostrategic Counselling Isreal for prayer, peace and patience /Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran Message-ID: <922825.43184.qm@web94902.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distinguished members, Greetings for peace, Considering such write up and intelligence assessments, it is important to call for globalizing what I propose ecostrategic thinking ,communication, consumption, production, carbon neutral discussion and neighborhoods. Iran, Israel ,US and all the nations need to underline the importance of safeguarding the future of children through protecting ecologically safe and peaceful habitats sharing the surplus, donating for poor, protecting women and elderly and then getting rid of paranoid vision for co-developing a shared space and habitats for children of 40th century/ future generation. Millennial thinking requires looking beyond the petro-modern futures and envisage habitats that are ecologically safe and socially inclusive . A presentation on the new discipline called ecostrategics can be seen and transmitted for wider dissemination for learning about the art of convergent thinking, ecostrategic thinking at http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam I would like to also urgently call Jewish ,Mulsim and Christian leader to organise national gatherings in Jeusalem for learning about the peaceful solutions rather than envisioning fratricides. With warmest regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Tue, 14/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Tuesday, 14 April, 2009, 12:14 PM What flashes in front of my eyes are the words: the killing fields.? Will it never stop?? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:15 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will_israel_attack_mixed_messages_from _washington_could_lead_to_catastrophe_in_iran/ By Roane Carey, Tomdispatch.com. Posted April 13, 2009. Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal of an Israeli attack could have horrific consequences. JERUSALEM -- Israel has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on the United States concerning the grave threat allegedly posed by Iran, which seems poised to master the nuclear fuel cycle, and thus the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The new Israeli prime minister, Likud Party hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned President Barack Obama that if Washington does not quickly find a way to shut down Iran's nuclear program, Israel will. Some analysts argue that this is manufactured hysteria, not so much a reflection of genuine Israeli fears as a purposeful diversion from other looming difficulties. The Netanyahu government is filled with hardliners adamantly opposed to withdrawal from, or even a temporary freeze on, settlements in the occupied territories, not to mention to any acceptance of Palestinian statehood. On his first day as foreign minister, extremist demagogue Avigdor Lieberman, with characteristic bluster, announced that Israel was no longer bound by the 2007 Annapolis agreements brokered by Washington, which called for accelerated negotiations toward a two-state settlement. Such talk threatens to lead the Israelis directly into a clash with the Obama administration. In what can only be taken as a rebuttal of the Netanyahu government's recent pronouncements, in his speech to the Turkish Parliament Obama pointedly reasserted Washington's commitment to a two-state settlement and to the Annapolis understandings. So what better way for Netanyahu to avoid an ugly clash with a popular American president than to conveniently shift the discussion to an existential threat from Iran -- especially if he can successfully present it as a threat not just to Israel but to the West in general? All of this adds up to a plausible argument against undue alarm over the latest Israeli warnings about an attack on Iran, but it's flawed on several grounds. There is a broad, generally accepted paranoia in Israel about Iran, a belief that its leaders must be stopped before they proceed much further in their uranium enrichment program. (This view is not shared on the Israeli left, but it's now a ghost of its former self.) In an interview for TomDispatch, Ephraim Kam, deputy director of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a specialist on the Iran issue, commented, "Of course there are different opinions, but there is a general consensus, among both security experts and political leaders, from Labor to the right wing. This is not a controversial issue: if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it will pose a deep threat. It will be the first time in our history that another country can deal a major blow to Israel." Kam hastens to add that, in his own view, the scenario Netanyahu proposes -- that Iran is led by irrational fanatics who would nuke Israel at the first chance, even knowing that an Israeli nuclear counterstrike would be swift and catastrophic -- is false. "Iran is a pragmatic, logical player," Kam says. He remains convinced that "even a radical fundamentalist regime" wouldn't attack Israel, but he adds, "This is just my assessment, and assessments can go wrong. I wrote a study on wrong assessments, so I know something about this." In other words, if Kam's claims about the Israeli consensus are correct, the country's leadership takes it for granted that Iran is indeed hell-bent on producing a nuclear weapon and is not inclined to take a chance that a nuclear Iran will play by the MAD (as in mutually assured destruction) rules hammered out by the two Cold War superpowers decades ago and never use it. This attitude reflects a longstanding Israeli strategic principle: that no neighboring state or combination of states can ever be allowed to achieve anything faintly approaching military parity, because if they do, they will try to destroy the Jewish state. By this logic, Israel's only option is to establish and then maintain absolute military superiority over its neighbors; they will, so this view goes, accept Israel's presence only if they know they're sure to be defeated, or at least vastly outmatched. This is the famous "iron wall," conceived by early Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky more than 80 years ago, well before the founding of Israel itself. (Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist movement, which in opposition to the Labor mainstream refused to accept any territorial compromise regarding Zionist aims, such as partition. Although he and his followers were for years shut out of the political leadership, their views regarding Israel's neighbors became deeply lodged in the public psyche.) If Iran were to acquire the capacity to build even one nuke -- Israel itself is estimated to have 150-200 of them -- that iron wall would be considered seriously breached, and the country might no longer be able to dictate terms to its neighbors. Given Iran's support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Israel would then have to recalibrate its strategy both on its northern front and vis-?-vis the Palestinians. Recent developments in Israel could certainly give the impression of a nation preparing for war: the Home Front command, one of four regional divisions of the Israeli army, has just announced the largest defense exercise in the country's history. It will last an entire week and is intended to prepare the civilian population for missile strikes from both conventional warheads and unconventional ones (whether chemical, biological or nuclear). Meanwhile, the country is accelerating its testing of missile defense systems, having just announced the successful launch of the Arrow II interceptor. Can Israel Go It Alone? Would Israel really attack Iran without at least tacit approval from Washington? Could Israel do so without such approval? At the very least, Israel would need approval simply to get permission to fly over Iraq, whose airspace is controlled by the U.S. military, not the Iraqi government in Baghdad. As columnist Aluf Benn put it in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, "Defense experts say that without a green light from Washington, Netanyahu and Barak will not be able to send in the air force." Kam adds, "In my judgment, it is somewhere between difficult to impossible for Israel to do it alone, for both technical and political reasons." Most analysts here believe that a solo Israeli attack would, at best, set back Iran's nuclear program by several years -- not that this would necessarily be a deterrent to Netanyahu & Co. It's widely believed that, in their view, even a temporary delay in Iran's nuclear capability would be an improvement on the current course. It's worth recalling that Israel sought an explicit go-ahead from the Bush administration for an attack last year, which President Bush -- presumably fearing massive conventional retaliation from Iran in both Iraq and Afghanistan -- sensibly refused, a rare moment in his tenure when he did not accede to Israeli wishes. It's also clear that President Obama seeks to resolve the standoff with Iran through diplomatic means. He's abandoned the confrontational rhetoric of his predecessor and continues to extend peace feelers to the Islamic Republic. Tehran's response has been mixed, but at least a new mood of negotiation is in the air. Israeli strategists, however, see this new mood as threatening, not hopeful. Any U.S. rapprochement with Iran -- especially if carried out on terms that acknowledge Iran's status as a regional power -- could, they fear, undermine Israel's "special relationship" with Washington. As Iran analyst Trita Parsi put it in a recent piece in the Huffington Post, Iran would then "gain strategic significance in the Middle East at the expense of Israel." It's within the realm of possibility, for example, that Washington could work out a grand bargain with Tehran terminating its policy of regime change and ending sanctions in return for Tehran's vow never to weaponize its nuclear program. Intrusive international inspections would presumably guarantee such a bargain, but Tehran's national pride would remain intact, as it would be allowed to retain the right to enrich uranium and develop a peaceful nuclear infrastructure. There has even been some recent slippage in Washington's language when it comes to demands placed on Iran -- with an insistence on an end to all nuclear enrichment evidently being replaced by an insistence on no weapons development. To Israel, this would be a completely unsatisfactory compromise, as its leaders fear that Iran might at some point abandon such an agreement and in fairly short order weaponize. Given Obama's new approach, it might seem that Israel is stymied for now. After all, it's hard to imagine Obama giving the go-ahead for an attack. Just this week, Vice President Joe Biden told CNN that he thought such an Israeli attack "would be ill-advised." Other factors, however, play in the hardliners' favor: the Obama administration's new special envoy for Iran, Dennis Ross, is himself a hardliner. Last year, Ross was part of an ultra-hawkish task force that predicted the failure of any negotiations and all but called for war with Iran. Ross is a man who not only knows how to play the bureaucratic game in Washington, but has powerful backers in the administration, and his views will have plenty of support from pro-Israel hawks in Congress. The attitude of another key sector in decision-making, the high command of the U.S. military, may also be evolving. Washington's dilemma in Iraq is not nearly as dire as it was two years ago. The nightmare envisioned by the American generals running the Iraq campaign in recent years -- that, in response to an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran could send tens of thousands of well-trained commandos across the border and inflict grave damage on U.S. forces -- has faded somewhat. The Iraqi government's military has much better control of the country today, with insurgent violence at far lower levels. The Shiite Mahdi Army and Iran-connected "special groups" seem to be mostly quiescent. Of course, the situation in Iraq is still unstable, and any attack on Iran could easily throw the country back into ungovernable chaos. Still, given the role we know American commanders played in nixing such an attack in the Bush years, the question remains: Has resistance to such an attack lessened in the military? It's unclear, but an issue worth monitoring, because American commanders were the most consistent, persuasive voices for moderation during the Bush administration. It should go without saying that an Israeli attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences. No matter what Washington might claim, or how vociferously officials there denounce it, such an attack would be widely understood throughout the Muslim world as a joint U.S.-Israeli operation. It would, as a start, serve as a powerful recruiting tool for extremist Islamist groups. In addition, an outraged Iran might indeed send commandos into Iraq, aid armed Iraqi groups determined to attack U.S. and government forces, shoot missiles into the Saudi or Kuwaiti oilfields, and attempt to block the Straits of Hormuz though which a significant percentage of global oil passes. Washington would certainly have to write off desperately needed cooperation in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Any attack would only strengthen the reign of the mullahs in Iran and reinforce the country's determination to acquire a nuclear deterrent force that would prevent future attacks. And keep in mind, Iran's nuclear program has overwhelming public support, even from those opposed to the current regime. Given the Netanyahu government's visible determination to attack, an ambiguous signal from Washington, something far less than a green light, could be misread in Tel Aviv. Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal to countenance an Israeli attack might have horrific consequences. So here's a message to Obama from an observer in Israel: Don't flash the yellow light -- not even once. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue Apr 14 01:15:32 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:45:32 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Ecostrategic Counselling Isreal for prayer, peace and patience /Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran Message-ID: <19359.20158.qm@web94914.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distinguished members, Greetings for peace, Considering such write up and intelligence assessments, it is important to call for globalizing what I propose ecostrategic thinking ,communication, consumption, production, carbon neutral discussion and neighborhoods. Iran, Israel ,US and all the nations need to underline the importance of safeguarding the future of children through protecting ecologically safe and peaceful habitats sharing the surplus, donating for poor, protecting women and elderly and then getting rid of paranoid vision for co-developing a shared space and habitats for children of 40th century/ future generation. Millennial thinking requires looking beyond the petro-modern futures and envisage habitats that are ecologically safe and socially inclusive . A presentation on the new discipline called ecostrategics can be seen and transmitted for wider dissemination for learning about the art of convergent thinking, ecostrategic thinking at http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam I would like to also urgently call Jewish ,Mulsim and Christian leader to organise national gatherings in Jeusalem for learning about the peaceful solutions rather than envisioning fratricides. With warmest regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Tue, 14/4/09, mary rose wrote: From: mary rose Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Date: Tuesday, 14 April, 2009, 12:14 PM What flashes in front of my eyes are the words: the killing fields.? Will it never stop?? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:15 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 03:30:14 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:30:14 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: HeartQuotes: Life Message-ID: <003a01c9bce3$a0d45d80$e27d1880$@net> From: HeartMath [mailto:info at heartmath.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:11 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: HeartQuotes: Life heartquote "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature." - Helen Keller if you cannot view the images check the online version heartquote You are receiving this message because you are subscribed as maryrose333 at att.net to the Daily HeartQuotes?. To manage your subscription Click Here Comments or Suggestions email :info at heartmath.com _____ HeartMath is a registered trademark of the Institute of HeartMath. HeartQuotes is a trademark of Quantum Intech, Inc. Copyright ? 2009, HeartMath LLC All rights reserved. Please read the disclaimer . HeartMath LLC. 14700 West Park Avenue, Boulder Creek, CA 95006 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 6161 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 7447 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue Apr 14 08:50:59 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:20:59 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Fw: [IHRO] 'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy (al-Jazeera) Message-ID: <166859.31743.qm@web94903.mail.in2.yahoo.com> It is interesting to see the struggle against toxic waste Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Tue, 14/4/09, Romi Elnagar wrote: From: Romi Elnagar Subject: [IHRO] 'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy (al-Jazeera) To: "American Conscience" Date: Tuesday, 14 April, 2009, 11:49 AM PLEASE FORWARD 'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy By Najad Abdullahi http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ africa/2008/ 10/2008109174223 218644.html Some pirates operating off Somalia's coast claim to act as coastguards [GALLO/GETTY] Some pirates operating off Somalia's coast claim to act as coastguards [GALLO/GETTY] Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return of a Ukranian ship they captured, saying the money will go towards cleaning up the waste. The ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years", Januna Ali Jama, a spokesman for the pirates, based in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, said. "The Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas." The pirates are holding the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware, off Somalia's northern coast. According to the International Maritime Bureau, 61 attacks by pirates have been reported since the start of the year. While money is the primary objective of the hijackings, claims of the continued environmental destruction off Somalia's coast have been largely ignored by the regions's maritime authorities. Dumping allegations Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy for Somalia confirmed to Al Jazeera the world body has "reliable information" that European and Asian companies are dumping toxic waste, including nuclear waste, off the Somali coastline. "I must stress however, that no government has endorsed this act, and that private companies and individuals acting alone are responsible, " he said The pirates are holding the MV Faina off Somalia's northern coast [Reuters] Allegations of the dumping of toxic waste, as well as illegal fishing, have circulated since the early 1990s. But evidence of such practices literally appeared on the beaches of northern Somalia when the tsunami of 2004 hit the country. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reported the tsunami had washed up rusting containers of toxic waste on the shores of Puntland. Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesman, told Al Jazeera that when the barrels were smashed open by the force of the waves, the containers exposed a "frightening activity" that has been going on for more than decade. "Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there," he said. "European companies found it to be very cheap to get rid of the waste, costing as little as $2.50 a tonne, where waste disposal costs in Europe are something like $1000 a tonne. "And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes ? you name it." Nuttall also said that since the containers came ashore, hundreds of residents have fallen ill, suffering from mouth and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments. "We [the UNEP] had planned to do a proper, in-depth scientific assessment on the magnitude of the problem. But because of the high levels of insecurity onshore and off the Somali coast, we are unable to carry out an accurate assessment of the extent of the problem," he said. However, Ould-Abdallah claims the practice still continues. "What is most alarming here is that nuclear waste is being dumped. Radioactive uranium waste that is potentially killing Somalis and completely destroying the ocean," he said. Toxic waste Ould-Abdallah declined to name which companies are involved in waste dumping, citing legal reasons. But he did say the practice helps fuel the 18-year-old civil war in Somalia as companies are paying Somali government ministers to dump their waste, or to secure licences and contracts. "There is no government control ... and there are few people with high moral ground ... [and] yes, people in high positions are being paid off, but because of the fragility of the TFG [Transitional Federal Government], some of these companies now no longer ask the authorities ? they simply dump their waste and leave." Ould-Abdallah said there are ethical questions to be considered because the companies are negotiating contracts with a government that is largely divided along tribal lines. "How can you negotiate these dealings with a country at war and with a government struggling to remain relevant?" In 1992, a contract to secure the dumping of toxic waste was made by Swiss and Italian shipping firms Achair Partners and Progresso, with Nur Elmi Osman, a former official appointed to the government of Ali Mahdi Mohamed, one of many militia leaders involved in the ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre, Somalia's former president. At the request of the Swiss and Italian governments, UNEP investigated the matter. Both firms had denied entering into any agreement with militia leaders at the beginning of the Somali civil war. Osman also denied signing any contract. 'Mafia involvement' However, Mustafa Tolba, the former UNEP executive director, told Al Jazeera that he discovered the firms were set up as fictitious companies by larger industrial firms to dispose of hazardous waste. "At the time, it felt like we were dealing with the Mafia, or some sort of organised crime group, possibly working with these industrial firms," he said. Nations have found it difficult to tackle the problem of piracy [AFP] "It was very shady, and quite underground, and I would agree with Ould-Abdallah?s claims that it is still going on... Unfortunately the war has not allowed environmental groups to investigate this fully." The Italian mafia controls an estimated 30 per cent of Italy's waste disposal companies, including those that deal with toxic waste. In 1998, Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian weekly magazine, claimed that although most of the waste-dumping took place after the start of the civil war in 1991, the activity actually began as early as 1989 under the Barre government. Beyond the ethical question of trying to secure a hazardous waste agreement in an unstable country like Somalia, the alleged attempt by Swiss and Italian firms to dump waste in Somalia would violate international treaties to which both countries are signatories. Legal ramifications Switzerland and Italy signed and ratified the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which came into force in 1992. EU member states, as well as 168 other countries have also signed the agreement. The convention prohibits waste trade between countries that have signed the convention, as well as countries that have not signed the accord unless a bilateral agreement had been negotiated. It is also prohibits the shipping of hazardous waste to a war zone. Abdi Ismail Samatar, professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, told Al Jazeera that because an international coalition of warships has been deployed to the Gulf of Aden, the alleged dumping of waste must have been observed. Environmental damage "If these acts are continuing, then surely they must have been seen by someone involved in maritime operations," he said. "Is the cargo aimed at a certain destination more important than monitoring illegal activities in the region? Piracy is not the only problem for Somalia, and I think it's irresponsible on the part of the authorities to overlook this issue." Mohammed Gure, chairman of the Somalia Concern Group, said that the social and environmental consequences will be felt for decades. "The Somali coastline used to sustain hundreds of thousands of people, as a source of food and livelihoods. Now much of it is almost destroyed, primarily at the hands of these so-called ministers that have sold their nation to fill their own pockets." Ould-Abdallah said piracy will not prevent waste dumping. "The intentions of these pirates are not concerned with protecting their environment, " he said. "What is ultimately needed is a functioning, effective government that will get its act together and take control of its affairs." __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | Calendar International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO), of the Indian subcontinent, is a NGO, with national focus and overseas lobby network. It agitates both in India and internationally. Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity ?11 New Members ?1 New LinksVisit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others. .. __,_._,___ Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Grab now http://in.promos.yahoo.com/address -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:32:49 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:32:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Update on Stan Meyer Technology Message-ID: <003801c9bd2f$6d1a9120$474fb360$@net> From: The Orion Project [mailto:info at theorionproject.org] Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:16 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Update on Stan Meyer Technology The Orion Project Non-Profit Update on Stan Meyer Technology As readers of this TOP Newsletter know, we have been negotiating for the Stan Meyer water-powered car, equipment, and documents. We were told last year by a representative of the present owners that we had been awarded them. We submitted a purchase agreement to the representative at the end of last year and have been waiting for approval of the document since then, so we could move forward. There was a delay getting back to us; but there has finally been some movement. We will inform you, our supporters, of these negotiations once they are complete. Since we announced our interest in acquiring these items, several individuals have contacted us and have offered to help evaluate the status of the car, equipment and documents to determine if they are intact. These individuals all knew and worked with Stan at one time or another and they will be invaluable in helping us with this evaluation. Why is this of concern and these offers exceedingly valuable to The Orion Project? One colleague of Stan's reported that he visited Stan's home/shop the day after he died. There was yellow tape around it as though it were a crime scene. But, since Stan did not die at home, there was an expressed concern that some of his important work and equipment were taken away. Another of his colleagues supported this contention when he told us that within a few hours of Stan's death, much of Stan's research materials were gone. Someone had removed them. This is not unlike the reports of Nikola Tesla's belongings being removed after his death. Since no one appears to know what of Stan's technology is still there, we will take several of these individuals with us to closely examine the items. If it appears they are intact, we will study them exhaustively and replicate them. If it appears the materials are either not intact or missing, this will be a most important finding. If the new energy source that Stan produced nearly twenty years ago was plundered and suppressed, this is of major concern. We are going to pursue this to its conclusion. If the "guts" of Stan's work are not there and no longer available, as verified by individuals intimate with his inventions, we will launch a public education program identifying the suppression. Whether we find the complete body of work to replicate his device or not, our work will not be in vain. We will either have what we need to produce and bring Stan's new energy source to the world, or we will have information to fuel a public call for an investigation into how this important work was suppressed. Donate to Our Research Forward email Safe Unsubscribe This email was sent to maryrose333 at att.net by info at theorionproject.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe T | Privacy Policy . Email Marketing by The Orion Project | PO Box 4347 | Charlottesville | VA | 22905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:34:11 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:34:11 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] World Will Not Meet 2C Warming Target, Climate Change Experts Agree Message-ID: <003d01c9bd2f$9e11a980$da34fc80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:12 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] World Will Not Meet 2C Warming Target, Climate Change Experts Agree (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) World Will Not Meet 2C Warming Target, Climate Change Experts Agree Guardian poll reveals almost nine out of 10 climate experts do not believe current political efforts will keep warming below 2C http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/14/global-warming-target-2c by David Adam Published on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 by The Guardian/UK Almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to 2C will succeed, a Guardian poll reveals today. An average rise of 4-5C by the end of this century is more likely, they say, given soaring carbon emissions and political constraints. [Water shortage will cause greater ruin than peak oil. (Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images)]Water shortage will cause greater ruin than peak oil. (Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images) Such a change would disrupt food and water supplies, exterminate thousands of species of plants and animals and trigger massive sea level rises that would swamp the homes of hundreds of millions of people. The poll of those who follow global warming most closely exposes a widening gulf between political rhetoric and scientific opinions on climate change. While policymakers and campaigners focus on the 2C target, 86% of the experts told the survey they did not think it would be achieved. A continued focus on an unrealistic 2C rise, which the EU defines as dangerous, could even undermine essential efforts to adapt to inevitable higher temperature rises in the coming decades, they warned. The survey follows a scientific conference last month in Copenhagen, where a series of studies were presented that suggested global warming could strike harder and faster than realised. The Guardian contacted all 1,756 people who registered to attend the conference and asked for their opinions on the likely course of global warming. Of 261 experts who responded, 200 were researchers in climate science and related fields. The rest were drawn from industry or worked in areas such as economics and social and political science. The 261 respondents represented 26 countries and included dozens of senior figures, including laboratory directors, heads of university departments and authors of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The poll asked the experts whether the 2C target could still be achieved, and whether they thought that it would be met: 60% of respondents argued that, in theory, it was still technically and economically possible to meet the target, which represents an average global warming of 2C since the industrial revolution. The world has already warmed by about 0.8C since then, and another 0.5C or so is inevitable over coming decades given past greenhouse gas emissions. But 39% said the 2C target was impossible. The poll comes as UN negotiations to agree a new global treaty to regulate carbon pollution gather pace in advance of a key meeting in Copenhagen in December. Officials will try to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. The 2C target is unlikely to feature in a new treaty, but most of the carbon cuts proposed for rich countries are based on it. Bob Watson, chief scientist to Defra, told the Guardian last year that the world needed to focus on the 2C target, but should also prepare for a possible 4C rise. Asked what temperature rise was most likely, 84 of the 182 specialists (46%) who answered the question said it would reach 3-4C by the end of the century; 47 (26%) suggested a rise of 2-3C, while a handful said 6C or more. While 24 experts predicted a catastrophic rise of 4-5C, just 18 thought it would stay at 2C or under. Some of those surveyed who said the 2C target would be met confessed they did so more out of hope rather than belief. "As a mother of young children I choose to believe this, and work hard toward it," one said. "This optimism is not primarily due to scientific facts, but to hope," said another. Some said they thought geoengineering measures, such as seeding the ocean with iron to encourage plankton growth, would help meet the target. Many of the experts stressed that an inability to hit the 2C target did not mean that efforts to tackle global warming should be abandoned, but that the emphasis is now on damage limitation. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:36:29 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:36:29 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Biomass 'worse than fossil fuels' Message-ID: <003e01c9bd2f$f041b380$d0c51a80$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:02 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Biomass 'worse than fossil fuels' (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7997398.stm Biomass 'worse than fossil fuels' Biomass storage silo (Getty Images) Poor practice can wipe out carbon savings, the report says Biomass power could become one of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned. Ploughing up pasture to plant energy crops could produce more CO2 by 2030 than burning fossil fuels, it said. The EA's study of biomass fuels also found waste wood and MDF produced the lowest emissions, while willow, poplar and oil seed rape made the highest. The agency has called on the government to force biomass companies to report all greenhouse gas emissions. Wood-burning stoves, boilers and even power stations are seen by many as critical to Britain's renewable energy targets. Biomass is considered low carbon as long as what is burnt is replaced by new growth, and harvesting and transport do not use too much fuel. 'Role to play' But the EA's report Biomass: Carbon Sink or Carbon Sinner found that the greenhouse gas emission savings from such fuels were highly variable. At its best, biomass could produce as little as 7kg of CO2 per kilowatt hour - 98% less than coal, saving around two million tonnes of CO2 every year. Biomass is a limited resource, and we must make sure it is not wasted on inefficient generators Tony Grayling Environment Agency However, the study also found that in some cases overall emissions could be higher than those of fossil fuels. This was particularly true where energy crops were planted on permanent grassland, it said. Tony Grayling, head of climate change and sustainable development at the Environment Agency, said biomass could play a role in helping the UK meet its renewable energy targets. But he argued the credibility of biomass rested on tough sustainability criteria and called on biomass projects to combine heat and power production. "Biomass is a limited resource, and we must make sure it is not wasted on inefficient generators that do not take advantage of the emissions savings to be made from combined heat and power," he said. "By 2030, biomass fuels will need to be produced using good practice simply to keep up with the average carbon intensity of the electricity grid." From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:38:05 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:38:05 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. eases restrictions on Cuba, as attitudes toward Castro shift Message-ID: <003f01c9bd30$296514e0$7c2f3ea0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:57 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] U.S. eases restrictions on Cuba, as attitudes toward Castro shift (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090413.wibbitson14/BNSt ory/Front/home?cid=al_gam_mostview U.S. eases restrictions on Cuba, as attitudes toward Castro shift Travel, money transfers, gift packages and communications all made easier, but Obama demands action from Havana before more regulations lifted WASHINGTON - In a shocking display of common sense, U.S. President Barack Obama has lifted restrictions on Cuban Americans who want to visit Cuba or send money, the broadest loosening of sanctions against the Communist regime since they were imposed 47 years ago. "All who embrace core democratic values long for a Cuba that respects the basic human, political and economic rights of all of its citizens," press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday at the daily briefing, where the new rules were announced. "President Obama believes the measure he has taken today will help make that goal a reality." Mr. Gibbs made it clear that the next step was up to the Cuban government. It will have to take steps to liberalize its rule by releasing political prisoners, revoking confiscatory taxes on remittances to Cubans from the mainland and permitting greater freedom of speech before any further loosening of sanctions would be considered. Progress "depends on the actions of the Cuban government," Mr. Gibbs said. Cuban Americans show their Cuban passports as they purchase tickets to Cuba from a travel agent at Marazul Charters on April 13, 2009 in Miami, Florida. Today, U.S. President Barack Obama loosened travel restrictions for Cuban Americans traveling to Cuba as well as money transfers to the island. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Enlarge Image Cuban Americans show their Cuban passports as they purchase tickets to Cuba from a travel agent at Marazul Charters on Monday in Miami. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Such moves are unlikely from the septuagenarian Raul Castro, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel in 2008. But the regime is taking limited steps toward greater openness, and Mr. Obama is enormously popular among Cubans, the majority of whom are black or of mixed race. And the hard-line attitude of Cuban Americans toward the Castros is softening as a new generation of Cuban Americans sloughs off the resentments of their parents and grandparents. A half-century-old blood feud might some foreseeable day reach its end. Under the new rules, about 1.5 million Cuban Americans will be able to visit relatives as distant as second cousins; they will be able to send them as much money as they want; they can send anyone clothing, hygienic supplies and other personal items. They can send cellphones and pay for the cost of the service. Telecommunications network and service providers will be authorized to establish links with the island to provide phone and televisions services through fibre-optic cable and satellites, though this will require the consent of the regime. The new liberties announced by the Obama administration result from slow but tectonic shifts in the Cuba-U.S. relationship. Under the leadership of Raul Castro, the regime has taken limited steps toward greater openness. Unused state land has been handed over to private farming, cellphones are permitted - though only the ruling elite can afford them - and there has been a limited and tentative experiment in permitting discussion of economic problems. Change has come to the mainland as well. George W. Bush won his presidencies in 2000 and 2004 by taking Florida, thanks in part to the massive support of Cuban Americans. He rewarded their loyalty by tightening the very sanctions that Mr. Obama eliminated yesterday. Mr. Obama is less beholden to the anti-Castro lobby. He won Florida despite taking only 35 per cent of the Cuban-American vote, due to the massive support of other Latinos and of African Americans. And exit polls showed a majority of Cuban Americans under 30 in Florida supported Mr. Obama. A recent Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies, in association with the University of Miami, shows a steady shift by Cuban Americans toward more liberal attitudes. Most Cuban Americans now favour at least some easing of sanctions. This shift was most emphatically revealed by the reaction of the Cuban American National Foundation to the announcement. Once staunchly opposed to lifting travel restrictions, the group now supports the idea. The measures announced yesterday will help Cubans "not only in economic terms, but in terms of information and contacts with the outside world," said the group's president, Francisco Hernandez. Still, the old guard was having none of it. "Unilateral concessions to the dictatorship embolden it to further isolate, imprison and brutalize pro-democracy activists, to continue to dictate which Cubans and Cuban Americans are able to enter the island, and this unilateral concession provides the dictatorship with critical financial support," Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart declared in a statement. The brothers are both Republicans in the House of Representatives representing Miami. When he was running for the Senate in 2004, Mr. Obama opposed the embargo on Cuba, saying it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro." But by 2007, when he began his run for the presidency, he had reversed himself, saying the embargo was "an important inducement for change." Half a century after the embargo was imposed, that inducement seems pretty thin. The timing of the announcement was obviously intended to give Mr. Obama increased credibility when he travels to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas later this week, but this easing of sanctions on Cuba is essentially domestic, not foreign, policy. There is less and less interest in punishing the Castros - who are no worse than some other dictators that the United States has tolerated and even nurtured - among all Americans, not just those from Cuba. Bipartisan legislation currently before Congress would lift the ban on travel to Cuba entirely. Those close to the bill insist it actually has a chance. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:49:35 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:49:35 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Tea Bag Terror: Protests Causing Scares, Evacuations At Congressional Offices Message-ID: <004001c9bd31$c4a2f1b0$4de8d510$@net> On Saturday, close to 2,000 people worldwide voluntarily responded to a call for a weekly meditation from between the hours of 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. to attempt to determine the effect of thought patterns in maintaining coherency in different regions, thus reducing instances of violence. The call for meditators was set up by physicist Romik Kimor and was monitored by a unit at Princeton University. I was an administrator for this event. Since previous results in tests of this kind have been very positive, it would seem more useful to use this kind of peaceful approach to achieve peace, than other types of protest which may erupt into violence. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:45 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Tea Bag Terror: Protests Causing Scares, Evacuations At Congressional Offices (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) so what did they expect? right wing terrorists intend to disrupt government Tea Bag Terror: Protests Causing Scares, Evacuations At Congressional Offices http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/tea-bag-terror-protests-c_n_186596. html April 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM A recent email to hundreds of thousands of conservatives exhorted them to "Send a Tea Bag to Washington, D.C. for $1." Other activists have organized local efforts to mail tea bags to the offices of their members of Congress. It's all part of the anti-Obama, anti-tax "tea party" movement, backed aggressively by corporate-funded "astroturf" organizations like FreedomWorks. But now one of their symbolic protests is drawing attention for the wrong reasons. Local reports indicate that the practice of mailing actual tea bags to legislators has repeatedly raised security concerns, and sometimes forced the evacuation of congressional offices in anthrax-like scares. Brian Sperry, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, told the Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune that tea bags in the mail "cause us some concern. ... They could pose a problem if the tea bag is mailed in a regular envelope instead of a padded bag." The Chicago Tribune reports: In Boulder, Colo., the district office of U.S. Rep. Jared Polis recently called for help after a lumpy white envelope with no return address arrived in the mail. The Boulder County Hazardous Materials Response Team found a tea bag and a note reading "We the People, 1773." Earlier this month in Manchester, N.H., a hazmat team descended on the office of U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter after employees opened an envelope marked "tax protest" and found a bunch of tea leaves. And two days later, the office of Rep. George Radanovich in Modesto, Calif., was evacuated "after an intern in the mailroom came upon a suspicious package that was later found to contain tea." A haz-mat team and the FBI were were called in. About 20 people from the building, including those in the congressman's office and two mortgage firms, were evacuated as a precaution. Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Rich Sasser said the envelope held a granular substance. It did not have a return address. About 3 p.m., the Stanislaus County Hazardous Materials Response Team went into the office. Sasser said their monitors showed there was nothing dangerous, so the hazmat team double-bagged the sealed envelope and turned it over to the FBI. "We can't control who mails what to wherever," Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "At all times, [United States Capitol Police] will investigate and take the appropriate police action in response to any calls to us for any suspicious items that congressional staff might be concerned about." From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 12:52:33 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:52:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY Message-ID: <004101c9bd32$2ec42230$8c4c6690$@net> Wonderful message. From: Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:45 AM To: Stephanie Sutton Subject: A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark. But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light. It is a silent revolution. >From the inside out. >From the ground up. This is a Global operation. A Spiritual Conspiracy. There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet. You wont see us on the T.V. You wont read about us in the newspaper You wont hear about us on the radio We dont seek any glory We dont wear any uniform We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles Most of us work anonymously We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice We go undercover We remain behind the scenes It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit But simply that the work gets done Occasionally we spot each other in the street We give a quiet nod and continue on our way During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes a place Some call us the Conscious Army We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts We follow, with passion and joy Our orders come from from the Central Spiritual Intelligence We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking Poems ~ Hugs ~ Music ~ Photography ~ Movies ~ Kind words ~ Smiles ~ Meditation and prayer ~ Dance ~ Social activism ~ Websites Blogs ~ Random acts of kindness... We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents Be the change you want to see in the world That is the motto that fills our hearts We know it is the only way real transformation takes place We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined Our work is slow and meticulous Like the formation of mountains It is not even visible at first glance And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come Love is the new religion of the 21st century You dont have to be a highly educated person Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it It comes from the intelligence of the heart Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings Be the change you want to see in the world Nobody else can do it for you We are now recruiting Perhaps you will join us Or already have. All are welcome The door is open ~ author unknown -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 16:22:04 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:22:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says Message-ID: <002d01c9bd4f$734a6050$59df20f0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:28 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090414/us_nm/us_usa_security_extremists;_ylt =AsCJYg5r09DDQ61T1LNIVfms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJzaDUwdmY3BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwN DE0L3VzX3VzYV9zZWN1cml0eV9leHRyZW1pc3RzBGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDMTYEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zd G9yeQRzbGsDcmVjZXNzaW9uZnVl MIAMI (Reuters) - Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report to law enforcement officials. The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in "recruitment and radicalization activity" by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name. DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had so far been "largely rhetorical." But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists." "To the extent that these factors persist, right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength," DHS said. The report warned that military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat skills could be recruitment targets, especially those having trouble finding jobs or fitting back into civilian society. The department "is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities," the report said. DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban said on Tuesday the report was one of an ongoing series of threat assessments aimed at "a greater understanding of violent radicalization in the U.S." A similar assessment of left-wing radicals completed in January was distributed to federal, state and local police agencies at that time. "These assessments are done all the time, this is nothing unusual," Kuban said. The Department of Homeland Security was formed in response to the September 11 attacks of 2001 and has focused largely on threats from Islamist extremists. The report said domestic right-wing terrorist groups grew during the economic recession of the early 1990s but subsided as the economy improved. Government scrutiny disrupted violent plots following the April 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh which killed 168 people. LONE WOLVES "Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years," the report said. The Internet has made it easier to locate specific targets, communicate with like-minded people and find information on bombs and weapons, it said. Extremist groups are preying on fears that President Barack Obama, the first African American U.S. president, would restrict gun ownership, boost immigration and expand social programs for minorities, the report said. It said such groups were also exploiting anti-Semitic sentiment with accusations that "a cabal of Jewish financial elites" had conspired to collapse the economy. "This trend is likely to accelerate if the economy is perceived to worsen," the report said. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue Apr 14 19:28:27 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:28:27 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: [little_panarchy] A Declaration of Separation Message-ID: <000e01c9bd69$7d4fb040$77ef10c0$@net> Well, how does everyone feel about this? >From my point of view things are getting more direct, as this action gets into the real heart of the matter - that it's systemic. And it gets us out of personalities into something one could hang one's hat on if so inclined. I like this more than listening to people pointing fingers and making accusations. Makes a little more sense IMHO. From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 5:28 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Fw: Fwd: [little_panarchy] A Declaration of Separation This should easily replace the pledge of allegiance which was designed to end personal sovereignty once and for all. Governments based upon voter dominance must be shunned. Freedom is incompatible with the democratic system of dominance. Governments must no longer be allowed to steal from subjected people. Present governments are so wealthy from past stealing and investment they no longer need their euphemistic tax take. The flow could in fact be easily reversed. Just see www.CAFR1.com. Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP From: Ralph Haulk Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 5:22 AM To: BOB TAFT Subject: Fwd: [little_panarchy] A Declaration of Separation Here's something I found interesting. Ralph ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Christian Butterbach Date: Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 2:42 AM Subject: [little_panarchy] A Declaration of Separation To: little_panarchy at yahoogroups.com In an apparently new anonymous blog at WordPress.com named "Free and Unashamed" and seemingly created for the purpose, on April 9, 2009, appeared an anonymous PGP signed post by "freeandunashamed," which Bill St. Clair put into a more readable form on his site at http://billstclair.com/separation.html referring to the original at http://freeandunashamed.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/a-declaration-of-separation / which I think you may want to read, as some in it pertains to our concerns and will offer matter for debate. My attention to it was drawn by the current issue of The Libertarian Enterprise. I copy it for you: A Declaration of Separation ==== To The Governments & People of Earth: ==== We claim the right to exist, and we will defend it. We do not seek to overthrow anything. We do not seek to control anything. We merely wish to be left alone. All we ever wanted was to live in peace with our friends and neighbors. For a long, long time we bore insults to our liberty; we took blows, we did what we could to avoid injury and we worked through the system to get the offenses to stop. That has now changed. We no longer see any benefit in working through the world's systems. At some point, working within a system becomes cowardly and immoral; for us, that point has arrived. Regardless of the parties in power, their governments have continued to restrict, restrain and punish us. We hereby reject them all. We hereby withdraw from them all. We hold the ruling states of this world and all that appertains to them to be self-serving and opposed to humanity. We now withdraw our obedience and reclaim the right to strike back when struck. We will not initiate force, but we do reserve the right to answer it. We did not choose this - it was forced upon us. ==== To The Governments of Earth: ==== You are building cages for all that is human. In the name of protection, you have intruded into all areas of human life, far exceeding the reach of any Caesar. You claim ultimate control of our property and our decisions, of our travels and even our identities. You claim ownership of humanity far beyond the dreams of any Emperor of any previous era. Understand clearly: We reject your authority and we reject your legitimacy. We do not believe that you have any right to do the things you do. You have massive power, but no right to impose it upon us and no legitimacy. We have forsaken you. We are no longer your citizens or your subjects. Your systems are inherently anti-human, even if all their operators are not. We are not merely angry young people. We are fathers and mothers; aunts, uncles and grandparents; we are business owners and trusted employees; we are mechanics and engineers and farmers. We are nurses and accountants and students and executives. We are on every continent. This is not a burst of outrage; this is a sober declaration that we no longer accept unearned suffering as our role in life. For long decades we sat quietly, hoping that things would turn around. We took no actions; we suffered along with everyone else. But after having our limits pushed back again and again, we have given up on your systems. If our fellow inhabitants of this planet wish to accept your rule, they are free to do so. We will not try to stop them. We, however, will no longer accept your constraints upon us. >From now on, when you hurt us, we will bite back. If you leave us alone we will leave you alone and you can continue to rule your subjects. We are happy to live quietly. But if you come after us, there will be consequences. You caused this because of your fetish for control and power. The chief men and women among you are pathologically driven to control everyone and everything that moves upon this planet. You have made yourselves the judge of every human activity. No god-king of the ancient world ever had the power that your systems do. You have created a world where only the neutered are safe and where only outlaws are free. ==== To The People of Earth: ==== We seek nothing from you. We do not want to rule you and we do not want to control you. All we wish is to live on earth in peace. As always, we will be helpful neighbors and generous acquaintances. We will remain honest business partners and trustworthy employees. We will continue to be loving parents and respectful children. We will not, however, be sacrificial animals. We reject the idea that others have a right to our lives and our property. We will not demand anything from you, and we will no longer acquiesce to any demands upon us. We have left that game. We reject all obligations to any person or organization beyond honesty, fair dealing and a respect for human life. We will shortly explain what we believe, but we are not demanding that you agree with us. All we ask is that you do not try to stop us. Continue to play the game if you wish; we will not try to disrupt it. We have merely walked away from it. We wish you peace. ==== To Those Who Will Condemn Us: ==== We will ignore you. We welcome and seek the verdict of a just God, before whom we are willing to expose our innermost thoughts. Are you similarly willing? We would stand openly before all mankind if it were not suicidal. Perhaps some day we will have to accept slaughter for our crime of independence, but not yet. Your criticism and your malice are much deeper than mere disagreements of strategy or philosophy. You do not oppose our philosophy, you oppose our existence. Our presence in the world means that your precious ideals are false. Some of you would rather kill us than face the loss of your ideologies, just as those like you have either hated or killed every sufficiently independent human. You present yourselves to the world as compassionate, tolerant and enlightened, but we know that your smooth words are costumes. Oh yes, we know you, servant of the state; don't forget, we were raised with you. We played with you in the schoolyard, we sat next to you in the classroom. Some of us studied at the same elite universities. We watched as you had your first tastes of power. We were the boys and girls standing next to you. Some of us were your first victims. We are not fooled by your carefully crafted public image. ==== What We Believe ==== #1: Many humans resent the responsibilities that are implied by consciousness. We accept those responsibilities and we embrace consciousness. Rather than letting things happen to us (avoiding consciousness), we accept consciousness and choose to act in our own interest. We do not seek the refuge of blaming others, neither do we take refuge in crowds. We are willing to act on our personal judgment, and we are willing to accept the consequences thereof. #2: We believe in negative rights for all: That all humans should be free to do whatever they wish, as long as they do not intrude upon others; that no man has a right to the life, liberty or property of another; that we oppose aggression, fraud and coercion. #3: We do not believe that our way of life, or any other, will make life perfect or trouble-free. We expect crime and disagreements and ugliness, and we are prepared to deal with them. We do not seek a strongman to step in and solve problems for us. We agree to see to them ourselves. #4: We believe in free and unhindered commerce. So long as exchanges are voluntary and honest, no other party has a right to intervene - before, during or after. #5: We believe that all individuals should keep their agreements. #6: We believe that honestly obtained property is fully legitimate and absolute. #7: We believe that some humans are evil and that they must be faced and dealt with. We accept the fact that this is a difficult area of life. #8: We believe that humans can self-organize effectively. We expect them to cooperate. We reject impositions of hierarchy and organization. #9: We believe that all humans are to be held as equals in all matters regarding justice. #10: We believe that the more a man or woman cares about right and wrong, the more of a threat he or she is perceived to be by governments. #11: We believe that there are only two true classes of human beings: Those who wish to exercise power upon others - either directly or through intermediaries - and those who have no such desires. #12: Large organizations and centralization are inherently anti-human. They must rely upon rules rather than principles, treating humans within the organization as obedient tools. ==== Our Plans: ==== We are building our own society. We will supplement traditional tools with networking, cryptography, sound money, digital currency and anonymous messaging. Our society will not be centrally controlled. It will rely solely on voluntary arrangements. We welcome others to join us. We are looking for people who are independent creators of value, people who act more than talk, and people who do the right thing because it is the right thing. We will develop our own methods of dealing with injustice, built on the principles of negative rights, restitution, integrity and equal justice. We do not forbid anyone from having one foot in each realm - ours and the old realm - although we demand that they do no damage to our realm. We are fully opposed to any use of our realm to facilitate crime in the old realm, such as the hiding of criminal proceeds. We expect to be loudly condemned, libeled and slandered by the authorities of the old regime. We expect them to defend their power and their image of legitimacy with all means available to them. We expect that many gullible and servile people will believe these lies, at least at first. We will consider traps laid for us to be criminal offenses. Any who wish to join us are encouraged to distribute this declaration, to act in furtherance of our new society, to voluntarily excel in virtues and to communicate and cooperate with other members of the new society. Free, unashamed men cannot be ruled. We are The Free and The Unashamed. __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Members MARKETPLACE I'm happy I lost my Job. Now I make $12,000/mo online! See how I do it: WealthResource.org. _____ I'm happy I lost my Job. Now I make $12,000/mo online! See how I do it: WealthResource.org. _____ _____ >From kitchen basics to easy recipes - join the Group from Kraft Foods Error! Filename not specified. Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity Visit Your Group All-Bran 10 Day Challenge Join the club and feel the benefits. Yahoo! Groups Mom Power Community just for Moms Join the discussion Yahoo! Groups Auto Enthusiast Zone Discover Car Groups Auto Enthusiast Zone .. Error! Filename not specified. __,_._,___ _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.54/2055 - Release Date: 04/12/09 13:14:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed Apr 15 06:00:41 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:00:41 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Shades of Transfinancial Economics...............and the Future. Message-ID: <784857.22182.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? An article concerned with supercomputers, and the money markets.... Shades of Transfinancial Economics, or TFE.......................and the future when I believe that with the help of computer technology it would be possibe to create an interest, and tax free world irrespective of whether financial elites exist, or not....... ? ? R.Searle. ???????????????????? http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Transfinancial_Economics ? ? February 29, 2008 Supercomputers for Finance: A New Challenge by Julian Fielden, Managing Director, OCF plc Page: ?1 ?of ?6 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ??All????? According to analyst group IDC, revenue for the overall supercomputing market grew a full 18 percent compared to the same period last year, to reach $3.0 billion in the third quarter of 2007. Growth?of?this scale?is the result of several factors: In the university market, the traditional home of the supercomputer, growth is driven by increasing budgets swelled by European coffers, investment and knowledge partnerships with private firms and larger aggregated UK university and college department budgets. In mainstream markets, growth is driven by a need for competitive advantage, efficiency and productivity gains and to some extent, Microsoft's recently launched Compute Cluster Server broadening the market and encouraging widespread adoption of supercomputing technologies. By any measure, finance is one of the strongest growth sectors for supercomputers, driven by ever increasing data volumes, greater data complexity and significantly more challenging data analysis -- a key outcome from greater competition and regulation (through BASEL I, BASEL II, and Sarbanes-Oxley for example). Financial organisations use the power and performance of supercomputers in a variety of ways: Portfolio optimisation?-- to run models and optimise thousands of individual portfolios overnight based on the previous day's trading results. Valuation of financial derivatives -- A re-insurance firm, for example, may need to value and compute hedge strategies for hundreds of thousands of policy holders in its portfolio. Detection of credit card fraud?-- supercomputers enable a bank to easily run more fraud detection algorithms against tens of millions of credit card accounts. Hedge fund trading -- supercomputers allow for faster reaction time to market conditions, enabling analysts to evaluate more sophisticated algorithms that take into account larger data sets. Today, financial organisations are aiming to increase the computational power and performance at their disposal in one of three ways. Some financial organisations will work directly with universities and colleges to draw on the power and performance of their academic supercomputers. For example, a financial analysis firm called CD02 has recently teamed-up with The Department of Computing at Surrey University on a three-year bid to look at ways to develop better pricing and risk analysis technology, which will ultimately help banks, hedge funds and investment outfits to trade in a financial instrument called a collateralised debt obligation, or CDO. This project, sponsored by the former DTI, centres on the power of the supercomputer to model huge problem spaces and simulations to explore very complex risk analysis -- but is just one of the things the cluster will be used for. Alternatively, for other financial organisations the supercomputer requirement will be met by new implementations -- within their own organisations -- using the very latest technology providing maximum power and performance. It generally depends on the types of applications running, but many financial organisations are turning to cluster-based supercomputers using low cost blade servers. Lastly, for "early supercomputer adopters," an increase in computational power and performance will not come from new implementations or working in partnership with universities and colleges, but?from driving greater efficiencies from existing third and fourth generation supercomputer implementations. All approaches will demand greater storage capacity and instant storage scalability to keep pace with data generation and ensure storage does not become?an innovation bottleneck. ???????????????? More details February 29, 2008 Supercomputers for Finance: A New Challenge by Julian Fielden, Managing Director, OCF plc Page: ?1 ?of ?6 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ??All????? According to analyst group IDC, revenue for the overall supercomputing market grew a full 18 percent compared to the same period last year, to reach $3.0 billion in the third quarter of 2007. Growth?of?this scale?is the result of several factors: In the university market, the traditional home of the supercomputer, growth is driven by increasing budgets swelled by European coffers, investment and knowledge partnerships with private firms and larger aggregated UK university and college department budgets. In mainstream markets, growth is driven by a need for competitive advantage, efficiency and productivity gains and to some extent, Microsoft's recently launched Compute Cluster Server broadening the market and encouraging widespread adoption of supercomputing technologies. By any measure, finance is one of the strongest growth sectors for supercomputers, driven by ever increasing data volumes, greater data complexity and significantly more challenging data analysis -- a key outcome from greater competition and regulation (through BASEL I, BASEL II, and Sarbanes-Oxley for example). Financial organisations use the power and performance of supercomputers in a variety of ways: Portfolio optimisation?-- to run models and optimise thousands of individual portfolios overnight based on the previous day's trading results. Valuation of financial derivatives -- A re-insurance firm, for example, may need to value and compute hedge strategies for hundreds of thousands of policy holders in its portfolio. Detection of credit card fraud?-- supercomputers enable a bank to easily run more fraud detection algorithms against tens of millions of credit card accounts. Hedge fund trading -- supercomputers allow for faster reaction time to market conditions, enabling analysts to evaluate more sophisticated algorithms that take into account larger data sets. Today, financial organisations are aiming to increase the computational power and performance at their disposal in one of three ways. Some financial organisations will work directly with universities and colleges to draw on the power and performance of their academic supercomputers. For example, a financial analysis firm called CD02 has recently teamed-up with The Department of Computing at Surrey University on a three-year bid to look at ways to develop better pricing and risk analysis technology, which will ultimately help banks, hedge funds and investment outfits to trade in a financial instrument called a collateralised debt obligation, or CDO. This project, sponsored by the former DTI, centres on the power of the supercomputer to model huge problem spaces and simulations to explore very complex risk analysis -- but is just one of the things the cluster will be used for. Alternatively, for other financial organisations the supercomputer requirement will be met by new implementations -- within their own organisations -- using the very latest technology providing maximum power and performance. It generally depends on the types of applications running, but many financial organisations are turning to cluster-based supercomputers using low cost blade servers. Lastly, for "early supercomputer adopters," an increase in computational power and performance will not come from new implementations or working in partnership with universities and colleges, but?from driving greater efficiencies from existing third and fourth generation supercomputer implementations. All approaches will demand greater storage capacity and instant storage scalability to keep pace with data generation and ensure storage does not become?an innovation bottleneck................................................... ? Complete article not included here.............. ? ? ????????????????????????????? Page: ?1 ?of ?6 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ??All????? var mytext = document.getElementById("bodytext").innerHTML; mytext = mytext.replace(/(Nasdaq: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(NYSE: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(AMEX: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(OTCBB: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); document.getElementById("bodytext").innerHTML = mytext Article Tools // Only logged in users should be able to comment on articles. if(readCookie("username")) { document.write("Comment on This"); } Email This Article Print This Page Bookmark This Article Share Options ShareThis(Digg, Technorati, more) ? Page: ?1 ?of ?6 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ??All????? var mytext = document.getElementById("bodytext").innerHTML; mytext = mytext.replace(/(Nasdaq: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(NYSE: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(AMEX: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); mytext = mytext.replace(/(OTCBB: *)([^)]+)/gi,"$1 $2"); document.getElementById("bodytext").innerHTML = mytext Article Tools // Only logged in users should be able to comment on articles. if(readCookie("username")) { document.write("Comment on This"); } Email This Article Print This Page Bookmark This Article Share Options ShareThis(Digg, Technorati, more) ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 03:22:26 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:52:26 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Replace the word 'right wing' by friends of Satan seeking destruction of virtues/: FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says Message-ID: <31f677a30904150222l630de290p4f55c5c36463d014@mail.gmail.com> For quite some time the phrase 'right wing' has been used for actions and utterances that are directed against the perceived 'other' who are subjected to violence, looting. These men and women are not right in the moral sense of the word. They are niether believers in the word of Almighty nor of the messengers. Killing and looting and threatening ethnic groups and minorities for the problems is not the solution and it would never be. These men and women described as' right wing' are freinds of Satan and they are the one seeking establishement of the culture of prayer, donation, compassion, cooperation and so on- all that is worthy of emulation. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam On 4/15/09, mary rose wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net > [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of > TradingPostPaul > Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:28 PM > To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net > Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Recession fueling right-wing extremism, > U.S. says > > > (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to > http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) > > Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090414/us_nm/us_usa_security_extremists;_ylt > =AsCJYg5r09DDQ61T1LNIVfms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJzaDUwdmY3BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwN > > DE0L3VzX3VzYV9zZWN1cml0eV9leHRyZW1pc3RzBGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDMTYEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zd > G9yeQRzbGsDcmVjZXNzaW9uZnVl > > MIAMI (Reuters) - Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining > new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the > first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a > report to law enforcement officials. > > The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, > said such fears were driving a resurgence in "recruitment and > radicalization activity" by white supremacist groups, antigovernment > extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name. > > DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had > so far been "largely rhetorical." > > But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences > of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment > for right-wing extremists." > > "To the extent that these factors persist, right-wing extremism is likely > to grow in strength," DHS said. > > The report warned that military veterans returning from Iraq and > Afghanistan with combat skills could be recruitment targets, especially > those having trouble finding jobs or fitting back into civilian society. > > The department "is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to > recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent > capabilities," the report said. > > DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban said on Tuesday the report was one of an ongoing > series of threat assessments aimed at "a greater understanding of violent > radicalization in the U.S." > > A similar assessment of left-wing radicals completed in January was > distributed to federal, state and local police agencies at that time. > > "These assessments are done all the time, this is nothing unusual," Kuban > said. > > The Department of Homeland Security was formed in response to the September > 11 attacks of 2001 and has focused largely on threats from Islamist > extremists. > > The report said domestic right-wing terrorist groups grew during the > economic recession of the early 1990s but subsided as the economy improved. > > Government scrutiny disrupted violent plots following the April 1995 > bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City by Army veteran Timothy > McVeigh which killed 168 people. > > LONE WOLVES > > "Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone > wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years," > the report said. > > The Internet has made it easier to locate specific targets, communicate > with like-minded people and find information on bombs and weapons, it said. > > Extremist groups are preying on fears that President Barack Obama, the > first African American U.S. president, would restrict gun ownership, boost > immigration and expand social programs for minorities, the report said. > > It said such groups were also exploiting anti-Semitic sentiment with > accusations that "a cabal of Jewish financial elites" had conspired to > collapse the economy. > > "This trend is likely to accelerate if the economy is perceived to worsen," > the report said. > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 12:25:22 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:25:22 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Fox's Asman ignores findings by Bush FBI in slamming Obama for report on extremists recruiting vets Message-ID: <00cd01c9bdf7$8d5a0ab0$a80e2010$@net> I am glad that some reporters are on top of this effort to discredit President Obama with false information. IMHO this slander effort should be considered a "crime against humanity". But instead, in the manner in which the present system is configured it is almost mandatory to do so in order for an opposing party to stand a chance of getting elected. So the biggest liar wins? We need a new system. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:05 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Fox's Asman ignores findings by Bush FBI in slamming Obama for report on extremists recruiting vets (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Fox's Asman ignores findings by Bush FBI in slamming Obama for report on extremists recruiting vets Tue, Apr 14, 2009 7:37pm ET http://mediamatters.org/items/200904140033?f=i_latest Summary: David Asman stated of the DHS report on right-wing extremist groups' recruiting of veterans, "I'm wondering if all this isn't just a desire on part of the administration to shut up its critics." But Asman didn't note that the DHS cited an FBI report authored under President Bush that previously identified this pattern. During the April 14 edition of Fox News' Your World, guest host David Asman repeatedly criticized the Obama administration over the conclusion by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis that "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat." Asman stated that he thought the report "was insulting, what it was implying about veterans because it focuses attention on a very small minority of people within the veteran community" and that he was "wondering if all this isn't just a desire on part of the administration to shut up its critics, wherever they are." But at no point during the segment did Asman note that as evidence for its conclusion, the DHS cited a 2008 FBI report -- authored during the Bush administration -- that stated, in the words of the DHS, that "some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups." In the July 2008 report, titled "White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11," the FBI's Counterterrorism Division found with "[h]igh confidence" that "[m]ilitary experience is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement as the result of recruitment campaigns by extremist groups and self-recruitment by veterans sympathetic to white supremacist causes." The FBI further found with "moderate confidence": * (U//FOUO) Although individuals with military backgrounds constitute a small percentage of white supremacist extremists, they frequently occupy leadership roles within extremist groups and their involvement has the potential to reinvigorate an extremist movement suffering from loss of leadership and in-fighting during the post-9/11 period. * (U//FOUO) White supremacist extremists hope to revitalize the white supremacist movement by exploiting antigovernment sentiment among opponents of the overseas conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although some veterans of these conflicts have joined the extremist movement, they have not done so in numbers sufficient to stem declines among major national extremist organizations, nor has their participation resulted in a more violent extremist movement. * (U//FOUO) Looking ahead, current and former military personnel belonging to white supremacist extremist organizations who experience frustration at the inability of these organizations to achieve their goals may choose to found new, more operationally minded and operationally capable groups. The military training veterans bring to the movement and their potential to pass this training on to others can increase the ability of lone offenders to carry out violence from the movement's fringes. The report further stated: "A review of FBI white supremacist extremist cases from October 2001 to May 2008 identified 203 individuals with confirmed or claimed military service active in the extremist movement at some time during the reporting period." It also stated: "According to FBI information, an estimated 19 veterans (approximately 9 percent of the 203) have verified or unverified service in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." In a July 16, 2008, post to MSNBC.com's Deep Background investigative blog, NBC News senior investigative producer Jim Popkin reported on the FBI report, writing: White-supremacist groups have recruited 203 people who served in the U.S. military or who claim to have U.S. military backgrounds, according to a new report by the FBI. The unclassified FBI Intelligence Assessment, issued last week and obtained by NBC News, cautions that white-power extremists are trying hard to recruit active-duty soldiers and recent veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the Your World segment, Asman said that the report's statement that "[a]fter Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991, some returning military veterans -- including [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh -- joined or associated with rightwing extremist groups" was "like saying, 'Watch out for all doctors because Jack the Ripper might have been a doctor.' " He later added: "I'm wondering how somebody could have read this through -- these reports are written, and then they're read through by somebody to check their -- you know, whether they'll create a political stir. Who could have passed this on? I mean, who could have read this and not thought it would stir people up?" >From the DHS report, titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment": (U) Disgruntled Military Veterans (U//FOUO) DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists -- including lone wolves or small terrorist cells -- to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today. -- (U) After Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991, some returning military veterans -- including Timothy McVeigh -- joined or associated with rightwing extremist groups. -- (U) A prominent civil rights organization reported in 2006 that "large numbers of potentially violent neo-Nazis, skinheads, and other white supremacists are now learning the art of warfare in the [U.S.] armed forces." -- (U//LES) The FBI noted in a 2008 report on the white supremacist movement that some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups. >From the April 14 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto: ASMAN: Well, a new government report singling out military veterans as a potential threat to homeland security. The report claiming returning veterans could be radicalized by right-wing groups to carry out violence and points to Timothy McVeigh as an example. My next guest calls the report an insult to all veterans. Pete Hegseth joins us now. He served in Iraq. Pete, I looked at this report -- I thought it was insulting, what it was implying about veterans because it focuses attention on a very small minority of people within the veteran community. HEGSETH: David, that's exactly right. There are a lot of problems with the report, but the fact that it singles out military veterans who, as it quotes, have -- are going to have problems reintegrating into their communities and they have combat skills, therefore they're apt to be recruited by right-wing extremist groups that commit violence against the community. It's amazing to me. And the example of Timothy McVeigh -- that's like saying that Timothy McVeigh representing disgruntled veterans is like Osama bin Laden representing Islam. It's taking the extreme example and saying, "Look out for these veterans," and it's re-- ASMAN: Or like saying, "Watch out for all doctors because Jack the Ripper might have been a doctor." I mean, you know, they -- HEGSETH: That's exactly right. ASMAN: It's nuts. HEGSETH: But more -- ASMAN: Why do you think they did this, Pete, because there's something going on here. What is it? HEGSETH: Well, I think it's more -- it's the overall narrative. It's part of what academia and the media and others are doing to say, "These veterans that come home are damaged goods. Beware. Be on the lookout. They've faced traumatic events, and they're not going to be able to come home and handle it." Rather, we should be saying, "Look at what these men and women have accomplished. Look at what pillars of the community they will be. Look at the great leadership skills that they have and what they've done for this country." We should celebrate them. The president should be celebrating them, not sending out warnings that they're dangerous to the community. There's an underlying narrative that is creating this idea that veterans are victims. Veterans are not victims. They have served proudly. They want to come back and be part of their communities here. That's what our government should be saying. That's what President Obama should be saying at every turn. Rather than saying, "Let's just take care of them when they get home," let's give them what they need to win, and then welcome them back, celebrate them, and give them everything that they deserve. ASMAN: Well, Pete, without being too conspiratorial, I'm wondering if all this isn't just a desire on part of the administration to shut up its critics, wherever they are. HEGSETH: Well, I mean, it's interesting the timing with which this report comes out. Apparently, also if you have an immigra-- anti-immigration sticker, if you're pro-life, and if you believe in the -- ASMAN: Or if you like guns. HEGSETH: If you like guns, they should pull you over because you're apt to right-wing extremism. Well, you know, I hope my parents don't get pulled over tonight. I mean, the reality is it draws way too broad of a spectrum, and it should never focus out veterans. If you look at the men and women coming back -- incredible, the best of our generation. ASMAN: Oh, the best. Absolutely. But I'm wondering how somebody could have read this through -- these reports are written, and then they're read through by somebody to check their -- you know, whether they'll create a political stir. Who could have passed this on? I mean, who could have read this and not thought it would stir people up? HEGSETH: Well, this comes from the same secretary of homeland security that now calls suicide bombers man-made disasters. I think there's a little bit of a detachment from reality somewhere in Department of Homeland Security from the threats that we really face. Thankfully, a lot of local communities are refusing to disseminate this to their law enforcement because it's so ridiculous, but there needs to be more vetting clearly at the top of DHS. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 12:27:48 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:27:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Gary Craig - Founder of EFT Message-ID: <00ce01c9bdf7$e4221360$ac663a20$@net> From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 2:42 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Science for Life - Gary Craig - Founder of EFT Trouble reading this email? Read it online here Hello friends, I am eager to talk today with Gary Craig, founder of EFT, one of the most practiced forms of energy healing. Gary started a world wide revolution by empowering people to make a difference in their own lives. His conferences attract thousands and Gary loves the hands on teaching approach. His gift and personality have endeared him the world over. Also joining us will be Dawson Church, author of "Genie in Your Genes " to discuss the wonderful research and outreach programs designed to help veterans. You will love this hour and we will also introduce Gary's new book," EFT for Back Pain", one of a whole series destined to become best sellers. www.ScienceforLife.net 9:00 AM Pacific, 12:00 Noon Eastern or 24/7 On Demand Love and light, Design:OneGraphic.com This message was sent from Spiritcrossing to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: Spirit 2000, SpiritCrossing P.O. Box 11736 , Murfreesboro, TN 37129-0035. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing Software To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 12:32:08 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:32:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Susan Boyle on U Tube - Must watch Message-ID: <00d301c9bdf8$a45bf9c0$ed13ed40$@net> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY FutureDawning.org Mary Rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 12:51:50 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:51:50 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Collapse is just the beginning of Rebirth Message-ID: <00f601c9bdfb$3fc84420$bf58cc60$@net> It is all part of the cyclical nature of the Universe. From: Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:13 AM To: Subject: and then......y here is another article by the same author http://www.naturalnews.com/025906.html ......... Collapse is just the beginning of rebirth It is the collapse of America as we know it today that will make all this possible. That's why the collapse of the existing U.S. government is not a negative thing. It's not even a surprising thing. Rather, it is a transitional phase of the natural rise and fall of nations. (You didn't think America would last forever, did you?) In time, all empires come to an end. America's end is near. And some folks in Washington seem to be accelerating its demise with each passing week. But do not mourn the passing of the once-great nation of America: Its time here on our planet was a great gift to us all. America taught much about what works and what doesn't. From America's demise, we are learning the truth about corporations: If given enough legal standing, corporations will rise in power until they control the media, the economy and the government. Today's corporations are the dominant, corrupt power centers of the State just like the Church was in medieval Europe. Why the End of America is Closer than You Think Sunday, March 22, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor http://www.FreedomsPhoenix.com/Find-Freedom.htm?At=048797 &From=News -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 15:51:39 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:51:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis Message-ID: <012901c9be14$5ea90b90$1bfb22b0$@net> An excerpt from the following interview with Noam Chomsky, which IMHO gives a good look at how the world really works. And from what I am able to comprehend from sitting here reading the hundreds of news items that pass across my desktop each day, the disgruntled Republicans are also the so-called "Constitutionalists" or those who keep hanging on to what was a rigged document at best, and do not want to move forward into a better way of doing things, What the Constitution actually did was rig the game so the wealthy men won and the rest of us lost. Most people overlook the fact that the Constitution was written by who had vested interests in England and wanted to continue corporatism when King George wanted to end it. These men were all slave owners who saw the East Indies Company as "the way to go". So, the Constitution was written to support their freedom to continue the practice of Colonialism which today is known as "Corporatism". What the Constitution really did was to disenfranchise women, people of color, and non-landowners while upholding slavery and instituting capitalism. And, what those who instituted it really wanted was the freedom to continue to rape the world. That they wanted freedom from taxation was a side issue, because it too inhibited their ability to make uncapped profits at the expense of others. The Constitution was not easily passed if one looks at the history of it. There were few who wanted to sign it and in the end it was pushed through by those who were Freemasons. These people were the forerunners of the Neo-cons. AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think Obama chose to surround himself? NOAM CHOMSKY: Because those are his beliefs. I mean, his support comes from the?his constituency is basically the financial institutions. Just take a look at the funding for his campaign. I mean, the final figures haven?t come out, but we have preliminary figures, and it seems to be mostly financial institutions. I mean, the financial institutions preferred him to McCain. They are the main funders for both?you know, I mean, core funders for both parties, but considerably more to Obama than McCain. You can learn a lot from campaign contributions. In fact, one of the best predictors of policy around is Thomas Ferguson?s investment theory of politics, as he calls it?very outstanding political economist?which essentially?I mean, to say it in a sentence, he describes elections as occasions in which groups of investors coalesce and invest to control the state. And he takes a look at the formation of campaign contributors, and it gives you a surprisingly good prediction of what policies are going to be. It goes back a century, New Deal and so on. So, yeah, it can predict pretty well what Obama is going to do. There?s nothing surprising about this. It?s the norm in what?s called political democracy. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 10:35 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/13/noam_chomsky_on_the_global_economic Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire Part II of our conversation with MIT professor and author Noam Chomsky on the global economic crisis, healthcare, the media, US foreign policy, the expanding wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, resistance to American empire, and more. ?As far as policy is concerned, unless [Obama] is under a lot of pressure from activist sectors, he?s not going to go beyond what he?s presented himself as in actual policy statements or cabinet choices and so on: a centrist Democrat [who?s] going to basically continue Bush?s polices, maybe in a more modulated way,? says Chomsky. [includes rush transcript] AMY GOODMAN: Today, a conversation with one of the most important dissident intellectuals of our time, Noam Chomsky, on the global economic crisis, healthcare, the media, US foreign policy, the expanding wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and resistance to American empire. Noam Chomsky is a world-renowned linguist, philosopher, social critic, and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his many books over the past few decades are Hegemony or Survival: America?s Quest for Global Dominance, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Profit over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order, and Human Rights and American Foreign Policy. There?s a great collection of his work, just out now, edited by Anthony Arnove, called The Essential Chomsky. I spoke to Noam Chomsky earlier this month when we were on the road in Boston. This is Part II of our conversation. I began by asking him to talk about the current economic meltdown. NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, let?s start with G20. If you look at the Financial Times, the world?s major business journal, the day before the G20 meeting, they had a section on it, and they pointed out, I think correctly, that the main purpose is to present a picture of harmony and agreement. It doesn?t matter what you do, but make it look as if we?re all together on this. Now, there are sharp splits about how to approach the issue, but you have to make it look as if we?re all together. That?s pretty much what happened. Now, in the communiqu?, which you read before, the crucial word was ?voluntary.? So, the countries there are supposed to voluntarily choose to do x, y and z. Well, that means we couldn?t make an agreement. So we?ll call it voluntary agreement. Now, there was one point on which they agreed: a sharp recapitalization of the International Monetary Fund; pour a lot of money into the IMF. That?s a pretty dubious move. I mean, the record of the IMF has?the IMF is more or less a branch of the US Treasury, even though it has a European director. Its past role has been extremely destructive. In fact, its American US executive director captured its role when she described it as ?the credit community?s enforcer,? meaning if a third world dictator incurs a huge debt?people didn?t, but the dictator did; say, Suharto in Indonesia?and then the debt defaults, the lenders, who have made plenty of money because it was a risky loan so they get high interest and so on, they have to be protected, meaning not by the dictator, by the people of Indonesia, who are subjected to harsh structural adjustment programs so that they can pay back the debt, which they didn?t incur, so that we can be compensated, rich Westerners can be compensated. So that?s the IMF, the credit community?s enforcer, a very destructive role in the third world. Now it?s to be recapitalized. Now, there?s discussion about this, and it?s interesting. You can read it in the financial pages. The supporters of the recapitalization say, ?Well, the IMF has changed its spots. It?s going to be different from now on. We realize that it had this terrible role, but now it?s going to be different.? Well, is there any reason to believe it will be different? In fact, if you look today, it?s quite striking to see the advice that the Western powers are following, the programs that they?re following, and compare them to the instructions given to the third world. So, say, take Indonesia again. Indonesia had a huge financial crisis about ten years ago, and the instructions were the standard ones: ?Here is what you have to do. First, pay off your debts to us. Second, privatize, so that we can then pick up your assets on the cheap. Third, raise interest rates to slow down the economy and force the population to suffer, you know, to pay us back.? Those are the regular instructions the IMF is still giving them. What do we do? Exactly the opposite. We forget about the debt, let it explode. We reduce interest rates to zero to stimulate the economy. We pour money into the economy to get even bigger debts. We don?t privatize; we nationalize, except we don?t call it nationalization. We give it some other name, like ?bailout? or something. It?s essentially nationalization without control. So we pour money into the institutions. We lectured the third world that they must accept free trade, though we accept protectionism. Take the ?too big to fail? principle, which the House committee is discussing today. But what does ?too big to fail? mean? ?Too big to fail? is an insurance policy. It?s a government insurance policy. Government means the public pays, which says, ?You can take huge risks and make plenty of profit, and if anything goes wrong, we?ll bail you out.? That?s ?too big to fail.? Well, that?s extreme protectionism. It gives US corporations like Citigroup an enormous advantage over others, like any other kind of protection. But we don?t allow the third world to do that. I mean, they?ve got to privatize, so that we can pick up their assets. Now, these are happening side by side. Now, here?s the instructions for you, the poor people; here?s the policies for us, the rich people. Exactly the opposite. Is there any reason to think the IMF is going to change it? AMY GOODMAN: Do you think President Obama is any different than President Bush when it comes to the economy? And if you were in the Congress, would you have voted for the bailouts and the stimulus packages? NOAM CHOMSKY: He?s different. I mean, first of all, there?s a rhetorical difference. But we have to distinguish the first and the second Bush terms. They were different. I mean, the first Bush term was so arrogant and abrasive and militaristic and dismissive of everyone that they offended, they antagonized even allies, close allies, and US prestige in the world plummeted to zero. Now, the second Bush administration was more?moved more toward the center in that respect, not entirely, but more, so some of the worst offenders, like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others, were thrown out. I mean, they couldn?t throw out Dick Cheney, because he was the administration, so they couldn?t get rid of him. He stayed, but the others, a lot of them, left. And they moved towards a somewhat more normal position. And Obama is carrying that forward. He?s a centrist Democrat. He never really pretended to be anything else. And he?s moving towards a kind of a centrist position. He?s very popular in Europe, not so much because of him, but because he?s not Bush. So there is the kind of rhetoric that the European leaders and, in fact, the European population tend to accept. In fact, you know, even in the Middle East, where you?d think people would know better, they accept the illusions. And they are illusions, because there?s nothing to back them up. So, yes, he is different from Bush. Same?on the economy, well, you know, the current Obama-Geithner plan is not very different from the Bush-Paulson plan. I mean, somewhat different, but circumstances have changed. So, of course, it?s somewhat different. But it?s still based on the principle that we have to?somehow, the taxpayer has to rescue the institutions intact. They have to remain intact, including the people who, you know, destroyed the economy. In fact, they are the ones who Obama picked to fix it up. AMY GOODMAN: Explain. NOAM CHOMSKY: Like Larry Summers, for example, who is now his chief economic adviser. I mean, he was Secretary of Treasury under Bill Clinton. His great achievement was to prevent Congress from regulating derivatives, exotic financial instruments. Well, that?s one of the main factors that led to the crisis. His kind of senior adviser, one of the first, was Robert Rubin, who was Secretary of Treasury right before Summers. His main achievement?many achievements, like what he did to Indonesia and the third world, but here, his main achievement was to lead the way to revoke the Glass-Steagall legislation from the New Deal, which protected commercial banks from risky investments. It broke down those barriers. Immediately after having done this, he left the government, joined Citigroup as a director, and they began to make huge profits, including him, from picking up insurance companies and so on and making very risky loans, relying on the ?too big to fail? doctrine, meaning if we get in trouble, the taxpayer will bail us out, which is just what?s happening, taxpayers now pouring tens of billions of dollars into rescuing Citigroup. Well, these are the advisers who were supposed to fix up the system. Tim Geithner was right in the middle of this. He was head of the New York Federal Reserve, so, yes, he was supervising these actions. Now, you know, you can argue about whether they?re doing the right thing or the wrong thing, but are these the people who should be fixing up the system? Actually, the business press just had some interesting things to say about this. Bloomberg News, you know, main business press, had an article in which they reviewed the records of the people who Obama invited to his economic summit. I think it must have been last November or December. They just reviewed the record. I think there were a couple dozen of them. People on the?you know, people like, say, Stiglitz, Krugman, they were never even allowed close to it, let alone anyone from the left or labor and so on, given token representation. So they went through the records, and they concluded that these people should not be invited to fix up the economy. Most of them should be getting subpoenas because of their record of accounting fraud, malpractice and so on, and helping bring about the current crisis. AMY GOODMAN: Professor Noam Chomsky. We?ll continue the conversation in a minute. If you?d like a copy of today?s show, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. Stay with us. [break] AMY GOODMAN: We return now to my conversation with Noam Chomsky about the economic crisis and how the Obama administration is handling it. AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think Obama chose to surround himself? NOAM CHOMSKY: Because those are his beliefs. I mean, his support comes from the?his constituency is basically the financial institutions. Just take a look at the funding for his campaign. I mean, the final figures haven?t come out, but we have preliminary figures, and it seems to be mostly financial institutions. I mean, the financial institutions preferred him to McCain. They are the main funders for both?you know, I mean, core funders for both parties, but considerably more to Obama than McCain. You can learn a lot from campaign contributions. In fact, one of the best predictors of policy around is Thomas Ferguson?s investment theory of politics, as he calls it?very outstanding political economist?which essentially?I mean, to say it in a sentence, he describes elections as occasions in which groups of investors coalesce and invest to control the state. And he takes a look at the formation of campaign contributors, and it gives you a surprisingly good prediction of what policies are going to be. It goes back a century, New Deal and so on. So, yeah, it can predict pretty well what Obama is going to do. There?s nothing surprising about this. It?s the norm in what?s called political democracy. AMY GOODMAN: Would you have let Citibank, would you have let Citigroup, would do have let the AIG fail? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, there are other possibilities. So, the government could just take over the viable parts. And parts of them are functioning; parts are dysfunctional, like the toxic?what they call the toxic asset parts, you know, the financial manipulations. Well, one thing you could do, which has been suggested by a number of economists like Dean Baker, just take over the good parts, essentially nationalize them, put them under public control. And ?nationalize? means public control, at least if you have a democracy. Not here, but if you had a functioning democracy, it would mean let them be under public control, and the parts that are responsible for the huge losses, just let them go off by themselves. In fact, that would be the way of taking care of the AIG bonuses that everyone?s screaming about. In fact, as Baker pointed out, just spin off the parts that were involved in financial manipulations and caused the crisis, let them go bankrupt and let the executives try to get the bonuses from a bankrupt firm, OK, with no legislation necessary. That?s what should be done with Citigroup. And in fact, it?s interesting, it?s kind of happening. You know, after the breakdown of Glass-Steagall, they did bring in?they made use of it, under Rubin?s direction, among others, to take?bring in insurance companies and other risky investors. Now they?re divesting them. And they?re going in the direction of becoming, you know, commercial bank. Now, incidentally, this is not the first time this has happened. Paul Volcker is on the news today, you know, saying, ?Let?s slow down,? and so on. Well, he?s the one who, under Reagan, who helped bail out Citigroup last time they crashed. At that time they were Citibank. They had followed World Bank and IMF instructions and lent huge amounts of money to Latin America and were assured by the World Bank that it?s all fine, you know, markets will take care of it, etc. Well, in a crash, Paul Volcker came in. He raised interest rates very sharply. Third world countries, whose payments are tied to US interest rates, couldn?t pay their debts. The IMF moved in, took care of it, and essentially recapitalized Citibank. That?s the way the system works: you make risky loans, you make a lot of money, and if you get into trouble, we?re here to bail you out, namely the taxpayer. AMY GOODMAN: And how do the Republicans differ from the Democrats in this? What do you make of?do you see it as just a minor footnote that Republicans, or some of the governors like Palin, like Jindal? NOAM CHOMSKY: There?s a difference. AMY GOODMAN: ?are saying they?re not going to take stimulus money? NOAM CHOMSKY: There?s a difference. I mean, we basically are a kind of a one-party state. I think C. Wright Mills must have pointed this out fifty years ago. It?s a business party, but it has factions?Democrats and Republicans?and they?re different. They have somewhat different constituencies and different policies. And if you look over the years, the population has?the majority of the population has tended to make out better under Democrats than Republicans; the very wealthy have tended to make out better under Republicans than Democrats. So they?re business parties, but they?re somewhat different, and the differences can have an effect. However, fundamentally, they?re pretty much along the same lines. So take, say, the current financial crisis. Actually, it began under Carter. The late Carter administration is the one that began?was pushing for financialization of the economy, you know, huge growth of speculative financial capital, deregulation, and so on. Reagan carried it much further, and Clinton continued it. And then, with Bush, it kind of went off the rails. So there are differences, but differences within a pretty narrow spectrum. And anyone who?s a little off the spectrum, like Nobel laureates in economics who are a couple of millimeters off the spectrum, they?re basically on the outside. You can interview them, but they don?t show up at the economic summit. AMY GOODMAN: How does the global economy and our own economy relate to the issue of war and US foreign policy? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, actually, you had a pretty good interview with Joseph Stiglitz about that a couple of months ago, in which he discussed the relationship of?he was talking about the Iraq war. And as you?ll recall, he pointed out correctly that the Iraq war, which, first of all, is going to cost trillions of dollars, also had the effect of sharply increasing the price of oil, predictably. And as he pointed out, we could sort of paper that over for a while by a housing bubble, so there was a huge housing bubble which anyone with eyes open could see. I mean, for a century, housing prices had sort of tracked the economy, GDP; then, all of a sudden, they shot way beyond the trend line, which means there?s a bubble, and it?s going to burst, and you get into trouble. But the housing bubble, which was supervised by Alan Greenspan and with the Democrats?actually, it started under Clinton?it replaced the tech bubble under Clinton, and it gave an illusion of prosperity, which?so you didn?t see the effects of the rise in oil prices, which went very high. But if you trace all the connections, yes, there?s a clear connection, as he pointed out, between the war and the economic crisis. And in fact, it?s deeper than that. The US is just in a class by itself in military expenses. It basically matches the rest of the world, and it?s far more advanced. Well, that?s drawn from somewhere. You know, that?s money that?s not being used to develop the economy. Now, in fact, you have to add a footnote here, because part of the very high level of US violation of free trade principles is that the economy itself is based on military spending to a substantial extent. So the modern information revolution?computers, the internet, fancy software and so on?most of that comes straight out of the Pentagon. My own university, MIT, was one of the places where all of this was developed under Pentagon contracts in the 1950s and the 1960s. In fact, that?s another critical part of the way the economy works. The public pays the costs and takes the risk of economic development, and if anything works, maybe decades later, it?s handed over to private enterprise to make the profits. And that?s a core element of the economy. Of course, we don?t permit the third world to do that. That?s considered a violation of free trade when they do it. But it?s the way our economy works. And it?s kind of complementary to the ?too big to fail? doctrine of protectionism for financial institutions. But the general?we do not have a capitalist economy. We have kind of a state capitalist economy in which the public has a role: pay the costs, take the risks, bail out if they get into trouble. And the private sector has a role: make profit, and then turn to the public if you get into trouble. AMY GOODMAN: Would you extend that to healthcare? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, healthcare is a dramatic case. I mean, for decades, the healthcare issue has been right at the top of domestic concerns, for very good reasons. The US has the most dysfunctional healthcare system in the industrial world, has about twice the per capita costs and some of the worst outcomes. It?s also the only privatized system. And if you look closely, those two things are related. And the privatized system is highly inefficient: a huge amount of administration, bureaucracy, supervision, you know, all kinds of things. It?s been studied pretty carefully. Now, the public has had an opinion about this for decades. A considerable majority want a national healthcare system, like other industrial countries have. They usually say a Canadian-style system, not because Canada is the best, but at least you know that Canada exists. Nobody says an Australian-style system, which is much better, because who knows anything about that? But something like what?s sometimes called Medicare Plus, like extend Medicare to the population. Well, up until?it?s interesting. Up until the year 2004, that idea was described, for example, by the New York Times as politically impossible and lacking political support. So, maybe the public wants it, but that?s not what counts as political support. The financial institutions are opposed, the pharmaceutical institutions are opposed, so it?s not?no political support. Well, in 2008, for the first time, the Democratic candidates?first Edwards, then the others?began to move in the direction of what the public has wanted, not there, but in that direction. So what happened between 2004 and 2008? Well, public opinion didn?t change. It?s been this way for decades. What changed is that manufacturing industry, a big sector of the economy, has recognized that it?s being severely harmed by the highly inefficient privatized health system. So, General Motors said that it costs them over a thousand dollars more to produce a car in Detroit than across the border in Windsor, Canada. And, you know, when manufacturing industry becomes concerned, then things become politically possible, and they begin to have political support. So, yes, in 2008, there?s some discussion of it. Now, you know, this is very revealing insight into how American democracy functions and what is meant by the term ?political support? and ?politically possible.? Again, this should be headlines. Will a proposal come that approaches what the public wants? Well, we?re already getting the backlash, strong backlash. And what private healthcare systems are claiming is that this is unfair. The government is so much more efficient that they?ll be driven?there?s no level playing field if the government gets into it, which is true. AMY GOODMAN: If you had a public and a private plan. NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. AMY GOODMAN: If it were like Medicare. NOAM CHOMSKY: If you had them side by side? AMY GOODMAN: Most people go for Medicare? NOAM CHOMSKY: ?they will. AMY GOODMAN: ?but if you wanted to go for a private plan, you could. NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, if you could. But they?re not?they say, ?Well, we can?t compete.? For good reasons. I mean, in every country except?industrial country except the United States, the government uses its massive purchasing power to negotiate drug prices. That?s one of the reasons prices are so much higher in the United States than in other countries. Well, they could?the Pentagon can use purchasing power to negotiate prices for, you know, paper clips or something, but, by law, the government is not permitted to do that in the case of healthcare. Well, if you had Medicare Plus, they would, and that would drive down drug prices, and the private industries can?t compete. AMY GOODMAN: FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, did a study of the week leading up to the White House healthcare summit of the networks and how they were covering single payer, the issue of like Medicare Plus, and I think they found that absolutely?that almost?there was almost no representation in the media of a single-payer advocate? NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. AMY GOODMAN: ?and almost the only mention was someone blasting single payer. NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, yeah. That?s because it has no political support; only the majority of the public. It?s the same as the media commentary in 2004. In fact, if you take a look back at the end of the last electoral campaign, Kerry-Bush campaign, in October 2004, right before the election, there was a debate on domestic issues. I think it was maybe October 28th or so. Just take a look?read the New York Times report of it the next day. It was very dramatic. It said Kerry never brought up the idea of any government involvement in healthcare, not, you know, Medicare Plus, but any government involvement, because it is not politically possible and lacks political support?just the population. Well, that? AMY GOODMAN: What studies show you the population wants this? NOAM CHOMSKY: I mean, there?s been poll after poll, goes back, in fact? AMY GOODMAN: So, what do you think is going to break through? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, it?s a problem of the general dysfunction of formal democracy. I mean, there?s a very substantial gap between public opinion and public policy on a host of major issues. And on many of these issues, both parties are well to the right of the public, international and domestic. Incidentally, that?s one reason why elections are run the way they are. Elections are run as marketing extravaganzas, and that?s not kept secret. So the advertising industry gives an award every year for best marketing campaign of the year. For 2008, they gave it to Obama. He beat out, I think, Apple Computer. And if you look at the comments of financial?of advertising executives, PR executives, they were euphoric. In fact, they said?you can read it in the Financial Times, business press?they said, you know, ?We?ve been marketing candidates like commodities ever since Reagan, but this is the best we?ve ever done. It?s going to change the atmosphere in corporate boardrooms. We have a new style of selling things, you know, the Obama style, you know, soaring rhetoric, hope and change, and so on.? Yeah, that?s true. And if you look at the campaigns themselves, they?re designed essentially by the advertising industry to sell the commodity?it happens to be a candidate?and they?re pretty carefully designed so that you marginalize issues and you focus on what are called ?qualities.? In Obama?s case, you know, soaring rhetoric and so on; in Bush?s case, a nice guy and like to have a beer with him and so on. That?s the kind of thing you focus on. Where do they stand on issues? Well, the public is mostly uninformed. I haven?t seen current polls on 2008, but the 2004 election, where there were polls shortly after, showed the public had almost no idea what Bush?s stand was. In fact, a majority of Bush voters thought that he supported the Kyoto Protocol, because they support it, and he?s a nice guy, so he must support it. And elections are designed that way, and it makes good sense. I mean, the people who run the elections, they read the polls, and very carefully, in fact. In fact, they mostly the design them for their own interest. And they know that the parties are to the right of the public, so you better?on a large number of issues, including crucial ones like Iran and others?so you better keep issues off the table, which is what?s done. So what the?healthcare is a dramatic case of it, but it?s only one instance. AMY GOODMAN: Renowned linguist Noam Chomsky, speaking to me in Boston last week. We will return to the last part of our conversation after this break. You can get a copy of the full two parts by going to democracynow.org. Stay with us. [break] AMY GOODMAN: We return now to the last part of my conversation with leading American intellectual and anti-imperialist critic Noam Chomsky. AMY GOODMAN: The whole issue of populist rage, Noam Chomsky, actually, do you think that this rage is going to boil over as the unemployment figures rise? NOAM CHOMSKY: It?s very hard to predict those things. I mean, it has a potentially positive side, like it could be like the activism of the 1930s or the 1960s, which ended up making it a more civilized society in many ways, or it could be like an unfortunate precedent that quickly comes to mind. I?ve written about it. Take a look at Germany. In the 1920s, Germany was the absolute peak of Western civilization, in the arts and the sciences. It was regarded as a model of democracy and so on. I mean, ten years later, it was the depths of barbarism. That was a quick transition. ?The descent into barbarism? it?s sometimes called in the scholarly literature. Now, if you listen to early Nazi propaganda, you know, end of the Weimar Republic and so on, and you listen to talk radio in the United States, which I often do?it?s interesting?there?s a resemblance. And in both cases, you have a lot of demagogues appealing to people with real grievances. Grievances aren?t invented. I mean, for the American population, the last thirty years have been some of the worst in economic history. It?s a rich country, but real wages have stagnated or declined, working hours have shot up, benefits have gone down, and people are in real trouble and now in very real trouble after the bubbles burst. And they?re angry. And they want to know, ?What happened to me? You know, I?m a hard-working, white, God-fearing American. You know, how come this is happening to me?? That?s pretty much the Nazi appeal. The grievances were real. And one of the possibilities is what Rush Limbaugh tells you: ?Well, it?s happening to you because of those bad guys out there.? OK, in the Nazi case, it was the Jews and the Bolsheviks. Here, it?s the rich Democrats who run Wall Street and run the media and give everything away to illegal immigrants, and so on and so forth. It sort of peaked during the Sarah Palin period. And it?s kind of interesting. It?s been pointed out that of all the candidates, Sarah Palin is the only one who used the phrase ?working class.? She was talking to the working people. And yeah, they?re the ones who are suffering. So, there are models that are not very attractive. AMY GOODMAN: And she very much is being talked about as a leader, really, of the Republican Party. NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, she was kind of a model. You know, the talk radio mob went crazy over her. And one shouldn?t demean it. You know, they describe themselves?it?s really worth listening to: ?We?re fly-by country. You know, they don?t care about us, those rich Democrats on the East Coast and the West Coast who are all, you know, interested in gay rights and giving things away to illegal immigrants and so on. They don?t care about us, the hard-working, God-fearing people, so we?ve got to somehow rise up and take over and elect Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh or someone like that.? As I say, the precedents are not attractive. Now, if?now even before the next presidential, if in the next congressional election the economy has not begun to recover, this kind of populist rage could boil over and could have very dangerous consequences. This country has a long history of being kind of ridden by fear. It?s a very frightened country. This goes back to colonial times. I mean, we?re very lucky that we have never had an honest demagogue. I mean, the demagogues we?ve had are so corrupt that they never got anywhere?you know, Nixon, McCarthy, you know, Jimmy Swaggart and others. So they were kind of destroyed by their own corruption. But suppose we had an honest demagogue, you know, a Hitler type, who was not corrupt. There?s probably?it could be unpleasant. There?s a background of concern and fear, tremendous fear, and searching for some answer, which they?re not getting from the establishment. ?Who?s responsible for my plight?? You know, and that can be exploited. And unless there?s active, effective organizing and education, it?s dangerous. AMY GOODMAN: Your assessment of President Obama so far? NOAM CHOMSKY: Frankly, I never had any expectations. I wrote about it over a year ago. I thought then, and I think it?s been confirmed, that he?s essentially a centrist Democrat. He?s moving back?I mean, the Bush administration was kind of off the spectrum, especially the first term. So he?s moving things back toward the center with a kind of a public posture, which was recognized by the advertising industry. That?s why they gave him the award for best marketing campaign, which?but as far as policy is concerned, unless he?s under a lot of pressure from activist sectors, he?s not going to go beyond what he?s presented himself as in actual policy statements or cabinet choices and so on: a centrist Democrat, going to basically continue Bush?s policies, maybe in a more modulated way. AMY GOODMAN: Do you see Afghanistan becoming an ever-expanded war in the next decade or so? Do you?now we?re talking about doubling the US troops there. NOAM CHOMSKY: No, that?s the way Obama and the Pentagon see it. In fact, they say so: this is going to be a long war, it?s going to be extended, the US is going to take over the military side, and it?s going to expand it, it?s going to expand into Pakistan. And, I mean, we?ll talk about development, but the focus will be on the military. Obama, right now, is trying to get NATO to cooperate, but recognizing that they?re not going to send military forces. The populations are opposed. AMY GOODMAN: Canada is pulling out. NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, Canada?s pulling out, and the others?maybe Holland has made a termination date, but we?ll at least ask them to come in and sort of help out on the civilian side. That?s their job. It?s the famous line of, I guess it was Robert Kagan: you know, ?they?re Venus, we?re Mars.? So we?ll move in like Mars and take care of the military side. You know, we?re good at killing people. And they can come in and sort of put on the band-aids and make it look like something good is happening. It?s not the right direction. AMY GOODMAN: The unmanned drones bombing Pakistan? NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, drones. And that has effects. So a lot of the worst fighting recently has been in the Bajaur province, right on the border. It?s in Pakistan?s side. And militants in the area have reported to the press that part of the reason is that an American drone attack hit a madrasa, a school, and killed about eighty people. Well, you know, they?re ?uncivilized barbarians?; they sort of don?t like that. So they reacted. And now, one of the militants has said, ?OK, we?re going to bomb the White House,? which is considered totally outrageous. But, you know, if we kill as we like, there?s going to be a reaction. AMY GOODMAN: Where do you see American empire in ten, twenty, thirty years? NOAM CHOMSKY: Prediction in human affairs is a very low?has very little success, too many complications. The United States, I think, will come out of the economic crisis, very likely, as the dominant superpower. There?s a lot of talk about China and India, and it?s real, they?re changing, but they?re just not in the same league. I mean, both China and India have enormous internal problems that the West doesn?t face. You get kind of a picture of this by looking at the Human Development Index of the United Nations. The last time I looked, India was about 125th or something. And I think China was about eightieth. And China would be worse, I think, if it wasn?t such a closed society. In India, you sort of get better data, so you can see what?s happening. China is kind of closed. You don?t see what?s going on in the peasant areas, which are in turmoil, you know. They have environmental problems. They have huge?hundreds of millions of people are kind of like at the edge of starvation. We don?t have?you know, we have problems, but not those problems. And even the industrial growth, which is there?you know, for part of the population, there?s been improvement. But when you take, say, India, where we know more, in the areas where high-tech industries developed?and it?s pretty impressive. I?ve visited some of the labs in Hyderabad. You know, it?s as good or better than MIT. But right nearby, the rate of peasant suicides is going up, very sharply, in fact. And it?s the same source. It?s the neoliberal policies, which privilege a certain sector of the population and a certain?and let the rest take care of themselves. AMY GOODMAN: And yet, the rise of progressives in Latin America? NOAM CHOMSKY: That?s important. I mean, Latin America, for the first time in 500 years, is moving towards a degree of independence and a kind of integration, which is a prerequisite for independence, and also at least is beginning to face some of its massive internal problems. I mean, Latin America has probably the worst inequality in the world. There?s a wealthy sector, small wealthy sector, which is extremely rich, but they have?their tradition is that they have no responsibility to the country, so they send their capital to Zurich. You know, they have their second homes in the Riviera, and their children study in Oxford or whatever. This is beginning to be faced in different ways, but it?s sort of happening all over the continent. And they are beginning to integrate. The United States obviously doesn?t like it. In fact, it?s barely reported most of the time. So there was a very interesting case last September, when President Morales in Bolivia?Bolivia is, in my opinion at least, probably the most democratic country in the world. Nobody says that, but if you look at what happened in the last couple of years, there were huge, popular, mass organizations of the most repressed population in the hemisphere, the indigenous population, which for the first time ever has entered the political arena significantly and were able to elect a president from their own ranks and one who doesn?t give instructions to his army, but who?s following policies that were largely produced by the population. So he?s their representative, in a sense in which democracy is supposed to work. And they know the issues. It?s not like our elections. They know the issues. They?re serious issues: control over resources, economic justice, cultural rights, and so on. You can say they?re right or wrong, but at least it?s functioning. Now, the elites that have traditionally ruled the country, of course, don?t like it. And they?re threatening virtual secession. And, of course, the United States is backing them, as the media are. And it got to the point last summer, I suppose, where it led to real violence. Well, there was a meeting of UNASUR, the Union of South American Republics?that?s all of South America?a meeting in Chile, Santiago, Chile. And it came out with a declaration, important declaration, in which it supported President Morales and opposed the?condemned the violence being led by the quasi-secessionist forces. And Morales responded, thanking them for their gesture of support, but also saying, correctly, that this is the first time in 500 years that South America is beginning to take its affairs in its own hands without the intervention of foreign powers, primarily the US. Well, that was so important that I don?t think it was even reported here. I mean, the meeting was known, so you see vague references to it. But it?s an indication of developments that are taking place in various ways. AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, you?ve just hit eighty. We just have a few minutes to go. And how does it feel? NOAM CHOMSKY: I have a few years to go. I don?t think about it much. AMY GOODMAN: But as you reflect, talking about these huge social movements, cataclysmic times in the world, your life experience, what gives you hope? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, there?s both hope and fear. I mean, I?m old enough to have grown up in the Depression. And some of my memories?I didn?t understand that much at the time?childhood memories, are listening to Hitler?s speeches. I didn?t understand them, but I could sense the reaction of my parents, you know, and had a feeling of fear, you know, a tremendous fear. In fact, the first article I wrote was in 1939, when I was in fourth grade, and it was about the expansion of fascism over Europe, a kind of a dark cloud that may envelop everything. And as I mentioned before, I have some of those same concerns now. On the other hand, there?s been tremendous progress. The country is far more civilized than it was, say, forty years ago, thanks to the activism of the ?60s and its aftermath. And some of the most important developments were after the ?60s, like, say, the feminist movement, which has probably had more of an impact on this society than any other. It?s mostly post-?60s. The solidarity movements, which are unique in the history of imperialism, there?s never been anything like them. That?s from the ?80s. The global justice movements, what?s called anti-globalization?shouldn?t be?that?s, you know, the ?90s and this century. These were all very positive developments. They haven?t changed the institutions. In fact, the institutions have reacted by becoming harsher, not surprisingly. But they?ve changed the culture. I mean, take, say, the 2008 election. I mean, I didn?t like the candidates, as I?ve made clear. On the other hand, forty years ago, or maybe ten years ago, you couldn?t have imagined that the Democratic Party would have two candidates, an African American and a woman. OK, that?s a sign of the civilizing effect of the activism of the ?60s and everything that followed. Well, that can be mobilized. In fact, it?s already. If you count the number of activists in the country, it?s, I suspect, well beyond the ?60s, except maybe for a very brief moment at the peak of the antiwar movement. OK, that can be a basis for proceeding onward. So, that?s a reason for hope. AMY GOODMAN: And finally, our condolences on the loss of Carol. NOAM CHOMSKY: Thanks. AMY GOODMAN: Your life partner, someone you knew?well, you?re eighty?what, for seventy-seven years? NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, actually. Not easy to face. AMY GOODMAN: What gives you the strength to go on after Carol? NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, the kind of thing you do, for example. That makes a difference. AMY GOODMAN: And you have a wonderful family. NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. AMY GOODMAN: So, our condolences to you? NOAM CHOMSKY: Thanks. AMY GOODMAN: ?and your kids. Noam Chomsky, thanks so much. NOAM CHOMSKY: Thanks. AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus at MIT, leading public intellectual of our day. If you?d like to get a copy of the full interview, part one and today?s part two, with Noam Chomsky, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 15:59:43 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:59:43 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Cargill profit plunges 68% for quarter in global slump Message-ID: <012a01c9be15$8a1c7040$9e5550c0$@net> Please recall when you read this that Cargill is the company that owns its own fleet of ships and undersells grain prices in order to sell to developing countries at prices less than local farmers can. This is due to the fact that the American taxpayer subsidizes the price of grain supposedly to keep the American farmer in business. But now the small American farmer has been run out of business, and supplanted by the large agribusinesses like Cargill, which up until now has reaped the rewards while raping the rest of us. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 10:36 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Cargill profit plunges 68% for quarter in global slump (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.startribune.com/business/42955317.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqy P4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ Cargill profit plunges 68% for quarter in global slump The agricultural giant said a downturn was expected and likely will last all year. Expenditures are being curtailed. The dismal economy that has withered home values and ruined 401(k)s landed another blow on Tuesday when Cargill reported a 68 percent drop in profit for its third quarter. It was the steepest drop in earnings in years for the multibillion-dollar giant and the latest measure of a global recession that most say will last through the year. "Cargill's earnings turned down in the third quarter, as the troubles in the global economy and financial system arrived at our company's doorstep," said Greg Page, Cargill chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. Earnings of $326 million for the period ended Feb. 28 were down from $1.03 billion in the same period a year earlier. The downturn marks the end of a gold rush for the company brought on by a global rise in commodity values. "We came into this period with a very strong balance sheet," said Lisa Clemens, a Cargill spokeswoman. In 2007 and 2008, as the agriculture world watched in amazement at soaring prices for commodities such as corn, wheat and soybeans, Cargill braced for the eventual downturn by scaling back its acquisitions. "There were a lot of things that we didn't do wrong coming into this period," Clemens said. Cargill converted to longer maturities, reined in expenditures and deferred some plans, she said. Capital expenditures will be "down substantially" from last year, she added. As sales slowed, Cargill did lay off some employees, but only a handful, Clemens said. "In the food area, what we're seeing is that consumers are being very cautious, so that is dampening demand," she said. The economy also has forced many consumers to exhaust the larder rather than going to the market as often, especially in Russia, Eastern Europe and areas of Western Europe, Clemons said. Amid the downturn, the company has had to negotiate with the Venezuelan government for continued ownership of a rice plant, which Venezeulan President Hugo Chavez last month moved to expropriate. In the first three quarters, the company earned $3.01 billion, up 4 percent from $2.9 billion a year ago. Excluding earnings from its majority investment in the Mosaic Co., Cargill's results were below the year-ago level in both the quarter and year so far. Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. The privately held company employs 160,000 people in 67 countries. Clemens said the company, as a rule, doesn't make statements about the direction of the economy. "We don't know if it will get worse," she said. On the other hand, she added, "We're not predicating our decisions based on things getting very much better this year." From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 21:22:08 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:22:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The Real Boston Tea Party was an Anti-Corporate Revolt Message-ID: <001601c9be42$894f3bc0$9bedb340$@net> This is just one example of how America's textbooks have been rewritten to promote an entirely different agenda than what the truth really was. Published on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org The Real Boston Tea Party was an Anti-Corporate Revolt by Thom Hartmann CNBC Correspondent Rick Santelli called for a "Chicago Tea Party" on Feb 19th in protesting President Obama's plan to help homeowners in trouble. Santelli's call was answered by the right-wing group FreedomWorks , which funds campaigns promoting big business interests, and is the opposite of what the real Boston Tea Party was. FreedomWorks was funded in 2004 by Dick Armey (former Republican House Majority leader & lobbyist); consolidated Citizens for a Sound Economy, funded by the Koch family; and Empower America, a lobbying firm, that had fought against healthcare and minimum-wage efforts while hailing deregulation. Anti-tax "tea party" organizers are delivering one million tea bags to a Washington, D.C., park Wednesday morning - to promote protests across the country by people they say are fed up with high taxes and excess spending. The real Boston Tea Party was a protest against huge corporate tax cuts for the British East India Company, the largest trans-national corporation then in existence. This corporate tax cut threatened to decimate small Colonial businesses by helping the BEIC pull a Wal-Mart against small entrepreneurial tea shops, and individuals began a revolt that kicked-off a series of events that ended in the creation of The United States of America. They covered their faces, massed in the streets, and destroyed the property of a giant global corporation. Declaring an end to global trade run by the East India Company that was destroying local economies, this small, masked minority started a revolution with an act of rebellion later called the Boston Tea Party. On a cold November day in 1773, activists gathered in a coastal town. The corporation had gone too far, and the two thousand people who'd jammed into the meeting hall were torn as to what to do about it. Unemployment was exploding and the economic crisis was deepening; corporate crime, governmental corruption spawned by corporate cash, and an ethos of greed were blamed. "Why do we wait?" demanded one at the meeting, a fisherman named George Hewes. "The more we delay, the more strength is acquired" by the company and its puppets in the government. "Now is the time to prove our courage," he said. Soon, the moment came when the crowd decided for direct action and rushed into the streets. That is how I tell the story of the Boston Tea Party, now that I have read a first-person account of it. While striving to understand my nation's struggles against corporations, in a rare book store I came upon a first edition of "Retrospect of the Boston Tea Party with a Memoir of George R.T. Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbor in 1773," and I jumped at the chance to buy it. Because the identities of the Boston Tea Party participants were hidden (other than Samuel Adams) and all were sworn to secrecy for the next 50 years, this account is the only first-person account of the event by a participant that exists. As I read, I began to understand the true causes of the American Revolution. I learned that the Boston Tea Party resembled in many ways the growing modern-day protests against transnational corporations and small-town efforts to protect themselves from chain-store retailers or factory farms. The Tea Party's participants thought of themselves as protesters against the actions of the multinational East India Company. Although schoolchildren are usually taught that the American Revolution was a rebellion against "taxation without representation," akin to modern day conservative taxpayer revolts, in fact what led to the revolution was rage against a transnational corporation that, by the 1760s, dominated trade from China to India to the Caribbean, and controlled nearly all commerce to and from North America, with subsidies and special dispensation from the British crown. Hewes notes: "The [East India] Company received permission to transport tea, free of all duty, from Great Britain to America..." allowing it to wipe out New England-based tea wholesalers and mom-and-pop stores and take over the tea business in all of America. "Hence," wrote, "it was no longer the small vessels of private merchants, who went to vend tea for their own account in the ports of the colonies, but, on the contrary, ships of an enormous burthen, that transported immense quantities of this commodity ... The colonies were now arrived at the decisive moment when they must cast the dye, and determine their course ... " A pamphlet was circulated through the colonies called The Alarm and signed by an enigmatic "Rusticus." One issue made clear the feelings of colonial Americans about England's largest transnational corporation and its behavior around the world: "Their Conduct in Asia, for some Years past, has given simple Proof, how little they regard the Laws of Nations, the Rights, Liberties, or Lives of Men. They have levied War, excited Rebellions, dethroned lawful Princes, and sacrificed Millions for the Sake of Gain. The Revenues of Mighty Kingdoms have entered their Coffers. And these not being sufficient to glut their Avarice, they have, by the most unparalleled Barbarities, Extortions, and Monopolies, stripped the miserable Inhabitants of their Property, and reduced whole Provinces to Indigence and Ruin. Fifteen hundred Thousands, it is said, perished by Famine in one Year, not because the Earth denied its Fruits; but [because] this Company and their Servants engulfed all the Necessaries of Life, and set them at so high a Price that the poor could not purchase them." After protesters had turned back the Company's ships in Philadelphia and New York, Hewes writes, "In Boston the general voice declared the time was come to face the storm." The citizens of the colonies were preparing to throw off one of the corporations that for almost 200 years had determined nearly every aspect of their lives through its economic and political power. They were planning to destroy the goods of the world's largest multinational corporation, intimidate its employees, and face down the guns of the government that supported it. The queen's corporation The East India Company's influence had always been pervasive in the colonies. Indeed, it was not the Puritans but the East India Company that founded America. The Puritans traveled to America on ships owned by the East India Company, which had already established the first colony in North America, at Jamestown, in the Company-owned Commonwealth of Virginia, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi. The commonwealth was named after the "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth, who had chartered the corporation. Elizabeth was trying to make England a player in the new global trade sparked by the European "discovery" of the Americas. The wealth Spain began extracting from the New World caught the attention of the European powers. In many European countries, particularly Holland and France, consortiums were put together to finance ships to sail the seas. In 1580, Queen Elizabeth became the largest shareholder in The Golden Hind, a ship owned by Sir Francis Drake. The investment worked out well for Queen Elizabeth. There's no record of exactly how much she made when Drake paid her share of the Hind's dividends to her, but it was undoubtedly vast, since Drake himself and the other minor shareholders all received a 5000 percent return on their investment. Plus, because the queen placed a maximum loss to the initial investors of their investment amount only, it was a low-risk investment (for the investors at least-creditors, such as suppliers of provisions for the voyages or wood for the ships, or employees, for example, would be left unpaid if the venture failed, just as in a modern-day corporation). She was endorsing an investment model that led to the modern limited-liability corporation. After making a fortune on Drake's expeditions, Elizabeth started looking for a more permanent arrangement. She authorized a group of 218 London merchants and noblemen to form a corporation. The East India Company was born on December 31, 1600. By the 1760s, the East India Company's power had grown massive and worldwide. However, this rapid expansion, trying to keep ahead of the Dutch trading companies, was a mixed blessing, as the company went deep in debt to support its growth, and by 1770 found itself nearly bankrupt. The company turned to a strategy that multinational corporations follow to this day: They lobbied for laws that would make it easy for them to put their small-business competitors out of business. Most of the members of the British government and royalty (including the king) were stockholders in the East India Company, so it was easy to get laws passed in its interests. Among the Company's biggest and most vexing problems were American colonial entrepreneurs, who ran their own small ships to bring tea and other goods directly into America without routing them through Britain or through the Company. Between 1681 and 1773, a series of laws were passed granting the Company monopoly on tea sold in the American colonies and exempting it from tea taxes. Thus, the Company was able to lower its tea prices to undercut the prices of the local importers and the small tea houses in every town in America. But the colonists were unappreciative of their colonies being used as a profit center for the multinational corporation. Boston's million-dollar tea party And so, Hewes says, on a cold November evening of 1773, the first of the East India Company's ships of tax-free tea arrived. The next morning, a pamphlet was widely circulated calling on patriots to meet at Faneuil Hall to discuss resistance to the East India Company and its tea. "Things thus appeared to be hastening to a disastrous issue. The people of the country arrived in great numbers, the inhabitants of the town assembled. This assembly, on the 16th of December 1773, was the most numerous ever known, there being more than 2000 from the country present," said Hewes. The group called for a vote on whether to oppose the landing of the tea. The vote was unanimously affirmative, and it is related by one historian of that scene "that a person disguised after the manner of the Indians, who was in the gallery, shouted at this juncture, the cry of war; and that the meeting dissolved in the twinkling of an eye, and the multitude rushed in a mass to Griffin's wharf." That night, Hewes dressed as an Indian, blackening his face with coal dust, and joined crowds of other men in hacking apart the chests of tea and throwing them into the harbor. In all, the 342 chests of tea-over 90,000 pounds-thrown overboard that night were enough to make 24 million cups of tea and were valued by the East India Company at 9,659 Pounds Sterling or, in today's currency, just over $1 million. In response, the British Parliament immediately passed the Boston Port Act stating that the port of Boston would be closed until the citizens of Boston reimbursed the East India Company for the tea they had destroyed. The colonists refused. A year and a half later, the colonists would again state their defiance of the East India Company and Great Britain by taking on British troops in an armed conflict at Lexington and Concord (the "shots heard 'round the world") on April 19, 1775. That war-finally triggered by a transnational corporation and its government patrons trying to deny American colonists a fair and competitive local marketplace-would end with independence for the colonies. The revolutionaries had put the East India Company in its place with the Boston Tea Party, and that, they thought, was the end of that. Unfortunately, the Boston Tea Party was not the end; within 150 years, during the so-called Gilded Age, powerful rail, steel, and oil interests would rise up to begin a new form of oligarchy, capturing the newly-formed Republican Party in the 1880s, and have been working to establish a permanent wealthy and ruling class in this country ever since. Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program The Thom Hartmann Show. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight ," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People: A Call To Take Back America ," "What Would Jefferson Do? ," "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It," and "Cracking The Code: The Art and Science of Political Persuasion ." His newest book is Threshold: T he Crisis of Western Culture . FutureDawning.org Mary Rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 22:35:40 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:35:40 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Another tea party counter rally tomorrow Message-ID: <003a01c9be4c$d449fb60$7cddf220$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 10:22 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Another tea party counter rally tomorrow (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Another tea party counter rally tomorrow http://www.nmfbihop.com/diary/2701/another-tea-party-counter-rally-tomorrow Tue Apr 14, 2009 at 14:09:16 PM MDT There is another counter tea party protest tomorrow, organized by New Mexico Voices for Children. And the good news is that if you want to attend this "Tax Fairness Rally" and the other counter rally, you can. Here are the details on the 1:00 rally tomorrow afternoon from NM Voices for Children: All over the country people are gathering for anti-tax 'tea parties' to show their disapproval for President Obama's stimulus package. Too bad they have their history all wrong. The Boston Tea Party was not a revolt against taxation or government spending - it was a revolt against a corporate tax loophole that had been granted to the British East India Company. It was about tax fairness - ending the kind of special treatment corporations still enjoy. Fairness and transparency will be the themes of our Tax Day rally, and you're invited to join us. We'll gather on the sidewalk in front of the main Post Office at Broadway and Mountain in Albuquerque. We'll be handing out fliers with facts about tax fairness and transparency, and how New Mexico's tax system could be improved. Please join us from noon to 1pm on Wednesday, April 15, and raise your voices for fairness! There will be a lot of people at the main post office on tax day, so there will be a big crowd for the tax fairness rally. Also, Talking Points Memo has a great brief history of the "grassroots" nature of the Tea Party protests. And they offer this great comparison: Over time, the Tea Party Protest Movement (or whatever you want to call it) has grown. There were larger tea parties in March, and if you've been watching Fox News, you know that tomorrow (tax day!) Tea Parties are scheduled to occur in cities across the country. That growth has been facilitated in part by such favored grassroots techniques as robocalls, which readers have been tipping us off to for nearly a week, and early estimates suggest that the largest of tomorrow's parties will draw about 5,000 people That's more than 200--certainly enough to look impressive on a television screen--but significantly smaller than the March 2003 Iraq war protests, which occurred in cities around the world, and resulted in thousands of arrests in the United States. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 22:40:12 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:40:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Economic Survivalists Take Root Message-ID: <003d01c9be4d$712529f0$536f7dd0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 8:50 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Economic Survivalists Take Root (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Economic Survivalists Take Root http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-04-14-survivalistsinside14_N.htm?l oc=interstitialskip by Judy Keen Published on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 by USA Today When the economy started to squeeze the Wojtowicz family, they gave up vacation cruises, restaurant meals, new clothes and high-tech toys to become 21st-century homesteaders. [Gabrielle Wojtowicz, left, and her father Patrick feed animals on their 40 acres near Alma, Mich. (Al Goldis for USA TODAY)]Gabrielle Wojtowicz, left, and her father Patrick feed animals on their 40 acres near Alma, Mich. (Al Goldis for USA TODAY) Now Patrick Wojtowicz, 36, his wife Melissa, 37, and daughter Gabrielle, 15, raise pigs and chickens for food on 40 acres near Alma, Mich. They're planning a garden and installing a wood furnace. They disconnected the satellite TV and radio, ditched their dishwasher and a big truck and started buying clothes at resale shops. "As long as we can keep decreasing our bills, we can keep making less money," Patrick says. "We're not saying this is right for everybody, but it's right for us." Hard times are creating economic survivalists such as the Wojtowicz family who are paring expenses by becoming more self-sufficient. Reviving "almost lost" skills and preparing for tough days make people feel more in control, says Charlotte Richert, consumer sciences educator for Oklahoma State University's Extension Service in Tulsa County. Karen Gulliver, MBA program chair at Argosy University in Eagan, Minn., expects the movement to grow as the sour economy forces people to reassess priorities. People are asking, "Do I really want to be 100% vulnerable with no self-sufficiency skills if something happens?" she says. Some signs of the trend: ?Stockpiling. When the stock market drops, orders surge for freeze-dried food, survival kits and emergency supplies, says Nitro-Pak president Harry Weyandt. One best seller: a $3,375 food reserve that feeds four people for three months. ?Gardening. Sales of vegetable seeds and transplants are up 30% from 2008 at W. Atlee Burpee, the USA's largest seed company. The National Gardening Association says 7 million more households will grow food this year than in 2008 - a 19% rise. A book on building root cellars is the top seller at Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, supervisor Joann Matuzas says. ?Canning. Jarden Corp. says sales of its Ball and Kerr canning and preserving products are up more than 30% from 2008. Sonya Staffan, owner of The Jam and Jelly Lady commercial cannery in Lebanon, Ohio, is offering twice as many classes this year. ?Sewing. More people are learning to sew so they can mend clothes and make home d?cor, says Rachel Cohen, spokeswoman for SVP Worldwide, owner of sewing-products makers Singer and Husqvarna Viking. ?Relocating. Steve Saltman, general manager of LandAndFarm.com, a national real estate company, says more customers want to "live simply in a less-expensive place." Jonathan Rawles of SurvivalRealty.com says more people moving to rural areas "are specifically worried about economic and social instability." Patrick Wojtowicz's family decided to transform their lives when his paycheck began to shrink last year. A truck driver, he was spending more time on the road, paying his own expenses while waiting for loads. He disliked being away from home for weeks at a time and worried about losing his job. Melissa Wojtowicz is self-employed and works from home. Their dual paychecks allowed them to live comfortably, but they weren't satisfied, Patrick says. "We would basically buy stuff to feel good," he says. "When that stuff stopped filling the voids we had, we started analyzing what it was that we were really missing. We were missing being around each other." The Wojtowiczes made a list of the things they could give up if Patrick quit his job and they relied on Melissa's income. They already lived in a house on property Patrick inherited from his father a few years ago. Gabrielle "put up enough resistance to qualify as being a teenager," Patrick says, but soon she was reminding her parents to turn off lights to save electricity. Steps such as that, and keeping the thermostat set on 63 degrees this winter, cut monthly electric bills from $300 to $150, Patrick says. He hunts deer and turkeys. Instead of buying books and going to movies, they visit the library weekly. For Christmas, they got canning gear so they can preserve the food they grow. "The earn, spend, earn era has come to an end for us," he says on truenorthfound.blogspot.com, their blog. "The idea of living a fuller, more satisfying life seems simple to us now. ... Money, cash, credit, maybe they don't matter. Maybe, just maybe, it is those things that impede our ability to be truly happy." Whatever happens to the economy, the Wojtowicz family hopes to remain self-sufficient. Instead of spending their tax refund, as they usually did, they used it to pay down debt. They stopped using credit cards and they're trying to build up savings. "I'm working harder than ever," Patrick says, "but it's more satisfying work and ... it's much easier to sleep at night." From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Wed Apr 15 23:57:17 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:27:17 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Islamic Finance Debate Islam Channel, London Message-ID: <686569.4844.qm@web94902.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distinguished members, I believe the debate is an opportunity for powerful interventions for transforming the financial institutions and eliminating generation of ecologically hostile processes, products, analytical and advisory outputs. Let us celebrate the movement for usury free world with local actions across the world in the neighborhoods. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Thu, 16/4/09, ruhul wrote: From: ruhul Subject: Islamic Finance Debate Islam Channel To: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Date: Thursday, 16 April, 2009, 4:29 AM The Debate I&F Poster-EMAIL powered by? unsubscribe forward update profile This mailing system may only be used for sending permission based email. If you did not give permission to receive emails from this sender, please notify us. This email was sent to mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com by ruhul at icehotmedia.net | Print / PDF version | Read our Privacy Policy. ICEHOTMEDIA - 215 Crown House Business Centre, London, NW10 7PN, United Kingdom Get your own website and domain for just Rs.1,999/year.* Go to http://in.business.yahoo.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed Apr 15 14:16:45 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:16:45 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [HasanShabbir:8628] Tata Motors to introduce Air Car - (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Message-ID: <011601c9be07$1cede110$56c9a330$@net> A major question is to why cars like this are not being introduced into the U.S. And why billions are being spent on bailing out U.S. auto manufacturers who are going bankrupt when cars like these are the wave of the future. Could it have something to do with keeping capitalism going at the expense of we-the-people, so that the major investor/capitalists can still keep their pyramid scam banking business going? From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:24 AM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: Fw: [HasanShabbir:8628] Tata Motors to introduce Air Car - (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP From: Humanist Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 6:20 AM To: Hasan Shabbir Subject: [HasanShabbir:8628] Tata Motors to introduce Air Car - (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Tata Motors to introduce Air Car (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Tata Motors to introduce Air Car Tata Motors is taking giant strides and making history for itself. First the Landrover-Jaguar deal, then the world's cheapest car and now it is also set to introduce the car that runs on air, compressed air to be specific. With fuel prices touching nearly $150 per barrel, it is about time we heard some breakthrough! India's largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world's first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N?gre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine's pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets by August of 2009. The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels. The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2). Tata motors also plans to launch the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano priced famously at One lakh rupees(?1200) by October. The MiniCAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc. There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers. As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours. Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000Km.] The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power. Regards................Kumail Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov4t1P9bdGw & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKc46Bihi3s &feature=related -- A car that runs on air Added 6:06 A car that runs on air 9,574 views mrgoding Cockpit: Air Car Added 6:08 Cockpit: Air Car 17,090 views BrightTV 1980's retro AIR BLASTER CAR air powered engine airblaster Added 0:36 1980's retro AIR BLASTER CAR air powered engin... 12,924 views t12wasp Compressed Air Cars - France Added 3:30 Compressed Air Cars - France 37,287 views journeymanpictures Futuristic Japanese Cars Added 1:28 Futuristic Japanese Cars 268,703 views diagonaluk The Air Car Added 0:52 The Air Car 18,816 views chalktv air engine by APT Added 0:16 air engine by APT 153,739 views BettinaBurkhardt Air Car! Runs on compressed air! Added 1:42 Air Car! Runs on compressed air! 223,143 views CSPANJUNKIEdotORG Citycataircar.com (1st Generation) Compressed Air Vehicle Added 5:45 Citycataircar.com (1st Generation) Compressed A... 5,101 views CATvolution The Air-Powered car? Added 2:10 The Air-Powered car? 11,492 views oneplanetliving AVweb Short -- Sebring 2008: Terrafugia "Air Car" LSA Added 1:05 AVweb Short -- Sebring 2008: Terrafugia "Air Ca... 49,496 views AVweb Air Car (1 of 2) from France Added 5:14 Air Car (1 of 2) from France 387,570 views cplai The Air Powered Car Added 3:14 The Air Powered Car 94,223 views GeekVideo Minicat Compressed Air Vehicle (Air Car) - with Cyril Negre Added 6:05 Minicat Compressed Air Vehicle (Air Car) - wit... 3,264 views CATvolution A car that runs 200 miles on compressed air. Added 3:23 A car that runs 200 miles on compressed air. 493,564 views AmericansWakeUp The Air Car Added 8:52 The Air Car 7,786 views nanabijou62 Latest car running on air ecofriendly Added 2:27 Latest car running on air ecofriendly 951 views CSLHamrun Golden Age Technology: Vehicles Riding on the Eco-Trend: Air Car, sQuba, CETO Added 13:17 Golden Age Technology: Vehicles Riding on the E... 1,634 views SupremeMasterTV EABS Insight of an air car engine Added 0:22 EABS Insight of an air car engine 13,911 views saurabhcookie -- |-| /\ $ /\ |\| IT Professional, Human Scientist +92 - 321 5393145 http://www.AestheticTech.net --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ _-_-_- Disclaimer: __ Any ideas contained in this email remain the intellectual property of ? http://www.HasanShabbir.com - 2008 To post to this 23,000+ members' group, send email To: hasanshabbir at googlegroups.com Cc: hasanshabbir1 at gmail.com if you have received this email by error or you are not the intended recipient then please inform us and we will ensure the problem is rectified. You are free to join and leave this group any time. If you are not intended recipient and you want to unsubscribe from this group, just send email To: hasanshabbir+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com And you will not be getting any messages from the group. For more options, visit the group at [http://groups.google.com/group/hasanshabbir] and [http://www.hasanshabbir.com] : Waiting for your kind replies, ideas and comments: [HasanShabbir1 at Gmail.com] [Call: 0092 300 5110484] [If someone else want to join, just drop me a single email] God Bless You. Keep Smiling:-) . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.57/2059 - Release Date: 04/14/09 14:52:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 45262 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 10:33:09 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:33:09 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Reminder - Free Webinar - Powering Up Your Coherence Message-ID: <000d01c9beb1$0ac3c220$204b4660$@net> From: Mary Rose [mailto:dustysummerrose at gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 3:16 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Fwd: Reminder - Free Webinar - Powering Up Your Coherence ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Global Coherence Initiative Date: Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 2:38 PM Subject: Reminder - Free Webinar - Powering Up Your Coherence To: dustysummerrose at gmail.com Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Having trouble viewing our HTML email? View it here. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Powering Up Your Coherence Error! Filename not specified. Thursday, April 23, 2009. Time: 5-6 p.m. PST (USA), 1-2 a.m. GMT Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Sign Up Today for this Global Coherence Initiative Webinar Powering Up Your Coherence with Howard Martin Join Global Coherence Steering Committee member Howard Martin for a special members only Webinar, Powering Up Your Coherence, set for 5 to 6 p.m. PST, Thursday, April 23. A central aspect of the Global Coherence Initiative involves adding heart coherence to meditation, prayer and intention. Heart coherence is a state of energetic alignment and cooperation between heart, mind, body and spirit. In coherence, energy is accumulated, not wasted, leaving you more energy to manifest intention and harmonious outcomes. Simply stated, coherence adds order and increased effectiveness to whatever form of practice you are doing. Additionally, it is believed that increased individual and collective coherence may be able to influence the earth's magnetic field in ways that create harmony and peace. Learn how different stressors can affect your focus and coherence. Martin will also tell you about new energy management tools and how taking the drama, or significance out of a situation can increase your coherence. He will share techniques and practices that can increase heart coherence. The practical, scientifically validated information you'll receive will give you the ability to better manage the stress of daily living while adding clarity and potency to your efforts to help the world. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Martin is the executive vice president of HeartMath LLC, co-author of The HeartMath Solution and a worldwide spokesperson for Global Coherence Initiative and the HeartMath System. Don't miss this special educational and inspirational program that offers essential information for all participants in the Global Coherence Initiative. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Powering Up Your Coherence Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Presented by: Howard Martin Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009 Time: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. PST Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Have a question? Ask Howard what you'd like to know about powering up your personal and global coherence. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Sign-up Click the Register Now button below. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Powering Up Your Coherence Error! Filename not specified. Join us for a Webinar on Thursday, April 23, 2009. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Space is limited, so reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/865878576 Title: Powering Up Your Coherence Presented by: Howard Martin Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009 Time: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. PST Look for reminder e-mails. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Global Coherence Initiative 14700 West Park Ave., Boulder Creek, CA 95006 | tel (831) 706-2981 | fax (831) 338-8504 | info at glcoherence.org Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. C 2009 Global Coherence Initiative. All rights reserved. www.glcoherence.org Error! Filename not specified. To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 14:05:05 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:05:05 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Vitally Important: Astonishing CIA Mind Control Experiments Shape World Politics Message-ID: <002d01c9bece$a6156450$f2402cf0$@net> In my opinion, as discovered in my research for the book: ?The Sacred Quest for the Who of I Am? ? the programming (hypnosis) of young minds takes place in our educational institutions every day as information is directed to the left hemisphere of the brain. This method produces people who are disconnected from their emotions of compassion and understanding for others, which creates a decidedly imbalanced society. Information provided by Joseph Chilton Pearce in his book: ?The Biology of Transcendence ? A Blueprint for the Human Spirit? reveals that an estimated seventy-five percent of the population of the United States today is left-brain oriented. This is why transformation is so imperative at this time. Transformation meaning that each of us learn how to reprogram our sub-conscious mind so that we are able to think using both hemispheres of the brain , with both being ?entrained? with the heart brain so as to complete the body-mind connection so vital to our well-being. There is much more on this ? enough to fill a book ? but right now I am concentrating on launching the Future Dawning website. PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:13 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Vitally Important: Astonishing CIA Mind Control Experiments Shape World Politics To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list (one email every few days) or to reply to this message, see end of email This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/mind_control/cia_mind_control_experiments_sex_abuse "On 2 July 1951 approximately 1:00 p.m. the instruction began with [deleted] relating to the student some of his sexual experiences. [Deleted] stated that he had constantly used hypnotism as a means of inducing young girls to engage in sexual intercourse with him. [Deleted], a performer in [deleted] orchestra, was forced to engage in sexual intercourse with [deleted] while under the influence of hypnotism. [Deleted] stated that he first put her into a hypnotic trance and then suggested to her that he was her husband and that she desired sexual intercourse with him." -- Declassified CIA Document #140393, p. 1, dated July 9, 1951, original document available here Dear friends, The astonishing excerpts below, taken verbatim from declassified CIA documents, reveal detailed, successful experiments and even blatant sex abuse in highly secret, government-sponsored mind control experiments. Through hypnosis, drugs, and electric shock, CIA clinicians fractured personalities and induced multiple personality disorder (MPD) ? also called dissociative identity disorder (DID). These top secret experiments were successful in creating Manchurian Candidates or super spies programmed to carry out sexual favors, assassination, and other terrorist acts without any conscious knowledge of what they were doing. The army of Manchurian Candidates created has played a key, hidden role in world politics. To verify this startling information, links are provided to scanned images of the revealing original CIA documents. Instructions are also available here to order for yourself any of these documents directly from the CIA using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Though dating from the 1950s and 60s, these revealing documents were not released for decades for reasons of "national security." The U.S. government claims mind control experiments are no longer being carried out, yet how can we know? The existence of these programs was denied for decades, and certainly any recent documents would be classified secret under the rubric of "national security." A trusted CIA informant I know assures me that these programs are ongoing. These disturbing methods are used by various countries in clandestine operations around the world. Many might prefer not to look at these ugly wounds to the soul of our nation and world. Yet if we avoid or ignore them, they are likely to grow and fester. Only by having the courage to look into the shadow parts of our world can we first understand and then begin to heal these wounds. See the What You Can Do <> section near the bottom of this essay for more valuable information and suggestions on how you can help bring this vital information to light. With best wishes for a brighter future, Fred Burks for PEERS and the WantToKnow.info Team Former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton P.S. If you become overwhelmed by this material, please click here for support. And for an engaging series of articles I've written providing commentary on these mind-boggling documents, click here . _____ CIA document and page number: 190684, pp. 1, 4 Title: Outline of Special H Cases Date: 7 January 1953 Link to view images of original: Page 1 , Page 4 In a general request for volunteers [deleted names] volunteered for H [hypnosis] experimentation and were originally tested on 21 May 1951. Both girls, at this time, were nineteen years of age. These subjects have clearly demonstrated that they can pass from a fully awake state to a deep H controlled state via the telephone, via some very subtle signal that cannot be detected by other persons in the room, and without the other individuals being able to note the change. It has been shown clearly that physically individuals can be induced into H by telephone, by receiving written matter, or by the use of code, signal, or words. Control of those hypnotized can be passed from one individual to another without great difficulty. It has also been shown by experimentation with these girls that they can act as unwilling couriers for information purposes, and that they can be conditioned to a point where they believe a change in identity on their part even on the polygraph. Note: This document shows that CIA experimenters were successful in hypnotizing young women (19 years old in this case) to do things they would not do normally without any memory afterward, sometimes even unwillingly. Though they volunteered, these women were thus programmed to be Manchurian Candidates or super spies with no knowledge of what these men were doing to them. _____ CIA document and page number: 17395, p. 18 Title: ESP Research Date: Unknown Link to view image of original: Click here Learning models will be instituted in which the subject will be rewarded or punished for his overall performance and reinforced in various ways ? by being told whether he was right, by being told what the target was, with electric shock etc. ... In other cases drugs and psychological tricks will be used to modify his attitudes. The experimenters will be particularly interested in disassociative states, from the abaissement de niveau mental to multiple personality in so-called mediums, and an attempt will be made to induce a number of states of this kind, using hypnosis. Note: This document provides proof that the CIA was was using drugs and electric shock in attempting to induce MPD (multiple personality disorder). Though this document uses the masculine "he" to describe the subject, other documents show that many of the subjects used were young women who volunteered. The subjects were not informed about the deeper aspects and implications for which they were being trained. _____ CIA document and page number: 190691, p. 1, 2 Title: Hypnotic Experimentation and Research Date: 10 February 1954 Link to view image of original: Page 1 , Page 2 A posthypnotic of the night before (pointed finger, you will sleep) was enacted. Misses [deleted] and [deleted] immediately progressed to a deep hypnotic state with no further suggestion. Miss [deleted] was then instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms in any fashion) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken miss [deleted] (now in a deep hypnotic sleep), and failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss [deleted]. She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to ?kill? [deleted] for failing to awaken. Miss [deleted] carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded pneumatic pistol) gun at [deleted] and then proceeding to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened and expressed complete amnesia for the entire sequence. Miss [deleted] was again handed the gun, which she refused (in an awakened state) to pick up or accept form the operator. She expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened. Miss [deleted] felt reluctant about participating further since she expressed her doubt as to any useful purpose in further attendance. The Operator thereupon proceeded in full view of all other subjects to explain to Miss [deleted] that he planned to induce a deep state of hypnosis now. The reaction was as had been expected. Miss [deleted] excused herself to make a telephone call (defense mechanism?). Upon her return a very positive approach was adopted by the operator whereupon a deeper, much deeper state of hypnosis was obtained. Immediately a posthypnotic was induced that when the operator accidently dropped a steel ball in his hand to the floor ... Miss [deleted] would again go into hypnosis. Miss [deleted] then advised that she must conclude her work for the evening. She arose to adjust her hair before the mirror. The ball was dropped and she promptly slumped back into the chair and back into hypnosis. It is the opinion of the operator the Miss [deleted] if properly trained (positive approach) will continue to improve. Note: Here we have proof that these women could be converted into unsuspecting and even unwilling assassins. They could be programmed to assassinate anyone and would do so without any conscious knowledge afterward. Note also the questionable status of "volunteer" implied. Though these women originally volunteered, unwillingness to continue could be manipulated by the men running the program. _____ CIA document and page number: 190527, pp. 1, 2 Title: SI and H Experimentation Date: 25 September 1951 Link to view images of original: Page 1 , Page 2 Note: SI stands for sleep induction and H for hypnosis Prior to actually beginning the more complex experiments, several simple post H were worked with both of the girls participating. The first major experiment of the evening was set up as follows without previous explanation to either [deleted] or [deleted]. Both subjects were placed in a very deep trance state and while in this state, the following instructions were given: (A) [Deleted] was instructed that when she awakened, she was to procede to [deleted] room. She was told that while there, she would receive a telephone call from an individual whom she would know only as "Joe". This individual would engage her in a normal telephone conversation. During this conversation, this individual would give her a code word and upon mentioning the code word, [deleted] would go into a deep SI [sleep induction] trance state, but would be "normal" in appearance with her eyes open. [Deleted] was then told that upon the conclusion of the telephone conversation, she would procede to the ladies room where she would meet a girl who was unknown to her. She was told that she would strike up a conversation with this girl and during the conversation she would mention the code word "New York" to this other girl, who, in turn, would give her a device and further instructions which were to be carried out by [deleted]. She was told that after she carried out the instructions, she was to return to the Operations Room, sit in the sofa and go immediately into a deep sleep. (B) [Deleted] was instructed that upon awakening, she would proceed to [deleted] room where she would wait at the desk for a telephone call. Upon receiving the call, a person known as ?Jim? would engage her in normal conversation. During the course of the conversation, this individual would mention a code word to [deleted]. When she heard this code word, she would pass into a SI trance state, but would not close her eyes and remain perfectly normal and continue the telephone conversation. She was told that upon conclusion of the telephone conversation, she would then carry out the following instructions: [Deleted] being in a complete SI state at this time, was then told to open her eyes and was shown an electric timing device. She was informed that this timing device was an incendiary bomb and was then instructed how to attach and set the device. After [deleted] had indicated that she had learned how to set and attach the device, she was told to return to a sleep state and further instructed that upon concluding the aforementioned conversation, she would take the timing device which was in a briefcase and proceed to the ladies room. In the ladies room, she would be met by a girl whom she had never seen who would identify herself by the code word ?New York.? [Deleted] was then to show this individual how to attach and set the timing device and further instructions would be given the individual by [deleted] that the timing device was to be carried in the briefcase to [deleted] room, placed in the nearest empty electric-light plug and concealed in the bottom, left-hand drawer of [deleted] desk, with the device set for 82 seconds and turned on. [Deleted] was further instructed to tell this other girl that as soon as the device had been set and turned on, she was to take the briefcase, leave [deleted] room, go to the operations room and go to the sofa and enter a deep sleep state. [Deleted] was further instructed that after completion of instructing the other girl and the transferring to the other girl of the incendiary bomb, she was to return at once to the operations room, sit on the sofa, and go into a deep sleep state. For a matter of record, immediately after the operation was begun it was noted that a member of the charforce was cleaning the floor in the ladies room and subsequently, both [deleted] and [deleted] had to be placed ... once again in a trance state and instructions changed from the ladies room to Room 3. It should be noted that even with the change of locale in the transfer point, the experiment was carried off perfectly without any difficulty or hesitation on the part of either of the girls. Each girl acted out their part perfectly, the device was planted and set as directed and both girls returned to the operations room, sat on the sofa and entered a deep sleep state. Throughout, their movements were easy and natural. Note: You will note the frequent use of "girls" (young women) in these programs. Do you think the men in charge, having complete hypnotic control of these women, might have at times taken advantage of them sexually? Yet this would never enter the official documentation, with the one major exception below. _____ CIA document and page number: 140393, p. 1 Title: [Deleted] Date: 9 July 1951 Link to view image of original: Click here On 2 July 1951 approximately 1:00 p.m. the instruction began with [deleted] relating to the student some of his sexual experiences. [Deleted] stated that he had constantly used hypnotism as a means of inducing young girls to engage in sexual intercourse with him. [Deleted], a performer in [deleted] orchestra, was forced to engage in sexual intercourse with [deleted] while under the influence of hypnotism. [Deleted] stated that he first put her into a hypnotic trance and then suggested to her that he was her husband and that she desired sexual intercourse with him. [Deleted] further stated that many times going home on [deleted] he would use hypnotic suggestion to have a girl turn around and talk to him and suggest sexual intercourse to him and that as a result of these suggestions induced by him he spent approximately five nights a week away from home engaging in sexual intercourse. Note: This document shows that an instructor being used by the CIA took advantage of his skill in hypnosis to sexually abuse young women without their having any knowledge of being abused. How many CIA hypnotists did likewise? Would you be tempted if you were a man involved in these programs to take advantage of a beautiful, young woman knowing she would not remember afterward? Do you think many men would? Note that for some reason this document is not available in the CIA's three CD set and must be ordered individually at this link. See the What You Can Do section at the end of this page for suggestions on how we can stop this abuse. _____ CIA document and page number: 17441, p.8 Title: Continuation of Studies of Hypnosis and Suggestibility Date: Unknown Link to view image of original: Click here Preliminary clinical research during 1955-56 has yielded promising leads in terms of knowledge of how hypnotizability can be influenced by pharmacological means. Experiments involving altered personality function as a result of environmental manipulation (chiefly sensory isolation) have yielded promising leads in terms of suggestibility and the production of trance-like states. There is reason to believe that environmental manipulations can affect tendencies for dissociative phenomenon to occur. Note: "Dissociative phenomenon" refers to the ability of a person's consciousness to leave and a new consciousness enter, thereby facilitation the creation of "alter" or multiple personalities. Besides hypnosis, drugs and electric shocks were developed as means to facilitate the creation of Manchurian Candidates. _____ CIA document and page number:17748, pp. 1, 2, 4, 6-9 Title: Report of Inspection of MKULTRA Date: 26 July 1963 Link to view images of original: Page 1 , Page 2 , Page 4 , Page 6 , Page 7 , Page 8 , Page 9 . It was deemed advisable to prepare the report of the MKULTRA program in one copy only, in view of its unusual sensitivity. The MKULTRA activity is concerned with the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operation to control human behavior. MKULTRA was authorized by then Director of Central Intelligence [DCI], Mr. Allen W. Dulles, in 1953. The concepts involved in manipulating human behavior are found by many people both within and outside the Agency to be distasteful and unethical. Nevertheless, there have been major accomplishments both in research and operational employment. Some MKULTRA activities raise questions of legality implicit in the original charter. A final phase of testing of MKULTRA products places the rights and interests of U.S. citizens in jeopardy. Public disclosure of some aspects of MKULTRA activity could induce serious adverse reaction in U.S. public opinion. The DCI's memorandum ... exempted MKULTRA from audit. Over the ten-year life of the program many additional avenues to the control of human behavior have been designated by the TSD management [Technical Services Division - under which MKULTRA operated] as appropriate to investigation under the MKULTRA charter, including radiation, electro-shock, various fields of psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and anthropology, graphology, harassment substances, and paramilitary devices and materials. TSD initiated a program for covert testing of materials on unwitting U.S. citizens in 1955. TSD has pursued a philosophy of minimum documentation in keeping with the high sensitivity of some of the projects. The lack of consistent records precluded use of routine inspection procedures and raised a variety of questions concerning management and fiscal controls. There are just two individuals in TSD who have full substantive knowledge of the program and most of that knowledge is unrecorded. In protecting both the sensitive nature of the American intelligence capability to manipulate human behavior, they apply "need to know " doctrine to their professional associates and to their clerical assistants to a maximum degree. Note: Why did only two people have full substantive knowledge of the program? Could it be that sex abuse and political manipulations behind the scenes were so severe that no one was to be trusted? Do you think we could trust those two individuals? CIA Director Richard Helms, upon hearing there would be a Congressional investigation, ordered the destruction of all documents from these unethical and at times illegal mind control programs in 1973. He did not realize, however, that incriminating evidence remained in the financial files of the agency, which are what you read here. We can only imagine what secrets the destroyed documents held. _____ CIA document and page number: 87624, p. 3, 4 (also appended to 17748, p. 32, 33) Title: Two Extremely Sensitive Research Programs Date: 3 April 1953 Link to view images of original: Page 3 , Page 4 Approximately 6% of the projects are of such an ultra-sensitive nature that they cannot and should not be handled by means of contracts which would associate CIA or the Government with the work in question. We intend to investigate the development of a chemical material which causes a reversible non-toxic aberrant mental state, the specific nature of which can be reasonably well predicted for each individual. This material could potentially aid in discrediting individuals, eliciting information, implanting suggestion and other forms of mental control. In a great many instances the work in field (a) must be conducted by individuals who are not and should not be aware of our interest. In all cases dealing with field (b), it is mandatory that any connections with the Agency should be known only to an absolute minimum number of people who have been specifically cleared for this purpose. Experience has shown that qualified, competent individuals in the filed of pharmacological, physiological, psychiatric and other biological sciences are most reluctant to enter into signed agreements of any sort which connect them with this activity since such a connection would jeopardize their professional reputations. Even internally in CIA, as few individuals as possible should be aware of our interest in these fields and of the identity of those who are working for us. At present, this results in ridiculous contracts, with cut-outs, which do not spell out the scope or intent of the work. Note: In the three CD set, this document is found appended to document 17748 on pp. 30 through 37. _____ CIA document and page number: 190885, p. 1 Title: None Given Date:1 January 1950 Link to view image of original: Click here Drug Project - A project in the isolation and synthesis of pure drugs for use in effecting psychological entry and control of the individual. Drugs and electricity - Research work on the effects of lysergic acid [LSD] on animals. Use of electric shock and the encephalograph in interrogation. Particular emphasis on the detection and prior use of electric shock and the 'guaranteed amnesia' resulting from electric shock. Hypnosis - Investigation of the possibilities of hypnotic and post-hypnotic control. _____ CIA document and page number: 140394, pp. 2, 3 (not available in three CD set, order individually here) Title: Interview with [Deleted] Date: 25 February 1952 Link to view full text of both pages: Click here Q: What are your experiences in general with hypnotism? A: I have been a professional hypnotist for at least 15 years. At present, I am employed on a very confidential basis two days a week. Q: Can you obtain information from an individual, willing or unwilling, by hypnotism? A: Definitely, yes. Many of the medical cases I work on are involved in obtaining personal, intimate information, and through hypnotism, I have been quite successful in obtaining this. If an individual refuses to co-operate with hypnosis, the doctors with whom I work use drugs, always sodium amytal. Q: How far do you think individuals could be controlled by hypnosis? A: This is a very difficult subject. Post-hypnotics will last twenty years and will be very strong if re-enforced from time to time. Q: Have you ever had any experience with drugs? A: Yes, many times. I have worked with doctors using sodium amytal and pentothal and have obtained hypnotic control after the drugs were used. In fact, many times drugs were used for the purpose of obtaining hypnotic control. Q: Do you have any ideas that hypnotism could be used as a weapon? A: Yes, I have thought about this often. It could certainly be used in obtaining information from recalcitrant people particularly with drugs. It could be used as a recruiting source for special types of work. A good hypnotist running hypnotic shows for entertainment would pick up a great many subjects, some of whom might be exceptionally good subjects for us. These subjects could easily be tabbed and put to use. Q: Have you ever been able to produce hypnosis without an individual's knowledge? A: Yes, through the relaxing technique and on rare occasions [I've] been able to produce hypnotism against a person's will. However, you cannot count on this and to attempt to attach an individual who did not want to be hypnotized alone would be almost an impossible task. In that type of case, I would use sodium amytal and/or sodium pentothal. Q: How effective are post-hypnotics; over what distances and time can they be effective? A: Properly used post-hypnotics will last twenty years. They can be made more effective by re-enforcement from time to time. Post-hypnotics are not affected at all by time or travel or distance away from the person who placed the post-hypnotic. As a rule, post-hypnotics should be 100% effective in good subjects. Q: Can individuals be made to do things under hypnosis that they would not otherwise? A: Individuals could be taught to do anything including murder, suicide, etc. I do believe that you could carry out acts that would be against an individual's moral feelings if they were rightly, psychologically conditioned. Note: Individuals can be hypnotized without their knowledge. They can be programmed to commit murder, suicide, and much more. Think about the implications. How many "suicides" of important people we've heard in the news were not really suicides? How many murders were committed by people who didn't even realize they were assassins? How much has this technology been used to manipulate world politics? Think about the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Jr., and possibly even those involved with 9/11 and other major terrorist attacks. Note that this document is not available in the three CD set and must be ordered individually at this link. _____ CIA document and page number: 140401, pp. 6, 7 (not available in three CD set, order individually here) Title: Special Research, Bluebird Date: 1 January 1952 (approximate) Link to view full text of both pages: Click here Set out below are specific problems which can only be resolved by experiment, testing and research. * Can we obtain control of the future activities (physical and mental) of any given individual, willing or unwilling by application of SI [sleep induction] and H [hypnosis] techniques? * Can we create by post-H control an action contrary to an individual?s basic moral principles? * Can we in a matter of an hour, two hours, one day, etc., induce an H condition in an unwilling subject to such an extent that he will perform an act for our benefit? * Could we seize a subject and in the space of an hour or two by post-H control have him crash an airplane, wreck a train, etc.? * Can we by H and SI techniques force a subject (unwilling or otherwise) to travel long distances, commit specified acts and return to us or bring documents or materials? * Can we guarantee total amnesia under any and all conditions? * Can we ?alter? a person?s personality? * Can we devise a system for making unwilling subjects into willing agents and then transfer that control to untrained agency agents in the field by use of codes or identifying signs? * Is it possible to find a gas that can be used to gain SI control from a gas pencil, odorless, colorless: one shot, etc.? * What are full details on "sleep-inducing machine"? * How can sodium A or P or any other sleep inducing agent be best concealed in a normal or commonplace item, such as candy, cigarettes, liquer, wines, coffee, tea, beer, gum water, aspirin tablets, common medicines, coke, tooth paste? * Can we, using SI and H extract complicated formula from scientists, engineers, etc., if unwilling? Note: Reading all of the declassified CIA documents listed in this essay suggests that the answer to most, if not all of the questions above appears to be yes. Note that sleep inducing agents were being placed in candy, aspirin, Coke, and more. Think about the implications if even just a few of the men in these programs decided to use such things outside of the office to sexually abuse women and children. It's time that this information be made public so that we can all be aware of what's going on and work to stop the abuses. Note that for some reason this document is not available in the three CD set and must be ordered individually at this link. _____ Science Digest Article, pp. 44 - 53 (Not a CIA document, but directly related to the mind control programs) Title: Hypnosis Comes of Age Date: April 1971 Link to view full text of article: Click here Psychologist G. H. Estabrooks reminisces about his long career as a hypnotist. Dr. Estabrooks discusses how he "programmed" American spies with hypnosis and how he helped businessmen and students with his skills. Dr. Estabrooks is a Rhodes Scholar. He took his Doctorate at Harvard ('26), and has authored many articles and books on clinical hypnosis and human behavior. One of the most fascinating but dangerous applications of hypnosis is its use in military intelligence. This is a field with which I am familiar through formulating guidelines for the techniques used by the United States in two world wars. I was involved in preparing many subjects for this work during World War II. One successful case involved an Army Service Corps Captain whom we'll call George Smith. Captain Smith had undergone months of training. He was an excellent subject but did not realize it. I had removed from him, by post-hypnotic suggestion, all recollection of ever having been hypnotized. Outside of myself, Colonel Brown was the only person who could hypnotize Captain Smith. This is "locking." I performed it by saying to the hypnotized Captain: "Until further orders from me, only Colonel Brown and I can hypnotize you. We will use a signal phrase 'the moon is clear.' " The system is virtually foolproof. By the 1920's, not only had they learned to apply post-hypnotic suggestion, [they] also had learned how to split certain complex individuals into multiple personalities like Jeckyl-Hydes. During World War II, I worked this technique with a vulnerable Marine lieutenant I'll call Jones. Under the watchful eye of Marine Intelligence, I spilt his personality into Jones A and Jones B. Jones A, once a "normal" working Marine, became entirely different. He talked communist doctrine and meant it. He was welcomed enthusiastically by communist cells, was deliberately given a dishonorable discharge by the Corps (which was in on the plot) and became a card-carrying party member. The joker was Jones B, the second personality, formerly apparent in the conscious Marine. Under hypnosis, this Jones had been carefully coached by suggestion. Jones B was the deeper personality, knew all the thoughts of Jones A, was a loyal American, and was "imprinted" to say nothing during conscious phases. All I had to do was hypnotize the whole man, get in touch with Jones B, the loyal American, and I had a pipeline straight into the Communist camp. Note: Note that in the 1920s, U.S. military intelligence had already developed the capability to cause split personalities. The created super spy or Manchurian Candidate has been a reality for nearly a century, yet very few people know anything about it. These unknowing spies could provide sexual favors, plant bombs, and even assassinate top political leaders. Consider that many countries and key powerful, elite groups have had and used this technology for many decades. Watch the movie Manchurian Candidate to see how real it is. _____ Brief Summary After reading all of these highly revealing documents, you may now understand why there is a major part of our history which has never been written. You may better understand how the Kennedy and King assassinations, 9/11, and other terrorist acts were likely manipulated. Beautiful young women could be programmed to seduce, influence, and if necessary even poison top political leaders. And remember that certain powerful, elite groups who have access to large volumes of money also have access to these technologies and often are secretly using them to battle each other. There is an entire hidden history of our world of which few are aware. For a highly revealing documentary showing powerful evidence of child sexual abuse by powerful elites leading up the steps of Congress, see Conspiracy of Silence available here. For an astonishing, yet inspiring 10-page summary of a revealing book by a woman who once served top politicians in this capacity, click here. By choosing to be aware of such matters and to spread the news to others on the importance of bringing all this to light, we can make a big difference. And if you are feeling overwhelmed by all this information, please click here . For a very enlightening essay on mind control, including both the secretive aspects and how it is now being used to help heal people in most transformative ways, don't miss the powerful lesson from the Insight Course available here . The same technologies that have caused murder and mayhem can also be used to transform our lives and world. You can help bring all this information to light and promote positive transformation. Please see below for how you can help, and thank you for caring. _____ What You Can Do By taking action to inform ourselves and others, we can help to break this cycle of aggression and violence. * Inform your media and political representatives of this important information. To contact representatives close to you, click here . Urge them bring these documents into public discussion and release all documents pertaining to mind control and government-sanctioned sex abuse. * Learn about the history and development of controversial CIA mind control programs in this excellent two-page summary. Footnotes and links are provided for verification purposes. * Read concise summaries of revealing major media reports on CIA mind control programs available here. * Visit our Mind Control Information Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/mindcontrolinformation. * Explore inspiring ideas on how we can build a brighter future for all of us by reading this short essay. * Spread this news to your friends and colleagues, and bookmark this article on key news websites using the icons listed at the bottom of this page on WantToKnow.info, so that we can fill the role at which the major media is sadly failing. By working together, we can make a big difference. _____ Final Note: WantToKnow.info believes it is important to balance disturbing cover-up information with inspirational writings which call us to be all that we can be and to work together for positive change. Please visit our Inspiration Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/inspirational for an abundance of uplifting material. See our archive of revealing news articles at http://www.WantToKnow.info/indexnewsarticles Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work. To make a donation by credit card, check, or money order: http://www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore these empowering websites coordinated by the nonprofit PEERS network : http://www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart http://www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all http://insightcourse.net - The Insight Course: Best of the Internet all in one free course Educational websites promoting transformation through information and inspiration To reply to this message, visit http://www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): http://www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Hosting by YourMailingListProvider -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From brock_moore at accountant.com Thu Apr 16 15:11:40 2009 From: brock_moore at accountant.com (Brock Moore) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:11:40 -0500 Subject: [GJM] FW: [HasanShabbir:8628] Tata Motors to introduce Air Car - (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Message-ID: <20090416211140.C823ABE407D@ws1-9.us4.outblaze.com> But Mary, this most certainly is a hoax. Technology does not exist to power a car on compressed air for "300 km between refuels." Notice there is just a headline that is not referenced to any publication. Brock ----- Original Message ----- From: "mary rose" To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" , "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" Subject: [GJM] FW: [HasanShabbir:8628] Tata Motors to introduce Air Car - (A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:16:45 -0700 A major question is to why cars like this are not being introducedinto the U.S.? And why billions are being spent on bailing out U.S. automanufacturers who are going bankrupt when cars like these are the wave of thefuture. ?Could it have something to do with keeping capitalism going at the expenseof we-the-people, so that the major investor/capitalists can still keep theirpyramid scam banking business going?? ? [snipped] -- It's News. It's Reviews. It's Interviews. It's Free. What Are You Waiting For? www.movieline.com From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 21:21:03 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:21:03 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: The Blessed Unrest Message-ID: <005101c9bf0b$8d126bf0$a73743d0$@net> Bob, thanks for sending this along. Here again, we are talking about the "Blessed Unrest" movement that I've written about several times. The cells that begin to change as the catepiller dissolves into "soup" are called "imaginal" cells and they appear in our body as well. Here is one scientist's view of them as part of the human experience. http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aoffi cial&channel=s&hl=en&q=imaginal+cells+in+the+human+body+&btnG=Google+Search But come back and read this after you've read Bob's message. With love and appreciation, Bob From: Robert Ocegueda [mailto:bocegueda at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:18 PM To: Bob Ocegueda Subject: The Blessed Unrest Dear Friends and Family, A hopeful (real) view of what is happening. http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html It reminds me of a quote from a great scientist, author of "Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution", Elisabet Sahtouris, about the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. It goes something like this: (I'm paraphrasing) When a caterpillar is growing it leaves a path of destruction in its wake, as it is only an eating machine. At some point a few cells begin to change as the time comes to begin its metamorphosis. At first the immune system does not recognize these new cells as part of the caterpillar, so it eliminates them. But eventually, as more and more cells are transformed according to their DNA, the immune system is overwhelmed and the caterpillar begins to pupate to complete the transformation. Then the old cells become the sustenance for the new ones, until the new form emerges into the light. I am among a growing number of people who believe that we are experiencing something like that. We, the human species, have never, Never, EVER, been in a place like this, with the confluence of several very real and enormous crisis approaching us from several directions. From financial collapse, to peak oil, to water and soil depletion (and therefor food scarcity), to overpopulation, to climate change, to geopolitical conflicts, and so forth. It is all very scary, until we realize that it is all a natural process. We are part of a living system. And IT is going through a transformation. I'm not suggesting that we will become a butterfly or that we will cannibalize our "old form" fellow human beings (although the thought occurred to me as "poetic justice"... but I dropped it right away!). What I am suggesting is that we have no way of imagining what we will be like, at the other side of this event. But I am sure it will be beautiful! With our full human potential realized! We are indeed living in interesting times, only this is a blessing not a curse. Do your best... Stay healthy. Love Bob PS, for those who still think things will go back to normal... I'll ask what Howard Kunstler asked, "back to what?" Here are a few articles from knowledgeable people who speak truth to power, as opposed to the spinmeisters in the commercial media who get paid only to promote the system. >From Simon Johnson , one of the chief economists of the IMF "If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time." >From Bill Moyers with an inteview of Bill Black "the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout. William K. Black suspects that it was more than greed and incompetence that brought down the U.S. financial sector and plunged the economy in recession - it was fraud." >From Culture Change, a view of collapse. Anyway... there is no going back, thank God! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 21:23:23 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:23:23 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Now Comes the Commerical Real Estate Crisis... 2nd Largest Mall Owner files for Bankruptcy -Chapter 11 Message-ID: <005601c9bf0b$e070e3d0$a152ab70$@net> From: Nance ~ [mailto:planetnews8 at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:09 PM Subject: Now Comes the Commerical Real Estate Crisis... 2nd Largest Mall Owner files for Bankruptcy -Chapter 11 General Growth files for bankruptcy protection Yahoo finance 4/16/09 By Ilaina Jonas and Emily Chasan Reuters - An undated image courtesy of General Growth Properties. The second largest U.S. mall owner filed for bankruptcy protection ... NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history. Ending months of speculation, General Growth, along with 158 of its more than 200 U.S. malls, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors while it tries to restructure some of its debt. Its joint-venture properties and third-party management business were not included in the bankruptcy. The Chicago-based company, which owns such valuable malls as Fashion Show in Las Vegas and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, listed total assets of $29.56 billion and total debt of $27.29 billion. Since November, General Growth had been warning that it might seek protection from its creditors due to its failure to refinance maturing mortgages. Earlier this month, the company had tried to restructure bonds from Rouse Cos, a high-end mall owner that it bought in 2004. But General Growth failed to garner the necessary support. "When we did not achieve the necessary amount of agreement on the bond solicitation, at that point we recognized that it was conceivable that we would not get the time outside of bankruptcy that we had hoped for to work on a restructuring," General Growth President Thomas Nolan told Reuters. General Growth's collapse is emblematic of the enormous pressure on U.S. commercial real estate, as there are few sources of funding for sales or to refinance maturing debt. "We will see a significant rise in delinquent and defaulted mortgages in commercial real estate above and beyond what we already experienced," said Sam Chandan, president and chief economist at research firm Real Estate Economics. About $814 billion of commercial mortgage debt is expected to mature over the next two years, according to real estate research firm Foresight Analytics. SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS General Growth said in a statement that it would keep exploring strategic alternatives during bankruptcy protection, from which it is seeking to emerge as quickly as possible through a reorganization that preserves its national business. General Growth's filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan makes it one of the largest nonfinancial companies to succumb to the global financial crisis. It is also the biggest bankruptcy of a U.S. real estate company, according to BankruptcyData.com. Before filing for bankruptcy, General Growth had put several of its flagship properties, including all three of its Las Vegas malls, up for sale. Analysts and other real estate experts have speculated that mall owners Simon Property Group Inc -- the largest U.S. mall owner -- and Australia's Westfield Group would be interested in buying some of General Growth's assets from bankruptcy. "Our core business remains sound and is performing well with stable cash flows," General Growth Chief Executive Adam Metz said in a statement. "While we have worked tirelessly in the past several months to address our maturing debts, the collapse of the credit markets has made it impossible for us to refinance maturing debt outside of Chapter 11." General Growth has received a debtor-in-possession financing commitment of about $375 million from Pershing Square Capital Management LP as agent. Pershing Square, the hedge fund run by William Ackman, owns about 25 percent of General Growth shares and had been urging the company to file for bankruptcy. Ackman has said its shares could rise even in bankruptcy because the market value of its assets far exceeds their book value. At the end of 2008, about $15.17 billion of General Growth's debt consisted of mortgage loans that had been securitized into commercial mortgage-backed securities, according to research firm Trepp. "This underscores that real estate companies are most vulnerable to refinancing risk rather than market risk," said Nomura's London-based property analyst Mike Prew. General Growth shares were halted on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, but in premarket trade, they had fallen some 43 percent to 60 cents. The bankruptcy helped push down the entire real estate investment trust sector, as the benchmark MSCI U.S. REIT Index fell 2.1 percent. Bankruptcy fears have not hit European mall owners. Europe's biggest mall owner, Unibail Rodamco, was up 2 percent at 118.69 euros, while Anglo-French retail specialist Hammerson was down 2.4 percent at 299.75 pence. HIGH-QUALITY MALLS AND TENANTS General Growth started when brothers Martin and Matthew Bucksbaum decided to expand the family grocery business and build a shopping center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1954. The company grew through both building and buying malls, the largest acquisition being the 2004 purchase of Rouse Cos for $14.2 billion. That deal, financed entirely with debt, added 37 valuable U.S. malls to its portfolio. General Growth's refinancing troubles in the frozen credit markets led to the firing of former Chief Financial Officer Bernard Freibaum in October. John Bucksbaum, who succeeded his father Matthew in 1999, stepped down as chief executive the same month, although he remained chairman. The company has hired law firms Weil Gotshal & Manges and Kirkland & Ellis to represent it, according to court papers. The case is In re: General Growth Properties Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-11977. (Reporting by Ilaina Jonas, Emily Chasan, Sinead Cruise in London, Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Patrick Fitzgibbons) _____ Great deals on Dell's most popular laptops - Starting at $479 -- -- NUTRAZON... Instantly Balance Right & Left Hemispheres of Brain, Bringing Body into Immediate Homeostasis for Maximum Self-Healing Potential!: http://www.2ProsperWell.com ------------ Cinnamon 6... Coral Complex... Holy Tea... The Whole Wellness Club... www.ProsperTea.com ------------ SAVING MONEY! http://hubcat.savingshighway.com ------------ RESVERATROL...! www.REJENX.com ID 4282 ------------ Nancy & Earle Belle 949-200-7335 800-873-1620 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 22:19:28 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:19:28 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves? Message-ID: <007d01c9bf13$c62f9220$528eb660$@net> I hope everyone reading this realizes that the real reason for war is that it is a money-maker for the corporations. What would they do if it weren't for the orders for soft drinks, food, uniforms, military vehicles, planes, ships, weapons of mass destruction, office supplies, furniture, computers, phones anything else one can think of that support military units, and now guerilla units like Blackwater as well. And, these activities provide for jobs on the home front. But, again at what price to our life support system as external costs are passed on to future generations. But then one must ask if there will be anything left in the way of resources for future generations? I think we've sold them out. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:15 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves? (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Thursday, Apr. 02, 2009 Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves? By MARK THOMPSON Mark Thompson reports on a shocking dimension of current US policy -- a serious escalation in the suicide rate among military recruiters. This feature story was accompanied by a heart-rending slideshow revealing the despair of the families of US military recruiters who have committed suicide. See the slideshow, "Suicide in the Recruiters Ranks," by clicking here . Michael Carmichael With thanks to Heathcote Williams. When Army Staff Sergeant Amanda Henderson ran into Staff Sergeant Larry Flores in their Texas recruiting station last August, she was shocked by the dark circles under his eyes and his ragged appearance. "Are you O.K.?" she asked the normally squared-away soldier. "Sergeant Henderson, I am just really tired," he replied. "I had such a bad, long week, it was ridiculous." The previous Saturday, Flores' commanders had berated him for poor performance. He had worked every day since from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., trying to persuade the youth of Nacogdoches to wear Army green. "But I'm O.K.," he told her. No, he wasn't. Later that night, Flores hanged himself in his garage with an extension cord. Henderson and her husband Patrick, both Army recruiters, were stunned. "I'll never forget sitting there at Sergeant Flores' memorial service with my husband and seeing his wife crying," Amanda recalls. "I remember looking over at Patrick and going, 'Why did he do this to her? Why did he do this to his children?' " Patrick didn't say anything, and Amanda now says Flores' suicide "triggered" something in her husband. Six weeks later, Patrick hanged himself with a dog chain in their backyard shed. (See pictures of suicide in recruiters' ranks. ) The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now the longest waged by an all-volunteer force in U.S. history. Even as soldiers rotate back into the field for multiple and extended tours, the Army requires a constant supply of new recruits. But the patriotic fervor that led so many to sign up after 9/11 is now eight years past. That leaves recruiters with perhaps the toughest, if not the most dangerous, job in the Army. Last year alone, the number of recruiters who killed themselves was triple the overall Army rate. Like posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, recruiter suicides are a hidden cost of the nation's wars. The Wartime Challenge Behind the neat desks and patriotic posters in 1,650 Army recruiting stations on Main Streets and in strip malls is a work environment as stressful in its own way as combat. The hours are long, time off is rare, and the demand to sign up at least two recruits a month is unrelenting. Soldiers who have returned from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan now constitute 73% of recruiters, up from 38% in 2005. And for many of them, the pressure is just too much. "These kids are coming back from Iraq with problems," says a former Army officer who recently worked in the Houston Recruiting Battalion. The responsibility for providing troop replacements falls to the senior noncommissioned officers who have chosen to make recruiting their career in the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC). They in turn put pressure on their local recruiters to "make mission" and generate the recruits - sometimes by any means necessary. Lawrence Kagawa retired last July after more than 20 years in uniform; he spent the latter half as a highly decorated recruiter, and his tenure included a stint in the Houston battalion from 2002 to 2005. "There's one set of values for the Army, and when you go to Recruiting Command, you're basically forced to do things outside of what would normally be considered to be moral or ethical," he says. Because station commanders and their bosses are rated on how well their subordinates recruit, there is a strong incentive to cut corners to bring in enlistees. If recruiters can't make mission legitimately, their superiors will tell them to push the envelope. "You'll be told to call Johnny or Susan and tell them to lie and say they've never had asthma like they told you, that they don't have a juvenile criminal history," Kagawa says. "That recruiter is going to bend the rules and get the lies told and process the fraudulent paperwork." And if the recruiter refuses? The commander, says Kagawa, is "going to tell you point-blank that 'we have a loyalty issue here, and if I give you a "no" for loyalty on your annual report, your career is over.' " It's not surprising, then, that some recruiters ignore red flags to enlist marginal candidates. "I've seen [recruiters] make kids drink gallons of water trying to flush marijuana out of their system before they take their physicals," one Houston recruiter says privately. "I've seen them forge signatures." Sign up a pair of enlistees in a month and a recruiter is hailed; sign up none and he can be ordered to monthly Saturday sessions, where he is verbally pounded for his failure. See pictures of the U.S. Army Reserve. See pictures from inside Guantanamo Bay's detention facilities. The military isn't known for treating underperformers with kid gloves. But the discipline can be harder for recruiters to take because they are, in most cases, physically and socially isolated. Unlike most soldiers, who are assigned to posts where they and their families receive the Army's full roster of benefits, 70% of Army recruiters live more than 50 miles (80 km) from the nearest military installation. Lacking local support, recruiters and their spouses turn to Internet message boards. "I hate to say it, but all the horror stories are true!" a veteran Army recruiter advised a rookie online. "It will be three years of hell on you and your family." One wife wrote that instead of coming home at the end of a long workday, her husband was headed "to Super Wal-Mart to find prospects because they're open for 24 hours." Today's active-duty Army recruiting force is 7,600-strong. Soldiers attend school at Fort Jackson, S.C., for seven weeks before being sent to one of the 38 recruiting battalions across the nation. There they spend their days calling lists of high school seniors and other prospects and visiting schools and malls. At night, they visit the homes of potential recruits to sell them on one of the Army's 150 different jobs and seal the deal with hefty enlistment bonuses: up to $40,000 in cash and as much as $65,000 for college. The manual issued to recruiting commanders warns that, unlike war, in recruiting there will be no victory "until such time when the United States no longer requires an Army." Recruiting must "continue virtually nonstop" and is "aggressive, persistent and unrelenting." (See more about the military. ) Lone Star Losses Nowhere has the pace been more punishing than inside the Houston Recruiting Battalion. One of every 10 of the Army's recruits last year came from Texas - the highest share of any state - and recruiters in Harris County enlisted 1,104, just 37 shy of first-place Phoenix's Maricopa County. The Houston unit's nearly 300 recruiters are spread among 49 stations across southeast Texas. Since 2005, four members recently back from Iraq or Afghanistan have committed suicide while struggling, as recruiters say, to "put 'em in boots." TIME has obtained a copy of the Army's recently completed 2-inch-thick (50 mm) report of the investigation into the Houston suicides. Its bottom line: recruiters there have toiled under a "poor command climate" and an "unhealthy and singular focus on production at the expense of soldier and family considerations." Most names have been deleted; the Army said those who were blamed by recruiters for the poor work environment didn't want to comment. While some recruiters were willing to talk to TIME, most declined to be named for fear of risking their careers. (See pictures of U.S. troops' 6 years in Iraq. ) Captain Rico Robinson, 32, the Houston battalion's personnel officer, was the first suicide, shooting himself in January 2005. But one of his predecessors, Christina Montalvo, had tried to kill herself a few years earlier, gulping a handful of prescription sleeping pills in a suicide attempt that was thwarted when a co-worker found her. Montalvo says a boss bullied her about her weight. And she was shocked by the abuse that senior sergeants routinely levied on subordinates. "I'd never been in a unit before where soldiers publicly humiliated other soldiers," says Montalvo, who left the Army in 2002 after 16 years. "If they don't make mission, they're humiliated and embarrassed." Several months after Robinson committed suicide, Staff Sergeant Nils Aron Andersson arrived in Houston as a recruiter. Andersson had served two tours in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne and had won a Bronze Star for helping buddies pinned down in a firefight. "I asked him what he did to get it, and he just looked right at me and said, 'Doing my job, Dad, just doing my job,' and that's all he ever said," says his father Robert of Springfield, Ore. "He wouldn't talk to me about Iraq." Aron, as he was known, had changed in Iraq. Perhaps it was the September 2003 night he gave up his exposed seat in a Black Hawk helicopter to a younger soldier who wanted the thrill of sitting there and who ended up being the only one killed when the chopper flipped on takeoff. Or maybe it was the day Andersson's squad had to destroy a speeding suicide van headed straight at their checkpoint, despite the women and children inside. Instead of returning for a third tour, Andersson chose recruiting. He trained at Fort Jackson, filed for divorce and joined the Houston battalion in 2005. "They were working the crap out of him," Robert says. "I'd get calls from him at 9:30 at night - 11:30 in Houston - and he'd say he was just leaving the recruiting office and starting on his 40-minute drive home." His easygoing son also developed a hair-trigger temper during his time at the River Oaks and Rosenberg recruiting stations. "He wasn't really a salesman," Robert says, "and recruiters are trying to sell something." See more about suicide. See pictures of combat in Iraq. Several months into the job, Aron threatened suicide in front of a girlfriend. After Army doctors cleared him, he returned to work. "For the two years he was in Iraq, I'd turn down the street and be terrified there'd be a car with a set of government plates on it when I got home telling me that he'd been killed," his father says. "Suicide was the last scenario I'd ever come up with." But that was what occurred on March 5, 2007. In the week before his suicide, Andersson was ordered to write three separate essays explaining his failure to line up prospective recruits. A fellow recruiter later told Army investigators that commanders "humiliated" this decorated battlefield soldier during a training session: "He was under a constant grind - incredible pressure. He just became numb." (See pictures of British soldiers in Afghanistan. ) Andersson, 25, stopped by his recruiting station hours before he died and said he had gotten married that morning to Cassy Walton, whom he had recently met. He seemed in a good mood. "Before leaving, he played a prank on the station commander that made everyone laugh," a fellow recruiter told investigators. But the newlyweds argued that night, and Andersson, inside his new Ford pickup, put the barrel of a Ruger .22-cal. pistol to his right temple and squeezed the trigger. His widow, suffering from psychiatric problems of her own, killed herself the next day with a gun she had just bought. "That double suicide should have stopped everything," an officer who was in the battalion says privately. Instead, he reports, the leadership in Houston said, "We're just going to keep rolling the way we've been rolling." Inflated Requirements The way things rolled in Houston, it turns out, was especially harsh. Until recently, the Army told prospective recruiters they'd be expected to sign up two recruits a month. "All of your training is geared toward prospecting for and processing at least two enlistments monthly," the Army said on its Recruit the Recruiter website until TIME called to ask about the requirement. Major General Thomas Bostick, USAREC's top general, sent out a 2006 letter declaring that each recruiter "Must Do Two." But if each recruiter did that, the Army would be flooded with more than 180,000 recruits a year instead of the 80,000 it needs. In fact, the real target per recruiter is closer to one a month. Yet the constant drumbeat for two continued. The Houston battalion's punishing work hours were also beyond what was expected. In June 2007, Bostick issued a written order to the 5th Recruiting Brigade and its Houston battalion requiring commanders to clarify the battalion's fuzzy work-hour policy, which could be read as requiring 13-hour workdays. He demanded a new policy "consistent with law and regulation." The brigade and battalion commanders ignored the order. By mid-2008, a Houston battalion commander complained to subordinates of "getting numerous calls on recruiters being called 'dirtbags' or 'useless' when they do not accomplish mission each month." He'd heard that recruiters who had been promised birthdays or anniversaries off were being "called back to work on the day of the anniversary and during the birthday and/or anniversary party when they already had family and friends at their homes." To improve morale, the battalion's leadership decided to hold a picnic last July 26. "Family fun is mandatory," read an internal e-mail. Crying Like a Child Staff Sergeant Flores, a married father of two, who'd looked so haggard last August, was the station commander overseeing the pair of recruiting offices in Nacogdoches. The job required the veteran of both Afghanistan and Iraq to dial into two daily conference calls from his office at 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. "On a regular basis, he would complain to me that the 15 to 19 hours we worked daily were too much," a colleague told Army investigators. When Flores' station failed to make mission, his superiors ordered him to attend what the Army calls "low-production training" in Houston on Saturday, Aug. 2. "When you're getting home at 11 and getting up at 4, it's tough, but it's the dressing down that really got to him," says a recruiter who worked alongside Flores. "They had him crying like a kid in the office, telling him he was no good and that they were going to pull his stripes." See more about the army. See pictures of life returning to Iraq's streets. Flores, 26, was told his failure as a station commander meant he'd soon be returning to a basic recruiter's slot. "He was an emotional wreck," said a soldier who spoke with him the evening of Aug. 8. "He said he felt he failed as a station commander," the colleague told investigators. "He had asked me for a firearm. I told him I didn't have one. It actually never crossed my mind that it might have been for himself." Flores hanged himself that night. "The leadership is the major cause for SFC Flores taking his own life, he was a prideful soldier," a fellow station commander wrote in a statement, carefully noting Flores' posthumous promotion. "I believe this was a snap decision because SFC Flores stated to me that he grew up without a father and he would never do that to his kids." Amanda Henderson had worked alongside Flores in Nacogdoches. Her husband, Sergeant First Class Patrick Henderson, 35, served at a recruiting office 90 minutes away in Longview. Patrick met Amanda at recruiting school after a combat tour in Iraq, and they married in January 2008. With their new jobs, though, "there was no time for family life at all," Amanda says. While Patrick didn't want the assignment, his widow says, the Army told him he had no choice. He masked his disappointment behind a friendly demeanor and an easy smile. But things got worse after Flores' death. "He just kept saying it was the battalion's fault because of this big bashing session that had taken place" six days before Flores killed himself, Amanda says. "I can't tell you how mad he got at the Army when Flores committed suicide." Two weeks later, Patrick spoke of killing himself and was embarrassed by the fuss it kicked up. "He started to get reclusive," Amanda says now. "He sounded pretty beat up," a fellow recruiter told investigators later. "He seemed to be upset about recruiting and didn't want to be out here." Patrick was taken off frontline recruiting and assigned to company headquarters. But it didn't stop his downward spiral. The day after a squabble with his wife on Sept. 19, Patrick hanged himself. A Senator Demands Answers It wasn't until reports in the Houston Chronicle provoked Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas to demand answers that the Army launched an investigation into the string of suicides. "It's tragic that it took four deaths to bring this to the attention of a U.S. Senator and to ask for a formal investigation," Cornyn says. After Cornyn began asking questions, the Army ordered Brigadier General F.D. Turner to investigate. Recruiters told him that their task is a "stressful, challenging job that is driven wholly by production, that is, the numbers of people put into the Army each month," Turner disclosed Dec. 23 after a two-month probe. The report found that morale was particularly low in the Houston battalion. Its top officer and enlisted member - Lieut. Colonel Toimu Reeves and Command Sergeant Major Cheryl Broussard - are no longer with the unit. (He left for another post in USAREC; she was removed from her post until an investigation into her role is finished, and she is working in the San Antonio Recruiting Battalion.) In an interview, General Turner would not discuss the personal lives of the victims, but his report noted that all four were in "failed or failing" relationships. Yet he conceded that "the work environment might have been relevant in their relationship problems." The claim of a failing relationship is denied by Amanda Henderson and by testimony from fellow recruiters. And an Army crisis-response team dispatched to Houston in October to look into last summer's two suicides cited a poor work environment - not domestic issues - as key. After Turner's report, Lieut. General Benjamin Freakley, head of the Army Accessions Command that oversees USAREC, asked the Army inspector general to conduct a nationwide survey of the mood among Army recruiters. The Army also ordered a one-day stand-down for all recruiters in February so it could focus on proper leadership and suicide prevention. The worsening economy is already easing some of the recruiters' burden, as is the raising of the maximum enlistment age, from 35 to 42. But with only 3 in 10 young Americans meeting the mental, moral and physical requirements to serve, recruiting challenges will continue. Amanda Henderson, who lost both her husband and her boss to suicide last year, has left that battlefield. "The Army didn't take care of my husband or Sergeant Flores the way they needed to," she says. Though still in the Army, she has quit recruiting and returned to her former job as a supply sergeant at Fort Jackson. Because of the poor economy, she says, she plans to stay in uniform at least until her current enlistment is up in 2011. "Some days I say I've just got to go on," she says. "Other days I'll just sit and cry all day long." -- Michael Carmichael Planetary/USA www.planetarymovement.org From maryrose333 at att.net Thu Apr 16 23:57:12 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:57:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Right-Wingers Are Desperately Trying to Destroy Obama, and the Cowardly Corporate Media Are Helping Message-ID: <009401c9bf21$5d75d880$18618980$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:05 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Right-Wingers Are Desperately Trying to Destroy Obama, and the Cowardly Corporate Media Are Helping (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Right-Wingers Are Desperately Trying to Destroy Obama, and the Cowardly Corporate Media Are Helping http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/136834/right-wingers_are_desperately_tr ying_to_destroy_obama%2C_and_the_cowardly_corporate_media_are_helping_/ By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted April 16, 2009. The right-wing media still pull the reins in DC, where they could sink the Obama presidency and even stymie a Democratic Congress. Watching Glenn Beck of Fox News rant about "progressive fascism" -- and muse about armed insurrection -- or listening to mainstream pundits prattle on about Barack Obama as the "most polarizing President ever," it is hard to escape the conclusion that today's U.S. news media represents a danger to the Republic. By and large, the Washington press corps continues to function within a paradigm set in the 1980s, mostly bending to the American Right, especially to its perceived power to destroy mainstream journalistic careers and to grease the way toward lucrative jobs for those who play ball. The parameters set by this intimidated (or bought-off) news media, in turn, influence how far Washington politicians feel they can go on issues, like health-care reform or environmental initiatives, or how risky they believe it might be to pull back from George W. Bush's "war on terror" policies. Democratic hesitancy on these matters then enflames the Left, which expresses its outrage through its own small media, reprising the old theme that there's "not a dime's worth of difference" between Democrats and Republicans -- a reaction that further weakens chances for any meaningful reform. This vicious cycle has repeated itself again and again since the Reagan era, when the Right built up its intimidating media apparatus -- a vertically integrated machine which now reaches from newspapers, magazines and books to radio, TV and the Internet. The Right accompanied its media apparatus with attack groups to go after troublesome mainstream journalists. Meanwhile, the American Left never took media seriously, putting what money it had mostly into "organizing" or into direct humanitarian giving. Underscoring the Left's fecklessness about media, progressives have concentrated their relatively few media outlets in San Francisco, 3,000 miles away -- and three hours behind -- the news centers of Washington and New York. By contrast, the Right grasped the importance of "information warfare" in a modern media age and targeted its heaviest firepower on the frontlines of that war -- mostly the political battlefields of Washington -- thus magnifying the influence of right-wing ideas on policymakers. One consequence of this media imbalance is that Republicans feel they can pretty much say whatever they want -- no matter how provocative or even crazy -- while Democrats must be far more circumspect, knowing that any comment might be twisted into an effective attack point against them. So, while criticism of Republican presidents -- from Ronald Reagan to the two Bushes -- had to be tempered for fear of counterattacks, almost anything could be said against a Democratic president, Bill Clinton or now Barack Obama, who is repeatedly labeled a "socialist" and, according to Beck, a "fascist" for pressuring hapless GM chief executive Rick Wagoner to resign. The Clinton Wars The smearing of President Clinton started during his first days in office as the right-wing news media and the mainstream press pursued, essentially in tandem, "scandals" such as his Whitewater real-estate deal, the Travel Office firings and salacious accusations from Arkansas state troopers. Through talk radio and mailed-out videos, the Right also disseminated accusations that Clinton was responsible for "murders" in Arkansas and Washington. These hateful suspicions about Clinton spread across the country, carried by the voices of Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy as well as via videos hawked by Religious Right leader Jerry Falwell. While not accepting the "murder" tales, mainstream publications, like the Washington Post and the New York Times, often took the lead in pushing or exaggerating Clinton financial "scandals." Facing these attacks, Clinton sought some safety by tacking to the Right, which prompted many on the American Left to turn on him. The stage was set for the Republican "revolution" of 1994, which put the GOP in charge of Congress. Only in the latter days of the Clinton administration, as the Republicans pushed for his ouster through impeachment, did a handful of small media outlets, including Consortiumnews.com and Salon.com, recast the war on Clinton as a new-age coup d'etat. Yet, despite the evidence of that, the major American news media mocked Hillary Clinton when she complained about a "vast right-wing conspiracy." After Clinton survived impeachment, the national press corps transferred its hostility toward Vice President Al Gore in Campaign 2000 , ridiculing him as a serial exaggerator and liar, even when that required twisting his words. [For details, see our book Neck Deep.] Then, when George W. Bush wrested the White House away from Gore with the help of five Republican partisans on the U.S. Supreme Court, the drumbeat of hostility toward the American President suddenly disappeared, replaced by a new consensus about the need for unity. The 9/11 attacks deepened that sentiment, putting Bush almost beyond the reach of normal criticism. Again, the right-wing media and the mainstream press moved almost in lockstep. The deferential tone toward Bush could be found not just on Fox News or right-wing talk radio, but in the Washington Post and (to a lesser degree) the New York Times -- and on CNN and MSNBC. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com's "America's Matrix."] To some foreigners, the U.S. news media's early coverage of the Iraq War had the feel of what might be expected in a totalitarian state. "There have been times, living in America of late, when it seemed I was back in the Communist Moscow I left a dozen years ago," wrote Rupert Cornwell in the London-based Independent. "Switch to cable TV and reporters breathlessly relay the latest wisdom from the usual unnamed 'senior administration officials,' keeping us on the straight and narrow. Everyone, it seems, is on-side and on-message. Just like it used to be when the hammer and sickle flew over the Kremlin." [Independent, April 23, 2003] Bush's Slide Bush skeptics were essentially not tolerated in most of the U.S. news media, and journalists who dared produce critical pieces could expect severe career consequences, such as the four CBS producers fired for a segment on how Bush skipped his National Guard duty, a true story that made the mistake of using some memos that had not been fully vetted. Only after real events intervened -- especially the bloody insurgency in Iraq and the ghastly flooding of New Orleans -- did the mainstream U.S. press corps begin to tolerate a more skeptical view of Bush. However, the news personalities who had come to dominate the industry by then had cut their teeth in an era of bashing Democrats (Clinton/Gore) and fawning over Republicans (Reagan and the two Bushes). With Barack Obama as President, these "news" personalities almost reflexively returned to the Clinton-Gore paradigm, feeling the freedom -- indeed the pressure -- to be tough on the White House. Though MSNBC does offer a few shows hosted by liberals and there are a few other liberal voices here and there, the national media remains weighted heavily to the right and center-right. For every Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or Paul Krugman or Frank Rich, there are dozens of Larry Kudlows, Sean Hannitys, Bill O'Reillys, Joe Scarboroughs and Charles Krauthammers who take openly right-wing or neoconservative positions - or the likes of Lou Dobbs, John King and Wolf Blitzer, who reflect Republican-oriented or neocon views out of personal commitment or careerist caution. While the right-wing media denounces Obama as a "socialist" and Republican activists are organizing "tea parties" to protest taxes, the mainstream media continues to follow the old dynamic of framing political issues in ways most favorable to Republicans and least sympathetic to Democrats. On CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, in an interview with Gen. Ray Odierno, host John King pushed a favorite media myth about President Bush's successful "surge" in Iraq. King never mentioned that many factors in the declining Iraqi violence predated or were unrelated to Bush's dispatch of additional troops, nor did King note the contradiction about Bush's supposed "success" and Odierno's warning that he may have to urge more delays in withdrawing U.S. troops. 'Polarizing' Obama The commentariat class also has continued to frame the Republican hatred of Obama as Obama's fault, describing his "failure" to achieve a more bipartisan Washington or -- in its latest formulation -- calling Obama "the most polarizing President ever." It might seem counterintuitive to call a President with approval ratings in the 60 percentiles "polarizing" -- when that term was not applied to George W. Bush with his numbers half that of Obama's. But this notion has arisen because Republicans have turned harshly against Obama, while Democrats and Independents have remained supportive. This gap of about 60 points between Democratic approval and Republican disapproval is called the largest in the modern era. (Bush presumably was less "polarizing" because his Republican numbers slumped along with his approval from Democrats and Independents.) What is rarely acknowledged is that the Republican Party has both shrunk in size and retreated toward its hard-line "base," meaning that the "polarization gap" could simply reflect the fact that a smaller, more extreme Republican Party hates Obama, while other presidents faced a larger, more moderate opposition party. Rather, according to the Washington pundit class, this gap is Obama's fault, much as he was blamed for "failing" to attract Republican votes for his stimulus bill and his budget. Rarely do the pundits lay the blame on the Republicans who have taken a position of near unanimous opposition to Obama, much as they did toward Clinton 16 years ago. Instead of seeing a pattern -- that Republicans may hope to torpedo Obama's presidency and reclaim congressional control , as they did in 1993-94 -- the Washington press corps describes the Republicans as holding firm to their small-government principles and the Democrats as refusing to give due consideration to GOP alternatives. Already a new conventional wisdom is taking shape, that "polarizing" Obama would be wrong to use the "reconciliation" process to enact health-care and environmental programs by majority vote, that he should instead water them down and seek enough Republican votes to overcome GOP filibusters in the Senate, which require 60 votes to stop. To get enough Republican votes on health care would almost surely mean eliminating a public alternative that would compete with private insurers, and on the environment, cap-and-trade plans for curbing carbon emissions would have to be shelved. But that is the course that the pundit class generally favors, while demanding that Obama and the Democrats, not the Republicans, take the necessary steps toward cooperation. "It will continue to behoove Obama to woo Republican help -- no matter how tough the odds," wrote Washington Post columnist David Broder on Sunday. "Presidents who hope to achieve great things cannot for long rely on using their congressional majorities to muscle things through." But if Obama takes the advice of Broder and other pundits and dilutes his proposals to make them acceptable to Republicans, the President will surely draw the wrath of the Democratic "base," which will accuse him of selling out. The vicious cycle will have rotated once again. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 08:42:28 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:42:28 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Fox News' militia media: mainstreaming the fringe Message-ID: <005601c9bf6a$be591ec0$3b0b5c40$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:25 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Fox News' militia media: mainstreaming the fringe (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Fox News' militia media: mainstreaming the fringe Thu, Apr 16, 2009 7:06am ET http://mediamatters.org/columns/200904160001 by Eric Boehlert Imagine if Fox News had been on the air back on February 28, 1993, just months into the new Democratic president's first term, when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to serve warrants on David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound, located on the outskirts of Waco, Texas. Agents arrived because federal authorities got a tip that Koresh and the followers of the misguided messiah were stockpiling weapons. The authorities were right. Outgunned, ATF agents quickly met resistance from the Davidians, who had a .50-caliber rifle, machine guns, and more than a million rounds of ammunition at their disposal. The shootout lasted hours and became the longest in American law-enforcement history. In the end, four ATF agents were killed, and 16 were wounded. Inside the compound, five Davidians were killed and scores more injured, including Koresh, who was shot in the hip and the wrist. The gunbattle signaled the start of a 51-day standoff between Koresh and federal authorities. Rupert Murdoch's all-news channel didn't debut in America until October 1996, but it's chilling to consider the what-ifs of how today's Fox News lineup of doomsday, anti-government prophets would have reacted to controversial and defining news events in the early 1990s -- like Waco. As news of the failed Waco raid broke, would Fox News' notoriously weepy and apocalyptic host Glenn Beck have broken down on the air and wept for the tyranny that he saw unfolding in the government's raid? While FBI negotiators tried to win the release of Koresh's followers, would Beck have warned viewers that the president would "take your gun away one way or another"? Amidst the 51-day siege, would Beck have warned against the creeping "totalitarian state" inside America? Would the host have gravely announced that we'd "come to a very dangerous point in our country's long, storied history"? Would Beck have routinely vilified President Clinton as a fascist? Would he have told viewers that he wanted to debunk the militia-movement conspiracy theory that the federal government was building prison camps, but that he just couldn't knock the story down -- and that, at first glance, it appeared to be "half true"? And can you even imagine Beck's on-air reaction when the FBI's final, failed assault on the Waco compound unfolded on live TV on April 19, 1993? As the horrific images of the compound going up in flames and the grim realization spread that Koresh's followers were not coming out -- that they had staged a mass suicide (and in some cases, executions), rather than surrendering to federal officers -- would Beck have claimed that the scene of destruction reminded him of the "early days of Adolf Hitler"? Would he have invited self-styled militiamen onto his show to game out how the pending civil war against the Clinton-led tyranny was likely to play out and to ponder whether members of the U.S. military would fire on American citizens when the blood began to flow in the streets? And setting aside all decency, would Beck -- post-Waco -- have pretended to douse a Fox News colleague in gasoline and, lamenting how the government was disenfranchising its citizens, then urged Clinton to just "set us on fire," or pleaded that it would be better if Clinton had just shot Beck "in the head"? (That's how Koresh died inside the Waco compound: from a bullet to the head.) Based on the paranoid, anti-government rhetoric that Fox News has embraced since President Obama's inauguration, it's no leap to suspect that if Murdoch's outlet were broadcasting in the early 1990s -- and if it were broadcasting the same fringe message it's echoing today -- that the militia movement would have found a friend in Fox News during the Waco era and throughout Clinton's first term, when the conspiratorial patriot movements flourished. And that's the chilling significance of what's now unfolding. Last week, I wrote about the inherent dangers and irresponsibility of Fox News consciously shaping itself into a kind of militia news outlet and how it's impossible to ignore the anti-government message some viewers such as Richard Poplawski, the man accused of shooting and killing three Pittsburgh police officers, might be taking from Fox News. But let's take a step back and see just how extraordinary Fox News' latest lurch to the revolutionary right really is. And let's clearly understand how Fox News is actively trying to mainstream fringe allegations, how Murdoch's outlet functions as a crucial bridge -- a transmitter -- between the radical and the everyday. What Fox News, and specifically Beck, is doing in early 2009 is giving a voice -- a national platform -- to the same deranged, hard-core haters who hounded the new, young Democratic president in the early 1990s in the wake of Waco (i.e. the Clinton Chronicles crowd). What Fox News is doing today is embracing the same kind of hate rhetoric and doomsday conspiratorial talk that flourished during the '90s, and Fox News is now dumping all that rancid stuff into the mainstream. It's legitimizing accusatory hate speech in a way no other television outlet in America ever has before. Today's unhinged, militia-flavored attacks from the right against Obama are clearly reminiscent of 1993 and 1994 and the kind of tribal reaction conservatives had to the Democratic White House. What's different this time around is that that it's being adopted and broadcast nationally by Fox News, as it proudly mainstreams and validates the fringe. Back in the early 1990s, marginal critics, militiamen, and so-called "Patriots" had to rely on somewhat crude methods of communications to spread their conspiratorial distrust of government. They used grassroots fax networks, the very early days of online bulletin boards, and even passed around copies of The Turner Diaries. At the top of their media pyramid were right-wing talk-radio hosts as well as the writers on The Washington Times' and The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, who eagerly disseminated the culture of partisan paranoia. But in terms of television, the most influential mass medium in America, nowhere on the TV landscape in the early 1990s were rabid government haters able to hear their message of fear amplified on a nightly or weekly basis the way Obama haters are able to today via Fox News. Even Rush Limbaugh, who from 1992 to 1996 hosted a syndicated television show, didn't go there. Limbaugh's purely partisan television program avoided describing the new Democratic administration with the same doomsday language that's now casually thrown out about Obama: that he's a Marxist or a fascist, or that totalitarian rule remains a real and imminent threat. Even Limbaugh (or his producers) thought that kind of rhetoric was too much for American television. Fast-forward two administrations, and that kind of talk has become Fox News' signature. To be accurate, there was one person with a national television audience back then who did regularly promote outlandish conspiratorial claims about Clinton: the Rev. Jerry Falwell. He actively pushed the now-infamous Clinton Chronicles documentary on his Old Time Gospel Hour television show. The Clinton Chronicles, which was produced by Citizens for Honest Government, which in turn paid off key Clinton critics who cooperated with the house-of-mirrors film, claimed that the new president had accumulated a long criminal record while governor of Arkansas and continued his lawbreaking ways as president, that the Clintons were associated with drug-running, prostitution, murder, adultery, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, just to name a few. Playing that hypothetical card again today, is there anyone who doubts that if Beck were broadcasting on Fox News back in 1994 that Citizens for Honest Government reps would have been ushered onto his program to discuss Clinton's alleged depravities? I don't doubt it, simply because Beck has, at times, become the voice of the militia this year -- and the militia devoured The Clinton Chronicles. As author David Neiwert, an expert on the right wing, reported, "The militia movement provided most of the early audience for The Clinton Chronicles; large stacks of the books and videos sold well at Patriot gatherings." What's so startling today is that the unhinged, irrational attacks being leveled against Obama sound so similar to the unhinged, irrational attacks leveled against Clinton more than a decade ago. For instance, here's a line from the introduction to The Clinton Chronicles: "The hijacking of America was under way, and its impact on future generations would be incalculable." That claim would sound familiar to any casual viewer who has tuned into Fox News since Obama's inauguration. Here's what Neiwert highlighted in 2003: Had you gone to any militia gathering -- held usually in small town halls or county fairgrounds, sometimes under the guise of "preparedness expos," "patriotic meetings" or even gun shows -- you could always find a wealth of material aimed at proving Clinton the worst kind of treasonous villain imaginable. Bill and Hillary Clinton, after all, occupy a central position in Patriots' "New World Order" paranoiac fantasy. You'll note that Obama today occupies the same central position in the Patriots' Fox News-fed paranoiac fantasies. And media critics Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon wrote this more than a decade ago: "Patriots" rail against Bill Clinton and the plot toward global government known as the "New World Order"; they see gun control as a Big Brother conspiracy. Again, that type of rhetoric has become synonymous with Beck, who recently claimed the Second Amendment is "under fire" and that the "Big Brother" government will soon dictate what its citizens can eat, what temperature their house can be, and what kind of cars they're allowed to drive. Hearing the attacks on Obama, it's d?j? vu all over again. The key difference this time around the right-wing hate track is that Fox News has signed on as a TV partner and has agreed to embrace -- and air to a national audience -- the militia-like allegations about Obama. Fox News has agreed to descend into the right-wing conspiracist subculture in order to portray the new president as the worst kind of villain imaginable: somebody who's plotting take away guns and who's not above employing fascism to obtain his goals. On the two-year anniversary of the Waco inferno, militia admirer Timothy McVeigh, feeding off his hatred for the government, drove his rented 20-foot Ryder truck and parked it across the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, the truck's three-ton ammonium nitrate bomb detonated and sheared the north side off the Murrah Building, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. McVeigh later wrote, "I reached the decision to go on the offensive -- to put a check on government abuse of power." McVeigh wanted to "send a message to a government" by "bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government." The Oklahoma City bombing story broke 18 months before Fox News made its cable-news debut. But if Murdoch's team maintains its current course -- if Beck and company insist on irresponsibly fanning the militia-type flames of distrust -- there's the danger Fox News might soon have to cover other episodic gestures of anti-government payback. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 09:03:17 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:03:17 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Religious Right Group Claims Same Sex Marriage Leads to Mass Murder Message-ID: <005701c9bf6d$a9009d20$fb01d760$@net> As the religious right represented mainly by the Republicans becomes more marginalized, the more desperate it becomes in its effort to hang on to the sickness they have become. And the more bizarre the news reports get as they use the "fear factor" to terrorize the rest of us. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:07 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Religious Right Group Claims Same Sex Marriage Leads to Mass Murder (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Religious Right Group Claims Same Sex Marriage Leads to Mass Murder http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135997/religious_right_group_claims_sam e_sex_marriage_leads_to_mass_murder/ By David Corn, Mother Jones. Posted April 10, 2009. Recent acts of gun violence, they claim, are the poisoned fruit of the push for gay marriage. Is there a connection between same-sex marriage and mass murder? That's what one religious right outfit is suggesting. This week, Morality in Media disseminated a statement noting that the Iowa Supreme Court had legalized gay marriage on the same day that a gunman murdered 13 people in Binghamton, New York. The headline on the release: "Connecting the Dots: The Line Between Gay Marriage and Mass Murders." The group's president, Bob Peters, notes that the "underlying problem is that increasingly we live in a 'post-Christian' society, where Judeo-Christian faith and values have less and less influence." And, he continues, this "secular value system is also reflected in the 'sexual revolution,' which is the driving force behind the push for 'gay marriage.'" Here's the punch line: It most certainly is not my intention to blame the epidemic of mass murders on the gay rights movement! It is my intention to point out that the success of the sexual revolution is inversely proportional to the decline in morality; and it is the decline of morality (and the faith that so often under girds it) that is the underlying cause of our modern day epidemic of mass murders. That is, he's not saying that gay rights activists are directly responsible for the murderous actions of gun-toting madmen. But Peters maintains that those who champion gay rights are undermining the moral fiber of society and that this assault on traditional values creates an environment in which killing sprees can more easily occur. These acts of gun violence, he insists, are the poisoned fruit of the push for gay marriage. Talk about exploiting tragedy to advance an agenda. It might be tempting to dismiss Peters and Morality in Media as marginal, but this group did receive federal funding from 2005 through 2007. The money supported a Morality in Media project, ObscenityCrimes.org, which paid two retired law enforcement officers to review citizen complaints about obscenity on the Internet and to forward the best leads to the US Justice Department for possible prosecution. A total of $300,000 was provided to Morality in Media through two earmarks Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) placed into spending bills, according to Peters. And a portion of that money went to cover Peters' salary. As The New York Times reported in 2007, no obscenity prosecutions had resulted from the Morality in Media's obscenity-tracking work. Peters tells me that since 2007 -- thanks to the fuss about earmarks -- he has received no more funds from the US government. After the earmarked grants ran out in 2007, he did apply directly to the Justice Department and was turned down. Since then, he has raised private funds to keep ObscenityCrimes.org going. That may be for the best -- particularly for Morality in Media. Peters has recently attacked President Barack Obama's pick for deputy attorney general, David Ogden, as an "ACLU-minded" sort who would "likely weaken" government efforts "to curb sexual trafficking and sexual exploitation of children." It would be difficult -- or, at least, awkward -- for Peters to blast a Justice Department that was funding his own work. In his statement on gay marriage and mass murder, Peters notes that Christianity and Judaism teach "that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and to forgive others." But on the subject of gay marriage, he does seem to have a rather unforgiving approach. David Corn is the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones and the co-author of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War and is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush. He writes a blog at davidcorn.com. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 09:28:30 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:28:30 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] The Five Strands of Conservatism: Why the GOP is Unraveling Message-ID: <006201c9bf71$2d18f5f0$874ae1d0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:31 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Five Strands of Conservatism: Why the GOP is Unraveling (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) The Five Strands of Conservatism: Why the GOP is Unraveling http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/the-five-strands-of-conse_b_187675 .html April 16, 2009 | 01:56 PM (EST) In one sense, it isn't hard to see why the Republican Party seems to be coming apart at the seams. When you get caught gutting the regulations that had kept us for 70 years from another stock market crash like the crash of 1929 and another collapse of the banking system like the one that occurred during the Great Depression, and when your policies throw millions of people out of their homes, jobs, retirement, and doctors' offices, the next bottle of elixir you sell is not likely to fly off the shelf, especially if it's the same whine in a new deCantor. But at a deeper level, the modern conservative movement, which eventually came to define the GOP (to its benefit for many years), was built on an ideological foundation--and a coalition--that was fundamentally incoherent. It took a charismatic leader to bring it together (Ronald Reagan), a tacit agreement among its coalition partners to give each other what they wanted, and a message machine to start selling the idea that that there was coherence to a conservative "philosophy" that was anything but coherent. Modern conservatism wove together five discrete strands and interest groups that couldn't coexist. What is remarkable is how well it held together despite the fact that those strands were actually difficult to interweave. The first strand is libertarian conservatism, reflected in leaders from Barry Goldwater to Ron Paul. Libertarian conservatives believe government should be small and weak and kept that way through low taxes. From their point of view, the primary role of government is to police the streets, protect private property, and protect the country from external threats (although at times they can get a little histrionic about internal threats as well). The second strand, with which libertarianism is entirely incompatible, is social conservatism, particularly Christian fundamentalism. Fundamentalists of any sort believe that they have privileged knowledge of God's Will and hence have the right to use whatever methods available--including the instruments of state--to impose that will on others. It is one thing to believe, as many democratic (and increasingly Democratic) evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics do, that life begins at conception. It is another to believe that because you believe that, you have the right to impose your interpretation of the books you consider holy on others who may not share your faith or your interpretation of Scripture. The fundamentalist politics practiced by the likes of Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson over the last 30 years should have been anathema to genuine libertarians, because they run against everything libertarian conservatives believe in vis-?-vis intrusive government. However, the two groups lived happily together as long as libertarians got to keep their taxes low and their rifles loaded and fundamentalists got to keep their kids from learning anything about birth control (leading the Bible Belt to have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and abortion anywhere in the country, although Sarah Palin seems to be leading a one-family crusade to recapture for Alaska the title of Miss Teen Pregnancy). The third strand of conservatism is old fashioned fiscal conservatism--the kind that once led Bob Dole to garner his party's nomination for president but would make him unwelcome in the contemporary GOP. Fiscal conservatives are essentially soft New Dealers, who accept the premises of the New Deal--that we need a safety net, that when people lose their jobs because of economic downturns they shouldn't lose their homes, that people deserve some minimal degree of dignity in old age if they worked hard for 40 years--but prefer the safety net and tax codes to be thin. Fiscal conservatism bears no logical relation to social conservatism, and although it bears a superficial resemblance to libertarian conservatism, the two are fundamentally at odds, with one accepting the premises of the New Deal and the other rejecting them. The fourth strand, national security conservatism, is a different breed. National security conservatives tend to be hawkish (although they have a curious habit of evading military service when it comes their turn), and they are generally quick to accuse others of being soft on the threat du jour (unless the other side happens to be in an interventionist mood, in which case they often morph into isolationists just for sport, as when George W. Bush attacked Clinton and Gore for "nation building" and then went on a six year binge of it). The militarism of national security conservatism is as far at odds from evangelical Christianity (and hence social conservatism) as it could be, given that Jesus preached most about the evils of war, poverty, and public expressions of piety, but somehow Christian social conservatives have found a way to rationalize militarism (not to mention ignore the plight of the poor or blame them for their poverty and build crystal cathedrals). Indeed, fundamentalist Christians were the strongest supporters of the Iraq War of any demographic group other than the Bush and Cheney families. The final strand of conservatism is the one Nixon exploited with his Southern Strategy and the Republicans have exploited ever since, whether the issue is voting rights, "welfare queens," affirmative action, or the fate of "illegals": prejudice, whether conscious (as when Reagan and Nixon used, let's say, "colorful" terms, to describe those on welfare) or unconscious (as when Bob Corker ran a race against Harold Ford, a black Congressman from Tennessee, asking, "Who's the real Tennessean?", when what he was really activating in the back of voters' minds was, "he's not really one of 'us,' now is he"?). Given that most white Americans no longer see themselves or want to see themselves as racist, and that they actually consciously eschew racist sentiments and actions such as overt discrimination against people because of the color of their skin, emotional appeals to this segment of the conservative population tend to be strongest when a conscious "text" with some merit (e.g., we can't simply open the floodgates to all who would want to enter the United States and become citizens) is superimposed on the unconscious "subtext" of prejudice (the people flooding in happen to have dark skin). Although it's easy to localize this strand of conservatism as Southern, given that the GOP has become a regional party, it is important to note that had the Presidential election only included white voters (the Republicans' fantasy), McCain would have won in a 63-37 landslide over Barack Obama. But conservatives don't have much on their side on this one either, except to the extent that they can block the vote, because demographics are running in the wrong direction for them over the next 50 years. I would never underestimate the ability of the right to find a way to stitch something back together, for two reasons. First, they're good at it. They're short on ideas, but they're long on selling ideas, however vapid. Second, Democrats are exactly the opposite: They're long on ideas but short on the ability to bundle them into coherent, emotionally compelling narratives that make people want to buy them--except when the GOP is so corrupt, inept, and/or bankrupt (or causing bankruptcy) that even moderate Republicans jump ship. The reality is that it's going to be difficult to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, and it's going to take someone with vision and charisma to figure out which aspects of conservatism to bring back into the center and which to catapult without losing a base that is now seriously out of step with mainstream America. I don't see that leader in Bobby "let me tell you a story about my dad and how in America, anything is possible" Jindal, Tim "let me tell you a story before you fall asleep and I have to certify Al Franken" Pawlenty, and Sarah "let me tell a lot of stories and hope no one checks the facts" Palin. Faux tea parties aren't going to get them there, either (and if you ask me, they seem more than a little elite (tea?) and, well, gay (don't real men drink beer?) for a Party determined to "save the institution of marriage." But perhaps as they clink their porcelain cups in unison for high tea, they'll have an epiphany about how to replace their predictable and carping Constant Comments about taxes and deficits with a new blend. Perhaps they could borrow some green tea from the President. Drew Westen, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University, founder of Westen Strategies, and author of "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation." From bmslib at mit.edu Fri Apr 17 10:14:19 2009 From: bmslib at mit.edu (W. Curtiss Priest) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:14:19 -0400 Subject: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection [CITS Debt Alert Watch] Message-ID: <49E8AADB.54@mit.edu> I forward this with ASIS and because it suggests that the financial elite are still in control. WCP From: ulysses crockett,jr. Subject: Story from Babelation To: "echojurist" Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:23 AM ------------------------------------------------------------ DR. ULYSSES CROCKETT, JR.: OBAMA-GEITHNER-SUMMERS-BRZEZINSKI-CLINTON AGENTS FOR TRILATERAL, BILDERBERG, CFR FINANCE CONTROLLERS [1] ------------------------------------------------------------ About Ulysses Crockett, Jr.: Lives in Emeryville, CA and is Dean of Instruction Carlton R. Innis, III Oakland Alameda County Community Law School, Inc. which is open to students of all age groups and confers the Associate In Community Law Certificate, A.C.L.; '71 Juris Doctor Boalt Hall Scool of Law Univesity Califoria Berkeley; '73 Masters of Laws (Corporate Taxation) Columbia University law School; 1985 Visiting Scholar Yale Law School (Collapsible Corporation Taxation): 1986 Visiting Scholar Hoover Institute Leland Stanford Junior University; See, Ulysses S. Crockett, Jr., 'Federal Taxation of Interest On Indebtedness In Corporate Acquisitions: A Congressional Response In Merger Tax Reform' 10 Indiana Law Review 419 (1976). 1. INTRODUCTION: The Barak Obama Cabinet, Economic and Foreign Policy Advisor appointees are all member employees of the private Rothschild Banking-Bilderberg Groups-Rockefeller Trilateral Commission-Council On Foreign Relations unelected U.S.-world finance, military and foreign policy controllers. The reader and concerned egalitarian advocates are asked to review Obama materials at http: www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html [2]. The present U.S. economic depression with 11 million unemployed and no taxpayer bank bailout funds allocated to stop housing foreclosures - is directly the result of intentional wrongful conduct by the very Obama economic and foreign policy appointees who caused the U.S. financial economic collapse in the first place. For example, Timothy Geithner, as Director of the New York Federal Reserve Board was the architect of the deregulated hedge fund trading and credit default-swap securities issuances which resulted in the financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs (early Obama political fund conributor), Bear Stearns, Mererill Lynch and others. In reward for Timothy Geithner's finance and administrative malfeasance, Obama selects CFR-Bilderberger Geithner as Treasury Secretary even when Geithner violated Immigration laws and failed to pay FICA taxes for the years 2004-2006. U.S.. Taxpayers must demand Congress repeal the unconstitutional 1913 Federal Reserve Statute, issuance of Executive Order 11110 authorizing the U.S to own the Central Bank and print its own currency as Article 1, Sec.8 , Clauses 4,5 provides. 2. Reported by AllHIipHop.com, Brzezinski is top Obama Foreign Policy Advisor, in addition to his affiliations with the Council On Foreign Relations (as director), the Trilateral Commission, and the National Endowment for Democracy, Brzezinski was also the architect of former President James Carter's Afghanistan policy. Brzezinski is directly responsible for murdering thousands of innocents and organizing the Afghan Arabs, later to become "al-Qaeda." Bilderberger Director David Rockefeller reportedly asked Brzezinski to create the Trilateral Commission and details were developed at Rockefeller's Pocantico Hills estate outside New York City. Rockefeller later introduced the concept to the Bilderberg group in Knoke, Belgium in the spring of 1972. 3. Barak Obama's top economics adviser (Goolsbee) is a member of the secret Skull & Bones society of Yale University, of which George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and John Kerry are also members. Goolsbee is reported to have told Obama not to back a compulsory freeze on home mortgage foreclosures to help unwealthy homeowners during this present depression crisis. Barak Obama is a 32 degree mason and affiliate member of the Trilateral Commission and a direct member of the Council On Foreign Relations along with spouse Michelle Obama. 4. FOREIGN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF U.S. BANKING SYSTEM: FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: AllHiphop.com and Congressman Ron Paul report material already a matter of public and federal government record. In 1776, the Rothschild bankers of England retained Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a son of a Jewish rabbi who converted to Roman catholicism, to devise secret society and financial blueprint to control world finance and banking. In this connection, Mayer Armschel Rothschild stated "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." 5. Council On Foreign Relations organizational financier and Trilateral Commission Chairman David Rockefeller records in his "Memoirs", "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it". David Rockefeller, "Memoirs" autobiography (2002, Random House publishers), page 405. Interestingly, at least one noted reporter of strategic affairs, MIT's Noam Chomsky has opined in a recent interview, referring to the Bilderberg Group secret meetings, "...there is nothing wrong with a few rich people getting together to have a party." 6. The unconstitutional Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provides that the names of the owner banks be kept secret. However, R.E. McMaster publisher of the newsletter 'The Reaper', asked his Swiss banking contacts which banks hold the controlling stock in the Federal Reserve Corporation; The answer: * Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin * Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris * Israel Moses Sief Banks of Italy * Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam * Lehman Brothers Bank of New York * Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York * Chase Manhattan Bank of Nw York (David Rockefeller, Director) * Goldman Sachs Bankk of New York, (Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Shalom Bernanke ( Federal Reserve Board Chair), Lawrence Summers (Obama Economic Advisor), Robert Rubin - Directors-shareholders-U.S. taxpayer bailout recipients). 7. In the 'Secrets of The Federal Reserve', Eustace Mullins notes that, because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, headed by Timothy Geithner, sets interest rates and controls the daily supply and price of currency throughout the U.S., the owners of that bank are the real directors of the entire system. Mullins state: "The shareholders of these banks which own the stock of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are the people who have controlled U.S. political and economic destinies since 1914". They are: * The Rothschilds * Lazard Freres (Eugene Mayer) * Israel Sief * Kuhn Loeb Company * Warburg Company * Lehman Brothers * Goldman Sachs * Rockefeller family * J.P. Morgan interests. 8. THE PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE SHAREHOLDER- OWNER U.S. TAXPAYER THEFT: THE PROCEDURE: Since Congress has unconstitutinally abdicated its authority to create its own currency (much in the same manner as Congress has unconstitutionally abdicated its power to declare war), the private Federal Reserve owners create the currency or credit to the federal government in exchange for the government's agreement to pay it back with interest. The Congress authorizes the Tresury Department to print $1 billion in U.S. bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve bankers. (The bonds serve as interest-bearing debt to the private owners of the Federal Reserve which must be paid by the federal government). 9. The U.S. Treasure prints $1 billion in bank notes. The printing cost is about $20.62 per 1,000 bills - cost is the same irrespective of the denomination - the cost of printing a $1 note is about the same as for a $100 note: about .0206 cents. The Federal Reserve "buys" these bills from the U.,S., Treasury paying only for the printing costs. The bills are then exchanged at full face value for the bonds. The government uses the currency to pay its obligations. The U.S. Government has now indebted the people to the private Federal Reserve bankers for $1 billion plus interest. This outrageous taxpayer theft procedure has been going on since 1913 and the U.S. taxpayer is now indebted to the private Federal Reserve shareholders in amounts exceeding trillions of dollars. The U.S. taxpayers are taxed billions of dollars each month just to pay interest on this "national debt." With both the principle and interest climbing every month, there is no possibility of ever paying off this "debt.'" the working people of the United States now "owe" the approximately 300 banking families and their consorts more than the assessed value of all the assets in the United States. The reader must understantd, the bankers received all this economic gain for the cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping. Alas, continued larceny of the U.S. taxpayers by Congress, Bilderbergers, Council On Foreign Relations, Treasury, private Federal Reserve shareholders, Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Bernanke, Bilderberger Lawrence Summers, Bilderberger Robert Rubin, Bilderberger David Rockefeller, Diane Feinstein, Bilderberger Harry Reid, Charles Christopher Cox (SEC), Henry Merrit Paulson, Bilderberger Sen. Phil Gramm (Glass-Steagall Act Repeal advocate), Bilderberger Pres. William Jefferson Clinton (Signed Glass-Steagall Act repeal in 1998 deregulating sale of hedge fund derviatives and so-called Credit Default Swaps which lead to the collapse of the United States Banking and Finance industry and current economic depression), et al. 10. Readers, Progressive Economists, workers, unions, parents, teachers, attorneys committed to protection of the Rule of Law - all are asked to follow Alex Jones' reports on the facist Bilderberger-Council On Foreign Relations private world wealth controllers who met this June, 2008. Among the Bilderberger attendees were: PBS's Charlie Rose, Henry Kissinger (indicted war criminal), Condoleeza Rice (U.S. 2002 White House torture meeting collaborator), Richard Holdbrooke (designated Pakistan-Afghanistan war negotiator). See prisonplanet.com and infowars.com for a complete list of 2008 facist Bilderberger meeting participants. 11. U.S. taxpayers must demand the criminal indictments Federal Reserve Board Director Bilderberger Benjamin Shalom Bernanke, former Treasury Secretary Bilderberger Henry Merrit Paulson, Chair Sescurities and Exchange Commission Bilderberger Charles Christopher Cox and present Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for securities fraud, federal, state statutory and common law deceit. Specifically, the legal gravamen of the Bernanke-Cox-Paulson-Geithner criminal conduct, inter alia are multiple violations of the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act Rule 10-b-5. Rule 10-b-5 provides violations for the use of insider securities trading information not available to the public. The Bernanke-Cox-Paulson -Geithner cabal held secret meetings pre-October 3, 2008 to determine how to structure an appeal to Congress seeking a taxpayer bailout for failing investment banks and AIG insurance at a time when Bilderberger Geithner was director of the New York Federal Reserve overseeing Citicorp, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and others. All these institutions have been beneficiaries of federal taxpayer bailout funds in excess of $780 billions of dollars. During these meeting negotiations, Bilderberger Barak Obama, prior to inauguration spoke with Paulson each week and had knowledge of the initial bailout plan proposed by Paulson and Bernanke. Obama and the forementioned baiolout bandit each, as a matter of public record have investments in American Internal Group, along with Sen. Harry Reid, Bilderberger Sen. Diane Feinistein, Rep. Charles Rangel (delinquent taxpayer Chair House Ways and Mean tax writing Committee), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Frank and other senators and congresspersons. All must be prosecuted for violations of SEC Rule 10-b-5. 12. The United States government now has majority ownership of American International Group and has authority to dissolve the company and sell its remaining assets for the best price obtainable. The weak excuse of a duty to honor the secret multi-million dollar executive bonus contracts is without legal foundation. It is hornbook law that a contract may be rescinded, reformed or rendered void by operation of law for unilateral or mutual mistake, or illegality. This long standing rule was taught to this writer by the august legal scholar Melvin Eisenberg at Boalt Hall School of law University California Berkeley. For former Harvard President and President Obama economic advisor Bilderberger Lawrence Summers to falsely state that the U.S. must honor illegal executive bonus contracts - constitutes an insult to the general taxpaying public and to the rule of law. Moreover, as Secretary of Treasury, ostensibly overseeing the administration of the AIG bailout funds, it is Geithner's legal responsibility to know how AIG is spending the bailolut funds, which AIG initially refused to disclose. Geithner has publicly stated he only learned of the bonus contract payments on March 9, 2009. Yet Geithner waited until March 13, 2009 to inform President Obama of the illegal bonus payments. Either Geithner and President Obama are lying about their respective dates of notice or there exists gross criminal negligence on the parts of AIG directors, the three-person Treasury appointed AIG bailout oversight board and Geithner who should either resign, be fired or be criminally prosescuted. AIG's bailout should be treated like an estate in bankruptcy wehrein the court is empowered to demand transparent disclosure of assets, expenditures, directors dismissed and trustee appointed to administer reorganization or liquidation. The U.S. government as owner of AIG and Treasury Secretary Geithner must do no less. It is unconscionable that the owners and principle government administrators of AIG have no knowledge who are the principle decision-makers among the AIG executives or how the taxpayer bailout assets are being expended. The entire AIG taxpayer bailout must be terminated by operation of law and the AIG funds paid to foreign banks must be recovered by the U.S. owners. No congressional legislation is necessary, period. QUOD ERAD DEMOSTRADUM To be conitinued - Dated: January 26, 2009 at Emeryville, CA: March 18, 2009 Submitted by echojurist on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 8:21am. [1] http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/1583 [2] http://www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html Editor Note: Reformatted for ease of reading 4/16/2009, WCP -- W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CKL&S Center for Knowledge, Learning & Progress (formerly the Center for Information, Technology & Society) 466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176 781-662-4044 BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Fri Apr 17 10:29:35 2009 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:29:35 +0100 Subject: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] References: <49E8AADB.54@mit.edu> Message-ID: <00b301c9bf79$b2e17d80$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> Curtiss, There is very good information on this in The Obama Deception -- full length version on YouTube. It's gone mega-viral on the internet and makes the case that President Obama is controlled by the financial elite of Wall Street, Bilderburg Group etc. Rodney Shakespeare. ----- Original Message ----- From: "W. Curtiss Priest" To: "List, Behavioral-Finace" ; "List, Cyberspace Society" ; "List, Debt" ; "List,Discussion Forum for Global Justice Movement" ; "list, Federal-Debts" ; "List, LWSIDE1" ; "List, Social Credit" ; "List, Telecom Policy - NorthEast list" ; "List, TOP (The Optimum Policy)" Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:14 PM Subject: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] >I forward this with ASIS and because it suggests that > the financial elite are still in control. > > WCP > > From: ulysses crockett,jr. > Subject: Story from Babelation > To: "echojurist" > Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:23 AM > ------------------------------------------------------------ > DR. ULYSSES CROCKETT, JR.: > > OBAMA-GEITHNER-SUMMERS-BRZEZINSKI-CLINTON AGENTS FOR > TRILATERAL, BILDERBERG, CFR FINANCE CONTROLLERS [1] > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > About Ulysses Crockett, Jr.: > > Lives in Emeryville, CA and is Dean of Instruction Carlton R. Innis, > III Oakland Alameda County Community Law School, Inc. which is open to > students of all age groups and confers the Associate In Community Law > Certificate, A.C.L.; > > '71 Juris Doctor Boalt Hall Scool of Law Univesity Califoria Berkeley; > > '73 Masters of Laws (Corporate Taxation) Columbia University law > School; > > 1985 Visiting Scholar Yale Law School (Collapsible Corporation > Taxation): 1986 Visiting Scholar Hoover Institute Leland Stanford > Junior University; > > See, Ulysses S. Crockett, Jr., 'Federal Taxation of Interest On > Indebtedness In Corporate Acquisitions: A Congressional Response In > Merger Tax Reform' 10 Indiana Law Review 419 (1976). > > 1. INTRODUCTION: The Barak Obama Cabinet, Economic and Foreign Policy > Advisor appointees are all member employees of the private Rothschild > Banking-Bilderberg Groups-Rockefeller Trilateral Commission-Council On > Foreign Relations unelected U.S.-world finance, military and foreign > policy controllers. The reader and concerned egalitarian advocates are > asked to review Obama materials at http: > www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html [2]. > > The present U.S. economic depression with 11 million unemployed and no > taxpayer bank bailout funds allocated to stop housing foreclosures - > is directly the result of intentional wrongful conduct by the very > Obama economic and foreign policy appointees who caused the U.S. > financial economic collapse in the first place. > > For example, Timothy Geithner, as Director of the New York Federal > Reserve Board was the architect of the deregulated hedge fund trading > and credit default-swap securities issuances which resulted in the > financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs (early > Obama political fund conributor), Bear Stearns, Mererill Lynch and > others. In reward for Timothy Geithner's finance and administrative > malfeasance, Obama selects CFR-Bilderberger Geithner as Treasury > Secretary even when Geithner violated Immigration laws and failed to > pay FICA taxes for the years 2004-2006. > > U.S.. Taxpayers must demand Congress repeal the unconstitutional 1913 > Federal Reserve Statute, issuance of Executive Order 11110 authorizing > the U.S to own the Central Bank and print its own currency as Article > 1, Sec.8 , Clauses 4,5 provides. > > 2. Reported by AllHIipHop.com, Brzezinski is top Obama Foreign Policy > Advisor, in addition to his affiliations with the Council On Foreign > Relations (as director), the Trilateral Commission, and the National > Endowment for Democracy, Brzezinski was also the architect of former > President James Carter's Afghanistan policy. Brzezinski is directly > responsible for murdering thousands of innocents and organizing the > Afghan Arabs, later to become "al-Qaeda." > > Bilderberger Director David Rockefeller reportedly asked Brzezinski to > create the Trilateral Commission and details were developed at > Rockefeller's Pocantico Hills estate outside New York City. > Rockefeller later introduced the concept to the Bilderberg group in > Knoke, Belgium in the spring of 1972. > > 3. Barak Obama's top economics adviser (Goolsbee) is a member of the > secret Skull & Bones society of Yale University, of which George H.W. > Bush, George W. Bush, and John Kerry are also members. Goolsbee is > reported to have told Obama not to back a compulsory freeze on home > mortgage foreclosures to help unwealthy homeowners during this present > depression crisis. Barak Obama is a 32 degree mason and affiliate > member of the Trilateral Commission and a direct member of the Council > On Foreign Relations along with spouse Michelle Obama. > > 4. FOREIGN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF U.S. BANKING SYSTEM: > FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: AllHiphop.com and Congressman Ron Paul report > material already a matter of public and federal government record. In > 1776, the Rothschild bankers of England retained Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a > son of a Jewish rabbi who converted to Roman catholicism, to devise > secret society and financial blueprint to control world finance and > banking. In this connection, Mayer Armschel Rothschild stated "Let me > issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the > laws." > > 5. Council On Foreign Relations organizational financier and > Trilateral Commission Chairman David Rockefeller records in his > "Memoirs", "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working > against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my > family and me as 'internationalists' and conspiring with others around > the world to build a more integrated global political and economic > structure - one world, if you will. > > If that's the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it". David > Rockefeller, "Memoirs" autobiography (2002, Random House publishers), > page 405. Interestingly, at least one noted reporter of strategic > affairs, MIT's Noam Chomsky has opined in a recent interview, > referring to the Bilderberg Group secret meetings, "...there is > nothing wrong with a few rich people getting together to have a > party." > > 6. The unconstitutional Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provides that the > names of the owner banks be kept secret. However, R.E. McMaster > publisher of the newsletter 'The Reaper', asked his Swiss banking > contacts which banks hold the controlling stock in the Federal Reserve > Corporation; The answer: > > * Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin > > * Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris > > * Israel Moses Sief Banks of Italy > > * Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam > > * Lehman Brothers Bank of New York > > * Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York > > * Chase Manhattan Bank of Nw York (David Rockefeller, Director) > > * Goldman Sachs Bankk of New York, (Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Shalom > Bernanke ( Federal Reserve Board Chair), Lawrence Summers (Obama > Economic Advisor), Robert Rubin - Directors-shareholders-U.S. taxpayer > bailout recipients). > > 7. In the 'Secrets of The Federal Reserve', Eustace Mullins notes > that, because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, headed by Timothy > Geithner, sets interest rates and controls the daily supply and price > of currency throughout the U.S., the owners of that bank are the real > directors of the entire system. > > Mullins state: "The shareholders of these banks which own the stock of > the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are the people who have > controlled U.S. political and economic destinies since 1914". They > are: > > * The Rothschilds > > * Lazard Freres (Eugene Mayer) > > * Israel Sief > > * Kuhn Loeb Company > > * Warburg Company > > * Lehman Brothers > > * Goldman Sachs > > * Rockefeller family > > * J.P. Morgan interests. > > 8. THE PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE SHAREHOLDER- OWNER U.S. TAXPAYER THEFT: > THE PROCEDURE: Since Congress has unconstitutinally abdicated its > authority to create its own currency (much in the same manner as > Congress has unconstitutionally abdicated its power to declare war), > the private Federal Reserve owners create the currency or credit to > the federal government in exchange for the government's agreement to > pay it back with interest. > > The Congress authorizes the Tresury Department to print $1 billion in > U.S. bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve bankers. > (The bonds serve as interest-bearing debt to the private owners of the > Federal Reserve which must be paid by the federal government). > > 9. The U.S. Treasure prints $1 billion in bank notes. The printing > cost is about $20.62 per 1,000 bills - cost is the same irrespective > of the denomination - the cost of printing a $1 note is about the same > as for a $100 note: about .0206 cents. The Federal Reserve "buys" > these bills from the U.,S., Treasury paying only for the printing > costs. The bills are then exchanged at full face value for the bonds. > The government uses the currency to pay its obligations. > > The U.S. Government has now indebted the people to the private Federal > Reserve bankers for $1 billion plus interest. This outrageous taxpayer > theft procedure has been going on since 1913 and the U.S. taxpayer is > now indebted to the private Federal Reserve shareholders in amounts > exceeding trillions of dollars. > > The U.S. taxpayers are taxed billions of dollars each month just to > pay interest on this "national debt." With both the principle and > interest climbing every month, there is no possibility of ever paying > off this "debt.'" the working people of the United States now "owe" > the approximately 300 banking families and their consorts more than > the assessed value of all the assets in the United States. The reader > must understantd, the bankers received all this economic gain for the > cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping. > > Alas, continued larceny of the U.S. taxpayers by Congress, > Bilderbergers, Council On Foreign Relations, Treasury, private Federal > Reserve shareholders, Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Bernanke, > Bilderberger Lawrence Summers, Bilderberger Robert Rubin, Bilderberger > David Rockefeller, Diane Feinstein, Bilderberger Harry Reid, Charles > Christopher Cox (SEC), Henry Merrit Paulson, Bilderberger Sen. Phil > Gramm (Glass-Steagall Act Repeal advocate), Bilderberger Pres. William > Jefferson Clinton (Signed Glass-Steagall Act repeal in 1998 > deregulating sale of hedge fund derviatives and so-called Credit > Default Swaps which lead to the collapse of the United States Banking > and Finance industry and current economic depression), et al. > > 10. Readers, Progressive Economists, workers, unions, parents, > teachers, attorneys committed to protection of the Rule of Law - all > are asked to follow Alex Jones' reports on the facist > Bilderberger-Council > > On Foreign Relations private world wealth controllers who met this > June, 2008. Among the Bilderberger attendees were: PBS's Charlie Rose, > Henry Kissinger (indicted war criminal), Condoleeza Rice (U.S. 2002 > White House torture meeting collaborator), Richard Holdbrooke > (designated Pakistan-Afghanistan war negotiator). See prisonplanet.com > and infowars.com for a complete list of 2008 facist Bilderberger > meeting participants. > > 11. U.S. taxpayers must demand the criminal indictments Federal > Reserve Board Director Bilderberger Benjamin Shalom Bernanke, former > Treasury Secretary Bilderberger Henry Merrit Paulson, Chair > Sescurities and Exchange Commission Bilderberger Charles Christopher > Cox and present Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for securities > fraud, federal, state statutory and common law deceit. > > Specifically, the legal gravamen of the Bernanke-Cox-Paulson-Geithner > criminal conduct, inter alia are multiple violations of the 1934 > Securities and Exchange Act Rule 10-b-5. Rule 10-b-5 provides > violations for the use of insider securities trading information not > available to the public. > > The Bernanke-Cox-Paulson -Geithner cabal held secret meetings > pre-October 3, 2008 to determine how to structure an appeal to > Congress seeking a taxpayer bailout for failing investment banks and > AIG insurance at a time when Bilderberger Geithner was director of the > New York Federal Reserve overseeing Citicorp, Lehman Brothers, Goldman > Sachs, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and others. > > All these institutions have been beneficiaries of federal taxpayer > bailout funds in excess of $780 billions of dollars. During these > meeting negotiations, Bilderberger Barak Obama, prior to inauguration > spoke with Paulson each week and had knowledge of the initial bailout > plan proposed by Paulson and Bernanke. Obama and the forementioned > baiolout bandit each, as a matter of public record have investments in > American Internal Group, along with Sen. Harry Reid, Bilderberger > > Sen. Diane Feinistein, Rep. Charles Rangel (delinquent taxpayer Chair > House Ways and Mean tax writing Committee), House Speaker Nancy > Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Frank and other senators and congresspersons. All > must be prosecuted for violations of SEC Rule 10-b-5. > > 12. The United States government now has majority ownership of > American International Group and has authority to dissolve the company > and sell its remaining assets for the best price obtainable. The weak > excuse of a duty to honor the secret multi-million dollar executive > bonus contracts is without legal foundation. It is hornbook law that a > contract may be rescinded, reformed or rendered void by operation of > law for unilateral or mutual mistake, or illegality. > > This long standing rule was taught to this writer by the august legal > scholar Melvin Eisenberg at Boalt Hall School of law University > California Berkeley. For former Harvard President and President Obama > economic advisor Bilderberger Lawrence Summers to falsely state that > the U.S. must honor illegal executive bonus contracts - constitutes an > insult to the general taxpaying public and to the rule of law. > Moreover, as Secretary of Treasury, ostensibly overseeing the > administration of the AIG bailout funds, it is Geithner's legal > responsibility to know how AIG is spending the bailolut funds, which > AIG initially refused to disclose. Geithner has publicly stated he > only learned of the bonus contract payments on March 9, 2009. > > Yet Geithner waited until March 13, 2009 to inform President Obama of > the illegal bonus payments. Either Geithner and President Obama are > lying about their respective dates of notice or there exists gross > criminal negligence on the parts of AIG directors, the three-person > Treasury appointed AIG bailout oversight board and Geithner who should > either resign, be fired or be criminally prosescuted. AIG's bailout > should be treated like an estate in bankruptcy wehrein the court is > empowered to demand transparent disclosure of assets, expenditures, > directors dismissed and trustee appointed to administer reorganization > or liquidation. > > The U.S. government as owner of AIG and Treasury Secretary Geithner > must do no less. It is unconscionable that the owners and principle > government administrators of AIG have no knowledge who are the > principle decision-makers among the AIG executives or how the taxpayer > bailout assets are being expended. The entire AIG taxpayer bailout > must be terminated by operation of law and the AIG funds paid to > foreign banks must be recovered by the U.S. owners. No congressional > legislation is necessary, period. > > QUOD ERAD DEMOSTRADUM > > To be conitinued - Dated: January 26, 2009 at Emeryville, > CA: March 18, 2009 > > Submitted by echojurist on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 8:21am. > [1] http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/1583 > [2] http://www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html > > Editor Note: Reformatted for ease of reading 4/16/2009, WCP > > -- > > W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CKL&S > Center for Knowledge, Learning & Progress > (formerly the Center for Information, Technology & Society) > 466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176 > 781-662-4044 BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 12:45:40 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:45:40 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] Message-ID: <00ab01c9bf8c$b81c9f60$2855de20$@net> I have not seen the video, but my take on this from 18 years of investigation into this is that the Global Monetocracy System is still in charge, but with some differences. There has been a split - George Soros groomed Obama for the Presidency for years. As the third richest man in the world he is a big player in the Global Monetocracy System and wields a lot of power. And since he made a lot of money from playing the markets, he still wants to see that sector survive and that is why Geithner, Sumers, etc. are part of the Obama administration as he tries to save his livliehood. But, overall, Soros is a good guy and doesn't want to see the world in the depraved state it is in. But, Soros is not in the same group that backed the so-called "Neo-cons" who put George W. Bush into office. The Neo-Cons are those who are aligned with the Rothchild mentality. They are the descendants of the Kurgans. The people that put Bush into office are largely Republican Christian Fundamentalists who also may be called "Constitutionalists" Their forefathers were the English elite who rode to world control on the back of "the world steer" that I refer to as the "Kurgan Cattle Culture Consciousness". They were the ones involved with the East India Company - the "colonialists," the slave owners, the forerunners of the corporate world. Their only interest in the United States has been to rape and take what they could and send it back to England to where the real "Wall Street " is located. The Rothchild power was transferred to the Morgans and the group called "The Robber Barons," and then to the Rockefellars. The reason for building the railroad by the "Robber Barons" was to take the wealth of America and ship it to England in the form of gold and beef. These people were represented by John McCain in the past election. Now we have "sour grapes" as they enter into a desperate attempt to recapture the power they lost. The ideal of this group is to turn the U.S. government into a "theocracy". It was under George W. Bush, that Haliburton was awarded millions of dollars in contracts to build the FEMA concentration camps. These are the people who cannot stand to see a black man in office. They fought on the side of the South in the Civil War to maintain the right to own slaves. Let's get clear here on who is who and what they are about and end this "divide and keep divided in order to conquer." Let's top the lies and the insanity. We are not pit bulls in a dog fight. m. r. From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Rodney Shakespeare Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:30 AM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: Re: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] Curtiss, There is very good information on this in The Obama Deception -- full length version on YouTube. It's gone mega-viral on the internet and makes the case that President Obama is controlled by the financial elite of Wall Street, Bilderburg Group etc. Rodney Shakespeare. ----- Original Message ----- From: "W. Curtiss Priest" < bmslib at mit.edu> To: "List, Behavioral-Finace" < Behavioral-Finance at yahoogroups.com>; "List, Cyberspace Society" < cyber-soc at topica.com>; "List, Debt" < Debt at topica.com>; "List,Discussion Forum for Global Justice Movement" < Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net>; "list, Federal-Debts" < federal-debts at topica.com>; "List, LWSIDE1" < lwside1 at yahoogroups.com>; "List, Social Credit" < socialcredit at ecn.net.au>; "List, Telecom Policy - NorthEast list" < tpr-ne at mit.edu>; "List, TOP (The Optimum Policy)" < TOP at topica.com> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:14 PM Subject: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] >I forward this with ASIS and because it suggests that > the financial elite are still in control. > > WCP > > From: ulysses crockett,jr. < echojurist at yahoo.com> > Subject: Story from Babelation > To: "echojurist" < echojurist at yahoo.com> > Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:23 AM > ------------------------------------------------------------ > DR. ULYSSES CROCKETT, JR.: > > OBAMA-GEITHNER-SUMMERS-BRZEZINSKI-CLINTON AGENTS FOR > TRILATERAL, BILDERBERG, CFR FINANCE CONTROLLERS [1] > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > About Ulysses Crockett, Jr.: > > Lives in Emeryville, CA and is Dean of Instruction Carlton R. Innis, > III Oakland Alameda County Community Law School, Inc. which is open to > students of all age groups and confers the Associate In Community Law > Certificate, A.C.L.; > > '71 Juris Doctor Boalt Hall Scool of Law Univesity Califoria Berkeley; > > '73 Masters of Laws (Corporate Taxation) Columbia University law > School; > > 1985 Visiting Scholar Yale Law School (Collapsible Corporation > Taxation): 1986 Visiting Scholar Hoover Institute Leland Stanford > Junior University; > > See, Ulysses S. Crockett, Jr., 'Federal Taxation of Interest On > Indebtedness In Corporate Acquisitions: A Congressional Response In > Merger Tax Reform' 10 Indiana Law Review 419 (1976). > > 1. INTRODUCTION: The Barak Obama Cabinet, Economic and Foreign Policy > Advisor appointees are all member employees of the private Rothschild > Banking-Bilderberg Groups-Rockefeller Trilateral Commission-Council On > Foreign Relations unelected U.S.-world finance, military and foreign > policy controllers. The reader and concerned egalitarian advocates are > asked to review Obama materials at http: > www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html [2]. > > The present U.S. economic depression with 11 million unemployed and no > taxpayer bank bailout funds allocated to stop housing foreclosures - > is directly the result of intentional wrongful conduct by the very > Obama economic and foreign policy appointees who caused the U.S. > financial economic collapse in the first place. > > For example, Timothy Geithner, as Director of the New York Federal > Reserve Board was the architect of the deregulated hedge fund trading > and credit default-swap securities issuances which resulted in the > financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs (early > Obama political fund conributor), Bear Stearns, Mererill Lynch and > others. In reward for Timothy Geithner's finance and administrative > malfeasance, Obama selects CFR-Bilderberger Geithner as Treasury > Secretary even when Geithner violated Immigration laws and failed to > pay FICA taxes for the years 2004-2006. > > U.S.. Taxpayers must demand Congress repeal the unconstitutional 1913 > Federal Reserve Statute, issuance of Executive Order 11110 authorizing > the U.S to own the Central Bank and print its own currency as Article > 1, Sec.8 , Clauses 4,5 provides. > > 2. Reported by AllHIipHop.com, Brzezinski is top Obama Foreign Policy > Advisor, in addition to his affiliations with the Council On Foreign > Relations (as director), the Trilateral Commission, and the National > Endowment for Democracy, Brzezinski was also the architect of former > President James Carter's Afghanistan policy. Brzezinski is directly > responsible for murdering thousands of innocents and organizing the > Afghan Arabs, later to become "al-Qaeda." > > Bilderberger Director David Rockefeller reportedly asked Brzezinski to > create the Trilateral Commission and details were developed at > Rockefeller's Pocantico Hills estate outside New York City. > Rockefeller later introduced the concept to the Bilderberg group in > Knoke, Belgium in the spring of 1972. > > 3. Barak Obama's top economics adviser (Goolsbee) is a member of the > secret Skull & Bones society of Yale University, of which George H.W. > Bush, George W. Bush, and John Kerry are also members. Goolsbee is > reported to have told Obama not to back a compulsory freeze on home > mortgage foreclosures to help unwealthy homeowners during this present > depression crisis. Barak Obama is a 32 degree mason and affiliate > member of the Trilateral Commission and a direct member of the Council > On Foreign Relations along with spouse Michelle Obama. > > 4. FOREIGN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF U.S. BANKING SYSTEM: > FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: AllHiphop.com and Congressman Ron Paul report > material already a matter of public and federal government record. In > 1776, the Rothschild bankers of England retained Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a > son of a Jewish rabbi who converted to Roman catholicism, to devise > secret society and financial blueprint to control world finance and > banking. In this connection, Mayer Armschel Rothschild stated "Let me > issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the > laws." > > 5. Council On Foreign Relations organizational financier and > Trilateral Commission Chairman David Rockefeller records in his > "Memoirs", "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working > against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my > family and me as 'internationalists' and conspiring with others around > the world to build a more integrated global political and economic > structure - one world, if you will. > > If that's the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it". David > Rockefeller, "Memoirs" autobiography (2002, Random House publishers), > page 405. Interestingly, at least one noted reporter of strategic > affairs, MIT's Noam Chomsky has opined in a recent interview, > referring to the Bilderberg Group secret meetings, "...there is > nothing wrong with a few rich people getting together to have a > party." > > 6. The unconstitutional Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provides that the > names of the owner banks be kept secret. However, R.E. McMaster > publisher of the newsletter 'The Reaper', asked his Swiss banking > contacts which banks hold the controlling stock in the Federal Reserve > Corporation; The answer: > > * Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin > > * Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris > > * Israel Moses Sief Banks of Italy > > * Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam > > * Lehman Brothers Bank of New York > > * Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York > > * Chase Manhattan Bank of Nw York (David Rockefeller, Director) > > * Goldman Sachs Bankk of New York, (Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Shalom > Bernanke ( Federal Reserve Board Chair), Lawrence Summers (Obama > Economic Advisor), Robert Rubin - Directors-shareholders-U.S. taxpayer > bailout recipients). > > 7. In the 'Secrets of The Federal Reserve', Eustace Mullins notes > that, because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, headed by Timothy > Geithner, sets interest rates and controls the daily supply and price > of currency throughout the U.S., the owners of that bank are the real > directors of the entire system. > > Mullins state: "The shareholders of these banks which own the stock of > the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are the people who have > controlled U.S. political and economic destinies since 1914". They > are: > > * The Rothschilds > > * Lazard Freres (Eugene Mayer) > > * Israel Sief > > * Kuhn Loeb Company > > * Warburg Company > > * Lehman Brothers > > * Goldman Sachs > > * Rockefeller family > > * J.P. Morgan interests. > > 8. THE PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE SHAREHOLDER- OWNER U.S. TAXPAYER THEFT: > THE PROCEDURE: Since Congress has unconstitutinally abdicated its > authority to create its own currency (much in the same manner as > Congress has unconstitutionally abdicated its power to declare war), > the private Federal Reserve owners create the currency or credit to > the federal government in exchange for the government's agreement to > pay it back with interest. > > The Congress authorizes the Tresury Department to print $1 billion in > U.S. bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve bankers. > (The bonds serve as interest-bearing debt to the private owners of the > Federal Reserve which must be paid by the federal government). > > 9. The U.S. Treasure prints $1 billion in bank notes. The printing > cost is about $20.62 per 1,000 bills - cost is the same irrespective > of the denomination - the cost of printing a $1 note is about the same > as for a $100 note: about .0206 cents. The Federal Reserve "buys" > these bills from the U.,S., Treasury paying only for the printing > costs. The bills are then exchanged at full face value for the bonds. > The government uses the currency to pay its obligations. > > The U.S. Government has now indebted the people to the private Federal > Reserve bankers for $1 billion plus interest. This outrageous taxpayer > theft procedure has been going on since 1913 and the U.S. taxpayer is > now indebted to the private Federal Reserve shareholders in amounts > exceeding trillions of dollars. > > The U.S. taxpayers are taxed billions of dollars each month just to > pay interest on this "national debt." With both the principle and > interest climbing every month, there is no possibility of ever paying > off this "debt.'" the working people of the United States now "owe" > the approximately 300 banking families and their consorts more than > the assessed value of all the assets in the United States. The reader > must understantd, the bankers received all this economic gain for the > cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping. > > Alas, continued larceny of the U.S. taxpayers by Congress, > Bilderbergers, Council On Foreign Relations, Treasury, private Federal > Reserve shareholders, Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Bernanke, > Bilderberger Lawrence Summers, Bilderberger Robert Rubin, Bilderberger > David Rockefeller, Diane Feinstein, Bilderberger Harry Reid, Charles > Christopher Cox (SEC), Henry Merrit Paulson, Bilderberger Sen. Phil > Gramm (Glass-Steagall Act Repeal advocate), Bilderberger Pres. William > Jefferson Clinton (Signed Glass-Steagall Act repeal in 1998 > deregulating sale of hedge fund derviatives and so-called Credit > Default Swaps which lead to the collapse of the United States Banking > and Finance industry and current economic depression), et al. > > 10. Readers, Progressive Economists, workers, unions, parents, > teachers, attorneys committed to protection of the Rule of Law - all > are asked to follow Alex Jones' reports on the facist > Bilderberger-Council > > On Foreign Relations private world wealth controllers who met this > June, 2008. Among the Bilderberger attendees were: PBS's Charlie Rose, > Henry Kissinger (indicted war criminal), Condoleeza Rice (U.S. 2002 > White House torture meeting collaborator), Richard Holdbrooke > (designated Pakistan-Afghanistan war negotiator). See prisonplanet.com > and infowars.com for a complete list of 2008 facist Bilderberger > meeting participants. > > 11. U.S. taxpayers must demand the criminal indictments Federal > Reserve Board Director Bilderberger Benjamin Shalom Bernanke, former > Treasury Secretary Bilderberger Henry Merrit Paulson, Chair > Sescurities and Exchange Commission Bilderberger Charles Christopher > Cox and present Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for securities > fraud, federal, state statutory and common law deceit. > > Specifically, the legal gravamen of the Bernanke-Cox-Paulson-Geithner > criminal conduct, inter alia are multiple violations of the 1934 > Securities and Exchange Act Rule 10-b-5. Rule 10-b-5 provides > violations for the use of insider securities trading information not > available to the public. > > The Bernanke-Cox-Paulson -Geithner cabal held secret meetings > pre-October 3, 2008 to determine how to structure an appeal to > Congress seeking a taxpayer bailout for failing investment banks and > AIG insurance at a time when Bilderberger Geithner was director of the > New York Federal Reserve overseeing Citicorp, Lehman Brothers, Goldman > Sachs, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and others. > > All these institutions have been beneficiaries of federal taxpayer > bailout funds in excess of $780 billions of dollars. During these > meeting negotiations, Bilderberger Barak Obama, prior to inauguration > spoke with Paulson each week and had knowledge of the initial bailout > plan proposed by Paulson and Bernanke. Obama and the forementioned > baiolout bandit each, as a matter of public record have investments in > American Internal Group, along with Sen. Harry Reid, Bilderberger > > Sen. Diane Feinistein, Rep. Charles Rangel (delinquent taxpayer Chair > House Ways and Mean tax writing Committee), House Speaker Nancy > Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Frank and other senators and congresspersons. All > must be prosecuted for violations of SEC Rule 10-b-5. > > 12. The United States government now has majority ownership of > American International Group and has authority to dissolve the company > and sell its remaining assets for the best price obtainable. The weak > excuse of a duty to honor the secret multi-million dollar executive > bonus contracts is without legal foundation. It is hornbook law that a > contract may be rescinded, reformed or rendered void by operation of > law for unilateral or mutual mistake, or illegality. > > This long standing rule was taught to this writer by the august legal > scholar Melvin Eisenberg at Boalt Hall School of law University > California Berkeley. For former Harvard President and President Obama > economic advisor Bilderberger Lawrence Summers to falsely state that > the U.S. must honor illegal executive bonus contracts - constitutes an > insult to the general taxpaying public and to the rule of law. > Moreover, as Secretary of Treasury, ostensibly overseeing the > administration of the AIG bailout funds, it is Geithner's legal > responsibility to know how AIG is spending the bailolut funds, which > AIG initially refused to disclose. Geithner has publicly stated he > only learned of the bonus contract payments on March 9, 2009. > > Yet Geithner waited until March 13, 2009 to inform President Obama of > the illegal bonus payments. Either Geithner and President Obama are > lying about their respective dates of notice or there exists gross > criminal negligence on the parts of AIG directors, the three-person > Treasury appointed AIG bailout oversight board and Geithner who should > either resign, be fired or be criminally prosescuted. AIG's bailout > should be treated like an estate in bankruptcy wehrein the court is > empowered to demand transparent disclosure of assets, expenditures, > directors dismissed and trustee appointed to administer reorganization > or liquidation. > > The U.S. government as owner of AIG and Treasury Secretary Geithner > must do no less. It is unconscionable that the owners and principle > government administrators of AIG have no knowledge who are the > principle decision-makers among the AIG executives or how the taxpayer > bailout assets are being expended. The entire AIG taxpayer bailout > must be terminated by operation of law and the AIG funds paid to > foreign banks must be recovered by the U.S. owners. No congressional > legislation is necessary, period. > > QUOD ERAD DEMOSTRADUM > > To be conitinued - Dated: January 26, 2009 at Emeryville, > CA: March 18, 2009 > > Submitted by echojurist on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 8:21am. > [1] http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/1583 > [2] http://www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html > > Editor Note: Reformatted for ease of reading 4/16/2009, WCP > > -- > > W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CKL&S > Center for Knowledge, Learning & Progress > (formerly the Center for Information, Technology & Society) > 466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176 > 781-662-4044 BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemo vement.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00132.txt URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 12:54:12 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:54:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal Message-ID: <00b101c9bf8d$e948b500$bbda1f00$@net> Remember this is what was going on under the Bush cabal. Do you want this back again? -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 10:22 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1151ap_torture_memos_tactics.html CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal By MATT APUZZO ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON -- The journey into the CIA's most extreme interrogation program began in darkness. Blindfolded, hooded and wearing earmuffs, suspected terrorists were shackled and flown to secret interrogation centers. The buildings themselves were quiet, clinical and designed to fill prisoners with dread. Detainees were shaved, stripped and photographed nude. The questioning began mildly, a shackled detainee facing a non-threatening CIA interrogator. But for detainees who refused to cooperate, the interrogation escalated in terrifying ways. Few people have ever witnessed the process, which was designed to extract secrets from "high value" suspects during the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks on the U.S. But Justice Department documents, which the Obama administration simultaneously released and repudiated Thursday, describe the process from darkness to waterboarding in skin-crawling detail. Prisoners were naked, shackled and hooded to start their interrogation sessions. When the CIA interrogator removed the hood, the questioning began. Whenever the prisoner resisted, the documents outlined a series of techniques the CIA could use to bring him back in line: - Nudity, sleep deprivation and dietary restrictions kept prisoners compliant and reminded them they had no control over their basic needs. Clothes and food could be used as rewards for cooperation. - Slapping prisoners on the face or abdomen was allowed. So was grabbing them forcefully by the collar or slamming them into a false wall, a technique called "walling" that had a goal of fear more than pain. - Water hoses were used to douse the prisoners for minutes at a time. The hoses were turned on and off as the interrogation continued. - Prisoners were put into one of three in "stress positions," such as sitting on the floor with legs out straight and arms raised in the air to cause discomfort. At night, the detainees were shackled, standing naked or wearing a diaper. The length of sleep deprivation varied by prisoner but was authorized for up to 180 hours, or 7 1/2 days. Interrogation sessions ranged from 30 minutes to several hours and could be repeated as necessary and as approved by psychological and medical teams. Some of these techniques, such as stripping a detainee naked, depriving him of sleep and putting a hood over his head, are prohibited under the U.S. Army Field Manual. But in 2002, the Justice Department authorized CIA interrogators to step up the pressure even further on suspected terrorist Abu Zubaydah. Justice Department lawyers said the CIA could place Zubaydah in a cramped confinement box. Because Zubaydah appeared afraid of insects, they also authorized interrogators to place him in a box and fill it box with caterpillars (that tactic ultimately was not used). Finally, the Justice Department authorized interrogators to take a step into what the United States now considers torture, waterboarding. The Bush administration approved the use of waterboarding, a technique in which Zubaydah was strapped to a board, his feet raised above his head. His face was covered with a wet cloth as interrogators poured water over it. The body responds as if it is drowning, over and over as the process is repeated. "We find that the use of the waterboard constitutes a threat of imminent death," Justice Department attorneys wrote. "From the vantage point of any reasonable person undergoing this procedure in such circumstances, he would feel as if he is drowning at the very moment of the procedure due to the uncontrollable physiological sensation he is experiencing." But attorneys decided that waterboarding caused "no pain or actual harm whatsoever" and so did not meet the "severe pain and suffering" standard to be considered torture. President Barack Obama has ended the CIA's interrogation program. CIA interrogators are now required to follow Army guidelines, under which waterboarding and many of the techniques listed above are prohibited. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 12:58:35 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:58:35 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Failing to push paper in digital age Message-ID: <00b201c9bf8e$85b78d30$9126a790$@net> We can't afford to cut down any more old growth forests (which are the lungs of the Earth) so that the newspaper, magazine and book publishing companies can make money. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 10:17 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Failing to push paper in digital age (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090416.wabitibicause041 7/BNStory/Business Failing to push paper in digital age April 16, 2009 at 8:22 PM EDT There are two epic stories of why AbitibiBowater Inc., the world's largest newsprint producer, was driven into bankruptcy protection Thursday. There is the short-term tale of teams of lawyers and advisers working around the clock over the past week in Montreal and New York, trying to get an out-of-court restructuring of this Canadian behemoth with roots in the early 19th century. That effort failed, as the global credit crunch claimed yet another victim. But the broader story is a powerful structural change in how people receive information in an Internet age. Smoke rises from the Abitibi-Consolidated mill in Shawinigan, Que. last January. The company has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in Canada and the United States. Smoke rises from the Abitibi-Consolidated mill in Shawinigan, Que. last January. The company has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in Canada and the United States. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Paul Chiasson) U.S. newspaper ad lineage is in freefall, and newsprint demand in North America is plummeting by about 30 per cent this year, on top of a very difficult 2008. U.S. newsprint demand has been falling for more than 20 years. After peaking at 12.3 million tonnes in 1987, sales were just 6.8 million tonnes in 2008. This precipitous decline has forced a number of major U.S. metropolitan newspapers into insolvency or to cease operations entirely. Even when the economy recovers, newsprint consumption will never bounce back entirely. In a sense, AbitibiBowater has been hurtling toward this moment for the past 20 years as the decline in global newsprint demand set in - at first, gradually, and now precipitously. The newsprint industry has responded by consolidation, and Abitibi has been a voracious buyer and willing merger partner, as if it wanted to be the last man standing. It may yet emerge as a force - but it will be a shrunken company, with a smaller work force, leaner operations, and it will be much more reliant on industry trends driven from Brazil, China and India. Abitibi's checkered legacy was set in motion in 1914, when a transplanted American named Frank Anson decided to capitalize on an earlier information revolution - the rise of the big metro newspaper. He built a mill in Iroquois Falls in Northern Ontario, and called it Abitibi Pulp and Paper. In what became a pattern through its history, the company kept merging with smaller operations, the first big one coming in the mid-1970s when it joined forces with Price Co. Ltd, the legendary Quebec company whose predecessor had supplied masts for the royal British navy in the 1800s. The deals meant the company was chronically driven to the brink of collapse. But even in its cyclical downturns, its vast forest leases and mills attracted buyers - from the Reichmann family in the late 1970s to Prem Watsa today. The 1970s were still in the golden age of print media, and Abitibi had sweet supply contracts in the United States. In fact, over the 30 years up to 1987, demand for newsprint co-related with the rise and fall of real gross domestic product in North America. Newsprint was a harshly cyclical industry, but the long-term trend was upward because newspapers were growing in tandem with North American advertising. But some time around 1987, that co-relation was broken as newsprint demand began to flatten, and then decline, in relation to GDP. It reflected rising competitive pressure on newspapers and other print media, which began to shrink their products in size and play hardball with paper suppliers. Abitibi's reaction was not to reduce its imprint but to grow through mergers and acquisitions. In 1997, what was now Abitibi-Price merged with another titan, Stone-Consolidated Corp., to create the largest newsprint producer in the world. It was a tumultuous time as John Weaver, a former college football player from the U.S., took over as chief executive officer. When Abitibi-Consolidated acquired Donohue Inc. in 2000, there was speculation that Michel Desbiens, the CEO of Donohue, might run the entire company. Analysts considered Donohue the best-run company in the business, in a large part due to Mr. Desbiens' operational prowess. Richard Kelertas, analyst with Dundee Securities in Montreal, said Abitibi probably paid too much for Donohue but it was buying great assets and a fine management team. The problem was the management team, including Mr. Desbiens, did not stay. If the CEO had been Michel Desbiens instead of John Weaver, things could have probably been more positive, he said yesterday, speculating that Mr. Desbiens might have been able to read the trends better. Even so, a different team might not have made a great difference, given the confluence of events in credit, newspaper markets and the general economy. As Abitibi dealt with internecine battles, the industry was going badly. The decline in newsprint sales had turned into a rout. Mr. Weaver's reaction was to drive economies of scale through a massive merger with U.S. giant Bowater Inc., creating a company with 45 per cent of the North American newsprint market. As executive chairman, he forged a partnership with Bowater's former CEO David Paterson, now head of the newly formed AbitibiBowater. AbitibiBowater badly needed to upgrade mills, particularly in Canada, which were aging and costly to run. Thanks to a low Canadian dollar, the company enjoyed an artificial cost advantage for years, which gave it little motivation to invest in upgrades. Then came the credit crunch and its dwindling cash flow was eaten up by debt servicing costs. As maturities loomed, it was forced into talks with creditors, and desperately slashed costs and tried to force price hikes on recalcitrant publishers. The company could not, as in past North American recessions, depend on offshore markets to save it. Even rising demand in emerging markets like India could not be sustained. December was, in fact, the best export-shipment month for the company. But newsprint consumers began to reduce inventories to manage their liquidity problems. Sales to India evaporated overnight in January, Mr. Paterson told the Globe and Mail. And this is one industry that cannot be saved by a resurgent China. In fact, China is a rival exporter of newsprint. China's own production cuts lowered the costs of key inputs, such as market pulp and waste paper, but it was a small comfort as AbitibiBowater was pushed to the brink. It underlined a shift in the balance of power. China, India and Brazil have become major players in deciding which companies live and die in the new economic order. All of which pushed AbitibiBowater to Thursday's critical moment. The good news, observers say, is that the restructuring could be relatively quick, because so much work is already done. It could emerge from protection in six to 12 months, they say. That leaves the future. Mr. Paterson, when asked in February what the company would look like in five years, joked that the questioner really meant: "If we're alive five years from now." That is still the question. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 12:59:41 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:59:41 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] IMF expects economic recovery next year Message-ID: <00b301c9bf8e$acf4b7b0$06de2710$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 10:15 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] IMF expects economic recovery next year (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0417/breaking17.htm IMF expects economic recovery next year International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the global economic downturn is slowing and a turnaround is likely next year, though not before "deeply negative" growth this year. "The freefall in the global economy may be starting to abate, with a recovery emerging in 2010, but this depends crucially on the right policies being adopted today," Mr Strauss-Kahn said today in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. Still, he said, the world economy will probably "enter deeply negative territory" later this year and the human consequences of the crisis could be "devastating." Mr Strauss-Kahn's comments come before the IMF and World Bank hold semi-annual meetings in Washington next weekend. The gathering also will include finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial economies. A turnaround in world financial markets, Mr Strauss-Kahn said, must come by way of banks purging their balance sheets of distressed debt, while avoiding pressures to favour domestic lending. He also called for stronger regulation, saying "all systemic institutions should come under prudential rules - covering capital, liquidity, orderly resolution and early intervention." Earlier today, the IMF released a report saying the global economy is in the grip of a "severe" recession with "worrisome parallels" to the Great Depression, and a recovery will probably be weak. "The downturn is likely to be unusually severe, and the recovery is expected to be sluggish," the Washington-based lender said in a portion of its World Economic Outlook , released in a briefing. "The current downturn is highly synchronised and associated with a deep financial crisis, a rare combination in the postwar period." Mr Strauss-Kahn reiterated his call for the IMF to restructure its lending criteria so that it can "become more flexible and better tailored to country circumstances". The approach, he said, is designed to encourage nations in financial trouble to "approach the IMF early on, hopefully before the crisis takes a toll on their economies". Leaders of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging economies met in London earlier this month, where they tripled the IMF's lending power to $750 billion. In the past six months the Fund has approved more than $55 billion in loans to help countries including Ukraine, Iceland and Pakistan. While fiscal stimulus programs announced by the G20 top $2 trillion, such efforts "need to be sustained in 2010, because we are not out of the woods yet," Mr Strauss-Kahn said in the speech. Responding to audience questions, he said he saw no likelihood another currency will replace the US dollar in its current global role. Bloomberg From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 13:01:44 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:01:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Failure to Yield - Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops Message-ID: <00b401c9bf8e$f6a2b790$e3e826b0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:13 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Failure to Yield - Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Failure to Yield Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/failu re-to-yield.html Union of Concerned Scientists For years the biotechnology industry has trumpeted that it will feed the world, promising that its genetically engineered crops will produce higher yields. That promise has proven to be empty, according to Failure to Yield, a report by UCS expert Doug Gurian-Sherman released in March 2009. Despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields. CLICK HERE TO READ COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT FAILURE TO YIELD http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/failu re-to-yield-FAQs.html Failure to Yield is the first report to closely evaluate the overall effect genetic engineering has had on crop yields in relation to other agricultural technologies. It reviewed two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans, the two primary genetically engineered food and feed crops grown in the United States. Based on those studies, the UCS report concluded that genetically engineering herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn has not increased yields. Insect-resistant corn, meanwhile, has improved yields only marginally. The increase in yields for both crops over the last 13 years, the report found, was largely due to traditional breeding or improvements in agricultural practices. The UCS report comes at a time when food price spikes and localized shortages worldwide have prompted calls to boost agricultural productivity, or yield -- the amount of a crop produced per unit of land over a specified amount of time. Biotechnology companies maintain that genetic engineering is essential to meeting this goal. Monsanto, for example, is currently running an advertising campaign warning of an exploding world population and claiming that its "advanced seeds. significantly increase crop yields." http://www.monsanto.com/responsibility/sustainable-ag/advertisements.asp The UCS report debunks that claim, concluding that genetic engineering is unlikely to play a significant role in increasing food production in the foreseeable future. The biotechnology industry has been promising better yields since the mid-1990s, but Failure to Yield documents that the industry has been carrying out gene field trials to increase yields for 20 years without significant results. Failure to Yield makes a critical distinction between potential-or intrinsic-yield and operational yield, concepts that are often conflated by the industry and misunderstood by others. Intrinsic yield refers to a crop's ultimate production potential under the best possible conditions. Operational yield refers to production levels after losses due to pests, drought and other environmental factors. The study reviewed the intrinsic and operational yield achievements of the three most common genetically altered food and feed crops in the United States: herbicide-tolerant soybeans, herbicide-tolerant corn, and insect-resistant corn (known as Bt corn, after the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, whose genes enable the corn to resist several kinds of insects). Herbicide-tolerant soybeans, herbicide-tolerant corn, and Bt corn have failed to increase intrinsic yields, the report found. Herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn also have failed to increase operational yields, compared with conventional methods. Meanwhile, the report found that Bt corn likely provides a marginal operational yield advantage of 3 to 4 percent over typical conventional practices. Since Bt corn became commercially available in 1996, its yield advantage averages out to a 0.2 to 0.3 percent yield increase per year. To put that figure in context, overall U.S. corn yields over the last several decades have annually averaged an increase of approximately one percent, which is considerably more than what Bt traits have provided. In addition to evaluating genetic engineering's record, "Failure to Yield" considers the technology's potential role in increasing food production over the next few decades. The report does not discount the possibility of genetic engineering eventually contributing to increase crop yields. It does, however, suggest that it makes little sense to support genetic engineering at the expense of technologies that have proven to substantially increase yields, especially in many developing countries. In addition, recent studies have shown that organic and similar farming methods that minimize the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers can more than double crop yields at little cost to poor farmers in such developing regions as Sub-Saharan Africa. The report recommends that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agricultural agencies, and universities increase research and development for proven approaches to boost crop yields. Those approaches should include modern conventional plant breeding methods, sustainable and organic farming, and other sophisticated farming practices that do not require farmers to pay significant upfront costs. The report also recommends that U.S. food aid organizations make these more promising and affordable alternatives available to farmers in developing countries. "If we are going to make headway in combating hunger due to overpopulation and climate change, we will need to increase crop yields," said Gurian-Sherman. "Traditional breeding outperforms genetic engineering hands down." Last Revised: 04/14/09 From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 13:03:31 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:03:31 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Drought in West Africa repeats and may get worse Message-ID: <00b501c9bf8f$36b83440$a4289cc0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 10:18 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Drought in West Africa repeats and may get worse (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1501ap_sci_drought_west_africa.html Drought in West Africa repeats and may get worse By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP SCIENCE WRITER photo This undated handout photo provided by The Journal Science shows a large tropical tree in Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. West Africa is already living on the edge and new research indicates that even worse droughts are possible than the one that devastated the region in the late 20th century. (AP Photo/Science - University of Texas at Austin, T.M. Shanahan) WASHINGTON -- West Africa is already living on the edge, and new research indicates that even worse droughts are possible than the one that devastated the region in the late 20th century. As many as 100,000 people died in the multi-decade Sahel drought that began in the 1960s, and a detailed look at lake sediments in Ghana indicates that such dry periods have occurred periodically, punctuated by occasional century-long droughts. Changing climate could cause even more such disastrous droughts, according to researchers who report their findings in Friday's edition of the journal Science. "Clearly, much of West Africa is already on the edge of sustainability, and the situation could become much more dire in the future with increased global warming," said lead researcher Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona. Timothy M. Shanahan, an assistant professor of geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, added: "Even more disconcerting ... is that it suggests the region is vulnerable to longer and more severe droughts." "What's really striking about droughts in this area is that they last such a long time," he said. The researchers looked at sediments from Lake Bosumtwi spanning about the last 3,000 years. As global warming progresses, the increases in temperature may make the normal climate pattern more extreme, producing even more severe and prolonged droughts than those of the past, Overpeck said. "We also know that global warming will make these droughts a lot hotter. This could be devastating," said Overpeck. Shanahan noted in a teleconference that there have been six large, century-scale droughts in the last 2,700 years in the region, including two "really large ones" in the last 1,000 years. In the two most recent large droughts the lake level dropped about 81 feet and 97 feet respectively, while in the Sahel drought it dropped just over 16 feet, Shanahan said. The researchers were able to tell wet from dry years by analyzing the amounts of different forms of oxygen in the lake sediment. In addition, they found remains of a partially submerged forest, which grew during a centurylong drought only a few hundred years ago when the lake was much lower, added Shanahan. The team found a correlation between wet and dry periods and a shift between warmer and cooler ocean water called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. "Temperatures are rising because of human causes and that will have a knock-on effect by creating more evaporation from the soil and vegetation," Overpeck said. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation. --- On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 14:20:21 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:20:21 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Sustainable Agriculture -- A New Vision Message-ID: <011701c9bf99$f1e72a50$d5b57ef0$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 12:30 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Sustainable Agriculture -- A New Vision (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Sustainable Agriculture -- A New Vision >From the Union of Concerned Scientists. http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/big_picture_solutions/s ustainable-agriculture-a.html Too bad these guys haven't heard about the Post-Carbon Institute, The TransitionUS Movement, and FutureDawning.org. We're already doing it and they are still talking about it. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______ We need a system of agriculture that meets our needs now and for future generations - and that means producing food in a way that can work indefinitely without degrading our health or the natural "life support systems" we depend on. But too often today, decisions are driven by short-term thinking and profits, rather than by a vision of the agriculture system that will best meet our needs in the long-term. Changing agriculture in ways that make it more sustainable is a big challenge, but it can be done. Essential to accomplishing change is knowing where we are and where we want to go. Below are snapshots of the industrial present and a sustainable future for one agricultural region-the Midwest. Similar snapshots of agriculture in North Carolina or California would be different in terms of crops and climate, as well as in the history and culture of the region. But those differences are less significant than the common vision: a thriving agricultural system that produces healthy, abundant food now and into the future, while maintaining the strength and health of the natural systems upon which all life depends. The Present Imagine driving across the northern half of the state of Iowa. At first glance you see rolling hills of seemingly bucolic farmland. But look closer and you'll see that all the fields consist of only two crops-corn and soybeans-mile after mile. And although you can't see it, nearly all the crop land around you is doused with chemicals: herbicides and insecticides to control the weeds and insect pests that tend to run rampant when just one or two crops dominate large areas, and oil-based synthetic fertilizers that substitute for healthy soils teeming with beneficial organisms. Off in the distance there is a huge swine operation with massive amounts of waste that you smell long before you see it. The pesticides, fertilizers, and pig manure seep into the groundwater and run off into local streams and rivers , and ultimately to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. In late summer, you would see huge fossil-fuel burning combines crawling up and down the fields, but you won't see many birds or butterflies, or for that matter, many people in the fields. And while the highway is bustling with trucks, you won't see many people even in the towns you drive through. Perhaps strangest of all, most of the food products on store shelves in this fertile farming region come from somewhere else. In fact, there is very little "food" growing here, as virtually all of the corn and soybeans that dominate the landscape are fed to livestock and poultry, incorporated into highly processed food products, or diverted from the food supply to make biofuels. Why does northern Iowa look like this? Over the past several decades, U.S. food production has taken an unwise and costly turn. Until recently, food animals and crops were produced in close proximity, frequently on the same farms, in an integrated, self-sustaining way that was often beneficial to farmers and society as a whole. But agriculture has undergone a profound transformation that has disrupted this balanced system. Poorly designed food and agriculture policies have promoted the rise of CAFOs (massive "confined animal feeding operations," which crowd many thousands of animals closely together in a small space that the land cannot support). And these policies have also promoted a heavy overdependence on chemical inputs (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on). The results include serious problems from polluted air and water, increases in antibiotic-resistant disease, eroded cropland, damaged natural systems, and foods that must be shipped long distances. The Future What would Northern Iowa look like if we embraced a sustainable agriculture future, designed to produce food indefinitely without damaging our land, air and water? Farms of all types and sizes would produce a variety of foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables as well as grains and livestock. The soil would regain its richness, since farmers would no longer poison it to control insects. Sophisticated, modern crop rotation and the use of beneficial insects would control pest populations. Crops and livestock would have been bred to fit into the new smart pasture operations. Rural well water would be safer to drink, while rivers and streams would again run clean enough for people to swim and for fish, birds, and other wildlife to flourish. Furthermore, more Iowans would be fed by local foods, lessening the impact of food transport on our energy system and climate. Why does this differ from the snapshot of the present? Too many massive agriculture operations look at the farm as an outdoor factory: a place to store animals or push out a product, while all the important inputs are brought in (feed, chemical fertilizer, pesticides, etc.). In contrast, sustainable agriculture views a farm as a kind of ecosystem - an "agroecosystem"-made up of elements like soil, plants, insects, and animals. These elements can be enriched and adjusted to solve problems and maximize yields. This integrated approach is both practical and scientific: it relies on modern knowledge about the interactions within natural systems, as well as cutting-edge technologies, to achieve its results. It is a powerful approach that can produce high yields and profits for farmers while protecting human health, animal health and the environment. What could bring about such a future? To create a flourishing sustainable agricultural system that meets today's needs and those of future generations, we need innovative government policies that are grounded in both the science and economics of agriculture: research to further explore the interaction of all natural systems supporting farming and to produce appropriate new technologies, extension services to update farmers about new developments in science and technology, as well as more constructive subsidy programs than our current ones, that help farmers through the transition to sustainable agriculture. We can do better, and need to do better, if we are going to create and sustain a healthy, productive agriculture system for now and into the future. From maryrose333 at att.net Fri Apr 17 23:38:09 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:38:09 -0700 Subject: [GJM] MUST READ FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Offshore Tax Havens: A State-By-State Breakdown Of The Cost To Taxpayers Message-ID: <008501c9bfe7$deddacb0$9c990610$@net> OK, friends, here's why the Republicans and Christian Right theocrats are so against Obama -- they want to continue their reign of rape, pillage, plunder and lies. And, Obama's pulling the noose tighter and tighter around their neck. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 6:37 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Offshore Tax Havens: A State-By-State Breakdown Of The Cost To Taxpayers (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Offshore Tax Havens: A State-By-State Breakdown Of The Cost To Taxpayers http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/offshore-tax-havens-a-sta_n_186640. html April 15, 2009 at 09:44 AM A Senate report estimated in 2008 that the United States loses up to $100 billion a year in tax revenue to offshore tax havens (PDF). In a report released Wednesday, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group offers a state-by-state breakdown of the cost to taxpayers of tax revenue lost to "shell companies and sham headquarters" in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. The practice soaks dutiful taxpayers in every state for hundreds of millions of dollars, according to U.S. PIRG. The citizens of New York and Texas shoulder over $8 billion a year, and the good people of California are on the hook for an extra $11 billion. Click here for U.S. PIRG's table with the state-by-state breakdown of the burden shifted to taxpayers. U.S. PIRG came up with the state numbers by dividing the $100 billion figure by the percentage of total federal revenue contributed by each state. The nonprofit released its report on tax day to drive home a message: "This is the day when we're all working hard, rushing to the post office, filing our returns, and then to hear about these large multi-billion dollar corporations who have used gimmicks to avoid paying their fair share -- it's something that should end this year," says John Krieger, a staff attorney with U.S. PIRG. U.S. PIRG's report, titled "Tax Shell Game," highlights some findings from a January report by the Government Accountability Office that found over 80 percent of the hundred biggest U.S. companies took advantage of tax havens. In 2008 the GAO found that one five-story building in the Cayman Islands, known as the "Ugland House," contained 18,857 registered businesses, very few of which had anything but a P.O. box there. Bailout beneficiaries Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Bank of America boast over 300 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands. The tax day release of the report coincides with protests at post offices across the country coordinated by the Campaign to Rebuild and Renew America Now, a coalition of groups supporting the president's budget priorities. Obama's budget calls for reigning in offshore tax havens. In a speech on Tuesday, Obama talked about "shutting down loopholes and making sure everyone pays what they owe." John Krieger says similar efforts by U.S. PIRG last year brought attention to tax evasion by major defense contractors like Kellogg, Brown & Root, ultimately leading to legislation to make sure contractors pay their share. "The point is that we all pay for it," Krieger says. "The issues of tax havens, tax avoidance -- the reason they've had so much cover is that we all think of it as a D.C wonky issue, but in reality it has an effect on every taxpayer who has to take on this extra burden." From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 18 00:09:17 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:09:17 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: This Earth Day, Show You Care for Our Planet and Each Other. Message-ID: <009101c9bfec$37fbb680$a7f32380$@net> From: HeartMath [mailto:info at heartmath.com] Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:48 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: This Earth Day, Show You Care for Our Planet and Each Other. This Earth Day, show you care for our planet and each other. heartquote HeartMath Having trouble viewing our html email? VIEW IT HERE Reminder: Forward this email to a Friend Click Here Your Subscription maryrose333 at att.net,we would love to hear from you. Please reply to this e-mail to send your comments and suggestions. To unsubscribe from all HeartMath lists Click Here To manage your subscription Click Here Websites HeartMath.com emWave.com emWavepc.com emtechmedia.com HeartMathreport.com HeartQuotes.net HeartMath is a registered trademark of the Institute of HeartMath. Freeze-Framer is a registered trademark of Quantum Intech, Inc. emWave and personal stress reliever are registered trademarks of Quantum Intech, Inc. Quick Coherence is a registered trademark of Doc Childre. You are receiving this message because you are subscribed as maryrose333 at att.net to this mailing list. Copyright 2009 HeartMath LLC. All rights reserved. HeartMath LLC. 14700 West Park Avenue Boulder Creek, CA 95006 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat Apr 18 04:45:18 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:45:18 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Clean Election Laws? Message-ID: <685199.32274.qm@web27408.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Unfortunately, I am unable to get the video link to the subject mentioned in the caption of this email at present but the relevant vid can be found on google video via a word search. However, here is the relevant website. ? ???????? http://www.justsixdollars.org/ ? ? Vid introduction from google? ? A Gallup poll released the last week of September 2007 includes the somber report: ?Trust in many federal government institutions is now lower than it was during the Watergate era.? Public faith in the president is lower than it was on the eve of the Nixon resignation. Americans have even lost faith in themselves. A post on the Editor & Publisher web site says: ?Americans are even losing faith ? in themselves. Currently, 70% of Americans trust the public?s ability to perform its role in a democratic government?significantly lower than any other reading Gallup has taken.? A new web-doc, Getting a Grip on Money and Politics examines campaign finance reform through new eyes. In 2000, Deborah Simpson, a waitress and recently divorced single mother ran for election under Maine?s Clean Election statute. Freed from having to raise money from private donors, she won and went on to serve four terms. Simpson?s inspirational story is juxtaposed with comments of despair and disappointment from on-the-street interviews and masterfully highlighted by Frances Moore Lapp??s passionate plea for us to embrace this new alternative to the trend of billion-dollar politics. Part 1. ? R.Searle ? ? ?International versions of Google Video available in: U.S. - Australia - Canada - Deutschland - Espa?a - France - Italia - Nederland - Polska - U.K. - ?????? - ??? - ?? - ?? Discuss - Terms - Help - Google Video Blog - Video Publishers ?2009?Google ??2009?Google -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Sat Apr 18 01:20:40 2009 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:50:40 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Ecostrategic Counseling for Israel for prayer, peace and patience /Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran Message-ID: <31f677a30904180020j19125039s1b46ff0f7a047cd@mail.gmail.com> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam < mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com> wrote: > Distinguished members, > > Greetings for peace, > > Considering such write up and intelligence assessments, it is important to > call for globalizing what I propose ecostrategic thinking ,communication, > consumption, production, carbon neutral discussion and neighborhoods. Iran, > Israel ,US and all the nations need to underline the importance of > safeguarding the future of children through protecting ecologically safe and > peaceful habitats sharing the surplus, donating for poor, protecting women > and elderly and then getting rid of paranoid vision for co-developing a > shared space and habitats for children of 40th century/ future generation. > Millennial thinking requires looking beyond the petro-modern futures and > envisage habitats that are ecologically safe and socially inclusive . A > presentation on the new discipline called ecostrategics can be seen and > transmitted for wider dissemination for learning about the art of convergent > thinking, ecostrategic thinking at http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam > > I would like to also urgently call Jewish ,Mulsim and Christian leader to > organise national gatherings in Jeusalem for learning about the peaceful > solutions rather than envisioning fratricides. > > With warmest regards > > > Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam > 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 > Tel:9968345380 > > --- On *Tue, 14/4/09, mary rose * wrote: > > > From: mary rose > Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed > Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran > To: "'Discussion Forum for Global Justice'" < > discussion at globaljusticemovement.net>, "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" > > Date: Tuesday, 14 April, 2009, 12:14 PM > > What flashes in front of my eyes are the words: the killing fields. Will > it > never stop? > > -----Original Message----- > From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net > [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] > On Behalf Of > TradingPostPaul > Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:15 PM > To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net > Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from > Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran > > > (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to > http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) > > Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to > Catastrophe in Iran > > http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will_israel_attack_mixed_messages_from > _washington_could_lead_to_catastrophe_in_iran/ > By Roane Carey, Tomdispatch.com. Posted April 13, 2009. > > Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal of an Israeli > attack could have horrific consequences. > > JERUSALEM -- Israel has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on the United > States concerning the grave threat allegedly posed by Iran, which seems > poised to master the nuclear fuel cycle, and thus the capacity to produce > nuclear weapons. The new Israeli prime minister, Likud Party hawk Benjamin > Netanyahu, has warned President Barack Obama that if Washington does not > quickly find a way to shut down Iran's nuclear program, Israel will. > > Some analysts argue that this is manufactured hysteria, not so much a > reflection of genuine Israeli fears as a purposeful diversion from other > looming difficulties. The Netanyahu government is filled with hardliners > adamantly opposed to withdrawal from, or even a temporary freeze on, > settlements in the occupied territories, not to mention to any acceptance > of Palestinian statehood. On his first day as foreign minister, extremist > demagogue Avigdor Lieberman, with characteristic bluster, announced that > Israel was no longer bound by the 2007 Annapolis agreements brokered by > Washington, which called for accelerated negotiations toward a two-state > settlement. > > Such talk threatens to lead the Israelis directly into a clash with the > Obama administration. In what can only be taken as a rebuttal of the > Netanyahu government's recent pronouncements, in his speech to the Turkish > Parliament Obama pointedly reasserted Washington's commitment to a > two-state settlement and to the Annapolis understandings. So what better > way for Netanyahu to avoid an ugly clash with a popular American president > than to conveniently shift the discussion to an existential threat from > Iran -- especially if he can successfully present it as a threat not just > to Israel but to the West in general? > > All of this adds up to a plausible argument against undue alarm over the > latest Israeli warnings about an attack on Iran, but it's flawed on several > grounds. There is a broad, generally accepted paranoia in Israel about > Iran, a belief that its leaders must be stopped before they proceed much > further in their uranium enrichment program. (This view is not shared on > the Israeli left, but it's now a ghost of its former self.) > > In an interview for TomDispatch, Ephraim Kam, deputy director of the > Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a specialist on the > Iran issue, commented, "Of course there are different opinions, but there > is a general consensus, among both security experts and political leaders, > from Labor to the right wing. This is not a controversial issue: if Iran > acquires nuclear weapons, it will pose a deep threat. It will be the first > time in our history that another country can deal a major blow to Israel." > > Kam hastens to add that, in his own view, the scenario Netanyahu proposes > -- that Iran is led by irrational fanatics who would nuke Israel at the > first chance, even knowing that an Israeli nuclear counterstrike would be > swift and catastrophic -- is false. "Iran is a pragmatic, logical player," > Kam says. He remains convinced that "even a radical fundamentalist regime" > wouldn't attack Israel, but he adds, "This is just my assessment, and > assessments can go wrong. I wrote a study on wrong assessments, so I know > something about this." In other words, if Kam's claims about the Israeli > consensus are correct, the country's leadership takes it for granted that > Iran is indeed hell-bent on producing a nuclear weapon and is not inclined > to take a chance that a nuclear Iran will play by the MAD (as in mutually > assured destruction) rules hammered out by the two Cold War superpowers > decades ago and never use it. > > This attitude reflects a longstanding Israeli strategic principle: that no > neighboring state or combination of states can ever be allowed to achieve > anything faintly approaching military parity, because if they do, they will > try to destroy the Jewish state. By this logic, Israel's only option is to > establish and then maintain absolute military superiority over its > neighbors; they will, so this view goes, accept Israel's presence only if > they know they're sure to be defeated, or at least vastly outmatched. > > This is the famous "iron wall," conceived by early Zionist leader Vladimir > Jabotinsky more than 80 years ago, well before the founding of Israel > itself. (Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist movement, which in opposition > to the Labor mainstream refused to accept any territorial compromise > regarding Zionist aims, such as partition. Although he and his followers > were for years shut out of the political leadership, their views regarding > Israel's neighbors became deeply lodged in the public psyche.) If Iran were > to acquire the capacity to build even one nuke -- Israel itself is > estimated to have 150-200 of them -- that iron wall would be considered > seriously breached, and the country might no longer be able to dictate > terms to its neighbors. Given Iran's support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and > Hamas in Gaza, Israel would then have to recalibrate its strategy both on > its northern front and vis-?-vis the Palestinians. > > Recent developments in Israel could certainly give the impression of a > nation preparing for war: the Home Front command, one of four regional > divisions of the Israeli army, has just announced the largest defense > exercise in the country's history. It will last an entire week and is > intended to prepare the civilian population for missile strikes from both > conventional warheads and unconventional ones (whether chemical, biological > or nuclear). Meanwhile, the country is accelerating its testing of missile > defense systems, having just announced the successful launch of the Arrow > II interceptor. > > Can Israel Go It Alone? > > Would Israel really attack Iran without at least tacit approval from > Washington? Could Israel do so without such approval? At the very least, > Israel would need approval simply to get permission to fly over Iraq, whose > airspace is controlled by the U.S. military, not the Iraqi government in > Baghdad. As columnist Aluf Benn put it in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, > "Defense experts say that without a green light from Washington, Netanyahu > and Barak will not be able to send in the air force." Kam adds, "In my > judgment, it is somewhere between difficult to impossible for Israel to do > it alone, for both technical and political reasons." > > Most analysts here believe that a solo Israeli attack would, at best, set > back Iran's nuclear program by several years -- not that this would > necessarily be a deterrent to Netanyahu & Co. It's widely believed that, in > their view, even a temporary delay in Iran's nuclear capability would be an > improvement on the current course. It's worth recalling that Israel sought > an explicit go-ahead from the Bush administration for an attack last year, > which President Bush -- presumably fearing massive conventional retaliation > from Iran in both Iraq and Afghanistan -- sensibly refused, a rare moment > in his tenure when he did not accede to Israeli wishes. > > It's also clear that President Obama seeks to resolve the standoff with > Iran through diplomatic means. He's abandoned the confrontational rhetoric > of his predecessor and continues to extend peace feelers to the Islamic > Republic. Tehran's response has been mixed, but at least a new mood of > negotiation is in the air. > > Israeli strategists, however, see this new mood as threatening, not > hopeful. Any U.S. rapprochement with Iran -- especially if carried out on > terms that acknowledge Iran's status as a regional power -- could, they > fear, undermine Israel's "special relationship" with Washington. As Iran > analyst Trita Parsi put it in a recent piece in the Huffington Post, Iran > would then "gain strategic significance in the Middle East at the expense > of Israel." > > It's within the realm of possibility, for example, that Washington could > work out a grand bargain with Tehran terminating its policy of regime > change and ending sanctions in return for Tehran's vow never to weaponize > its nuclear program. Intrusive international inspections would presumably > guarantee such a bargain, but Tehran's national pride would remain intact, > as it would be allowed to retain the right to enrich uranium and develop a > peaceful nuclear infrastructure. > > There has even been some recent slippage in Washington's language when it > comes to demands placed on Iran -- with an insistence on an end to all > nuclear enrichment evidently being replaced by an insistence on no weapons > development. To Israel, this would be a completely unsatisfactory > compromise, as its leaders fear that Iran might at some point abandon such > an agreement and in fairly short order weaponize. > > Given Obama's new approach, it might seem that Israel is stymied for now. > After all, it's hard to imagine Obama giving the go-ahead for an attack. > Just this week, Vice President Joe Biden told CNN that he thought such an > Israeli attack "would be ill-advised." > > Other factors, however, play in the hardliners' favor: the Obama > administration's new special envoy for Iran, Dennis Ross, is himself a > hardliner. Last year, Ross was part of an ultra-hawkish task force that > predicted the failure of any negotiations and all but called for war with > Iran. Ross is a man who not only knows how to play the bureaucratic game in > Washington, but has powerful backers in the administration, and his views > will have plenty of support from pro-Israel hawks in Congress. > > The attitude of another key sector in decision-making, the high command of > the U.S. military, may also be evolving. Washington's dilemma in Iraq is > not nearly as dire as it was two years ago. The nightmare envisioned by the > American generals running the Iraq campaign in recent years -- that, in > response to an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran could send tens of > thousands of well-trained commandos across the border and inflict grave > damage on U.S. forces -- has faded somewhat. The Iraqi government's > military has much better control of the country today, with insurgent > violence at far lower levels. The Shiite Mahdi Army and Iran-connected > "special groups" seem to be mostly quiescent. > > Of course, the situation in Iraq is still unstable, and any attack on Iran > could easily throw the country back into ungovernable chaos. Still, given > the role we know American commanders played in nixing such an attack in the > Bush years, the question remains: Has resistance to such an attack lessened > in the military? It's unclear, but an issue worth monitoring, because > American commanders were the most consistent, persuasive voices for > moderation during the Bush administration. > > It should go without saying that an Israeli attack on Iran would have > disastrous consequences. No matter what Washington might claim, or how > vociferously officials there denounce it, such an attack would be widely > understood throughout the Muslim world as a joint U.S.-Israeli operation. > > It would, as a start, serve as a powerful recruiting tool for extremist > Islamist groups. In addition, an outraged Iran might indeed send commandos > into Iraq, aid armed Iraqi groups determined to attack U.S. and government > forces, shoot missiles into the Saudi or Kuwaiti oilfields, and attempt to > block the Straits of Hormuz though which a significant percentage of global > oil passes. Washington would certainly have to write off desperately needed > cooperation in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and > Pakistan. Any attack would only strengthen the reign of the mullahs in Iran > and reinforce the country's determination to acquire a nuclear deterrent > force that would prevent future attacks. And keep in mind, Iran's nuclear > program has overwhelming public support, even from those opposed to the > current regime. > > Given the Netanyahu government's visible determination to attack, an > ambiguous signal from Washington, something far less than a green light, > could be misread in Tel Aviv. Anything short of a categorical, even > vociferous U.S. refusal to countenance an Israeli attack might have > horrific consequences. So here's a message to Obama from an observer in > Israel: Don't flash the yellow light -- not even once. > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > > ------------------------------ > Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > -- Endeavoring for ecological safety ,social inclusion and distributive justice for the renewable resource based livelihoods and habitats, Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance (CEASIG) , an initiative of Labour League Foundation, Sewa and Sufi Trust , Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating fcarbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy, interfaith dialogue & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe education, ecological audit ,and, ecologically safe and socially inclusive governance best practices Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 9968345380,9210490942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 17 10:41:23 2009 From: jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net (Jack Lancaster) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:41:23 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] The OBama Deceptiom In-Reply-To: <00b301c9bf79$b2e17d80$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> Message-ID: <629907.26732.qm@web80012.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Rodney Shakespeare wrote: From: Rodney Shakespeare Subject: Re: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] To: "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 9:29 AM Curtiss, There is very good information on this in The Obama Deception -- full length version on YouTube.? It's gone mega-viral on?the internet and makes the case that President Obama is controlled by the financial elite of Wall Street, Bilderburg Group etc. ? Rodney Shakespeare. ----- Original Message ----- From: "W. Curtiss Priest" To: "List, Behavioral-Finace" ; "List, Cyberspace Society" ; "List, Debt" ; "List,Discussion Forum for Global Justice Movement" ; "list, Federal-Debts" ; "List, LWSIDE1" ; "List, Social Credit" ; "List, Telecom Policy - NorthEast list" ; "List, TOP (The Optimum Policy)" Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:14 PM Subject: [GJM] re the President's men ... beyong just the Harvard connection[CITS Debt Alert Watch] >I forward this with ASIS and because it suggests that > the financial elite are still in control. > > WCP > > From: ulysses crockett,jr. > Subject: Story from Babelation > To: "echojurist" > Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:23 AM > ------------------------------------------------------------ > DR. ULYSSES CROCKETT, JR.: > > OBAMA-GEITHNER-SUMMERS-BRZEZINSKI-CLINTON AGENTS FOR > TRILATERAL, BILDERBERG, CFR FINANCE CONTROLLERS [1] > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > About Ulysses Crockett, Jr.: > > Lives in Emeryville, CA and is Dean of Instruction Carlton R. Innis, > III Oakland Alameda County Community Law School, Inc. which is open to > students of all age groups and confers the Associate In Community Law > Certificate, A.C.L.; > > '71 Juris Doctor Boalt Hall Scool of Law Univesity Califoria Berkeley; > > '73 Masters of Laws (Corporate Taxation) Columbia University law > School; > > 1985 Visiting Scholar Yale Law School (Collapsible Corporation > Taxation): 1986 Visiting Scholar Hoover Institute Leland Stanford > Junior University; > > See, Ulysses S. Crockett, Jr., 'Federal Taxation of Interest On > Indebtedness In Corporate Acquisitions: A Congressional Response In > Merger Tax Reform' 10 Indiana Law Review 419 (1976). > > 1. INTRODUCTION: The Barak Obama Cabinet, Economic and Foreign Policy > Advisor appointees are all member employees of the private Rothschild > Banking-Bilderberg Groups-Rockefeller Trilateral Commission-Council On > Foreign Relations unelected U.S.-world finance, military and foreign > policy controllers. The reader and concerned egalitarian advocates are > asked to review Obama materials at http: > www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html [2]. > > The present U.S. economic depression with 11 million unemployed and no > taxpayer bank bailout funds allocated to stop housing foreclosures - > is directly the result of intentional wrongful conduct by the very > Obama economic and foreign policy appointees who caused the U.S. > financial economic collapse in the first place. > > For example, Timothy Geithner, as Director of the New York Federal > Reserve Board was the architect of the deregulated hedge fund trading > and credit default-swap securities issuances which resulted in the > financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs (early > Obama political fund conributor), Bear Stearns, Mererill Lynch and > others. In reward for Timothy Geithner's finance and administrative > malfeasance, Obama selects CFR-Bilderberger Geithner as Treasury > Secretary even when Geithner violated Immigration laws and failed to > pay FICA taxes for the years 2004-2006. > > U.S.. Taxpayers must demand Congress repeal the unconstitutional 1913 > Federal Reserve Statute, issuance of Executive Order 11110 authorizing > the U.S to own the Central Bank and print its own currency as Article > 1, Sec.8 , Clauses 4,5 provides. > > 2. Reported by AllHIipHop.com, Brzezinski is top Obama Foreign Policy > Advisor, in addition to his affiliations with the Council On Foreign > Relations (as director), the Trilateral Commission, and the National > Endowment for Democracy, Brzezinski was also the architect of former > President James Carter's Afghanistan policy. Brzezinski is directly > responsible for murdering thousands of innocents and organizing the > Afghan Arabs, later to become "al-Qaeda." > > Bilderberger Director David Rockefeller reportedly asked Brzezinski to > create the Trilateral Commission and details were developed at > Rockefeller's Pocantico Hills estate outside New York City. > Rockefeller later introduced the concept to the Bilderberg group in > Knoke, Belgium in the spring of 1972. > > 3. Barak Obama's top economics adviser (Goolsbee) is a member of the > secret Skull & Bones society of Yale University, of which George H.W. > Bush, George W. Bush, and John Kerry are also members. Goolsbee is > reported to have told Obama not to back a compulsory freeze on home > mortgage foreclosures to help unwealthy homeowners during this present > depression crisis. Barak Obama is a 32 degree mason and affiliate > member of the Trilateral Commission and a direct member of the Council > On Foreign Relations along with spouse Michelle Obama. > > 4. FOREIGN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF U.S. BANKING SYSTEM: > FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: AllHiphop.com and Congressman Ron Paul report > material already a matter of public and federal government record. In > 1776, the Rothschild bankers of England retained Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a > son of a Jewish rabbi who converted to Roman catholicism, to devise > secret society and financial blueprint to control world finance and > banking. In this connection, Mayer Armschel Rothschild stated "Let me > issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the > laws." > > 5. Council On Foreign Relations organizational financier and > Trilateral Commission Chairman David Rockefeller records in his > "Memoirs", "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working > against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my > family and me as 'internationalists' and conspiring with others around > the world to build a more integrated global political and economic > structure - one world, if you will. > > If that's the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it". David > Rockefeller, "Memoirs" autobiography (2002, Random House publishers), > page 405. Interestingly, at least one noted reporter of strategic > affairs, MIT's Noam Chomsky has opined in a recent interview, > referring to the Bilderberg Group secret meetings, "...there is > nothing wrong with a few rich people getting together to have a > party." > > 6. The unconstitutional Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provides that the > names of the owner banks be kept secret. However, R.E. McMaster > publisher of the newsletter 'The Reaper', asked his Swiss banking > contacts which banks hold the controlling stock in the Federal Reserve > Corporation; The answer: > > * Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin > > * Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris > > * Israel Moses Sief Banks of Italy > > * Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam > > * Lehman Brothers Bank of New York > > * Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York > > * Chase Manhattan Bank of Nw York (David Rockefeller, Director) > > * Goldman Sachs Bankk of New York, (Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Shalom > Bernanke ( Federal Reserve Board Chair), Lawrence Summers (Obama > Economic Advisor), Robert Rubin - Directors-shareholders-U.S. taxpayer > bailout recipients). > > 7. In the 'Secrets of The Federal Reserve', Eustace Mullins notes > that, because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, headed by Timothy > Geithner, sets interest rates and controls the daily supply and price > of currency throughout the U.S., the owners of that bank are the real > directors of the entire system. > > Mullins state: "The shareholders of these banks which own the stock of > the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are the people who have > controlled U.S. political and economic destinies since 1914". They > are: > > * The Rothschilds > > * Lazard Freres (Eugene Mayer) > > * Israel Sief > > * Kuhn Loeb Company > > * Warburg Company > > * Lehman Brothers > > * Goldman Sachs > > * Rockefeller family > > * J.P. Morgan interests. > > 8. THE PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE SHAREHOLDER- OWNER U.S. TAXPAYER THEFT: > THE PROCEDURE: Since Congress has unconstitutinally abdicated its > authority to create its own currency (much in the same manner as > Congress has unconstitutionally abdicated its power to declare war), > the private Federal Reserve owners create the currency or credit to > the federal government in exchange for the government's agreement to > pay it back with interest. > > The Congress authorizes the Tresury Department to print $1 billion in > U.S. bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve bankers. > (The bonds serve as interest-bearing debt to the private owners of the > Federal Reserve which must be paid by the federal government). > > 9. The U.S. Treasure prints $1 billion in bank notes. The printing > cost is about $20.62 per 1,000 bills - cost is the same irrespective > of the denomination - the cost of printing a $1 note is about the same > as for a $100 note: about .0206 cents. The Federal Reserve "buys" > these bills from the U.,S., Treasury paying only for the printing > costs. The bills are then exchanged at full face value for the bonds. > The government uses the currency to pay its obligations. > > The U.S. Government has now indebted the people to the private Federal > Reserve bankers for $1 billion plus interest. This outrageous taxpayer > theft procedure has been going on since 1913 and the U.S. taxpayer is > now indebted to the private Federal Reserve shareholders in amounts > exceeding trillions of dollars. > > The U.S. taxpayers are taxed billions of dollars each month just to > pay interest on this "national debt." With both the principle and > interest climbing every month, there is no possibility of ever paying > off this "debt.'" the working people of the United States now "owe" > the approximately 300 banking families and their consorts more than > the assessed value of all the assets in the United States. The reader > must understantd, the bankers received all this economic gain for the > cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping. > > Alas, continued larceny of the U.S. taxpayers by Congress, > Bilderbergers, Council On Foreign Relations, Treasury, private Federal > Reserve shareholders, Timothy Geithner, Benjamin Bernanke, > Bilderberger Lawrence Summers, Bilderberger Robert Rubin, Bilderberger > David Rockefeller, Diane Feinstein, Bilderberger Harry Reid, Charles > Christopher Cox (SEC), Henry Merrit Paulson, Bilderberger Sen. Phil > Gramm (Glass-Steagall Act Repeal advocate), Bilderberger Pres. William > Jefferson Clinton (Signed Glass-Steagall Act repeal in 1998 > deregulating sale of hedge fund derviatives and so-called Credit > Default Swaps which lead to the collapse of the United States Banking > and Finance industry and current economic depression), et al. > > 10. Readers, Progressive Economists, workers, unions, parents, > teachers, attorneys committed to protection of the Rule of Law - all > are asked to follow Alex Jones' reports on the facist > Bilderberger-Council > > On Foreign Relations private world wealth controllers who met this > June, 2008. Among the Bilderberger attendees were: PBS's Charlie Rose, > Henry Kissinger (indicted war criminal), Condoleeza Rice (U.S. 2002 > White House torture meeting collaborator), Richard Holdbrooke > (designated Pakistan-Afghanistan war negotiator). See prisonplanet.com > and infowars.com for a complete list of 2008 facist Bilderberger > meeting participants. > > 11. U.S. taxpayers must demand the criminal indictments Federal > Reserve Board Director Bilderberger Benjamin Shalom Bernanke, former > Treasury Secretary Bilderberger Henry Merrit Paulson, Chair > Sescurities and Exchange Commission Bilderberger Charles Christopher > Cox and present Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for securities > fraud, federal, state statutory and common law deceit. > > Specifically, the legal gravamen of the Bernanke-Cox-Paulson-Geithner > criminal conduct, inter alia are multiple violations of the 1934 > Securities and Exchange Act Rule 10-b-5. Rule 10-b-5 provides > violations for the use of insider securities trading information not > available to the public. > > The Bernanke-Cox-Paulson -Geithner cabal held secret meetings > pre-October 3, 2008 to determine how to structure an appeal to > Congress seeking a taxpayer bailout for failing investment banks and > AIG insurance at a time when Bilderberger Geithner was director of the > New York Federal Reserve overseeing Citicorp, Lehman Brothers, Goldman > Sachs, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and others. > > All these institutions have been beneficiaries of federal taxpayer > bailout funds in excess of $780 billions of dollars. During these > meeting negotiations, Bilderberger Barak Obama, prior to inauguration > spoke with Paulson each week and had knowledge of the initial bailout > plan proposed by Paulson and Bernanke. Obama and the forementioned > baiolout bandit each, as a matter of public record have investments in > American Internal Group, along with Sen. Harry Reid, Bilderberger > > Sen. Diane Feinistein, Rep. Charles Rangel (delinquent taxpayer Chair > House Ways and Mean tax writing Committee), House Speaker Nancy > Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Frank and other senators and congresspersons. All > must be prosecuted for violations of SEC Rule 10-b-5. > > 12. The United States government now has majority ownership of > American International Group and has authority to dissolve the company > and sell its remaining assets for the best price obtainable. The weak > excuse of a duty to honor the secret multi-million dollar executive > bonus contracts is without legal foundation. It is hornbook law that a > contract may be rescinded, reformed or rendered void by operation of > law for unilateral or mutual mistake, or illegality. > > This long standing rule was taught to this writer by the august legal > scholar Melvin Eisenberg at Boalt Hall School of law University > California Berkeley. For former Harvard President and President Obama > economic advisor Bilderberger Lawrence Summers to falsely state that > the U.S. must honor illegal executive bonus contracts - constitutes an > insult to the general taxpaying public and to the rule of law. > Moreover, as Secretary of Treasury, ostensibly overseeing the > administration of the AIG bailout funds, it is Geithner's legal > responsibility to know how AIG is spending the bailolut funds, which > AIG initially refused to disclose. Geithner has publicly stated he > only learned of the bonus contract payments on March 9, 2009. > > Yet Geithner waited until March 13, 2009 to inform President Obama of > the illegal bonus payments. Either Geithner and President Obama are > lying about their respective dates of notice or there exists gross > criminal negligence on the parts of AIG directors, the three-person > Treasury appointed AIG bailout oversight board and Geithner who should > either resign, be fired or be criminally prosescuted. AIG's bailout > should be treated like an estate in bankruptcy wehrein the court is > empowered to demand transparent disclosure of assets, expenditures, > directors dismissed and trustee appointed to administer reorganization > or liquidation. > > The U.S. government as owner of AIG and Treasury Secretary Geithner > must do no less. It is unconscionable that the owners and principle > government administrators of AIG have no knowledge who are the > principle decision-makers among the AIG executives or how the taxpayer > bailout assets are being expended. The entire AIG taxpayer bailout > must be terminated by operation of law and the AIG funds paid to > foreign banks must be recovered by the U.S. owners. No congressional > legislation is necessary, period. > > QUOD ERAD DEMOSTRADUM > > To be conitinued - Dated: January 26, 2009 at Emeryville, > CA: March 18, 2009 > >??? Submitted by echojurist on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 8:21am. > [1] http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/1583 > [2] http://www.cfr.org/bios/11603/barak_obama.html > > Editor Note:? Reformatted for ease of reading 4/16/2009, WCP > > -- > > ?? W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CKL&S > Center for Knowledge, Learning & Progress >??? (formerly the Center for Information, Technology & Society) > 466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA? 02176 >?? 781-662-4044? BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 17 10:41:53 2009 From: jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net (Jack Lancaster) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:41:53 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress Message-ID: <160111.90918.qm@web80011.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: conwayd at jfklancer.com Cc: "rivera office" Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 9:35 AM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: "duncan" Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 1:20 PM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: oathkeepersok at gmail.com Cc: "rivera office" Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 10:37 AM --- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: onedollardvdproject at charter.net Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 9:17 PM --- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: "Jurisdictionary Tips & Tactics" Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 11:43 AM --- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: james edwards at the Cc: "rivera office" Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 10:45 AM --- On Mon, 4/13/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: rick at stanley2002.org Cc: "rivera office" , "www.jackaikenlancaster.4t.com" Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 1:47 PM --- On Mon, 4/13/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 1:30 PM --- On Mon, 4/13/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: ellenhbrown at gmail.com Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 1:29 PM --- On Mon, 4/13/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Dr Rivera Explains The Limited Authority Of The US Governmet And Congress To: "Truth 4" , "Christian Action" , "gary beauregard" , "lawrence berg" , boricua78520 at gmail.com, "Dagmar Brenne" , "MARK CARPENTER" , "dabodave1" , "Luis Ewing" , "Expos?" , "Sorcha Faal" , "FREEDOM FIGHTERS" , "Fred" , "AMERICAN FREE" , "Sergeant Freedom" , "AL-JEFF-RICHARD GORE-FISHER-BRANSON" , "Wolfram Gr?tz" , "Philip Gurrieri" , "greg hurles" , "Alex James" , "Anthony James" , "Donald Jones" , kcaJ22 at aol.com, "Deon M." , "Wanda McDonald" , "Jerry McGovern" , "Merced Sun Star" , "Cleantech News" , "rivera office" , "New World OrderLies" , Patriot451 at aol.com, "FREEDOM'S PHOENIX" , "Freedom Pool" , "RTR Press" , "Richard Niemela" , "Peter Rogers" , "RRM" , "Michelle Seltzer" , "Nadia Sindi" , sirdavidandrew at rochester.rr.com, "David Slesinger" , "Calvin Steinberger" , "Bob Taft" , "Restore the" , "Terrible Tommy" , "Heather Vsn" , "Ambassador Lee Emil Wanta" , "Ruth D. Bundy or Ralph Charles Whitley Sr." , "James Wickstrom" , "Jud Witham" Cc: editor at WorldNetDaily.com, editor at AmericanVoice.com Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 1:28 PM Dr Rivera teaches you the Law that can make you a free man....Jack --- On Mon, 4/13/09, rivera office wrote: From: rivera office Subject: New Post Summary of the Constitution To: "Ed Rivera" Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 12:59 PM TEA PARTY TALKING POINTS: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES ? The written Constitution, for the United States of America, was ratified by all the States, but it was never adopted by George Washington and the First Congress, or any other President or Congress.? This is why it seems, at times, as if there is no Constitution at all.? The first nine States that ratified the written Constitution were constituted of just the political part of the original thirteen states than had formed the original confederacy, the United States of America. ? The Declaration of Independence began the emancipation of the people from the control of government and the American Revolution and the peace treaty made with George III completed it.? Government in America has been by trick since June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify the Constitution. ? The Articles of Confederation of 1777, the first Constitution, created a Union of? States that retained? all, ?sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right,? such States must have, so their inhabitants can be free to consent to government or trust in God.? Consent to be governed is never permanent. ? Individual freedom requires that any person may freely change character from a totally independent inhabitant on Earth to a citizen of a political state.? The Declaration of Independence is always there to safeguard the right of every living American soul to renounce allegiance to any government. ? The Preamble to the written Constitution, while not officially a part of it, announces the relationship that document is to have to the Confederacy, the United States of America.?? ?This Constitution for the United States of America? serves the Confederacy by providing a framework for the government of the territory owned by and ceded to the United States of America. ? Article VII of the Constitution provides for the Establishment of ?this Constitution? as soon as nine States ratify it confirming that the Articles of Confederation are fully retained as the Organic Law for the United States of America.? ? Ratification of ?this Constitution? by the States without adoption by the all the Presidents and all 111 Congresses limits any government created by that ratification to those States and the territory embraced by those States, which can only be the territory owned by and ceded to the United States of America. ? The Constitution of the United States has, thus, been shown to be the territory and other property belonging to the United States of America.? This conclusion is discussed and proven in earlier posts and in the instruction that I offer to all my students.? ? The original Boston Tea Party went beyond protest to the destruction of the property to be taxed.? Today, total misunderstanding of the Constitution of the United States permits government power that would be incomprehensible to the first Tea Party participants.? ? Tax protesters did not stop with tea.? The federal tax on distillation of alcohol resulted in the Whiskey Rebellion, which had to be quelled by military force and a continuing police and military occupation outside federal territory.? Protesting will only leave you holding the bag; become a constitutional scholar and limit government to the land owned and ceded to the United States of America by contacting me at edrivera at edrivera.com ? Dr. Eduardo M. 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URL: From jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 17 10:42:57 2009 From: jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net (Jack Lancaster) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:42:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer Message-ID: <231817.90463.qm@web80011.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: conwayd at jfklancer.com Cc: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 9:36 AM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: "RTR Radio" Cc: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 6:10 PM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: news at cuttingedge.org Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 2:08 PM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: "duncan" Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 1:19 PM --- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: onedollardvdproject at charter.net Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 9:15 PM --- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: jack at freedomsfuture.net Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 6:38 PM --- On Sat, 4/11/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: The Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: info at thenaz.us Cc: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 8:12 PM --- On Wed, 4/8/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: The Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: "Freedom Child" Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 9:58 PM --- On Wed, 4/8/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: The Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: worldgathering at googlemail.com Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 8:31 PM --- On Wed, 4/8/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: The Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: timturnerclass at aol.com Cc: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 8:20 PM --- On Sat, 4/4/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: The Truth After 40 Years Of Research The Informer To: "Truth 4" , "gary beauregard" , "lawrence berg" , boricua78520 at gmail.com, "Dagmar Brenne" , "MARK CARPENTER" , "dabodave1" , "Luis Ewing" , "Sorcha Faal" , "FREEDOM FIGHTERS" , "Fred" , "AMERICAN FREE" , "Sergeant Freedom" , "AL-JEFF-RICHARD GORE-FISHER-BRANSON" , "Wolfram Gr?tz" , "Philip Gurrieri" , "greg hurles" , "Alex James" , "Anthony James" , "Donald Jones" , "Graham Jukes" , "Wanda McDonald" , "Jerry McGovern" , "Merced Sun Star" , "Cleantech News" , "rivera office" , "New World OrderLies" , "Constitution Party" , Patriot451 at aol.com, "FREEDOM'S PHOENIX" , "Freedom Pool" , "RTR Press" , "Shelby Pullin" , "Richard Niemela" , "Peter Rogers" , "RRM" , "Michelle Seltzer" , "Nadia Sindi" , sirdavidandrew at rochester.rr.com, "David Slesinger" , "Calvin Steinberger" , "Bob Taft" , "Restore the" , "Terrible Tommy" , "Heather Vsn" , "Ambassador Lee Emil Wanta" , "Ruth D. Bundy or Ralph Charles Whitley Sr." , "James Wickstrom" , "Jud Witham" , "www.jackaikenlancaster.4t.com" Cc: bigal123 at ncol.net Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009, 10:07 AM "Those who say it cannot be done should not interfere with those of us who are doing it"? - S. Hickman? Home Against the Grain Livid Leigh Boilin' Ed D. Tom The Informer Knowledge is Freedom Privacy Links Court Case Contact Us ? ? 1994 - 2009 Against the Grain ? ? The Informer The Informer is by profession a researcher of 40 years and worked for major 500 companies. He started the legal research into government as a whole in 1979 and went heavy into the taxation part, all phases, in 1981, and continues to this day. He is retired and uses his cognitive skills of 40 years to continue studying. His history research came about because of the government research that uncovered many inconsistencies in what people perceive to be true about government, but which is not. His inquiries and study led him to other historical researchers nationwide. These findings show governments are run by people other than the common man and woman of America and is not the "representative form" as people believe. BANKING GOVERNMENT PHONE TAX COMMON SENSE TAXES WAR/EMERGENCY POWERS The Bar in America SOCIAL SECURITY ? Admiralty BOOKS BY THE INFORMER BANKING Hamilton's True Identity So You Think the U.S. Still Has a Treasury Gold and How it is Manipulated Think #15 -IRS/Trust Codes Redeem Is this what makes you subject to an income tax Use and Transfer Back to Top GOVERNMENT Jurisdiction over a National Government Fraud A Short Synopsis CITIZENSHIP BY TREATY The Bill of Rights Fraud Part two WHY DOES THE STATE HAVE JURISDICTION OVER ME? The Bill of Rights Fraud Part I Who Wants to Take an Oath? Jurisdiction & The First Judiciary Act Was Washington, D. C. A State Then - Now? Oaths of Office 1868 Inaugural Speech of Governor Worth When Was State Sovereignty Lost Addendum Congress Has No Jurisdiction to Levy an Income Tax Congress ultimate administrator of the courts An end to the debate on the 16th Amendment WOW- The real 1930 Geneva Convention Books-Commentary Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States - 1930 Volume I - pages 232-237 Volume III - pages 6-9 Volume III - pages 10-13 Volume III - pages 96-97 Volume III - pages 102-106 Volume III - pages 141-146 Volume III - pages 155-157 Volume III - pages 268-269 Volume III - pages 291-309 Volume III - Pages 399-404 Volume III - pages 411-413 Volume III - Pages 459-461 Last of the Geneva Papers? Common man never created the constitution Citizen= Subject Fiction of law The myth of the term Law of the Land Perspectives Definitions that enslave you State, United States. Includes This is not conjecture, this is not myth, etc Back to Top PHONE TAX For those people fed up with phone taxes Illegal phone charges Back to Top ? COMMON SENSE ? SO YOU REALLY WANT A REPUBLIC? Are You a Corporation Member How the government got you in its clutches, slave. YOU WANTED TO BE A CITIZEN - SO WHY COMPLAIN? Are you a member of a community? Black's Law Dictionary is a "Specialty" Dictionary Think #13-Penalty Statutes Going after the wrong people How you are controlled by private corporations Merry Go Round The beginning of the big lie Reality Flawed redemption process Regroup to find the truth Documents Back to Top TAXES Sometimes Criminals Speak Truth THE 1913 INCOME TAX FRAUD What Does Federal Really Mean Assessment Authority 26 USC 6331 Authorizing IRS True Nature of Withholding Tax 1942 Revenue Act What To Present Administratively That You Have No Income Why All States Depend on Federal Determination to Tax You Treasury Letter of 1866 TERMS not WORDS SS# and TIN IS NOT THE SAME The why's and wherefore's of the tax system Tax Series #8-IRS not authorized to file Fed Tax Liens Tax Series #9-Security and Money Excise taxes Person and Taxes Excise Taxes 1998 List of IRS sections affected Person Pollock v Farmers Loan and Trust Scumbags ? Back to Top WAR/EMERGENCY POWERS The genesis of the emergency / war powers ACT War Powers in America today The question is why? Back to Top SOCIAL SECURITY When is a Social Security Number not a Social Security Number AND Will the real Beneficiary please stand up The taxing statute imposing S.S. taxes The History of the American Bar The Bar in America - Part I Introductory - Law Without Lawyers - Part II Lawyers in the Seventeenth Century - Part III The Colonial Bar of Virginia and Maryland - Chapter II Colonial Massachusetts Bar -Chapter III Colonial New York, Pennsylvania & New Jersy Bar - Chapter IV Colonial Southern Bar - Chapter V New England Colonial Bar - Chapter VI The Law & Lawyers in England in the Eighteenth Century-Chapter VII Early American Barristers, & Bar Associations - Chapter IX Part II - Federal Bar -Chapter X The Federal Bar and Law, 1789-1815-Chapter XI The Federal Bar & the Law, 1815-1830-Chapter XV The Federal Bar & Law - 1830-1860 - Chapter XVI The Progress of the Law - 1830-1860 - Chapter XVII The Rise of Railroad & Corporation Law - Chapter XVIII Admirality Addendum to "The New History of America" Padleford Case & Standing Under Present Situation Admiralty - Why? Admiralty Rules Admiralty in Tax Cases Back to Top ? BOOKS BY THE INFORMER BOOKS PRICE [1]-"Which One Are You" 58.00 [2] - Vol. I and I-A, Response to "Which One Are You" 15.00 [3] - Vol. II, Response to "Which One Are You" 15.00 [4] - Would You Like the Constitution as a Source of Rights 10.00 [5] - The Big Lie 10.00 [6] - The Big Lie III 58.00 [7] - Works of the Informer 7.00 [8] - Reality 5.00 [9] - "The New History of America" (ten or more - 24.00 each) 32.00 [10] - Addendum to New History of America included in above price ????? Past purchasers of New History go to link to receive free of ????????charge. (ad004.htm) [11] - The MYTH and The REALITY [New Book available] ? ? ? 35.00 Order Above 2,3,4,5,7, & 8 at one time - discounted price, not including mailing cost 47.00 + 6.00 hndlg Book #6 is Not discounted but regular price includes shipping. ? Book #9 is ONLY discounted for ten or more ? ? The Informer, a well known author of legal mind and researcher published The New History of America. This book has been printed using all documented material. Most of which has been stamped and verified by the archivist. Other material has been gleaned from books published by respected authors that have used government documents. The Book sells for 32.00 and discounts for 10 or more books are available by writing for the discounts. Only U.S.Postal Money Orders are accepted that are COMPLETELY BLANK, at least in the pay to area if you feel you need to write anything. You keep the carbon copy. ? To Order: Send a completely blank U.S. Postal Money Order ONLY to: A bar C, c/o 7055 Mountain Road, Oxford, North Carolina (27565)??? Be sure to send your return address also. ? ? New Book "The Myth and The Reality" ???Why the Constitution is one big Fraud. What is written in it was dictated by the Crown to the Framers. This book will explain just who owns the United States. Cost of the new book by The Informer is $35.00 which includes postage and handling. Please read the instructions above for ordering. Qrders from outside the US must include 6 dollars extra postage. ??? Back to Top \ ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 17 10:43:46 2009 From: jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net (Jack Lancaster) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:43:46 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Free Law Information Message-ID: <523384.35592.qm@web80007.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: conwayd at jfklancer.com Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 9:34 AM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: "RTR Radio" Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 6:07 PM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: news at cuttingedge.org Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 2:08 PM --- On Wed, 4/15/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Fw: Free Law Information To: "duncan" Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 1:16 PM --- On Fri, 4/3/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: jah at gibraltar.gi Date: Friday, April 3, 2009, 2:54 PM --- On Sun, 3/29/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: boricua78520 at gmail.com Cc: "www.jackaikenlancaster.4t.com" Date: Sunday, March 29, 2009, 1:47 PM --- On Thu, 3/5/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: cakashu at gmail.com Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 6:47 PM --- On Mon, 3/2/09, Jack Lancaster wrote: From: Jack Lancaster Subject: Free Law Information To: Ghovda at aol.com Date: Monday, March 2, 2009, 9:56 AM Free Law Information 1. All courts in the United States are privately owned by the Crown Temple in London . 2. All attorneys and judges are agents of the privately owned Crown Temple . 3. All United States Courts are Admiralty Courts under color-of-law, it appears to be Law but is not. 4. All defendants are wards of the court. 5. All attorneys are attorners or twisters. 6. All attorneys and judges are officers of the court, a conflict of interest. 7. Admiralty Jurisdiction means the judge has the power of an admiral on a ship 8. Admiral on a ship has absolute power over life and death. 9. Defendants have no rights in court. 10. All statutes in the United States only apply to persons who are fictitious entities. 11. United States Courts have no jurisdiction over a man or woman, only artificial persons. 12. Most traffic tickets are infractions, 13. You cannot be put in jail for an infraction. 14. You can plea bargain with the judge to cut down the fine against you, 15. If you cannot be put in jail for an infraction they have no way to collect the fine. 16.The Judge will try to charge you with contempt to coerce you to pay the fine. 17. You cannot be lawfully charged with contempt unless you are disrespectible to the judge. 18. If you cannot pay the fine they have to let you go because they cannot put you in jail. 19. They may summons you back to court again to pay the fine. 20. Since they cannot put you in jail and you obey all summons they will give up because they want the money and you are wasting the courts time. 21. Search yahoo or Google under Crown Temple to see who owns you and your property. 22. Under Admiralty Law you cannot have a fully informed jury, 23. Common Law is the Law of the People. Admiralty Law is the law of the king or sovereign. 24. Americans are no longer sovereigns they are subjects (slaves). 25. All courts in America are territorial Courts under Congressinal jurisdiction. jacklancaster at sbcglobal.net??????? www.jackaikenlancaster.4t.com ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 18 13:45:19 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:45:19 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Too Big To Flail Message-ID: <000701c9c05e$37814f90$a683eeb0$@net> >From my perspective again, I really don't believe President Obama is doing everything right, but then I'm astute enough to ascertain that he's not doing everything wrong either. And I am also astute enough to realize that the decisions he makes are largely influenced by those whose mega-bucks put him into office. If we as "the people" in this scenario ever stop playing into personalities and understand that there really is a "shadow government" pulling the strings behind the scenes, we might be able to regain our power. But as long as we are willing to believe the lies that we have a two-party system and we vote our choice into office without considering how much money was spent to put "whomever" there, then we might have a chance at doing something about regaining our power. Getting involved in this "divide and conquer" game that the elites play is very destructive on our part and exceedingly gainful on their part. That said, I do believe that most of what this administration and those behind it, as acted out by the Republican Party, is nothing less than shameful and disgustingly irresponsible behavior, designed to keep the American public confused. Maybe it's time to call the game by "we-the-people" setting up our own media and began to be the tail wagging the dog instead of getting wagged. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 10:10 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Too Big To Flail (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Too Big To Flail April 17, 2009 | 10:38 AM (EST) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oliver-willis/too-big-to-flail_b_188041.html This is not the Republican party I'm used to. Coming of political age in the early 1990s, I grew up with a Republican party that was downright deadly at kneecapping the political opposition, particularly President Clinton. Though eventually victorious in the court of public opinion, for his entire presidency Clinton and Hillary Clinton were constantly hounded by the Republican Noise Machine, who worked in concert with the Gingrich-led congress to do the best they could to muck up the workings of our government. Looking back at the work they did versus Al Gore and John Kerry, as well as versus figures like Howard Dean, I'm sort of amazed that they seem so impotent right now. Sure, having their candidate lose the election by over 10 million votes surely had a role, but the conservative disinformation apparatus seems to have run into the same mistake liberals (like myself) made in opposition to George W. Bush. >From the minute Bush entered the national scene, there were competing narratives pushed about him. Either he was a simpleton of the lowest order, or a cunning right-wing Machiavelli. He was either a willing tool of the torture-obsessed Dick Cheney, or he was the Decider calling all the shots. The problem we had on the left was that we pushed both of these versions of Bush relentlessly. The problem is that they directly conflict each other. He can't be both a boob and a cunning trickster at the same time. It wasn't a coherent narrative, and a narrative is what wins or loses a political career. The popular and now default vision of George W. Bush - a gross incompetent that placed unqualified cronies in positions of importance - was not a liberal meme, but one that emerged after Katrina and was cemented by the economic meltdown on his watch that has led to Bush being considered the modern day Hoover. The right, by contrast, has been very good about setting the narrative for Democratic leaders. Al Gore was a serial liar, they said. John Kerry was a phony war hero, they yelled. These attacks, no matter how detached from reality they might be, took hold because the right was consistent in their application. But something about Obama has made them flail like nobody's business. Ever since he declared his candidacy for President, they have been unable to settle on a line of attack. And what many don't realize is that the line of attack and its consistent repetition via news that reflects the thesis, is what sticks in today's media culture. The moment of the single campaign "gotcha" died when Bill Clinton survived Gennifer Flowers' early allegations. At any given moment according to the conservative disinformation apparatus (ie. Fox News, conservative blogs, and talk radio) Barack Obama is a black separatist Muslim born in Kenya who wants to surrender to Al Qaeda and Iran while forcing gay marriage on straight men and abortion on women while also being incompetent and - oh yeah - a fascist Marxist dictator. They said this when he announced his nomination, had it hit a fevered pitch in the last week of the campaign (especially at those Palin rallies) and become standard talking points as part of the teabagging protests. It won't work. In their anger about President Obama's transformational policies, they're reduced to sputtering. And America notices. Outside of the bitter, clinging 26-30% (the same people who approve of Bush and Sarah Palin), this frenzied flailing at Obama is all for naught. Not only do the disparate messages cancel each other out, but they just don't comport to reality. You could understand, if not agree with, why the accusations of elitism leveled at Al Gore and John Kerry, could stick. But as during the campaign, the mild mannered Obama pays no resemblance to the Lenin-obsessed black nationalist we hear so much about from Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Juan Williams won't ever give up his thought that Michelle Obama resembles radical Angela Davis, but what America keeps seeing is an independent, fashionable First Lady. It isn't just that the right's rhetoric about Obama is so unreal as to be laughable, but we are at a unique point in our modern politics where the unimportant "freak show" trivia that is the life blood of Fox News and Matt Drudge, has been placed in a proper context. Banks on the verge of collapse have a tendency to minimize whatever white noise is kicked up over the president's choice of DVDs for Gordon Brown. Is the noise machine dead? No. As long as there are outlets like Fox and mainstream journalists like Time's Mark Halperin and Politico's John Harris to foist a neverending torrent of nonsense on the public, the noise machine remains in business. But the severity and unreality of its rhetoric continues to fall apart as America gets to know President Obama and trust him to lead us out of the crisis some of that previous nonsense helped to create. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 18 14:19:59 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:19:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Chavez Gives Obama A History Book Message-ID: <001b01c9c063$0f405760$2dc10620$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 12:36 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Chavez Gives Obama A History Book (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) " Chavez gave Obama a copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," a book by Eduardo Galeano, which chronicles U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region." Chavez Gives Obama A History Book http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/18/chavez-gives-obama-a-book_n_188582. html MARK S. SMITH | April 18, 2009 03:12 PM EST PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - President Barack Obama offered a spirit of cooperation to America's hemispheric neighbors at a summit Saturday, listening to their complaints about past U.S. interference in the region and even reaching out to Venezuela's fiery leftist leader. While he worked to ease friction between the U.S. and leaders at the Summit of the Americas, Obama cautioned them to resist a temptation to blame all their problems on their behemoth neighbor to the North. "I have a lot to learn and I very much look forward to listening and figuring out how we can work together more effectively," Obama said. Obama said he was ready to accept Cuban President Raul Castro's proposal of talks on issues once off-limits for Cuba, including the scores of political prisoners held by the communist government. While praising America's initial effort to thaw relations with Havana, the leaders pushed the U.S. to go further and lift the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the communist nation. To Latin American nations reeling from a sudden plunge in exports, Obama promised a new hemispheric growth fund, an initiative to increase Caribbean security and a new regional partnership to develop alternative energy sources and fight global warming. As the first full day of meetings began on the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, Obama exchanged handshakes and pats on the back with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who once likened President George W. Bush to the devil. In front of photographers, Chavez gave Obama a copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," a book by Eduardo Galeano, which chronicles U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region. When a reporter asked Obama what he thought of the book, the president replied: "I thought it was one of Chavez' books. I was going to give him one of mine." White House advisers said they didn't know if Obama would read it or not. Later, during a group photo, Obama reached behind several leaders at the summit to shake Chavez' hand for the third time. Obama summoned a translator and the two smiled and spoke briefly. Those two exchanges followed a brief grip and grin for cameras on Friday night when Obama greeted Chavez in Spanish. "I think it was a good moment," Chavez said about their initial encounter. "I think President Obama is an intelligent man, compared to the previous U.S. president." The White House said Chavez was civil in his criticism of the U.S. during a summit meeting, but that there was no discussion of reinstating ambassadors who were kicked out of each other's countries last year. "Relationships depend on more than smiles and handshakes," Obama economic adviser Larry Summers told reporters later. Bolivia President Evo Morales, a close ally of Chavez, said Obama's pledge of a new era of mutual respect toward Latin America rings hollow. "Obama said three things: There are neither senior or junior partners. He said relations should be of mutual respect, and he spoke of change," Morales said. "In Bolivia ... one doesn't feel any change. The policy of conspiracy continues." Morales expelled U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg in September and kicked out the Drug Enforcement Administration the next month for allegedly conspiring with the political opposition to incite violence. Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador in Venezuela in solidarity. The Bush administration subsequently suspended trade preferences to Bolivia that local business leaders say could cost 20,000 jobs. In an opening speech to the 34-nation gathering on Friday, the president promised a new agenda for the Americas, as well as a new style. "We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms," Obama said to loud applause. "But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations." He also extended a hand to a leader Ronald Reagan spent years trying to drive from power: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega. The Sandinista president stepped up and introduced himself, U.S. officials reported. Yet soon after, Ortega, who was ousted in 1990 elections that ended Nicaragua's civil war but who was returned to power by voters in 2006, delivered a blistering 50-minute speech that denounced capitalism and U.S. imperialism as the root of much hemispheric mischief. The address even recalled the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, though Ortega said the new U.S. president could not be held to account for that. "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old," Obama said, to laughter and applause from the other leaders. But perhaps the biggest applause line was his call for a fresh start in relations between Washington and Havana. Earlier this week, Obama ordered an easing of travel and remittance restrictions for Americans with relatives in Cuba. Within hours, Castro _ who took over from his ailing brother Fidel a year ago _ responded with an offer of talks on "everything" that divides the two countries. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 18 16:57:07 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:57:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Child Obesity Is Linked to Chemicals in Plastics Message-ID: <000001c9c079$02869500$0793bf00$@net> -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:06 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Child Obesity Is Linked to Chemicals in Plastics (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/child-obesity-is-linked-to-chem icals-in-plastics/ Child Obesity Is Linked to Chemicals in Plastics By Jennifer 8. Lee Exposure to chemicals used in plastics may be linked with childhood obesity, according to results from a long-term health study on girls who live in East Harlem and surrounding communities that were presented to community leaders on Thursday by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center. The chemicals in question are called phthalates, which are used to to make plastics pliable and in personal care products. Phthalates, which are absorbed into the body, are a type of endocrine disruptor - chemicals that affect glands and hormones that regulate many bodily functions. They have raised concerns as possible carcinogens for more than a decade, but attention over their role in obesity is relatively recent. The research linking endocrine disruptors with obesity has been growing recently. A number of animal studies have shown that exposing mice to some endocrine disruptors causes them be more obese. Chemicals that have raised concern include Bisphenol A (which is used in plastics) and perfluorooctanoic acid, which is often used to create nonstick surfaces. However, the East Harlem study, which includes data published in the journal Epidemiology, presents some of the first evidence linking obesity and endocrine disruptors in humans. The researchers measured exposure to phthalates by looking at the children's urine. "The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates metabolites in their urine," said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai, one of the lead researchers on the study. "It goes up as the children get heavier, but it's most evident in the heaviest kids." This builds upon a larger Mount Sinai research effort called "Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem," which has looked at various health factors in East Harlem children over the last 10 years, including pesticides, diet and even proximity to bodegas. About 40 percent of the children in East Harlem are considered either overweight or obese. "When we say children, I'm talking about kindergarten children, we are talking about little kids," Dr. Landrigan said. "This is a problem that begins early in life." The Growing Up Healthy study involves more than 300 children in East Harlem, and an additional 200 or so children in surrounding community. The phthalate study follows a separate group of about 400 girls in the same communities, who range in age from 9 to 11. One thing researchers have found is that the levels of phthalates measured in children in both studies are significantly higher than the average levels that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have measured for children across the entire United States. The findings may presage a new approach to thinking about obesity - drawing environmental factors into a central part of the equation. "Most people think childhood obesity is an imbalance between how much they eat and how much they play," Dr. Landrigan said. But he thinks the impact of endocrine disruptors on obesity could be more significant than many people believe. "Most people think it's marginal," he said, paling in comparison with diet and exercise. But he likened it with the impact of lead on a child's I.Q. "Lead never makes more than 3 or 4 percent difference in margin, but 3 to 5 I.Q. points is a big deal," he said. Of course, at this stage, researchers cannot say if the exposure actually causes obesity, simply that it seems to be linked. "Right now it's a correlation; we don't know if it's cause and effect or an accidental finding," Dr. Landrigan said. "The $64,000 question is, what is causal pathway? Does it go through the thyroid gland? Does it change fat metabolism?" The National Children's Study, which will follow 100,000 children from across the country from birth to age 21, will look more broadly at endocrine disruptors and other issues. "Some of the clues that come out of East Harlem will actually be pursued in the larger one," Dr. Landrigan said. Meanwhile, Dr. Landrigan advised people to reduce their exposure to phthalates as a precautionary measure. "You can't avoid them completely, but you can certainly reduce their exposure," he said. It's somewhat difficult to do, since many things do not contain labels identifying phthalates, and in the case of perfumes they can simply be labeled as "fragrance." Phthalates are found in certain personal care products (like nail polish and cosmetics), though recent regulation has encouraged companies to reduce or eliminate them. They are also found in common everyday objects, including vinyl siding, toys and pacifiers. A number of environmental Web sites, including The Daily Green, have advised certain strategies, including learning to recognize the abbreviations for certain common phthalates and to prefer certain kinds of recyclable plastics over others. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat Apr 18 14:17:52 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:17:52 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Absolutely Must Read: FW: The Constitution Con Message-ID: <001501c9c062$c404d9b0$4c0e8d10$@net> Thanks to Bob Taft for forwarding this document which shines more light into the situation. Note Bob?s use of the words: ?Founding Scoundrels? which bears out what I was writing about yesterday. Yet, we have been brain-washed by so many years of alterations in school text books designed to meet the powers that be needs, we think that life today with all of its horrors and deceitfulness is ?normal?. From: BOB TAFT [mailto:rbtaft at rtconnect.net] Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 12:27 PM To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Subject: The Constitution Con This is an interesting article if long-winded, which I'll have to read in its entirety after a bit of eye work. It may have some errors, such as saying that only the anti-republican Madison kept notes of the meeting, yet as it looks like a well composed exposition of the Founding Scoundrels, it must be worthy of being passed on for any and all errors it may contain. After a couple hundred years of government school brain-scrubbing, along with Constitutional monopolies in mind control like our life-tenured Roman judicial system, Roman Senate (our House of Lords), it's little wonder the bulk of the un-thinking masses find it impossible to even weep for the freedoms they so willingly surrendered in 1787. Most people are so loathe to be left out of the group-think that they will fall for any scam, the bigger the better, and as far as our little dozen-year experiment in American Freedom was concerned, maybe that's the extent of self-responsibility any society can handle in this age. If any are still unfamiliar with John Lansing, please read the RumorMill piece below my signature. Best regards, Bob Taft The Taft Ranch Upton, Wyoming (307) 465-2206 http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=74897 "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." AESOP http://www.taroscopes.com/miscellanous-pages/weapons-additional.html The Constitution Con Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit - (Jeremiah 5:26) Slavery by word and parchment idolatry. The US Constitution was created on September 17, 1787, and was ratified (behind closed doors) on June 21, 1788. Thirty nine of the fifty five delegates, who attended the Philadelphia Convention, signed the document. Their con job is evident from the very first line penned. Legally, the "People" allegedly mentioned, are not sovereign. They are merely willing slaves who have been granted the illusion of freedom. >From an occult point of view, the Constitution was ratified on an Atonist festival day. It is a patently Solar Cult document. This is because the date of ratification was June 21st, the day when the sun ascends to its highest point in the zodiac. Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, were three of the men who framed the infernal Constitution, and pushed for its ratification. Their document served the American aristocracy, not the people. In fact, the document was never put before the people for ratification. This is because it was openly opposed by the majority of men and women in the original thirteen states. The Constitutionalists were guileful traitors whose attendance at the Philadelphia Convention was kept secret for an entire generation. Their document served to leave the "door" of America unlocked and ajar, so that the country's foreign enemies could surreptitiously re-enter in the days and years following the supposed War of Independence. The hypocrisy and duplicity of the Federalists is directly responsible for the present rise of fascism and advent of the New World Order. We consider these men little more than British agents, because King George himself - the man who declared eternal war on America - could not have done as much damage to America as their actions wrought. Such a tyrannical future where property rights would be ignored, where a massive standing army would lurk unchallengeable, where Congressmen would hold office for life, where ruinous treaties would be commonplace, where Presidential powers would make Nero jealous, where gold and silver would vanish from circulation to be replaced by the worthless "notes" of a private banking conglomeration, where the States would be reduced to mere administrative departments of the feds, and where the grasp of taxation would actually reach into the common laborer's paycheck - all this was too fantastic to be even theoretically contemplated during the ratification debates - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) When the duplicitous Hamilton was questioned as to why he helped draft the Constitution, he guardedly replied: My motives must remain in the depository of my own breast. He was but one member of the Philadelphia Convention who secretly resented the independence of America. One perceptive dissenter realized this, and wrote: The Continental convention...was composed of some men of excellent characters; of others who were more remarkable for their ambition and cunning, than their patriotism; and of some who have been opponents to the independence of the United States - (Dissenting Address of the Pennsylvanian Convention, 18 December 1787) James Madison is considered the "father" of the US Constitution. He was heavily influenced, as were many American politicians, by the philosophy of French aristocrat Baron de Montesquieu, who believed in rule by monarchy. Madison was also influenced by the writings of the British empiricist philosopher John Locke, who was "a major investor in the English slave-trade through the Royal Africa Company." Madison was vehemently opposed to state independence, and he pushed the Constitution to keep power well and truly out of the hands of ordinary Americans. He openly advocated an anti-republican ideology, and explained how the illiterate masses should be divided and controlled: Where a majority are united by a common sentiment, and have an opportunity, the rights of the minor party become insecure. In a republican government the majority, if united, have always an opportunity. The only remedy is to enlarge the sphere and thereby divide the community into so great a number of interests and parties that, in the first place, a majority will not be likely, at the same moment, to have a common interest separate from that of the whole, or of the minority; and, in the second place, that, in case they should have such an interest, they may not be so apt to unite in the pursuit of it - (Elliot's Debates, Vol. 5) Madison was the only delegate to keep records of proceedings at the Convention. However, his notes were not made public until four years after his death. They had been thoroughly edited. The con is evident from the Constitution's Preamble, as we said. In fact, the "People" referred to, are not the citizens of America, the rank and file. No! They are the elites who rule from within the quite separate precinct known as the District of Columbia. This district is under federal control, and the government operating from within it is, legally speaking, a foreign institution. "We the People" denotes this separate ruling elite. It refers to the imperious overlords who have granted the Constitution to the masses within the "United States of America," the non-sovereign nation under their control. Therefore, the entity mentioned in the first line of the Preamble is not the same entity as is mentioned in the last line: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. This is what the Preamble subtextually infers: WE THE RULING ARISTOCRACY, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution FOR THE SLAVES WITHOUT RIGHTS, UNDER OUR FEDERAL CONTROL. Because "People" is capitalized it is a proper noun referring to a specific body of people - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) These facts explain why the word "for" is to be found in the last line, and not the word "of." Legally, there is a big difference between: ...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. and: ...do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America. The first rendering implies that the Constitution has been granted to one body by another. Ergo, the Constitution is nothing more than a totalitarian document, ratifying aristocratic control over the "United States of America," and its inhabitants. The elites are literally saying; "This document and its articles are for you." The point being, that it is not of you, meaning, it is not yours by natural right. The word "for" indicates that the matter of the document is bestowed by another. And of course, when a person gives someone something, they presumably want something in return. This was certainly the case for the Federalists who conceived the Constitution. Suggestively, the word "of" does appear in a meaningful legal declaration. It appears in the text of the Presidential Oath: I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. In this instance, the word "of" designates the President as a member of the aristocratic elite. He is, therefore, a ruler separate from the citizens in the states, and of the nation. The "for" does not apply to the President because, unlike the masses, he is not an outsider. He is part of the inner sovereign circle referenced by the word "of." The Constitution is "of" the ruling elite, but is "for" the masses. In effect, the Constitution is a schizophrenic document. There are two constitutions; one for the mass servant class, and one for the oligarchs ruling from within the District of Columbia. This is why the Preamble contains two different terms: the "United States" (denoting the oligarchy and their authority), and "United States of America" (denoting the non-sovereign masses on the receiving end). If the Presidential Oath read as follows, there would be less cause for concern: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States of America, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. But then again, pigs might fly. Alarmingly, before it was dropped, the President's original title was "His Excellency." Many critics and authors have pointed out these disturbing facts. They insist that the so-called "United States" is not the same thing as the so-called "United States of America." Nevertheless, due to deliberate misinformation and conditioning, most people do believe that the terms refer to one and the same entity. They are certainly not inclined to think of the "United States" (the U.S.) as a foreign corporation. Furthermore, the drafters of the Constitution intentionally saw to it that the term "United States" had more than one meaning. Specifically, they knew the term did not refer to citizens of a state. Once-upon-a-time, in America, you could have been a citizen of a state without being a citizen of the nation. This political idiosyncrasy did not suit the Federalists, and so they ingeniously manipulated the words and terms we have become familiar with. It is a old trick, and it serves the cause of totalitarians no end. ...not only were the poly meanings of "United States" intentionally and expressly used within the Constitution, but often in ways as to actually invite confusion. For such brilliant men to explain three jurisdictional concepts would, on its face, pose a great mystery - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) When members of the police or military swear to serve, uphold, and protect the Constitution, and the "United States," they probably imagine that their oath is sworn to the American people. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are, in fact, swearing to give their labor, and possibly their very lives, for the diabolical corporate executives of Washington D.C. Oaths of allegiance are fine, as long as you know who or what your swearing to. Hologram of Liberty, by K. W. Royce. Probably the best book dealing with the con of the Constitution. In short, the U.S. and the U.S.A., are not the same thing. The alleged "People" are not, therefore, free and sovereign members of a country, as they would have been under the Articles of Confederation that were drawn up after the War of Independence. No, they were, and still are, merely employees of a privately run corporation. They do not have rights, they have provisionally granted privileges. They have liberty, but do not have permanent and inviolable sovereignty or freedom. The Constitution, as currently interpreted, now resembles what the Founding Lawyers truly desired in their aristocratic heart of hearts. Two centuries of history have lifted the veil from that picture of Dorian Gray, leaving us with the Hag of Hegemony - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) The State...both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him - Albert Jay Nock (Our Enemy, the State) The wordsmithery and duplicity served to strengthen Federal power. Because of the Constitution, the populace have been intentionally stripped of their sovereign rights. It is also because of this particular chicanery that Americans presently find themselves politically and economically compromised. The Federalist plan was nothing less than an act of war. It was the plan of agent provocateurs and fifth columnists. Only a very few authors have stated this in so many words. However, we are convinced that the early Federalists were ministers of the Crown. They accomplished with their pens what armed legions failed to do by open war. We believe that after the Constitution was ratified, Americans became, in effect, subjects of the aristocracy. The king who hated America, did not resend his army to attack with force of arms. He knew the country could be conquered and brought under British control by other means: The phrase "direct and immediate allegiance" is something right out of feudal law...Americans who became "U.S. citizens" have transposed themselves from one system into another fundamentally different from the first...Americans have unknowingly joined a modern feudal system in which they must render a percentage of their toil to their federal master - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) The non-federal state Citizenship became virtually unknown as millions of state Americans were tricked out of their sovereignty and into federal citizenship - and thus into federal jurisdiction. Today, the states have been all but replaced by corporate, federal overlays...There's probably not enough left of the original states for Americans to resume state Citizenship - ibid These facts show that the Constitution was not a progressive document. On the contrary, its cunning drafters concocted it knowing that it would help to usher in the kind of Merchant State system that flourished earlier in America, before the War of Independence, and shortly after the first settlers arrived, with their British system of law. As Albert Jay Nock explains: The fundamental fact to be observed in any survey of the American State's initial development is the one whose importance was first remarked, I believe, by Mr. Beard; that the trading-company - the commercial corporation for colonization - was actually an autonomous State. "Like the State," says Mr. Beard, "it had a constitution, a charter issued by the Crown...it had a territorial basis, a grant of land often greater in area than a score of European principalities...every essential element long afterward found in the government of the American State appeared in the chartered corporation that started English civilization in America" - (Our Enemy, the State) Nock goes on to emphasize the connections between the "Old World" system of control, and the so-called "New World" system: ...the system of civil order established in America was the State-system of the "mother countries"...the only thing that distinguished it was that the exploited and dependant class was situated at an unusual distance from the owning and exploiting class. The headquarters of the autonomous State were on one side of the Atlantic, and its subjects on the other. The elites of Britain and Europe knew that remote control was only feasible for a short time. They knew they had to have their agents on site in order for the engines of exploitation to work efficiently. Consequently, in 1628, during the reign of Charles I, the oligarchs established the Massachusetts Bay Company in America. Many of the Constitution's most illustrious signers became wealthy from their memberships of corporations such as the Massachusetts Bay Company, which overflowed with agents of the British Crown. Business the American way is, it seems, business the British way. While it is not surprising that America's Founding Fathers were mostly slave owners, a legal activity, it may be surprising to discover that they were often smugglers as well. Profits from drug running, smuggling, slave trading, and even piracy are directly responsible for the founding of several of the country's most important banks, which are still in operation today. New England's staunch insurance business was born and prospered through profits earned from insuring opium and slave ships. The large railroad system that was built throughout the continental United States in the nineteenth century was funded with profits from illegal drug smuggling. And one of the greatest opium fortunes would provide seed money for the telephone and communications industry - Steven Sora (Secret Societies of America's Elite) Of course, there were clever men who knew what was going on. Even before the Constitution - the document of servitude - was signed and ratified, the warnings went out: That investigation into the nature and construction of the new constitution, which the conspirators have so long and zealously struggled against, has, notwithstanding their partial success, so far taken place as to ascertain the enormity of their criminality. That system which was pompously displayed as the perfection of government, proves upon examination to be the most odious system of tyranny that was ever projected, a many headed hydra of despotism, whose complicated and various evils would be infinitely more oppressive and afflictive than the scourge of any tyrant - "Centinel" (Essay 12, 23 January 1788) The anonymous author of this diatribe would not be in the least bit surprised to see the present state of decay, and neither would Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, or Andrew Jackson. They would simply know that their darkest fears were justified. The rise of imperialist fascism in America is, as we said, the direct result of the door of America being deliberately left ajar. The enemies of America could creep in at any time. And creep in they did. They were confident that the country would eventually fall into their hands. They knew their agents were well ensconced within the country, and that they would use their positions of authority within government and big business to gradually undermine the Articles of Confederation, that did guarantee each and every American, regardless of class, the rights they deserved. They knew they simply had to continue employing the "divide and rule" tactic to further their nationalist interests. The lunatic tyrant King George III had adamantly proclaimed his utter hatred for the American rebels. He openly declared "eternal" war on America, and his word was law to his industrious lieutenants. True to form, agents of the British Crown have been waging eternal war on the country ever since their despicable master's day. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was America's true Constitution before it was cunningly derided and overruled by self-serving traitors known, in today's parlance, as Globalists or Internationalists. The men who undermined the Articles of the Confederation, and who hustled the Constitution, have had statues and portraits raised in their honor. Volumes have been written about their deeds, but rarely has the truth been told. Throughout America and the world, the traitors are still lauded as great revolutionaries, thinkers, and humanitarians. Their ideological descendants now openly and unashamedly work hand in hand with British and European oligarchs. They still use fear and panic to further their agendas, and still work to erode what is left of the privileges once bestowed upon their slaves. We have "federal sheriffs" beyond imagination. There are forty six civilian agencies of the Federal Government whose agents carry guns and have the power to make arrests. These "great insults on the people" have been allowed because there is little we can do about them, short of armed rebellion. And by the way, no laws authorizing "civil forfeiture" or other related measures of tyranny have been struck down by the federal courts - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) We have plenty of rights in this country, provided you don't get caught exercising them - Terry Mitchell (Editor of The Revolutionary Toker) Patrick Henry was one patriot who understood what was going on. He did not attend the Convention in Philadelphia, and said: "I smell a rat." He was dead right. But there was more than one stinking human rat running loose at the Convention. The traitors referred to themselves as Federalists because they knew the people would tend to think of them as servants of America. And they were right. Their smokescreen worked wonderfully. Today, the misuse of words and terms continues. George Bush's "Patriot Acts," dupe the uninformed masses, and gives them the impression that it is patriotic to give up hard won rights and privileges in turn for government protection. For centuries, pillage by invading armies was a normal part of warfare?Nowadays, at least in more civilized countries, we do not let armies rampage for booty. We leave the pillaging to men in suits, and we don?t call it pillaging anymore. We call it economic development - Brian Whitaker (The Guardian) The Bushes did as their predecessors had done two hundred years ago. The Federalist traitors hurried the ratification process along, and gave the Convention delegates and American people little time to scrutinize the Constitution's articles. George W. Bush did likewise when it came to his scurrilous Patriot Acts. Moreover, he personally saw to it that the investigation into the causes of the September Eleventh tragedy was hampered and limited: President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle?to limit the Congressional investigation into the events of September 11, Congressional and White House sources told CNN?The request was made at a private meeting with Congressional leaders - Gore Vidal (Dreaming War) George W. Bush's lack of regard for the Constitution is not unique. He is a Globalist, and does not serve America. He is one of many men who have used the Constitution as a stepping stone toward what might be described as an United World Super State. Nowadays the conspirators who have labored toward this utopian chimera, appear to be less inclined to conceal the reasons for their intrigue. As George W. Bush put it: It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance - (Address to the UN General Assembly, February 1 1992) The world can therefore seize the opportunity (the Persian Gulf crisis) to fulfill the long held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind - (State of the Union Address, January 29 1991) Author Forrest MacDonald clarified the issue concerning the undermining of the Articles of Confederation. In his book entitled Alexander Hamilton: A Biography, he wrote: What did determine the outcome were the rules of the contest, which Hamilton played an important part in formulating. The convention decided to disregard the amendment procedures prescribed in the Articles of Confederation and instead provided that each state should hold a special election for delegates to a ratifying convention...Had the rules of the Articles of Confederation been adhered to, the Constitution would never have been adopted. The dissenters knew what lay in store, and they were very worried. Their warnings went largely unheard, and the ratification of the Constitution hurriedly commenced, regardless of the warnings of many perceptive critics: It is insisted, indeed, that this constitution must be received, be it ever so imperfect. But remember, when the people once part with power, they can seldom or never resume it again by by force. Many instances can be produced in which the people have voluntarily increased the powers of their rulers; but few, if any, in which rulers have willingly abridged their authority - "Brutus" ( Essay 1, 18 October 1787) Consider what you are about to do before your part with this Government. Take longer time in reckoning things: Revolutions like this have happened in almost every country in Europe: Similar examples are...ancient Greece and ancient Rome: Instances of the people losing their liberty by their own carelessness and the ambition of a few - Patrick Henry (Speech of 5 June 1878) Does it not insult your judgment to tell you, Adopt first, and then amend?...Is your rage for novelty so great, that you are first to sign and seal, and then retract?...agree to bind yourself hand and foot - for the sake of what? of being unbound?...to go into a dungeon - for what? To get out? Is there no danger, when you go in, that the bolts of federal authority shall shut you in? - Patrick Henry (Speech to the Virginia ratifying assembly 1788) I look upon the Constitution as the most fatal plan that could be possibly be conceived to enslave a free people - ibid No sooner was the Constitution ratified, than the oligarchs began acting tyrannically toward the American people. President George Washington, who presided over the signing of the Constitution (and who was a member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, the Mississippi Company, and the Potomac Company) sent 13,000 armed troops to violently stamp out the so-called Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. This rebellion was against heavy taxation. The victims of government oppression soon discovered that they could not use the Constitution to receive justice. It contained little provision for the under-classes. It gave total suzerainty to the courts and judges, not to the people or the states. To all intents and purposes, it was as if the War of Independence had never been fought. The tyranny continued in 1798, with the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made criticism of federal officials a punishable offence. The Constitution served to strengthen the powers of the wealthy aristocratic class in America. It possessed few benefits for the average citizen, and ultimately legalized widespread acts of confiscation and extortion. As Thomas Jefferson once remarked: "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." The point is emphasized by Constitutional scholar and author Kenneth W. Royce: If analyzed in contrast to history since 1787, it appears that the Constitution was purposely laden with several components designed to nearly guarantee the gradual expansion of the Federal Government - at the expense of the States and the people - (Hologram of Liberty) Patrick Henry is known for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential (and radical) advocates of the American Revolution and republicanism, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials - (Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia) The Founding Fathers may have referred to themselves as Federalists. But this was, as we said, yet one more cunning play on words. Master propagandists, such as Vladimir Lenin, probably learned tactics from America's faux Federalists. The original Federalists demanded a government of limited powers, and were for state power. Their needs were ably met by the Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. After the War of Independence (1775 to 1783), Americans had the Constitution forced upon them. Ever since then Americans have been duped about the prestige of the document. The people and representatives of the original thirteen states were not allowed enough time to decide whether the document was sound or not. Patrick Henry questioned the haste, and warned of the consequences of accepting the Constitution without due consideration and debate. He knew that state representatives needed at least a year to mull over the articles of the Constitution. He spoke out and said: Why then tell us of dangers to terrify us into an adoption of this new Government? And yet who knows the dangers that this new system may produce; they are out of sight of the common people: They cannot foresee latent consequences: I dread the operation of it on the middling and lower class of people: It is for them I fear the adoption of this system...I see jeopardy in this new Government. I see none from our present one. As we said, the Constitution's articles scandalously allowed the Supreme Court to possess almost unlimited legal powers: No country has given its courts such extraordinary power. Not Britain, where an act of Parliament binds the courts. Not India...Not even West Germany or Ireland, where the power of judicial review is established but exercised on a narrower scale. The President is elected. State legislators and Governors are elected. Supreme Court Justices are not elected: they are appointed for life - Archibald Cox (The Court and the Constitution) Despite widespread resistance, and a spirit of animosity toward the Constitution's articles, its cheerleaders Madison, Hamilton, Franklin and Washington relentlessly pressed on. They ensured that resistance to their will was summarily suppressed. Most troublesome to the framers of the Constitution was the increasing insurgent spirit evidenced among the people. Fearing the popular takeover of state governments, the wealthy class looked to a national government as a means of protecting their interests. Even in states where they were inclined to avoid strong federation, the rich, once faced with the threat of popular rule and realizing that a political alliance with conservatives from other states would be a safeguard if the radicals could capture the state government...gave up 'state rights' for 'nationalism' without hesitation - Michael Parenti (Democracy for the Few) Within a month after the 17 September signing, a torrent of anti-constitution essays appeared in the newspapers, pleasing for prudent wisdom. This horrified three particular federalists, who quickly went on the editorial offensive in what was to be a staggering 85 essays totaling some 175,000 words. The Federalist Papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to defend the proposed Constitution...Hamilton, Madison, and Jay hid for years behind the pseudonym "Publius"...to conceal from the public their true identities, and Convention attendance - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) George Washington addressing the delegates during the signing of the US Constitution. Benjamin Franklin (a member of the English Hell Fire Club) is show in the center of the canvas. His design for the Seal of the United States depicted Moses leading the Children of Israel across the Red Sea. Franklin's nickname among his elite secret society chums was "Moses." Like his many Masonic associates in America, England, and France, he was an Atonist or, in conventional parlance, a Luciferian. His backers were powerful royal figures such as Charles de Lorraine and the Duke d'Orleans. The last thing on his mind was freedom for the American people. He was a wealthy speculator in land, and a member of the Vandalia Company, whose land grant happened (coincidentally of course) to have been awarded by the British Crown. (Click pic for full scene.) The secretiveness of the proceedings at the Convention reinforced the suspicions of many critics of the Constitution. Kenneth W. Royce tell us: Little wonder why the Constitution operated under such extraordinary secrecy. Held on the second floor, windows shut, with sentries posted below, the delegates were sworn to strict silence. Not until 32 years later (a generation, you see) were the proceeding's Journals published. Madison's notes (thoroughly edited) weren't published until 53 years later, in 1840. Royce also comments on the measures taken by the Federalists to conceal the infighting that took place among delegates at the Convention: Great propaganda measures were employed to conceal the Convention's true atmosphere of acrimonious dissent. The state of affairs was noted by a journalist, who wrote: So great is the unanimity, we hear, that prevails in the Convention, upon all great federal subjects, that it has been proposed to call the room in which they assemble - Unanimity Hall - (Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, 19 July 1787) Fifty five delegates attended the Philadelphia Convention - forty one politicians and thirty four lawyers. Not a single person from the working class was present. Those men who attempted to delay proceedings, by boycotting the Convention, were sought out by troops and forcibly dragged to the Convention hall. Electing the respected General George Washington as Convention president, with the added presence of Benjamin Franklin, was responsible for much of the public's "false confidences." Of the 55 delegates, 41 were politicians and 34 were lawyers...According to delegate James McHenry, at least 21 of the 55 delegates favored some form of monarchy - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) Prime mover in the conspiracy to undermine the Articles of Confederation was the traitor Alexander Hamilton. In a book entitled The Federalist Papers, author Douglas Adair comments on Hamilton's dilemma: Hamilton's disillusion with the workings of the Confederation and his fear of democracy, especially after Shay's Rebellion, had convinced him that it would be almost impossible to set up a stable republic in a country as large as the United States. As he informed the Convention, any society in which political power was vested in the hands of all the people would be continually torn by the class struggles of the rich and poor. Hamilton's remedy for this class war the Hobbesian expedient of setting up a leviathan state to impose order upon the American People from above, Hamilton was sure that the only alternative to social anarchy was the establishment of a consolidated government capable of maintaining itself independently of the people's will. Hamilton's tactics worked. He knew the mindset of the men he represented. He knew that all he had to do was instill enough fear into the delegates to achieve the desired result. Federalists and Globalists continue to employ this type of ruse to further their agendas. It is little more than conflict control. That was the genius of the Constitution: To 1. utterly transform political reality without the people understanding it; 2. destroy the States without sound or smoke and 3. foist a government destined to become, over the distant horizon, fully national in scope and authority. By the time the States and the people would realize they'd been trumped, it would be too late - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) Hamilton, Madison, and their Federalist gang of conspirators, were ecstatic over the success of their "divide and rule" tactics. After the damage was done, Madison bragged about the debacle he had deliberately helped foment: One anti-federalist opinion tell us that the proposed constitution ought to be rejected because it is not a confederation of the States, but a government over individuals. Another admits that it ought to be a government over individuals to a certain extent but by no means to extent proposed. A third does not object to a government over individuals but to the want of a bill of rights. A fourth concurs in the absolute necessity of a bill of rights but contends that it ought to be declaratory, not for the personal rights of individuals, but of the rights reserved to the States in their political capacity. A fifth is of the opinion that a bill of rights of any sort would be superfluous and misplaced and that the plan would be unexceptional except for the fatal power of regulating the times and place of elections. Thomas Jefferson (principle author of the Declaration of Independence) was appalled at the liberties taken by Hamilton, and by those he continued taking in the years following the Constitution's ratification. He noticed that Hamilton was contemptuous of the Constitution that he himself had cheerled, and that he was ambitiously attempting to obtain even broader powers for central government. Hamilton soon proposed changes that were well outside the scope of the Constitution's rules. Obviously, the Constitution was merely one means to many ends, for Hamilton and his self-serving aristocratic cronies. Incensed by Hamilton's scheming, Jefferson wrote: I will not suffer...the slanders of Hamilton whose history, from the moment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only received and given him bread, but heaped honors on his head - (Jefferson to Washington, 1792) Eventually, even Hamilton's colleague James Madison, began to chafe at his obvious disdain for the people and the Constitutional provisos: As Madison watched Hamilton's program develop, he became disillusioned and bitter. In the Convention he had fought to create a Constitution under which 'the interests and rights of every class of citizen should be duly represented and understood.' Now he saw the machinery of his new government being used to exploit the mass of the people in the interest of a small minority - Douglas Adair (The Federalist Papers) Among Hamilton's most insidious programs, was the creation of the first private bank. Hamilton pushed for the establishment of this scurrilously extortionist organization. His co-conspirator was the arch-traitor Robert Morris, who was undoubtedly an agent of European aristocracy. Financier Nicholas Biddle, was president of the Second National Bank of the United States, established in 1817. He was a servant of the Jesuits, and may have been in contact with the Rothschilds, or with their predecessors, the Hahns. Jewish financier Haym Solomon. A precursor to the Rothschilds, he was a close colleague of Robert Morris. The intrigue of affluent Jewish financier families has been tracked and delineated by several authors. The insidious pirate, slave-trader, and arch-traitor Robert Morris was the buddy of Alexander Hamilton and Haym Solomon. In 1791, he was appointed U.S. Superintendent of Finance. Norman Dodd, Research Director of the 1950s Reese Commission (that investigated America's tax-exempt foundations), finally uncovered the dirt on Morris, and wrote: Robert Morris (signer of the Declaration of Independence) was the personality in this country who used his fortune to finance the Continental army and at the end of the revolution, Mr. Morris found himself diluted of his fortune. So after the revolution was over he then turned his attention to, as an individual, of rebuilding a fortune and his area of activity was in land speculation. At that time he was contacted by an agent of wealth lodged abroad and this wealth was represented by an entity which is historically referred to as the ?House of Orange.? However, we did know the agent of the House of Orange who contacted Robert Morris after he began to rebuild his fortune, and that personality was a man by the name of Haym Saloman, and he was an agent of the House of Orange in this country, and it was through him that Mr. Morris was offered considerable financial accommodation, which would enable him to, working capital, you might say, to rebuild his fortune. Haym Soloman was, of course, a servant of the Jewish Kahal and Jesuit Order. Like the Rothschilds, who rose to power shortly after his time, Solomon was a lackey of European royalty - the Hanoverians, Hapsburgs, Stuarts, and their related houses. King George III (America's arch-enemy) was a senior member of the Dutch House of Orange, or Hanover. The royals maintain control over their disposable lieutenants by way of Masonic societies such as the Skull and Bones, and Bohemian Club. The double-headed eagle (emblem of Scottish Rite Masonry) is identical to the royal arms of European dynasties such as the Hapsburgs. These royal dynasties own corporations and businesses all over the world, and have the power and skill to purchase and use men as easily as they do companies. Of course, they themselves do not openly show their colors. They are discreet, and prefer to exercise control through devious but disposable agents, faceless companies, and shadowy banking houses. One of the most important aristocratically controlled engines is the Soci?t? G?n?rale de Belgique (Society General of Belgium). From 1840 to 1870 (before the Rothschilds were handed the wheel), this financial consortium was directly controlled by Belgium's King Leopold II, grandson of Queen Victoria, and member of the powerful Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty. The Society was actually founded in 1822, by non other than King William I, of the House of Orange. America's number one enemy, King George III, was of the same royal line as William I. Their ancestor, Duchess Sophia of Hanover, was heir to the English throne. Her son became King George I of Great Britain. His grandson was the infamous King George III. These monarchs were members of the so-called "Black Nobility" of Venice and Holland. By way of their financial consortiums they, and their family members, maintained control remotely over their colonies, and that includes America. The corporate name that is assigned to that entity, as the 18th turned into the 19th century, is called Societie Genearale de Belgique, which is the largest accumulation of privately controlled tangible wealth in the world - Andrew Power (Ireland: Land of the Pharaohs) William of Orange it was...who established the original SGDB which was to finance the growth of a great part of Belgian industry and which today remains by far the most important single force in the country?s economic life. La Generale list the Belgian royal family as well as the Vatican among its shareholders in addition to that all-powerful family alliance behind Belgian finances ? the Solvays, the Boels and the Janssens?In 1838 the rival Banque de Belgique succumbed to the general crisis in Europe and closed its doors but the SGDB, supported by the Rothschilds, remained open, paying out coin against the notes issued by its competitor - ibid Prince Bernhard is known to be an influential member of the SGDB, a mysterious organization that seems to be an association of large corporate interests from many countries. American firms associated with this society are said to be among the large corporations whose officers are members of the Council on Foreign Relations and related organizations ? Dan Smoot (The Invisible Government) Because of the intervention of men such as Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, the Federalist program to socially and economically undermine America temporarily failed. But time was on the side of the conspiring Nationalists. The second Federal Bank was finally established six years later, in 1816. President Monroe appointed the Jesuit agent Nicholas Biddle as its first president. Nicholas Biddle, another one of their agents, carried out phase two of the Jesuit attack. Biddle was a brilliant financier, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen. He was a master of the science of money. By the time that Jackson had come to the Presidency in 1828, Biddle was in full control of the Federal government?s central bank. This was not the first time that a central bank had been established. Twice before, first under Robert Morris, and then under Alexander Hamilton, had a central bank been tried, but in both cases it had failed because of fraudulent actions on the part of the bankers who were in control. After the war of 1812, a central bank was tried again, and it was in this third attempt that we find Mr. Biddle - Bill Hughes (The Secret Terrorists) Wilhelm IX, Elector of Hesse-Kassel. He employed Mayer Amschel Rothschild. We must inquire why such a royal would employ and promote a Jewish ghetto-dweller. The scandalous intrigue of affluent and influential Jewish financier families, such as Rothschild, Oppenheimer, Lazard, Warburg, Schiff, Kuhn, Loeb, Goldman, Sachs, and so on, has been tracked and delineated by several authors. The evidence clearly shows that these families were no friends of America. The Rothschilds, in particular, have received prestigious awards from America's deadliest enemies. For services rendered, leading members of the Rothschild family have been accoladed and endowed with elite status by royals and popes. Amschel Mayer Rothschild, for example, was a Knight of Malta. The Holy Roman Emperors from the House of Habsburg kept a considerable number of court Jews. Among those of Emperor Ferdinand II are mentioned the following: Solomon and Ber Mayer...Joseph Pincherle of G?rz; Moses and Joseph Marburger (Morpurgo) of Gradisca; Ventura Pariente of Trieste; the physician Elijah Chalfon of Vienna; Samuel zum Drachen, Samuel zum Straussen, and Samuel zum Weissen Drachen of Frankfort-on-the-Main; and Mordecai Meisel, of Prague. A specially favored court Jew was Jacob Bassevi, the first Jew to be ennobled, with the title "von Treuenberg" - (Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. Entry on Court Jews) Undoubtedly, the Rothschild brothers financially backed the Federalists, in a similar manner as they backed the Duke of Wellington, Cecil Rhodes, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Adolf Hitler, and many other fascists and megalomaniacs. But they were not the first to do so. Agents of the Jesuit Order and Jewish Kahal, such as Haym Solomon, had clearly been active in Federalist circles before the Rothschild dynasty were given the reins of financial control. In any case, the Rothschilds and their agents, the Schiffs and Warburgs, were unquestionably instrumental in formulating the so-called Jekyll Island Agreement, which was the basis for the creation of the private Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve Act was passed on December 22, 1913. Interestingly, this is the time of the Winter Solstice, which is an important day in the Luciferian calendar. In 1781, Congress established the Office of Finance to save the United States from fiscal ruin. Salomon allied himself with Superintendent of Finance William Morris and became one of the most effective brokers of bills of exchange to meet federal government expenses. Salomon also personally advanced funds to members of the Continental Congress and other federal officers, charging interest and commissions well below the market rates - Michael Feldberg (Haym Salomon: The Rest of the Story) James Madison confessed that "I have for some time...been a pensioner on the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew broker" - ibid Solomon supposedly wrote the first draft of the United States Constitution according to some historians. Some claim that he designed the Great Seal of the United States, which is why it has what some believe resembles a Jewish Star above the eagle's head design, and it is also on the back of every American one dollar bill. He believed the United States would become a world power - (Hyam Solomon Bio, Indopedia.org) The blunt reality is that the Rothschild banking dynasty in Europe was the dominant force, both financially and politically, in the formation of the Bank of the United States - (The Creature from Jekyll Island) The Rothschilds were Jesuits who used their Jewish background as a fa?ade to cover their sinister activities. The Jesuits, working through Rothschild and Biddle, sought to gain control of the banking system of the United States ? Bill Hughes (The Secret Terrorists) Over the years since N. M. Rothschild...had been, for a time, the official European banker for the U.S., government and was a pledged supporter of the Bank of the United States - Derek Wilson (Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty) Aware that the Rothschilds are an important Jewish family, I looked them up in Encyclopedia Judaica and discovered that they bear the title ?Guardians of the Vatican Treasury??The appointment of Rothschild gave the black papacy absolute financial power and secrecy. Who would ever search a family of orthodox Jews for the key to the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church? - F. Tupper Saussy (Rulers of Evil) The Hofjuden (Court Jews) Amschel Mayer Rothschild was the father of five sons who would jointly form one of the most powerful banking families in history. Amschel died in 1812, which means he may have conspired with the Federalists who attempted to found the first US federal bank, in 1791. By 1789, he was assisting the House of Hesse and British Crown, with their attempts to undermine Napoleon. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, took over the reigns from his father. He was a Knight of Malta. Elite Masonic Jews had long worked as money men and advisors to the Turks, Huns and Church of Rome. Mayer died in 1855, which means he was in a position to involve himself in the conspiracy to open the second US Federal bank. Nathan Mayer Rothschild was in charge of the London branch of his family's banking cartel. He was already working the Stock Exchange from 1804. He established his London bank in 1811. He died in 1836. Of course, long before Nathan's time, Jewish financiers had been active in England. For example, during the Civil War (1642?1651), Menasseh Ben Israel, funded the tyrant Oliver Cromwell. James Mayer Rothschild was advisor to two French kings. Highly decorated, he and his four brothers were bestowed the hereditary title of Baron by Austria's Francis II (the Holy Roman Emperor). James was also appointed consul-general of the Austrian Empire and, in 1823, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor. The predecessors of the Rothschilds were the Hahn family. The Rothschilds are related to the Bauers, Oppenheimers, Warburgs, and Schiffs. These Khazarian families were able lieutenants of royalty, but not the architects of control, as many misinformed authors believe. They exercise enormous influence over the American government by way of Masonic lodges and Federal orgs, such as the Federal Reserve Banks. The facts show, beyond doubt, that traitorous Nationalists (or should we say Internationalists), such as Hamilton, Morris, Solomon, and Biddle, did not have the best interests of American at heart. On the contrary, by way of their Constitution, and later by way of their banks and credit houses, they sought to subjugate and impoverish the citizens of America. In his excellent books entitled The Secret Terrorists and Enemy Unmasked, author Bill Hughes details the strong arm methods used by Biddle to force wary President Andrew Jackson into commissioning the founding of the Federal Bank: Biddle responded to Jackson refusing to allow him to re-establish the central bank by shrinking the nation?s money supply. He did this by refusing to make loans. By so doing, he upended the economy and money disappeared. Unemployment ran high. Companies went bankrupt because they could not pay their loans?So confident was he that he publicly boasted that he had caused the economic wars in America. Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its nature has so little to bind it to our country? Is there not cause to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace and for the independence of our country in war? Controlling our currency, receiving our public monies, and holding themselves in dependence, it would be more formidable and dangerous than a naval and military power of the enemy ? President Andrew Jackson Because Andrew Jackson persistently resisted the threats and devices of the bankers, he was the victim of an attempted assassination. The gunman was a certain Richard Lawrence. G. Edward Griffin wrote: ?Lawrence...boasted to friends that he had been in touch with powerful people in Europe who had promised to protect him from punishment should he be caught ? (The Creature from Jekyll Island) The Federal bankers caused the Depression of 1929, and saw to it that thousands of American businesses were ruined. They funded Adolf Hitler, and financed Lenin's murderous Bolsheviks. Avaricious financial organizations that plague the planet, such as the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund), are merely tentacles of the Federal System of the Globalists. Immense sums belonging to our national depositors have been given to Germany on no collateral security whatsoever?Billions upon billions of our money has been pumped into Germany by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks - H. S. Kenan (The Federal Reserve Bank) Sir Joseph Stamp was a director of the Bank of England from 1928 to 1941. He openly addressed the colossal power of the Bankers: The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin. Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of a pen they will create enough money to buy it back again...Take this great power away from them and all great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for then this would be a better and happier world to live in. But if you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers continue to create money and control credit. President Thomas Jefferson was not a Freemason, and was not the least bit interested in amassing personal wealth. He had no love for the Federal bank, and said the following: I believe that banking institutions are the most dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army...We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered Interestingly, Hamilton's banking system precisely paralleled that used by British bankers. He favored what is known as the tontine capitalist system: His tontine scheme, fashioned after the British tontine of 1789, involved a system of rights of annual payments to survivors, the annuities therefrom becoming the means of creating a permanent investment class - Frank Bourgin (The Great Challenge: The Myth of Laissez-Faire in the Early Republic) Thomas Jefferson. Along with William Paterson, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams, he put state's rights before the insatiably acquisitive demands of the Federalists. After Hamilton's gang had established the Federal Bank, and the Judiciary with its unlimited power, Jefferson's illusions concerning America's fate were gone. In 1821, five years before he died, he recorded his misgivings and foreboding: It has long...been my opinion...that the germ of dissolution of our federal judiciary is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the states, and the government of all be consolidated into one. To this I am opposed, because when all government...shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. Our government is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit, by consolidation first, and then corruption, its necessary consequences. The following year, Jefferson's insight sharpened all the more. His words reveal the accuracy of his foresight: If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption... In fact, Jefferson had misgivings about the state of affairs in America many years before he wrote these words. He had been living in France, as minister to that country, between the years 1784 and 1789. Upon his return to America, he was horrified to see how little effect the grand precepts and provisos of the Declaration of Independence, which he had chiefly formulated, had made. Alfred Jay Knock explains: On arriving in New York and resuming his place in the social life of the country, he was greatly depressed by the discovery that the principles of the Declaration had gone wholly by the board. No one spoke of natural rights and popular sovereignty, it would seem actually that no one had ever heard of them. On the contrary, everyone was talking about the pressing need of a strong central coercive authority, able to check the incursions which the "democratic spirit" was likely to incite upon "the men of principle and property"...Clearly, though the Declaration might have been the charter of American independence, it was in no sense the charter of the new American State - (Our Enemy, the State) Patrick Henry, long time critic of the Constitution's drafters, also clearly foresaw the totalitarianism of the Federalists: My great objection to this Government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights; or of waging war against tyrants...Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies , when our only defense, the militia, is put into the hands of Congress? - (Speech of 5 June 1788) Did you ever read of any revolution in any nation, brought about by the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power at all?...Will your Mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?...Will the oppressor ever let go of the oppressed? Was there ever an instance? Can the annals of mankind exhibit one single example, where rulers, overcharged with power, willingly let go of the oppressed? - ibid A standing army we shall have also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny - ibid Alfred Jay Nock summarizes the travesty and the tragedy in these words: Nowhere in the history of the constitutional period do we find the faintest suggestion of the Declaration's doctrine of natural rights, and we find its doctrine of popular sovereignty not only continuing in abeyance, but constitutionally estopped from ever reappearing. Nowhere do we find a trace of the Declaration's theory of government, on the contrary, we find it expressly repudiated. The new political mechanism was a faithful replica of the old disestablished British model, but so far improved and strengthened as to be incomparably more close-working and efficient...presenting more attractive possibilities of capture and control - (Our Enemy, the State) Note the masonic colors of Maher's tie. Nothing that governments do is new. Despots within government operate according to plans that are repeated, in various ways, over generations. Their control is aided and abetted by their co-conspirators in the media. The politicians and media spin doctors are instructed by overlords who control the private banks and "philanthropic" foundations. Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed. He who molds opinion is greater than he who enacts laws - Abraham Lincoln In many cases, the politicians, media men, and bankers are themselves under the tutelage and direction of British and European aristocracy who have made the "board," so to speak, on which the great geopolitical games are played. The conspirators who organize the game are cautious. They do not want their true allegiances or diabolical schemes to be publicly exposed. Each group, and each conspirator, knows how vulnerable they are. They know that knowledge of their true allegiances and agendas must never leak out to the masses at large. Their entire success depends upon human apathy and ignorance. They also know that should civil unrest occur, the masses can be forced back into line by threats to their material and emotional security. The strategy is tried and true, and usually works wonders. As the author Ernest Hemmingway explained: The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity and both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists. The Trinity of Slavery. The basic diagram shows how the Atonist royals have maintained world control for millennia. By way of Theology and Politics, is the human heart and mind enslaved. Through secret societies, such as Masonry, the royal hierarchy of control is perpetuated and monitored. Because of the confessions and evidence provided by intelligent and informed whistle-blowers from within religion, politics, royalty, and masonry, we know a great deal about how the engines of world control operate. However, there are also pitfalls when insiders with myopic insight, and inflexible allegiances and prejudices, attempt to instruct the masses as to the intricacies of world control. When it comes to exposing the dirty little secrets, and the dirty big secrets, of those occupying the highest levels of the Atonist power-pyramid, objectivity is essential. Photographs of their hideous visages, taken from a rickety platform constructed by their agents, will be ?blurred? and inadequate, to say the least. The philosopher Ayn Rand also commented on the evils of big government. With great lucidity, she wrote: Instead of being a protector of man?s rights, the government is becoming their most dangerous violator; instead of guarding freedom the government is establishing slavery; instead of protecting men from the initiators of physical force, the government is initiating physical force and coercion in any manner and issue it pleases; instead of serving as the instrument of objectivity in human relationships, the government is creating a deadly subterranean reign of uncertainty and fear?instead of protecting men from injury by whim, the government is arrogating to itself the power of unlimited whim ? so that we are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. Rand laid it on the line when addressing the crimes of government: Criminals are a small minority in any age or community. And the harm they have dome to mankind is infinitesimal when compared to the horrors ? the bloodshed, the wars, the persecution, the famines, the enslavements, the wholesale destruction ? perpetrated by mankind?s governments. Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man?s rights - When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights, a government is men?s deadliest enemy. Before her perceptive words were written, the French philosopher Pierre Joseph Proudhon, explained the people versus government problem, as follows: To be Governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be Governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality - (General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century) The Victorian philosopher Herbert Spencer queried whether man requires governments at all. He wrote: What, then, do they (Humans) want a government for? Not to regulate commerce; not to educate the people; not to teach religion; not to administer charity; not to make roads and railways; but simply to defend the natural rights of man - to protect person and property - to prevent the aggressions of the powerful upon the weak - in a word, to administer justice. This is the natural, the original, office of a government. It was not intended to do less: it ought not to be allowed to do more - (The Man Versus the State) He also wrote: The great political superstition of the past was the divine right of kings. The great political superstition of the present is the divine right of parliaments. The father of the Anarchist movement, Mikhail Bakunin, who spent many years imprisoned in dungeons, knew all about government oppression. For him, governments were unnecessary institutions that darkened the world: The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature, because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual ? (God and the State, 1882) The German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche understood why governments exist, and how they maintain their malignant dominion. He wrote: ...a fullness of state power such as only despotism had enjoyed...surpassed all the past because it strove for the formal annihilation of the individual...Once the earth is brought under all-embracing economic control, then mankind will find it has been reduced to machinery in its service, as a monstrous clockwork system of ever smaller, more finely adjusted wheels. Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega Y Gasset explained State corruption in these words: This is the gravest danger that today threatens civilization: State intervention, the absorption of all spontaneous social effort by the State, that is to say, of spontaneous historical action, which in the long-run sustains, nourishes and impels human destinies. His sentiments were shared by the American critic Henry L. Menken, who said that the State: ...has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret, it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion, its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose...But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed industrious and decent men. In his important book on State totalitarianism, entitled Our Enemy, the State, author Albert Jay Nock explained the motives of State officials: It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. All power it has is what society gives it, plus what it confiscates from time to time on one pretext or another; there is no other source from which State power can be drawn. Therefore every assumption of State power, whether by gift or seizure, leaves society with so much less power; there is never, nor can be, any strengthening of State power without a corresponding and roughly equivalent depletion of social power. Nock understands that there is not a jot of difference between American Federalists and the diabolical fascists who have plagued the world. He put the matter plainly: The superficial distinctions of Fascism, Bolshevism, Hitlerism, are the concern of journalists and publicists, the serious student sees in them only one root-idea of a complete conversion of social power to State power...The positive testimony of history is that the State invariably had its origin in conquest and confiscation. No known State known to history originated in any other manner. The men who profited from the Constitution's acceptance, expertly used fear to further their interests, and to goad delegates into compliance with their will. They manipulated the fact that Americans were traumatized and exhausted by war. They stage-managed the Conventions and controlled the media's reportage of events in Virginia and Philadelphia. Had the people time to relax and educate themselves, if they had paid attention to the warnings of Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and the many other critics who suspected what the conspirators were planning, the Constitution would never have been ratified. Instead, the best that the people were able to belatedly get, after the fact, was the Bill of Rights, drafted in 1791. It was expressly drafted to protect people against potential abuses of the ill-received Constitution. It was conceded to the American people by Madison, who by then had secured all that he and his Federalist colleagues had demanded. A number of states had accepted the Constitution with urgent recommendations for changes. At first, it seemed that Congress would pay no attention to these suggestions. Patrick Henry and other then set up a clamor which had to be heeded, and Congress referred the proposals to a committee - Nevins and Commanger (Pocket History of the U.S.) The federalists delayed ratification of the Bill of Rights for over two years while they organized the new federal courts and armed the judges with powers to counter individual rights - Kenneth W. Royce (Hologram of Liberty) The Federalists instigated virtual panic, and made sure the people were not able to take enough time to repair and think. Their representatives and delegates were harried into accepting and signing the Constitution. The same methods of "conflict control" have been used over the generations. They are still being put to good use by politicians and parties. In the 1960s, Ex-Communist Jerry Kirk discovered the way the great game is played. He eloquently explained the process in these words: The idea is to create a situation where the people are so frightened of the chaos all around them, that they will throw their arms up in the air and shout ?Federal Government, do something!? And the only choice open will be Martial Law?The Communists, black militants and revolutionaries will never succeed in overthrowing the government of the United States, but unless they are stopped, they will scare the American people into accepting Socialism from Washington, and status rule from the Establishment. This is what it is really all about. Freedom can go to hell, but apparently silly belief systems and prejudices are always welcome to stay. Expert on the British takeover of America, Mr. G. Edward Griffin delineates the phenomena of conflict control, in these words: ?deliberately create problems, and then offer only those solutions which result in the expansion of government. Create conditions so frightful at home and abroad that the abandonment of personal liberties and national sovereignty will appear as a reasonable price for a return to domestic tranquillity and world peace - (The Capitalist Conspiracy) James S. Kunen, a student revolutionary, also discovered how the upper echelon conspires to foment social unrest so that the true enemies of freedom can remain undetected. He wrote: In the evening we went up to the University. to check out a strategy meeting. A kid was giving a report on the SDS Convention. He said that...at the Convention men from Business International Roundtables...tried to buy up a few radicals...These men are the world's leading industrialists and they convene to decide how our lives are going to go. These are the guys who wrote the Alliance for Progress. They are the left wing of the ruling class...They offered to finance our demonstrations in Chicago (l968). We were offered Esso (Rockefeller) money. They want us to make a lot of radical commotion so they can look more in the center as they move to the left - (The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary) The scrapping of the US Constitution is essential. Americans must revise and update the Articles of Confederation, and subsequently abolish the corrupt Federal (totalitarian) apparatus of control. Americans must wake up from their delirium and find out what kind of conspiracy has been occurring in their land. They must contemplate the words of Bernard de Jouvenal, who said "A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves," and remember that it was mutineers and not conformists who founded America. People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of the people! The traitors are still with us. Indeed, their treachery is greater than ever. Hiding behind the Constitution and political process, they see to it that America's ports are sold, and that schools are swamped and under-funded. Because of their scandalous policies, America's heavy industry operates at a minimum. American businesses are throttled by legality and taxation, while foreign made products fill the shelves. Companies and jobs are perpetually outsourced, prisons super size, and innocent men and women languish behind bars to be raped and tortured. Poisons fall from the sky in the form of chemtrails, and illegal aliens occupy like invading armies, enjoying the "fruits" they did nothing to cultivate or harvest. And it all occurs in a country that came out of World War II richer than it went in. Why is this? What has happened? Why have so few taken so much from so many for so long? As of 2000, USA Today reports on its front page that 6.6 million adults (three percent of the adult population) are in prison or ?correction.? No other society as ever done so deadly a thing to its people and on such a scale - Gore Vidal (Imperial America) We have two million people in jail. Our country doesn't build hospitals, doesn't build schools and doesn't build day-care centers. It builds prisons. This is not the hallmark of a free society, but of a police state - Steven Hager (High Times Editor-in-Chief) The Oriental countries prosper and rise economically. The Third World is fast becoming the First World, while the First World nose dives into ruin. This was the plan from the start. It is the result of tyranny, not democracy. It is also the result of apathy. No truer words on the subject were stated than these by President Abraham Lincoln: These United States of America can never be destroyed from forces outside its borders. If America falls, it will fall from within. Brought down by apathy. When good people do nothing, Anarchy reigns ? (Letter to Congress, 1854) Lincoln also emphasized the despotism of the wealthy oligarchs who prosper from the ignorance and apathy of the masses. Their profile and resume was well known to him: The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. Robert Maynard Hutchins also commented on the apathetic state brought on by over-stimulation and trauma: The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. George W. Malone, a Senator from Nevada, made the following statement before Congress in 1957: I believe that if the people of this nation fully understood what Congress has done to them over the last 49 years, they would move on Washington; they would not wait for an election...It adds up to a preconceived plan to destroy the economic and social independence of the United States! Ironically, during and after the War of Independence, the eyes of the world were on America. The Czar of Russia, Nicholas Romanov II, admired what he saw taking place and, before his brutal assassination, he was ready to emulate the scintillating American experiment. During the war, he sent ships, money, and troops to assist the American rebels. Russia, and many other countries, would have changed for the better had Americans not been cajoled into adopting the Constitution and, as a result, not fallen under the control of avaricious despots. The good news is that even the most oppressive tyranny cannot last forever. Once the tyrant and his heinous industry is exposed, the game is up. At that point they can be overthrown, and things can be put aright. It has happened in Ireland and the Congo, in Cuba and Nicaragua, and many other lands. But the enemy knows this only too well. He understands that he is vulnerable, and is aware of how he could potentially be undermined. As a result, he is constantly on guard. He knows that his activities and methods must not be properly scrutinized. Consequently, he makes a point of keeping his subjects in fear for their lives. He prefers them to be limbic creatures unable to reason and discern good from bad and right from wrong. He makes sure their attention is focused elsewhere, and that strange, demented, and frightening "enemies" are always rattling the gates. Through his obedient agents, he funds and controls the supposed enemies, and instructs them how to operate. In this manner is the great game of geopolitics and mass control played. It is simply chess on a global level. Should a pawn fall off the board, or be sacrificed, the kings, queens, and bishops do not turn a hair. The comfortably placed, ruthless misleaders bang the drums of war, and send dedicated men and women off to wars, to die for the "United States" corporation. The U.S. is a business, and those who have given their lives for it, died uselessly. Sadly, and tragically, they have been sacrificed at the behest of their country's true enemies. As Count Leo Tolstoy wrote: "Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us." George William Frederick (George III), King of Great Britain and Hanover. He was a member of the Hanover dynasty - the so-called House of Orange. Like numerous royals, he was a demented maniac who suffered from mental disease. According to author George Trevelyan, he vowed "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal." He wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse." Military men are dumb, stupid animals, to be used as pawns for foreign policy ? Henry Kissinger (January-February 2003 edition of Eagle Newsletter) It's not a number I?m terribly interested in ? Colin Powell (reply when asked about the Iraqi casualties) The men who committed this atrocity in New York, on September Eleventh 2001, mass murdered more people than the combined killings of every serial killer in the 228 year history of the United States - Anthony J. Hilder (The Greatest Lie Ever Sold) Our point is simple. We insist that the predators and parasites, who have vampirized America and the world, must be closely studied. Understanding how and why they function as they do provides humankind with the keys of worldly salvation. Moreover, we must understand that the despots of the world are creatures of habit. The enjoy repetition, and their nefarious strategies are tried and true. Additionally, we need to understand that despots bank on one human weakness, that of forgetfulness. Historical amnesia hands them the power they covet. As author Milan Kundera so appropriately said: "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." President Andrew Jackson suffered terribly at the hands of the brutes of the British Crown. During the war he, and his brother, were captured and held prisoner, and nearly starved to death. When Andrew refused to clean the boots of a redcoat, he was slashed at with a sword, and received scars on his left hand and head. His brother Robert died from smallpox contracted while under British captivity. Jackson's immediate family died from war-related hardships. Jackson never forgave the British oppressors. The answer to humankind's future lies in remembering what has transpired in history. It lies in not repeating past mistakes, and not falling for the same tired political fallacies. Furthermore, we must end our psychological dependence on the fiends who have established despotic forms of government, and who benefit from our subservient allegiance. As long as we consciously or unconsciously identify with the predator, we will never see the demise of tyranny, regardless of the political action taken. It will raise its ugly head time and time again. Ultimately, we must judge our misleaders by their deeds and not by their words. We must be on guard against their rhetoric and sophistry, and not hesitate to use existing laws to prevent them doing their worst. We must not be afraid to seek justice when degenerate, self-serving politicians - supposedly acting in our name - seek to lead us astray. Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience...Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem - Howard Zinn The Articles of Confederation worked to bring security to all Americans. They restored order after the chaos of the War of Independence. Unlike the US Constitution, the Articles of Confederation honored the rights of individual states. Americans don't care about politics, only about politicians - Anthony Wedgwood Benn The Articles did not distinguish between rich and poor. They were meant for Citizens, not "People." They did not permit an oligarchy to assume totalitarian control. The men who drafted and ratified the US Constitution were hungry for power over human beings. They adamantly wanted to protect their own prestige and wealth. Despite their megalomania, they knew exactly what they wanted and how to go about getting it. They acted like proverbial wolves in sheep's clothing. Their Constitution is likewise largely deceptive in form and substance. It allowed for an aristocracy to preside in America. The American-based aristocrats may not wear crowns or sit on thrones, but they are, in many cases, directly connected to the royal dynasties of Britain and Europe. George W. Bush is, for example, a distant cousin of John Kerry, the Presidential nominee who ran against him in 2004. Kerry's parents was not Irish, but Jewish. On the matter of his aristocratic ancestry, we read: Senator John Kerry has blue blood from all the royal houses of Europe, with even more titled relations than President Bush?Burke?s Peerage, which researches the genealogy, said the Democratic presidential candidate traces descent through his mother, Rosemary Forbes, to the royal houses of Albania, England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Byzantium, Persia (Iran) and France. Forbes was descended from William Forbes, the Laird of Newe, and extended family that included many baronets?It is via this family that the Democratic candidate is descended from Henry II, the king of England and father of Richard the Lionheart, who was the leader of the third Crusade in 1189?By contrast, Bush is related to Queen Elizabeth II, twenty British dukes and many European princes?President Bush, Princess Diana and Winston Churchill are distantly related - (Union Jack Newspaper; September 2000 Edition) George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara are related to the same British oligarchs. George is also: ...closely related to every European monarch on and off the throne ? and has kinship with every member of Britain?s royal family, the House of Windsor. He is the 13th cousin of Britain?s Queen Mother, and of her daughter Queen Elizabeth, and is the 13th cousin once removed of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles. Bush?s family tree can be documented as far back as the early 15th century. He has a direct descent from Henry III and from Henry VIII?s sister Mary Tudor who was also the wife of Louis XI of France. He is also descended from Charles II of England - David Icke (Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster) Father George and wife Barbara are both descendants of Godfroi de Bouillon who, in 1099, led European noblemen in the successful Crusade to recapture Jerusalem from the Islamic faith and moved into the King?s palace at Temple Mount?Godfroi de Bouillon was the first king of Jerusalem and the Duke of Lower Lorraine, a major region for the Illuminati bloodline - ibid The time has come for the veils of mystique to be torn away from the so-called "fathers" of the Constitution. They were not the champions of a free, sovereign nation, and their legacy is neither auspicious nor grand. They chose to subvert the Articles that guaranteed freedom to every American. They coveted power and wealth, and made themselves fabulously rich by exploiting the gullibility and ignorance of the moral, but illiterate masses. In our time, their villainous counterparts in government have shifted into overdrive. Their heinous acts of conquest, extortion, and confiscation know no bounds. As long as ignorance of the enemy's nature persists, nothing will change, and the pirates of Capitol Hill will continue to ply their insidious trade. As King George once demanded, the war against America was to be waged eternally. His desires are being fulfilled as every day passes. Unless the Machiavellian intrigues of his biological and ideological descendants are exposed and overcome, America's ruin is certain. The task is, however, impossible without knowledge of the adversary. Knowledge is the weapon we must use to eradicate the imperious predators that lurk behind the long grass. ?Conspiracy!? One of the darkest words in the language of man. Yet there is hardly a single page of History that does not partially reveal the deadly eye of Conspiracy at work. It was a conspiracy that lead Brutus against Caesar in the Roman senate on the Ides Of March...that plotted the betrayal of West Point by Benedict Arnold, during the American Revolution?that led John Wilkes Booth to the assassination of President Lincoln on Good Friday 1865. The past record of man is burdened with accounts of assassinations, secret combines, palace plots and betrayals in war. But in spite of this clear record, an amazing number of people have begun to scoff at the possibility of conspiracy at work today. They dismiss such an idea merely as a conspiratorial view - G. Edward Griffin (The Capitalist Conspiracy) Knowledge of the enemy is the golden key that opens the gate to a future free of tyranny and slavery. We not only owe our children a better and freer future - we owe it to our forebears. Those who fought and labored to create the elements of civilization that we enjoy, but who were treacherously undermined and robbed, must be remembered and reverently toasted. It is their memory we must honor, not that of their destroyers. Where other men have skimmed the surface, Beard has gone through to the core. He stayed months in Washington to get to the core. In his search for ancient papers and documents in the Treasury Department, he went into vaults that were so filled with dust that it was necessary to excavate the papers with a vacuum cleaner. But when he came back to the surface he had damning evidence against a good many of the" patriot fathers." He then knew why they were so anxious, not only for a new constitution, but for the particular kind of a constitution that was afterward adopted - Allan L. Benson (The Dishonest Constitution) ? ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 5211 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 7157 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 25750 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17986 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 19 12:19:32 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:19:32 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A Preference for Used Message-ID: <001101c9c11b$667aa040$336fe0c0$@net> Relative to this, although I don't recall if I forwarded it or not, was an article saying that it was better to purchase an older car as the costs of repair are much less than on a newer car. I know so many "part-time" mechanics who work on cars at substantially less than the auto dealers. And, one can purchase plenty of perfectly good used parts at far less than the cost of new. So, why purchase a new car when we already know that cheaper more mileage alternative vehicles are being sold in other countries, and that the American people are not going to stand for not having them available here. And the question still exists in my mind as to why all of these low-priced cars are being produced in other countries and here in the U.S. we are still trying to prop up a failing auto industry based on high-priced oversize cars that are not practical. What is appearing to me here is that the "Old Boy's Network/Global Monetocracy System" just doesn't get it that "we the people" have awoken to their game and we are now calling it. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 9:48 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A Preference for Used (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) A Preference for Used April 18, 2009 http://www.financialarmageddon.com/ The willingness to buy one good or service instead of another when the price of the former falls relative to the latter is known as "the substitution effect." Some classic examples include when a consumer chooses a generic over a brand-name product, shops for chicken instead of beef, and hops on the subway instead of into a taxi. In the current economic environment, however, this particular calculus is having an especially dramatic and unpredictable impact on a broad range of markets. In "Used-Car Sales Accelerate," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about one of them. Vehicles are still moving off the lot, but not in a way Paul Kastner has seen in more than 35 years with Weber Chevrolet. For every two new cars sold at the Creve Coeur dealership, three used ones are moved, too. It's a stark difference from just a year ago, when about four new vehicles sold for every used one. "It stunned me, frankly," said Kastner, the general manager. U.S. used vehicle sales among franchised auto dealers are on pace to reach about 14 million vehicles this year, according to CNW Research in Bandon, Ore. That's slightly lower than before the recession, but more than 2008's level. And this year, unlike recent years, current projections suggest that franchise dealerships should expect higher sales of used vehicles than of new ones. Consumer confidence is the linchpin to motivating new-vehicle buyers, analysts say. People won't buy if they worry about losing their jobs. But that doesn't mean they won't buy a used vehicle. In many cases, they simply have to, said Tom Kontos, chief economist for ADESA Auctions, an auto auction company in Carmel, Ind. "Cars are assets that wear out, and at some point, we recognize that to repair the vehicle will be more costly" than buying one, Kontos said. Used vehicles are sold not only by franchised dealers, but also by independent used-car lots or by individuals. Franchised dealers - which have both new and used cars and trucks - will sell about 36 percent of used vehicles this year, according to CNW Research. But these dealers, automakers' lifelines to area communities, are noticing a trend that won't help the auto companies move new vehicles. Area dealers say they notice a shift toward used vehicles with specific price points. In north St. Louis County, where the home foreclosure rate is among the region's highest, Dave Mungenast North County Hyundai is trying to maintain an inventory of lower-priced used vehicles. The dealership has focused on selling 2005 and 2006 models, instead of 2007 and 2008 ones, said Tom Barr, general sales manager. Now the average price of a used vehicle there is $11,500, he added. Other dealerships' officials mentioned similar strategies - $12,000 and lower. That's squarely where Torre Viviano's price point falls. Last week, she said she was looking to spend between $10,000 and $12,000 on a compact or mid-sized car, and trade in her 2000 Oldsmobile Alero. Viviano travels frequently for her job as a grocery store merchandiser. As she puts it, her old car is "just falling apart, and I don't want to be stranded." She has looked at new models but is more likely to settle on a used car. "It all depends, whatever I can find," said Viviano, 21, of Arnold. "Something decent in my price range." But several factors might lure buyers such as Viviano back into the new-vehicle market. Take new-car incentives, such as financing or rebates. Automakers are offering many incentives for new vehicles, which produces competition with similar models just a few years old, analysts say. Basic economics figure in, too. A tighter supply of used vehicles is raising the prices on these cars and trucks. "Each month, on average, has been a price increase in used vehicles," said Paul Taylor, chief economist of the National Automobile Dealers Association in McLean, Va. Many dealers stock their used inventory with vehicles from new-car buyers. But as people hold off on shopping - or at least hold onto their used cars and trucks a little longer - dealers see fewer trade-ins, analysts say. Twenty-eight percent of new-car purchases have a trade-in, compared with 50 to 60 percent of deals in the recent past, said Art Spinella, president of CNW Research. "You're looking at millions of vehicles not in the used-car side that would have been," he said. Fewer trade-ins mean used-vehicle prices are rising - a positive for potential buyers because their current cars are probably worth more now than a few months ago. Analysts say automakers may see some good news, too. Higher trade-in values should push some buyers back into the new-vehicle market, changing the ratio of new to used yet again. From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Sun Apr 19 14:04:09 2009 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:04:09 +0100 Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme References: <262546.77869.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <004b01c9c12a$00e2a390$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another it is sensible to draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are obviously moving things forward. The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the purported desire of the American government and the International Monetary Fund to move towards reform. As before, it is a lively programme. a.. Go to www.presstv.com b.. Then put your pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" c.. Then click on Fine Print d.. Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy -- IMF's latest report) Rodney Shakespeare. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun Apr 19 15:28:31 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:28:31 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: An important TV programme Message-ID: <006f01c9c135$cd020960$67061c20$@net> From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Rodney Shakespeare Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 1:04 PM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another it is sensible to draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are obviously moving things forward. The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the purported desire of the American government and the International Monetary Fund to move towards reform. As before, it is a lively programme. * Go to www.presstv.com * Then put your pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" * Then click on Fine Print * Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy -- IMF's latest report) Rodney Shakespeare. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00082.txt URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Sun Apr 19 23:21:39 2009 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:51:39 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme Message-ID: <996002.6304.qm@web94916.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Rodney, Greetings for peace from Delhi, I would like to thank you for sending the link but I could not get the exact page as I could not locate the fine print. I would also seek an analysis of IMF move considering the need to eliminate usurious finance and ecologically hostile generation of money from thin air. With best regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Mon, 20/4/09, Rodney Shakespeare wrote: From: Rodney Shakespeare Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme To: "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" Date: Monday, 20 April, 2009, 1:34 AM Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another ?it is sensible to? draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are?obviously moving things forward. ? The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the?purported ?desire?of the American government and the International Monetary Fund?to move towards reform. ? As before, it is a lively programme. Go to www.presstv. com Then put your??pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" Then click on Fine Print Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy? -- IMF's latest report)? ? Rodney Shakespeare. ? ? -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Grab now http://in.promos.yahoo.com/address -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon Apr 20 03:58:12 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:58:12 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme Message-ID: <47738.52395.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Dear All, ? ???????????? It is marvellous to see Rodney at it again on PressTV.Long may it continue. I thought the other guest (an analyst) was somewhat weak, and wishy washy compared with Rodney who came across as usual as someone who is bold, and outspoken. ? And yes, we do need a "new" paradigm of interest free monetary reform but it is largely the financial oligarchs who stand in the way...and the governments over-obssession with free market economics.?This problem though could be breached with the Transfinancial Paradigm which could work with corporations (and yes, if necessary ?the financial oligarchs to a?great extent) BUT in a way in which global sustainability, and global justice could emerge with the right financial incentivisations. ? R.Searle. ? http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Transfinancial_Economics ? ? PS. With respect, Muhammed Muktar Alam it is quite easy to find the video link, and the programme itself is fairly short. ? --- On Mon, 20/4/09, Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam wrote: From: Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam Subject: Re: [GJM] An important TV programme To: "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" Date: Monday, 20 April, 2009, 6:21 AM Dear Rodney, Greetings for peace from Delhi, I would like to thank you for sending the link but I could not get the exact page as I could not locate the fine print. I would also seek an analysis of IMF move considering the need to eliminate usurious finance and ecologically hostile generation of money from thin air. With best regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Mon, 20/4/09, Rodney Shakespeare wrote: From: Rodney Shakespeare Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme To: "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" Date: Monday, 20 April, 2009, 1:34 AM Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another ?it is sensible to? draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are?obviously moving things forward. ? The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the?purported ?desire?of the American government and the International Monetary Fund?to move towards reform. ? As before, it is a lively programme. Go to www.presstv. com Then put your??pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" Then click on Fine Print Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy? -- IMF's latest report)? ? Rodney Shakespeare. ? ? -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Get before others grab. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Mon Apr 20 04:06:47 2009 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:06:47 +0100 Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme References: <996002.6304.qm@web94916.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <003501c9c19f$b7d88130$0301a8c0@your447023ae6b> Dear Mukhtar, Thanks for writing. Try this link http://www.presstv.com/programs/player/?id=91921 Rodney Shakespeare. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 6:21 AM Subject: Re: [GJM] An important TV programme Dear Rodney, Greetings for peace from Delhi, I would like to thank you for sending the link but I could not get the exact page as I could not locate the fine print. I would also seek an analysis of IMF move considering the need to eliminate usurious finance and ecologically hostile generation of money from thin air. With best regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052 Tel:9968345380 --- On Mon, 20/4/09, Rodney Shakespeare wrote: From: Rodney Shakespeare Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme To: "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" Date: Monday, 20 April, 2009, 1:34 AM Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another it is sensible to draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are obviously moving things forward. The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the purported desire of the American government and the International Monetary Fund to move towards reform. As before, it is a lively programme. a.. Go to www.presstv. com b.. Then put your pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" c.. Then click on Fine Print d.. Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy -- IMF's latest report) Rodney Shakespeare. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Get before others grab. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon Apr 20 04:30:03 2009 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:30:03 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: An important TV programme Message-ID: <002901c9c1a2$faf25ce0$f0d716a0$@net> FYI and consideration. From: Arlie Haig [mailto:ajhaig at sonic.net] Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 3:04 PM To: mary rose Subject: Re: [GJM] An important TV programme In order to view this article, one must allow Microsoft to instll software - with this condition: 3. AUTOMATIC UPDATES. This software contains an Automatic Update feature that is on by default. Microsoft may change or cancel it at any time. For more information about this feature, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=87026. You may turn off this feature while the software is running ("opt-out"). Unless you expressly opt out of this feature, this feature will (a) connect to Microsoft or service provider computer systems over the Internet, (b) use Internet protocols to send to the appropriate systems your computer information, such as your Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the device where you installed the software, and (c) automatically download and install, or prompt you to download and/or install, current Updates to a previous version of the software. By installing the software and not opting out of this feature, you consent to the transmission of your computer information and the automatic downloading and installation of Updates. Beware. I will opt out immediately. ----- Original Message ----- From: mary rose To: discussion at globaljusticemovement.net ; FixGov at yahoogroups. com Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:28 PM Subject: FW: [GJM] An important TV programme From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Rodney Shakespeare Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 1:04 PM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Subject: [GJM] An important TV programme Dear All, Although over the past year there have been about twenty five tv programmes of one sort and another it is sensible to draw attention only to the exceptional ones which are obviously moving things forward. The latest one very clearly sets out and develops the monetary reform position in the light of the purported desire of the American government and the International Monetary Fund to move towards reform. As before, it is a lively programme. * Go to www.presstv.com * Then put your pointer over "Programs & Documentary" to click on "Program List" * Then click on Fine Print * Then 18th April -- (US & Global Economy -- IMF's latest report) Rodney Shakespeare. _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.0/2066 - Release Date: 04/18/09 09:55:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon Apr 20 04:32:43 2009 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:32:43 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Exxon Mibil tops Fortune 500!! Message-ID: <165243.9569.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Exxon Mobil tops Fortune 500 Big Oil knocks Wal-Mart out of first place. window.onerror=function(){clickURL=document.location.href;return true;} if(!self.clickURL) clickURL=parent.location.href; EMAIL??|?? PRINT??|?? SHARE??|?? RSS Yahoo! Buzz DIGG FACEBOOK DEL.ICIO.US REDDIT STUMBLE UPON MYSPACE MIXX IT Subscribe to Companies feed://rss.cnn.com/rss/money_news_companies.rss Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close) try { cnnShareLinks.init('Companies','rss.cnn.com/rss/money_news_companies.rss'); // EDIT THIS } catch(e) { alert(e); } By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer Last Updated: April 19, 2009: 11:02 AM ET #IEContainerR .cnnPkgIE li a:hover {text-decoration:underline;} #IEContainerR .cnnPkgIE ol {margin: 0px 0px 5px 30px;} html>body #IEContainerR .cnnPkgIE ol {margin: 0px 0px 5px 20px;} #IEContainerR .cnnPkgIE ol li {list-style: decimal; list-style-position:outside;} #IEContainerR .cnnPkgIE ol li a {margin-left:-5px;} 2009 FORTUNE 500 Full list: FORTUNE 1000 Exxon Mobil Wal-Mart Chevron ConocoPhillips GE GM Ford Motor AT&T H-P Valero Top companies in your state They're hiring! Biggest losers Most profitable Best investments Galleries: Women CEOs Meet the boards Most profitable big techs People making a difference Stories: Obama exclusive: Business needs to work with me 7 lessons from a messy year Pop! Went the profit bubble cnnad_createAd("985011","http://ads.cnn.com/html.ng/site=cnn_money&cnn_money_brand=fortune&cnn_money_position=220x200_ctr&cnn_money_section=fortune&cnn_money_subsection=quigo¶ms.styles=fs","200","220"); NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil shoved aside Wal-Mart Stores to retake the top place on the Fortune 500, proving that Big Oil was king of the economy last year. Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) was the top selling-company in 2008, with nearly $443 billion in revenue, a jump of almost 19% from the prior year. The Irving, Texas-based oil giant was also the most profitable, with earnings of $45.2 billion. Wal-Mart, which reigned as No. 1 on the Fortune 500 the past two years, slipped to second place. The recession was a boon for Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500): As cash-strapped customers crowded its discount stores, the retailer's sales grew 7% to more than $406 billion. But that wasn't enough to keep up with oil-rich Exxon. The Fortune 500 ranks America's largest corporations by their annual revenue. The list was announced by Fortune magazine (which is published by Time Warner,