From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 1 02:20:17 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 08:20:17 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Feasta News Message Message-ID: <547403.15530.qm@web27403.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 30/4/10, Feasta News wrote: From: Feasta News Subject: Feasta News Message To: "Feasta News Subscriber" Date: Friday, 30 April, 2010, 12:49 (Mailing list information, including unsubscription instructions, is located at the end of this message.) Dear All Feasta member David Korowicz is giving an 8 week Cultivate course (venue; the GreenHouse - the former ENFO building, Andrew St. Dublin 2) starting next Tuesday, May 4th. Entitled The Ecology of Civilisation, the course aims to offer insight into the implications of peak energy on economic and financial systems, food security, and climate change. For those of us struggling with these 'big ideas', and looking for things we can actually do in the face of them, David's course offers possible solutions. For more details see David Korowicz Ecology of Civilisation course. ---------------------------- The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription: You are subscribed to the following list: Feasta News using the following email: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL: http://www.feasta.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/feasta_news/ If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism. You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen: http://www.feasta.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/feasta_news If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: website at feasta.org The following physical address is associated with this mailing list: FEASTA The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability 14 St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2 Ireland Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail Powered by Dada Mail 4.0.2 Copyright ? 1999-2009, Simoni Creative. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 10:11:57 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 09:11:57 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Can Global Warming Give You Kidney Stones? And much more Message-ID: <017301cae949$417ac610$c4705230$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Thanks to Kevin Drum and Drumbeat published as part of Mother Jones ezine for the below article. http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/04/climate-desk-health-insurance-cli mate- Do check out the link provided above as much more information is available on this website than we are looking at here. http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/04/climate-desk-health-insurance-cli mate- We very much need to be aware of what changing conditions associated with global climate change will bring. And we need to begin to prepare to mitigate the effects of these changes now. This is one big reason for small communities to delink from the national economy and become "re-localized." There are differences in each community in climate effect which may vary within a 5-mile radius. Which makes each community unique - therefore each community needs to draw up its own plan with regard to combating global climate change, especially with regard to food production. Of note, is that when I am speaking of "community" here findings, by such recognized names as sociologist Jared Diamond indicate that communities of approximately 600 persons are the size which permits self-governance to be applied. So, when we have a city or town of a larger size, what we want to do is to divide the city up into smaller communities that will self-govern themselves, taking care to be aware of mini climate changes and arrange boundaries accordingly. This will, in effect, take us into bio-regionalism with natural boundaries, e.g., water sheds, rivers, and other major geographical changes being the guiding factor as to where one large group leaves off and another begins. This will then end: "statehood" which depends upon artificial boundaries and promotes competition between groups as it competes for resources, whereas bioregionalism promotes cooperation between people as they strive to preserve the fragile ecosystems which serve as our life support system when co-joined together. Something we need to be aware of as we develop the Community Learning and Information/Wellness Centers on an international scale. Each community needs to identify its current resources and begin to assess how to use those resources to become independent and able to survive without depending on outside resources. The reason being that with the end of cheap oil, it will be increasingly difficult to transport resources from other places as we do today. While there is new technology coming into play on this, it will take awhile to get it disseminated once it hits the market. However, I want to note that communities must begin today to inventory their resources and consider what ones will be of prime concern in the days ahead. With regard to health concerns, it will be extremely important for communities to know what local resources they have with which to begin creating medicinals to counteract the diseases mentioned in this article that will become more prevalent as global climate change occurs. Can Global Warming Give You Kidney Stones? http://mjcdn.motherjones.com/preset_12/rembrandt300x200.jpg - The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt van Rijn / Wikimedia Yes, and a whole bunch of other ailments-and therein lies a major problem for the health insurance industry. - By Kate Sheppard http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/04/climate-desk-health-insurance-cli mate-change . . NEWSLETTER . SHARE 70 Comments | Post Comment Wed Apr. 28, 2010 3:00 AM PDT The 1995 Chicago heat wave was one of the most brutal weather events the United States has ever experienced. On July 13, the thermostat hit 106 degrees. Many of the city's poor and elderly residents had no air conditioning; many of those who did lost power as blackouts swept the city. Soon, thousands were suffering from dehydration, kidney failure, and respiratory distress. The hospitals were overloaded; the city couldn't cope with the flood of 911 calls. Over the following days, more than 600 people died from heat-related illnesses, with hundreds of bodies temporarily stored in refrigerated meat trucks because the city morgues were full. http://motherjones.com/files/images/CD-logo-in-text_White.jpgThe Chicago disaster was the worst heat wave in recent US memory. But if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current path, health experts say catastrophic heat waves are likely to become far more common. Heat-related deaths in Chicago are expected to quadruple by 2050, up from the current annual average of 182, according to the US Global Change Research Program, a government study. Rising temperatures and accompanying atmospheric changes will alter disease patterns and aggravate all manners of medical conditions, from asthma to respiratory diseases to-believe it or not-kidney stones. In May 2009, the medical journal The Lancet and University College London's Institute for Global Health issued a major report concluding that climate change is the "biggest global health threat of the 21st century." Advertisement Advertisement All of this means new costs for the US health care system-which will almost certainly be passed on to consumers in the form of higher insurance premiums. What is the insurance industry doing to prepare? So far, not much. In 2008, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the group representing state government regulators of property, health, and life insurers, announced that all such companies would be required to report both the risks and opportunities that climate change poses to their businesses. Some were eager to get started. Property insurers, says Joel Ario, chair of NAIC's climate task force, "are probably the only people I know who are more worried about climate change than the environmentalists." But the health insurers have been resistant. In a survey by NAIC, America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's powerful lobby group, responded that it "has not adopted specific practices to identify climate change-related risks." It added, "While we continue to monitor climate change as it pertains to the global health care situation there is no conclusive information currently available to address the effects of climate change on health care." The American Council of Life Insurers argued in a letter that "knowledge in this area is not sufficiently developed to warrant an immediate, significant, costly, and possibly damaging change to the content and nature of annual statement reporting." After pushback from the broader insurance industry, NAIC made disclosure voluntary on a state-by-state basis. (Some states intend to move forward with the mandatory disclosure policies as planned.) It's true that there are many unanswered questions about exactly how rising temperatures will affect human health. But there's mounting evidence that the impact will be significant, according to major research efforts from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, and the calls climate change "an environmental health hazard of unprecedented scale and complexity." Climate change, it turns out, has a few side effects. High temperatures make it harder for the body to cool itself, which can cause heat cramps, exhaustion, and stroke-a particular concern for people with heart conditions. Heat also affects air quality, as stagnant air leads to higher smog concentrations, which in turn places stress on those with respiratory conditions like asthma. Higher levels of carbon dioxide will likely cause pollens to proliferate, while increased humidity will nurture fungal growth-two major aggravators of asthma and allergies. Hotter weather will also lead to the spread of disease. Mosquitoes carrying diseases like malaria, West Nile virus, and dengue fever will migrate into new areas of the US. So will ticks bearing Lyme disease. Water- and food-borne pathogens also thrive in balmier climes. In some places, winters will be warmer-but that creates problems, too. Increased precipitation is expected to trigger heavier snowfalls and more ice storms, leading to more accidents and falls, says Paul Epstein of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. A 2009 report from the US Global Change Research Program found that any decrease in hypothermia-related deaths thanks to warmer winters "will be substantially less than the increase in deaths due to summertime heat extremes." The US health care community is so far behind on the issue of global warming that it's only starting to calculate the cost of these changes. But what little research exists suggests the bill could be big. Lyme disease already costs more than $2.5 billion a year in medical expenses and lost work time-and climate models predict that the area where Lyme-carrying ticks can survive will more than double over the next 70 years. Any increase in asthma would likewise boost the condition's massive price tag- currently $18 billion annually. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that kidney stones could increase by 30 percent or more in some areas of the US, due to dehydration. That would cost the US health care system more than $1 billion per year. These are just a few of the anticipated health effects-accumulated, they could pose a major liability for insurers. It's a "time bomb," says Michael Gresty, managing principal of the sustainability consultancy Altanova, which works with corporate clients to reduce risks in this area. "When the industry is not prepared for a sudden shock like this, they either have to dig into their reserves, or they have to increase their premiums to cover the increased costs of providing care." On the bright side, one underappreciated benefit of tackling climate change is that it could yield major health care savings. The European Environment Agency has found that the European Union's plans to reduce carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020 would cut health costs by $44 billion dollars annually. No equivalent analysis has been done for the US. But a study by the Clean Air Task Forcefound that shuttering dirty coal plants could save more than twice as many lives as seat belts do each year. Programs to reduce emissions, like providing better public transportation, could also result in indirect health care savings by way of lower obesity rates and fewer respiratory and heart problems. And a January study from the University of Wisconsin found that the benefits of improved air quality that would come from weaning the country off fossil fuels would likely outweigh the short-term costs. Some insurance firms are beginning to acknowledge that climate change may affect their businesses. In a 2008 submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project-a voluntary program that helps major businesses assess climate change-related risks-Prudential said it had teams examining the implications of increased infectious disease and extreme weather events. The company is also "paying attention more" to markets like Mexico, India, and China, where diseases like malaria may spread, says Mary O'Malley, chair of Prudential's environmental task force. But, she says, Prudential is only starting to evaluate the risks and hasn't made substantial changes to its business model. Likewise, Aetna concluded in a submission to the disclosure project that global warming may lead to "higher health care costs for everyone." But it, too, is in the early stages of assessing the problem. Smart insurers, says Gresty, should work to calculate climate-related risks and push for policy changes to reduce those risks. "That would be an investment in the future that would be protective of their business," he says. And given the industry's massive lobbying tab, policymakers might well listen. Says Harvard's Epstein, "Through their own policies as well as national policies, the insurers can have a huge voice." This piece was produced by Mother Jones as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Kate Sheppard covers energy and environmental politics in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. For more of her stories, click here. She Tweets here. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 12243 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 10103 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 14:35:47 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 13:35:47 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: OM-TImes Spotlights Message-ID: <019501cae96e$1bfab510$53f01f30$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS As we contemplate moving into total wellness, information such as this keeps us abreast of how the galactic field played its role in shaping who we are now and will continue its role in shaping who we are about to become as a collective unconscious/ consciousness. From: Humanity Healing Network [mailto:Humanity_Healing_Network at mail.vresp.com] Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 12:05 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: OM-TImes Spotlights OM_banner03 Aloha Friend, Weekly Energy Alert: Energy Alert for April 29 - May 14th 2010 Blue Ray Healing rain Over the next couple of weeks the earth activity will begin to slow and balance as the vibrations reach yet another plateau. This will be followed by a few weeks of integration before the next shifts begin. Many people are beginning to be able to tune into these amazing energies with a knowing of what is about to happen. These energies are being transmitted by the earths crystalline grid and spread by ley lines located all around the world. These frequencies have always been available and animals use this information to migrate and also to flee areas that they feel are unstable. So enjoy the calm before the next wave approaches and when it does allow the energies to flow through you, if you feel the need to rest, try to do so. I personally seem to get the fight or flight feelings, like I am ready to run and hide or turn and fight. I utilize these times of high energy to do things that I have seemed to put off until the time is right. Much Love and Blessings Deb Graves / Araznu http://www.bluerayhealing.com _____ marty-1 Marty, the Enlighten Squirrel Forecast for May. He's back! Just in time for May Day, yep yep, by Golly! Gotta love a squirrel who loves his mum... Happy Mother's Day, May 9th! Read more about Marty http://martyswingnuts.com/ green-leaves-m.jpg Poetry Spotlights Create . . . (By Bill) some do not wish to take the blame for anything we wish to simply point at circumstance sooner or later the truth does shine forth that nothing in this Universe is by chance... Continue reading here 0609forgiveness2 2 Spotlights How Can I Change the World? (after all, I am only one person...). By Onelight "If we listen closely enough, each of us will hear this call of Higher Consciousness beckoning us to heal and become more fully who we are. As we transform ourselves, we will become better able to play an important part in other transformations -- friends, families, communities." Read more here Message in the Sky. By Cher Lyn "The language of Nature speaks in mysterious ways to those who listen. This story is one of those magical experiences that was gifted to me while I was painting on the majestic Volcano Goddess Pele?. Read more here Om-Times Magazine is a Multi-Spiritual-Cultural catalyst?a magazine that provokes, drives, and instigates dialogue among a diversity of people with different approaches, backgrounds and walks of life. Our Magazine Edition will be out MONDAY May 3rd -we apologize for the inconvinience. OM-Times Magazine "There is no place like Ohm" www.om-times.com _____ Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe _____ Humanity Healing Network 9947 Hull Street Road Suite 117 Richmond, VA, Virginia 23236-1412 Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy. Non-Profits Email Free with VerticalResponse! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 14:59:51 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 13:59:51 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Check out this Month's Specials at DrSinatra.com Message-ID: <019a01cae971$7cd3ec00$767bc400$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS It is my hope that you get some benefit from these messages from doctors, e.g., Dr. Sinatra and Dr. Mercola, who formulate their own products and market them while at the same time providing intelligent information upon which one may base informed decisions. May I note that I have not tried any of the products for either of these doctors, nor is it my intent to recommend them or their products. However, I do take into consideration the information they provide. And, I convey it to both my primary care physician and the acupuncturist/herbologist I am seeing as I battle this vitamin deficiency challenge that has cause considerable trauma in my life. Then, having received input from them, I make a decision as to what course of treatment and what drugs or alternative herbs, etc. that I will use. My primary care physician likes this integrated approach very much and is glad that I am as informed as I am and am taking part in decisions related to my own healing. When it comes to one's own health, I do not feel that any of us can have too much information. And, if I had a doctor who was uncomfortable with my participation in the treatment of my disease, I would find another doctor. No one knows my body better than I do and I want the right to make the final decision on any treatment offered. I hope you do the same. From: Dr. Sinatra's Advanced BioSolutions Team [mailto:drsinatra1 at stephensinatramail.com] Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 9:18 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Check out this Month's Specials at DrSinatra.com To unsubscribe, click here. If you're having trouble viewing this e-mail, please click here. Dear Friend, Check out some of the exciting offers and information available on Drsinatra.com this month. STOCK UP SAVINGS of up to $55.98 on Amazing Products like: Omega Q Plus: Dr. Sinatra's #1 cardiovascular recommendation with CoQ10 that's eight times more bioavailable than conventional CoQ10! NattoPlus : Get right to the heart of healthy circulation and keep your blood flow normal! Feature Video Dr. Sinatra on Heart Disease and Healthy Foods Dr. Sinatra discusses how a healthy diet can lower the risk, and prevent cardiovascular disease. Featured FREE Report Strange Fruit: Why It's Worth Going Organic Once you see the toxic chemicals used on conventional produce, you won't want to buy anything but organic. In this free report , I provide information about the most pesticide-laden produce and how to tell if what you're buying is really organic. Feature Article Fiber: More Important Than Ever Reduced risk of heart disease, blood sugar control, weight loss, and digestive health are just a few of fiber's benefits. For additional health benefits of fiber and how you can add more to your diet, click here . May Issue of Heart, Health & Nutrition This months' issue covers aging, stress, and how our mental health affects our hearts in the first installment of a two-part interview with integrative psychiatrists Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD. Visit Drsinatra.com today to learn more. Calling all Heart, Health & Nutrition subscribers! Looking for the rest of the story from this month's Heart, Health & Nutrition? Here you can find out about the health consequences of thick, sticky blood and some natural solutions for healthy blood viscosity. Not a subscriber? No problem. You can still get more information about this month's issue and learn how to order the current issue or a full one year subscription today. Join Dr. Sinatra's Blog Discussion Today! All this and more can be found at www.drsinatra.com . But, be sure to visit today - these special savings and the monthly features are only valid for the month of May! To your health, Dr. Sinatra's Online Customer Care Team To view our Privacy Policy, please click here. ******************** TO UNSUBSCRIBE You are receiving this email at maryrose333 at att.net because you indicated an interest in receiving special updates and offers from Dr. Stephen Sinatra and his staff at Advanced BioSolutions. We hope you are finding these updates interesting and informative, but if you would rather not receive them, click here. You will immediately be removed from our database. Remember, your personal information will only be used by Healthy Directions, LLC for editorial and marketing purposes. Thank you. Advanced BioSolutions 1845 Brevard Road Arden, NC 28704 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 16:44:31 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 15:44:31 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Must read: Hightower: Washington Overrun by 11, 000 Corporate Lobbyists and $500 Million in Corrupting Donations Message-ID: <01b301cae980$1fb32400$5f196c00$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS If you want to know who runs our country and exactly how it is done, look no further than this article. The largest corporations are run by members of the world elite, that is: 450 people - members of certain Old European families - who sit in interlocking directorates on the Board of Directors of the largest corporations, and who intermarry in order to maintain control. (David C. Korten - When Corporations Rule the World.) These large corporations then employ the 11,000 Corporate Lobbyists referred to in this article to manipulate Congress in their interest. As well, they donate $500 million in total to the Republican and Democratic political parties to ensure that whomever wins the election is indebted to them. These same people also control the banking system since they control the majority of the world's wealth. At the top of this pyramid are the Rothchilds and the Rockefellars. But, at one time, it was J.P. Morgan who controlled the majority of the world's wealth. However, the powers that be decided that this was too much control for one person to have; so, they banded together to set up the powerful Federal Reserve System. And, while many believe this is a government agency, it is privately-owned and the only influence the government holds is that it has the ability to appoint someone to head up the agency as it did with both Volker and Greenspan and the present head of it. Among the 11,000 corporate lobbyists are many lawyers who have run for and been elected to Congress. These attorney's do so in order to gain knowledge of the Congressional members and how they may best manipulate them. They are looking to acquire experience before moving on to become one of the "K" Street Lobbyists as they are called because their offices are located on K Street in Washington, D.C., just a short distance from the White House. To become a K Street lobbyist means they are almost assured of being paid at minimum $1 million annually. Here is a look at "K" Street and how it largely operates. One of the things that has recently come to my attention that I did know before and is of great interest, is that the Republican Party is the party which represents elite interests. But, many lower-middle class people due to the lobbying power of the party, get caught up in, and led to believe, that Republican interests are concerned with the well-being of the middle class when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Another factor that plays a big role here is that the middle class is largely made up of white people and forms a group that is in many respects racist. And, these are the people who largely make up the "Teabaggers" and the "Patriots" and are egged on by the paid shills of the Republican Party: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Sara Palin, and their ilk. And, who cry "socialism" when it comes to instituting a fair health care reform bill, and who want to do away with Social Security and other benefits that aid those of the lower and lower middle class. If we are to become "centered" and capable of making intelligent decisions rather than being manipulated by the elite, we the people must awaken to the dangers into which we have been led and learn to transcend monetized politics and begin to make conscious intelligent decisions based on valid information and not on propaganda designed to make the elite wealthier. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K_Street_Project Hightower: Washington Overrun by 11,000 Corporate Lobbyists and $500 Million in Corrupting Donations http://www.alternet.org/story/146643/hightower%3A_washington_overrun_by_11%2 C000_corporate_lobbyists_and_%24500_million_in_corrupting_donations April 29, 2010 | We need to focus on those shadowy players who're pulling the strings from behind the scenes to impose their special interest over America's public interest. Change. That's what Americans want. We the People--a.k.a. the body politic, the majority, the great unwashed, the hoi polloi, "us"--have made it clear that we want real, substantive change in the way Washington works, and for whom it works. We're sick of a "jobless recovery," rampant banksterism, collapsing bridges, corporate-owned elections, tinkle-down economics, oil dependency, made-in-China everything, mountaintop "removal," corporate welfare, falling wages, skyrocketing tuition, the demise of the middle class, and on and on. Enough! Ya basta! Stop it--change, dammit, CHANGE! But where's the change? It's in subcommittees, in negotiations, in limbo, in transition, in purgatory, in trouble, in Never Never Land, in the trash can. Why? Right-wing pundits and corporate-funded tea-party groups want you to blame Washington. Well, yes, Obama seems to lack convictions, much less courage; Senate Democrats tend to be five-watt bulbs sitting in 100-watt sockets; and congressional Republicans are...well, contemptible and pathetic. But these characters are the public face of the problem, not the source. Progressives need to focus on those shadowy players who're pulling the strings from behind the scenes to kill the will of the people and impose their special interest over America's public interest. Who are they? Let's start by running some numbers on them: * 11,195. That's the number of corporate lobbyists who are presently plying their nefarious trade day and night in Washington's hallways and back rooms. * $2.95 billion. That's the amount that corporations spent on lobbyists last year alone (a sum more than six times greater than the total spent by all consumer,environmental, worker, and other non-corporate groups combined). * $473 million. That's the sum of money that corporate executives and lobbyists have slipped into Washington's many political pockets--so far--for the 2010 election cycle, including donations to candidates, leadership PACS, and party committees. We are still seven months from the 2010 elections, and already corporate spending has reached the record-breaking total of $475 million shelled out for the entire 2008 cycle. This unrelenting lobbying force is so tightly wired into every part of our political and governmental systems and so omnipresent in Washington decision making that it refers to itself as "the industry." It has become such a permanent part of America's "democratic" power structure that several universities now offer four-year degrees in lobbying! And, as a measure of how entrenched this powerhouse industry has become, note that it has its own lobbying firm: the American League of Lobbyists (ironically, its acronym is ALL). The league works to fend off legislative, regulatory, and ethical restrictions on influence peddling--a reform that nearly all Americans would support. As if that's not enough power behind the narrow agenda of America's economic elite, consider this number: 300. That's roughly how many former members of Congress are currently in harness to corporate lobbying firms. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 16:53:33 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 15:53:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Feasta News Message Message-ID: <01b901cae981$65f02390$31d06ab0$@net> From: Feasta News Subject: Feasta News Message To: "Feasta News Subscriber" Date: Friday, 30 April, 2010, 12:49 Forward from the Global Justice Lis, courtesy of Robert Searle, and which originates in London. Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 08:20:17 +0000 (GMT) From: robert searle To: discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: [GJM] Fw: Feasta News Message Message-ID: <547403.15530.qm at web27403.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Dear All Feasta member David Korowicz is giving an 8 week Cultivate course (venue; the GreenHouse - the former ENFO building, Andrew St. Dublin 2) starting next Tuesday, May 4th. Entitled The Ecology of Civilisation, the course aims to offer insight into the implications of peak energy on economic and financial systems, food security, and climate change. For those of us struggling with these 'big ideas', and looking for things we can actually do in the face of them, David's course offers possible solutions. For more details see David Korowicz Ecology of Civilisation course. ---------------------------- FEASTA The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability 14 St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2 Ireland Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail Powered by Dada Mail 4.0.2 Copyright ? 1999-2009, Simoni Creative. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 1 17:40:49 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 16:40:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Daily struggle: U.S. system strains primary doctors Message-ID: <01c801cae987$f80d2bf0$e82783d0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS There is no doubt in my mind that the new health care bill will put more of a load on doctors while it ensures more income to medical insurers as they collect more monthly premiums. And, since everyone is required to procure insurance, it brings up the question as to how many, now without jobs, are going to be able to pay for it. As I have written previously, I have never seen health insurance as being the answer. In my book, "prevention" is the answer we need to focus on so fewer people need to go see a doctor. Of course, this does not take care of the people who are no suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases at the present time, and who need constant monitoring by a qualified physician. However, what I am witnessing is the number of alternative therapies that are available and that have proven to be viable in research studies and can address these chronic diseases. As we have seen in an earlier message today, global climate change is going to bring a rash of new diseases that we are not prepared to handle as yet, and the end of cheap oil is going to affect us as well as the costs of transportation goes up, and with it the costs of producing pharmaceutical drugs. Yet, qualified physicians like Dr. Mark Stengler in La Jolla, California, who along with others, produces the "Bottom Line Newsletter," are bringing us news of natural remedies that have been proven over and over again to work and are far cheaper than pharmaceuticals. So, I do feel that we must begin looking in this direction as the world changes around us. I have purchased quite a few books from BOTTOM LINE, and have found them to be quite helpful in addressing my own needs. Everything jives with what my acupuncturist/herboligist/dietition is telling me. This dilemma we are facing is the focus of my "Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS program and why it is entitled "Moving Into" - This is going to be a gradual progression from the kind of medicine practiced now and what is ahead for the future. However, we need to focus on prevention and in using alternative means of getting there IMHO if we are to survive what is ahead. We cannot continue to stick our head under the covers and act in denial of what has happened to past civilizations as the events of 2012 predictions come upon us bringing huge changes with them. We cannot continue with "business as usual" and expect to survive the amount of change that is now upon us. And, we must change or die - there is no alternative - the handwriting is on the wall. Daily struggle: U.S. system strains primary doctors http://www.lifescript.com/Health/News/Reuters/2010/04/29/Daily%20struggle%20 US%20system%20strains%20primary%20doctors.aspx?utm_campaign=2010-05-01-49481 &utm_source=healthy-advantage&utm_m WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With an average of 23 phone calls, 18 patients and 20 lab reports to deal with each day, Dr. Richard Baron of Philadelphia is pretty busy. His practice of five primary care physicians looks after more than 8,400 patients, and he says the challenges they face every day in providing that care and getting paid for it lie at the very heart of healthcare reform in the United States. Baron provides a snapshot of his busy practice in this week's New England Journal of Medicine and says unless the system changes, doctors will continue to shy away from primary and general care and newly insured patients will have nowhere to turn. "At a time when the primary care system is collapsing and U.S. medical-school graduates are avoiding the field, it is urgent that we understand the actual work of primary care and find ways to support it," Baron writes. "Our snapshot reveals both the magnitude of the challenge and the need for radical change in practice design and payment structure." For instance, it is almost impossible to be reimbursed for an everyday service such as a simple prescription refill, said Baron. "For a patient, they call up and say 'My bottle is empty. I am out of whatever. Can you refill it?'," Baron said in a telephone interview. "The first question you got to ask is, is the patient on that medication? What is the dose? If a prescription is a cholesterol drug, you might want to ask when was the last time they got a cholesterol measurement? What was it the last time we measured it?" he added. "There are all these things we have to do to take care of patients that don't happen at visits." PATCHWORK OF PAYMENTS Baron said his practice, like many U.S. practices, is paid via a patchwork of Medicaid, Medicare - the U.S. government health insurance plans for the poor, disabled and elderly - as well as private insurance. Electronic health records have helped but his office still employs four medical assistants, five front-desk staff, a business manager, a billing manager, a health educator and two full-time clerical staff. "We saw patients from 7 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays," he adds. Currently doctors are usually reimbursed only for a patient visit, but Baron does not advocate being paid per phone call or per prescription. "The administrative cost of billing for it and somebody auditing it and saying is that sufficient clinical engagement to justify billing for it - I think that would be a colossal waste of resources," he said. Instead, how about an annual fee per patient, asks Baron. He said he could save a health plan $800, for instance, by telling a patient in a quick phone call he does not need a colonoscopy that year because he had one three years ago with an all-clear. "If primary care were more accessible and available and engaged, then patients would be more inclined to go to the primary care doctor than to an emergency room or a specialist," Baron said. "That would represent substantially less cost overall to the delivery system." Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Sat May 1 23:29:45 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 10:59:45 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Daily struggle: U.S. system strains primary doctors In-Reply-To: <01c801cae987$f80d2bf0$e82783d0$@net> References: <01c801cae987$f80d2bf0$e82783d0$@net> Message-ID: <729348.10398.qm@web94905.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Mary and all concerned with public health policy in US, ? I would like to express my strong opposition to this bill as it is not the interests of common citizen that is being taken care off but it is the ensurers who are?envisaged?to be?benifitted.?Mary Rose rightly ?points out whether all those without jobs would be able to pay for the premium. Here for years, I have supported health care as a rights and supported movement financially ( as representative of terre des hommes(Germany) India Programme www.childrensrightsindia.org for ensuring that health care consumes 3% of GDP and education consumes 6% of GDP. ? I would encourage all to study the National?Rural Health?Mission http://mohfw.nic.in/NRHM.htm?for the needful. Equitable Quality Health and Education for All is our slogan. We need to ensure that US government protects the rights to health of all citizen and directs attention to this rather that promoting atheistic freedoms that has caused more deaths and deprivations. With warmest regards and best wishes Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam ? ? ? ________________________________ From: mary rose To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Sun, 2 May, 2010 5:10:49 AM Subject: [GJM] Daily struggle: U.S. system strains primary doctors Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS ? There is no doubt in my mind that the new health care bill will put more of a load on doctors while it ensures more income to medical insurers as they collect more monthly premiums. And, since everyone is required to procure insurance, it brings up the question as to how many, now without jobs, are going to be able to pay for it. ? As I have written previously, I have never seen health insurance as being the answer.? In my book, ?prevention? is the answer we need to focus on so fewer people need to go see a doctor.? Of course, this does not take care of the people who are no suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases at the present time, and who need constant monitoring by a qualified physician.? However, what I am witnessing is the number of alternative therapies that are available and that have proven to be viable in research studies and can address these chronic diseases.? As we have seen in an earlier message today, global climate change is going to bring a rash of new diseases that we are not prepared to handle as yet, and the end of cheap oil is going to affect us as well as the costs of transportation goes up, and with it the costs of producing pharmaceutical drugs. Yet, qualified physicians like Dr. Mark Stengler in La Jolla, California, who along with others, produces the ?Bottom Line Newsletter,? are bringing us news of natural remedies that have been proven over and over again to work and are far cheaper than pharmaceuticals. So, I do feel that we must begin looking in this direction as the world changes around us.? I have purchased quite a few books from BOTTOM LINE, and have found them to be quite helpful in addressing my own needs. ?Everything jives with what my acupuncturist/herboligist/dietition is telling me. ????????? ? This dilemma we are facing is the focus of my ?Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS program and why it is entitled ?Moving Into? ? This is going to be a gradual progression from the kind of medicine practiced now and what is ahead for the future. However, we need to focus on prevention and in using alternative means of getting there IMHO if we are to survive what is ahead. We cannot continue to stick our head under the covers and act in denial of what has happened to past civilizations as the events of 2012 predictions come upon us bringing huge changes with them.? We cannot continue with ?business as usual? and expect to survive the amount of change that is now upon us.? And, we must change or die ? there is no alternative ? the handwriting is on the wall. ???????????? ? Daily struggle: U.S. system strains primary doctors ?http://www.lifescript.com/Health/News/Reuters/2010/04/29/Daily%20struggle%20US%20system%20strains%20primary%20doctors.aspx?utm_campaign=2010-05-01-49481&utm_source=healthy-advantage&utm_m WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? ? With an average of 23 phone calls, 18 patients and 20 lab reports to deal with each day, Dr. Richard Baron of Philadelphia is pretty busy. His practice of five primary care physicians looks after more than 8,400 patients, and he says the challenges they face every day in providing that care and getting paid for it lie at the very heart of healthcare reform in the United States. Baron provides a snapshot of his busy practice in this week's New England Journal of Medicine and says unless the system changes, doctors will continue to shy away from primary and general care and newly insured patients will have nowhere to turn. "At a time when the primary care system is collapsing and U.S. medical-school graduates are avoiding the field, it is urgent that we understand the actual work of primary care and find ways to support it," Baron writes. "Our snapshot reveals both the magnitude of the challenge and the need for radical change in practice design and payment structure." For instance, it is almost impossible to be reimbursed for an everyday service such as a simple prescription refill, said Baron. "For a patient, they call up and say 'My bottle is empty. I am out of whatever. Can you refill it?'," Baron said in a telephone interview. "The first question you got to ask is, is the patient on that medication? What is the dose? If a prescription is a cholesterol drug, you might want to ask when was the last time they got a cholesterol measurement? What was it the last time we measured it?" he added. "There are all these things we have to do to take care of patients that don't happen at visits." PATCHWORK OF PAYMENTS Baron said his practice, like many U.S. practices, is paid via a patchwork of Medicaid, Medicare - the U.S. government health insurance plans for the poor, disabled and elderly - as well as private insurance. Electronic health records have helped but his office still employs four medical assistants, five front-desk staff, a business manager, a billing manager, a health educator and two full-time clerical staff. "We saw patients from 7 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays," he adds. Currently doctors are usually reimbursed only for a patient visit, but Baron does not advocate being paid per phone call or per prescription. "The administrative cost of billing for it and somebody auditing it and saying is that sufficient clinical engagement to justify billing for it - I think that would be a colossal waste of resources," he said. Instead, how about an annual fee per patient, asks Baron. He said he could save a health plan $800, for instance, by telling a patient in a quick phone call he does not need a colonoscopy that year because he had one three years ago with an all-clear. "If primary care were more accessible and available and engaged, then patients would be more inclined to go to the primary care doctor than to an emergency room or a specialist," Baron said. "That would represent substantially less cost overall to the delivery system." ? ? Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sun May 2 08:01:39 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 14:01:39 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Bill Gates College Tour Message-ID: <740976.68830.qm@web27401.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Sun, 2/5/10, robert searle wrote: From: robert searle Subject: Bill Gates College Tour To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Date: Sunday, 2 May, 2010, 15:01 ? This might be of interest ? ? http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=10351&post=60294&uid=196789950474#!/billmelindagatesfoundation?v=app_6009294086 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 15:21:33 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 14:21:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] EPA Establishes Web site on BP Oil Spill Message-ID: <000201caea3d$b27ef5d0$177ce170$@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, May 02, 2010 8:39 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] EPA Establishes Web site on BP Oil Spill EPA Establishes Web site on BP Oil Spill / EPA launches site to inform the public about health, environmental impacts of spill http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/29B427BA2BBB8C56852577150073AE49 Release date: 04/30/2010 Contact Information: Joint Information Center, 985-902-5231, 985-902-5240 WASHINGTON - As part of the ongoing federal response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, EPA today established a website to inform the public about the spill's impact on the environment and the health of nearby residents. The website - http://www.epa.gov/bpspill - will contain data from EPA's ongoing air monitoring along with other information about the agency's activities in the region. Also today, Administrator Jackson joined Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to tour the region. The Administrator will spend the next 36 hours visiting with community groups and meeting EPA staff responding to the spill. Additional information on the broader response from the U.S. Coast Guard and other responding agencies is available at: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com "We are taking every possible step to protect the health of the residents and mitigate the environmental impacts of this spill," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said. "For several days, EPA has been on the ground evaluating air and water concerns and coordinating with other responding agencies. We are also here to address community members -- the people who know these waters and wetlands best. They will be essential to the work ahead." EPA has established air monitoring stations along Plaquemines Parish on the Louisiana coast. EPA established those facilities to determine how oil set on fire in the gulf and oil that is reaching land is impacting air quality. EPA is monitoring levels of a number of chemicals potentially emitted by oil, including volatile organic compounds such as xylene, benzene and toluene. EPA has also deployed two Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzers - mobile laboratories that collect and analyze air quality samples in real time - to monitor air quality in the region. EPA tested smoke from the controlled burn two days ago and found the Louisiana coast had not been affected because an off-shore breeze was blowing away from land and out to sea during that time. The agency will continue to collect and share data with the public, and will coordinate and share information with local health officials. In addition to monitoring air quality, EPA is also assessing the coastal waters affected by the spreading oil. EPA deployed our twin-engine aircraft to assist in the collection of air sampling data and photograph the spill and surrounding area. All of the data EPA collects will be posted to http://www.epa.gov/bpspill , along with frequently asked questions, fact sheets about potential health impacts of the spill, and links to more information on the spill and the government's response. Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/email_signups.htm From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 15:23:26 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 14:23:26 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now Message-ID: <000301caea3d$e6160d70$b2422850$@net> From: Democrats.com [mailto:activist at democrats.com] Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 9:19 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Break Up The Banks Now Dear Charles, America's four largest banks - Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and WellsFargo - have assets of $7.4 trillion, equal to 52% of our entire GDP. The collapse of any one would endanger the American economy, even the world economy. They are truly "too big to fail." They also have too much economic and political power because of their enormous size. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) introduced a bold bill - the SAFE Banking Act (S. 3241) - to break up the big Wall Street banks. This may be the biggest reform of Wall Street and corporate power in 80 years. According to the New York Times, "The [SAFE Banking Act] would reinforce a 1994 law that bars any single bank from holding more than 10% of the nation's total deposits, or about $750 billion. In the years since then, large firms have obtained waivers or used loopholes in the law to exceed that ceiling." It would also limit total bank borrowing to 2% of GDP. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now The bill has broad progressive support, including Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Chris Hayes of The Nation, Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Heather Booth of Americans for Financial Reform, Adam Quinn of Credo, David Arkush of Public Citizen, and Jan Frel of Alternet. In addition, three Federal Reserve bank presidents - James Bullard, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Kansas City Fed President Thomas M. Hoenig, and Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher - all support breaking up too-big-to-fail banks. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now Thanks for all you do! Bob Fertik ##### Forward this message to everyone you know! Subscribe to our email Activist Alerts by creating a free Democrats.com account: http://www.democrats.com/user/register For more frequent updates, follow @BobFertik and @DavidCNSwanson on Twitter or become a Facebook Fan: http://www.facebook.com/democratscom Unsubscribe from our Activist Alerts: http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net &fieldname=L16 Unsubscribe from all Democrats.com email lists: http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net &fieldname=L1 You are subscriber #2064494 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Sun May 2 16:18:20 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Sun, 02 May 2010 23:18:20 +0100 Subject: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now In-Reply-To: <000301caea3d$e6160d70$b2422850$@net> References: <000301caea3d$e6160d70$b2422850$@net> Message-ID: <4BDDFA2C.7030301@gn.apc.org> NO BANK IS "TOO BIG TO FAIL" all the money the criminal banksters print is virtual money of NO REAL CONSEQUENCE, and certainly will not stop green grass and flowers and food etc from growing, except where those same banksters insist upon investing in suicidal and CRIMINAL forms of "agriculture" which are, for example, KILLING THE BEES . any contract to damage or destroy the environment is a contract to commit the MOST SERIOUS CRIME OF "AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL DAMAGE" (max life sentence), and is thereforre an unenforceable contract. see http://www.ecotort.gn.apc.org/scandalous.htm On 02/05/2010 22:23, mary rose wrote: > > *From:* Democrats.com [mailto:activist at democrats.com] > *Sent:* Sunday, May 02, 2010 9:19 AM > *To:* maryrose333 at att.net > *Subject:* Break Up The Banks Now > > Dear Charles, > > America's four largest banks - Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan > Chase, and WellsFargo - have assets of *$7.4 trillion, equal to 52% of > our entire GDP*. > > The collapse of any one would endanger the American economy, even the > world economy. They are truly "too big to fail." They also have too > much economic and political power because of their enormous size. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) introduced a bold > bill - the SAFE Banking Act (S. 3241) - to break up the big Wall > Street banks. This may be the biggest reform of Wall Street and > corporate power in 80 years. > > According to the New York Times, "The [SAFE Banking Act] would > reinforce a 1994 law that bars any single bank from holding more than > 10% of the nation's total deposits, or about $750 billion. In the > years since then, large firms have obtained waivers or used loopholes > in the law to exceed that ceiling." It would also limit total bank > borrowing to 2% of GDP. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > The bill has broad progressive support, including Dean Baker of the > Center for Economic and Policy Research, Chris Hayes of The Nation, > Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Heather Booth of Americans for Financial > Reform, Adam Quinn of Credo, David Arkush of Public Citizen, and Jan > Frel of Alternet. > > In addition, three Federal Reserve bank presidents -- James Bullard, > president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. > Louis' Kansas City Fed President Thomas M. Hoenig, and Dallas Fed > President Richard W. Fisher -- all support breaking up too-big-to-fail > banks. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > Thanks for all you do! > > Bob Fertik > > ##### > > Forward this message to everyone you know! > > Subscribe to our email Activist Alerts by creating a free > Democrats.com account: > http://www.democrats.com/user/register > > > For more frequent updates, follow @BobFertik > and @DavidCNSwanson > on Twitter or become a Facebook Fan: > http://www.facebook.com/democratscom > > Unsubscribe from our Activist Alerts: > http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net&fieldname=L16 > > > Unsubscribe from all Democrats.com email lists: > http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net&fieldname=L1 > > > You are subscriber #2064494 > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ceasig at gmail.com Sat May 1 01:52:03 2010 From: ceasig at gmail.com (Centre For Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion & Governance) Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 13:22:03 +0530 Subject: [GJM] Persuading Reserve Bank of India Message-ID: Dear Robert, I would like you to spell out more clearly the way ahead, interest free loans sound good but here in Indina the initiative of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation for introducing Islamic Banking got challenged and this mainstream of ecologically hostile bankers and regulators did not pay heed to the idea of changing the banking regulations of 1949. Reserve Bank of India,known as the lender of last resort appears to be dominated by those who think interest free banking is not the option to pursue as banks need to make its operations profitable. In the process, we are losing lots of ecologically safe habitats and endangering the future. Many non-Muslims hate this proposal just because it sounds Islamic to them and Subramaniam Swami is one such person who challenged this without realising that this is part of inter-faith common. You are very rights transformation of mainstream in the banking industry is needed. An international conference had been organised here in October,2009 and we were planning another in June that stands postponed as the Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha adviced that another international conference may be counterproductive. Day before yesterday, I suggested to a visioning workshop at India Habitat Centre that interest free loans be issued for ensuring that purchase of solar panels is facilitated,but this was not taken in the main recommendations thinking that banks would not be ready for this. If you think, Reserve Bank of India as a facilator bank can do the needful for issuing interest free loans, this would indeed be the first step. This is what has been the position of Rodney too as he believes that this would reduce the cost of loans. Persuading Reserve Bank of India for this is a challenge and for this it is important that all the economic advisors to government understand this. Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam On 30 April 2010 15:23, robert searle wrote: > Dear Muhammad Muktar Alam, > > To what extent Facilitator Banks, and Facilitation Banking in > TFE help NGOs, and indeed, governments depend on the prevailing political > "ideology". For example, in the USA, FBs could play a big part in helping > NGOs, and ofcourse, businesses (rather than big government which is > unacceptable to the mainstream American mindset) concerned with ethical, > sustainable, and environmental issues which have little or no obvious > commercial value. They could also give green contracts, and/or create new > non-repayable money (with Grant Interest paid for by the Central Bank, or > some other body).Interest free loans could also be used. > > In the UK, and EU governments could if desired play a greater role in the > above process rather than NGOs, and businesses per se. They could use > Facilitator Banks to do this whose transactions would be largely monitored > electronically by an independent body to avoid fraud.This is a big subject. > > > > > Dear Robert, > > I have few questions for you.TFE is a set of your proposals that you want > and therefore, you can call these very much the proposal of Robert Searle > rather than calling this something that has got recognition as such. Second, > if you want bankers generate non-repayable interest free money and grants > for NGOs controlled through a mechanism where NGOs are prioritised rather > than government agencies that must take responsibilty for equitable quality > education and health. Do you have preference for certain kind of NGOs as > NGOs are divided in terms of their support for vision for future and social > order? > > There is conference for paving the way for post-Banking economy at Norwich > www.norwichconference.com , I think you should go there and test your > propositions. I got an invitation for that. If you like, I can send the > email address of Abdassamad Clarke. Tarek El Diwany would be there too. > > Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam > > > > ________________________________ > > From: robert searle > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 Sewa, Labour League Foundation and Sufi Trust, Delhi aims for socially inclusive and ecologically safe future for all through organizing and communicating carbon neutral neighborhood discussions/ consultations, building capacities in ecological audit, ecologically safe networking ,advocacy ,communication, leadership, & other related domains for multiplying personal, community , governmental and corporate actions for ecologically safe and socially inclusive social futures within and across the nations/ carbon-neutral ecostrategic communities. Contact Details: 58-C,DDA Flats, Ashok Vihar-III, Delhi-110052 Phones: 09968345380 Communication Products at http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam Networks: http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com Blog: http://centre4ecologicalaudit.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/ceasig http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 15:24:54 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 14:24:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Photo: Rock Squirrels Message-ID: <000801caea3e$1bbbe0d0$5333a270$@net> From: Tim Jones [mailto:deforest at austin.rr.com] Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 11:24 AM To: Nature Images:; rick f11 Subject: Photo: Rock Squirrels Four of these shy creatures on watch just outside a flexible perforated pipe used to drain a retaining wall in the garden. Could be a hideout, or perhaps it's a tunnel into their nest. Rock Squirrels (Spermophilus variegatus) Waterstone, Wimberley, Hays County, Texas Canon 1D Mark IV with 800mm lens 05-02-10 Tim -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 173619 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 17:23:36 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 16:23:36 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now In-Reply-To: <4BDDFA2C.7030301@gn.apc.org> References: <000301caea3d$e6160d70$b2422850$@net> <4BDDFA2C.7030301@gn.apc.org> Message-ID: <002901caea4e$898d2dc0$9ca78940$@net> The way this is worded sounds like I am advocating no break up of the banks, however, it is my feelings that the banks should be broken up. And we should all move our fund to the smaller commercial and community banks. From: EcoTort Theatre [mailto:ecotort at gn.apc.org] Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 3:18 PM To: Discussion Forum for Global Justice Cc: mary rose; FixGov at yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now NO BANK IS "TOO BIG TO FAIL" all the money the criminal banksters print is virtual money of NO REAL CONSEQUENCE, and certainly will not stop green grass and flowers and food etc from growing, except where those same banksters insist upon investing in suicidal and CRIMINAL forms of "agriculture" which are, for example, KILLING THE BEES. any contract to damage or destroy the environment is a contract to commit the MOST SERIOUS CRIME OF "AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL DAMAGE" (max life sentence), and is thereforre an unenforceable contract. see http://www.ecotort.gn.apc.org/scandalous.htm On 02/05/2010 22:23, mary rose wrote: From: Democrats.com [mailto:activist at democrats.com] Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 9:19 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Break Up The Banks Now Dear Charles, America's four largest banks - Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and WellsFargo - have assets of $7.4 trillion, equal to 52% of our entire GDP. The collapse of any one would endanger the American economy, even the world economy. They are truly "too big to fail." They also have too much economic and political power because of their enormous size. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) introduced a bold bill - the SAFE Banking Act (S. 3241) - to break up the big Wall Street banks. This may be the biggest reform of Wall Street and corporate power in 80 years. According to the New York Times, "The [SAFE Banking Act] would reinforce a 1994 law that bars any single bank from holding more than 10% of the nation's total deposits, or about $750 billion. In the years since then, large firms have obtained waivers or used loopholes in the law to exceed that ceiling." It would also limit total bank borrowing to 2% of GDP. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now The bill has broad progressive support, including Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Chris Hayes of The Nation, Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Heather Booth of Americans for Financial Reform, Adam Quinn of Credo, David Arkush of Public Citizen, and Jan Frel of Alternet. In addition, three Federal Reserve bank presidents - James Bullard, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Kansas City Fed President Thomas M. Hoenig, and Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher - all support breaking up too-big-to-fail banks. Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now Thanks for all you do! Bob Fertik ##### Forward this message to everyone you know! Subscribe to our email Activist Alerts by creating a free Democrats.com account: http://www.democrats.com/user/register For more frequent updates, follow @BobFertik and @DavidCNSwanson on Twitter or become a Facebook Fan: http://www.facebook.com/democratscom Unsubscribe from our Activist Alerts: http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net &fieldname=L16 Unsubscribe from all Democrats.com email lists: http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net &fieldname=L1 You are subscriber #2064494 __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemo vement.net __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Sun May 2 17:50:12 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Mon, 03 May 2010 00:50:12 +0100 Subject: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now In-Reply-To: <002901caea4e$898d2dc0$9ca78940$@net> References: <000301caea3d$e6160d70$b2422850$@net> <4BDDFA2C.7030301@gn.apc.org> <002901caea4e$898d2dc0$9ca78940$@net> Message-ID: <4BDE0FB4.3020509@gn.apc.org> Hi Mary, I didn't mean to say whether or not there should be a break-up of the banks, I feel there is some merit in the idea of global financial synchronisation, certainly on issues suchas energy and water etc. my feeling is that as the money is all virtual, there is no REAL economic reason for anything, eg, there is no economic reason why we cannot feed, clothe, house, educate and employ everyone alive on Planet Earth today, AND be 100% eco-friendly right now . . . to engage in arguments /within the present economic paradigm/ is to get embroiled in long complicated arguments which entirely miss the point of having money - _it is simply a means of FAIR exchange. _ . . 2000 years ago, Aristotle said that "money, being in itself naturally BARREN, it is PREPOSTEROUS to make it breed more money . . . over 60% of everyone's income today is spent in paying interest to criminal bankers all bankers should be paid a living salary, thus removing the incentive to commit fraud in order to "earn" (read *STEAL *through *CRIMINAL FRAUD *and *DECEPTION*) more and more money from the people who work so hard to feed them (farmers, engineers, builders etc). very best regards, from Nick. On 03/05/2010 00:23, mary rose wrote: > > The way this is worded sounds like I am advocating no break up of the > banks, however, it is my feelings that the banks should be broken up. > And we should all move our fund to the smaller commercial and > community banks. > > *From:* EcoTort Theatre [mailto:ecotort at gn.apc.org] > *Sent:* Sunday, May 02, 2010 3:18 PM > *To:* Discussion Forum for Global Justice > *Cc:* mary rose; FixGov at yahoogroups.com > *Subject:* Re: [GJM] FW: Break Up The Banks Now > > > NO BANK IS "TOO BIG TO FAIL" > > all the money the criminal banksters print is virtual money of NO REAL > CONSEQUENCE, and certainly will not stop green grass and flowers and > food etc from growing, except where those same banksters insist upon > investing in suicidal and CRIMINAL forms of "agriculture" which are, > for example, KILLING THE BEES > . > > any contract to damage or destroy the environment is a contract to > commit the MOST SERIOUS CRIME OF "AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL DAMAGE" (max > life sentence), and is thereforre an unenforceable contract. see > http://www.ecotort.gn.apc.org/scandalous.htm > > > On 02/05/2010 22:23, mary rose wrote: > > *From:* Democrats.com [mailto:activist at democrats.com] > *Sent:* Sunday, May 02, 2010 9:19 AM > *To:* maryrose333 at att.net > *Subject:* Break Up The Banks Now > > Dear Charles, > > America's four largest banks - Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan > Chase, and WellsFargo - have assets of *$7.4 trillion, equal to 52% of > our entire GDP*. > > The collapse of any one would endanger the American economy, even the > world economy. They are truly "too big to fail." They also have too > much economic and political power because of their enormous size. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) introduced a bold > bill - the SAFE Banking Act (S. 3241) - to break up the big Wall > Street banks. This may be the biggest reform of Wall Street and > corporate power in 80 years. > > According to the New York Times, "The [SAFE Banking Act] would > reinforce a 1994 law that bars any single bank from holding more than > 10% of the nation's total deposits, or about $750 billion. In the > years since then, large firms have obtained waivers or used loopholes > in the law to exceed that ceiling." It would also limit total bank > borrowing to 2% of GDP. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > The bill has broad progressive support, including Dean Baker of the > Center for Economic and Policy Research, Chris Hayes of The Nation, > Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Heather Booth of Americans for Financial > Reform, Adam Quinn of Credo, David Arkush of Public Citizen, and Jan > Frel of Alternet. > > In addition, three Federal Reserve bank presidents -- James Bullard, > president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. > Louis' Kansas City Fed President Thomas M. Hoenig, and Dallas Fed > President Richard W. Fisher -- all support breaking up too-big-to-fail > banks. > > *Tell Congress: Break Up the Big Banks Now** > *http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks-now > ** > > Thanks for all you do! > > Bob Fertik > > ##### > > Forward this message to everyone you know! > > Subscribe to our email Activist Alerts by creating a free > Democrats.com account: > http://www.democrats.com/user/register > > > For more frequent updates, follow @BobFertik > and @DavidCNSwanson > on Twitter or become a Facebook Fan: > http://www.facebook.com/democratscom > > Unsubscribe from our Activist Alerts: > http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net&fieldname=L16 > > > Unsubscribe from all Democrats.com email lists: > http://archive.democrats.com/unsub.cfm?email=maryrose333 at att.net&fieldname=L1 > > > You are subscriber #2064494 > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net > http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4975 (20100325) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 5080 (20100502) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 19:15:42 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 18:15:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The Ten Commandments of Mother Earth Message-ID: <003e01caea5e$645b9770$2d12c650$@net> This is so beautiful and so meaningful -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5CVigWZLVc &NR=1 Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 2 23:09:46 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 22:09:46 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Why is Hawking affirming time travel theory and appearing ignorant of DARPA secret time travel? Message-ID: <006d01caea7f$1498b9e0$3dca2da0$@net> http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2010m5d1-Why-is -Hawking-affirming-time-travel-theory-and-appearing-ignorant-of-DARPA-secret -time-travel Why is Hawking affirming time travel theory and appearing ignorant of DARPA secret time travel? Fresh from eliciting polarized public responses to public statements urging humanity to avoid any contact with extraterrestrial civilizations on the grounds that all such contact may be dangerous, scientist Stephen Hawking, for over 30 years Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, has now weighed in on the theoretical and operational reality of time travel as part of his Discovery Channel documentary series. As Examiner.com reported, Hawking's blanket negative statements about the intentions of extraterrestrial civilizations are reminiscent of U.S. and U.K. military-intelligence propaganda supporting the weaponization of space and a false flag war against extraterrestrials. Prof. Hawking said, "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach." Prof. Hawking's statements on time travel can been seen in a segment (Episode 1-5) of the Discovery Channel documentary embedded in the article below. In the documentary segment, Prof. Hawking first affirms the theoretical reality of time travel. He then describes (and the documentary depicts) a theoretical time-travel portal in terms that are very similar to secret U.S. government time travel portals described by independent whistle blowers from U.S. time travel projects, Andrew D. Basiago, a Cambridge University graduate and former DARPA Project Pegasus time travel participant, and former U.S. serviceman Michael Relfe. Although the literature about Mr. Basiago's and Mr. Relfe's operational time travel experiences in secret U.S. government programs is readily available and would come up in any scientific due diligence "Google" search by Prof. Hawking, Prof. Hawking goes on to postulate that "time travel wormholes" occur only at the quantum level and are "one billion trillionth trillionth of a centimeter" in diameter. Science would have to expand these "time travel wormholes" to human size for time travel to be possible, according to Prof. Hawking. According to Andrew D. Basiago, in the quantum access technology developed by the U.S. government, vortal tunnels are opened in time-space via Tesla-based teleporters. It is reasonable to ask why Prof. Hawking, who first portrays time travel as possible and describes a realistic time travel portal almost factually would then postulate a situation so drastically at odds with what is now real - that the U.S. government has secretly had an operational time travel capability for more than 40 years. Are Prof. Hawking's statements negating the operational reality of quantum access time travel technology due to (1) an oversight, (2) faulty scientific due diligence, (3) a "paradigm" gap on Prof. Hawking's part, (4) his ignorance of the "whistle blower" phenomenon regarding quantum access technologies (and extraterrestrial civilizations), or (5) an intentional misleading of the world population as to the state of quantum access technologies such as teleportation and time travel? Stephen Hawking, Discovery Channel and time travel Examiner.com readers can view the segment from Stephen Hawking's documentary on time travel in which time travel is deemed theoretically possible, a schematic of an operational time travel portal is shown, and finally time travel is shown to be operationally not possible at present. Please make certain you are watching Episode 1-5, as Episodes 2-5 to 5-5 also appear in the video below. For further information and videos please got to: http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2010m5d1-Why-is -Hawking-affirming-time-travel-theory-and-appearing-ignorant-of-DARPA-secret -time-travel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon May 3 03:52:40 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 09:52:40 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] A Musical Interlude!!! Message-ID: <664685.72648.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Dear All, ? ?????????? As it is Bank Holiday(at least in the UK!) I thought I would send along again some interesting musical "entertainments". ? ? http://www.youtube.com/user/Searle8 ? Some new music vids have been included in the above link, and no doubt it will be expaned more, and more..... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 12:19:55 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 11:19:55 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Top News: Goldman's White House Links, Intense US Torture in Secret Prison, Law Threatens Small Organic Farms, More Message-ID: <009001caeaed$7ccda0c0$7668e240$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 9:00 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Top News: Goldman's White House Links, Intense US Torture in Secret Prison, Law Threatens Small Organic Farms, More This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/10/05_goldman_sachs_white_house_links_Duplessis_orphans Bookmark and Share Dear friends, Below are key excerpts of important news articles which include revealing information on Goldman Sachs' multiple and ongoing links to the White House, extreme torture at a secret Baghdad prison, new FDA laws that threaten the viability of small, diverse organic farms, 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. The most important 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 Special note: For a fascinating History Channel documentary presenting evidence of ancient aliens on Earth, click here. And for a powerful five-minute video of Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, which reveals the real reasons behind the wars in the Middle East, click here . _____ Goldman's White House connections raise eyebrows April 21, 2010, Miami Herald/McClatchy Newspapers http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/21/1591442/goldmans-connections-to-white.html While Goldman Sachs' lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman's chief executive visited the White House at least four times. White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman's employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers. Meanwhile, however, Goldman is retaining former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal team. In addition, when he worked as an investment banker in Chicago a decade ago, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel advised one client who also retained Goldman as an adviser on the same $8.2 billion deal. Goldman's connections to the White House and the Obama administration are raising eyebrows at a time when Washington and Wall Street are dueling over how to overhaul regulation of the financial world. Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist, said that "almost everything that the White House has done has been haunted by the personnel and the money of Goldman ... as well as the suspicion that the White House, particularly early on, was pulling its punches out of deference to Goldman and its war chest." Note: For lots more from major media sources on the corrupt relationship between the biggest financial firms and government, click here. _____ U.S. Subpoenas Times Reporter Over Book on C.I.A. April 29, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29justice.html The Obama administration is seeking to compel a writer to testify about his confidential sources for a 2006 book about the Central Intelligence Agency, a rare step that was authorized by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The author, James Risen, who is a reporter for The New York Times, received a subpoena on [April 26] requiring him to provide documents and to testify May 4 before a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., about his sources for a chapter of his book, State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration. The chapter largely focuses on problems with a covert C.I.A. effort to disrupt alleged Iranian nuclear weapons research. Mr. Risen referred questions to his lawyer, Joel Kurtzberg, ... who said that Mr. Risen would not comply with the demand and would ask a judge to quash the subpoena. ?He intends to honor his commitment of confidentiality to his source or sources,? Mr. Kurtzberg said. ?We intend to fight this subpoena.? The subpoena comes two weeks after the indictment of a former National Security Agency official on charges apparently arising from an investigation into a series of Baltimore Sun articles that exposed technical failings and cost overruns of several agency programs that cost billions of dollars. Note: For many key major media articles on the efforts of the government to maintain secrecy, click here. _____ Report Details Torture at Secret Baghdad Prison April 28, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/world/middleeast/28baghdad.html The torture of Iraqi detainees at a secret prison in Baghdad was far more systematic and brutal than initially reported, Human Rights Watch reported. Human Rights Watch ... documented its findings, which it described as ?credible and consistent,? in a draft report provided to The New York Times. The group said it had interviewed 42 detainees who displayed fresh scars and wounds. Many said they were raped, sodomized with broomsticks and pistol barrels, or forced to engage in sexual acts with one another and their jailers. All said they were tortured by being hung upside down and then whipped and kicked before being suffocated with a plastic bag. Those who passed out were revived, they said, with electric shocks to their genitals and other parts of their bodies. ?The horror we found suggests torture was the norm in Muthanna,? said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East program at Human Rights Watch. ?Security officials whipped detainees with heavy cables, pulled out finger and toenails, burned them with acid and cigarettes, and smashed their teeth,? Human Rights Watch said. Note: For more on the atrocities committed by the US and its recent wars, click here . _____ Organic, small farmers fret over FDA regulation April 27, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/27/MNKM1D3C5H.DTL Small farmers in California who have led a national movement away from industrial agriculture face a looming crackdown on food safety that they say is geared to big corporate farms and will make it harder for them to survive. The small growers, many of whom grow dozens of different kinds of vegetables and fruits, say the inherent benefits of their size, and their sensitivity to extra costs, are being ignored. They are fighting to carve out a sanctuary in legislation that would bring farmers under the strict purview of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA would gain greater authority to regulate how products are grown, stored, transported, inspected, traced from farm to table and recalled when needed. But ... organic growers argue that the problems that have plagued the food industry lie elsewhere. They point to the sale of bagged vegetables, cut fruit and other processed food in which vast quantities of produce from different farms are mixed, sealed in containers and shipped long distances, creating a host for harmful bacteria. The legislation does not address what some experts suspect is the source of E. coli contamination: the large, confined animal feeding operations. "It does not take on the industrial animal industry and the abuses going on," said Tom Willey of T&D Willey Farms in Madera. Note: For an amazing trove of articles from reliable sources detailing the FDA's corruption in the interest of major corporations, click here . _____ GM repays federal loan with government money April 27, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/26/BUS91D55HR.DTL You'd think that General Motors Co., having been rescued by U.S. taxpayers, would be more up-front with them. In an ad that has been blanketing the airwaves since last week, General Motors Chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre boasts that "we have repaid our government loan, in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule." In a press release, Whitacre said GM was able to repay the loans "because more customers are buying vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse." Neither the ad nor the press release mentioned that GM repaid its government loan with other government money, or that U.S. taxpayers could lose money on the roughly $50 billion they still have invested in General Motors. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the repayment "appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle." Note: For lots more on the bailout shell game from reliable sources, click here . _____ Report Says SEC Missed Many Shots at Stanford April 17, 2010, Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303491304575188220570802084.html The Securities and Exchange Commission suspected Texas financier R. Allen Stanford of running a Ponzi scheme as early as 1997 but took more than a decade to pursue him seriously. The report by the SEC's inspector general says SEC examiners concluded four times between 1997 and 2004 that Mr. Stanford's businesses were fraudulent, but each time decided not to go further. It singles out the former head of the SEC's enforcement office in Fort Worth, Texas, accusing him of repeatedly quashing Stanford probes and then trying to represent Mr. Stanford as a lawyer in private practice. The former SEC official, Spencer Barasch, is now a partner at law firm Andrews Kurth LLP. The inspector general referred Mr. Barasch for possible disbarment from practicing law. Mr. Stanford was indicted last June and accused of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that swindled investors out of $7 billion. SEC Inspector General David Kotz's report suggests the agency's mistakes in the Stanford case were in part the result of a culture that favored easily resolved cases over messier ones. Cases such as the alleged Stanford fraud weren't considered "quick-hit" and "slam-dunk," and examiners were discouraged from pursuing them, Mr. Kotz found. Note: For many more examples from major media sources of the astonishing performance of the SEC in the runup to the Wall Street crisis, click here . _____ Sempra agrees to major refund for energy crisis April 29, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/28/BUQ41D6D34.DTL Sempra Energy has agreed to pay about $410 million to settle claims that it played Enron-style games with California's electricity market during the 2000-01 energy crisis, state officials said. Houston's Enron, as well as other companies, used a variety of tactics to create the appearance of congested power lines in some instances and energy shortages in others. Electricity prices soared, and rolling blackouts rippled across the state. Enron traders were caught on audio tape bragging about how much their trading schemes were costing "Grandma Millie," their derisive term for the California utility customer. The crisis forced the state to buy expensive long-term power contracts that Californians are still paying off, month by month, on their utility bills. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the state's largest utility, tumbled into bankruptcy as a result of soaring wholesale power prices. And Gov. Gray Davis lost his job in a recall election fueled by public anger over his handling of the crisis. Since then, the state government has reached 39 settlement agreements with energy companies for a total of $3.2 billion. Note: To see how blatant the corruption is, watch the tapes of Enron traders laughing at causing traffic accidents at this link. For many more examples of corporate corruption reported by reliable, verifiable sources, click here . _____ Government must inform us of cell phone risk April 28, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/27/EDMB1D58TC.DTL A huge, 30-year study called COSMOS has been launched in Europe to determine whether cell phones cause cancer and other health problems. Meanwhile, policymakers in Sacramento are considering legislation to ensure people know how much radiation their cell phones emit. The wireless industry vigorously opposes such legislation. It argues that its phones comply with regulations, and there is no consensus about risks so people don't need to know this. Our research review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found alarming results to the contrary. We reviewed 23 case-control studies that examined tumor risk due to cell phone use. Although as a whole the data varied, among the 10 higher quality studies, we found a harmful association between phone use and tumor risk. The lower quality studies, which failed to meet scientific best practices, were primarily industry funded. The 13 studies that investigated cell phone use for 10 or more years found a significant harmful association with tumor risk, especially for brain tumors, giving us ample reason for concern about long-term use. Nine nations have issued precautionary warnings. It is time for our government to require health warnings and publicize simple steps to reduce the health risks of cell phone use. Note: For key reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here . _____ Colleague Disputes Case Against Anthrax Suspect April 23, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23anthrax.html A former Army microbiologist who worked for years with Bruce E. Ivins, whom the F.B.I. has blamed for the anthrax letter attacks that killed five people in 2001, told a National Academy of Sciences panel on [April 22] that he believed it was impossible that the deadly spores had been produced undetected in Dr. Ivins?s laboratory, as the F.B.I. asserts. Asked by reporters after his testimony whether he believed that there was any chance that Dr. Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, had carried out the attacks, the microbiologist, Henry S. Heine, replied, ?Absolutely not.? At the Army?s biodefense laboratory in Maryland, where Dr. Ivins and Dr. Heine worked, he said, ?among the senior scientists, no one believes it.? Dr. Heine told the 16-member panel, which is reviewing the F.B.I.?s scientific work on the investigation, that producing the quantity of spores in the letters would have taken at least a year of intensive work using the equipment at the army lab. Such an effort would not have escaped colleagues? notice, he added later, and lab technicians who worked closely with Dr. Ivins have told him they saw no such work. ?Whoever did this is still running around out there,? Dr. Heine said. ?I truly believe that.? Note: For more on the still-unsolved anthrax attacks, click here . _____ Cancer drug stops spread in its tracks April 22, 2010, WPTV NewsChannel 5 (West Palm Beach, FL NBC affiliate) http://www.wptv.com/content/health/specialreports/story/Cancer-drug-stops-spread... Cancer patients reeling from metastasis may be on the verge of a major victory. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say new anti-cancer agents may stop metastasis -- or the migration of cancer cells from a tumor to other parts of the body -- dead in its tracks. ?More than 90 percent of cancer patients die from tumors spreading,? Dr. Xin-Yun Huang, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medical College, [said]. ?In turn,? he continued ?[this] may increase the survival rate." Researchers found mice implanted with cancer cells and treated with the small molecule macroketone lived a full life without any cancer spread, compared to control animals -- which all died from metastasis. Dr. Huang and his team have been focusing on macroketone since 2003, and he admits to being extremely excited about the future possibilities for his research. While information-gathering is still in its early stages, Dr. Huang says it?s possible his team could get the green light for clinical trials in the near future. Note: For more on this exciting development, click here. And why isn't this getting fast-track approval for studies? To learn how cancer cures which threaten billions in pharmaceutical losses are supressed, click here . _____ Flouridation may not do much for cavities April 15, 2010, Globe and Mail (One of Canada's Leading Newspapers) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/ontario-fluoride-may-make-minor-difference/article1535873/ When it comes to fluoridating drinking water, Ontario and Quebec couldn't be further apart. Ontario has the country's highest rate of adding the tooth-enamel-strengthening chemical into municipal supplies, while Quebec has one of the lowest, with practically no one drinking fluoridated water. But surprisingly, the two provinces have very little difference in tooth-decay rates, a finding that is likely to intensify the ongoing controversy over the practice of adding fluoride to water as a public health measure. Quebeckers have more cavities than people in Ontario, but the difference is slight. Among children 6 to 19, considered the most decay-prone part of the population, the rate in Ontario was lower by less than half a cavity per child. In the 6-11 age group, Ontario kids have 3.5 per cent fewer cavities than those in Quebec: 1.7 cavities compared to 1.76. Note: For key reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here . _____ Freaky Physics Hints Parallel Universes May Exist April 5, 2010, Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/05/freaky-physics-proves-parallel-universes/ A strange discovery by quantum physicists at the University of California [at] Santa Barbara means that an object you can see in front of you may exist simultaneously in a "parallel universe" -- a multi-state condition that has scientists theorizing that traveling through time may be much more than just the plaything of science fiction writers. And it's all because of a tiny bit of metal -- a "paddle" about the width of a human hair, an item that is incredibly small but still something you can see with the naked eye. UC Santa Barbara's Andrew Cleland cooled that paddle in a refrigerator, dimmed the lights and, under a special bell jar, sucked out all the air to eliminate vibrations. He then plucked it like a tuning fork and noted that it moved and stood still at the same time. That sounds contradictory, ... but it actually happened. It's a freaky fact that's at the heart of quantum mechanics. Sean Carroll, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology ... accepts the scientific basis for the multi-verse -- even if it cannot be proven. "Unless you can imagine some super-advanced alien civilization that has figured this out, we aren't affected by the possible existence of other universes," Carroll said. But he does think "someone could devise a machine that lets one universe communicate with another." _____ Key Articles From Years Past _____ USDA Backs Production of Rice With Human Genes March 2, 2007, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101495.html The Agriculture Department has given a preliminary green light for the first commercial production of a food crop engineered to contain human genes, reigniting fears that biomedically potent substances in high-tech plants could escape and turn up in other foods. The plan ... calls for large-scale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins in its seeds. The proteins are to be extracted for use as an anti-diarrhea medicine and might be added to health foods such as yogurt and granola bars. Critics are assailing the effort, saying gene-altered plants inevitably migrate out of their home plots. In this case, they said, that could result in pharmacologically active proteins showing up in the food of unsuspecting consumers. Although the proteins are not inherently dangerous, there would be little control over the doses people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins, said Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This is not a product that everyone would want to consume," Rissler said, adding that other companies grow such plants indoors or in vats. "It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors." Note: For a detailed analysis of the dangers of this genetically-modified rice program, click here. _____ A dark history revealed August 14, 1992, CBC News (Canada's Public Broadcasting Network) http://archives.cbc.ca/society/youth/topics/1633/ During the reign of Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis in the 1940s and 1950s, an alarming number of healthy children living in sanctuaries were hastily diagnosed as mentally incompetent, psychotic patients. The diagnoses were always swift ? the children went to bed orphans and woke up psychiatric patients. The reason? Shrewd fiscal planning; federal subsidies paid out more to hospitals than to orphanages. Some children allegedly endured lobotomies, electroshock, straitjackets and abuse. For the rest of their lives they would struggle to bring attention to their story and demand compensation. They called themselves the Duplessis Orphans. Born out of wedlock and deemed "children of sin," [these] thousands of Quebec children were cut off from society and sent to orphanages during the 1940s and 1950s. Many were improperly diagnosed as mentally incompetent. The diagnosis would be a lifelong sentence; the orphans endured a difficult and sometimes abusive childhood. Fifty years later, the orphans who are now in their 40s and 50s have organized and are seeking compensation. Note: For more on this most bizarre story, click here. To learn how these children were likely being used for secret mind control experiments, click here . _____ Trials: Sirhan through the Looking Glass April 4, 1969, Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840003,00.html A mirror. Two flickering candles. And Sirhan Sirhan. Focusing his mind power on the looking glass, Sirhan soon convinced himself that he could order an inanimate object to move. He rigged a pendulum from a fisherman's weight, and on command, he said, it began to sway. Yet telekinesis?the ability to cause objects at a distance to move through the exercise of will?was a frightening power, and Sirhan feared that he might lose his mind. The candles swayed and changed color. Sirhan insisted that it was no trick of imagination, reported Dr. Bernard L. Diamond. The noted psychoanalyst, who combines professorships in law, psychiatry and criminology at the University of California at Berkeley, was the star witness for Sirhan's defense. His testimony buttressed the diagnoses of five other experts that Sirhan was afflicted with paranoia and schizophrenia. Sirhan professes that he has no recollection of shooting Kennedy. Prosecutor David Fitts peppered the diminutive professor with hostile questions, but he could not blunt the thrust of Diamond's testimony about murder in a trance. After two more psychologists declared that Sirhan suffers from grave mental disorders, avuncular Attorney Grant Cooper rested for the defense. The prosecution faces an uphill struggle to refute contentions that Sirhan was either insane or suffering from diminished mental responsibility. Note: This article confirms that Sirhan was not mentally competent at the time Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, but it suggests that Sirhan's "trance state" was self-induced. Other sources, however, have argued that he was a victim of mind control; click here for more information on this possibility. _____ Bookmark and Share 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 www.WantToKnow.info/indexnewsarticles Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work. 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URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Mon May 3 07:28:56 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Mon, 03 May 2010 14:28:56 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: BEES IN DANGER: Colony Collapse Disorder.. this concerns YOU !!! Message-ID: <4BDECF98.50502@gn.apc.org> please reply with REMOVE in the subject line if you REALLY AND TRULY to leave the highly esteemed EcoTort mailing list . . . (+: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Colony Collapse Disorder.. this concernes you Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 04:06:34 -0700 From: Bees in danger To: ecotort at gn.apc.org Causes Bulletin from the cause: *Bees in danger* Go to Cause Posted By: Goodisplanetearth GoodIsplanetearth To: Members in Bees in danger Colony Collapse Disorder.. this concernes you A mysterious decimation of bee populations in the United States is assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous. Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse Disorder"... See more (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe. The US decline in bee populations is so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Some beekeepers on the east coast have lost more than 70 percent of their bees since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent. http://www.spiegel.de/international/w.. . Collapsing Colonies: Are GM Crops Killing Bees? - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International www.spiegel.de A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous. Colony Collapse Disorder" IS HERE IN THE UK WE MUST ACT FAST please follow this link and sign our petition http://www.ecopetitions.org/index.php?option=com_petitions&view=petition&id=11&Itemid=32 and invite your friends to sign it,,, and to join our cause BEFORE ITS TO LATE Call to Action Spread the word. Every invitation counts: Invite Friends You are receiving this email because you are a member of the cause Bees in danger. To unsubscribe, leave the cause Causes Privacy Policy | Causes Address: PO Box 492, Berkeley, CA 94708 United States Tip: Add no-reply at causes.com to your address book to make sure you don't miss any opportunities to change the world. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 11:59:11 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 10:59:11 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [SPAM][globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 3 2010 Message-ID: <003101caeaea$93cc7f60$bb657e20$@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, May 02, 2010 9:14 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [SPAM][globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 3 2010 (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) Ken Salazar Calls Gulf Coast Disaster A 'Grave Scenario' And 'Very Catastrophic' Updated: 05- 2-10 10:51 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/02/ken-salazar-gulf-coast-di_n_560101. html (AP/Huffington Post) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the potential environmental outlook for the Gulf Coast oil spill is "a very grave scenario." He tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that it could take three months before workers attain what he calls the "ultimate solution" to stopping the leak -- drilling a relief well more than 3 miles below the ocean floor. Until that's accomplished, he says, "a lot of oil could spread." Salazar says President Barack Obama has directed him to protect all of the assets in the region, including the communities that will be affected by the spill. Salazar also appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," telling host Candy Crowley that the Gulf Coast disaster was "indeed, a massive oil spill." "It potentially is very catastrophic. And I think we have to prepare for the worst, as we have from day one," he said. "If this thing continues to spew out, the ultimate relief here is going to be a relief well that may be 90 days out. And so we have to be prepared to make sure that we're protecting the American public, the American environment, our treasured coastlines on the Gulf Coast. So we are ready to do everything humanly possible to get that done." The secretary also pointed out that BP, which operated the rig that caused the spill, would be held accountable. "Our job is to keep the boot on the neck of" BP Salazar said of the company's responsibility to clean up the spill. Fishing Closed By Oil Spill: Feds Ban Commercial And Recreational Fishing >From Louisiana To Florida Updated: 05- 2-10 10:25 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/02/fishing-closed-oil-spill_n_560217.h tml VENICE, La. -- BP's chairman defended his company's safety record and said Sunday that "a failed piece of equipment" was to blame for a massive oil spill along the Gulf Coast, where President Barack Obama was headed for a firsthand update on the slick creeping toward American shores. ... Federal authorities banned commercial and recreational fishing in a large stretch of water off four states, from the mouth of the Mississippi River off Louisiana to western parts of the Florida Panhandle. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the closure would last for at least 10 days and was aimed at keeping seafood safe. Government scientists were taking samples from waters near the spill to determine whether there is any danger. Long tendrils of oil sheen made their way into South Pass, a major channel through the salt marshes of Louisiana's southeastern bootheel that is a breeding ground for crab, oysters, shrimp, redfish and other seafood. Venice charter boat captain Bob Kenney lamented that there was no boom in the water to corral the oil, and said BP was "pretty much over their head in the deep water." "It's like a slow version of Katrina," he added. "My kids will be talking about the effect of this when they're my age." As if to cut off mounting criticism, on Saturday White House spokesman Robert Gibbs posted a blog entitled "The Response to the Oil Spill," laying out the administration's day-by-day response since the explosion, using words like "immediately" and "quickly," and emphasizing that Obama "early on" directed responding agencies to devote every resource to the incident and determining its cause. In Pass Christian, Miss., 61-year-old Jimmy Rowell, a third-generation shrimp and oyster fisherman, worked on his boat at the harbor and stared out at the choppy waters. "It's over for us. If this oil comes ashore, it's just over for us," Rowell said angrily, rubbing his forehead. "Nobody wants no oily shrimp." Kids' Tylenol, other drugs recalled Company says more than 40 children's medicines affected updated 11:37 a.m. MT, Sat., May 1, 2010 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36882842/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Saturday it was investigating a health-care company for possible other problems following its recall of more than 40 over-the-counter infant's and children's liquid medications. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, based in Fort Washington, Pa., issued the voluntary recall late Friday in the United States and 11 other countries after consulting with the FDA. The recall involves children's versions of Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, because they don't meet quality standards. The FDA said it was reviewing procedures at McNeil, which appears to be the sole source of the problems. "We are following through with the facility to make certain that everything has been checked," said FDA spokeswoman Elaine Gansz Bobo. Suicide by Regressivism http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/02 by David Michael Green Published on Sunday, May 2, 2010 Sometimes bad things happen to countries, and people suffer. Other times, people suffer because countries are stupid and bring bad things upon themselves. No country in the history of the world has ever been as rich and powerful as the United States. Regrettably, few have demonstrated the level of stupidity we have and brought so much grief upon our own heads (not to mention treating so many other people in the world to an even worse fate). To watch the Wall Street hearings in Congress this week is to witness this folly in full flower. To ask, ?What two greater sets of organized criminals are there in America than Wall Street bankers and the United States Congress?? is actually to make the fundamental mistake of being too charitable. The question assumes that they are indeed distinguishable entities, when in fact this is arguably nonsense. That distinction is actually quite critical, for our public sector has in many ways more or less ceased to exist in this country. And that in turn is critical for what it signifies, in addition to the very tangible effects felt every day. What?s at stake in the significance of a robust public sector, with supreme political authority, is nothing less than democracy at its most profound level. We tend to think of democracy primarily in terms of elections. Those of us who scratch the surface a little deeper might invoke associations to the concept of responsible government, and the notion of clearly assignable credit for policy successes and failures, along with the idea of legitimate voter choice which follows from that. But foundational to both those important concepts is the assigned role for the government being chosen through this electoral process. It doesn?t much matter if you have free and fair elections, with lots of distinct party choices to pick from, if the government you are electing is substantially limited in its capacities. You might as well get all excited about the Queen of England. You can do that if you want, but the reality is that she doesn?t have any real political power anymore, so why bother? Likewise, the stature of American government has much deteriorated in many key respects from where it stood a generation ago. Regressives have been so good at winning the ideological warfare of the last thirty years, whether on fronts overt or subtle, and this is just another example of the latter. By weakening the government, by undermining its status in the public mind, and by making it subservient to other actors on the political stage, incalculable damage has been done to American society. Just exactly as was intended. One of the great regressive triumphs of our time has been to turn people against their own government. It?s an astonishing victory ? especially in a democracy where those same people have chosen that very government ? and it comes against the long odds cast by the shadow of rationality. Arizona Burning http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100517/editors This article appeared in the May 17, 2010 edition of The Nation. If the human consequences weren't so dire, immigrant advocates might be grateful to Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, for signing into law a measure draconian enough to awaken the nation's slumbering conscience on immigration. The new statute (SB1070), requiring law enforcement officials to arrest those who cannot immediately prove they are in the country legally, has been widely condemned for creating a police state. In practice, the law will make brown skin grounds for suspicion--raising concerns about racial profiling not just from constitutional lawyers and immigrants' rights activists but from religious leaders like Cardinal Roger Mahony and Republicans like Florida's Marco Rubio and the Washington Post's Michael Gerson. President Obama called the law "misguided," saying it could "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities." Like the infamous Sensenbrenner bill, which sparked one of the biggest demonstrations in US history in 2006, the Arizona measure has enraged Latinos, documented and undocumented alike. Latino groups, together with members of the San Francisco city government and Tucson Democrat Ra?l Grijalva, are calling for a boycott of the state, targeting its lucrative tourism and convention sector. The moral outcry should not stop at Arizona's borders. The only way to assure that copycat laws don't pass in Texas, Ohio or Colorado, where they are being tossed around, is to solve the problem federally. Indeed, as Obama has noted, it is the vacuum at the federal level that created the space for the Arizona law to emerge. The president should be applauded for his swift response, but why did it take such a flagrant abuse of immigrants' rights to focus the administration's attention on the issue? Not only has the White House delayed the push for immigration reform--one of Obama's campaign promises--its Department of Homeland Security continues to deputize police officers to enforce dysfunctional federal immigration policies, raid businesses and deport thousands of immigrants; this year it's on track to hit 400,000 deportations, the same as last year, exceeding the Bush administration's 2008 record. It's long past time for the change we were told to believe in. Beyond challenging the Arizona law for usurping federal authority and refusing to deport its victims, the administration should champion a comprehensive immigration bill that creates a clear path to citizenship for the country's 12 million undocumented residents. These immigrants work in essential industries and pay taxes, contributing to our economy and society--some analysts estimate that Arizona would lose more than $26 billion if all undocumented people were removed from the state. And yet they are at best officially neglected and at worst scapegoated, their families divided and their communities terrorized. Thousands of cribs recalled Simplicity and Graco cribs linked to suffocation risk http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36845937/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ By Jennifer C. Kerr updated 1:14 p.m. MT, Thurs., April 29, 2010 WASHINGTON - The government recalled thousands of Simplicity and Graco cribs Thursday, warning that babies could suffocate or strangle in them. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the Simplicity recall was linked to at least one death and involved thousands of cribs, possibly hundreds of thousands, though many had previously been recalled for other defects. The agency said about 217,000 Graco dropside cribs made by LaJobi were also being recalled. The problem with both types of cribs stems from hardware failures. In the case of the Graco-branded wood cribs, the side that moves up and down ? the dropside ? can break or detach, creating a dangerous gap between the crib mattress and dropped side. A baby can become trapped and suffocate or strangle. CPSC and LaJobi have received 99 complaints of dropside problems with the cribs. None involved serious injuries. A retrofit kit will be available to consumers to prevent the dropside from moving, making all four sides of the crib stationary. The Simplicity crib has been linked to at least one infant death. The Simplicity recall is for all of the full-sized cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames. Those frames can bend or detach, causing the mattress to collapse and creating a space that a baby can roll into, become trapped in and suffocate. EPA Response to BP Spill in the Gulf of Mexico http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/ This site is an online resource for anyone seeking information on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is intended to track EPA's ongoing work in the area and help answer questions about the incident. We will continue to update as information becomes available. With the prevalence of vapor concerns from oil near the Gulf coast and the controlled burning to help contain the spread of oil, air quality is a health concern. EPA has initiated an air monitoring effort to ensure the safety of local residents and track any developing air quality changes. At www.airnow.gov you can see the latest air quality data from around the country including areas along the Gulf of Mexico. Current air quality is shown with maps that are animated with color-coded pollutant concentrations according to the EPA?s Air Quality Index (AQI). The animated contour maps ? much like radar images showing precipitation ? display the hourly formation and movement of ozone or particulate pollution. EPA?s national AIRNow center receives real-time air quality data ? measuring ozone and particulate matter ?100 agencies across North America, including Canada, as well as air quality forecasts from more than 370 U.S. cities. EPA Sampling Plan Across the South and Southeast This plan outlines EPA?s sampling tactics in response to the British Petroleum Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It will be updated to reflect changing conditions. This plan details our efforts to both sample and monitor the air, water and sediment. Quality Assurance Sampling Plan for British Petroleum Oil Spill (18 pp., 162 KB, About PDF) EPA Deploys Air Monitoring Aircraft to BP Spill On April 28, 2010 EPA deployed the ASPECT, a twin engine aircraft designed to assist in the collection of air sampling data as well as photo documentation of environmental incidents. Read more about the TAGA bus and ASPECT flying laboratory screen shot of Google Earth with ASPECT flight path in colorGet ASPECT data in Google Earth. This link will open the ASPECT data in your Google Earth browser. (You may have to save the KML file to your computer and then open it from there. Double click to launch the KML file; it opens Google Earth and shows the ASPECT data layer.) If you don't have Google Earth installed you can get the free download here. New federal rule targets harmful mercury emissions MATTHEW DALY | April 30, 2010 04:14 PM EST | AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100430/us-epa-mercury-pollution/ WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration says 5,000 deaths could be prevented each year under new rules announced Friday to limit the amount of mercury and other harmful pollutants released by industrial boilers and solid waste incinerators. The planned rules would reduce mercury emissions more than 50 percent by requiring steep and costly cuts from companies operating some 200,000 industrial boilers, heaters and incinerators. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the rules Friday and must seek public comment before they are made final. Industrial boilers and heaters are the second largest source of mercury emissions in the United States, after coal-fired power plants. The boilers burn coal and other fuels to generate heat or electricity and are used by petroleum refiners, chemical and manufacturing plants, paper mills, municipal utilities and even shopping malls and universities. The incinerators burn waste to dispose of it, and some also turn it into energy. The EPA said the new federal limits would save lives and prevent up to 36,000 asthma attacks each year by reducing air pollution. Once airborne, mercury eventually settles in water, where it builds up in ocean and freshwater fish and can be highly toxic to people who eat them. Mercury can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in children and fetuses. Secretive Right-Wing Plutocrats Use Front Groups To Attack New Campaign Finance Disclosure Bill http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/01/koch-rich-donohue/ On Thursday, Senate Democrats, along with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), unveiled sweeping campaign finance reform aimed at curbing campaign abuses in the wake of the conservative Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which struck down decades of campaign finance law. The main focus of the DISCLOSE Act (Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections) is to increase disclosure requirements on corporations, labor unions, trade associations, and nonprofit advocacy groups that spend money on ads to influence federal elections. The DISCLOSE Act forces the CEO of a corporation or head of an advocacy group to personally appear in the organization?s ads and take responsibility, and for the top funder of the ad to appear in the ad and take responsibility. The status quo of electioneering allows corporate powers, billionaires, and even domestic subsidiaries of foreign corporations to essentially manipulate American elections without ever revealing themselves. The DISCLOSE Act is a tremendous start at addressing this crisis of open democracy. But predictably, secretive right-wing power brokers are pushing back. As soon as Van Hollen?s bill was introduced, front groups funded by the most elusive conservative elite fired back, swiftly criticizing the new transparency requirements as a so-called threat to their First Amendment rights: ? U.S. Chamber of Commerce: The DISCLOSE Act ?stifles free speech.? Chamber President Tom Donohue quickly issued a statement condemning the bill as an attempt to ?silence constitutionally protected speech and abridge First Amendment rights.? Donohue may feel threatened because the DISCLOSE Act undermines the very purpose of the Chamber: to attack progressive reforms while concealing the corporate money behind those attacks. For instance, the Chamber is running millions of dollars of ads against Wall Street reform, but the ads only say they are paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In fact, some of the nation?s largest financial conglomerates, including banks bailed out by taxpayers like CitiGroup, are funding the Chamber and in doing so, are underwriting these ads. Last year, the Chamber ran nearly $100 million dollars in advertising against health reform, dwarfing any other group for or against the bills in Congress. However, the Chamber never revealed that health insurance companies were secretly paying for much of those ads. ? Howie Rich?s Front Group: The DISCLOSE Act is ?disclosure overkill.? The Center for Competitive Politics, one of real estate tycoon Howie Rich?s many anti-government front groups, quickly slammed the bill and absurdly argued that the ?stand by your ad? mandate ?provid[es] no informational benefit and reduc[es] the amount of available political speech? in an ad. This laughable claim that more disclosure gives less information is a cynical cover to help Rich stay behind closed doors as he operates a massive political machine from the perch of his SoHo apartment. Rich funds the right-wing attack group, Club for Growth, as well as the Sam Adams Alliance, the libertarian group that helped Eric Odom mastermind the very first tea party protests. A PBS expose on Rich found that he had funneled $7 million dollars into anti-government state initiatives throughout the country, while carefully hiding his identity and relationship to the ?movement.? ? David and Charles Koch?s Front Group: The DISCLOSE Act is a ?gambit to chill speech.? John Samples, a staffer at the Cato Institute ? an anti-government think-tank founded by Charles Koch and funded still by David Koch ? wrote an op-ed decrying the bill for curbing the speech of foreign-owned companies and for exposing the corporate backers of ads. David Koch funds Americans for Prosperity, which runs millions of dollars of attack ads against clean energy and health reform. But Americans for Prosperity bills itself as a grassroots citizens group, and never reveals that the Kochs founded the group and continues to finance it. The Koch brothers also fund a network of other secretive front groups and think tanks, but almost none of these right-wing groups openly bare the Koch name. Notably, the Cato Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Center for Competitive Politics filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court to help knock down campaign finance laws in the Citizens United case. The legislation also bars foreign corporations with domestic subsidiaries, federal contractors, and TARP recipients who have not repaid their funds from spending their money on politics. FLASHBACK: BP exec testified that offshore drilling is ?safe and protective of the environment.? By Brad Johnson on Apr 30th, 2010 at 8:00 pm http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/30/bp-offshore-testify/ Five months and one day before its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded while exploring the Macondo Prospect off the coast of Louisiana, BP?s top Gulf of Mexico official testified its practices were ?both safe and protective of the environment.? In June, the U.S. Minerals Management Service proposed stricter safety and environmental rules, opposed by BP and the rest of the offshore drilling industry as unnecessary. In a Senate hearing on offshore drilling ?environmental stewardship policies? on November 19, 2009, BP America?s vice president of Gulf of Mexico exploration, David Rainey, opposed the proposed MMS rules and defended the existing regulatory system. Rainey claimed that drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has been shown to be ?both safe and protective of the environment?: "I think we should remember that scientific knowledge is always moving forward. And actually using the best available and the most up-to-date scientific information is part of the current regulatory system. And it supports the OCS leasing, exploration, and development program. And I think we need to remember that OCS has been going on for the last 50 years, and it has been going on in a way that is both safe and protective of the environment." Watch it: Rainey?s testimony followed a September 14, 2009, letter from his predecessor Richard Morrison, which said ?we are not supportive of the extensive and prescriptive regulations? in the proposed rule, because ?[w]e believe industry?s current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs . . . have been and continue to be very successful.? -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 100426-GSaxToons.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 139910 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 17:46:52 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 16:46:52 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Oil Spin "No Retreat!" Message-ID: <002101caeb1b$1f1b2f00$5d518d00$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for this one. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:45 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Oil Spin "No Retreat!" (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) Oil Spin "No Retreat!" http://www.counterpunch.org/grossman05032010.html By KARL GROSSMAN May 3, 2010 As oil threatens the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the rationalizations, dubious information and spin about the Gulf blowout flow. In insisting that the blowout at BP's Deepwater Horizon rig should not deter off-shore oil drilling, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said on the Senate floor Friday: "I don't believe we should retreat." Ten days before the blowout occurred and, as she spoke, it was threatening massive environmental and economic damage including to her home state. She gave the huge oil slick in the Gulf a rainbow hue. "What's important about this sheen is that 97% of it is a rainbow sheen," she said in the Senate. "Only 3% contains emulsified crude.So it is important to understand that, while this is an unprecedented disaster-the oil slick is wide and covers a large section of ocean-97% of it is an extremely thin sheen of relatively light oil on the surface." She repeated her call that there be no "retreat" on offshore oil drilling in media appearances including, on Sunday, on CBS's Face the Nation. Host Bob Schieffer might have asked Senator Landrieu whether her position had anything to do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions she receives annually from the oil industry. If a Face the Nation producer had done a Google search, reports would be found such as on SourceWatch: "Mary Landrieu has received $252,950 in oil contributions during the 110th Congress. $163,000 of those were from industry PACS. In total, Landrieu has accepted $574,000 from oil companies from 2000 to 2008, which makes her one of the highest recipients {in Congress] of oil money." She did acknowledge in her Senate speech that she is "an unabashed proponent of the [oil] industry." She just didn't explain the financial arrangement. As to the claim of the situation being "unprecedented," which has been widely asserted- in terms of the depth of the sea in which the rig was positioned and also the volume of oil gushing from a mile down, it is unprecedented. But blowouts and consequent spills from offshore oil rigs-including those in the Gulf of Mexico-are not uncommon. Indeed, last year there was a blowout, strikingly similar to what just happened in the Gulf, involving the West Atlas drilling rig in the Timor Sea off northwest Australia. The oil slick formed extended for more than 100 miles; it took 10 weeks for the blow-out to be brought under control; marine life was impacted and shores blackened. "If anything like the Australian blowout ever takes places off of the Southeast U.S. beaches or in Florida waters, the economic and environmental consequences will last for decades," said Richard Charter speaking for Washington-based Defenders of Wildlife at the time. Of that spill, he said: "A global-scale environmental catastrophe so large that it is visible from space is unfolding in one of the earth's last marine wilderness areas." The West Atlas rig was in water 260-feet deep. It took five attempts before heavy mud pumped down a relief well was able to move into the well that underwent the blowout on August 21 and cork the leak. The reality is that wherever there's oil drilling, there's spilling. U.S. Department of Interior figures reflect 3 million gallons of oil spilled from 1980 to 1999 in the U.S. outer continental shelf offshore drilling program. As to blowouts, there were 18 in wells in the Gulf of Mexico from 1983 up to the eruption at the Deepwater Horizon rig. President Obama led those who would claim offshore drilling can be conducted safely when, Friday, he rejected calls from environmentalists to cancel planned lease sales by the Department of Interior for drilling in the Mid-Atlantic, eastern Gulf of Mexico and off northern Alaska but said he wanted to see new "safeguards." The notion of new "safeguards" in a process that always results in spilled oil is a pipe dream. As the late Red Adair, who specialized in trying to cap oil well blow-outs, said: "You can take all the precautions in the world" and spills "still happen." An especially sunny view of the Gulf spill came from a U.S. Coast Guard officer quoted in a LiveScience.com article on April 29.: "As for what happens to the 'dispersed oil' that doesn't get skimmed off or burned off or otherwise collected, 'We're told it disperses naturally. It eventually breaks up and evaporates. There are different ways, but we're told it just kind of goes away.'" the officer said. Really? Meanwhile, there is the spin that despite the damage it causes, we just "need" to do offshore oil drilling. "The Spill Vs. a Need to Drill," was the lead story of the "Week in Review" section of the New York Times Sunday. The blowout at an offshore drilling rig off Santa Barbara, California "marked a turning point in the oil industry's expansion shelving any chance for drilling along most of the nation's coastlines," wrote reporter Jad Mouawad. "Is history about to repeat itself in the Gulf of Mexico?" "It may seem so this weekend," he stated. "Emotions are running high as an oil slick washes over the Gulf Coast's fragile ecosystem, threatening fisheries, shrimp farmers and perhaps even Florida's tourism industry." "But whatever the magnitude of the spill at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig," reported Mouawad, "it is unlikely to seriously impede offshore drilling in the Gulf. This country needs the oil-and the jobs." His article ended with a quote from Samuel Thernstrom of the right-wing, staunchly pro-business American Enterprise Institute: "A fossil-fuel free future isn't inconceivable but it is decades away." Who says? There have been numerous studies concluding that if the United States put the resources into implementing clean, safe-and fossil-fuel free-energy technologies available today, in relatively short order we would drastically reduce oil consumption. For the oil industry-and its supporters-accepting the inextricable link between offshore oil drilling and spillage and its consequent environmental damage "is a way of doing business," explains Long Island University environmental Studies Professor Ralph Herbert. "They know accidents are going to happen. They just rationalize that away. They say, 'It never happened before, it's unprecedented, it's unique,' and, meantime, they know it's an ongoing situation. With a big disaster like this, they're caught with their pants down. It's a failure of the market system to incorporate the real costs of oil and use of fossils fuels. This doesn't happen and wouldn't happen with wind and solar." Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, issued a statement over the weekend saying that Obama is "correct" in saying BP "is responsible for this spill. But the government bears responsibility, too, as it failed to protect U.S. waters and the people who depend on them. Offshore oil drilling is inherently dirty and dangerous. In order to fulfill its responsibility to protect its citizens and territory, the government must establish a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling." With the oil industry spending many millions of dollars a year on lobbying and political contributions-see the Center for Public Integrity's "Big Oil Protects Its Interests" -- can this happen? In the face of the devastation in the Gulf, it should. Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, has focused on investigative reporting on energy and environmental issues for more than 40 years. He is the host of the nationally-aired TV program Enviro Close-Up (www.envirovideo.com) and the author of numerous books. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 17:51:39 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 16:51:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: News Release: Rabbi Lerner's house attacked and vandalized by right-wing Zionists Message-ID: <002201caeb1b$c975b7e0$5c6127a0$@net> From: Tikkun [mailto:magazine at tikkun.org] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:08 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: News Release: Rabbi Lerner's house attacked and vandalized by right-wing Zionists Press Release: Fromt Tikkun Magazine Contact: Will Pasley 510 644 1200 Rabbi Lerner's Home Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists Berkeley, Ca. May 3, 2010 Release dare: May 4, 2010 Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home late Sunday June 2nd or early morning Sunday July 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated. The attackers used a powerful form of glue to attach posters to his door and around the property of his home attacking Lerner personally, and attacking liberals and progressives as being supporters of terrorism and "Islamo-fascism." They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a carcature of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S.. The caricature has Goldstone talking about his being kept from his grandson's bar mitzvah, and the caricature of Rabbi Lerner responds by saying "any enemy of Israel is a friend of mine." This attack and vandalism follows on a week filled with Lerner and Tikkun staff receiving hate mail, prompted apparently by Tikkun's announcement that in case the South African Zionists had succeeded in preventing Judge Goldstone from attending his grandson's bar mitzvah, as they threatened several weeks ago, that Rabbi Lerner would gladly hold the bar mitzvah in the SF Bay Area instead, and following Tikkun's announcement that in light of Goldstone's courageous willingness to stand up for human rights in Israel (his report called on the Israeli government to do its own independent, pulbic and credibly objective investigation, punish those responsible for the crimes or show that they didn't happen, and thereby show that these actions were not government policy but the mistakes or evil choices by people in the IDF who were acting as rogue elements and not as a manifestation of the people of Israel) that Tikkun will award our prestigious Tikkun Award to Judge Goldstone in 2011 at the event celebrating our 25th anniversary! This story, which was prominent in Ha'aretz and many other Jewish magazines and websites, has intensified anger against Lerner and Tikkun among those who seek to perpetuate the Occupation, and great support among those who realize that the Occupation is really hurtful both to Israel and to the Jewish people world-wide. In the 24 years of Tikkun's operation, we have received many death threats and vicious hate mail, including phone calls to our office announcing that "Rabbi Lerner is dead" and others saying "We will kill all of you." This particular attack has two worrisome elements not previously there: 1. They attack Rabbi Lerner's home. As law enforcement people told us, this is a way of conveying the messaget to Lerner: "We know where you live, we know your house is vulnerable, so don't ignore our threats." 2. By linking Lerner to alleged terrorism, they provide for themselves and other extremists a "right-wing justification" to use violence against Lerner, even though Lerner has been a prominent advocate of non-violence. He regularly critiques Palestinian acts of violence when they occur, including the shelling of Israeli towns by Hamas, just as he critiques the violence of the Israeli occupation, and as he critiques the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of Chechny by Russia, the occupation of Tibet by China, the human rights violations agaisnt their own people by the rulers of Iran, the acts of violence of those resisting the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the violence against women and homosexuals in many Arab and African countries (and in the US and Israel as well), the genocide in Darfur, the violence against Jews in some parts of Europe, and the list goes on. Needless to say, this latest attack, on Lerner's home, has caused great concern to his family. What can you do? Let people know that this kind of thing is happening in the Jewish world to people who critique Israeli policies. --Tikkun Magazine To reach Rabbi Lerner directly: RabbiLerner at Tikkun.org or call the Tikkun office at 510 644 1200. _____ unsubscribe: Click here if you are having trouble unsubscribing Click here Copyright 2010 Tikkun Magazine. Tikkun is a registered trademark. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 21:53:42 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 20:53:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Urgent: Gulf Oil Spill Kills. Please Take Action. Message-ID: <006401caeb3d$a6786180$f3692480$@net> From: Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife [mailto:defenders at mail.defenders.org] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 2:37 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Urgent: Gulf Oil Spill Kills. Please Take Action. Save Sea Turtles - Defenders of Wildlife Urge Obama to Restore the Ban on Offshore Drilling Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Photo: FWS) Experts say at least 400 species of wildlife are threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Dead sea turtles have already been photographed on Mississippi's beaches. Please take action right now and urge President Obama to reverse the expansion of harmful drilling off our coasts. Take Action for Sea Turtles Help us send 50,000 messages to President Obama by Friday. Take action now... Mary, Eleven human deaths. [1] Dead sea turtles and fish washed ashore. [2] Whales swimming through oily, toxic waters, [3] poisoned as they surface for air. [4] And potentially billions of dollars lost to already-struggling fishing- and tourism-dependent communities along the Gulf Coast. [5] We've seen enough. It's time to act. Say "No!" to another drilling disaster! Urge President Obama to reinstate the ban on drilling for offshore oil and gas deposits off our coasts and revoke Shell Oil's permits to drill in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi Seas this summer. Even as I write this, our staff experts are preparing to fly to the Gulf to document the impact of the spill on wildlife and advocate for the animals and habitat now imperiled by the spill. Defenders board member and world-famous wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin is already on the scene. Whether you live on the Gulf Coast or elsewhere, this is a tremendous environmental emergency, and our Gulf Coast wildlife is going to need Jeff, our staff experts. and you. Please take action right now and urge President Obama to restore the presidential ban on harmful drilling off our coasts. At least 400 wildlife species (not counting micro-organisms) and 19 essential wildlife refuges - one of which hosted some 34,000 birds just days before the spill - are already threatened by the Gulf spill. [6] And the remnants of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling operation continue to spew at least 5,000 barrels (more than 200,000 gallons) of toxic oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day. with no end in sight. [7] Send your message to President Obama now: No more offshore oil disasters! For 27 years, a congressional ban on offshore drilling largely protected our coastal wildlife from offshore drilling disasters like this. But that all changed in 2008, when then-President George W. Bush rescinded the ban his father put in place after the Exxon Valdez tanker spill - and Congress quickly followed suit by lifting their own ban on drilling in certain areas. President Obama - who just weeks ago called for more offshore drilling - has issued a temporary halt to drilling activities in new areas in the wake of the Deepwater disaster, granting a temporary reprieve to sensitive areas like North Carolina's Outer Banks and the only known calving grounds for the North Atlantic right whales off the coast of Georgia and Florida. But the President has not yet said that he'll stop drilling activities planned for this summer in Alaska's pristine Chukchi and Beaufort Seas - home to polar bears, walrus, and bowhead whales. Worse, Big Oil and their political allies are tenacious, well-funded and committed to industrializing our coasts. even at the cost of another ecological disaster. As the Gulf Coast crisis continues to grow, drilling proponents like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who should know better!) continued the call for more offshore drilling. [8] Now is the time to stop them. and protect our sea turtles, whales and other wildlife. Please take action right now. For the Wild Ones, Rodger Schlickeisen Rodger Schlickeisen, President Signature Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife Defending Wildlife Loggerhead Sea Turtle (NOAA) One month before the Deepwater Gulf oil disaster, President Obama called for more offshore drilling. and Defenders responded. We mobilized hundreds of conservationists along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to testify against a proposal that could lead to more dangerous dirty drilling at public hearings. And today, we've delivered more than 47,000 comments from caring people like you urging the Department of Interior to abandon the plan altogether. Notes [1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36732329/ns/us_news-environment/ [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/02/dead-fish-sea-turtle-wash_n_560237. html [3] http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/30/30greenwire-as-oil-slick-drifts-clos er-resource-defenders-g-9775.html [4] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20003738-503543.html [5] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-29/oil-spill-imperils-gulf-coast-fi shing-industry-update1-.html [6] http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/30/30greenwire-as-oil-slick-drifts-clos er-resource-defenders-g-9775.html [7] http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1986323,00.html [8] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003924-503544.html Home Privacy Policy Contact Us Donate Now C Copyright 2010 Defenders of Wildlife. This message was sent to maryrose333 at att.net. Please do not respond to this message. Click here to update your information or unsubscribe. Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 21:55:47 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 20:55:47 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Correction: Attack on Lerner's home happened last night May 2 or early morning May 3 Message-ID: <006901caeb3d$e3657510$aa305f30$@net> From: Tikkun [mailto:magazine at tikkun.org] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 4:50 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Correction: Attack on Lerner's home happened last night May 2 or early morning May 3 Correction: In the previous email about the attack on Rabbi Lerner's house, the dates were incorrectly stated as June 2 and July 3rd, making it seem as though it had been in the distant past or near future. The emotional upset caused by this incident has thrown us for a loop, so sorry about that mistake. The actual date of the attack on Lerner's home was last night (May 2nd or early morning May 3rd) and discovered this morning, May 3rd. The police say that this is not a "hate crime" because the attackers were not attacking Rabbi Lerner for his religion, but for his politics. That is scant comfort for those of us who continue to beleve that America and Israel are best served by the voices willing to publicly share critique, though incidents like this are of course meant to scare people into silence. Tikkun will not be silenced. _____ unsubscribe: Click here if you are having trouble unsubscribing Click here Copyright 2010 Tikkun Magazine. Tikkun is a registered trademark. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 22:06:54 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 21:06:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW:Life in the Age of "Much Worse Than We Thought It Would Be" Message-ID: <006e01caeb3f$7a0782a0$6e1687e0$@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, May 03, 2010 8:27 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Life in the Age of "Much Worse Than We Thought It Would Be" Life in the Age of "Much Worse Than We Thought It Would Be" Arianna Huffington Posted: May 3, 2010 06:54 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/life-in-the-age-of-much-w_b _561691.html What was just a troubling oil spill a week ago is now, according to Interior Secretary Salazar, "a very grave scenario," and "potentially... very catastrophic." In other words, it's much worse that we thought it would be. Has there been a crisis in the last decade that turned out to be better than we thought it was going to be? We are still fighting two wars that were going to be cakewalks, but have now lasted nine years and seven years -- much worse than we thought it would be. Katrina looked like it could be bad but -- even though there were plenty of people warning about a Category 5 storm breaching the levees -- the devastation ultimately was much worse than we thought it would be. Same with the housing bubble that was fueled by the Wall Street casino. Even though we now know that people in the Fed were warning of big trouble ahead as early as 2004, the warnings were ignored -- and when the bubble burst in 2008, it was much worse than we thought it would be. The foreclosure crisis hit hard in 2009. But the government promised to protect homeowners... so when the first quarter of 2010 brought the highest number of foreclosures since they began keeping records, the scope of the calamity was much worse than we thought it would be. In October 2009, the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent, a 26-year high. But the $787 billion stimulus package was going to bring that down. It has, but not by much. Turns out, the unemployment crisis is also much worse than we thought it would be. Perhaps we should start calling this the Age of "Much Worse Than We Thought It Would Be." Our shortsighted thinking is still on full display in the Gulf of Mexico, even as the enormity of the crisis becomes undeniable. In a speech on Sunday in Louisiana, President Obama called it a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster," and said the spill "is unique and unprecedented." And in downplaying BP's responsibility for the spill, a spokesman for the company also called it "unprecedented," saying "it's something that we have not experienced before." That's the nature of unprecedented things -- they've never happened -- until they happen. But just because something is unprecedented doesn't mean it's unpredictable or that we're unable to plan for it. We can't see the future, but we can prepare for it. In practically every sector of our society, the old order is exhausted. But we seem incapable of making fundamental changes without the loaded gun of a full-blown crisis pointed at our heads. For example, the financial crisis -- and what it has exposed about the behavior of Wall Street -- has caused us to rethink the relationship between Wall Street and rest of our economy. It's obvious the old way of doing things is no longer viable. But, absent the sense that everything is about to collapse, we are dragging our feet on deciding what will replace it. And there are some other "unprecedented," "unique" -- and potentially catastrophic -- problems headed our way if we continue to accept the old order's lack of imagination about what is possible. I'm thinking, first and foremost, of our debt problem. And no, I'm not joining the forces of those who use the debt explosion as a backdoor way of cutting or killing Social Security or Medicare. But ceding this issue to such retro-thinkers makes it that much harder to seriously tackle the problem. America is like a patient in danger of suffering a massive heart attack. We may be able to postpone things with a bit of outpatient surgery, but we won't be able to avoid it without some serious lifestyle changes. The economic coronary isn't quite here yet, but it's on the way. And when it hits, it will, of course, be "unprecedented" and "unique." But not unforeseen -- let alone unforeseeable. Here are just a couple of the symptoms of big time trouble ahead: * By 2020, interest on the debt alone will reach $900 billion per year. * That same year, five segments of government spending -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, net interest and defense spending -- will account for an estimated 77 percent of all government expenditures. All other federal spending will have to come out of the remaining 23 percent. And a recent report by the Bank of International Settlements makes it clear that this is a worldwide phenomenon. Financial advisor John Mauldin distills the report's bottom line: "Everyone and their brother intuitively knows that the current government fiscal deficits in the developed world are unsustainable." The numbers in the Bank of International Settlements study make this clear. For instance, in Greece, the problem child of the moment everyone is looking at with horror, government debt could reach 130 percent of GDP next year. But Greece is far from alone. In the UK, it will hit 94 percent, and continue to go up 10 percent per year. And in the U.S., we could approach nearly 100 percent. As a Greek American, I'm all in favor of the two nations co-mingling, but sporting matching crippling debt is not what I had in mind. "While fiscal problems need to be tackled soon," says the Bank of International Settlements report, "how to do that without seriously jeopardizing the incipient economic recovery is the current key challenge for fiscal authorities." Exactly. And those fiscal authorities also need to remember that there is more to tackling the deficit crisis than just cutting spending. Rather, we need to think bigger -- we need to re-orient our economy so that it's once more an engine for production and productivity, not a vehicle for gambling and speculation. As Mauldin says of the old -- and still dominant -- order on Wall Street: "Let's be very clear. This was purely gambling. No money was invested in mortgages or any productive enterprise. This was one group betting against another, and a LOT of these deals were done all over New York and London." Mauldin goes on to question why large institutional investors were even gambling on things like synthetic CDOs in the first place: "This is an investment that had no productive capital at work and no remotely socially redeeming value. It did not go to fund mortgages or buy capital equipment or build malls or office buildings." So instead of limiting the deficit debate to talk of cutting entitlements, how about also having a discussion about moving to an economy that focuses on investing in small businesses and communities, and puts a premium on education and technology rather than on exotic financial instruments. Last year, the Center for American Progress published its deficit reduction plan, entitled "A Path to Balance," by Michael Ettlinger, Michael Linden, and Lauren Bazel. "Large deficits can reduce national savings, push up interest rates, spark inflation, and adversely affect exchange rates," the authors wrote while warning that they "also provide fodder for those who wish to block new initiatives and scale back existing programs." The plan calls for a "sloping path" to deficit reduction, as opposed to a "dive off a precipice," and has a goal of a fully balanced budget by 2020, with benchmarks all along the way. A few months before its plan was released, CAP hosted an event called "Progressives and the National Debt: Consequences and Solutions." Princeton economist Alan Blinder noted that "in 1980 [policymakers] knew about the year 2010 but that was really far away." Well, it's not anymore, and given that much of our deficit problem is about huge numbers of workers born decades ago now hitting retirement age, Blinder quipped that: "the long run is now the short run and they're combining." The needs of the past and the demands of the present exert a powerful pull on our attention while the future doesn't have many advocates -- it's always something we can get to later. And there was a time when we could get away with pushing our problems down the road, secure that our reserves would always bail us out. And there was a strong safety net to catch those who fell through the cracks. Well, those reserves are gone now and the safety net is frayed and full of holes. So before the big deficit coronary hits, and is exploited by those who've been itching to slash entitlements ever since FDR and LBJ signed them into law, let's widen the discussion, and think bigger. For a change, let's imagine a crisis that is worse than we think it will be, and take the necessary steps to avoid it. If we don't, we'll find ourselves facing another "unprecedented" disaster. From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 23:41:47 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 22:41:47 -0700 Subject: [GJM] A must read: Amen Clinics Blog Article on Mental Illness Message-ID: <008801caeb4c$bd2bb300$37831900$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Hi Everyone ? I wanted to distribute this article around from Dr. Amen at Amen Clinics relative to ADHD. As many of you know, I have been involved in the study of different mental illnesses for about 8 months now with an emphasis on Bipolar Disorder. And the emphasis on BPD has been due to the predictions that by the year 2020 it will be the leading cause of death in the United States due to the high suicide rate associated with it. And, it is also the most expensive disease there is to treat surpassing that of diabetes. As part of my research, I have just finished reading 6 books on BPD and 1 on ADHD written by Dr. Amen. Now the reason I got into research on ADHD is that someone may suffer from both ADHD and BPD at the same time. And what Dr. Amen has found is that ADHD sufferers have generally had at sometime in their lives a blow to the head which has jarred the brain against the skull in such a way as to have caused brain damage. And the way this is revealed is through having a SPECT scan of the brain. So, what we are seeing below are SPECT scans taken of a retired NFL football player which reveal the damage to the brain as well as scans taken after treatment. And, as revealed in his book, Dr. Amen uses both nutritional supplements and chemical drugs as healing modalities. Note: Recall that in a previous message in this regard, I mentioned that damage to the brain may also be caused at the time of birth when the fetus is moving down and out a very narrow birth canal, or when it is necessary to deliver the infant using forcepts. Taking this to another level, it is really amazing to me that almost 1/3 of the population of the U.S. suffers from mental illness. And, as I have written previously we use 40% of the world?s production of illegal drugs with only 5% of the world?s population. Then we also have a very large number of people addicted to pharmaceutical drugs. What this is telling me from what I now know after the research I have conducted, is that we have a very large number of people who are living with pain due to the high percentage of stress we live under in the modern world. And, in essence, what we have is a ?pain? problem which many are, in essence, attempting to ?self-medicate.? However, another dimension of this, and one which shows mental illness to be a pain problem, is revealed by Gracelyn Guyol in her book: ?Depression and Bipolar Disorder Without Drugs? as she exposes the research of William D. Walsh, Ph.D., a highly respected researcher affiliated with the Pfieffer Treatment Center (PTC) for mental disorders located just outside of the Chicago area, and especially BPD. Dr. Walsh conducted investigation into the prisons surrounding the Chicago area and found that many of those incarcerated in jails and prisons have ?biological errors? as a causative factor. In other words, we have individuals suffering from mental disorders that can be treated and healed using alternative modalities, but instead we are locking these people up and using punitive measures against them, and or, placing them on harsh chemical drugs, when what is needed is gentle and loving medical care. And, in a very large percentage of cases, this gentle loving care may be provided in the form of nutritional supplements. Guyol writes in her book about two people who suffered from BPD who became aware of the TrueHope organization in Canada and began taking the EMPower Plus nutritional supplements with very beneficial results. See more at www.truehope.com One of the things I am discovering are a number of people who have, in order to gain some relief from their pain and heal themselves, had to go outside of the conventional medical community and seek alternative treatments rather than to continuing to take the harsh chemical/pharmaceutical drugs now being subscribed by allopathic doctors, and who have written about their almost miraculous turn around when finding nutritional supplements to be the answer. And, more of these people are now writing their own books and publishing them. Gracelyn Guyol is one of these people. However, the foreword to her book is written by Dr. Stephen Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C. , a cardiologist who has found that proper nutrition coupled with nutritional supplements can create miracles in the lives of many, and is not just applicable to mental disorders, but to cardiac health as well. From: noreply+feedproxy at google.com [mailto:noreply+feedproxy at google.com] On Behalf Of Amen Clinics Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 9:30 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Amen Clinics Blog Article Amen Clinics Blog Article Link to Amen Clinics _____ Case of the Week: Cam Cleeland?retired NFL player Posted: 03 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Cam-surface view before Cam-surface view after Cam-active view before Cam-active view after Brain scans comments: His follow-up scan is markedly improved. On the surface scan there is overall increased activity, especially in the temporal and prefrontal cortex. On the active scan (blue, red, and white one) there is marked increased cerebellum activity, which equates to improved thinking and thought processing. Cam Cleeland is one of our younger retired NFL players. After playing football at a very high level in high school, college at the University of Washington, and eight years in the pros as a tight end with the New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots, and St. Louis Rams. At age 34, he volunteered for our study because he was struggling with problems of depression, irritability, low frustration tolerance, high stress, obsessive thinking, and memory problems. While playing football in college, he had a concussion and was unconscious for 18 hours. He was diagnosed with eight concussions total, with three in college and five in the pros. He said his ?bell was rung? every week. Once in his rookie year, playing for Mike Ditka in New Orleans, he was involved in a hazing incident during his rookie season where he went through a line with a pillow case over his head and was hit in the head by players who had socks filled with coins (not the sign of intelligent life). Cam suffered a concussion and vision problems after the incident. Cam said that the NFL changed its position on hazing after the incident. Cam?s evaluation showed clear evidence of depression, brain trauma, and cognitive dysfunction. His SPECT scan showed left-sided brain damage (he said he was hit in the left eye during the hazing incident, and that he felt better on blocks leading with the left side of his head). His Microcog (a test of neuropsychological function) showed significant decreases in general cognitive functioning, information processing speed, attention, memory, and spatial processing. As part of our study, we put Cam on our brain rehabilitation program, which included fish oil ( Omega-3 Power), a great multiple vitamin ( NeuroVite), and our Brain & Memory Power Boost. Eight months later we re-assessed Cam, using the same protocol as before. He reported he felt much better and noticed significant improvements in his attention, mental clarity, memory, mood, motivation, and anxiety level. He felt his anger was under greater control and he was getting along better with his small children. His SPECT scan showed dramatic improvement in the areas of his temporal lobes (memory and mood stability), prefrontal cortex (attention and judgment), and cerebellum (processing speed). His Microcog showed dramatic improvement as well. See Table 1. Table 1: Cam Cleeland?s Microcog Results Before After % Change ? General Cognitive Functioning 13 39 200%+ ? Information Processing Speed 12 30 150%+ ? Information Processing Accuracy 27 55 100%+ ? Attention 34 70 100+% ? Memory 30 77 > 150%+ ? Spatial Processing 5 77 > 1,400%+ The numbers are Cam?s percentile rankings, comparing him to other people his age and education level. For example, the 5% in ?Spatial Processing? means 95% of people his age and education scored better than Cam. He feels the difference and is excited to do everything he can to change his brain and change his life!! I would like to thank Cam for sharing his scans and scores so that others may benefit from his experience. You are subscribed to email updates from Amen Clinics To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 3 23:54:13 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 22:54:13 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Very Important Read: NetNews May 4 2010 Message-ID: <009c01caeb4e$79a8c300$6cfa4900$@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, May 03, 2010 8:48 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 4 2010 (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) Coastal Fears for Oil's Impact on Fishing, Resorts Published on Monday, May 3, 2010 by The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/coastal-fears-for-oils-impact -on-fishing-resorts-20100502-u1jh.html Fishing and resort communities dotting the coastline of four southern American states are bracing for environmental and economic catastrophe from the uncontrolled oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. As authorities increased efforts to counter the slick bearing down on sensitive wetlands in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as sandy beaches as far as Alabama and Florida, at least one expert suggested the leak could already have poured more than 38 million litres of oil into the sea. The Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 was about 41 million litres. With the area's $US2.4 billion-a-year ($2.6 billion) fishing industry brought to a standstill, comparisons were swiftly drawn with the devastating Hurricane Katrina of 2005, the effect of which is still being felt in the wider region. On the eve of a visit to the region by the President, Barack Obama, the Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, issued a grim prognosis: "This oil spill threatens not only our wetlands and our fisheries, but also our way of life." Pleasure-boat owners were pulling their craft from the water in anticipation of the slick's arrival some time yesterday. Some communities were building sand banks to prevent the oil from intruding beyond the shore. About 5000 people had been co-opted by the federal government to protect the coast. But there was a strange disconnect in some areas, too. New Orleans was rocking to a different influx - an extra 100,000 people cramming the Louisiana capital for the final weekend of its spring jazz festival. Weekenders also frolicked along some stretches of beach. But today is likely to bring a hangover, with a heavier burst of oil expected to be pushed by strong southerly winds into Louisiana's marshlands, an incubator for hundreds of species of birds and animals, including four different types of sea turtles that are due to come ashore to lay their eggs. The wetlands are also a stopover for millions of migrating birds. The oil leak, which followed an explosion on April 20 that killed 11 men, and later led to the sinking of the BP-owned Deepwater Horizon rig, has forced Mr Obama to suspend politically sensitive plans to expand offshore oil drilling, unveiled last month partly to woo Republican support for climate legislation. No doubt mindful of the public criticism over the former president George Bush's handling of Katrina, the White House has been at pains to outline its co-ordination effort. It dispatched officials to the region last week. The top commander heading the fight, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is best known for his effort heading relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, told reporters the most critical step would be to stop the flow from at least three leaks from the well, which is more than 1.5 kilometres beneath the surface and located about 180 kilometres south-east of New Orleans. "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time,'' Admiral Allen said, adding that the focus would be on stopping the flow at the wellhead as well as on clean-up efforts of the oil. Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University told the Los Angeles Times: "The size and extent of this slick is 10 million gallons [38 million litres]." On Thursday the size of the slick was about 3000 square kilometres but by the end of Friday, it had tripled to about 10,000 square kilometres, said Hans Graber, the executive director of the University of Florida's Centre for South-eastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. "The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they [originally] estimated,'' Mr Graber said. Because of the rough weather, traditional clean-up techniques such as skimming oil from the surface of the water and using small boats to position booms to corral it have been put on hold while BP has been trying more experimental techniques. Fears for Crops as Shock Figures From America Show Scale of Bee Catastrophe by Alison Benjamin Published on Sunday, May 2, 2010 by The Observer/UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives -collapse The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter. Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter. The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers. The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some ?26bn to the global economy. Potential causes range from parasites, such as the bloodsucking varroa mite, to viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods. The disappearance of so many colonies has also been dubbed "Mary Celeste syndrome" due to the absence of dead bees in many of the empty hives. US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key problem. "We believe that some subtle interactions between nutrition, pesticide exposure and other stressors are converging to kill colonies," said Jeffery Pettis, of the ARS's bee research laboratory. A global review of honeybee deaths by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) reported last week that there was no one single cause, but pointed the finger at the "irresponsible use" of pesticides that may damage bee health and make them more susceptible to diseases. Bernard Vallat, the OIE's director-general, warned: "Bees contribute to global food security, and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster." WHY BEES MATTER Flowering plants require insects for pollination. The most effective is the honeybee, which pollinates 90 commercial crops worldwide. As well as most fruits and vegetables ? including apples, oranges, strawberries, onions and carrots ? they pollinate nuts, sunflowers and oil-seed rape. Coffee, soya beans, clovers ? like alfafa, which is used for cattle feed ? and even cotton are all dependent on honeybee pollination to increase yields. In the UK alone, honeybee pollination is valued at ?200m. Mankind has been managing and transporting bees for centuries to pollinate food and produce honey, nature's natural sweetener and antiseptic. Their extinction would mean not only a colourless, meatless diet of cereals and rice, and cottonless clothes, but a landscape without orchards, allotments and meadows of wildflowers ? and the collapse of the food chain that sustains wild birds and animals. Limbaugh Suggests Gulf Spill May Have Been Caused By ?Envionmental Wackos? Published May 3, 2010 http://jonathanturley.org/2010/05/03/rush-to-judgment-limbaugh-suggests-gulf -spill-may-have-been-caused-by-envionmental-wackos/ As the government deals with what may prove the worst oil disaster in the history of the country in the Gulf of Mexico, oceanographer and chemical engineer Rush Limbaugh has gone public with his theory that ?enviornmental wackos? may be responsible and that pouring oil into the ocean is something that the ocean can handle naturally with intervention by the government. He also insisted that oil spills are natural and should not cause undo concern. Limbaugh noted ?The carbon tax bill, cap and trade, that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day? and ?hardcore environmentalist wackos? were looking for ways to oppose Obama?s plans for more nuclear power and offshore drilling: ?What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I?m just, I?m just noting the timing here.? So here is a glimpse into the mind of Rush Limbaugh: environmentalists fear an oil spill on the coast so, to avoid such spills, they blow up a rig to cause a spill on the coast. Scientist Doesn't See a Way for Preventing Oil From Reaching Florida Keys, Eastern Seaboard http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/03-8 by Brian Skoloff Published on Monday, May 3, 2010 by the Associated Press GULFPORT, Miss. - Scientists say the Gulf oil spill could get into the what's called the Loop Current within a day, eventually carrying oil south along the Florida coast and into the Florida Keys. Nick Shay, a physical oceanographer at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, said Monday once the oil enters the Loop Current, it likely will end up in the Keys and continue east into the Gulf Stream. Shay says the oil could affect Florida's beaches, coral reefs, fisheries and ecosystem within a week. He described the Loop Current as similar to a "conveyor belt," sweeping around the Gulf, through the Keys and right up the East Coast. Shay says he cannot think of any scenario where the oil doesn't eventually reach the Florida Keys. Why Planting Farms in Skyscrapers Won't Solve Our Food Problems 'Vertical' farming would not solve the most pressing agricultural problems -- just make things worse. May 3, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/food/146686/why_planting_farms_in_skyscrapers_won%27 t_solve_our_food_problems?page=entire Agriculture in America has become an ecological, social and nutritional disaster of sufficiently huge scale to inspire a frenzy of book-writing, filmmaking, conference-holding and project-initiating in recent years. The critiques that emerge are often right on the money, highlighting pesticide and nitrate pollution, soil erosion, the consequences of meat production in feedlots and confinement sheds, the destruction of rural communities and the poor nutritional quality of food. But the solutions being proposed have not, for the most part, been of the same scale as the problems; most would do little more than nibble at the edges of America's long-running agricultural fiasco. A striking example of such ill fit between problem and proposed response can be found in the November 2009 issue of Scientific American, where Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health and environmental health sciences at Columbia University, made his case for what he calls "vertical farms," a vision he promotes through his site verticalfarm.com. DAVID KOTOK: IS THE GULF OIL SPILL A DEATH BLOW TO A COLLAPSING ECONOMY? Sunday, 02 May 2010 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1630/1/ We expect to see the deterioration of the economic statistics for the US to reveal the onset of this oil-slick crisis in May, and the negative impact will intensify during the summer months. A ?double-dip? recession probably has been made more likely by this tragedy. David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors is out with some very gloomy comments about the economic ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and what it will cost. First he notes the ugliest case scenario: This spew stoppage takes longer to reach a full closure; the subsequent cleanup may take a decade. The Gulf becomes a damaged sea for a generation. The oil slick leaks beyond the western Florida coast, enters the Gulfstream and reaches the eastern coast of the United States and beyond. Use your imagination for the rest of the damage. Monetary cost is now measured in the many hundreds of billions of dollars. As for numbers: Usually, the first estimates in any crises are too low. That is true here. 1000 barrels a day is now 5000, and some estimates of spillage are trending higher. No one knows exactly. The containment and boom mechanism is subject to weather cooperation as we can see this weekend. Soon we are entering the hurricane season. The thoughts of a storm stirring up the Gulf, hampering any cleanup or remediation drilling effort and creating a huge 10,000 square mile black stew is frightening to every professional in the business. This will be a financial calamity for many firms, not just BP and its partners and service providers. Their liabilities are immense and must not be underestimated. The first estimate of $12.5 billion is only a starter. As for the economy beyond BP... Thousands of small and independent businesses as well as larger public companies in tourism are hurt here. This is not just about the source of half the nation?s shrimp. That is already a casualty. It?s also about the bank loans for the $200,000 shrimp boat and the house the boat owner and/or his employees live in and the fact that this shock piles on a fragile financial system that is trying to recover from a three-year financial crisis. Case study, my fishing guide in the Everglades splits his time between Florida and Louisiana. His May bookings in LA have cancelled. His colleagues lost theirs and their lodge will be empty. They are busy trying to find work in the clean up. For him, his wife and eleven year old daughter, his $600 a day guide fees just went ?poof?. When I asked him if he thought he had a legal claim on BP, he said he hadn?t thought about it yet but it gave him pause. As we suggested above, the $12.5 billion loss estimate is only a starter. And the taxpayer... Federal deficit spending will certainly rise by tens, and maybe hundreds, of billions as emergency appropriations are directed at larger and larger efforts to clean up this mess. At the same time, federal and state revenues tied to Gulf-region businesses will fall. My colleague John Mousseau will be discussing the impact on state and local government debt in a separate research commentary. We expect that the Federal Reserve will extend the timeframe that we have come to know as the ?extended period? in the making of its monetary policy. We do not expect the Fed to raise interest rates at all for the rest of this year, and maybe well into next year. We expect to see the deterioration of the economic statistics for the US to reveal the onset of this oil-slick crisis in May, and the negative impact will intensify during the summer months. A ?double-dip? recession probably has been made more likely by this tragedy. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/david-kotok-125-billion-is-just-the-start-of- the-oil-cleanup-costs-and-a-double-dip-is-now-way-more-likely-2010-5#ixzz0mp Cq7km5 The promise of decentralization, localization and scale-free self-sufficiency by Jeff Vail Published May 2 2010 http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/6414 Many, if not most of our current economic and political structures developed in an environment of expanding, readily available, comparatively inexpensive, and high-quality energy supplies. While there is certainly debate on this point, it seems likely that these same economic and political structures will fare poorly in an environment of continually contracting, more expensive, and lower-quality energy supplies. How can our political and social structures change to continue to meet the needs of humanity (and the limits of our planet)? Are there any alternative structures that could allow us to maintain, even dramatically improve our collective quality of life despite an ongoing decline in the quality and availability of energy? Specifically, what role will decentralized and localized production play in our future political system and economy (and what role are they already playing, especially in less developed countries)? Are decentralization and localization realistically implementable solutions? That?s the general topic for tonight?s Campfire discussion?below the fold, I will outline some possibilities and provide additional questions for discussion. Below, I outline a number of topics for discussion. All of them relate to the potential to change our social, economic, and political structures in ways that may allow humanity to maintain and improve quality of life despite continually declining availability, affordability, and quality of global energy supplies. In short, they are all premised around the a core vision: that we can re-tool our civilization to eliminate the structural requirement for growth and to focus on providing true quality of life with far less energy use by building scale-free self-sufficiency and resiliency. Many people will label this as pie-in-the-sky fantasy?my hope is that this brief list of discussion questions will spur a discussion on both the potential and pitfalls of such a structural approach to our civilization?s energy crisis. In other words, rather than try to find a way to reverse energy descent, can we and should we instead find a way to improve our lives despite energy descent? -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: gulf-mexico.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 17721 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 4 00:04:45 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 23:04:45 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat - Must View Message-ID: <00a001caeb4f$ebc8f580$c35ae080$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS. There is a very rare and valuable opportunity here to watch videos provided by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Rob Williams which reveal the secrets of the sub-conscious mind. Understanding how the sub-conscious mind works is vital to our continued presence here on Mother Earth as the human family. Please take the time to learn from the material presented here. From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:27 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, It is such a privilege to have coordinated the "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change, Retreats since they began in 2001. Our experience class after class, year after year has been inspiring to Bruce, Rob, Myself, and literally thousands of attendees. Every year I search for new words to adequately convey the profound importance of learning to use more of our beautiful minds. The words this year are profoundly simple. This 4 day Retreat is simply "The Science of Subconscious Change". Since 95% of our daily lives are attracted by the habitual thought patterns, or Beliefs, programmed in in our subconscious, there is no other pursuit that could have comparable results in improving our lives. For over 100 years we have seen a steady progression of technologies leading us toward subconscious mastery. From Affirmations to Positive Thinking, from Hypnosis to tapping, we have seen the technology slowly get better, but usually it was focused toward solving a problem, health, financial, relationship etc. Problem solving is good and clearly available here, but it sure is a limiting view once you understand the true power and purpose of the Subconscious Mind. Your subconscious is the powerful storehouse of your chosen beliefs and habits, and the broadcast station that communicates your desires to all the world around you. I was stunned 10 years ago to discover some of the beliefs I was still broadcasting, powerfully. This was after 25 years of my work in awakening. I consciously wanted wonderful things, just like you, but I had never learned to speak the language of the Subconscious. And it is clear the subconscious isn't paying attention to our conscious thoughts and desires. It is thoroughly busy doing life for us while we think and think and think. More importantly, today I use the tools I learned, daily, to make sure the powerful part of my mind understands the desires of the day. My larger goal is to be a part of the community that changes the world. You too are a part of that community, and I know that because you are here now reading these words. How would your world be different if you were the master of your subconscious? Is there any gift you can imagine that would impact your life, and the lives of those you love and teach, more profoundly? I found my answer 10 years ago. And today I cherish being present as the awakened leaders, realize they have nothing to loose and possibly everything to gain, as they step forward to "free their minds" of limiting beliefs. If you haven't recently watched the DVD "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change", here is a gift for you. Listen to Bruce and Rob describe the Science of Subconscious Change. www.Spirit2000.com/freevideo.htm . And for those of you who are ready to "Free Your Mind" go to our web brochure and consider which of the 2010 Retreats will be right for you. Until May 15th you can access the best price of the year, a $250 discount on the early registration price. Just use the coupon code "best price" when you register on line. www.Spirit2000.com/retreat for the on line brochure. A three payment plan is also available. Thanks for being the Community of Change. Together we will see the word we desire unfold before our eyes. Love and Light, Doug separator Design:Onegraphic. This message was sent from Spiritcrossing to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: Spirit 2000, SpiritCrossing P.O. Box 11736 , Murfreesboro, TN 37129-0035. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 4 09:50:57 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 08:50:57 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat - Must View Message-ID: <002101caeba1$d4d60be0$7e8223a0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS. There is a very rare and valuable opportunity here to watch videos provided by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Rob Williams which reveal the secrets of the sub-conscious mind. Understanding how the sub-conscious mind works is vital to our continued presence here on Mother Earth as the human family. Please take the time to learn from the material presented here. From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:27 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, It is such a privilege to have coordinated the "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change, Retreats since they began in 2001. Our experience class after class, year after year has been inspiring to Bruce, Rob, Myself, and literally thousands of attendees. Every year I search for new words to adequately convey the profound importance of learning to use more of our beautiful minds. The words this year are profoundly simple. This 4 day Retreat is simply "The Science of Subconscious Change". Since 95% of our daily lives are attracted by the habitual thought patterns, or Beliefs, programmed in in our subconscious, there is no other pursuit that could have comparable results in improving our lives. For over 100 years we have seen a steady progression of technologies leading us toward subconscious mastery. From Affirmations to Positive Thinking, from Hypnosis to tapping, we have seen the technology slowly get better, but usually it was focused toward solving a problem, health, financial, relationship etc. Problem solving is good and clearly available here, but it sure is a limiting view once you understand the true power and purpose of the Subconscious Mind. Your subconscious is the powerful storehouse of your chosen beliefs and habits, and the broadcast station that communicates your desires to all the world around you. I was stunned 10 years ago to discover some of the beliefs I was still broadcasting, powerfully. This was after 25 years of my work in awakening. I consciously wanted wonderful things, just like you, but I had never learned to speak the language of the Subconscious. And it is clear the subconscious isn't paying attention to our conscious thoughts and desires. It is thoroughly busy doing life for us while we think and think and think. More importantly, today I use the tools I learned, daily, to make sure the powerful part of my mind understands the desires of the day. My larger goal is to be a part of the community that changes the world. You too are a part of that community, and I know that because you are here now reading these words. How would your world be different if you were the master of your subconscious? Is there any gift you can imagine that would impact your life, and the lives of those you love and teach, more profoundly? I found my answer 10 years ago. And today I cherish being present as the awakened leaders, realize they have nothing to loose and possibly everything to gain, as they step forward to "free their minds" of limiting beliefs. If you haven't recently watched the DVD "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change", here is a gift for you. Listen to Bruce and Rob describe the Science of Subconscious Change. www.Spirit2000.com/freevideo.htm . And for those of you who are ready to "Free Your Mind" go to our web brochure and consider which of the 2010 Retreats will be right for you. Until May 15th you can access the best price of the year, a $250 discount on the early registration price. Just use the coupon code "best price" when you register on line. www.Spirit2000.com/retreat for the on line brochure. A three payment plan is also available. Thanks for being the Community of Change. Together we will see the word we desire unfold before our eyes. Love and Light, Doug separator Design:Onegraphic. 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 by iContact - Try It Free! To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 4 10:03:43 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 09:03:43 -0700 Subject: [GJM] OBESITY CONSPIRACY: The U.S. Government Scandal that's Really Making You Fat Message-ID: <005e01caeba3$9b81c490$d2854db0$@net> http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/04/how-the-us-gov ernment-contributes-to-the-obesity-epidemic.aspx Thanks to Dr. Mercola for this article - please see his website for all information. We have previously discussed how government subsidies affect the food supply by allowing U.S. companies to ship and sell grains to developing countries and undercut the price that local farmers are able to produce it for, thus putting them out of business. Here is another side to this coin which affects what we here in our own country eat. It has long been a frustration for me that government surplus forms the basis for what is eaten by seniors in lunch programs. In many instances, it also is the basis for school lunch programs and forces our children to eat those things that are not healthy for us, but which make a lot of money for big AG. A good source of information on this is Marion Nestle's "Food Politics." OBESITY CONSPIRACY: The U.S. Government Scandal that's Really Making You Fat A decade ago, an American woman's waist, on average, was close to two inches smaller then. Eighteen year olds are 15 pounds heavier than they were in the 1970s. One reason is federal subsidies for food production. Take a look at these numbers: . Meat/Dairy -- 73.8 percent . Grains -- 13.2 percent . Sugar/Oil/Starch/Alcohol -- 10.7 percent . Nuts/Legumes -- 1.9 percent . Vegetables/Fruits -- 0.4 percent That's right - just 1.9 percent for nuts and legumes and 0.4 percent for fruits and vegetables. As a result, a salad often costs you more than a Big Mac. Sources: Treehugger March 15, 2010 The New York Times April 26, 2010 Dr. Mercola's Comments: This Treehugger article contains several interesting charts and graphs that are well worth taking a closer look at. But it should come as no surprise that federal subsidies for certain kinds of food will directly influence the production and subsequent consumption of that food. As you can see in the list above, the US food subsidies are grossly skewed, creating a diet excessively high in factory-farmed meats, grains and sugars, with very little fresh fruits and vegetables or healthy fats from nuts and seeds. The Root of the Problem I believe many of our society's chronic health problems could be resolved if attention was paid, at the highest levels of government, to the root problem - our agricultural subsidies. If growers of subsidized fresh vegetables were in a clear majority, you might start to see some fine advertising campaigns promoting the consumption of those veggies. Unfortunately, the Department of Agriculture is deeply entrenched with the agri-business, and current legislations protect the profits of these large industries at the expense of public health. In fact, the agriculture lobby is more powerful than even the pharmaceutical industry! You don't hear about it as often, but the ramifications of their political influence are just as hazardous to your health as that of Big Pharma. Sadly, you also see this influence in nutrition science. It is actually not designed to help you make sound dietary choices but rather to allow food companies to make health claims to increase profits, and this is a primary reason why you cannot get sound dietary advice from your government. Take the Food Pyramid, for example. Back in 2005, when the updated food pyramid was unveiled, nutritionist Luise Light, a former USDA insider and contributing architect of the original version of the Food Guide Pyramid, exposed how the US government bows to industry interests and plays a key role in the obesity epidemic. As this recent New York Times article states, "Thanks to lobbying, Congress chooses to subsidize foods that we're supposed to eat less of." US Government Subsidizes Fast Food The food crops currently subsidized are corn, soy, wheat and rice. What do you end up with? A fast food diet! And what many fail to remember (or don't realize) is that the farm bill has a direct impact on what your child gets fed in school, for example, and what food assistance programs will distribute to poorer households. It's quite clear that the farm bill creates a negative feedback loop that maintains the status quo of the standard American diet. Because by subsidizing the farming of corn and soy, the US government is also actively supporting a diet that consists of these grains in their processed form, namely high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and grain-fed cattle - all of which are known contributors to obesity and chronic diseases. (In addition, let's not forget that the vast majority of these two crops are also genetically modified, which in and of itself is a major health hazard!) High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is perhaps the most obvious example of how the farm bill destroys health, as opposed to promoting the production of food that is actually worthy of being called "food." HFCS is in TENS of THOUSANDS of food products. If it's processed, it probably contains HFCS; oftentimes it's one of the top three ingredients. With everything we now know about how HFCS and other sugars create obesity and chronic disease, it's no wonder we have a health care crisis on our hands! Our federal food policy reaches to the very core of our everyday lives; the core of our health. Unless the food policy is addressed and corrected, little progress will be made to improve the current health care crisis. The links are clear: These food policies directly impact what and how we produce our food, which impacts disease rates, which in turn drive health care costs into the stratosphere. The average American is now 10 pounds overweight, which translates into $250 billion in added yearly health care costs, not to mention a shorter lifespan. Farm Bill Also Promotes Excessive Fossil Fuel Consumption In addition to producing little else but fast food, this type of monoculture is also very dependent on fossil fuels. Because when you grow one type of crop almost exclusively, you deplete the soil, which means you have to use more fertilizer, which is made from fossil fuel. Monocultures also invite more pests, which need to be treated with ever increasing amounts of pesticides - also made from fossil fuel. Cheap food is actually incredibly expensive once everything is added up, including stratospheric health care costs, continued dependence on fossil fuels, and the destruction of the earth as a whole. Opt Not to Play Along - Choose Health! If you want to optimize your health, you simply must return to the basics of healthy food choices. And try as they may, industry lobbyists still cannot force you to buy these types of junk foods. The choice is entirely yours, and consumer demand will always win eventually, so the more people demand healthy, unadulterated foods, the more they must produce, one way or another. I encourage you to support the small family farms in your area. You'll receive nutritious food from a source that you can trust, and you'll not only be supporting the health of your own family but the health of your entire community. However, there is still much confusion about what is healthy - and in some cases, whether or not something is actually food. The easiest way to get confused and be led astray by misleading advertising is by focusing on individual ingredients or nutrients rather than the food as a whole. In a nutshell, the easiest way back toward health is to focus on WHOLE, unadulterated foods; foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state. Food that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, pesticides and fertilizers. Whole, especially organic, foods contain so many nutrients that work together synergistically, making them superior to anything that contains only the active ingredient (and frequently as a synthetic version at that). Now, if you don't' know what's implied by "as nature intended," then that should be a sign that you have gotten too disconnected from the natural world, and a refresher course in natural farming practices may be called for. (For example, corn is not, and has never been, a natural part of any cow's diet. You will never see a cow nibbling on a corn stalk when out to pasture, no matter how much corn is growing nearby.) Eating a diet of processed foods while popping vitamins and supplements, thinking you're getting everything you need for health, is a reckless miscalculation that will extract its true cost in the form of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Remember, any amount of time and money you save today by stopping at a fast food restaurant, you're bound to repay later when you're too ill to lead an active life. Pasted from Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 159 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 4 16:01:01 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 15:01:01 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat Message-ID: <00cc01caebd5$7cef7630$76ce6290$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS This is an incredible opportunity to watch complimentary videos made by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Rob Williams on the Science of Subconscious Change. Or to attend the 4-day Science of Subconscious Change Retreat and get a $250 discount for signing up now. From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:27 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: 2010 Bruce Lipton / Rob Williams: Retreat Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, It is such a privilege to have coordinated the "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change, Retreats since they began in 2001. Our experience class after class, year after year has been inspiring to Bruce, Rob, Myself, and literally thousands of attendees. Every year I search for new words to adequately convey the profound importance of learning to use more of our beautiful minds. The words this year are profoundly simple. This 4 day Retreat is simply "The Science of Subconscious Change". Since 95% of our daily lives are attracted by the habitual thought patterns, or Beliefs, programmed in in our subconscious, there is no other pursuit that could have comparable results in improving our lives. For over 100 years we have seen a steady progression of technologies leading us toward subconscious mastery. From Affirmations to Positive Thinking, from Hypnosis to tapping, we have seen the technology slowly get better, but usually it was focused toward solving a problem, health, financial, relationship etc. Problem solving is good and clearly available here, but it sure is a limiting view once you understand the true power and purpose of the Subconscious Mind. Your subconscious is the powerful storehouse of your chosen beliefs and habits, and the broadcast station that communicates your desires to all the world around you. I was stunned 10 years ago to discover some of the beliefs I was still broadcasting, powerfully. This was after 25 years of my work in awakening. I consciously wanted wonderful things, just like you, but I had never learned to speak the language of the Subconscious. And it is clear the subconscious isn't paying attention to our conscious thoughts and desires. It is thoroughly busy doing life for us while we think and think and think. More importantly, today I use the tools I learned, daily, to make sure the powerful part of my mind understands the desires of the day. My larger goal is to be a part of the community that changes the world. You too are a part of that community, and I know that because you are here now reading these words. How would your world be different if you were the master of your subconscious? Is there any gift you can imagine that would impact your life, and the lives of those you love and teach, more profoundly? I found my answer 10 years ago. And today I cherish being present as the awakened leaders, realize they have nothing to loose and possibly everything to gain, as they step forward to "free their minds" of limiting beliefs. If you haven't recently watched the DVD "Biology of Perception, Psychology of Change", here is a gift for you. Listen to Bruce and Rob describe the Science of Subconscious Change. www.Spirit2000.com/freevideo.htm . And for those of you who are ready to "Free Your Mind" go to our web brochure and consider which of the 2010 Retreats will be right for you. Until May 15th you can access the best price of the year, a $250 discount on the early registration price. Just use the coupon code "best price" when you register on line. www.Spirit2000.com/retreat for the on line brochure. A three payment plan is also available. Thanks for being the Community of Change. Together we will see the word we desire unfold before our eyes. Love and Light, Doug separator Design:Onegraphic. 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 by iContact - Try It Free! To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 5 03:16:30 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 09:16:30 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Democracy reform and genuine participation: The major parties Message-ID: <402861.95714.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Tue, 4/5/10, I&Rgb wrote: From: I&Rgb Subject: Democracy reform and genuine participation: The major parties To: press at iniref.org Date: Tuesday, 4 May, 2010, 13:08 Promises to hold referenda on this or that topic may "call up the ghost" of a major constitutional deficit, our lack of right to call a referendum as a people and electorate. How have the major political parties handled this problem in recent years and in their 2010 election campaigns? We cannot offer a comprehensive analysis here but can mention some indications. The Liberal Democrats on the matter of citizen-led democracy such as citizen-initiated referendum CIR seem cool. Their manifesto vaguely suggests that under their aegis an authority-initiated referendum might be held about the European Union. Ominously for democracy, their recent party conference voted against a proposal to include CIR in their programme. On matters of democracy Labour maintains a stalinoid demeanour, although some encouraging statements may be found tucked away in green or white papers of their ministries. After years of UK academic and public discussion about political "apathy", which many have interpreted to indicate that much better opportunity to participate in our democracy is desired by a large majority of us, Gordon Brown's best idea was to offer "citizens' juries". These can only involve a tiny fraction of the electorate and are entirely inconsequential, talk shops with non-binding results. The Conservative Party appears to offer more than the others. In local government their manifesto proposes that right to CIR should be introduced, so "local people" could put forward public proposals and, presumably if the council rejects, push through a referendum. The snag? The result would not be legally binding. We know this because we asked David Cameron and got a reply from his office. Not so good then. At state level, the manifesto offers a citizens' "initiative" which on closer examination appears to represent rather weak democracy. It would be a glorified right to petition, a right which we already had for centuries. Parliament would not have to heed this citizens' appeal. A gleam of hope has been offered by Intrepid Leader! In a speech last autumn he offered to introduce CIR at the state level. The BBC broadcast his words which we captured for posterity. Did he mean it? Would the old Tory battalions allow real democracy to creep in? Some months ago we at INIREF advised Labour to steal the Tory proposals for more democracy with CIR. Perhaps they now regret that they did not. ----------------------------------------------------- A reply to * Editorial * The Guardian, Tuesday 4 May 2010 Conservative manifesto: Constitutional affairs. A dig at Gordon Brown's lack of a mandate is no starting point for undermining a basic principle of UK elections http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/04/conservative-manifesto-constitutional-affairs-editorial ------------------------------------------------------------ I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum Campaign for direct democracy in Britain http://www.iniref.org/? election? campaign call http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html? web site index Related campaigns http://campaignfordemocracy.org.uk/directdemocracyexamples/ http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rodmell/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: I&Rgb.mini.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 14569 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 5 04:13:40 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 10:13:40 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Reforming Corporations..Is It Possible...? Facebook Talk Message-ID: <113944.47758.qm@web27407.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> The following "extract" comes from Alan Kazlevs Kheper website....and might be of some interest..... ? ? ? With the revolutionary business strategies of the Transfinancial Economics paradigm it would be possible to transform businesses, and corporations into something more ethical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. This is done in part by "bribing" them to do the right thing by the creation, and transmission of new non-repayable... See more money(which can be electronically monitored since money = ELECTRONIC DATA) along with credible commercial plans. Regulations can be useful too ofcourse but they can be difficult for governments to pass into law if it affects companies "adversely" in any way. This is especially true in the States which is obsessed with free market fundamentalism even though the "all-powerful" corporations receive to some extent subsides of earned money from the taxpayers!!! I believe the key to the future lies with a huge paradigm shift in our understanding of capital. It is the enabling power to use, or abuse limited natural, and artificial resources..The vital ideas of open democracy, and respect for human rights already exists.......and must continue way into the future.. http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Transfinancial_Economics As for your gurus..it is probably ones FAITH, AND BELIEF which in part creates their reality. In one sense, it does not matter whether he, or she is perfect, or not because everyone, and everything has a HIGHER SELF, or if you will a Perfect Master. This is a big subject, and I believe that Faqir Chand has a very important piece of the jigsaw puzzle when it comes to the question of the authenticity of gurus...and their value as spiritual transformers of human souls... RS...... 9 minutes ago ? Write a comment... RECENT ACTIVITY M Alan and Jeremy Johnson are now friends. ? Comment ?LikeUnlike ? Add as Friend Write a comment... M Alan wrote on Benton Rooks's Wall. M Alan and Benton Rooks are now friends. ? Comment ?LikeUnlike Write a comment... M Alan likes Michel Bauwens's link. Remove Robert Searle My "wierd, and wonderful" You Tube site may be of interest. http://www.youtube.com/user/Searle8 It mainly contains medieval, and renaissance music which can sound very "esoteric" at times. I hope to include other material notably traditional arabic music. YouTube - Searle8's Channel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 5 11:05:55 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 05 May 2010 10:05:55 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Three dead in Athens protests - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.190.41 -------------------- Personal message text: The Greek Crisis is getting serious as the news item appended to my possible solution reveals.... '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' There is a potential solution to solving the Greek Crisis which I will attempt to explain. i) Most of the money of the world is created out of thin air electronically as a loan, or credit with interest on it. This is called credit creation, or fractional reserve banking. nderstand that MONEY = ELECTRONIC DATA. .. Governments create it as cash but this only makes up a near non-existent portion of the money supply!!!!! ii) There is no reason in the world why the Eurozone, and the IMF cannot legally (though modifications may be needed) create "enough" (without serious inflation)new NON-REPAYABLE moneyelectronically(ie. an advanced form of QUANTITATIVE EASING). This would help the situation greatly, and the rest of the money could be created electronically as RE-PAYABLE loans, or credit. =================================== George Soros has suggested that the IMF could use Special Drawing Rights (ie. "new money" or reserve asset) as a donation in part to developing countries.... http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Transfinancial_Economics .Fotis Chatzipapadopoulos And how this can be achieved without serious inflation? .Robert Searle As explained above enough of it could be created. The enough can be determined by conventional Economic Indicators. The rest of the money would have to be as repayable loans. This could ally fears against inflation. Ofcourse, temporary price controls could be used though this would be unlikely if enough new non-repayable is created electronically. It is worth the risk because there is no real alternative other than face the austerity measures, and disaster.... .Fotis Chatzipapadopoulos But isn't this equivalent with increasing money supply? If I understood it correctly, what you suggest actually creates new money. Either electronically or physically, this money will actually increase the purchase power of individuals or organizations and governments. If this is what you suggest, what I know is (however this is not my field so I do not have strong opinion) that money supply increase is the actual definition of inflation. .Robert Searle Yes, you are right. It is increasing the money supply. BUT THE SAME CAN BE SAID OF LOANS THOUGH OFCOURSE THEY ARE RE-PAYABLE UNLIKE NON-REPAYABLE MONEY REMEMBER WHEN BANKS CREATE CREDIT THEY ARE ALSO INCREASING THE MONEY SUPPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE CREATING NEW CAPITAL OUT OF THIN AIR. THEY ARE NOT USING EXISTING EARNED MONEY, AND LENDING IT ON. IT CAN BE SEEN AS LEGALISED FRAUD Anyway, The TRICK in all this is to create ENOUGH re-payable money (ie loans), and ENOUGH non-repayable money in the Greek Crisis. This as already indicated could be determined with t he help of existing Economic Indicators... Furthermore, what happens with taxation. The money is taken out of peoples pockets, and is then used to pay public services NOT AS A RE-PAYABLE LOAN BUT AS SOMETHING SPENT INTO SOCIETY DEBT-FREE. Billions, and billions of earned money is used....but why do we not have serious inflation?? The answer is quite simple...there is ENOUGH of it for the time being to fund public services. The big question is this. Why can t we create ENOUGH new non-repayable (or unearned) money to do the same thing? Obviously, if too much is produced then problems may occur. .Fotis Chatzipapadopoulos...... So the new money you suggest will only be used to pay for public services without creating an excess that will be diffused in the market and produce inflation? .Robert Searle Yes, you have hit it on the head! The only problem is that present conventional Economic Indicators are not 100% reliable...but the situation is not impossible. Thank you for your interest.......! 2 minutes ago ?? Edit Post ?? Delete Post. Reply -------------------- Three dead in Athens protests http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100505/twl-three-dead-in-athens-protests-41f21e0.html ============================================================ From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 5 14:28:02 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 13:28:02 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Simon SINEK on leadership; Jeremy JACKSON on our oceans in trouble Message-ID: <002c01caec91$ad1c0c30$07542490$@net> From: THIS WEEK on TED.com [mailto:newsletter=ted.com at mcsv75.net] On Behalf Of THIS WEEK on TED.com Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 9:19 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Simon SINEK on leadership; Jeremy JACKSON on our oceans in trouble Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser TED May 5, 2010 This week: Scary truths about the state of the oceans, a brilliant new way to test if anti-poverty programs actually work -- and a daffy plan to give "the perfect TEDTalk." Watch Video In this powerful talk, Jeremy Jackson lays out the state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse. Watch now >> Watch Video Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for leadership, starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" Watch now >> Watch Video Alleviating poverty is more guesswork than science. But economist Esther Duflo says it's possible to know more, by testing with randomized trials. Watch now >> Watch Video In a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek analysis, Sebastian Wernicke turns the tools of statistical analysis on TEDTalks. Watch now >> Watch Video Simplicity: We know it when we see it -- but what is it, exactly? In this funny, philosophical talk, George Whitesides chisels out an answer. Watch now >> NEWS FROM TED TED's Open TV Project TEDTalks on broadcast TV near you. More >> Join the Conversation Marina Timmerman Marina Timmerman on Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action " This biomimicry idea is a great way to start thinking. I liked what she said at the end about creating entire cities with this in mind. We as humans are not the only ones that have to live on this earth, and I think making cities just as ecologically functional as the land that was taken to make the city was is something that should be done." Manav Gupta Manav Gupta on Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting " Wow, what a wonderful presentation. It's a great shame that growing up in Rajasthan we never learnt about these wonderful structures, even though we saw them every day! Simply wonderful!" Most Emailed This Week Watch Video Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean Watch Video Steve Jobs: How to live before you die Watch Video Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team Watch Video Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything Stay in touch with TED Facebook Become a fan of TED on Facebook Twitter Follow TED on Twitter: @TEDNews | @TEDTalks TED Get TED news, speaker Q&As and more: TED Blog You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to it on TED.com Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Update email info | Forward to a friend | Email us TED Conferences LLC, 55 Vandam St, 16th floor, New York, NY 10013 TED -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 5 14:37:06 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 13:37:06 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Sex, Lies and Oil Spills - RFK Jr. Message-ID: <003101caec92$f8113ca0$e833b5e0$@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, May 05, 2010 12:08 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Sex, Lies and Oil Spills - RFK Jr. Sex, Lies and Oil Spills Robert F. Kennedy Jr. President, Waterkeeper Alliance; Professor, Pace University Posted: May 5, 2010 10:19 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/sex-lies-and-oil-spills_b_ 564163.html A common spin in the right wing coverage of BP's oil spill is a gleeful suggestion that the gulf blowout is Obama's Katrina. In truth, culpability for the disaster can more accurately be laid at the Bush Administration's doorstep. For eight years, George Bush's presidency infected the oil industry's oversight agency, the Minerals Management Service, with a septic culture of corruption from which it has yet to recover. Oil patch alumnae in the White House encouraged agency personnel to engineer weakened safeguards that directly contributed to the gulf catastrophe. The absence of an acoustical regulator -- a remotely triggered dead man's switch that might have closed off BP's gushing pipe at its sea floor wellhead when the manual switch failed (the fire and explosion on the drilling platform may have prevented the dying workers from pushing the button) -- was directly attributable to industry pandering by the Bush team. Acoustic switches are required by law for all offshore rigs off Brazil and in Norway's North Sea operations. BP uses the device voluntarily in Britain's North Sea and elsewhere in the world as do other big players like Holland's Shell and France's Total. In 2000, the Minerals Management Service while weighing a comprehensive rulemaking for drilling safety, deemed the acoustic mechanism "essential" and proposed to mandate the mechanism on all gulf rigs. Then, between January and March of 2001, incoming Vice President Dick Cheney conducted secret meetings with over 100 oil industry officials allowing them to draft a wish list of industry demands to be implemented by the oil friendly administration. Cheney also used that time to re-staff the Minerals Management Service with oil industry toadies including a cabal of his Wyoming carbon cronies. In 2003, newly reconstituted Minerals Management Service genuflected to the oil cartel by recommending the removal of the proposed requirement for acoustic switches. The Minerals Management Service's 2003 study concluded that "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly." The acoustic trigger costs about $500,000. Estimated costs of the oil spill to Gulf Coast residents are now upward of $14 billion to gulf state communities. Bush's 2005 energy bill officially dropped the requirement for the acoustic switch off devices explaining that the industry's existing practices are "failsafe." Bending over for Big Oil became the ideological posture of the Bush White House, and, under Cheney's cruel whip, the practice trickled down through the regulatory bureaucracy. The Minerals Management Service -- the poster child for "agency capture phenomena" -- hopped into bed with the regulated industry -- literally. A 2009 investigation of the Minerals Management Service found that agency officials "frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives." Three reports by the Inspector General describe an open bazaar of payoffs, bribes and kickbacks spiced with scenes of female employees providing sexual favors to industry big wigs who in turn rewarded government workers with illegal contracts. In one incident reported by the Inspector General, agency employees got so drunk at a Shell sponsored golf event that they could not drive home and had to sleep in hotel rooms paid for by Shell. Pervasive intercourse also characterized their financial relations. Industry lobbyists underwrote lavish parties and showered agency employees with illegal gifts, and lucrative personal contracts and treated them to regular golf, ski, and paintball outings, trips to rock concerts and professional sports events. The Inspector General characterized this orgy of wheeling and dealing as "a culture of ethical failure" that cost taxpayers millions in royalty fees and produced reams of bad science to justify unregulated deep water drilling in the gulf. It is charitable to characterize the ethics of these government officials as "elastic." They seemed not to have existed at all. The Inspector General reported with some astonishment that Bush's crew at the MMS, when confronted with the laundry list of bribery, public theft and sexual and financial favors to and from industry "showed no remorse." BP's confidence in lax government oversight by a badly compromised agency still staffed with Bush era holdovers may have prompted the company to take two other dangerous shortcuts. First, BP failed to install a deep hole shut off valve -- another fail-safe that might have averted the spill. And second, BP's reported willingness to violate the law by drilling to depths of 22,000-25,000 feet instead of the 18,000 feet maximum depth allowed by its permit may have contributed to this catastrophe. And wherever there's a national tragedy involving oil, Cheney's offshore company Halliburton is never far afield. In fact, stay tuned; Halliburton may emerge as the primary villain in this caper. The blow out occurred shortly after Halliburton completed an operation to reinforce drilling hole casing with concrete slurry. This is a sensitive process that, according to government experts, can trigger catastrophic blowouts if not performed attentively. According to the Minerals Management Service, 18 of 39 blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico since 1996 were attributed to poor workmanship injecting cement around the metal pipe. Halliburton is currently under investigation by the Australian government for a massive blowout in the Timor Sea in 2005 caused by its faulty application of concrete casing. The Obama administration has assigned nearly 2,000 federal personnel from the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, EPA, NOAA and Department of Interior to deal with the spill -- an impressive response. Still, the current White House is not without fault -- the government should, for example, be requiring a far greater deployment of absorbent booms. But the real culprit in this villainy is a negligent industry, the festering ethics of the Bush Administration and poor oversight by an agency corrupted by eight years of grotesque subservience to Big Oil. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 5 17:04:31 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 16:04:31 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Cute video to honor the mothers around us Message-ID: <005701caeca7$8f4f6880$adee3980$@net> From: Rabbi Michael Lerner [mailto:rabbilerner at tikkun.org] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 11:10 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Cute video to honor the mothers around us Tikkun to heal, repair and transform the world A note from Rabbi Michael Lerner Join or Donate Now! Dear Mary , As we struggle daily in weighty political analyses and the mundane toils of maintaining a voice for peace and social justice in a highly contested public space, it's easy to neglect our capacity to be light-hearted, goofy, loving, and connected. This Mother's Day video made us laugh, and what better connection to share as we honor and celebrate mothers. We're sending it along in case you want to share it and connect similarly with all the mothers in your life (click on the picture below). The first principle of our Spiritual Covenant with America calls for a society that promotes rather than undermines loving and caring relationships and families. Any occasion that legitimates the public expression of genuine love and gratitude deserves to be continuously re-created and made real in our lives. Love and generosity can and should be the foundation for all of our politics -- that's precisely what we have in mind when we talk about a New Bottom Line. The video was developed by MomsRising.org, a group committed to ending economic discrimination against mothers. Tikkun's July/August 2008 issue featured this article about the group's potential to lead the United States toward a New Bottom Line. Love and blessings, Michael Rabbi Michael Lerner Rabbilerner at tikkun.org _____ web: www.tikkun.org email: info at spiritualprogressives.org Click here to stop receiving future emails _____ Copyright ? 2010 Tikkun? / Network of Spiritual Progressives?. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 5 18:08:25 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 17:08:25 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Shaping Tomorrow Insight Newsletter Message-ID: <000d01caecb0$7e0b7600$7a226200$@net> This newsletter has so many valuable insights in it, I want to share it with you and hope you will subscribe to it. From: Bruce Lloyd [mailto:info at shapingtomorrow.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 11:02 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Shaping Tomorrow Insight Newsletter If you have trouble viewing our newsletter via email please click here to view it online: http://www.shapingtomorrow.com/newsletter.cfm Click here to go to the website Insight Newsletter 5 May 2010 Edited by Bruce Lloyd _____ Big trouble still ahead? We are not necessarily out of the woods yet. While the gloom of last year has lessened, and economic indicators are improving there are still plenty of potential pitfalls in the road to real economic recovery. Companies need to keep track, develop contingencies and remain agile. Click here to view the trend alert. Contributed by Sheila Moorcroft, Research Director _____ Latest Insights Our weekly newsletter is just a gentle reminder of what's maybe changing imperceptibly around you. The website itself contains a much larger selection of structured content, with likely high relevance to you and your organisation, and is updated daily. We have added 276 new links this week including The internet of meetings The future of corporate meetings and college lectures will be interactive, multimedia, searchable and cross-linked. It will, finally, unlock the unrealised power of meetings to focus efforts, pool resources and stimulate imagination to discover creative answers to obdurate questions Comment Future Of Finance Shifts From West To East HSBC's CEO says developing economies, new millionaires and trade will propel the change. Comment NATO's Cyber-Brains Gaze at the Future of War Behind the walls of a high-security lab, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation?s top cyber-minds are trying to predict the evolution of conflict in an Internet-dependent world. ? Comment Black Swans the Ones to Watch For Whether it?s banks collapsing or volcanoes erupting, the unexpected can upset the global apple cart Comment Web-ifying the Real World New technologies and tools developed by European researchers will apply the power of online knowledge discovery to offline, real-world situations. These researchers are web-ifying real life. ? Comment Can We Predict Volcanic Eruptions? There was chaos and unnecessary confusion as nations scrambled by themselves to salvage whatever they could of their airline industry. We need more active reconnaissance of volcanoes, which at the moment is often left to a handful of lonely scientists Comment Shoe Generator Harvests Power from Walking A researcher at Louisiana Tech University designed a shoe that contains a small generator in its sole Comment America's Approach To Asia U.S. envoy Kurt Campbell lays out his three-pronged approach to engaging with Asia. Comment BRICs: Building Blocks of a New World Order that Diminishes the West? Last week?s summit among the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China occasioned predictable analyses of the dawn of a new world order led by these developing giants. Their scale is indeed breathtaking. ? Comment 10 Green Giants That Could Change the World While start-ups have played a crucial role in getting the green industry off the ground, the future will likely be dominated by large, sprawling conglomerates Comment _____ Volcano chaos Volcano What might be the impact on the world if the Iceland volcano brings European aerospace to a halt for a prolonged period? Or, any other volcano for that matter. Read the Foresight Network's post on possible futures arising out of the recent eruptions and contribute your own thoughts here on what should be done to mitigate future threats. [Free registration required] Contents ? Big trouble still ahead? <> ? Latest Insights <> ? Volcano chaos <> ? Research <> ? Speakers <> ? Recovery Watch <> ? Branded Sites <> Research While you will know your industry better than we do, we bring a holistic and systemic view of global change, timelines of potential change, descriptions of emerging trends, cycles and shifts in behaviour and regional strengths. We project future implications giving you an in-depth and richer perspective and making your opportunity and risk assessments more valuable. We offer 'Watching and Full Briefs', Scouting Networks, Large-scale Enquiry and Virtual Assistance for those seeking help in understanding what's coming and how to respond. Please contact us for an initial, free discussion on how we can help you. Speakers Planning your next company conference, meeting, workshop or retreat? Looking for an exciting, provocative guest speaker to get the audience thinking about future opportunities and risks and how to address them? Use our Future Voices Speakers Bureau to connect directly with those of interest, with no one coming in between. Recovery Watch "When will this recession end?" This is the question most on our clients lips. Use this social network graph to see which way our contributors think the world is heading. Last updated 5th May 2010. Take advantage of any upturn or prepare for a further downturn, ahead of the pack, by reading our 'what to do now' recession tips for how to survive and get to more positive futures, faster. Read more Branded Sites Deploy your own brand, ultra low-cost trends management system in your organization. Add and manage your own private content, perspective, analysis and users. We aim to deliver your system in less than ten days, at half the cost and four times the value of any other rival organization. Click here for details. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Thu May 6 03:00:55 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 14:30:55 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Inclusive and Ecologically Safe India: Shared Dreams, Challenges and Vision In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <101351.65899.qm@web94914.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Shunning of Muslims, Becoming widespread - is the wrong title for a story that cites few exceptional cases. There are statistical standards for making generalizations and therefore, we need to be careful. At the same time, we need to ensure that we work for building a socially inclusive and ecologically safe India. I live in Ashok Vihar and there I have never experienced these for the last 15 years. I had an opportunity to buy and Bipin Agrawal was ready to give me his flat on installments. There have been several offers. Naresh Maheshwari, my nieghbour many times suggest that I should buy a flat. He manages parking lots and he showed me another flat for my brother in law based in Bhagalpur. I have counselled families for forgiving each other and strengthening the relationships. Even a RSS trained cadre treats me as brother and I treat him as an elder. Chaiji ,mother of Ashwini Sharma who has experience of partition meets my wife and I keep on inquiring about her health whenever I meet. It is all about respecting the foundations of human relationship based on care ,concern and love for each other. As and when there is need, children from neighbourhood seek my help in writing assignments. Way back in Patna, it was Anjani Sinha, like my elder brother asked me stay with him and family in 1984. I lived there as a family member . In Delhi, my friends from Sceince College Shashank Shekhar Jha and Shailesh helped me in a place to stay in 1986 at Ramjas College in the room of Akhilesh Singh, who is a teacher now in a college . At International Students Guest House, Ajay Kumar Singh, now working with Delhi Police, Sanjay Jaiswal from my village Krishnadaspur, now working as an Engineer with MTNL, Ranbeer Sinha, a relative of Subodh Kant Sahay, now running a business, Avinash Chaitanya, younger brother of my friend Sanjay Prasad, and Devesh, the son of Awadesh Kumar Sinha, my High School English teacher all stayed with me as guest. Leaving International Students House, I got a small room at M-4,Satyawati Nagar, Ashok Vihar-Phase III where for quite some time Omulangira Joseph Mubiru , a freind from Uganda lived with me and Rajendra Mahapatra, today showing his film Shaheed to the President of India gave me an opportunity to share my room in 1995-96. Venkat, do not get gleeful in forwarding these. Reach out meet the other in the spirit of Nar-Seva= Narayan Seva. We need to be open and do justice to our neighbors and fellow human beings who have right to enjoining for good and prohibition from evil, our love, care, compassion,empathy. With warmest regards Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: sri venkat Sent: Sun, 2 May, 2010 10:58:20 PM Subject: India-ozg-in | Shunning of Muslims, Becoming widespread - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Shunning of Muslims, Becoming Widespread Dr A R Mookhi Amir Ali Two news items, one in Today?s Mumbai Mirror of The Times of India and another in Free Press Journal of yesterday, 1st of May 2010 are greatly disturbing to the Muslim community. A couple had rented a flat on the first floor of Chembur's Venkatesh Sadan from May 1. They had signed the agreement, gone through police verification, and had even shifted their belongings. But on Saturday morning, just minutes before guests were to arrive for a house-warming party starting at 10 am, the flat owner Jyoti Rege called the man to say that he would have to move out.The reason? His name was Khan. Majid Khan. The housing society and locals disapproved of Muslims. The silver lining of the unpleasant episode was that the owner of the flat and the broker involved apologized, paid back the deposit and advance paid and compensated Majid Khan for the hardship of moving in and out. The second news item comes from Australia. A firebrand retired politician Pauline Hanson with an intention to move to England listed her house for sale with an estate agent with a stipulation that no Muslim buyer should be entertained. Apparently this slight to the Muslim community was her parting patriotic gesture for Australia because she believed that Muslims are not compatible with ?our life and culture? and she believed Muslims will cause problems for the country further down the track. The episodes of Shabana Azmi and Emraan Hashmi, both film actors, not being allowed to buy houses of their choice are not forgotten. I was heartbroken when I went looking for a flat to buy, as my own building was being redeveloped. Emraan Hashmi was not given the NOC to buy the flat he wanted, but he was not told on his face that the reason for refusal was his faith. I was told so on my face. I saw to my dismay that there are many buildings in the suburbs of Mumbai that do not want a Muslim inmate. There are vast areas where groups of Housing Societies have jointly decided not to let a Muslim live in their locality. Local estate agents have been instructed not to bring in Muslim buyers. In one suburb an estate agent rattled to me the names of the buildings which were out of bound for Muslims. All this is extremely hurtful. One hates to admit and express that the community is being disliked to this extent. But unless the community continuously wants to wallow in the quagmire it is in, it must rise and face the facts, do some soul-searching, go into the reasons of their malady and do some course-correction. Muslims must strive to be more acceptable, more liked by other communities. In 2009 August when I wrote on Emraan Hashmi?s plight I pasted a few lines from Dr Rafiq Zakaria?s book ?Communal Rage In Secular India.? I have seen lot of wisdom in the book and can not help pasting the same words again. Dr. Rafiq Zakaria in his book ?Communal Rage in Secular India?: ?They should do some introspection and ask whether they have genuinely tried to contribute to the strengthening of Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition. The answer will be no. (Page 191) ?Indian Muslims must open their eyes to the ground reality that an increasing number of Hindus have begun to hate them.? (Page 193). ?This is not confined to a small section; it has infected the rich as much as the poor; men as much as women; the young as much as the old; even children are no longer free from it.? (Page 201) ?This is the ugly reality that Muslims have to face in today?s India. They have to do their best to bring about a change in the hostile attitude of the communal Hindus towards them. This is as much in their interest as that of the nation. Muslims continue to live in a make-believe world of their own. 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Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 6 09:53:42 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 08:53:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 6 2010 Message-ID: <007f01caed34$8ae2c480$a0a84d80$@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, May 05, 2010 10:08 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 6 2010 (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) "If the Deepwater Horizon disaster is the offshore energy industry's Three Mile Island, then not only has world oil production already peaked, but it will also very soon start to shrink. So if you think oil prices are high today, you ain't seen nothing yet." FCC to Restore Authority Over Net Neutrality, Broadband Service: Netroots Backlash Cited May 5, 2010 05:02 PM Josh Silver Executive Director, Free Press http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/fcc-to-restore-authority_b_565086. html In response to widespread netroots backlash, the chairman of the FCC has decided to choose a path toward a broadband policy framework that will protect Net Neutrality and promote universal access. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Chairman plans to restore the status quo as it existed prior to the court decision in order to fulfill the agency's goals to bring broadband to all Americans and preserve a free and open Internet. The recent court decision determined that changed made by the Bush-era FCC had stripped the agency from authority to regulate Internet broadband providers like Comcast and ATT. Assuming that the Chairman's proposal is reasonable, it is a clear signal that the FCC is backing away from the cliff, and charting a path toward a sensible broadband policy framework that will protect consumers and promote universal access. That is welcome news, but we must not rush to judgment on whether the FCC has gone far enough to protect consumers with the new proposal. Public interest groups are awaiting details that will likely be released on Thursday. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. Oil Gusher in Gulf: Energy Gluttony, not Oil Addiction, is Greater Problem by Jan Lundberg http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/646/1/ It's crazy that everyone was blindsided by the unprecedented BP oil rig explosion and oil well disaster, when it or a similar event had to happen eventually. Indeed, we now have a "new" wrinkle for petrocollapse. Petrocollapse has mostly referred to the effects of peak oil, but all is ecological in the final analysis. Most people paying attention to the world at large know that millions of gallons of crude oil have been loosed, still gushing uncontrollably, threatening not only the Gulf of Mexico but beyond. Our report suggests more than clean-up and better oversite: the Committee Against Oil Exploration. The scope of the ecological disaster is unknown, but at this rate it will exceed past record oil spills -- with the hurrican season about to start. The only silver lining may be a wake-up call regarding the profligate use of not only oil but energy in general. We have become accustomed to it and brainwashed to believe there is no other way to live. However, most of the opinion pieces in the news media, including progressive websites, don't get it: the dominant critique as always is that there are some bad actors and policies that must be opposed. But opposing the system by choosing a local, ecological lifestyle gets no mention. As a former oil industry insider turned environmental campaigner, I was not surprised by the explosion and leak. Numbed a little bit more, I monitored the disaster and proceeded with other projects such as climate change activism (so oil-related, of course). Now to advance a "new" idea on the Gulf disaster and the bigger picture -- if there is one bigger than what is likely to be global eco-catastrophe. First, dispense with the noise and propaganda: GOP Senators Defend Letting Suspected Terrorist Buy Guns http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/bloomberg-terror-gap-argu_n_564733. html New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appeal to what he called "common sense" at a congressional hearing Wednesday morning failed to sway two Republican senators who said that giving the government the ability to block the purchase of guns by suspected terrorists would undermine the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. "Shouldn't FBI agents have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on the terror watchlists -- and deemed too dangerous to fly? I actually believe that they should," Bloomberg told senators. Federal law currently only allows the government to block guns sales for a very limited number of reasons, and being on that list is not one of them. (For more background, see Tuesday's article on the subject.) "This common-sense legislation is not anti-gun -- it's anti-terrorist," chimed in Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the sponsor of a bill that would close what Bloomberg has called a "terror gap." But GOP Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina wouldn't go along. Admitting that "at first blush" the bill "seems to be an obvious step that we should take," Collins said that many people on the FBI's watchlist don't belong there. "None of us wants a terrorist to be able to purchase a gun, but neither should we want to infringe upon a Constitutional right of law-abiding Americans," she said. Graham described the bill as an instrument of those who would ban guns altogether. "We're talking about a constitutional right here," he said, explaining that he could not support a bill that would force "innocent Americans" to "pay the cost of going to court to get their gun rights back." Graham wasn't nearly as concerned about rights when he launched into a disquisition on the treatment of American citizens accused of terrorism. "I am all into national security," he said. "I want them to stop reading these guys Miranda rights." A Presidency in Peril: Warnings from Robert Kuttner http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/04/a_presidency_in_peril_warnin gs_from_robert_kuttner/ by Dean Baker Published on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by TalkingPointsMemo Like most progressives, Robert Kuttner had great hopes following President Obama's election in 2008. However, Kuttner also has been around long enough to realize the risk that President Obama might not live up to his potential in bringing about progressive change. His new book, A Presidency in Peril, documents how the Obama administration has been falling short. The basic story is both straightforward and depressing. President Obama surrounded himself with advisers that were close to Wall Street and business in general. This undoubtedly reflected his disposition; he had always been a political moderate. However, it was also partly determined by his political backers. Wall Street's generosity with campaign contributions was an essential part of his rise to the top of the Democratic field in the presidential primaries. This guaranteed that Obama would pursue a cautious business-friendly path. Much of the book focuses on the response to the economic crisis, in particular the bank bailouts and the stimulus. In both cases Obama took a centrist path that that largely protected the interests of the wealthy. This is most clear in the case of the bank bailout. In the closing weeks of the presidential campaign Obama took time out to push for the TARP, a huge wad of money for the banks that came largely without strings. After TARP, the bailouts continued, with Citigroup and Bank of America nursed back to life thanks to the generosity of the taxpayers. By contrast, the government could have taken a hard line, temporarily taking over insolvent banks, including these giants. This would have wiped out shareholders. It also would have meant giving bondholders a haircut, and sending the top executives packing. While this route was derisively termed "nationalization," including by some top Obama officials, the point was not to have the government own the banks. Rather the point was to do a quick clean-up operation that would involve selling the banks, possibly in smaller pieces, back to the private sector as soon as possible. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANOTHER THREE MILE ISLAND? Wednesday, 05 May 2010 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1634/1/ Will the unfolding environmental catastrophe from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico become deep-water oil's equivalent to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident? In terms of environmental degradation and economic cost, it's already become much more. The real legacy of Three Mile Island wasn't what happened back in 1979, though, but rather what happened, or more precisely didn't happen, over the course of the next forty years in America. Literally overnight, the near-meltdown of the reactor core changed public acceptance of nuclear power plants. No company in the US has built a new one since. Deepwater Horizon was not a producing well, nor will it likely ever be one. Hemorrhaging anywhere from 5,000 to 25,000 barrels of oil every day, the spill is already approaching the size of the discharge from the Exxon Valdez. What's worse, BP has no way to shut it off, short of drilling a relief well to divert the pressure, which will take three months. At 25,000 barrels a day, three months means a cumulative discharge of 2.25 million barrels of oil, or 94.5 million gallons (one barrel equals 42 US gallons), or roughly eight Exxon Valdez spills. Even at 5,000 barrels a day, that's almost 20 million gallons of oil. And to top it all off, by the time a relief well can be drilled, we'll be smack in the middle of hurricane season. The scene of hurricane-force winds raining oil on New Orleans and the rest of America's Gulf Coast will no doubt make for an apocalyptic image of the end of the age of oil. Unfortunately, our dependence on the stuff will survive this catastrophe, even if the fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and the marsh ecosystems of the Mississippi Delta won't. But what might also not survive is deep-water drilling: no firm's shareholders will be willing to accept the consequences that BP willsoon have to face. President Obama has already suspended his recent decision to open up new offshore areas for oil development, and he's declared a moratorium on new drilling. You can imagine what the regulatory environment will be like after three months of the spill, just as you can imagine what those satellite photos of the Gulf of Mexico will look like. But what you might not imagine are the implications for world oil supply. Conventional oil supply has not grown since 2005. Without a steady stream of oil from fields below the ocean floor, not only can't world oil production grow, it can't even stand still, since we rely on oil from new deep-water fields to replace the bulk of the four million barrels per day of global production we lose every year to depletion (out of a total of roughly 86 million barrels per day). If the Deepwater Horizon disaster is the offshore energy industry's Three Mile Island, then not only has world oil production already peaked, but it will also very soon start to shrink. So if you think oil prices are high today, you ain't seen nothing yet. READER COMMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [from Dale] Hello; Some things I have gleaned from the internet over the years , 1--Russia has consistently understated it's oil,gas and coal reserves 2--the middle eastern countries have consistently overstated their reseves in oil and gas 3--the United States has overstated it's coal reserves , and has approached peak oil and in all probability approached peak gas production 4--there is no know energy source that has the same energy return on investment as oil or gas 5-- the western powers are in classic denial as to their predicament and refuse to acknowledge that they are in decline Now for some very fundamental truisms , most if not all of Russias energy will be sold and delivered to China , and you can bet you bottom dollar that in the next few years there are going to be new significant oil and gas discoveries in eastern Siberia . There is also massive coal deposits along the Lena river which will be convienient for transportation to China .All of our expert pundits are predicting an economic collapse of China , I feel that that is not as close to the reality of the situation as the geography does not support that hypothesis It is my belief that the Eurasian land mass will become the next great and possible the last great concentration of power, militarily, economically and politically. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dale_Holcomb93 at msn.com To: Dale_Holcomb93 at msn.com Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:19 PM Subject: China's coal bubble...and how it will deflate U.S. efforts to develop "clean coal" | Energy Bulletin send out http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52684 From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 6 18:27:39 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 17:27:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The 528 Frequency of the Solfeggio Scale on You Tube Message-ID: <00fd01caed7c$58d4a920$0a7dfb60$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Energy expresses itself as sound and light. According to the research of Valerie V. Hunt, M.D., Ph.D., the 528 hz vibration frequency expresses itself somewhere between orange and red. Page 318, Exhibit 4. Spectrogram As we have discussed previously, a very refined coherence pattern expresses itself at about 1100 hz and is visible as pure white light. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgMQOAWeVs0 &feature=related Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 6 19:02:39 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 18:02:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Ning no longer being FREE Message-ID: <011101caed81$3c58ff30$b50afd90$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Future Dawning Enterprises supports the activities of TransitionUS as we consider ourselves so closely aligned in purpose, but with a different emphasis on approach, in that we emphasize the importance of: human consciousness, the women?s movement, and the bringing together of indigenous communities worldwide while at the same time emphasizing the need for living a more simple lifestyle, emphasizing the importance of creating sustainable living communities, the widespread need for distribution of valid information, and the necessary healing that must take place associated with mental illness and substance abuse especially here in the U.S. As an Advisory Board member of the Hearts of Fire Project which takes on homeless issues, I see tbe need for us to work closely together and integrate our efforts on an international basis with TransitionUS. With love and in gratitude to Les Squires for his tireless efforts. From: Transition California [mailto:mail at transitioncalifornia.ning.com] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:24 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Ning no longer being FREE Transition California ? Local Self-Reliance for a Post-Petroleum World ? A message to all members of Transition California >From Les Squires about the issue of ning sites not being free any longer: < here to comment on this discussion. [and see the comments from others around the country!] Les Squires Transition Ning Social Network http://transitionus.ning.com Skype Address: LSquiresSkype +1 303 926 5159>> Visit Transition California at: http://transitioncalifornia.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network To control which emails you receive on Transition California, click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 6 19:16:26 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 18:16:26 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: INCONVENIENT? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET Message-ID: <011601caed83$2c9680c0$85c38240$@net> For your information and consideration. Thanks to Trading Post Paul -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 11:52 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] INCONVENIENT? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET INCONVENIENT? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET, By Craig Comstock Thursday, 06 May 2010 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1638/1/ A review of Bill McKibben's Eaarth Reprinted from HUFFINGTON POST Get used to it, baby: if there were an easier available place to find new oil than a mile beneath the sea, they'd be drilling there. The accident in the Gulf of Mexico, however damaging it is already, however widely it may spread, is minor compared with what is happening, invisibly, above our heads. That's the message of Bill McKibben's new book, Eaarth, and what he's been warning about for over two decades. Each era is unimaginable to the era just before, except to a tiny circle of visionaries such as McKibben. Some of these visionaries are misguided, but this author bases his diagnosis on scientific evidence, even when, as in this case, the evidence has momentous implications for our "way of life." Eaarth, with its doubled second vowel, is McKibben's deliberately drawling name for the planet we now live on, which is, he argues, no longer the planet on which we were born. The change is nothing as obvious and immediate as the slick in the gulf or as limited to one spot on the map. It is gradual and invisible, not unlike many cancers. Being invisible, it is deniable, at least for a while: "How could I be afflicted in my prime by cancer? There must be some mistake." We're in trouble, writes McKibben, but we're still focusing mainly on undeniable perturbations, such as oil slicks and the global debt crisis--undeniable and relatively minor. If we can encourage the "green shoots" and return to vigorous growth, our leaders assume, everything will be okay. McKibben argues in his book that growth, part of the civic religion of the U.S., must be replaced--not by the wishful concept of "sustainability," a concept he rejects as "squishy," but by contraction and enoughness. So what's the good news? (It's part of the American genius to assume there must be something good everywhere, as in Ronald Reagan's story of the room covered with equine turds, at the sight and smell of which the optimist calls out, "there must be a pony in here somewhere.") According to McKibben, the good news is that, while it's too late to prevent terrible damage from climate change and the peak of oil production, we can use our ingenuity to manage the contraction "gracefully" (quoting the final word of his text). Although McKibben uses the term "global warming," a phrase that terrifies a climatologist but sounds tolerable to most people, he understands that the trouble will be experienced as climate change. Nature will reallocate water or, as he claims, has already begun to do so: some agricultural areas will wither in drought, while other places suffer torrential rains and hurricanes. Rivers will dry up or flood. Infrastucture will be damaged; food production, cut (at least food supplied by currently dominant means). Oceans will rise, fed by water from melting glaciers The 1970s would have been a good time to begin a swift transition to a new economy. We had a President who, at moments, expressed our predicament with regard to energy. Back even before the young McKibben was writing "Talk of the Town" pieces, we were given a series of books, whatever their shortcomings, that might have forewarned us and pointed to some alternatives: for example, the Meadows and their colleagues,The Limits to Growth (1972); E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered (1973); Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia (1975); Denis Hayes, Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum Age (1977), Amory B. Lovins, Soft Energy Paths (1977); Ivan Illich, Toward a History of Needs (1978); William R. Catton, Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Changes (1980); Duane Elgin, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That's Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (1981), and Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land (essays collected in 1982). But the triumph of Reagan in 1980 made it clear that a majority was not yet prepared to halt the party fueled by a dramatic spike in energy available from fossil fuels, a spike so far lasting about two centuries. Coal, oil, and gas allowed us to be warmer in the winter, to build an electrical grid fired more than anything else by coal (and then also by natural gas), to build a fleet of cars and modern roads, to fly in planes, to make plastics and various industrial chemicals, and rounding out this list of examples, to bring fertility to soil (using ammonia produced by the Haber-Bosch process). What's not to like? Of course the answer is CO2, an invisible by-product of burning all this fuel. Could the combustion from millions of sources, taken together, hold more of the sun's heat in our atmosphere and thus shift the climate? McKibben's subject is the trouble caused by that heat. With many allies, McKibben found a way to stimulate a worldwide demonstration about climate change. He began with what might seem unpromising, with a number. It was 350, the maximum parts per million of CO2 that scientist James Hansen said would preserve the longtime conditions in which civilization flourished. Before the Industrial Revolution, the concentration was only 275 ppm; now it's 390. According to the website of McKibben's campaign, "unless we are able to rapidly return to below 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt." Or, we could add while speculating about "positive feedback," the added heat absorption caused by the melting of reflective Arctic sea-ice still covering dark water. In one of the most valuable books published in the last year, McKibben returns us to the theme of The Limits to Growth and thus questions the central dogma of our civic religion, as big a heresy as when, in the early 16th century, a Polish polymathquestioned the belief, supported by the Church of Rome, that the sun revolved around the earth. McKibben's prescriptions are not unfamiliar, in part because of his own voluminous writing. He favors rebuilding local economies instead of imagining that we can sustain globalization; growing food by means other than industrial agriculture (including local, organic farms and millions of suburban gardens); developing an economic system around the values of durability, robustness, and enoughness; gaining the stimulation of travel in larger part via the internet; building social capital; and above all, reducing not the rate of increase in greenhouse gases, but the absolute proportion. We know how to increase the gross domestic product, but (to allude to the title of one of McKibben's earlier books) is our system capable of producing just enough and of distributing it fairly? Easier to label the news of climate change as a hoax and to dismiss the messenger as a hypocrite or worse, a misguided nerd; easier, like a defense attorney, to raise doubt about the evidence (and in this case, to capitalize on the dutiful doubt that is the hallmark of good science). Part of the value of Eaarth is the generous array of examples from all over the world, gathered from extensive reading, organizing, and travel (yes, let opponents of greenhouse gases have as big a carbon footprint as their work requires, say I). Part of the value flows from the courage of casting doubt on economic growth as the mantra of a successful civilization of the future. And part is McKibben's companionable, coherent, and good-humored account of our fix, delivered in the tone you might hear, in response to a question, from a well-informed friend on a hike as he steps over the sticks, gracefully. Content on this site is subject to our fair use notice. Energy Bulletin is a program of Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the world transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable, resilient communities. From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 6 23:53:04 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 22:53:04 -0700 Subject: [GJM] For Dr. Alam Message-ID: <014101caeda9$9aa2d8e0$cfe88aa0$@net> Mukhtar, would you please send me your e-mail address, I cannot find it. Have a friend who will be traveling to Deli soon and I want to put her in touch with you. Send it to maryrose333 at att.net Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 7 02:26:51 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 08:26:51 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] May 2010 - 30 Years On! In-Reply-To: <14ee5de83810262b655af92bbfad9c27@server.lilio.com> Message-ID: <954072.38210.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Thu, 6/5/10, CfAE AE Bulletin wrote: From: CfAE AE Bulletin Subject: May 2010 - 30 Years On! To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Date: Thursday, 6 May, 2010, 10:50 May 2010 1) AE Days in London?-?23 April - 2 July 2010 2)?Accounting For Oneself? 3) The Colours of Money Seminar? 4)?Economics and English 5) 30 Years of an Associative Journal 6) Associate!?April?2010? ? ? 1) AE Days in London ? Alternate Fridays, 23 April to 2 July. 12.30 to?2.30 ??AE Diploma?Intensive studies 3.00 to?6.00?Finance and Education On-going research examining the importance of financial literacy both as a taught subject and as the basis of effective school management. Looking at macro policy and case studies, this work is carried by a core of regular participants, but is open to all. There is a room rental charge shared pro rata by those who take part. 7.30 to?9.00 Lecture-based conversations (open to all): Next event?Friday, 7 May: The Right-on Corporation - The Future of For- and Not-for-profits The economy is divided between commercial and charitable activities, a distinction caused by the current taxation regime. But does this characterise the real future? Could not a hybrid of the two be created? A lecture-based conversation. Speaker: Christopher Houghton Budd, PhD. ?Open to all. Entrance fee: ??5.00 ?Coming Up: 21 May: Deep Accounting / The Basis of a One-world Currency Today?s financial crises have a lot to do with the persistence of national currencies when the times call for a one-world currency. Does this currency not already exist as worldwide?accounting standards? 4 June: Freeing the Circling Stars / Pre-funded Education If children are to be educated rather than instructed, education needs to be pre-funded. Can Britain devise policies that combine state-funding of education with diversity of?curriculum? 18 June: Of Wheat and Gold / The Economics of Farming The word ?agriculture? suggests that farming is not an industry. It is, rather, the opposite of innovation. Can the polarity between land and ideas, wheat and gold, give a new basis to the economics of farming? 2 July: Air Beneath Your Wings / Youth Financial Literacy Today?s financial crisis shows the need for financial literacy, especially in the way young people are taught and capitalised. But is the world of finance ready to credit to the initiative of youth on their own ground? ? ? 2) Accounting For Oneself ? 6 June 2010? - Accounting for Oneself, Stroud An Associative Bookkeeping Day with Arthur Edwards and Stephen Torr Open to all and practically focused, this workshop explores the why and how of accounting from the perspective of Rudolf Steiner's economic thinking. It is designed for individuals and enterprises wanting to adopt an associative approach to the accounting of their activities and includes 'walk-throughs'?on the logic of double-entry bookkeeping and the use of an accounting template to promote associative thinking. Benefits of attendance range from the technical matters (e.g. data processing) to managerial issues (cash flow and capitalization) and overall strategy (combining 'core values'?and financial planning). ? 3) The Colours of Money Seminar - Washington DC 7/8/9 May -?The Colors of Money Seminar,?Washington The Colors of Money?? seminar looks at the history and purpose of money and how it?can be the main instrument for bringing about real and lasting change in our economic circumstances. Ranging from the problems of small businesses to larger questions of global finance and the power of corporations, it offers a radical yet concrete and in-depth approach to money in our times. Details here Registration: admin at cfae.biz Local?Contact:?Jane Parker: janeellenparker at gmail.com / 240 997 3021 ? 4) Economics and English ? It is 30 years since the first issue of Associate!?and the occasion is marked by a brief commentary on a key aspect of its editorial purpose. This can be best described by the image we have that, in order to 'see the tree', one needs to walk around it and look from different angles -?the point being to develop a dynamic perspective rather than a static one. Too much insistence on one point of view, no matter how 'right' it may be, is unlikely to engender the subtler kind of change in thinking by which economics develops. A second aspect of the 30th editorial anniversary highlights the Anglo-Saxon nature of modern economics with a reprinting of articles from earlier editions which look at the relationship between the English and economic life. A distinction between English and British is consciously made, highlighting the need to develop a sense that to be really English is to think on everyone's behalf, as it were, not only for oneself. The lead piece by Simon Blaxland de Lange is entitled England and the Celtic Peoples and explores how English identity is linked to its historical and cultural development.?In Britain - Europe's Missing Heart, this month's Sign of the Times piece, Thomas Kremer uses the prerogative of a foreign guest to describe how he understands Britain's potential contribution to contemporary events through its unique way of standing its ground when confronted by fashionable continental political currents.?This same theme is seen from yet another aspect by Oliver Matthews, who in The British, Europe and the World wonders if the British have an impulse toward "human unity which sees national interests as important but secondary."?The Friends' Page includes a discussion of the subject of economic value and a retrospective on 30 years of publishing this journal.?Accounting Corner echoes the overall theme with a consideration of how in the field of accountancy Britain finds herself between the US and the EU. ? ? 5) 30 Years of an Associative Journal ? Associate! began life in May 1980 as 'New Economy, the newsletter of the Land and Capital Exchange'. This expression sums up a fundamental theme that has ever since underlied the journal's concern, namely, the need to create a new economy by using the increased value of real estate as collateral for investing in new initiatives. Hence, land and capital exchange. This idea is fundamental to associative economics, especially because it aims to bridge between the importance of favouring personal over real credit and the reality today where the opposite principle prevails. To think in this way is to swim against the current, of course. And yet, neither utopian nor quixotic, such a stance is predicated on the conviction, as expressed in the first editorial, ?that however formed modern social institutions may appear to be, they had their origins in the minds of men, where they developed as concepts with which to name their experiences.?? The implication is that the main task facing associative economics is to beget the experience that when real credit crowds out personal credit economic life as a whole goes awry. Unless people experience this, they will not understand the point of associating, for the simple reason that real credit is intimately related to the idea that the individual can exist unto himself. The main editorial image of this journal, therefore, has been to chip away at the certainty of today's intense individualism, to seek out and even to suggest instances of its overcoming. Not in order to kill excess egoism, but to tame it. This is hardly a great rallying cry, let alone a vote-getter. Despite the many critiques and complaints made of modern economic life, few people accept that much of its malaise derives from so simple a problem as allowing surplus capital to pass into real estate instead of into the paths of individuals as they unfold their contributions to society. Most people prefer to lay the blame at the door of elites, some class or other, politicians ? anywhere in fact than at their own feet. Most also play the real estate game, especially those of an Anglo-Saxon bent, quite unaware that to do so results in the falsifying of all prices and thus creates a general state of economic dysfunction that no one can fix. Preferring real to personal credit is a particular kind of problem because it gives rise to a way of behaving that does not see itself as culpable. It is also the result of a problem that is, again, typically Anglo-Saxon: over identification with matter.? In that modern economic life is largely an Anglo-Saxon creation, it is intimately linked to the fact that to attain the self-awareness of which we are so proud today the individual has to separate himself off and this he does by coming into close relationship with the material plane. However, there is a subtle point at which this connection takes one from being within to becoming of the material plane. It is in the crossing of this line that everything that is 'wrong' with modern economic life has its origins. And not once only, but as a daily proclivity. The point of the land and capital exchange idea, as of associative economics generally, is to provide not only a daily reminder of this problem, but also the means to overcome it, to 'not go there'. Whether over 30 years this publication has been able to contribute to meeting this challenge is not for us to say. There can be little doubt, however, that the challenge has not lessened in any way. So the need remains to sound the tone, to point to examples and to develop ideas that in their various ways clarify what is at stake. Hopefully, this will help foster the resolve on the part of more and more people to address the core economic issue of our times: true prices can never arise if surplus capital, rather than providing the ground for new values born of fresh initiative, passes instead into real estate or, worse, into abstract financial markets. One thing that has changed in the last 30 years is that the pathways into the new economy have largely been identified, both in terms of argumentation and technical possibility. What matters now is the degree to which and the regularity with which these paths become trodden.?On, therefore, to the next 30 years!? Christopher Houghton Budd 6) Associate! May 2010 Click image to subscribe Lead:?England and the Celtic Peoples?Simon Blaxland de Lange ? A Sign of Our Time:?Britain - Europe?s Missing Heart?Thomas Kremer Feature:?The British, Europe and the World ?Oliver Matthews Glossary: ?K :?keynes News and Views:??What is Value in Economics / 30 Years!? Accounting Corner:?Betwixt and Between?Stephen Torr Click here to subscribe 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/10May/ ? Click here to unsubscribe or edit your subscription A service provided by the Centre for Associative Economics Copyright 2010 Centre for Associative Economics. All rights reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 7 03:19:18 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 09:19:18 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] More on a Potential Solution for Greece from Facebook.. Message-ID: <438549.32124.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Yesterday at 10:01 Elias Kostalas Is anybody making a profit out of that procedure ??? Yesterday at 21:40 ? Report Robert Searle I do not fully understand your question, or indeed, whether it matters. If you are talking about banks (ie the Eurozone Banks, and IMF) then it has to be assumed that they will be making huge profits on the high interest of the loans (because of the risk ofcourse) ...even though they create the money electronically out of thin air based on the amount of reserves they hold!! Ofcourse, Greece may well default on the aid package in spite of the possible attempts to force higher taxes, and wage cuts in the public sector, and elsewhere. As indicated in my initial communication the problem could be subjected in part to a process of Quantitative Easing mainly using the electronic creation of new non-repaybable money to deal with a part of the sovereign debt. This would mean possibly lower taxes, or even none at all for the time being. Serious cuts in the public sector, and elswhere could be reduced, or even avoided altogether.... The problem with all this is that the powers that be (ie the IMF, and the Eurozone) would find such a proposal unacceptable because of the fear of inflation, or even hyperinflation. But ofcourse, this is largely non-sensical because the injection of RE-PAYABLE MONEY, OR LOANS IS OFCOURSE THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW CAPITAL ALTOGETHER. HOWEVER, THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF NON-REPAYABLE MONEY COULD BE RESPONSIBLY CREATED WITH "LITTLE" INFLATION BY THE GREEK GOVERNMENT WITH THE RIGHT LEGAL AUTHORITY..... It is a risky strategy but it could be done successfully.....but ofcourse if implemented (!) to any serious degree it could also FULLY EXPOSE THE TRUTH OF THE BANKING SYSTEM CREATING THE ILLUSION THAT THEY ARE USING EARNED MONEY AT RISK WHEN INFACT THEY ARE ELECTRONICALLY CREATING NEW MONEY AS A LOAN...WITH INTEREST. I know this sounds incredible to those not in the know but it is the truth whether you like it, or not......... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 7 04:06:11 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 10:06:11 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] More from Facebook about GC... Message-ID: <154406.70893.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> This could have been a major solution(referring to QE). Also, this would have ease people?s lives as well without putting them in poverty. Such a route has not been followed as mainly there is no massive profits coming out of it (or benefits. So bottom line is that they abuse people minds with a fake dilemma: E.U & IMF loans with austerity measures or national bankruptcy. However, there are other routes to follow more efficient as the one you have mentioned already. People have to resist and fight against corrupted politicians as they do no good at all. 33 minutes ago ? Report Robert Searle Yes, you are right.Political reform as well as monetary reform is also important. However, irrespective of whether government is democratic, corrupt,authoritarian, or whatever it is ALWAYS IMPORTANT THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE? LEAD REASONABLY WELL-OFF LIVES WITH CHEAP BASIC WANTS SUCH AS FOOD,AND SHELTER. THUS,A GOOD FINANCE SYSTEM IS ALWAYS VITAL AS OTHERWISE THERE IS UNREST OFCOURSE. Moreover, I heard through the grapevine that a certain amount of Quantitative Easing may well be used..................... 4 minutes ago ? Edit Post ? Delete Post -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 7 04:18:28 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 06:18:28 -0400 Subject: [GJM] =?utf-8?q?Recommended_Article_By_Robert_Searle=3A_Is_Quanti?= =?utf-8?q?tative_Easing_In_The_ECB=E2=80=99s_Future=3F?= Message-ID: <75a6b1dc48744e7ba731e43f11771996@www.ritholtz.com> Hi gjm, Your friend, Robert Searle, has recommended this article entitled 'Is Quantitative Easing In The ECB?s Future?' to you. Here is his/her remarks: N/A Is Quantitative Easing In The ECB?s Future? Posted By James Bianco On May 6, 2010 (3:00 pm) In Currency, Federal Reserve, Think Tank ? Bloomberg.com ? Weber Draws Battle Lines as Pressure Mounts on ECB Bundesbank President Axel Weber fired the first shot in a brewing debate over how far the European Central Bank should go to defend the euro. As the single currency plunged yesterday, Weber said the threat of contagion from Greece?s fiscal crisis doesn?t merit ?using every means,? rebuffing calls for the ECB to consider buying government bonds. The central bank?s Governing Council meets today in Lisbon, the latest capital to be hit by the fiscal meltdown that?s shaking the foundations of Europe?s monetary union. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet is under pressure to do more to calm markets after the pledge of a 110 billion-euro ($142 billion) bailout for Greece from euro-area countries and the International Monetary Fund failed to assuage investors? concerns. While Weber?s comments suggest he won?t agree to asset purchases, some economists said that remains an option if the crisis worsens. The ECB could also reverse the withdrawal of emergency lending measures used to fight last year?s recession and dilute collateral rules further. ? The Financial Times ? Short View: Central bank intervention Central bank intervention in currency markets can grab headlines. This is usually regarded as a legitimate tactic, if a shocking one. Intervention in the bond markets is quite another story. Even though the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have all taken debt purchases from their toolkits in the past two years, extending their use is controversial. The ECB is today likely to speak about this topic. The announcement of a rescue package for Greece has not been enough to quell market jitters. Indeed, more investors seem nervous now about a Greek default than they did before the package was announced?The risks of buying bonds are plenty, not just for the ECB. Will it damage its reputation as an inflation hawk? Investors betting against eurozone government credits could be left with big losses if an intervention catches them by surprise. The conversation about whether the ECB should become the buyer of last resort is vital, however, especially as the eurozone debt market remains so strained. With currency interventions no longer in eurozone central bankers? bag of tricks, bond market interventions may need to be. ? The Financial Times ? Lex: The euro: going south After 12 years imitating the Bundesbank, the European Central Bank is suddenly acting more like the Bank of the Mediterranean. The crisis in Greece has shifted the focus of eurozone policymakers sharply to the south. Already the ECB has suspended the minimum credit requirements required for Greek government-backed collateral. A move towards quantitative easing would be a drastic but not unthinkable next step. Today the ECB itself is heading south ? to Lisbon, appropriately enough, for its governing council meeting?The immediate problem for the ECB, of course, is the threat of contagion beyond Greece. But at the same time the central bank should remember it is a body responsible for monetary policy ? it does not have the mandate to go around directly plugging fiscal holes. Any emergency move to start buying government bonds opens up a very large can of worms. At all costs, the bank must resist any pressure from within the eurozone or beyond to blur the lines between monetary and fiscal policy. Article taken from The Big Picture - http://www.ritholtz.com/blog URL to article: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/05/is-quantitative-easing-in-the-ecb%e2%80%99s-future/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 7 04:36:46 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 10:36:46 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] British Columbia Social Credit Site... Message-ID: <348766.86458.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Might be of interest. ? http://www.bcsocialcredit.bc.ca/ ? ? R.Searle. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Fri May 7 06:57:21 2010 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 13:57:21 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Panic and Loathing Message-ID: <00b601caede4$d57b3b70$8071b250$@shakespeare1@btopenworld.com> Dear All, For a really extraordinary piece of audio go to www.maxkeiser.com and then click the item on Panic and Loathing. Let it warm up a bit and then try to work out what is happening. It happened yesterday. Rodney Shakespeare. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Fri May 7 07:13:39 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 18:43:39 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] For Dr. Alam In-Reply-To: <014101caeda9$9aa2d8e0$cfe88aa0$@net> References: <014101caeda9$9aa2d8e0$cfe88aa0$@net> Message-ID: <118653.27008.qm@web94913.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear?Mary, It is nice?to learn that?you would be?sharing my contact details with your freind travelling to Delhi.?She can be shared this address or better ceasig at gmail.com that?belongs to Centre for Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance. It would be a previlege?assisting her for?the needful. ?Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: mary rose To: discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Fri, 7 May, 2010 11:23:04 AM Subject: [GJM] For Dr. Alam Mukhtar, would you please send me your e-mail address, I cannot find it. Have a friend who will be traveling to Deli soon and I want to put her in touch with you. Send it to maryrose333 at att.net ? Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? ?I -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From doctorforu123 at yahoo.com Thu May 6 20:21:32 2010 From: doctorforu123 at yahoo.com (javed jamil) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 19:21:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Westernism: Part 12 Impact of Westernism 01 Message-ID: <950279.49567.qm@web51001.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Westernism: the Ideology of Hegemony By Dr Javed Jamil ? Part 12 Impact of Westernism ? We have till now been analysing the basic ideological premises of Westernism, the ideology that had its roots in West but has since then engulfed almost the whole world in varying degrees. What made this ideology attractive was the success of West in the field of sciences and technology; and the apparent prosperity made the people forget to have a second look at the negative side of the ideology that was becoming stronger by the day. The more it gained in strength the more the science and technology were misused for wrong ends. With the media becoming more and more powerful first with the growth of TV and then Internet, the impact on the minds and hearts of the people was bound to be strong. This would reflect in the actions of the common people who started indulging in certain activities in increasingly greater numbers because: 1 They were being regularly convinced that there was nothing wrong in doing what their hearts desire; 2. The availability of all forms of choice ? bad and good was being made available to them; 3. The bad choices were being glorified and presented as signs of freedom, prosperity and advancement; 4. Steadily, any laws that were impediment in the way of adopting the bad choices were being struck off or adequately softened; 5. Those indulging openly in these bad practices and were advocating them were receiving massive dividends in terms of fame and money. ? Impact of Dangerous Choices Economics is associated with everything, good or bad, beneficial or dangerous. This is why man has indulged in all sorts of activities since the inception of mankind. Religions tried hard to make people aware about the dangerous practices but there were always elements in society that wanted money irrespective of what their dangerous economic pursuits would do to society. With the dominance of economics in last few hundred years, its capture by the forces of market and its globalisation, the dangerous economics associated with the popularisation of dangerous choices has become so colossal that? now anyone talking against it runs the risk of being hunted if not removed. Despite accumulating evidences against the use of these choices, their use is on the increase with more and more people succumbing to social pressures, which in turn are the impact of the promotion of these practices in media. Let us discuss the impact of some of them: ? I) Drinking ? ? The Global Burden of Study has reported that ?in 1990, alcohol was responsible for 3.5 percent of the world's total disability-adjusted life-years lost.? This exceeds the combined toll taken by smoking (2.6%) and illicit drugs (.6%). Alcohol is the leading cause of disability among men in industrialised nations. Dependence on alcohol is counted as a disease in medical sciences, commonly referred to as Alcoholism. ?I have discussed the medical effects of Alcoholism in detail in my ?Dynamic heory of Health? derived from Quran. In that chapter I have also discussed about the brazen attempts in recernt years to popularise drinking on the basis of some dubious reports that impart a protective effect to alcohol for Ischaemic Heart Diseases. Here I will mainly concentrate on Economic aspects. However, some statistics are being given below that tell us how dangerous is the alcohol economics for human health, family peace and social order. ? ???? The alcohol consumption is directly associated with increased health risks related to alcohol, crimes, accidents, sex-related problems, suicides and domestic violence. Note the following facts: ???????? World wide, alcohol accounts for more than 2 million deaths ???????? In developing nations, alcohol ranks as the fourth cause of disability among men. ???????? Deaths attributable to alcohol form 1.3 percent for developed regions and 1.6 percent for developing regions. ???????? ?The Global Burden of Disease' study estimated that, in 1990, alcohol was responsible for 3.5 percent of the world's total disability-adjusted life-years lost. This exceeds the tolls taken by tobacco (2.6 percent) and illicit drugs (0.6 percent) combined (Murray and Lopez, 1996). ???????? Among men, alcohol is the leading cause of disability in industrialised countries and ranks fourth in causing disabilities in developing countries (WHO, 1999). ???????? In developed nations, more than 136000 people die every year, in developing countries more than 636000 and in LAC countries more than 136000. ???????? In industrialised nations, 14.3 % and in developing nations, 4.4% of total disability adjusted life years are lost. ???????? There are countries with alcoholics in the range of 10-36 % of total population. (Remember that alcoholic means an alcohol-dependent person, not the persons who take alcohol irregularly.) ???????? Cirrhosis is one of the ten leading causes of death in Mexico. Among men between the ages of 35 and 45, it is the number one killer (Madrigal, 1998, Medina-Mora, 1999). In Mexico, Venezuela R.B., Argentina, and Trinidad and Tobago, cirrhosis deaths among men are as much as three times higher than the deaths among women. ???????? Percent of traffic fatalities attributed to alcohol Chile????????????? 1970??? 46% (male traffic deaths) Colombia??????? 1990s?? 60% Costa Rica????? 1990s??? 46% Peru?????????????? 1990s??? 50% Sources: Caetano, 1984; Madrigal, 1998 ???????? Alcohol was estimated to cause 41 percent of suicide cases among men in Australia, compared to only 16 percent among their female counterparts. ???????? Selected Health Issues by Alcohol Attributable Fractions Health issue???? Australian?????? Canadian ??????????????????????????? Male Female? Male?? Female Liver cancer??? 0.18?? 0.12?? 0.29??? 0.16 Breast cancer?? -???????0.03???? -? ?????0.04 Unspecific liver cirrhosis? 0.54?? 0.43?? 0.54??? 0.54 Chronic Pancreatitis??? 0.84?? 0.84?? 0.84??? 0.84 Spontaneous abortion??????? -????? 0.04?? -?????? 0.20 Road injuries??? 0.37?? 0.18?? 0.43??? 0.43 Fall injuries??? 0.34?? 0.34?? 0.24?? ?0.15 Fire injuries?? 0.44?? 0.44?? 0.38??? 0.38 Drowning???????? 0.34?? 0.34?? 0 30??? 0.23 Suicide???????? 0.41?? 0.16?? 0.27??? 0.17 Assault???????? 0.47?? 0.47?? 0.27??? 0.27 Source: Edwards and others, 1995, Single and others, 1998 ? ???????? Drinking, along with poor condom use and sex with prostitutes, was found to increase by a factor of 15.6 the soldiers' risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (Flores and Arathoon, 1994). ???????? More than a quarter (26 percent) of the women seeking counselling services in the urban areas of Mexicoreported that their partners' abusive behaviours were fuelled by intoxication (Ramirez and others, 1992). In the Solomon Islands, 32 percent of family violence offences were related to problem drinking (McDonald, 1995). Even higher rates were found in South Africa: 67.4 percent of domestic violence cases in Cape Townand 76.4 percent in rural areas involved alcohol use (Parry, 1995). ???????? In both Canadaand Australia, 16 percent of child abuse cases could be attributed to alcohol. In Japan, 20 percent of abused children had alcoholic parents, and in Hungary8.6 percent of child abuse cases in 1994 involved alcohol (Fekete, 1996). Alcohol has also been associated with a high proportion of child abuse cases in the UK(30 percent) and Norway(50 percent) (Moser, 1992). ???????? Alcohol use disorders present serious problems for the interpersonal relationships, health, and productivity of employed men and women. Of the $117 billion estimated as the economic cost of alcoholism and alcohol abuse in the United Statesin 1983, nearly $71 billion (61 percent) was attributed to lost employment and reduced productivity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1990). ??Next: Gambling -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Fri May 7 08:18:00 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Fri, 07 May 2010 15:18:00 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Executive Order Signed by Obama - Military Governors AND PUTIN... RUSSIA WARNS... COMMUNIST TAKEOVER THREAT IN USA ENDANGERING ENTIRE WORLD Message-ID: <4BE42118.1040105@gn.apc.org> *Russia Warns... US Communist Threat Endangering Entire World* http://www.resistnet.com/profiles/blogs/putin-russia-warns-communist *(They know what they are talking about)* *In a chilling speech to Russian defence experts yesterday, Prime Minister Putin ordered the buildup of strategic weapons and warned that the growing threat of the expansion of American Communism is endangering the entire World and bringing the Motherland closer to war than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis... * Putin had previously warned the United States against its planned adoption of Communism during his January, 2009 speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland upon Obama taking office, and had stated: _"The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated."_ * * * * * New Executive Order Signed by Obama Effectively Creates Structure of Military Governors for Martial Law > Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 16:33:35 -0400 > From: > > > PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE!! > > > New Executive Order Signed by Obama Effectively Creates Structure of Military Governors for Martial Law > > One must read this one closely but when it dawns on you that the 10 Governors to be appointed by the President will perhaps soon correspond to the 10 FEMA REGIONS and effectively will be under the Secretary of Defense and hence the President in a system of Regional Military Governors over all States, not just the States they might be from, you might just experience a chill up your spine. > > Note that then all States in essence have been taken over at least on paper by the President and will be administered Militarily. Read carefully Section -2 Functions, of this Executive Order and you will clearly see how inclusive these functions can be....... especially Item e which has language sufficiently broad and loose that a Tank Battalion could be driven through it. > > Americans had better understand that this Executive Order along with all of those previously signed ,and with Presidential Decision Directive 51 and others will be used to destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights and to render each American effectively into nothing more than a member of a work gang subject to control of the Regional Military Governor who is under the Secdef who is under the President. Posse Comitatus then is dead, Habeas Corpus is dead, Bill of Rights is dead, and only the whims and subjective decisions of the Regional Military Governor, as directed by the President via the Secretary of Defense and executed by Northcom troopers who now include U.S. , Canadian, Mexican, and other Foreign troops as well as Mercenaries and the States' National Guards, Militias, and Police agencies will be the Iron Fist Rule of the Land. > > Is this what the Founding Fathers would be proud of or would they say we have come full circle and that now We the People should invoke the Declaration of Independence once again and be ready on Lexington Green and prepositioned at Concord Bridge ? I think I know what Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, and old "Swamp Fox" would say. > Here is the link to the PDF of the Executive Order. Read it and weep for America. > > Hawk > http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/08_Hawk/100112.Obama.EO.html ++++++++++++++ Norman Dodd Testimony on Regionalism In 1978 the legislature of Illinois created a committee to study Regionalism in Illinois. The Committee held three hearings - the first in Springfield, Illinois, April 11, 1978; the second in Chicago, July 10, 1978; and the third and final hearing in Edwardsville, on September 26, 1978. The following is a transcript - from the September 26th hearing - of the testimony of Mr. Norman Dodd, beginning on page 51 and ending on page 61. Mr. Dodd was chief investigator in 1953 for U.S. Congressman, B. Carroll Reece, whose committee (referred to as the Reece Committee) investigated tax-exempt foundations. The investigation was eventually narrowed down to about 10 foundations, chiefly among them being Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie Foundations, their sub- foundations, and the Rhodes Scholarship Fund. Mr. Rene Wormser, Council for the Reece Committee subsequently wrote a book - titled "Foundations - Their Power and Influence", which relates information uncovered during the hearings, as well as the difficulties and roadblocks encountered throughout. Congressman Cox had begun this process in the previous Congressional Session and died suddenly, bringing the hearings to a halt. Reece braved it out and the results are staggering to the mind of an American who once believed in a "free" America, under the Constitution. In his book Wormser listed, among the major instruments of these foundations, the CFR, United Nations Association, Foreign Policy Association and Institute of Pacific Relations. From pg 200-201 of "Foundations...": (remember, this was 1953) "It would be difficult to find a single foundation-supported organization of any substance which has not favored the United Nations or similar global schemes; fantastically heavy foreign aid at the burdensome expense of the taxpayer; meddling in the colonial affairs of other nations; and American military commitments over the globe... The influence of the foundation complex in internationalism has reached far into government, policymaking circles of Congress and State Department". "Foundations" is available through Covenant House Press; P.O. Box 4690, Sevierville, Tenn.; 37864. Regionalism is a plan which emanates from the United Nations, is taking place on a world scale, and its ultimate aim is to organize populations into groups small enough that no people can challenge a World Government. The 50 Sovereign States united in America have been unconstitutionally divided into ten federal Regions with populations a little over 20 million in each - comparable to the Regional population divisions in all other countries. We, in America, are the last bastion of hope. Although the Regional Plan is deeply entrenched, although we are indeed at the 11th Hour... we can, by the loving Grace of God and our intelligent activity - stop and reverse the process. The transcripts of the Illinois hearings are relevant to the further understanding of the plan to eliminate the states and to transform America into a region of the world government. Transcript of Public Hearing - Joint Committee on Regional Government - September 26, 1978, Edwardsville, Illinois Norman Dodd - pgs 51-61 [pg 51] Mr. Dodd: Mr. Chairman. After listening to the very able descriptions of how complex the question that is before the Committee is, I have been thinking in terms of drawing on my own experiences that relate to... http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/regionalism/dodd.htm * * o + *Please Rejoin my List :) ReTake Congress --- Amanda Moore, Tue May 4 12:25* *-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Please Rejoin my List :) Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 13:50:18 -0400 From: Amanda Moore awmwtp at gmail.com Guys, You know most of what you get from me is very... more * *Click here to receive daily updates * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 10:49:15 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 09:49:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Adults' suicide risk similar for all antidepressants Message-ID: <005401caee05$72f2c380$58d84a80$@net> Adults' suicide risk similar for all antidepressants SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, May 2010. Published May 04, 2010 post commentPost Comment Be the first to comment Rate . Currently 3/5 Stars. . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 send email Email print Print http://images.lifescript.com/images/icon/share.gif Share Previous Page Previous Next Next Page Adult's Suicide Risk Similar for all Antidepressants NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People have about the same risk of having suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide when starting out on antidepressants no matter what type of pill they're prescribed, new research shows. "There is no meaningful difference between these agents," Dr. Sebastian Schneeweiss of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health. This means that psychiatrists prescribing antidepressants can base their choice on what works best for the patient, rather than what's safest, he explained. But the findings don't mean that the drugs are risk-free, Schneeweiss added. "You always have to worry about the safety of these medications, the increased (suicide risk) is still there," he said. The US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in 2004 that children and adolescents taking antidepressants might have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. In 2006, it extended the warning to include young adults up to age 25. All antidepressant labels must now carry a "black box" warning stating that they can increase a person's likelihood of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. But it has been difficult to pin down whether a certain antidepressant drug or class of medications might be more dangerous -- or safer -- than others, Schneeweiss noted. To investigate, he and his colleagues looked at data on nearly 300,000 adults in British Columbia, Canada, who had been prescribed antidepressants between 1997 and 2005. They evaluated whether specific medications would increase the risk that a person would attempt or complete suicide during their first year of taking that drug. Among the 287,543 men and women in the study, there were 751 suicide attempts and 104 suicides. Schneeweiss and his team found no difference in risk between different classes of medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs for short, which include Prozac, Zoloft and other widely used medications) or older antidepressants called tricyclic antidepressants. Risks also were similar for individual SSRIs. In April, Schneeweiss and his colleagues published a similar study in the journal Pediatrics of 20,000 10- to 18-year-olds that found no difference in suicide risk among antidepressants. It's still unclear why antidepressants could increase suicide risk, Schneeweiss noted in an interview. "You cannot really tease that apart in non-randomized studies," he added. But for now, he and his colleagues conclude, "clinicians should be vigilant in monitoring after initiating therapy with any antidepressant agent." SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, May 2010. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- 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/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 13:15:34 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 12:15:34 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Greek Chorus Message-ID: <007901caee19$e00cf8a0$a026e9e0$@net> While Kevin Drum and some others feel that we are not in real danger here in the U.S. due to the "banking crisis," I'm not so sure we are out of the woods yet, especially with so many States being on the verge of bankruptcy. Any comments on this? From: Kevin Drum at Mother Jones [mailto:do_not_reply at motherjones.com] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 3:01 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Greek Chorus DRUMBEAT KEVIN DRUM ON POLITICS, POLICY, AND CATS MOTHER JONES May 7, 2010 THIS WEEK IN THE BLOGOSPHERE Greek Chorus "Why," asks Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon, "should the prospect of default in Greece or elsewhere in Europe concern the average American?" Why indeed? To answer, let's back up a little. Greece's problem, put simply, is that its political system is dysfunctional. It's been living beyond its means for years, borrowing money from foreign creditors to sustain a level of spending far higher than it can afford. And now the jig is up: Nobody will loan it more money, and that means that unless Greece is bailed out it won't be able to pay its debts. And who does it owe money to? Mainly German, French, and British banks. If it can't pay them off, they're in danger of failing themselves, and that in turn would likely bring down still other banks, turning Greece's default into a global systemic crisis. Sound familiar? But wait. There's more. Greece could, of course, solve its problems by getting its budget in line. But that would require a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, and those are political third rails. The government just can't do it. Sound even more familiar? So it turns out there are two answers to Salmon's question. The first is straightforward: The global financial system is still fragile, and an uncontrolled Greek default presents at least some chance of touching off another banking crisis and another recession. That would affect Americans as much as anyone. The second answer is that Greece is the canary in the coal mine. America is nowhere near Greek levels of financial distress yet. We're bigger and richer than Greece, our economy is stronger, our debt level is lower, and when we borrow from foreigners we do it in our own currency-which just happens to also be the world's reserve currency. Lucky us. But historically, banking crises like the one we just went through cause government debt levels to double, and within a few years that will put the United States into dangerous territory. Not Greece-level territory, but still uncomfortably high. And it means that a second banking crisis might very well get us the rest of the way there. There are two lessons to take from this. First, we need to make sure we don't have a second banking crisis anytime soon. That means passing effective financial reform. Second, we need to fix our dysfunctional political system. We can't keep borrowing from abroad forever and we can't keep running enormous federal deficits forever. That means Democrats are going to have to accept the inevitability of entitlement reform and Republicans are going to have to accept the inevitability of tax increases. It doesn't have to happen tomorrow, but it has to happen soon. It's nice to think that what happened to Greece can't happen to us, but history doesn't bear that out. Even the biggest economy in the world has limits. POLITICS Congress and the Fed Will the Fed find itself on a tighter congressional leash in the future? [READ MORE] ECONOMICS Why Cutting Taxes Won't Starve the Beast In fact, it makes him fatter. [READ MORE] MORE FROM MOJO Oath Keepers + AK-47s = ? A standoff with Tennessee state troopers, of course. [READ MORE] Kevin Drum's cats CATS Happy Favorite Things Day! Here's Inkblot eating breakfast-note the hint of tongue action. [READ MORE] Ironweed Films Read Kevin's Blog MOST POPULAR * What Happens When Terrorists Get Smart? * The Etymology of Fannie Mae * Some Times Square Perspective * Working in the Cloud KEVIN'S MOST ACTIVE DISCUSSION A Scene >From the War on Drugs Was this SWAT raid an appropriate response to the "tip" police received? Watch the video. [READ MORE] QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), explaining why he's retiring after 42 years in Congress. [READ MORE] CHART OF THE WEEK: Are the richest zip codes in America Republican or Democrat? [READ MORE] Follow Kevin Drum on Twitter Want more groundbreaking, original reporting from Mother Jones? Subscribe to the magazine for just $10/year by clicking here ! Ironweed Films Hi. Thanks for signing up for Mother Jones' Drumbeat newsletter. Wait, that was your cat? Smart cat! If you don't want to get Drumbeat, or to make changes to your subscription, click here . And lock up the cat. MOTHERJONES.COM Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 Mother Jones Powered By Convio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 14:43:07 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 13:43:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Greek Chorus - Comment from MaryN Message-ID: <001501caee26$24629990$6d27ccb0$@net> From: Mary Nelson [mailto:m_nelson at aperdat.com] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 12:30 PM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: Greek Chorus I understand that the unelected global financial powers, including financial services corporations like Goldman Sachs, set up this fiasco and that the U.S. is in line for the same and soon. Fortunately or unfortunately our global environmental and resource depletion crisis will make this collapse of economies fade into the background and into the past. IMHO. MaryN Mary, thanks for your comment. Am especially glad you wrote "unelected global financial powers" because so many still think that we-the-people's vote really counts for anything over the long run. While we may have had something to do with getting Obama into office, it is apparent that he has little say-so now that he is there, especially on financial matters and putting back into action any kind of laws which inhibit the unelected global financial powers from doing whatever they want to do in what has become a "world casino." I just read something on a Facebook page to the affect that "Obama got us into this mess." How easily people forget the record of the George W. Bush cabal and how the "bail out" was set up long before Obama ever came on the scene. m r _____ From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 12:16 PM To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: FW: Greek Chorus While Kevin Drum and some others feel that we are not in real danger here in the U.S. due to the "banking crisis," I'm not so sure we are out of the woods yet, especially with so many States being on the verge of bankruptcy. Any comments on this? From: Kevin Drum at Mother Jones [mailto:do_not_reply at motherjones.com] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 3:01 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Greek Chorus DRUMBEAT KEVIN DRUM ON POLITICS, POLICY, AND CATS MOTHER JONES May 7, 2010 THIS WEEK IN THE BLOGOSPHERE Greek Chorus "Why," asks Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon, "should the prospect of default in Greece or elsewhere in Europe concern the average American?" Why indeed? To answer, let's back up a little. Greece's problem, put simply, is that its political system is dysfunctional. It's been living beyond its means for years, borrowing money from foreign creditors to sustain a level of spending far higher than it can afford. And now the jig is up: Nobody will loan it more money, and that means that unless Greece is bailed out it won't be able to pay its debts. And who does it owe money to? Mainly German, French, and British banks. If it can't pay them off, they're in danger of failing themselves, and that in turn would likely bring down still other banks, turning Greece's default into a global systemic crisis. Sound familiar? But wait. There's more. Greece could, of course, solve its problems by getting its budget in line. But that would require a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, and those are political third rails. The government just can't do it. Sound even more familiar? So it turns out there are two answers to Salmon's question. The first is straightforward: The global financial system is still fragile, and an uncontrolled Greek default presents at least some chance of touching off another banking crisis and another recession. That would affect Americans as much as anyone. The second answer is that Greece is the canary in the coal mine. America is nowhere near Greek levels of financial distress yet. We're bigger and richer than Greece, our economy is stronger, our debt level is lower, and when we borrow from foreigners we do it in our own currency-which just happens to also be the world's reserve currency. Lucky us. But historically, banking crises like the one we just went through cause government debt levels to double, and within a few years that will put the United States into dangerous territory. Not Greece-level territory, but still uncomfortably high. And it means that a second banking crisis might very well get us the rest of the way there. There are two lessons to take from this. First, we need to make sure we don't have a second banking crisis anytime soon. That means passing effective financial reform. Second, we need to fix our dysfunctional political system. We can't keep borrowing from abroad forever and we can't keep running enormous federal deficits forever. That means Democrats are going to have to accept the inevitability of entitlement reform and Republicans are going to have to accept the inevitability of tax increases. It doesn't have to happen tomorrow, but it has to happen soon. It's nice to think that what happened to Greece can't happen to us, but history doesn't bear that out. Even the biggest economy in the world has limits. POLITICS Congress and the Fed Will the Fed find itself on a tighter congressional leash in the future? [READ MORE] ECONOMICS Why Cutting Taxes Won't Starve the Beast In fact, it makes him fatter. [READ MORE] MORE FROM MOJO Oath Keepers + AK-47s = ? A standoff with Tennessee state troopers, of course. [READ MORE] Kevin Drum's cats CATS Happy Favorite Things Day! Here's Inkblot eating breakfast-note the hint of tongue action. [READ MORE] Ironweed Films Read Kevin's Blog MOST POPULAR * What Happens When Terrorists Get Smart? * The Etymology of Fannie Mae * Some Times Square Perspective * Working in the Cloud KEVIN'S MOST ACTIVE DISCUSSION A Scene >From the War on Drugs Was this SWAT raid an appropriate response to the "tip" police received? Watch the video. [READ MORE] QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), explaining why he's retiring after 42 years in Congress. [READ MORE] CHART OF THE WEEK: Are the richest zip codes in America Republican or Democrat? [READ MORE] Follow Kevin Drum on Twitter Want more groundbreaking, original reporting from Mother Jones? Subscribe to the magazine for just $10/year by clicking here ! Ironweed Films Hi. Thanks for signing up for Mother Jones' Drumbeat newsletter. Wait, that was your cat? Smart cat! If you don't want to get Drumbeat, or to make changes to your subscription, click here . And lock up the cat. MOTHERJONES.COM Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 Mother Jones Powered By Convio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 14:45:56 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 13:45:56 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Greek Chorus Message-ID: <001f01caee26$8a3be730$9eb3b590$@net> Thanks Constance for your input. From: Constance Demby [mailto:cdemby at constancedemby.com] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 12:53 PM To: mary rose Subject: Re: Greek Chorus for what it's worth, Mark Krueger, seer/ astrologer/ etc predicted that October would be the crash / dissolution / of the whole financial mess. he hasn't written about it lately....hope he will explain more about that he sees very deeply into the future he has has an interesting view of the matrix and the illusion we live in here on planet earth his writings are quite curious interesting and fun with the english language http://www.in2light.com/ ************************************************* It turns out that one of the great mysteries of time - why it has a direction - is really a question about how the early universe was organized. There's something called "the arrow of time" and it is simply the direction in which time passes from the past to the future. There are many ways in which the past and future are different: things become messier toward the future; we remember yesterday and not tomorrow; actions we take now affect the future but not the past. All of those reflect the arrow of time. Now, the origin of the arrow of time is a mystery. Based on the laws of thermodynamics, we understand how it works. But we don't understand why there is an arrow. It comes down to conditions near the Big Bang; the universe started out highly organized and has been becoming more random and chaotic ever since. What I said on Colbert was that the universe is like a mechanical toy that started all wound up, and has been winding down for the last 14 billion years. _____ While Kevin Drum and some others feel that we are not in real danger here in the U.S. due to the "banking crisis," I'm not so sure we are out of the woods yet, especially with so many States being on the verge of bankruptcy. Any comments on this? From: Kevin Drum at Mother Jones [mailto:do_not_reply at motherjones.com] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 3:01 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Greek Chorus DRUMBEAT KEVIN DRUM ON POLITICS, POLICY, AND CATS MOTHER JONES May 7, 2010 THIS WEEK IN THE BLOGOSPHERE Greek Chorus "Why," asks Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon , "should the prospect of default in Greece or elsewhere in Europe concern the average American?" Why indeed? To answer, let's back up a little. Greece's problem, put simply, is that its political system is dysfunctional. It's been living beyond its means for years, borrowing money from foreign creditors to sustain a level of spending far higher than it can afford. And now the jig is up: Nobody will loan it more money, and that means that unless Greece is bailed out it won't be able to pay its debts. And who does it owe money to? Mainly German, French, and British banks. If it can't pay them off, they're in danger of failing themselves, and that in turn would likely bring down still other banks, turning Greece's default into a global systemic crisis. Sound familiar? But wait. There's more. Greece could, of course, solve its problems by getting its budget in line. But that would require a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, and those are political third rails. The government just can't do it. Sound even more familiar? So it turns out there are two answers to Salmon's question. The first is straightforward: The global financial system is still fragile, and an uncontrolled Greek default presents at least some chance of touching off another banking crisis and another recession. That would affect Americans as much as anyone. The second answer is that Greece is the canary in the coal mine. America is nowhere near Greek levels of financial distress yet. We're bigger and richer than Greece, our economy is stronger, our debt level is lower, and when we borrow from foreigners we do it in our own currency-which just happens to also be the world's reserve currency. Lucky us. But historically, banking crises like the one we just went through cause government debt levels to double, and within a few years that will put the United States into dangerous territory. Not Greece-level territory, but still uncomfortably high. And it means that a second banking crisis might very well get us the rest of the way there. There are two lessons to take from this. First, we need to make sure we don't have a second banking crisis anytime soon. That means passing effective financial reform. Second, we need to fix our dysfunctional political system. We can't keep borrowing from abroad forever and we can't keep running enormous federal deficits forever. That means Democrats are going to have to accept the inevitability of entitlement reform and Republicans are going to have to accept the inevitability of tax increases. It doesn't have to happen tomorrow, but it has to happen soon. It's nice to think that what happened to Greece can't happen to us, but history doesn't bear that out. Even the biggest economy in the world has limits. POLITICS Congress and the Fed Will the Fed find itself on a tighter congressional leash in the future? [READ MORE] ECONOMICS Why Cutting Taxes Won't Starve the Beast In fact, it makes him fatter. [READ MORE] MORE FROM MOJO Oath Keepers + AK-47s = ? A standoff with Tennessee state troopers, of course. [READ MORE] CATS Happy Favorite Things Day! Here's Inkblot eating breakfast-note the hint of tongue action.[READ MORE] Read Kevin's Blog MOST POPULAR * What Happens When Terrorists Get Smart? . The Etymology of Fannie Mae . Some Times Square Perspective . Working in the Cloud KEVIN'S MOST ACTIVE DISCUSSION A Scene From the War on Drugs Was this SWAT raid an appropriate response to the "tip" police received? Watch the video. [READ MORE] QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), explaining why he's retiring after 42 years in Congress. [READ MORE] CHART OF THE WEEK: Are the richest zip codes in America Republican or Democrat? [READ MORE] Follow Kevin Drum on Twitter Want more groundbreaking, original reporting from Mother Jones? Subscribe to the magazine for just $10/year by clicking here ! Hi. Thanks for signing up for Mother Jones' Drumbeat newsletter. Wait, that was your cat? Smart cat! If you don't want to get Drumbeat, or to make changes to your subscription, click here . And lock up the cat. MOTHERJONES.COM Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 18:42:53 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 17:42:53 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: FW: Greek Chorus comment by Dave Ewoldt Message-ID: <002301caee47$a3518d80$e9f4a880$@net> Thanks Dave -- spot on as usual. -----Original Message----- From: Dave Ewoldt [mailto:dave at reststop.net] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 2:30 PM To: mary rose Subject: Re: FW: Greek Chorus On 7 May 2010 at 13:45, mary rose wrote: > While Kevin Drum and some others feel that we are not in real danger here in the > U.S. due to the "banking crisis," I'm not so sure we are out of the woods yet, > especially with so many States being on the verge of bankruptcy. > > Any comments on this? Well, if we really think that the free-market economy forms the crux of our lives, that being an economic actor is more important than being a community member, that making profit to repay interest takes precedence over people and planet then no, we're in no danger. We've already seen that all one must do is either print more money or borrow it from someone else who is just printing it and the financial picture becomes just fine. Crisis? What crisis? The meltdown in our lifestyles and culture is coming from the rapid convergence of the Triumvirate of Collapse--peak oil (the foundation for tomorrow's growth), global warming (creating habitation inhospitable to life), and corporatism (the usurpation of people's sovereignty and major roadblock to democracy). The pollution economy and economic cannibalism are just a couple of the myriad symptoms. For the Earth... _dave_(this entire message is composed of recycled electrons) Natural Systems Solutions http://www.attractionretreat.org http://naturalsystems.blogspot.com Sustainable lifestyles, organizations, and communities From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 7 21:13:44 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 20:13:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: The Biomimicry Institute: May Newsletter Message-ID: <000101caee5c$b547bd60$1fd73820$@net> From: The Biomimicry Institute [mailto:info at biomimicryinstitute.org] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 11:16 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: The Biomimicry Institute: May Newsletter Having trouble viewing this email? View as a web page . The Biomimicry Institute banner In this issue * World's First Biomimicry Nature Trail Unveiled * Fourth Grader Wins National Biomimicry Contest * Register for Biomimicry Summer Workshops * AskNature Featured Strategy: Heteropterid Bugs * Biomimicry Research and Design News Roundup _____ donate _____ Upcoming Events 2010 Ethos International Conference - Business and Social Responsibility in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Janine Benyus to speak on Ecological Integrity May 12-13, 2010 Delta Project - Sustainability Symposium in Bar Harbor, Maine; Janine Benyus to keynote June 16, 2010 _____ _____ The Biomimicry Institute Newsletter - May 2010 World's First Biomimicry Nature Trail Unveiled On April 21, Mayor John Engen helped cut the ribbon on the world's first biomimicry-inspired interpretive trail in Missoula, Montana. "This biomimicry trail will be the first of its kind, but not likely the last," said Sam Stier, youth education director for The Biomimicry Institute. "Interest in looking to nature for solutions to humankind's various challenges is only growing." The interpretive trail, which consists of five educational signs along Missoula's downtown riverfront, enhances educational opportunities for groups that use the trail system for programs and field trips. The signs showcase the unique plants and animals that trail users are likely to see and explain how scientists and engineers are drawing inspiration from these species for technological innovation. The project was a collaboration between The Biomimicry Institute, the Montana Natural History Center, Run Wild Missoula, and Missoula City Parks and Recreation. JDSU donated special butterfly-inspired iridescent paint, which was used to powder coat the post of a sign about butterfly-inspired colorants. If you are interested in creating a biomimicry-themed nature trail in your area, please contact Sam Stier . Fourth-Grader Wins National Science Contest with Biomimetic Design An excerpt from Olivia's winning drawing. Olivia Smith Donovan, a fourth grader from Delaware, liked to watch maple tree seeds twirl like helicopter blades as they fell from trees. She wished for one big enough to ride on but worried that all the spinning might make her sick. Her interest helped her win the Kids ' Science Challenge, a nationwide competition that encourages 3rd to 6th graders to submit experiments and problems for a group of scientists and engineers to solve. Olivia won the Bio-Inspired Design category, a new theme in this year's competition that The Biomimicry Institute helped event organizers develop. Olivia will meet with scientists and engineers trained in biomimicry at universities in California and Maryland to help determine whether a model based on the maple seed could be used to drop emergency parcels, or people, from great heights. Olivia's design proposal was chosen from more than 400 entries. Congratulations, Olivia! Better than Summer School: Register for Biomimicry Workshops Today! If you have ever wanted to train in biomimicry and design, network with biomimicry educators, or learn how to best incorporate biomimicry tools and concepts into your existing educational programs, this summer presents a range of opportunities to do so. From June 18-26, The Biomimicry Institute and Universidad Iberoamericana will offer the 4th annual Biomimicry & Design Workshop in Veracruz State, Mexico. Follow the gorgeous Bobos River, from cloud forest to coastal mangroves, on this 7-day learning adventure through several unique ecosystems. You will deepen your ability to listen to, learn from, and echo nature in design in conjunction with Mexican counterparts and naturalists. All sessions will be conducted in English. Only a few slots remain, so learn more or register now ! This workshop is open to individuals from all disciplines and professions. >From July 8-10, in downtown San Francisco, we will present the 4th annual Biomimicry Education Summit. This conference will bring together key thought-leaders, academic educators and program developers, students, and industry professionals in the burgeoning field of biomimicry. Learn more, see a complete list of speakers, and register for the Summit now. Following the Summit, from July 11-16, we will offer our first ever Biomimicry Educators' Training Workshop in Inverness, Califorinia. Participants will learn the basics of biomimicry (tools, concepts, and methodologies) as well as how to integrate biomimicry into existing curricula. Participants will also develop biomimicry course materials that they can put to use immediately in their classrooms or programs. Educators who register for both the Summit and the Training Workshop will receive a $150 discount on their overall registration fees. Please join us for this first-of-its-kind event. Please note: this workshop is open only to active educators. Other professionals should consider attending the Veracruz workshop. AskNature Featured Strategy Flotation in turbulent waters: Heteropterid bugs Researchers from the University of Florida and Hanyang University in South Korea have developed a self-cleaning surface that mimics the way that hairy surfaces of spiders, plants, and other organisms repel water. The surfaces of many organisms use the same principle to protect from getting wet. Rough surfaces trap air within pockets, reducing the total surface area. This causes water to bead up on the surface. A water-repellant surface protects organisms from becoming waterlogged and drowning, and helps plants maintain their ability to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The new self-cleaning surface can reduce the labor and chemicals needed for cleaning surfaces. Visit AskNature , our online database, for more biological solutions to inspire design. Biomimicry Research and Design News Roundup Fast Company: Biomimicry Challenge: TOA Uses Fungi to Reimagine Sustainable Neighborhoods Nanowerk News: S cientists create 'molecular paper' just two molecules thick Nature Communications: The evolutionary origins of ritualized acoustic signals in caterpillars Nature News: Airborne pigeons obey the pecking order Nature News: Animals thrive without oxygen at sea bottom Would you like to forward this email to a friend? Click here . Remove my name from all future email correspondence Address postal inquiries to: Biomimicry Institute 257 W. Front St. Suite B Missoula, MT 59802 Powered By eTapestry Delivra -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 8 02:39:04 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 08:39:04 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: UK election builds cross-party support for Simpol's global justice policies Message-ID: <185733.25506.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 7/5/10, John Bunzl wrote: From: John Bunzl Subject: UK election builds cross-party support for Simpol's global justice policies To: a at simpol.org Date: Friday, 7 May, 2010, 16:10 [Please forward to your networks. To unsubscribe, please contact us.] International Simultaneous Policy Organisation PRESS RELEASE: 7th May 2010 UK election builds cross-party support for Simpol?s global justice policies The Simultaneous Policy (Simpol), a range of measures to solve global problems like climate change, out-of-control financial markets, and social injustice, is now officially supported by no fewer than 23 newly elected UK Members of Parliament coming from all the main parties. Simpol?s UK supporters achieved this success by writing to all candidates in their constituency announcing they would be voting for ANY politician or party?within reason?that pledged to implement the campaign?s package of global policies simultaneously alongside other governments. Or, if they had a party preference, they encouraged their party candidate to sign that pledge. In that way, supporters still retained the ultimate right to vote as they please, but they also made it very clear to all politicians that they would give strong preference to those who had signed the Pledge, to the exclusion of those who failed to do so. In the run-up to yesterday?s election, and urged by Simpol?s supporters to ?work together?, 32 Labour candidates, 3 Conservative, 87 Liberal Democrat, 74 Green, and 4 others pledged, if elected, to implement Simpol?s developing package of global problem-solving policies alongside other governments. In nineteen parliamentary constituencies, two or more candidates signed the Pledge. So whichever of those candidates won that seat, Simpol gained support in parliament regardless. Citizens who have become disillusioned with politics are increasingly seeing Simpol as a new, powerful, cross-party means of re-engaging with electoral politics in a way that enhances party-political competition to achieve the international cooperation needed to solve global problems. For a full list of Simpol-pledged MPs and candidates, please go to www.simpol.org.uk/simpol-in-action/whos-signed-up ? Simpol?s range of citizen-designed measures is to be implemented by nations simultaneously, only when all or sufficient nation?s have pledged to do so. By signing the Pledge, not only do politicians attract the votes of Simpol?s supporters, they avoid the fear that unilateral action could harm the nation?s economic competitiveness, an important reason why climate change and many other global problems still remain largely unaddressed. By getting nations to act simultaneously on multiple issues, Simpol becomes a win-win proposition while allowing nations that might lose on one issue to gain on another, so enhancing the chances of nations like China or the USA cooperating on emissions cuts. Meanwhile it invites citizens to develop and ultimately approve the necessary policies and to drive politicians towards their implementation. Being perhaps the only form of global electoral politics available, Simpol campaigns are also emerging in other countries where some Members of the European and other parliaments have signed on, so building towards the global coverage needed. The campaign has supporters in over 70 countries and endorsements from many philosophers, economists and ecologists. For further information visit www.simpol.org ?(global site) and/or www.simpol.org.uk ?(UK site) or contact Diana Trimble on +44 (0)20 8290 9512. Simpol ? 27 London Road, Bromley, BR1 1DF, UK????????????????????????????????????? info at simpol.org ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 8 19:07:58 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 18:07:58 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Message-ID: <00b801caef14$4a635a50$df2a0ef0$@net> Hi Everyone, Phil Crosby, Jr. is a newer member of the Co-learner's list and has sent this invitation to come see his new show. For more information on Phil, http://www.philcrosby.com/main/index.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=15&Itemid=28 So happy to introduce you Phil, and looking forward to hearing some of your music soon. Best of luck to you in this new endeavor. And, I encourage those in the L.A. area to get over to Tuhunga Blvd. and Vitello's in Studio City for this event. While I am not 100% sure, am feeling that some of your "golden age" songs may fall into the "healing" category. With love and appreciation for all that you do, Phil. Let those of us out of the area know when recordings might be available. Mary Rose ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: phil cross Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:28 PM Subject: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Surprise! You have been invited to the triumphant return (for some of you) to the stage of Phil!! On June 6th he will be performing a sneak preview of his new show 'Finding My Way' featuring an 8 piece band playing fantastic arrangements of songs from the golden age of popular song and immortalized by the great singers who most influenced him! It will be a part cabaret, part big band swing style showcase with story and song! He will be telling tales of yore concerning his Grandfather and his family and the great singers and songwriters who were part their lives! This is Phil as you've never seen him. With great Big Band arrangements by Chris Glik of songs, and in the styles, that have most inspired Phil in his 6 years of singing Jazz! Those of you that have not seen him perform recently WILL be surprised! All this will be happening at; Vitello's 4349 Tujunga Avenue Studio City, CA 91604-2752 (818) 769-0905 Cover charge is $15 but Phil will discount that to $10 for those who rsvp for the guestlist Showtime 8pm -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 8 22:46:07 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 21:46:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Re: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! - Msg. from Phil. Message-ID: <00e201caef32$c6ceb800$546c2800$@net> Thanks again, Phil. This sounds wonderful. Memories of what many of feel were ?the good old days? before so much corruption hit the fan. From: phil cross [mailto:philcross2 at yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 8:39 PM To: mary rose Subject: [SPAM]Re: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Actually, Mary, so many of the great songs of the early twentieth century had a fantastic positive message. Some as a balm to the Not-so-Great Depression, and some just as a reflection of the burgeoning hopefulness of the free and sophisticated cities that gave artists of the day a beautiful, new potential! Some of the songs I will be singing are' 'Accentuate the Positive', 'Pennies From Heaven', 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams', 'When youre Smiling', and 'Swinging on a Star'! So, as you've suggested, I think this show may fall into the realm of the spiritually good! Yaay! phil _____ From: mary rose To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Sat, May 8, 2010 6:07:58 PM Subject: FW: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Hi Everyone, Phil Crosby, Jr. is a newer member of the Co-learner?s list and has sent this invitation to come see his new show. For more information on Phil, http://www.philcrosby.com/main/index.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=15&Itemid=28 So happy to introduce you Phil, and looking forward to hearing some of your music soon. Best of luck to you in this new endeavor. And, I encourage those in the L.A. area to get over to Tuhunga Blvd. and Vitello?s in Studio City for this event. While I am not 100% sure, am feeling that some of your ?golden age? songs may fall into the ?healing? category. With love and appreciation for all that you do, Phil. Let those of us out of the area know when recordings might be available. Mary Rose ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: phil cross Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:28 PM Subject: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Surprise! You have been invited to the triumphant return (for some of you) to the stage of Phil!! On June 6th he will be performing a sneak preview of his new show 'Finding My Way' featuring an 8 piece band playing fantastic arrangements of songs from the golden age of popular song and immortalized by the great singers who most influenced him! It will be a part cabaret, part big band swing style showcase with story and song! He will be telling tales of yore concerning his Grandfather and his family and the great singers and songwriters who were part their lives! This is Phil as you've never seen him. With great Big Band arrangements by Chris Glik of songs, and in the styles, that have most inspired Phil in his 6 years of singing Jazz! Those of you that have not seen him perform recently WILL be surprised! All this will be happening at; Vitello's 4349 Tujunga Avenue Studio City, CA 91604-2752 (818) 769-0905 Cover charge is $15 but Phil will discount that to $10 for those who rsvp for the guestlist Showtime 8pm -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From raggarwala at yahoo.com Sat May 8 04:55:27 2010 From: raggarwala at yahoo.com (Rajendra Aggarwala) Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 03:55:27 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Inclusive and Ecologically Safe India: Shared Dreams, Challenges and Vision In-Reply-To: <101351.65899.qm@web94914.mail.in2.yahoo.com> References: <101351.65899.qm@web94914.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <444683.23869.qm@web81907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear Dr Ali and Dr Alam, The need is for the enlightened muslims like you to fight the menace of the terrorist and violent muslims, who are ?largely from abroad. Congress and the so called secular parties/media have also played a negative role in misrepresenting the muslim community of India. It is time that all these political opportunists are also avoided by the muslim community of India, and they should extend their hand of friendship to all non-muslims of India without cconsidering ?them infidels?or by?other names that they have been taught for ages. The biggest and the most constructive gesture of the Indian muslim leaders towards Hindus will be to settle the Ayodhya tangle in an harmonious and mutually acceptable solution. This gesture will pave the way towards building the fundamental faith in the large mass of Hindus towards them. The UPA deliberately keeps this issue unsettled to ensure the muslim votes away from BJP, and that is causing bad blood between Hindus and muslims in general. Babri Masjid has not been a functioning entity for decades and a small temple coexists there. That is not a situation condusive to harmonious relationship between the two major communities of India. Settle that issue fast. Second issue to settle will be the J&K issue. The relationship of J&K within the Indian Union should be resolved by muslims of J&k and of India in a way that meets both the Indian Constitutional requirements and the wishes of the Kashmiri people in general in a secular manner. Except the valley muslims, no part of J&K is interested in article 370, and even the valley muslims' attitude is a function of history of the last 60 years only. Kashmiri Pundits also need to be able to return to their homeland without any fear. The necessary conditions need to be created by the leaders in the valley and the Indian muslim leaders outside it. Once these issues are amicably resolved by the people themselves, much of the distrust against muslims will disappear. Im a secular democracy that India is, there should be no religious discrimination in framing of the laws of the country. India is the only secular country where muslims enjoy special laws for themselves, while Hindus are denied that previlege.?Hindus' religious customs of centuries have been ignored by the Hindu Code Bill. So why should they continue for muslims? Do muslims in USA,?or in?many other non muslim countries are allowed separate laws as in secular India?? Even some muslim countries have abondoned the conservative muslim laws specially against women, that still prevail in India. What is the justification for a muslim man able to have four wives, and divorce of women so arbitrary even in modern times? While sanctity and traditional values of families must be allowed to be preserved for all religions, rights and responsibilities of men and women must be the same in law irrespective of their religion or any social system. That is the crux of a secular democracy. To enjoy the benefits of a secular democracy, the communities must also undertake corresponding responsibilities. These are the major issues that muslim leaders themselves must help resolve within their community to enable them to act like full fledged secular Indians. That will greatly help counter the suspicions of the?non-muslim community in India against muslims in general. The external menace of terrorism will also disappear once Indian muslims resolve these issues internally. Muslim leaders of the community can help achieve these results for the benefit of their own community and for?the benefit of all Indians irrespective of their religious or other belief systems. The government, the opposition, and the media must also play a constructive and helpful role towards resolution of these issues amicably. I wish you good luck in your efforts in that direction. Sincerely, Col.(ret)Rajendra Aggarwala Faculty, University of Michigan(ret) USA ? ________________________________ From: Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam To: national-forum-of-india at yahoogroups.co.in Cc: Discussion Forum for Global Justice ; NRI Indians ; ihro at yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, May 6, 2010 2:00:55 AM Subject: [GJM] Inclusive and Ecologically Safe India: Shared Dreams, Challenges and Vision Shunning of Muslims, Becoming widespread - is the wrong title for a story that cites few exceptional cases. There are statistical standards for making?generalizations?and therefore, we need to be careful. At the same time, we need to ensure that we work for building a socially inclusive and ecologically safe India. I live in Ashok Vihar and there I have never experienced these for the last 15 years. I had an opportunity to buy and Bipin Agrawal was ready to give me his flat on installments. There have been several offers. Naresh Maheshwari, my nieghbour many times suggest that I should buy a flat. He manages parking lots and he showed me another flat for my brother in law based in Bhagalpur. I have counselled families for forgiving each other and strengthening the relationships. Even a RSS trained cadre treats me as brother and I treat him as an elder. Chaiji ,mother of Ashwini Sharma who has experience of partition meets my wife and I keep on inquiring about her health whenever I meet. It is all about respecting the foundations of human relationship based on care ,concern and love for each other. ?As and when there is need, children from neighbourhood seek my help in writing assignments. Way back in Patna, it was Anjani Sinha, like my elder brother asked me stay with him and family in 1984. I lived there as a family member . In Delhi, my?friends?from Sceince College Shashank Shekhar Jha and Shailesh helped me in a place to stay in 1986 at Ramjas College in the room of Akhilesh Singh, who is a teacher now in ?a college . At International Students Guest House, Ajay Kumar Singh, now working with Delhi Police, Sanjay Jaiswal from my village Krishnadaspur, now working as an Engineer with MTNL, Ranbeer Sinha, a relative of Subodh Kant Sahay, now running a business, Avinash Chaitanya, younger brother of my friend Sanjay Prasad, and Devesh, the son of Awadesh Kumar Sinha, my High?School?English teacher all stayed with me as guest. Leaving International Students House, I got a small room at M-4,Satyawati Nagar, Ashok Vihar-Phase III where for quite some time Omulangira Joseph Mubiru , a freind from Uganda lived with me and Rajendra Mahapatra, today showing his film Shaheed to the President of India gave me an opportunity to share my room in 1995-96. Venkat, do not get gleeful in forwarding these. Reach out meet the other in the spirit of Nar-Seva= Narayan Seva. We need to be open and do justice to our?neighbors?and fellow human beings who have right to enjoining for good and prohibition from evil, our love, care,?compassion,empathy. With warmest regards ?Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: sri venkat Sent: Sun, 2 May, 2010 10:58:20 PM Subject: India-ozg-in | Shunning of Muslims, Becoming widespread - ? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Shunning of Muslims, Becoming Widespread Dr A R Mookhi Amir Ali Two news items, one in Today?s Mumbai Mirror of The Times of India and another in Free Press Journal of yesterday, 1st of May 2010 are greatly disturbing to the Muslim community. A couple had?rented a flat on the first floor of Chembur's Venkatesh Sadan from May 1. They had signed the agreement, gone through police verification, and had even shifted their belongings. But on Saturday morning, just minutes before guests were to arrive for a house-warming party starting at 10 am, the flat owner Jyoti Rege called the man to say that he would have to move out.The reason? His name was Khan. Majid Khan. The housing society and locals disapproved of Muslims. The silver lining of the unpleasant episode was that the owner of the flat and the broker involved apologized, paid back the deposit and advance paid and compensated Majid Khan for the hardship of moving in and out. The second news item comes from Australia.??A ??firebrand retired politician Pauline Hanson with an intention to move to England listed her house for sale with an estate agent with a stipulation that no Muslim buyer should be entertained. Apparently this slight to the Muslim community was her parting patriotic gesture for Australia because she believed that Muslims are not compatible with ?our life and culture? and she believed Muslims will cause problems for the country further down the track. The episodes of Shabana Azmi and Emraan Hashmi, both film actors, not being allowed to buy houses of their choice are not forgotten. I was heartbroken when I went looking for a flat to buy, as my own building was being redeveloped. Emraan Hashmi was not given the NOC to buy the flat he wanted, but he was not told on his face that the reason for refusal was his faith. I was told so on my face. I saw to my dismay that there are many buildings in the suburbs of Mumbai that do not want a Muslim inmate. There are vast areas where groups of Housing Societies have jointly decided not to let a Muslim live in their locality. Local estate agents have been instructed not to bring in Muslim buyers. In one suburb an estate agent rattled to me the names of the buildings which were out of bound for Muslims. All this is extremely hurtful. One hates to admit and express that the community is being disliked to this extent. But unless the community continuously wants to wallow in the quagmire it is in, it must rise and face the facts, do some soul-searching, go into the reasons of their malady and do some course-correction. Muslims must strive to be more acceptable, more liked by other communities. In 2009 August when I wrote on Emraan Hashmi?s plight I pasted a few lines from Dr Rafiq Zakaria?s book ?Communal Rage In Secular India.? I have seen lot of wisdom in the book and can not help pasting the same words again. Dr. Rafiq Zakaria in his book ?Communal Rage in Secular India?: ?They should do some introspection and ask whether they have genuinely tried to contribute to the strengthening of Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition. The answer will be no. (Page 191) ?Indian Muslims must open their eyes to the ground reality that an increasing number of Hindus have begun to hate them.? (Page 193). ?This is not confined to a small section; it has infected the rich as much as the poor; men as much as women; the young as much as the old; even children are no longer free from it.? (Page 201) ?This is the ugly reality that Muslims have to face in today?s India. They have to do their best to bring about a change in the hostile attitude of the communal Hindus towards them. This is as much in their interest as that of the nation. Muslims continue to live in a make-believe world of their own. [Page 202] Dr Mookhi Amir Ali?? 020510 ? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a new topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: * New Members 4 Visit Your Group >->->-> The National Forum of India @ http://india-forum.ozg.in <-<-<-< -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ http://india.ozg.in/links -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ NOTE: To post your articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply Email it to: national-forum-of-india at yahoogroups.com. No registration required. === > === > === > NFI Website for States of India < === < === < === HOW TO ADD COMMENTS ON ARTICLES / POST @ STATEs' WEBSITE - 1. Click on TITLE of any post from side bar or at bottom menu. 2. 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Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 10 09:05:01 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 08:05:01 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Message from Carlos Santana on Architects of a New Dawn re: new film Message-ID: <005d01caf052$64f87730$2ee96590$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS This film, is a must see for people everywhere who are surrounded by "the dominant patriarchial culture" so reminiscent of yesterday's male image. This patriarchial image is not just representative of "Urban Latino" communities but bleeds over into many other cultural backgrounds and plays a prevalent role in the white upper class communities where "corporate think" and the law of the jungle is predominant. http://www.santana.com/News/Default.aspx?Action=GetDetails &NewsID=898 Carlos encourages you to check out a new film produced by Benjamin/Peter Bratt, La Mission! 3/18/2010 Carlos encourages you to check out a new film, produced by Benjamin and Peter Bratt, entitled La Mission which takes a deeper look into Urban Latino communities, patriarchal pride and growing up in the Mission District in San Francisco. The main character "Che" is a reformed bad boy of the street, who at middle age, finds beauty building classic low rider cars. His son "Jess", and the friends he's had since childhood, are at the center of his world. In many ways, Che personifies the dominant patriarchal culture that surrounds him, and like that culture, is at the threshold of great change. He is faced with a choice: maintain old habits and attitudes, OR adapt, grow and mature. In order to make this choice, Che is forced to stretch beyond his comfort zone; and it's only from this place that he discovers what might be at stake if he doesn't chose wisely. More Information and the trailer is available at: http://www.lamissionthemovie.com/ Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 10 13:56:50 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 12:56:50 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Want Better Gas Mileage? Stop NADA Message-ID: <00ab01caf07b$29b8eff0$7d2acfd0$@net> From: Mary Rose [mailto:dustysummerrose at gmail.com] Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 7:16 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Fwd: Want Better Gas Mileage? Stop NADA ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Andrea W., Care2 Action Alerts Date: Mon, May 10, 2010 at 7:06 AM Subject: Want Better Gas Mileage? Stop NADA To: Mary Rose Care2 subscriber since Mar 20, 2009 Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Take Action Error! Filename not specified. Hi Mary, The horror in the Gulf of Mexico leaves no doubt: we must end our reliance on dirty, dangerous fossil fuels. But the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is suing to stop higher fuel standards for cars sold in the U.S.. Tell auto dealers: Americans want cleaner, greener cars in the marketplace > NADA's lawsuit aims to keep dirty cars on the road and consumers at the mercy of gas and oil companies. We can't afford to gamble with the global climate or our oceans anymore. We must put cars with higher fuel economy standards into the marketplace. Tell NADA to stop their campaign to keep dirty cars on the roads > If American consumers speak out, NADA will have no choice but to listen. Error! Filename not specified. Thanks for making a difference! Andrea W. ThePetitionSite End the U.S. Addiction to Dirty Fossil Fuels. Support Greener, Cleaner Cars > Error! Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified. Forward to a friend >> Read the petition >> Error! Filename not specified. Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFw.J/zkUU/bclGx _____ To stop receiving this newsletter, visit: http://www.care2.com/newsletters/unsub/3/0/34693998/771649e5 or send a blank email message to: ng-u-3-34693998-8617622-13191785-7c9d5ec2 at australia.care2.com Care2.com, Inc. 275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 300 Redwood City, CA 94065 http://www.care2.com 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 Mon May 10 22:48:47 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 21:48:47 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Time magazine article on Prison Reform Message-ID: <00ec01caf0c5$7acf4cf0$706de6d0$@net> By the time the trumpets sound, the candles have been lit and the salmon platters garnished. Harald V, King of Norway, enters the room, and 200 guests stand to greet him. Then a chorus of 30 men and women, each wearing a blue police uniform, launches into a spirited rendition of "We Are the World." This isn't cabaret night at Oslo's Royal Palace. It's a gala to inaugurate Halden Fengsel, Norway's newest prison. Ten years and 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($252 million) in the making, Halden is spread over 75 acres (30 hectares) of gently sloping forest in southeastern Norway. The facility boasts amenities like a sound studio, jogging trails and a freestanding two-bedroom house where inmates can host their families during overnight visits. Unlike many American prisons, the air isn't tinged with the smell of sweat and urine. Instead, the scent of orange sorbet emanates from the "kitchen laboratory" where inmates take cooking courses. "In the Norwegian prison system, there's a focus on human rights and respect," says Are Hoidal, the prison's governor. "We don't see any of this as unusual." (See the top 10 crime stories of 2009.) Halden, Norway's second largest prison, with a capacity of 252 inmates, opened on April 8. It embodies the guiding principles of the country's penal system: that repressive prisons do not work and that treating prisoners humanely boosts their chances of reintegrating into society. "When they arrive, many of them are in bad shape," Hoidal says, noting that Halden houses drug dealers, murderers and rapists, among others. "We want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people." Countries track recidivism rates differently, but even an imperfect comparison suggests the Norwegian model works. Within two years of their release, 20% of Norway's prisoners end up back in jail. In the U.K. and the U.S., the figure hovers between 50% and 60%. Of course, a low level of criminality gives Norway a massive advantage. Its prison roll lists a mere 3,300, or 69 per 100,000 people, compared with 2.3 million in the U.S., or 753 per 100,000 - the highest rate in the world. (See the world's most influential people in the 2010 TIME 100.) Design plays a key role in Halden's rehabilitation efforts. "The most important thing is that the prison looks as much like the outside world as possible," says Hans Henrik Hoilund, one of the prison's architects. To avoid an institutional feel, exteriors are not concrete but made of bricks, galvanized steel and larch; the buildings seem to have grown organically from the woodlands. And while there is one obvious symbol of incarceration - a 20-ft. (6 m) concrete security wall along the prison's perimeter - trees obscure it, and its top has been rounded off, Hoilund says, "so it isn't too hostile." (See the 25 crimes of the century.) The cells rival well-appointed college dorm rooms, with their flat-screen TVs and minifridges. Designers chose long vertical windows for the rooms because they let in more sunlight. There are no bars. Every 10 to 12 cells share a living room and kitchen. With their stainless-steel countertops, wraparound sofas and birch-colored coffee tables, they resemble Ikea showrooms. Halden's greatest asset, though, may be the strong relationship between staff and inmates. Prison guards don't carry guns - that creates unnecessary intimidation and social distance - and they routinely eat meals and play sports with the inmates. "Many of the prisoners come from bad homes, so we wanted to create a sense of family," says architect Per Hojgaard Nielsen. Half the guards are women - Hoidal believes this decreases aggression - and prisoners receive questionnaires asking how their experience in prison can be improved. There's plenty of enthusiasm for transforming lives. "None of us were forced to work here. We chose to," says Charlott-Renee Sandvik Clasen, a music teacher in the prison and a member of Halden's security-guard chorus. "Our goal is to give all the prisoners - we call them our pupils - a meaningful life inside these walls." It's warmth like that, not the expensive television sets, that will likely have the most lasting impact. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1986002,00.html#ixzz0naV8t4 QU Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 10 22:52:09 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 21:52:09 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 10 2010 Message-ID: <00f201caf0c5$f1b07f60$d5117e20$@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, May 09, 2010 8:09 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 10 2010 (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) ?Perhaps we have to accept that there is no simple solution to public disbelief in science. The battle over climate change suggests that the more clearly you spell the problem out, the more you turn people away. If they don?t want to know, nothing and no one will reach them. There goes my life?s work.? ? George Monbiot Following oil spill disaster, 55 percent of Floridans now oppose offshore drilling. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/07/48-florida-support-offshore/ As emergency responders struggle to contain the devastating economic and ecological effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, many fear that the Floridan coastline will be the next ecosystem devastated. A new Mason-Dixon poll released today finds that, in the wake of the oil disaster, 55 percent of Floridians now oppose offshore oil drilling, a complete reversal from polling conducted last year: In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida voters have reversed their view on drilling off of the state?s coast, according to new poll released by Mason-Dixon. Statewide, only 35% currently support offshore drilling, while a 55% majority are now opposed to it. That is in stark contrast to a poll conducted 11 months ago, where 55% of the state?s voters were in favor of offshore drilling and only 31% were opposed. Support for drilling peaked at 61% in August 2008, amid the soaring price of gasoline nationwide and rising concerns about energy independence. BP Worked With FreedomWorks And The Chamber To Build ?Grassroots? Support For More Drilling http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/06/bp-freedomworks-ocs/ BP has long touted itself as a ?green? company interested not only in oil and other fossil fuels, but in renewable energy like wind and solar. But as Rebecca Lefton reported on ThinkProgress last week, BP barely invests anything in clean energy ? most of its green campaign is actually just a massive advertising gimmick to conceal the truth about the company. While BP has spent hundreds of millions building its brand, it has offshored the dirty work of promoting expanded drilling to right-wing front groups and trade associations. In a 2007 PowerPoint presentation obtained by ThinkProgress, BP appears to have been interested in fighting to open up protected waters to new offshore drilling. The presentation, organized by the BP-funded front group ?Consumer Energy Alliance,? was delivered at the American Gas Association?s marketing meeting in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The presentation calls for a five-year plan to build grassroots support to open wide swaths of both the East and West coasts to new drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf: ? Slide 5 depicts a map of ?undiscovered technically recoverable resources on Federal OCS? along the East coast, from Maine to Florida, and on the West coast, from Washington to California. ? Slide 7 notes that expanding OCS access ?provides univeral benefits to all sectors.? The page pitches the campaign to aid both the oil and natural gas industry. ? Slide 9 lists the 5 year plan ?strategic priorities,? including ?military/veterans groups,? ?energy consumers,? ?editorial boards/letters to the editor,? and ?academia & think tanks.? ? Slide 14 lists the groups involved in doing grassroots outreach. Under ?affiliated groups,? FreedomWorks ? a right-wing ?grassroots? group that helped plan the tea parties and continues to lobby aggressively against clean energy reform ? is listed along with the 60 Plus Association, the American Conservative Union, and others. U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are some of the trade associations involved. Slide 14 also shows that BP is one of the member companies supporting the campaign. Trade associations openly represent the needs of industry, so many industry groups like API have delicately tried to defend offshore drilling, but without explicitly defending the actions of BP. However, FreedomWorks portrays itself as simply a citizen-based group. In reality, FreedomWorks has a long history of orchestrating public support for its corporate and lobbyist backers. Evil Ed, inc: the Wall Street-charter school connection by: Paul Rosenberg Sun May 09, 2010 at 11:00 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18640/evil-ed-inc-the-wall-streetcharter-schoo l-connection In America, conservatives couldn't kill the welfare state because it was too popular, so they decided to re-purpose it for conservative ends. These are their stories. If you thought that Wall Street couldn't get more destructive, think again. And if you that the charter school movement couldn't get even more removed from serving the public good, you also need to think again. On Friday, NY Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez wrote a column about how big investors can double their money in seven years using a special tax credit to invest in charter schools, and he also discussed what he uncovered in a brief segment on Democracy Now! which he co-hosts with Amy Goodman. Here's how he summarized it on the air: Liz Cheney Perpetuates Greek ?Bailout? Myth, Says U.S. Should Adopt Greek-Like Austerity Measures http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/09/cheney-greece/ Conservatives have responded to the massive economic crisis in Greece ? which is spreading to the rest of Europe ? by trying to score political points against President Obama?s domestic economic policies. This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace and Liz Cheney pushed the myth that the United States was ?bailing out? Greece, and Cheney even suggested that America adopt Greek-like austerity measures to counter the budget deficit: CHENEY: When you look at the question over whether the US tax payer ought to be contributing to bailing out Greece, I think you also got to say wait a second at the same time that we are looking to put $7 billion to bail out Greece we?ve got the same types of policies being put in place here in the United States that frankly are much more likely to lead us down the path that we see Greece on. Mara Liasson pushed back, noting that the notion that the U.S. was bailing out Greece was nothing more than a great conservative ?talking point.? Watch it: The U.S. ? along with many other countries? is a contributor to the International Monetary Fund, which serves as a lender of last resort to countries in crisis in order to prevent these crises from spreading worldwide. By Cheney?s standard every Administration in the last 60 years since the IMF was created, including the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush administrations, have ?bailed out? countries. Cheney?s suggestion that the United States adopt the kind of ?austerity? measures being enacted in Greece, moreover, would lead to absolute economic catastrophe. Greece is expected to experience massive economic contraction and if the U.S. were to follow that approach, it would fall back into a deep recession. Still, Cheney contends that America?s deficits will lead to a Greek-like tragedy. But as Marshal Auerback notes, the problem isn?t Greece?s debt per say but its inability to service that debt, because it both doesn?t control its currency (the Euro) and because its economy is contracting. The United States is in no danger of defaulting ? the American economy is growing and due to fears over the Euro, investors are boosting the value of the dollar. In fact, what the crisis has actually shown is the failure of conservative approaches to economic crises. Contrary to most conceptions, Germany?s leadership has long adopted a conservative approach to the crisis, resisting economic stimulus or providing economic support to other European countries. As a result, the crisis has gotten worse and now threatens to spread to other Southern European countries, putting the Euro currency and the entire global economy at risk. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has finally awoken to the danger and has now belatedly agreed to a massive bailout for Greece ? one that is considerably larger than what would have been needed if she acted sooner. Loosening the iron grip of corporate power by: Mike Lux Sat May 08, 2010 at 12:30 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18634/loosening-the-iron-grip-of-corporate-pow er Slowly and tentatively, in fits and starts yet with gradually gathering momentum, the iron grip that big corporate interests have on the throat of our democracy is loosening a little. Credit card companies got needless delays in the implementation of last year's reform bill, but they were forced to live with the outlawing of several of their most egregious practices. The insurance companies stripped the public option and some other great things out of health reform, but would have much preferred no bill at all, and certainly not one with new regulations and expectations about pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps, and recissions. The student loan industry got an outright smackdown which will result in more money for student loans. Now Wall Street is in a wild fight on the floor of the Senate, and Senators are either deserting them on major issues like auditing the Fed and consumer protection, or else Senators are having to make very uncomfortable votes on the big bankers' behalf. Progressives who want to rein in Wall St's power are losing on some important issues, but we are making our mark on this bill, and setting the stage for future fights. Check out Simon Johnson's brilliant post on the vote to break up the banks, suggesting that while they won this round, they may be facing their Waterloo soon. He points out that as things like Greece continue to happen that unravel the world financial situation further, that it will become harder and harder for the defenders of the big banks to hide. Although our side lost the vote, getting over half the Democrats, the Majority Leader, the 2nd ranking member of the leadership, and the ranking Republican on the Finance committee to all vote with us on a bill to fundamentally restructure the financial system was a pretty big deal. With Senators now all on the record as to whether they support the big banks or not, we have a lot of potential to do some damage in the coming elections. Even when we lose, we are getting these issues aired and getting people on the record. That's all to the good. Let me throw a couple of electoral examples into the mix. Take Delaware, a pretty strongly Democratic state where a locally popular Republican congressman, Mike Castle, is a heavy favorite to win an open seat. He voted against breaking up the big banks. If the Democratic candidate Chris Coons makes this big issue in a pretty working class state, maybe Castle's easy victory gets a little- or even quite a bit- harder. Or take an old home state of mine, Iowa, where voters have a very deep populist streak in them (see Harkin, Tom). Grassley, the ultimate incumbent insider, ranking member and former chair of the Finance committee, voted for letting the 6 biggest banks continue to own the equivalent of 63% of our GDP. Roxanne Conlin is a crusading lawyer who has made her living going after corporate malfeasance. Grassley is favored in this race, but his vote makes things a lot more interesting, especially for a strong populist like Roxanne. Moving on to the issue of auditing the Federal Reserve. Yes, Sanders compromised on the issue. But most observers following the issue see this as a solid compromise, not a cave-in: we got something real out of the deal in terms of looking at what went down over the last few years. And the House language they go into conference on is very strong. Rumor has it that Geithner is still trying to figure out how to unravel this deal, so we can't take anything for granted, but we have the momentum on this issue, and winning on it would be a very big deal. We're winning so far on the consumer protection agency; we're making progress on derivatives. It is the progressive amendments that have the wind at their back right now. Look, I don't want to overstate this. This bank bill has some serious weaknesses in it, and with the Brown-Kaufman bank break-up amendment failing, it still doesn't solve the most central failing of our banking system. On health care and other issues, progressives have had our share of truly bitter and disappointing defeats. But progressive populist economics and a political strategy of challenging special interest corporate power is gaining traction right now. A citizen movement is bubbling up through the barriers of special interest concrete in our nation's Capitol that is not driven by tea party anti-government fervor, but by the hopes of regular folks who believe we can take our country back. Let's keep building on our momentum. BP, Deep Off-Shore Drilling Escape All Meaningful Regulation by: Paul Rosenberg Sat May 08, 2010 at 16:30 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18635/bp-deep-offshore-drilling-escape-all-mea ningful-regulation One of the most glaring problems exposed by BP's Gul oil spill is the utter failure of the environmental regulatory process, and the even larger failure of a comprehensive regulatory process integrating environmental regulations with safety regulations. BP's atrocious record with the Texas City refinery, which suffered a disastrous explosion in 2005, killing 15 people and injury 170 others, was a vivid example of this failure, the result of multiple failures over a period of at least 15 years (starting before BP purchased the refinery), which persisted even after the explosion, resulting in an additional three deaths at the plant since the explosion. As just one indication of the systemic problems involved, in October, 2009 OSHA imposed an $87 million fine for BP's repeated failures to fix problems related to the explosion--far and away the largest such fine ever assessed. OSHA cited 709 violations in imposing the fine. From the NYT account: Officials at OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, said the 709 violations included a failure to perform a promised study of pressure relief devices, which help prevent a buildup of undue pressure of hydrocarbons, and a failure to meet industry standards for safety instrument systems to shut down hazardous processes automatically. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said on Friday that BP had allowed hundreds of potential hazards to continue even though it had signed a settlement in 2005 agreeing to take broad action to protect employees. "Fifteen people lost their lives as a result of the 2005 tragedy, and 170 others were injured," Ms. Solis said. "An $87 million fine won't restore those lives, but we can't let this happen again. Workplace safety is more than a slogan. It's the law." However, $87 million is less than two days profit for BP, barely a blip. While the total cost of the explosion to BP was considerably higher, and the previous CEO was even forced to resign, the fact that such a massive fine was assessed four years after the explosion pretty much speaks for itself. But BP's failures are just part of the overall system that includes systemic regulatory failures as well-not to mention the failures of our money-drenched political system. IMF board approves nearly $40 billion Greece loan By DANIEL WAGNER | Posted: Sunday, May 9, 2010 1:11 pm http://www.azdailysun.com/business/article_d8bcbb84-ab51-53f0-b9fa-a86696fca 2fb.html The International Monetary Fund has put up nearly $40 billion to help bail out Greece and appease investors' fears of a spreading European debt crisis. The IMF's executive board met in Washington Sunday to approve a three-year, euro30 billion loan for the debt-plagued nation, part of a $140 billion package (euro110 billion) negotiated with other eurozone countries. With hundreds of billions in debts and a budget deficit of 13.6 percent of gross domestic product, Greece was just weeks away from default when eurozone finance ministers agreed to activate a rescue. Greece has enacted tax hikes and deep cutbacks in government spending as a condition of the bailout. The austerity measures have sparked riots and social unrest in the nation. "The Greek government should be commended for committing to an historic course of action that will give this proud nation a chance of rising above its current troubles and securing a better future for the Greek people," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement Sunday. "Today's strong action by the IMF to support Greece will contribute to the broad international effort under way to help bring stability to the euro area and secure recovery in the global economy," Strauss-Kahn said. Eurozone leaders on Saturday approved a $100 billion package of loans to help keep Greece from imploding. Greece will have immediate access to $25.7 billion from the IMF and EU bailouts, and will be able to tap a total of about $51.5 billion this year. Athens needed to see the first installment of funds before May 19, when billions in 10-year bonds come due. Together, the bailouts give Greece enough money to avoid having to raise private funds for two years, IMF officials said. By that time, Greece hopefully will be strong enough economically to borrow through private debt markets, IMF deputy managing director John Lipsky said in a call with reporters Sunday. Eurozone ministers also are meeting Sunday to consider other measures aimed at stabilizing global markets that were rocked last week by fears that Greece's debt crisis will spread to other EU nations such as Portugal and Spain and hobble the global economic recovery. They want to have a plan in place before Asian markets open for the week. Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans By Jennifer Pinkowski Thursday, May. 06, 2010 http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1987568,00.html#ixzz0nU71AxBg A decade after scientists first cracked the human genome, researchers announced in the May 7 issue of Science that they have done the same for Neanderthals, the species of hominid that existed from roughly 400,000 to 30,000 years ago, when their closest relatives, early modern humans, may have driven them to extinction. Led by ancient-DNA expert Svante P??bo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, scientists reconstructed about 60% of the Neanderthal genome by analyzing tiny chains of ancient DNA extracted from bone fragments of three female Neanderthals excavated in the late 1970s and early '80s from a cave in Croatia. The bones are 38,000 to 44,000 years old. (See a story about the jewelry worn by Neanderthals.) The genetic information turned up some intriguing findings, indicating, for instance, that at some point after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, they mingled and mated with Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East or North Africa as much as 80,000 years ago. If that is the case, it occurred significantly earlier than scientists who support the interbreeding hypothesis would have expected. Comparisons with DNA from modern humans show that some Neanderthal DNA has survived to the present. Moreover, by analyzing ancient DNA alongside modern samples, the team was able to identify a handful of genetic changes that evolved in modern humans sometime after their ancestors and Neanderthals diverged, 440,000 to 270,000 years ago. From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue May 11 08:26:55 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (R. Searle) Date: 11 May 2010 07:26:55 -0700 Subject: [GJM] ' Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: R. Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 217.12.6.108 -------------------- Personal message text: Yes, miracles do happen! Must be the psychic breath, or prana that has been sustaining him for decades! -------------------- 'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100510/tod-starving-yogi-astounds-indian-scient-451ab4f.html ============================================================ From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue May 11 09:24:24 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 11 May 2010 08:24:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] OECD chief backs " stop the rot" euro zone plan - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 217.12.6.111 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- OECD chief backs "stop the rot" euro zone plan http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100511/tbs-uk-europe-economy-oecd-interview-4210405.html ============================================================ From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue May 11 09:27:01 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (R.Searle) Date: 11 May 2010 15:27:01 +0000 Subject: [GJM] UK Manufacturers Enjoy ' Spectacular' Growth - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: R.Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.191.93 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- UK Manufacturers Enjoy 'Spectacular' Growth http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100511/tuk-uk-manufacturers-enjoy-spectacular-g-45dbed5.html ============================================================ From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 11 12:43:52 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 11:43:52 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 10 2010 Message-ID: <002c01caf13a$2221ad30$66650790$@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, May 09, 2010 8:09 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 10 2010 (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) ?Perhaps we have to accept that there is no simple solution to public disbelief in science. The battle over climate change suggests that the more clearly you spell the problem out, the more you turn people away. If they don?t want to know, nothing and no one will reach them. There goes my life?s work.? ? George Monbiot Following oil spill disaster, 55 percent of Floridans now oppose offshore drilling. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/07/48-florida-support-offshore/ As emergency responders struggle to contain the devastating economic and ecological effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, many fear that the Floridan coastline will be the next ecosystem devastated. A new Mason-Dixon poll released today finds that, in the wake of the oil disaster, 55 percent of Floridians now oppose offshore oil drilling, a complete reversal from polling conducted last year: In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida voters have reversed their view on drilling off of the state?s coast, according to new poll released by Mason-Dixon. Statewide, only 35% currently support offshore drilling, while a 55% majority are now opposed to it. That is in stark contrast to a poll conducted 11 months ago, where 55% of the state?s voters were in favor of offshore drilling and only 31% were opposed. Support for drilling peaked at 61% in August 2008, amid the soaring price of gasoline nationwide and rising concerns about energy independence. BP Worked With FreedomWorks And The Chamber To Build ?Grassroots? Support For More Drilling http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/06/bp-freedomworks-ocs/ BP has long touted itself as a ?green? company interested not only in oil and other fossil fuels, but in renewable energy like wind and solar. But as Rebecca Lefton reported on ThinkProgress last week, BP barely invests anything in clean energy ? most of its green campaign is actually just a massive advertising gimmick to conceal the truth about the company. While BP has spent hundreds of millions building its brand, it has offshored the dirty work of promoting expanded drilling to right-wing front groups and trade associations. In a 2007 PowerPoint presentation obtained by ThinkProgress, BP appears to have been interested in fighting to open up protected waters to new offshore drilling. The presentation, organized by the BP-funded front group ?Consumer Energy Alliance,? was delivered at the American Gas Association?s marketing meeting in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The presentation calls for a five-year plan to build grassroots support to open wide swaths of both the East and West coasts to new drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf: ? Slide 5 depicts a map of ?undiscovered technically recoverable resources on Federal OCS? along the East coast, from Maine to Florida, and on the West coast, from Washington to California. ? Slide 7 notes that expanding OCS access ?provides univeral benefits to all sectors.? The page pitches the campaign to aid both the oil and natural gas industry. ? Slide 9 lists the 5 year plan ?strategic priorities,? including ?military/veterans groups,? ?energy consumers,? ?editorial boards/letters to the editor,? and ?academia & think tanks.? ? Slide 14 lists the groups involved in doing grassroots outreach. Under ?affiliated groups,? FreedomWorks ? a right-wing ?grassroots? group that helped plan the tea parties and continues to lobby aggressively against clean energy reform ? is listed along with the 60 Plus Association, the American Conservative Union, and others. U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are some of the trade associations involved. Slide 14 also shows that BP is one of the member companies supporting the campaign. Trade associations openly represent the needs of industry, so many industry groups like API have delicately tried to defend offshore drilling, but without explicitly defending the actions of BP. However, FreedomWorks portrays itself as simply a citizen-based group. In reality, FreedomWorks has a long history of orchestrating public support for its corporate and lobbyist backers. Evil Ed, inc: the Wall Street-charter school connection by: Paul Rosenberg Sun May 09, 2010 at 11:00 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18640/evil-ed-inc-the-wall-streetcharter-schoo l-connection In America, conservatives couldn't kill the welfare state because it was too popular, so they decided to re-purpose it for conservative ends. These are their stories. If you thought that Wall Street couldn't get more destructive, think again. And if you that the charter school movement couldn't get even more removed from serving the public good, you also need to think again. On Friday, NY Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez wrote a column about how big investors can double their money in seven years using a special tax credit to invest in charter schools, and he also discussed what he uncovered in a brief segment on Democracy Now! which he co-hosts with Amy Goodman. Here's how he summarized it on the air: Liz Cheney Perpetuates Greek ?Bailout? Myth, Says U.S. Should Adopt Greek-Like Austerity Measures http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/09/cheney-greece/ Conservatives have responded to the massive economic crisis in Greece ? which is spreading to the rest of Europe ? by trying to score political points against President Obama?s domestic economic policies. This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace and Liz Cheney pushed the myth that the United States was ?bailing out? Greece, and Cheney even suggested that America adopt Greek-like austerity measures to counter the budget deficit: CHENEY: When you look at the question over whether the US tax payer ought to be contributing to bailing out Greece, I think you also got to say wait a second at the same time that we are looking to put $7 billion to bail out Greece we?ve got the same types of policies being put in place here in the United States that frankly are much more likely to lead us down the path that we see Greece on. Mara Liasson pushed back, noting that the notion that the U.S. was bailing out Greece was nothing more than a great conservative ?talking point.? Watch it: The U.S. ? along with many other countries? is a contributor to the International Monetary Fund, which serves as a lender of last resort to countries in crisis in order to prevent these crises from spreading worldwide. By Cheney?s standard every Administration in the last 60 years since the IMF was created, including the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush administrations, have ?bailed out? countries. Cheney?s suggestion that the United States adopt the kind of ?austerity? measures being enacted in Greece, moreover, would lead to absolute economic catastrophe. Greece is expected to experience massive economic contraction and if the U.S. were to follow that approach, it would fall back into a deep recession. Still, Cheney contends that America?s deficits will lead to a Greek-like tragedy. But as Marshal Auerback notes, the problem isn?t Greece?s debt per say but its inability to service that debt, because it both doesn?t control its currency (the Euro) and because its economy is contracting. The United States is in no danger of defaulting ? the American economy is growing and due to fears over the Euro, investors are boosting the value of the dollar. In fact, what the crisis has actually shown is the failure of conservative approaches to economic crises. Contrary to most conceptions, Germany?s leadership has long adopted a conservative approach to the crisis, resisting economic stimulus or providing economic support to other European countries. As a result, the crisis has gotten worse and now threatens to spread to other Southern European countries, putting the Euro currency and the entire global economy at risk. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has finally awoken to the danger and has now belatedly agreed to a massive bailout for Greece ? one that is considerably larger than what would have been needed if she acted sooner. Loosening the iron grip of corporate power by: Mike Lux Sat May 08, 2010 at 12:30 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18634/loosening-the-iron-grip-of-corporate-pow er Slowly and tentatively, in fits and starts yet with gradually gathering momentum, the iron grip that big corporate interests have on the throat of our democracy is loosening a little. Credit card companies got needless delays in the implementation of last year's reform bill, but they were forced to live with the outlawing of several of their most egregious practices. The insurance companies stripped the public option and some other great things out of health reform, but would have much preferred no bill at all, and certainly not one with new regulations and expectations about pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps, and recissions. The student loan industry got an outright smackdown which will result in more money for student loans. Now Wall Street is in a wild fight on the floor of the Senate, and Senators are either deserting them on major issues like auditing the Fed and consumer protection, or else Senators are having to make very uncomfortable votes on the big bankers' behalf. Progressives who want to rein in Wall St's power are losing on some important issues, but we are making our mark on this bill, and setting the stage for future fights. Check out Simon Johnson's brilliant post on the vote to break up the banks, suggesting that while they won this round, they may be facing their Waterloo soon. He points out that as things like Greece continue to happen that unravel the world financial situation further, that it will become harder and harder for the defenders of the big banks to hide. Although our side lost the vote, getting over half the Democrats, the Majority Leader, the 2nd ranking member of the leadership, and the ranking Republican on the Finance committee to all vote with us on a bill to fundamentally restructure the financial system was a pretty big deal. With Senators now all on the record as to whether they support the big banks or not, we have a lot of potential to do some damage in the coming elections. Even when we lose, we are getting these issues aired and getting people on the record. That's all to the good. Let me throw a couple of electoral examples into the mix. Take Delaware, a pretty strongly Democratic state where a locally popular Republican congressman, Mike Castle, is a heavy favorite to win an open seat. He voted against breaking up the big banks. If the Democratic candidate Chris Coons makes this big issue in a pretty working class state, maybe Castle's easy victory gets a little- or even quite a bit- harder. Or take an old home state of mine, Iowa, where voters have a very deep populist streak in them (see Harkin, Tom). Grassley, the ultimate incumbent insider, ranking member and former chair of the Finance committee, voted for letting the 6 biggest banks continue to own the equivalent of 63% of our GDP. Roxanne Conlin is a crusading lawyer who has made her living going after corporate malfeasance. Grassley is favored in this race, but his vote makes things a lot more interesting, especially for a strong populist like Roxanne. Moving on to the issue of auditing the Federal Reserve. Yes, Sanders compromised on the issue. But most observers following the issue see this as a solid compromise, not a cave-in: we got something real out of the deal in terms of looking at what went down over the last few years. And the House language they go into conference on is very strong. Rumor has it that Geithner is still trying to figure out how to unravel this deal, so we can't take anything for granted, but we have the momentum on this issue, and winning on it would be a very big deal. We're winning so far on the consumer protection agency; we're making progress on derivatives. It is the progressive amendments that have the wind at their back right now. Look, I don't want to overstate this. This bank bill has some serious weaknesses in it, and with the Brown-Kaufman bank break-up amendment failing, it still doesn't solve the most central failing of our banking system. On health care and other issues, progressives have had our share of truly bitter and disappointing defeats. But progressive populist economics and a political strategy of challenging special interest corporate power is gaining traction right now. A citizen movement is bubbling up through the barriers of special interest concrete in our nation's Capitol that is not driven by tea party anti-government fervor, but by the hopes of regular folks who believe we can take our country back. Let's keep building on our momentum. BP, Deep Off-Shore Drilling Escape All Meaningful Regulation by: Paul Rosenberg Sat May 08, 2010 at 16:30 http://www.openleft.com/diary/18635/bp-deep-offshore-drilling-escape-all-mea ningful-regulation One of the most glaring problems exposed by BP's Gul oil spill is the utter failure of the environmental regulatory process, and the even larger failure of a comprehensive regulatory process integrating environmental regulations with safety regulations. BP's atrocious record with the Texas City refinery, which suffered a disastrous explosion in 2005, killing 15 people and injury 170 others, was a vivid example of this failure, the result of multiple failures over a period of at least 15 years (starting before BP purchased the refinery), which persisted even after the explosion, resulting in an additional three deaths at the plant since the explosion. As just one indication of the systemic problems involved, in October, 2009 OSHA imposed an $87 million fine for BP's repeated failures to fix problems related to the explosion--far and away the largest such fine ever assessed. OSHA cited 709 violations in imposing the fine. From the NYT account: Officials at OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, said the 709 violations included a failure to perform a promised study of pressure relief devices, which help prevent a buildup of undue pressure of hydrocarbons, and a failure to meet industry standards for safety instrument systems to shut down hazardous processes automatically. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said on Friday that BP had allowed hundreds of potential hazards to continue even though it had signed a settlement in 2005 agreeing to take broad action to protect employees. "Fifteen people lost their lives as a result of the 2005 tragedy, and 170 others were injured," Ms. Solis said. "An $87 million fine won't restore those lives, but we can't let this happen again. Workplace safety is more than a slogan. It's the law." However, $87 million is less than two days profit for BP, barely a blip. While the total cost of the explosion to BP was considerably higher, and the previous CEO was even forced to resign, the fact that such a massive fine was assessed four years after the explosion pretty much speaks for itself. But BP's failures are just part of the overall system that includes systemic regulatory failures as well-not to mention the failures of our money-drenched political system. IMF board approves nearly $40 billion Greece loan By DANIEL WAGNER | Posted: Sunday, May 9, 2010 1:11 pm http://www.azdailysun.com/business/article_d8bcbb84-ab51-53f0-b9fa-a86696fca 2fb.html The International Monetary Fund has put up nearly $40 billion to help bail out Greece and appease investors' fears of a spreading European debt crisis. The IMF's executive board met in Washington Sunday to approve a three-year, euro30 billion loan for the debt-plagued nation, part of a $140 billion package (euro110 billion) negotiated with other eurozone countries. With hundreds of billions in debts and a budget deficit of 13.6 percent of gross domestic product, Greece was just weeks away from default when eurozone finance ministers agreed to activate a rescue. Greece has enacted tax hikes and deep cutbacks in government spending as a condition of the bailout. The austerity measures have sparked riots and social unrest in the nation. "The Greek government should be commended for committing to an historic course of action that will give this proud nation a chance of rising above its current troubles and securing a better future for the Greek people," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement Sunday. "Today's strong action by the IMF to support Greece will contribute to the broad international effort under way to help bring stability to the euro area and secure recovery in the global economy," Strauss-Kahn said. Eurozone leaders on Saturday approved a $100 billion package of loans to help keep Greece from imploding. Greece will have immediate access to $25.7 billion from the IMF and EU bailouts, and will be able to tap a total of about $51.5 billion this year. Athens needed to see the first installment of funds before May 19, when billions in 10-year bonds come due. Together, the bailouts give Greece enough money to avoid having to raise private funds for two years, IMF officials said. By that time, Greece hopefully will be strong enough economically to borrow through private debt markets, IMF deputy managing director John Lipsky said in a call with reporters Sunday. Eurozone ministers also are meeting Sunday to consider other measures aimed at stabilizing global markets that were rocked last week by fears that Greece's debt crisis will spread to other EU nations such as Portugal and Spain and hobble the global economic recovery. They want to have a plan in place before Asian markets open for the week. Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans By Jennifer Pinkowski Thursday, May. 06, 2010 http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1987568,00.html#ixzz0nU71AxBg A decade after scientists first cracked the human genome, researchers announced in the May 7 issue of Science that they have done the same for Neanderthals, the species of hominid that existed from roughly 400,000 to 30,000 years ago, when their closest relatives, early modern humans, may have driven them to extinction. Led by ancient-DNA expert Svante P??bo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, scientists reconstructed about 60% of the Neanderthal genome by analyzing tiny chains of ancient DNA extracted from bone fragments of three female Neanderthals excavated in the late 1970s and early '80s from a cave in Croatia. The bones are 38,000 to 44,000 years old. (See a story about the jewelry worn by Neanderthals.) The genetic information turned up some intriguing findings, indicating, for instance, that at some point after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, they mingled and mated with Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East or North Africa as much as 80,000 years ago. If that is the case, it occurred significantly earlier than scientists who support the interbreeding hypothesis would have expected. Comparisons with DNA from modern humans show that some Neanderthal DNA has survived to the present. Moreover, by analyzing ancient DNA alongside modern samples, the team was able to identify a handful of genetic changes that evolved in modern humans sometime after their ancestors and Neanderthals diverged, 440,000 to 270,000 years ago. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 11 15:19:05 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 14:19:05 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: NetNews May 11 2010 (Global News Summary) Message-ID: <00a001caf14f$d92f3320$8b8d9960$@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, May 10, 2010 10:37 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 11 2010 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) Containment Dome Fails to Stop Oil Gusher: No Plan B http://www.afp.com/english/home/ Published on Monday, May 10, 2010 by Agence France Presse NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - BP officials desperately searched Monday for a new fix to the enormous Gulf of Mexico oil spill after efforts to cap a gushing leak with a containment dome hit a perilous snag. British energy giant BP, which owns the lion's share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, is facing the jaw-dropping possibility that, failing a swift fix it has yet to deliver with a containment dome, the crisis could spiral into an even worse environmental calamity. The White House also was scrambling to contain fallout from the massive disaster threatening to take a toll on President Barack Obama's political and energy agenda. In Washington, Obama on Monday "will meet with a number of Cabinet members and senior staff in the White House Situation Room to review BP efforts to stop the oil leak, as well as to decide on next steps to ensure all is being done to contain the spread, mitigate the environmental impact and provide assistance to affected states," a White House statement said. Meanwhile the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it "continues to work with BP to explore all options that could stop or mitigate oil leaks from the damaged well." A Lost Decade Ahead for Housing http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney05102010.html By MIKE WHITNEY May 10, 2010 "Extend and Pretend" In its effort to rescue the housing market, the Obama administration has created a Frankensystem which neither allows the market to clear nor solves the intractable social problems of lost equity and foreclosure. Obama needs to step back and take a look at the mess he's made by following the advice of financial industry reps and bank lobbyists. Housing is in a shambles. The market is presently stitched together with buyer-assistance programs, loan modifications programs, new homebuyer subsidies, foreclosure abatement programs, principal reduction programs, historic low interest rates, "easy-term" financing, and government-backed loans. It's a dog's breakfast of inducements, giveaways and bandaids all designed with one purpose in mind; to keep the banks from taking a bigger hit on their garbage mortgages. To get an idea of how desperate the situation really is; take a look at this article in the Wall Street Journal: "The U.S. government's massive share of the nation's mortgage market grew even larger during the first quarter. Government-related entities backed 96.5 per cent of all home loans during the first quarter, up from 90 per cent in 2009, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. The increase was driven by a jump in the share of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-owned housing-finance giants.... ?The collapse of the mortgage market in 2007 steered more business to the Federal Housing Administration, which insures loans, and Fannie and Freddie, which were taken over by the government in 2008 as rising losses wiped out thin capital reserves. Congress also increased the limits on the size of loans that Fannie, Freddie and the FHA can guarantee, raising the ceiling to as high as $729,750 in high-cost housing markets such as New York and California. ("U.S. Role in Mortgage Market Grows Even Larger" Nick Timiraos, Wall Street Journal) There is no housing market in the U.S. apart from the government. The Potemkin banking system is still on the rocks, so Fannie and Freddie have been forced to pick up the slack. But if the government is going to put up all the financing, then it should have a bigger say-so on the way things are run. The emphasis should be on helping people, not on more handouts for the banks. The first order of business should be the launching of a National Bank that would help support the privately-owned banking system. This would ensure the availability of credit for prospective homeowners and small businesses without putting more pressure on Fannie and Freddie. The National Bank would operate as a public utility run by government employees. That would help to control salaries, eliminate the problem of bloated executive compensation and incentives, and reduce the incidents of fraud. Naturally, the banks will oppose the move tooth and nail, so it?s up to Obama to guide the legislation through the congress. This is matter of national security. The banks now pose a threat to the material well-being of everyone in the country. They're a menace. While a National Bank won't undo the massive damage that's already been done; it will put the economy on the road to recovery by creating a reliable source of credit for any future expansion without inflating another asset bubble. As the WSJ's report reveals, the banks don't have the capital to function as banks. So, what good are they? They're merely wards of the state. Obama should bypass this sclerotic system of corruption-plagued institutions altogether and do what needs to be done while the economy is still weak. That way, the new National Bank will be up-and-running by the time economic activity begins to pick up again. Shadow Inventory -- There's a 9-year backlog of distressed homes Here's another stunner from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled "Number of the Week: 103 Months to Clear Housing Inventory" by Mark Whitehouse. Here's an excerpt: "How much should we worry about a new leg down in the housing market? If the number of foreclosed homes piling up at banks is any indication, there?s ample reason for concern. As of March, banks had an inventory of about 1.1 million foreclosed homes, up 20 per cent from a year earlier.... ?Another 4.8 million mortgage holders were at least 60 days behind on their payments or in the foreclosure process, meaning their homes were well on their way to the inventory pile. That ?shadow inventory? was up 30 per cent from a year earlier. Based on the rate at which banks have been selling those foreclosed homes over the past few months, all that inventory, real and shadow, would take 103 months to unload. That?s nearly nine years. Of course, banks could pick up the pace of sales, but the added supply of distressed homes would weigh heavily on prices ? and thus boost their losses." ("Number of the Week: 103 Months to Clear Housing Inventory" Mark Whitehouse, Wall Street Journal) Got that? There's a 9-year backlog of distressed homes. The banks are deliberately fudging the numbers to hide how bad things really are. The number of homes in late-stage foreclosure is not 1.1 million, but nearly 6 million--- 5X more than the banks are admitting. Housing will be in the doldrums for a decade or more. Sarah Palin: American Law Should Be 'Based On The God Of The Bible And The Ten Commandments' Updated: 05-10-10 12:26 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/sarah-palin-american-law_n_569922.h tml Sarah Palin joined Fox News's Bill O'Reilly recently to condemn the critics of the National Day of Prayer, saying that the Judeo-Christian belief was the basis for American law and should continue to be used as a guiding force for creating future legislation. According to Palin, the recent backlash against the National Day of Prayer is proof that some people are trying to enact a "fundamental transformation of America" and to "revisit and rewrite history" in order to shift the Christian nation away from its spiritual roots. Palins's advice: "Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant -- they're quite clear -- that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the ten commandments. "What in hell scares people about talking about America's foundation of faith?" Palin continued. "It is that world view that involves some people being afraid of being able to discuss our foundation, being able to discuss God in the public square, that's the only thing I can attribute it to." Palin also criticized the decision to dis-invite the Rev. Franklin Graham from a Pentagon prayer service over concerns about his past inflammatory rhetoric about Islam, saying it was driven by a desire to be overly politically correct. WATCH the interview: Origin of Wall Street???s Plunge Continues to Elude Officials May 8, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/business/08trading.html A day after a harrowing plunge in the stock market, federal regulators were still unable on Friday [May 7] to answer the one question on every investor???s mind: What caused that near panic on Wall Street? The cause or causes of the market???s wild swing remained elusive, leaving what amounts to a $1 trillion question mark hanging over the world???s largest, and most celebrated, stock market. The initial focus of the investigations appeared to center on the way a growing number of high-speed trading networks interact with one another and with venerable exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. Most investors are unaware that these competing systems have fractured the traditional marketplace and have displaced exchanges like the Big Board as the dominant force in stock trading. In a joint statement issued after the close of trading, the S.E.C. and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they were ... looking particularly closely at how different trading rules on different exchanges, which temporarily halted trading on some markets while activity in the same stocks continued on other markets, might have contributed to the problem. The pressure in the less-liquid markets was amplified by the computer-driven trades, which led still other traders to pull back. Note: For more information on the impact of the new high-speed computer-driven trading methods, click here ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html ). DNA referees May 3, 2010, Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-he-epigenetics-20100503,0,5900529.stor y Scientists are just beginning to understand the effect lifestyle choices and other environmental factors have on altering gene behavior, a rapidly emerging field called epigenetics. Your life story depends upon a combination of the DNA you're stuck with plus your environment, including all the little choices and events that happen over that lifetime. But in recent years, researchers have discovered that, while DNA lays out the options, many of those life experiences ??? the foods you eat, the stresses you endure, the toxins you're exposed to ??? physically affect the DNA and tell it more precisely what to do. The cause: a kind of secondary code carried along with the DNA. Called the "epigenome," this code is a set of chemical marks, attached to genes, that act like DNA referees. They turn off some genes and let others do their thing. And although the epigenome is pretty stable, it can change ??? meaning lifestyle choices such as diet and drug use could have lasting effects on how the body works. "The thing I love about epigenetics is that you have the potential to alter your destiny," says Randy Jirtle, who studies epigenetics at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Jirtle compares the system to a computer: The DNA is the hardware ??? set and unchanging ??? and the epigenome is the software that tells it when, where and how to work. Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds July 24, 2009, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html It is the hot new thing on Wall Street, a way for a handful of traders to master the stock market, peek at investors??? orders and, critics say, even subtly manipulate share prices. It is called high-frequency trading ??? and it is suddenly one of the most talked-about and mysterious forces in the markets. Powerful computers, some housed right next to the machines that drive marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange, enable high-frequency traders to transmit millions of orders at lightning speed and, their detractors contend, reap billions at everyone else???s expense. These systems are so fast they can outsmart or outrun other investors, humans and computers alike. And after growing in the shadows for years, they are generating lots of talk. Nearly everyone on Wall Street is wondering how hedge funds and large banks like Goldman Sachs are making so much money so soon after the financial system nearly collapsed. High-frequency trading is one answer. And when a former Goldman Sachs programmer was accused this month of stealing secret computer codes ??? software that a federal prosecutor said could ???manipulate markets in unfair ways??? ??? it only added to the mystery. Goldman acknowledges that it profits from high-frequency trading, but disputes that it has an unfair advantage. Yet high-frequency specialists clearly have an edge over typical traders, let alone ordinary investors. Note: For a wealth of deep reporting on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy operations, click here ( http://www.wanttoknow.info/bankbailoutnewsarticles ). Far-Right Group AFA Demands To Know Kagan?s Sexuality, Since ?No Lesbian Is Qualified? To Sit On SCOTUS http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/10/kagan-lesbian/ Today, President Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. Since she happens to be an unmarried woman who has not publicly commented on her sexuality and supports LGBT rights, many on the right are making assumptions about her personal life ? and therefore her fitness to serve as a justice. Last month, CBS News published an online column by former Bush administration speechwriter and current editor of The New Ledger Ben Domenech, who called Kagan the ?first openly gay justice.? The White House quickly responded, demanding that CBS pull down the post and saying that the site was ?applying old stereotypes to single women with successful careers.? The right wing has been hammering Kagan over the fact that while she was dean, Harvard Law School ?refused to help the nation?s military recruit its students, because the armed services discriminated against openly gay soldiers.? Conservatives have been using this episode to unjustly portray her as being anti-military and to add fuel to the speculation over whether or not she is a lesbian. In a blog post for the far-right American Family Association (AFA) today, Bryan Fischer comes right out and says that the media should pointedly ask Kagan, ?Are you a lesbian?? And if she is, according to AFA, she shouldn?t serve on the court: It?s time we got over the myth that what a public servant does in his private life is of no consequence. We cannot afford to have another sexually abnormal individual in a position of important civic responsibility, especially when that individual could become one of nine votes in an out of control oligarchy that constantly usurps constitutional prerogatives to unethically and illegally legislate for 300 million Americans. The stakes are too high. Social conservatives must rise up as one and say no lesbian is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. Will they? Americans For Truth ? a group ?devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the homosexual activist agenda? ? also put out a statement saying that Kagan needs to answer, ?Are (or were) you a practicing homosexual or do you consider yourself homosexual (gay)?? Last month, Focus on the Family also said that it would not be open to a gay Supreme Court justice. The right-wing assumption that if she is a lesbian, she will have a conflict-of-interest and be personally biased in certain areas is similar to the criticisms the right had against Sonia Sotomayor and the fact that she is a Latina. Media Matters has put together a video recalling just how low the right will go, as it did with the race-based attacks on Sotomayor. Watch it: Fingers to the Bone: Child Farmworkers in the United States By Heather Monday May 10, 2010 11:00am http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/fingers-bone-child-farmworkers-u nited-stat >From Human Rights Watch: US: End Child Labor in the Fields: The Children?s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act) would update US law to ensure that all working children are protected equally. Please contact your Congressional Representative to ask them to support this important bill. Working Away Their Childhoods: Young Farmworkers Robbed of Rights: As kids around the country look forward to the start of summer break, it's easy to forget that their mid-year vacation is actually curious relic of an earlier time, when children took time off to help out on the farm. Still, even in the post-industrial age, today's farm sector continues to put kids to work, perpetuating one of the country's last bastions of child labor. It makes sense to employers: Kids make obedient field hands, their little fingers nimble enough to cull all those tiny berries with maximum efficiency. Moreover, the vast migrant labor force?largely Latino, impoverished and disenfranchised?is ripe for exploitation. But there's a cost of doing this business, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW): disrupted schooling, safety hazards, and the threat of sexual assault, all factor into the opportunity cost of a lost childhood. (See video below.) The extensive investigation reveals that child labor isn't limited to Dickensian sweatshops in the ?third world.? The federal labor laws that govern child farmworkers, moreover, don't recognize that the agricultural sector has moved away from bucolic fields and toward modern-day plantation slavery. Current U.S. regulations allow children as young as 12 to work on farms, and small farms have no minimum age if the child has parental permission. Toiling alongside their parents under brutal conditions, children are underpaid and exposed to injury and pesticide contamination. Young girls are ?exceptionally vulnerable to sexual abuse.? For many, education and play time are impossible luxuries. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 11 21:00:53 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 20:00:53 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami Message-ID: <00c601caf17f$9153cf90$b3fb6eb0$@net> As many of you may recall, I have previously said that Buddhism is based in quantum physics. This may be better understood by reading The Dalai Lama's book: "The Universe in an Atom" or studying Amit Goswami's work. From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:27 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, Our guest on May 12th is Professor Amit Goswami, PhD, who is featured in the new film The Quantum Activist . There is a revolution going on in science.... a genuine paradigm shift. While mainstream science remains materialist, a substantial number of scientists are supporting and developing a paradigm based on the primacy of consciousness. Amit Goswami is a pioneer of this revolutionary new perspective within science, and he will be sharing with us his vision of the unlimited potential of consciousness as the ground of all being, and how this revelation can actually help us to live better. This is your opportunity to meet the man behind the message, as Dr. Goswami tells how he moved away from the religious teachings of his childhood, to seek his path in nuclear and theoretical quantum physics, and how he has come full circle, through quantum insight, back to the very religious axioms offered as a youth. Dr. Goswami has appeared in the blockbuster movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?", the award winning "The Dalai Lama Renaissance" and has authored over a dozen books, from textbooks on quantum mechanics to consciousness and the New Science. This is a show you don't want to miss. So join us at 9am Pacific on May 12th for an exciting hour with Amit Goswami....or on demand 24/7 after that. Options for listening are shown below. Click here for a 10% discount on "The Quantum Activist" DVD Love and light, This Wednesday 9:00 AM Pacific, Noon Eastern, or 24/7 On Demand www.ScienceforLife.net separator Design:Onegraphic. 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. PinPoint Marketing and Graphics To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue May 11 21:49:18 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 09:19:18 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami In-Reply-To: <00c601caf17f$9153cf90$b3fb6eb0$@net> References: <00c601caf17f$9153cf90$b3fb6eb0$@net> Message-ID: <511146.36042.qm@web94908.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Islamic Judeo-Christian, Monotheistic?faith are based on the revelations,communication,inspiration of the Creator of all the universes 'rabbil Alameen'...Glory to Allah, the master, Lord of all the world, neither begotten nor beget, knower of all that we conceal or reveal, master of the Day of Judgement. Let these Goswamis and Lamas not beguile you much as they?do not see beyond what is happening in the mind , borrowing on?the new phrases. Tomorrow, if some one come up with a nanological analysis and?if this comes as a best seller like Tao of Physics, they would lap?it up and present the finding as if?this was known to the seers. ?Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: mary rose To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Wed, 12 May, 2010 8:30:53 AM Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami As many of you may recall, I have previously said that Buddhism is based in quantum physics.? This may be better understood by reading The Dalai Lama?s book:? ?The Universe in an Atom? or studying Amit Goswami?s work.? ??? ? From:Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:27 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami ? Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. ? ??????????? Hello Friends, Our guest on May 12th is Professor Amit Goswami, PhD, who is featured in the new film The Quantum Activist. There is a revolution going on in science.... a genuine paradigm shift. While mainstream science remains materialist, a substantial number of scientists are supporting and developing a paradigm based on the primacy of consciousness. Amit Goswami is a pioneer of this revolutionary new perspective within science, and he will be sharing with us his vision of the unlimited potential of consciousness as the ground of all being, and how this revelation can actually help us to live better. This is your opportunity to meet the man behind the message, as Dr. Goswami tells how he moved away from the religious teachings of his childhood, to seek his path in nuclear and theoretical quantum physics, and how he has come full circle, through quantum insight, back to the very religious axioms offered as a youth. Dr. Goswami has appeared in the blockbuster movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?", the award winning "The Dalai Lama Renaissance" and has authored over a dozen books, from textbooks on quantum mechanics to consciousness and the New Science. This is a show you don't want to miss. So join us at 9am Pacific on May 12th for an exciting hour with Amit Goswami....or on demand 24/7 after that. Options for listening are shown below. Click here for a 10% discount on "The Quantum Activist" DVD Love and light, This Wednesday 9:00 AM Pacific,?Noon Eastern,?or 24/7 On Demand www.ScienceforLife.net??? ? ? ? Design:Onegraphic. ? 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. ? To be removed click here ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 11 22:55:21 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 21:55:21 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The Century Of Famine ( Global Net News) Message-ID: <00d401caf18f$8bf27320$a3d75960$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Thanks to Trading Post Paul for this article. While it may not be enough to solve the problem, I again want to say that it will pay dividends for all of us to begin small tiered kitchen gardens outside of the back door, or on a patio, on a rooftop or anywhere else that a garden may be grown. And for this garden to be planted with the most nutritious of foods. Oil is not the only fertilizer and we must use our ingenuity to find ways of raising food in new and innovative ways. As I have mentioned previously, "humanure" will do the job. When I lived in Okinawa at the end of the Viet Nam war, we regularly went to the local market and bought foods that had been produced by the Okinawa farmers who took their "honey buckets" out every morning and used them to fertilize their fields. After purchasing these foods, we used a few drops of chlorine in water to wash them thoroughly, especially the ones we ate raw, e.g., lettuce, cabbage, etc. And none of us ever became sick in my family of four during the three years we lived there on the island. And, while we had access to the commissary where we could purchase the American foods that were shipped in, we liked eating the natural local foods. One can order a book on this subject -- Google for it. Thinking along these lines are things that will keep famine from the door. It is imperative that we change from a "living to eat" to an "eating to live" philosophy. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 10:02 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Century Of Famine The Century Of Famine By Peter Goodchild 10 May, 2010 http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild100510.htm Humanity has struggled to survive through the millennia in terms of balancing population size with food supply. The same is true now, but population numbers have been soaring for over a century. The limiting factor has been hidden, but this factor -- oil and natural gas, or petroleum -- is close to or beyond its peak extraction. Without ample, free-flowing petroleum, it will not be possible to support a population of several billion for long. Famine caused by petroleum supply failure alone will result in about 2.5 billion above-normal deaths before the year 2050; lost and averted births will amount to roughly an equal number. In terms of its effects on daily human life, the most significant aspect of fossil-fuel depletion will be the lack of food. ?Peak oil? is basically ?peak food.? Modern agriculture is highly dependent on fossil fuels for fertilizers (the Haber-Bosch process combines natural gas with atmospheric nitrogen to produce nitrogen fertilizer), pesticides, and the operation of machines for irrigation, harvesting, processing, and transportation. Without fossil fuels, modern methods of food production will disappear, and crop yields will be far less than at present. Crop yields are far lower in societies that do not have fossil fuels or modern machinery. We should therefore have no illusions that several billion humans can be fed by ?organic gardening? or anything else of that nature. The Green Revolution involved, among other things, the development of higher-yielding crops. These new varieties, however, could be grown only with large inputs of fertilizer and pesticides, all of which required fossil fuels. In essence, the Green Revolution was little more than the invention of a way to turn petroleum into food. Over the next few decades, therefore, there will be famine on a scale many times larger than ever before in human history. It is possible, of course, that warfare and plague will take their toll to a large extent before famine claims its victims. The distinctions, in any case, can never be absolute: often ?war + drought = famine? [3], especially in sub-Saharan Africa, but there are several other combinations of factors. Although, when discussing theories of famine, economists generally use the term ?neo-malthusian? in a derogatory manner, the coming famine will be very much a case of an imbalance between population and resources. The overwhelming cause of the imbalance and famine will be fossil-fuel depletion, not government policy (as in the days of Stalin or Mao), warfare, ethnic discrimination, bad weather, poor methods of distribution, inadequate transportation, livestock diseases, or any of the other variables that have often turned mere hunger into genuine starvation. The increase in the world?s population has followed a simple curve: from about 1.7 billion in 1900 to about 6.1 billion in 2000. A quick glance at a chart of world population growth, on a broader time scale, shows a line that runs almost horizontally for thousands of years, and then makes an almost vertical ascent as it approaches the present. That is not just an amusing curiosity. It is a shocking fact that should have awakened humanity to the realization that something is dreadfully wrong. Mankind is always prey to its own ?exuberance,? to use Catton?s term [2]. That has certainly been true of population growth. In many cultures, ?Do you have any children?? or, ?How many children do you have?? is a form of greeting or civility almost equivalent to ?How do you do?? or, ?Nice to meet you.? World population growth, nevertheless, has always been ecologically hazardous. The destruction of the environment reaches back into the invisible past, and the ruination of land, sea, and sky has been well described if not well heeded. But what is even less frequently noted is that with every increase in human numbers we are only barely able to keep up with the demand: providing all those people with food and water has not been easy. We are always pushing ourselves to the limits of Earth?s ability to hold us. Even that is an understatement. No matter how much we depleted our resources, there was always the sense that we could somehow ?get by.? But in the late twentieth century we stopped getting by. It is important to differentiate between production in an ?absolute? sense and production ?per capita.? Although oil production, in ?absolute? numbers, kept climbing ? only to decline in the early twenty-first century ? what was ignored was that although that ?absolute? production was climbing, the production ?per capita? reached its peak in 1979 [1]. The unequal distribution of resources plays a part, of course. The average inhabitant of the United States consumes far more than the average inhabitant of India or China. Nevertheless, if all the world?s resources were evenly distributed, the result would only be universal poverty. It is the totals and the averages of resources that we must deal with in order to determine the totals and averages of results. For example, if all of the world?s arable land were distributed evenly, in the absence of mechanized agriculture each person on the planet would have an inadequate amount of farmland for survival: distribution would have accomplished very little. We were always scraping the edges of the earth, but we are now entering a far more dangerous era. The main point to keep in mind, however, is that throughout the twentieth century, oil production and human population were so closely integrated that every barrel of oil had an effect on human numbers. While population has been going up, so has oil production. Future excess mortality can therefore be determined -- at least in a rough-and-ready manner -- by the fact that in modern industrial society it is oil supply that determines how many people can be fed. An increase in oil production leads to an increase in population, and a decrease in oil production leads to a decrease in population. [editor?s note: this is why hopes for a technofix of renewable energy ? almost always only for electricity -- is far off base regarding the huge present population?s need to eat.] In round numbers, global oil production in the year 2008 was 30 billion barrels, and the population was 7 billion. The consensus is that in the year 2050 oil production will be about 2 billion barrels. The same amount of oil production occurred in the year 1930, when the population was 2 billion. The population in 2050 will therefore be about the same as in 1930: 2 billion. The difference between 7 billion people and 2 billion is 5 billion, which will therefore be the total number of famine deaths and lost or averted births for that period. We can also determine the annual number of famine deaths and lost or averted births. From 2008 to 2050 is 42 years. The average annual difference in population is therefore 5 billion divided by 42, which is about 120 million. It is quite possible, however, that the decline in population will not exactly parallel the decline in oil. In other words, the peak of the population curve may well be a few years later than the peak of the oil curve. People might simply live with less oil per capita for a few decades, i.e. they will just sink further into poverty, with greater problems of malnutrition. In fact, as long ago as 1972, the first edition of The Limits to Growth in its Figure 35, ?World Model Standard Run,? showed a 40-year gap between the peak production of food per capita and the peak of population [7]. Many of those annual 120 million will not actually be deaths; famine will cause a lowering of the birth rate. This will sometimes happen voluntarily, as people realize they lack the resources to raise children, or it will happen involuntarily when famine and general ill health result in infertility [4]. In most famines the number of deaths from starvation or from starvation-induced disease is very roughly the same as the number of lost or averted births [3, 4]. In Ireland?s nineteenth-century famine, for example, the number of famine deaths was 1.3 million, whereas the number of lost births was 0.4 million. The number of famine deaths during China?s Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) was perhaps 30 million, and the number of lost births was perhaps 33 million. The ?normal,? non-famine-related, birth and death rates are not incorporated into the above future population figures, since for most of pre-industrial human history the sum of the two ? i.e. the growth rate ? has been nearly zero. If not for the problem of resource-depletion, in other words, the future birth rate and death rate would be nearly identical, as they were in pre-industrial times. And there is no question that the future will mean a return to the ?pre-industrial.? Nevertheless, it will often be hard to separate ?famine deaths? from a rather broad category of ?other excess deaths.? War, disease, global warming, topsoil deterioration, and other factors will have unforeseeable effects of their own. Considering the unusual duration of the coming famine, and with Leningrad [5] as one of many precursors, cannibalism may be significant; to what extent should this be included in a calculation of ?famine deaths?? It is probably safe to say, however, that an unusually large decline in the population of a country will be the most significant indicator that this predicted famine has in fact arrived. These figures obliterate all previous estimates of future population growth. Instead of a steady rise over the course of this century, as generally predicted, there will be a clash of the two giant forces of overpopulation and oil depletion, followed by a precipitous ride into the unknown future. If the above figures are fairly accurate, we are ill-prepared for the next few years. The problem of oil depletion turns out to be something other than a bit of macabre speculation for people of the distant future to deal with, but rather a sudden catastrophe that will only be studied dispassionately long after the event itself has occurred. Doomsday will be upon us before we have time to look at it carefully. The world has certainly known some terrible famines in the past, of course. In recent centuries, one of the worst was that of North China in 1876-79, when between 9 and 13 million died, but India had a famine at the same time, with perhaps 5 million deaths. The Soviet Union had famine deaths of about 5 million in 1932-34, purely because of political policies. The worst famine in history was that of China?s Great Leap Forward, 1958-61, when perhaps 30 million died, as mentioned above. A close analogy to ?petroleum famine? may be Ireland?s potato famine of the 1840s, since ? like petroleum ? it was a single commodity that caused such devastation [6]. The response of the British government at the time can be summarized as a jumble of incompetence, frustration, and indecision, if not outright genocide. ?There is such a tendency to exaggeration and inaccuracy in Irish reports that delay in acting on them is always desirable,? wrote Sir Robert Peel in 1845. By 1847 the description had changed: ?Bodies half-eaten by rats were an ordinary sight; ?two dogs were shot while tearing a body to pieces.?? The news of the coming famine might not be announced with sufficient clarity. Famines tend to be back-page news nowadays, perhaps for the very reason that they are too common to be worth mentioning. Although ? Gr?da speaks of ?making famine history? [6], the reality is that between 70 and 80 million people died of famine in the twentieth century, far more than in any previous century [4]. The above predictions can be nothing more than approximate, of course, but even the most elaborate mathematics will not entirely help us to deal with the great number of interacting factors. We need to swing toward a more pessimistic figure for humanity?s future if we include the effects of war, disease, and so on. The most serious negative factor will be largely sociological: To what extent can the oil industry maintain the advanced technology required for drilling ever-deeper wells in ever-more-remote places, when that industry will be struggling to survive in a milieu of social chaos? Intricate division of labor, large-scale government, and high-level education will no longer exist. On the other hand, there are elements of optimism that may need to be plugged in. For one thing, there is what might be called the ?inertia factor?: the planet Earth is so big that even the most catastrophic events take time for their ripples to finish spreading. An asteroid fragment 10 kilometers wide hit eastern Mexico 65 million years ago, but enough of our distant ancestors survived that we ourselves are alive today to tell the story. Somewhat related, among optimistic factors, is the sheer tenacity of the human species: we are intelligent social creatures living at the top of the food chain, in the manner of wolves, yet we outnumber wolves worldwide by about a million to one; we are as populous as rats or mice. We can outrace a horse over long distances. Even with Stone-Age technology, we can inhabit almost every environment on Earth, even if most of the required survival skills have been forgotten. Specifically, we must consider the fact that neither geography nor population is homogeneous. All over the world, there are forgotten pockets of habitable land, much of it abandoned in the modern transition to urbanization, for the ironic reason that city dwellers regarded rural life as too difficult, as they traded their peasant smocks for factory overalls. There are still areas of the planet?s surface that are sparsely occupied although they are habitable or could be made so, to the extent that many rural areas have had a decline in population that is absolute, i.e. not merely relative to another place or time. By careful calculation, therefore, there will be survivors. Over the next few years, human ingenuity must be devoted to an understanding of these geographic and demographic matters, so that at least a few can escape the tribulation. Neither the present nor future generations should have to say, ?We were never warned.? REFERENCES: 1. BP Global Statistical Review of World Energy. Annual. http://www.bp.com/statisticalreview 2. Catton, William R., Jr. Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1982. 3. Devereux, Stephen. ?Famine in the Twentieth Century.? IDS Working Paper 105. www.dse.unifi.it/sviluppo/doc/WP105.pdf 4. ? Gr?da, Cormac. ?Making Famine History.? Journal of Economic Literature, March 2007. http://www.ucd.ie/economics/research/papers/2006/WP06.10.pdf 5. Salisbury, Harrison E. The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2003. 6. Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1962. 7. Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books, 1972. World oil and population graph courtesy Paul Chefurka, paulchefurka.ca May 2007 * * * * * Peter Goodchild is the author of Survival Skills of the North American Indians, published by Chicago Review Press. His email address is odonatus [at] live.com. From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 12 03:39:17 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 09:39:17 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Lights in the Tunnel.......... Message-ID: <394478.31742.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Dear All, ? ??? The following may be of interest.. ? http://www.lightsinthetunnel.com/ ? There is also a blog called Econfuture for anyone interested. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 12 06:41:05 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 12:41:05 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: [Social-banking] Restoring sense to Finance - Brussels 2-3 June - deadline for registration extended! Message-ID: <807828.47581.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Wed, 12/5/10, Viviane Vandemeulebroucke (INAISE) wrote: From: Viviane Vandemeulebroucke (INAISE) Subject: [Social-banking] Restoring sense to Finance - Brussels 2-3 June - deadline for registration extended! To: "Social banking discussion list" Date: Wednesday, 12 May, 2010, 10:24 ? Fran?ais - Espa?ol Restoring sense to Finance INAISE annual conference Brussels 2-3 June 2010 Deadline for registration extended to 20 May! REGISTER NOW www.inaise.org ? ? Do not miss the 20th anniversary convention of INAISE network! ? Speakers in the plenary sessions include: ? ?? Liem Hoang-Ngoc, member of the European Parliament, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs ?? Isabel Cruz, Specialized in the development of Rural Finances in Latin America, participated in the creation of micro banks, local self-managed community institutions, micro-insurances? ?? Martin Lidegaard, Finance for change ? the role of financial institutions in sustainable d?velopment. Former Danish MP and chairman of CONCITO, the first green think tank in Denmark. ?? Erik De Keuleneer, member of the supervisory board of the Belgian Commission for Banking, Finance and Insurance and professor at the Solvay School of Economics, Free University of Brussels, Banking and risk management, financial regulation. ?? Peter Blom, Chief Executive of Triodos Bank ?? Michael Brand, Executive Director of Tembeka, a South African social investment company ? Workshops: v? Towards the creation of a global social certification process, organised by Sidi, France v? After Copenhagen - financing the energy transition, organised by Merkur, Denmark and GLS, Germany v? At the crossroad between philanthropy and investment, organised by Charity Bank, UK ?????? Finance for Fair Trade, organised by Integra - Slovakia, Sidi - France, FAST (Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade), WFTO (World FairTrade Organisation) ? Interpretation in French, English & Spanish Full programme on INAISE website. ? DEADLINE for registration: 20 May! Register online www.inaise.org ? ? INAISE is a global network of social finance organisations with a value based approach. Created in 1989, INAISE brings together regulated social banks and financial institutions, micro finance development institutions as well as regional and continental networks. ? International Association of Investors in the Social Economy Rue d'Edimbourg 26, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 894 46 84, ww.inaise.org, inaise at inaise. org Contact: Viviane Vandemeulebroucke, Network co-ordinator ? Redonner un sens ? la finance Conf?rence annuelle INAISE Bruxelles 2-3 juin 2010 Date limite d?inscription 20 mai ! INSCRIVEZ VOUS MAINTENANT www.inaise.org ? ? Ne manquez pas cet ?v?nement qui marquera le 20i?me anniversaire du r?seau INAISE?! ? Intervenants en sessions pl?ni?res?: ?? Liem Hoang-Ngoc : membre du Parlement Europ?en, du Comit? aux Affaires Economiques et Mon?taires ?? Isabel Cruz - FOROLAC Am?rique Latine : Sp?cialis?e dans le d?veloppement de la finance rurale, Isabel travaille depuis plus de 20 ans ? la cr?ation de services financiers durables pour les populations rurales les plus d?munies ?? Martin Lidegaard, Danemark : Financer le changement ? le r?le des institutions financi?res dans le d?veloppement durable Ancien D?put? danois, Martin Lidegaard est Pr?sident de CONCITO, le premier think tank ?cologique au Danemark ?? Erik De Keuleneer Membre du Conseil de surveillance de la Commission Bancaire, Financi?re et des Assurances et professeur ? la Solvay Brussels School (Cases in Banking, Banking, R?gulation des march?s et des entreprises en Europe). ?? Peter Blom, Directeur ex?cutif de la banque Triodos ?? Michael Brand, Directeur Ex?cutif de Tembeka, fonds d?investissement social sud-africain ? Ateliers?: v? Vers la cr?ation d'un processus de certification sociale, organis? par la Sidi, France v? L'apr?s Copenhague, comment financer la transition ?nerg?tique ?, organis? par Merkur, Danemark et GLS, Allemagne v? Au croisement de la philanthropie et de l'investissement, organis? par Charity Bank, UK v? Finance for Fair Trade, organis? par Integra ? Slovaquie, Sidi ? France, FAST (Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade) et WFTO (World FairTrade Organisation) ? Interpr?tation en fran?ais, anglais & espagnol. Programme complet disponible sur le site web d?INAISE ? Date limite d?inscription le 20 mai. L?inscription se fait en ligne www.inaise.org ? Les organisations membres du r?seau INAISE ont pour objectif le financement de projets sociaux, culturels ou environnementaux. Cr?? en 1989 le r?seau est d?sormais une plateforme mondiale unique de la finance sociale. International Association of Investors in the Social Economy Rue d'Edimbourg 26, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 894 46 84, ww.inaise.org, inaise at inaise. org ? Contact?: Viviane Vandemeulebroucke, Coordinatrice du r?seau INAISE ? DEVOLVERLE EL SENTIDO A LA FINANZA Conferencia Anual INAISE Bruselas 2-3 junio 2010 Fecha l?mite de inscripci?n 20 de mayo ?INSCRIBASE AHORA! www.inaise.org ? ? ?No se pierda el Vig?simo Aniversario de la Red INAISE! ? Ponentes de las sesiones plenarias: ?? Liem Hoang-Ngoc: miembro del Parlamento Europeo y del Comit? de Asuntos econ?micos y Monetarios. ?? Isabel Cruz - FOROLAC Am?rica Latina: Especializada en el desarollo de las finanzas rurales, trabaja desde hace 20 a?os en la creaci?n de servicios financieros adaptados y sostenibles para las poblaciones rurales m?s pobres. ?? Martin Lidegaard - Dinamarca Finanzas para el cambio, el rol de las Instituciones Financieras en el Desarollo Sostenible. Anteriormente Deputado dan?s, Presidente de CONCITO, primera consultoria ecol?gica en Dinamarca. ?? Erik De Keuleneer Miembro del Consejo Administrativo de la Comision Bancaria, Financiera y de Seguros. Profesor a la Escuela Solvay de Bruselas ?? Peter Blom, Director Ejecutivo del banco Triodos ?? Michael Brand, Director Ejecutivo de Tembeka, una empresa de inversi?n social ? Talleres: Hacia la creaci?n de un sistema de certificaci?n social, organizado por SIDI (Francia) Despu?s de Copenhague, ?C?mo financiar la transici?n energ?tica?, organizado por Merkur Bank (Dinamarca) y GLS (Alemania) Al cruce de la filantrop?a y de la inversi?n, organizado por Charity Bank (Reino Unido) Financiar el comercio justo, organizado por Integra (Eslovaquia) , Sidi (France), FAST (Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade) y WFTO (World FairTrade Organisation) ? Traducci?n en franc?s, ingl?s y espa?ol Programa completo disponible en la p?gina web. ? INAISE es una red internacional de organismos que tienen como objetivo el financiamiento de proyectos sociales y medioambientales. International Association of Investors in the Social Economy Rue d'Edimbourg 26, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 894 46 84, ww.inaise.org, inaise at inaise. org ? Contacto: Viviane Vandemeulebroucke, Coordinadora de la Red INAISE ? ?INAISE members join forces to help our Haitian member KNFP P Before printing, think about the environment? ?International Association of Investors in the Social Economy Rue d'Edimbourg 26 B-1050 Brussels Belgium Tel +32 2 894 46 84 Fax +32?2 894 46 83 ww.inaise.org inaise at inaise. org ? INAISE is a registered not for profit international association reg. number 456333728 ? __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: Visit Your Group MARKETPLACE Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now. Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center. Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests. Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6313 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 12 06:46:44 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 12:46:44 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: [Arthakranti] The Death of Capital - good read Message-ID: <589791.71307.qm@web27408.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Wed, 12/5/10, Narendra Khot wrote: From: Narendra Khot Subject: [Arthakranti] The Death of Capital - good read To: nvkhot at gmail.com Date: Wednesday, 12 May, 2010, 8:28 ? ? ? The Death of Capital By Michael E. Lewitt ? The Death of Capital Michael E. Lewitt Two years ago, John Mauldin was kind enough to publish my initial proposals for reforming the financial system. Entitled "How to Fix It," the April 2008 issue of The HCM Market Letter raised a lot of eyebrows and upset many established interests on Wall Street with its outspoken call for financial reform. Among the changes I called for were the following: Compensation reform to better align the interests of Wall Street executives with those of society at large. Requiring private equity firms and hedge funds to be registered with regulators. Taxing private equity partners' carried interests at ordinary tax rates instead of capital gains tax rates, and prohibiting private equity firms from going public. Sharply reducing the leverage of financial institutions (including hedge funds). Banning off-balance sheet vehicles such as Structured Investment Vehicles. Reining in quantitative trading strategies. Reinstituting the downtick rule with respect to short selling stocks. At the time these proposals were considered controversial; in retrospect it is clear that they were not aggressive enough. While many of these suggestions have been adopted or are in the process of being adopted, much more needs to be done to stabilize the financial system. Since the publication of that essay, I have written a new book that is being published by John Wiley & Sons this month. Entitled The Death of Capital: How Creative Policy Can Restore Stability, the book explores the origins of the 2008 financial crisis and expands the call for reform. In addition to the recommendations listed above, the book calls for additional regulatory changes including: Derivatives reform, with a preference for an outright ban on naked credit default swaps or, recognizing that such a ban is politically unrealistic, calling for such contracts to be listed on exchanges and requiring substantial capital commitments by their participants. A Tax on Speculation that would apply to the types of speculative activities that have so badly damaged the American economy, including naked credit default swaps, leveraged buyout, quantitative stock trading strategies and other stock and bond transactions. The book also takes an unvarnished look at the private equity industry, which has been a prime abuser of capital as it has diverted an inordinate amount of capital into unproductive uses while producing (at best) mediocre returns and charging unjustifiably exorbitant fees. The recent problems experienced by Goldman Sachs highlight just how far the financial system has lapsed from the days of gentlemanly capitalism. Change in itself is neither good nor bad ? it is an inevitable feature of human life and it must be managed. Change on Wall Street has by and large been managed poorly by being left to the most self-interested forces. My April 2008 essay began with a quote from Adam Smith that should be etched into the brains of every Wall Street CEO and included in the oath of office of every new member of Congress. The quote is from Adam Smith, who is best known as the author of the bible of capitalism, The Wealth of Nations, but who wrote an equally important book two decades earlier entitled The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith wrote the following: "This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect, persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." What Adam Smith pointed out more than two hundred years ago is equally true today ? our society, fed by the media, worships wealth at the expense of other values that are far more important to a cohesive and healthy society. The entire mission of The Wealth of Nations was to try to recognize man for what he is ? a social animal who is reliant on the good opinions of his neighbors ? and to develop the optimal economic system to harness that human essence for the good of all mankind. Smith believed that system was a free market, and history has by and large proven him correct. But the United States has strayed from a free market model to a system that privatizes gains and socializes losses. During the last two decades, the American economy has suffered from a series of legal, fiscal and monetary policies that have favored speculation over production. The result has been the financialization of the economy, which has been characterized in economic terms by an unhealthy growth in debt at all levels of the economy and in cultural terms by the monetization of all values. Entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were perfect examples of how the free market had been corrupted before the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis itself demonstrated, however, that the logic of the system required all large institutions to suffer from a similar flaw. Yet these flaws were not inevitable, even at the height of the crisis; they were deliberate political choices. While stakeholders of some institutions, such as Lehman Brothers, were wiped out, those of other firms were not and some were even made whole. The most egregious example of this was the handling of American International Group (AIG), the insurance giant that morphed itself into a giant hedge fund while enriching the officials responsible for some of the most ill-informed judgments in financial history. There was no reason for the government to handle the AIG failure in a manner that made whole foreign counterparties and Goldman Sachs; alternatives including offering a blanket credit guarantee to the insurance company that would have calmed markets and obviated the necessity of the company paying out one hundred cents on the dollar for its reckless insurance bets on synthetic mortgage obligations. While the result ? avoidance of the extinction-level- event that an AIG failure would have been for the financial system ? was the correct one, the means by which it was achieved furthered the agenda of socializing losses and privatizing gains and bred deep distrust in the government and the system. Much of the crisis could have been avoided had policymakers and investors operated under realistic assumptions about how markets and economies work. Several years ago, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan described the failure of interest rates to react in the manner he expected as a "conundrum." We now know that Mr. Greenspan was operating under a false set of assumptions about human nature, as well as a misguided understanding about how market participants behave. As noted in my book, had Mr. Greenspan been an acolyte of Hyman Minsky instead of Ayn Rand, he would have been less susceptible to such a fatal conceit. But beyond that, the real conundrum in modern markets is the continued reliance of investors and policymakers on two false mantras. The first is that markets are efficient; and the second is that investors are rational. Both assertions are so decidedly specious that one has to question both the sanity or the intelligence of those who cling to them. Yet these two bugaboos are supported by reams of academic research and much of the investment establishment! It is my contention that these delusions are why capital continues to be terminally mismanaged by the professional investment class. With few exceptions, professional investors in all asset classes have produced at best mediocre returns for their investors. There are exceptions, of course, but they are essentially of statistical insignificance. Private equity is one asset class that I pay particular attention to in my book, but the same criticism can be applied to virtually all asset managers. The reality is that most managers do a very poor job for their investors. This is not only because they cling to the false Gods of market efficiency and investor rationality; it is because they misunderstand the true nature of capital. Capital is not a thing or a category; capital is a living, breathing phenomenon. Capital is an expression of the human relationships that generate economic value. Just as these relationships are dynamic, so is capital. The most important attribute of capital as it functions in the real world is that it is a relationship; as such it has the capacity to change form. This is often described as its liquidity function. Capital is also a human construct; it is not something found in nature or subject to scientific laws, despite the misguided attempts of today's rocket scientists to claim that it possesses such qualities. Most importantly, capital is unstable. If capital were better understood for what it is, it could be better managed and regulated. Because capital is not properly understood, however, it is abused. And the consequences of that abuse are not theoretical ? they are human. Our ill-begotten economic policies have exacted an incalculable toll on the citizens of this country and around the world. Millions of people have lost their jobs and their homes. The official jobless rate is still around 10%, and the real jobless rate is closer to 20% when discouraged and underutilized workers are included. Economic hardship and the stresses of unemployment have led to the break-up of families and higher rates of addiction and suicide. At the end of last year, one in eight Americans was receiving part of his or her nutrition from food stamps, including one in four children. Communities around the country are being destroyed by house foreclosures, and the American heartland has been decimated by the failure of the American automobile industry. And our country is facing even greater challenges ahead in terms of caring for its aging population, dealing with unsustainable fiscal deficits, reducing the growing cost of healthcare, not to mention the incalculable costs of dealing with the inevitable but unknowable Black Swans that are bound to occur, such as Gulf oil spills, terrorist attacks, or nuclear proliferation. Only a sound financial system will place us in a position to deal with these challenges. The Death of Capital is intended to contribute to the discussion of how we achieve such a system. John F. Mauldin johnmauldin@ investorsinsight .com __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a new topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: Visit Your Group Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Wed May 12 07:25:54 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 12 May 2010 06:25:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Oil executives brace for second day of grilling - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.190.42 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- Oil executives brace for second day of grilling http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100512/tsc-oil-executives-brace-for-second-day-e123fef.html ============================================================ From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 12 08:50:22 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 07:50:22 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The Century Of Famine ( Global Net News) Message-ID: <001b01caf1e2$aae30cb0$00a92610$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Thanks to Trading Post Paul for this article. While it may not be enough to solve the problem, I again want to say that it will pay dividends for all of us to begin small tiered kitchen gardens outside of the back door, or on a patio, on a rooftop or anywhere else that a garden may be grown. And for this garden to be planted with the most nutritious of foods. Oil is not the only fertilizer and we must use our ingenuity to find ways of raising food in new and innovative ways. As I have mentioned previously, "humanure" will do the job. When I lived in Okinawa at the end of the Viet Nam war, we regularly went to the local market and bought foods that had been produced by the Okinawa farmers who took their "honey buckets" out every morning and used them to fertilize their fields. After purchasing these foods, we used a few drops of chlorine in water to wash them thoroughly, especially the ones we ate raw, e.g., lettuce, cabbage, etc. And none of us ever became sick in my family of four during the three years we lived there on the island. And, while we had access to the commissary where we could purchase the American foods that were shipped in, we liked eating the natural local foods. One can order a book on this subject -- Google for it. Thinking along these lines are things that will keep famine from the door. It is imperative that we change from a "living to eat" to an "eating to live" philosophy. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 10:02 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Century Of Famine The Century Of Famine By Peter Goodchild 10 May, 2010 http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild100510.htm Humanity has struggled to survive through the millennia in terms of balancing population size with food supply. The same is true now, but population numbers have been soaring for over a century. The limiting factor has been hidden, but this factor -- oil and natural gas, or petroleum -- is close to or beyond its peak extraction. Without ample, free-flowing petroleum, it will not be possible to support a population of several billion for long. Famine caused by petroleum supply failure alone will result in about 2.5 billion above-normal deaths before the year 2050; lost and averted births will amount to roughly an equal number. In terms of its effects on daily human life, the most significant aspect of fossil-fuel depletion will be the lack of food. ?Peak oil? is basically ?peak food.? Modern agriculture is highly dependent on fossil fuels for fertilizers (the Haber-Bosch process combines natural gas with atmospheric nitrogen to produce nitrogen fertilizer), pesticides, and the operation of machines for irrigation, harvesting, processing, and transportation. Without fossil fuels, modern methods of food production will disappear, and crop yields will be far less than at present. Crop yields are far lower in societies that do not have fossil fuels or modern machinery. We should therefore have no illusions that several billion humans can be fed by ?organic gardening? or anything else of that nature. The Green Revolution involved, among other things, the development of higher-yielding crops. These new varieties, however, could be grown only with large inputs of fertilizer and pesticides, all of which required fossil fuels. In essence, the Green Revolution was little more than the invention of a way to turn petroleum into food. Over the next few decades, therefore, there will be famine on a scale many times larger than ever before in human history. It is possible, of course, that warfare and plague will take their toll to a large extent before famine claims its victims. The distinctions, in any case, can never be absolute: often ?war + drought = famine? [3], especially in sub-Saharan Africa, but there are several other combinations of factors. Although, when discussing theories of famine, economists generally use the term ?neo-malthusian? in a derogatory manner, the coming famine will be very much a case of an imbalance between population and resources. The overwhelming cause of the imbalance and famine will be fossil-fuel depletion, not government policy (as in the days of Stalin or Mao), warfare, ethnic discrimination, bad weather, poor methods of distribution, inadequate transportation, livestock diseases, or any of the other variables that have often turned mere hunger into genuine starvation. The increase in the world?s population has followed a simple curve: from about 1.7 billion in 1900 to about 6.1 billion in 2000. A quick glance at a chart of world population growth, on a broader time scale, shows a line that runs almost horizontally for thousands of years, and then makes an almost vertical ascent as it approaches the present. That is not just an amusing curiosity. It is a shocking fact that should have awakened humanity to the realization that something is dreadfully wrong. Mankind is always prey to its own ?exuberance,? to use Catton?s term [2]. That has certainly been true of population growth. In many cultures, ?Do you have any children?? or, ?How many children do you have?? is a form of greeting or civility almost equivalent to ?How do you do?? or, ?Nice to meet you.? World population growth, nevertheless, has always been ecologically hazardous. The destruction of the environment reaches back into the invisible past, and the ruination of land, sea, and sky has been well described if not well heeded. But what is even less frequently noted is that with every increase in human numbers we are only barely able to keep up with the demand: providing all those people with food and water has not been easy. We are always pushing ourselves to the limits of Earth?s ability to hold us. Even that is an understatement. No matter how much we depleted our resources, there was always the sense that we could somehow ?get by.? But in the late twentieth century we stopped getting by. It is important to differentiate between production in an ?absolute? sense and production ?per capita.? Although oil production, in ?absolute? numbers, kept climbing ? only to decline in the early twenty-first century ? what was ignored was that although that ?absolute? production was climbing, the production ?per capita? reached its peak in 1979 [1]. The unequal distribution of resources plays a part, of course. The average inhabitant of the United States consumes far more than the average inhabitant of India or China. Nevertheless, if all the world?s resources were evenly distributed, the result would only be universal poverty. It is the totals and the averages of resources that we must deal with in order to determine the totals and averages of results. For example, if all of the world?s arable land were distributed evenly, in the absence of mechanized agriculture each person on the planet would have an inadequate amount of farmland for survival: distribution would have accomplished very little. We were always scraping the edges of the earth, but we are now entering a far more dangerous era. The main point to keep in mind, however, is that throughout the twentieth century, oil production and human population were so closely integrated that every barrel of oil had an effect on human numbers. While population has been going up, so has oil production. Future excess mortality can therefore be determined -- at least in a rough-and-ready manner -- by the fact that in modern industrial society it is oil supply that determines how many people can be fed. An increase in oil production leads to an increase in population, and a decrease in oil production leads to a decrease in population. [editor?s note: this is why hopes for a technofix of renewable energy ? almost always only for electricity -- is far off base regarding the huge present population?s need to eat.] In round numbers, global oil production in the year 2008 was 30 billion barrels, and the population was 7 billion. The consensus is that in the year 2050 oil production will be about 2 billion barrels. The same amount of oil production occurred in the year 1930, when the population was 2 billion. The population in 2050 will therefore be about the same as in 1930: 2 billion. The difference between 7 billion people and 2 billion is 5 billion, which will therefore be the total number of famine deaths and lost or averted births for that period. We can also determine the annual number of famine deaths and lost or averted births. From 2008 to 2050 is 42 years. The average annual difference in population is therefore 5 billion divided by 42, which is about 120 million. It is quite possible, however, that the decline in population will not exactly parallel the decline in oil. In other words, the peak of the population curve may well be a few years later than the peak of the oil curve. People might simply live with less oil per capita for a few decades, i.e. they will just sink further into poverty, with greater problems of malnutrition. In fact, as long ago as 1972, the first edition of The Limits to Growth in its Figure 35, ?World Model Standard Run,? showed a 40-year gap between the peak production of food per capita and the peak of population [7]. Many of those annual 120 million will not actually be deaths; famine will cause a lowering of the birth rate. This will sometimes happen voluntarily, as people realize they lack the resources to raise children, or it will happen involuntarily when famine and general ill health result in infertility [4]. In most famines the number of deaths from starvation or from starvation-induced disease is very roughly the same as the number of lost or averted births [3, 4]. In Ireland?s nineteenth-century famine, for example, the number of famine deaths was 1.3 million, whereas the number of lost births was 0.4 million. The number of famine deaths during China?s Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) was perhaps 30 million, and the number of lost births was perhaps 33 million. The ?normal,? non-famine-related, birth and death rates are not incorporated into the above future population figures, since for most of pre-industrial human history the sum of the two ? i.e. the growth rate ? has been nearly zero. If not for the problem of resource-depletion, in other words, the future birth rate and death rate would be nearly identical, as they were in pre-industrial times. And there is no question that the future will mean a return to the ?pre-industrial.? Nevertheless, it will often be hard to separate ?famine deaths? from a rather broad category of ?other excess deaths.? War, disease, global warming, topsoil deterioration, and other factors will have unforeseeable effects of their own. Considering the unusual duration of the coming famine, and with Leningrad [5] as one of many precursors, cannibalism may be significant; to what extent should this be included in a calculation of ?famine deaths?? It is probably safe to say, however, that an unusually large decline in the population of a country will be the most significant indicator that this predicted famine has in fact arrived. These figures obliterate all previous estimates of future population growth. Instead of a steady rise over the course of this century, as generally predicted, there will be a clash of the two giant forces of overpopulation and oil depletion, followed by a precipitous ride into the unknown future. If the above figures are fairly accurate, we are ill-prepared for the next few years. The problem of oil depletion turns out to be something other than a bit of macabre speculation for people of the distant future to deal with, but rather a sudden catastrophe that will only be studied dispassionately long after the event itself has occurred. Doomsday will be upon us before we have time to look at it carefully. The world has certainly known some terrible famines in the past, of course. In recent centuries, one of the worst was that of North China in 1876-79, when between 9 and 13 million died, but India had a famine at the same time, with perhaps 5 million deaths. The Soviet Union had famine deaths of about 5 million in 1932-34, purely because of political policies. The worst famine in history was that of China?s Great Leap Forward, 1958-61, when perhaps 30 million died, as mentioned above. A close analogy to ?petroleum famine? may be Ireland?s potato famine of the 1840s, since ? like petroleum ? it was a single commodity that caused such devastation [6]. The response of the British government at the time can be summarized as a jumble of incompetence, frustration, and indecision, if not outright genocide. ?There is such a tendency to exaggeration and inaccuracy in Irish reports that delay in acting on them is always desirable,? wrote Sir Robert Peel in 1845. By 1847 the description had changed: ?Bodies half-eaten by rats were an ordinary sight; ?two dogs were shot while tearing a body to pieces.?? The news of the coming famine might not be announced with sufficient clarity. Famines tend to be back-page news nowadays, perhaps for the very reason that they are too common to be worth mentioning. Although ? Gr?da speaks of ?making famine history? [6], the reality is that between 70 and 80 million people died of famine in the twentieth century, far more than in any previous century [4]. The above predictions can be nothing more than approximate, of course, but even the most elaborate mathematics will not entirely help us to deal with the great number of interacting factors. We need to swing toward a more pessimistic figure for humanity?s future if we include the effects of war, disease, and so on. The most serious negative factor will be largely sociological: To what extent can the oil industry maintain the advanced technology required for drilling ever-deeper wells in ever-more-remote places, when that industry will be struggling to survive in a milieu of social chaos? Intricate division of labor, large-scale government, and high-level education will no longer exist. On the other hand, there are elements of optimism that may need to be plugged in. For one thing, there is what might be called the ?inertia factor?: the planet Earth is so big that even the most catastrophic events take time for their ripples to finish spreading. An asteroid fragment 10 kilometers wide hit eastern Mexico 65 million years ago, but enough of our distant ancestors survived that we ourselves are alive today to tell the story. Somewhat related, among optimistic factors, is the sheer tenacity of the human species: we are intelligent social creatures living at the top of the food chain, in the manner of wolves, yet we outnumber wolves worldwide by about a million to one; we are as populous as rats or mice. We can outrace a horse over long distances. Even with Stone-Age technology, we can inhabit almost every environment on Earth, even if most of the required survival skills have been forgotten. Specifically, we must consider the fact that neither geography nor population is homogeneous. All over the world, there are forgotten pockets of habitable land, much of it abandoned in the modern transition to urbanization, for the ironic reason that city dwellers regarded rural life as too difficult, as they traded their peasant smocks for factory overalls. There are still areas of the planet?s surface that are sparsely occupied although they are habitable or could be made so, to the extent that many rural areas have had a decline in population that is absolute, i.e. not merely relative to another place or time. By careful calculation, therefore, there will be survivors. Over the next few years, human ingenuity must be devoted to an understanding of these geographic and demographic matters, so that at least a few can escape the tribulation. Neither the present nor future generations should have to say, ?We were never warned.? REFERENCES: 1. BP Global Statistical Review of World Energy. Annual. http://www.bp.com/statisticalreview 2. Catton, William R., Jr. Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1982. 3. Devereux, Stephen. ?Famine in the Twentieth Century.? IDS Working Paper 105. www.dse.unifi.it/sviluppo/doc/WP105.pdf 4. ? Gr?da, Cormac. ?Making Famine History.? Journal of Economic Literature, March 2007. http://www.ucd.ie/economics/research/papers/2006/WP06.10.pdf 5. Salisbury, Harrison E. The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2003. 6. Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1962. 7. Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books, 1972. World oil and population graph courtesy Paul Chefurka, paulchefurka.ca May 2007 * * * * * Peter Goodchild is the author of Survival Skills of the North American Indians, published by Chicago Review Press. His email address is odonatus [at] live.com. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 12 09:34:00 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 08:34:00 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Phil Crosby Jr. Here! - Msg. from Tony Neff Message-ID: <006101caf1e8$cbbf2990$633d7cb0$@net> Tony, thanks much for the comments. With love and in gratitude for all that you do here in the Back Country to bring about health, wellness and peace. m r From: Tony Neff [mailto:tony at backcountrymessenger.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 9:30 AM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: Re: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! - Msg. from Phil. The Carlos Santana story was enlightening and the Phil Crosby music sounds like a blast. I too enjoy the uplifting music from our past when time were hard for everyone. Oddly we grew too much prosperity only to see the downside again. Greed is the culprit that brought the house of cards down. Happy days young lady I will be in touch again. Sincerely, Tony Neff Back Country Messenger PO Box 71 Campo, CA 91906 Cell: (619) 933-3756 Office/Message: (619) 933-3789 Website: www.backcountrymessenger.com Email: tony at backcountrymessenger.com _____ From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 9:46 PM To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: FW: Re: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! - Msg. from Phil. Thanks again, Phil. This sounds wonderful. Memories of what many of feel were "the good old days" before so much corruption hit the fan. From: phil cross [mailto:philcross2 at yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 8:39 PM To: mary rose Subject: [SPAM]Re: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Actually, Mary, so many of the great songs of the early twentieth century had a fantastic positive message. Some as a balm to the Not-so-Great Depression, and some just as a reflection of the burgeoning hopefulness of the free and sophisticated cities that gave artists of the day a beautiful, new potential! Some of the songs I will be singing are' 'Accentuate the Positive', 'Pennies From Heaven', 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams', 'When youre Smiling', and 'Swinging on a Star'! So, as you've suggested, I think this show may fall into the realm of the spiritually good! Yaay! phil _____ From: mary rose To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Sat, May 8, 2010 6:07:58 PM Subject: FW: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Hi Everyone, Phil Crosby, Jr. is a newer member of the Co-learner's list and has sent this invitation to come see his new show. For more information on Phil, http://www.philcrosby.com/main/index.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=15&Itemid=28 So happy to introduce you Phil, and looking forward to hearing some of your music soon. Best of luck to you in this new endeavor. And, I encourage those in the L.A. area to get over to Tuhunga Blvd. and Vitello's in Studio City for this event. While I am not 100% sure, am feeling that some of your "golden age" songs may fall into the "healing" category. With love and appreciation for all that you do, Phil. Let those of us out of the area know when recordings might be available. Mary Rose ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: phil cross Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:28 PM Subject: Phil Crosby Jr. Here! Surprise! You have been invited to the triumphant return (for some of you) to the stage of Phil!! On June 6th he will be performing a sneak preview of his new show 'Finding My Way' featuring an 8 piece band playing fantastic arrangements of songs from the golden age of popular song and immortalized by the great singers who most influenced him! It will be a part cabaret, part big band swing style showcase with story and song! He will be telling tales of yore concerning his Grandfather and his family and the great singers and songwriters who were part their lives! This is Phil as you've never seen him. With great Big Band arrangements by Chris Glik of songs, and in the styles, that have most inspired Phil in his 6 years of singing Jazz! Those of you that have not seen him perform recently WILL be surprised! All this will be happening at; Vitello's 4349 Tujunga Avenue Studio City, CA 91604-2752 (818) 769-0905 Cover charge is $15 but Phil will discount that to $10 for those who rsvp for the guestlist Showtime 8pm -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.437 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2867 - Release Date: 05/11/10 06:26:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 12 13:59:56 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 12:59:56 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Mushrooms Save The World? Message-ID: <00cf01caf20d$ec648df0$c52da9d0$@net> Here is some vital information on food in the form of mushrooms from David Woolf. I have found David's information to be far out in front of most other nutritionists. So, even if you are not one to contemplate eating raw food, I recommend taking a look at what he sends out. The life you save may be your own. M R From: David Wolfe [mailto:Dave at longevitynowprogram.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 6:16 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Mushrooms Save The World? In only 5 short days. .YOU will gain exclusive insiders access to the limited release of the new Longevity Conference 1.0 DVD and Webcast HOURS before everyone else! More on that later. But first, I've got something to show you about mushrooms that is truly magical. :-D It's a 15 minute clip of Paul Stamets that reveals the latest discoveries in the mushroom kingdom that have shaken the foundation of fungi science forever. (Hint - We're talking about the discovery of 'magic' mushrooms that make decisions, live in water, and even glow in the dark.) Now, this clip from the Longevity Conference has NEVER been released on the internet before. And.guess what? YOU get to see it FIRST! ==> Watch this new video by clicking here now <== Have The Best Day Ever, David Wolfe P.S. If you missed the last video of Dr. Mercola revealing 6 things your doctor isn't telling you... Watch The Dr. Mercola Video Now This message was sent from David Wolfe to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: leonard foley, 9 Carlito Rd NM , Sante Fe, NM 87508. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! Manage your subscription -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 12 15:38:26 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 14:38:26 -0700 Subject: [GJM] The Lost Chords Found: Article by Dr. Valerie V. Hunt Message-ID: <00e201caf21b$b30f17b0$192d4710$@net> Since I have written quite a bit about subtle energy vibrations, the speed at which they vibrate, and the colors these frequencies reveal themselves as, I thought those on the Co-learner's list might like to read more about this. THE LOST CHORDS FOUND http://www.wellnessgoods.com/lostchordsfound.asp by Dr. Valerie V. Hunt http://www.wellnessgoods.com/images/lostch4.gifThe human energy field both permeates the entire body and radiates to the outside, inches to feet beyond the body's surface. This field has been validated in scientific laboratories as light emissions using photometers and color filters, as Dr. Valerie Hunt describes in her book Infinite Mind. During a research that harnessed the complex wave forms and resonance that connect us to our source, Dr. Valerie Hunt found that the human energy field vibrations were as much as 1000 times higher frequency than the electrical signals of nerve and muscle, C Rassouli with continuous, dynamic modulation, unlike the pulsating signals of the nervous system. * These signals were recorded from the body's surface using special high frequency instruments with sensors placed over selected spots on the joints and the hollow areas of the trunk, abdomen and head. * To determine the color correlated with these signals, Dr. Hunt had eight different aura readers observe the field around the body of the subjects, while the instruments recorded the signals. * The resulting data were submitted to Fourier frequency analysis to determine the frequency spectrum of each color. * Wave shape comparison differentiated the colors, and voice spectrogram analytic procedures further tested their purity. The resulting vibrations were in the audible range of frequencies, and when amplified they could be easily heard and differentiated. Even with the intensity lowered to a subliminal sound, they were still felt in the soft body tissue and the hollow areas of the head, spine, chest and abdomen. The effects of these vibrations (real and unaltered except for amplification to the audible range) are universal and profound, yet subtle and do not require loudness. The vibrations are believed to come from the atomic and subatomic molecular activity of the human cells: quantum physics has described that all matter, which occupies space, contains potential atomic energy that is released in small quantities as electrons spin off. An interesting characteristic about energy emission from any objects is that it stays somewhat organized into fields: it has its own integrity and does not randomly dissipate. However, living substances emit a higher frequency and with more dynamic pattern changes than inert substances. Body vibrations are like communal music, with the bodies being both transmitters and receivers of sounds. The sounds of the human energy field are signals broadcast from the entire body and are referent sounds perceived simultaneously with all outer world sounds. Human energy field vibrations are not pure colors: the colors of the field change rapidly based upon our will and our needs, so that at any given time there may be only one or a few colors manifested. Generally individuals have a unique, consistent pattern of limited colors and even more often, these colors are mixed and unclear, coming from a narrow range of vibrations. Only a person in peak health and performance showed the presence of all the colors of the human spectrum, clear and distinct. During her research Dr. Hunt designed many situations to understand the specific meaning of the five different vibrational spectrums, and their profound emotional, psychological and behavioral effects. To read the rest of this article: http://www.wellnessgoods.com/lostchordsfound.asp Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 31603 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 8109 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 12 16:02:07 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 15:02:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] What is Bioscalar Energy? Message-ID: <00fb01caf21f$01139910$033acb30$@net> More on Energy by Dr. Valerie Hunt WHAT IS BIOSCALAR ENERGY C 2009 Valerie V. Hunt http://valerievhunt.com/ValerieVHunt.com/Valerie_Hunt_Publications.html Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 13 13:54:48 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 12:54:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Another way to end support for offshore drilling Message-ID: <00ae01caf2d6$656436b0$302ca410$@net> From: Mother Jones [mailto:do_not_reply at motherjones.com] Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 6:00 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Another way to end support for offshore drilling Mother Jones thought you might be interested in this message from CREDO Mobile. CREDO Mobile Does your phone company fund pro-drilling politicians? 25% off your monthly service fee for 12 months plus:* ? Contract buyout credit ? Number portability ? Great selection of phones ? Real green values ( read more) The BlackBerry Curve is a full-featured smartphone with integrated solutions for work and personal email, plus web browsing, a video camera, and much more. learn more As a Mother Jones reader, you understand the urgency of moving our nation toward clean energy and away from destructive oil drilling. But did you know that your mobile phone company may be funding politicians working against your green values? Make the switch to the phone company that cares about the planet as much as you do: CREDO Mobile. Since 2000, AT&T has given more than $300,000 to the election campaigns of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who stated the BP oil spill may be "an act of God." And both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have contributed to Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who urged President Obama to continue to expand offshore oil drilling more than a week after the devastating oil rig explosion. There is another choice: CREDO Mobile, America's only progressive phone company. CREDO supports an end to offshore oil drilling. Our members have helped shut down over 65 dirty coal power plants. And since 1985 CREDO has donated over $65 million to progressive nonprofits like Rainforest Action Network, Planned Parenthood, Doctors Without Borders and the ACLU. So take a look at your last phone bill, and think about where your money is going. Then think about CREDO Mobile. Click here or call 866.513.8670 to join now. (Mention special offer code 500566.) Offer expires May 31, 2010. 10% off your monthly fee for 24 months. HTC Hero with Google: Android-powered smartphone with e-mail, apps and media. Be the first to know when the HTC Hero is available for CREDO Mobile - sign up now. unlimited voice plans starting at only $69.99 for individual plans. _____ Rachel F. "Before I knew about CREDO, I was giving close to a thousand dollars a year to an undeserving, multi-billion-dollar corporation. But then I found out that CREDO's plans offered were very reasonably priced, I would in fact save money by switching and that CREDO would buy out my contract! I was amazed at how simple they made it. I never thought I would belong to a cell phone company that I would enjoy giving my money to. I would much rather support a company that stands for progressive change, than a company that stands for profits and greed." ? Rachel F., CREDO Mobile member _____ Join us on Facebook Share this on Facebook * With two-year CREDO Mobile service agreement. Offer subject to credit qualification. Contract buyout credit: We will credit your CREDO Mobile account (up to $200 for each line, up to 3 lines) 30 days after we receive a copy of your prior carrier's termination fee charges; details to follow by mail. 25% discount applies to monthly voice fee only. ? Sprint is the network provider only; your service is handled exclusively by CREDO Mobile, and all representations regarding issue advocacy, contributions and donations to nonprofits apply to CREDO Mobile only. Sprint is a trademark of Sprint Nextel. BlackBerry?, RIM?, Research In Motion?, SureType?, SurePress? and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. AT&T is a registered trademark of AT&T Intellectual Property and is not associated with CREDO. Verizon Wireless is a trademark of Verizon Trademark Services, LLC and is not associated with CREDO. credomobile.com | workingassets.com | credoaction.com _____ This message was sent to maryrose333 at att.net. To stop receiving Mother Jones' Offers, or to unsubscribe from all Mother Jones email newsletters, click here . MOTHERJONES.COM Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 Powered By Convio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 13 15:54:34 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 14:54:34 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Can You Still Eat Shrimp From the Gulf? Message-ID: <000701caf2e7$1c63a520$552aef60$@net> From: Mother Jones Econundrums [mailto:do_not_reply at motherjones.com] Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 3:01 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Can You Still Eat Shrimp From the Gulf? ECONUNDRUMS YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL DILEMMAS SOLVED MOTHER JONES May 7, 2010 THIS WEEK'S CONUNDRUM Can You Still Eat Shrimp From the Gulf? A few months back, Cactus , one of my favorite local burrito places, announced that from now on, it would begin serving sustainably caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. I was impressed that this scrappy little local taqueria had resisted the temptation of ridiculously cheap imported shrimp: 90 percent of all shrimp consumed in the US is imported from notoriously ecologically disastrous farms in Asia. (Red Lobster Endless Shrimp, I'm looking at you.) But last week I noticed a new sign up: Cactus' shrimp supplier was reassuring customers that the oil spill in the Gulf hadn't affected the shrimp, that so far they were perfectly safe to eat. I was skeptical: Oil is nasty stuff. Which got me wondering: For the time being, wouldn't it be safer to stay away from Gulf shrimp, at least until the oil spill is under control? The answer, and more shrimp tips, are here. [READ MORE] MORE FROM MOJO After Chernobyl Radiation checkpoints. Contaminated mushrooms. In this photoessay, you'll meet the families who chose to stay. [READ MORE] MORE ENVIRONMENTAL & HEALTH COVERAGE Can You Eat Oil-Slick Oysters? A biologist explains exactly how oysters process the slimy stuff that's currently floating on top of the Gulf. [READ MORE] Will Obama Put the Freeze on Arctic Drilling? The Obama administration put the brakes on drilling expansion last week as the true scope of disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was becoming clear. And on Thursday, the Department of Interior called off plans to lease areas off the coast of Virginia to new oil and gas production. But how about in the Arctic? [READ MORE] Mother Jones MOST POPULAR * Why Didn't Obama Back Busting Up Big Banks? * The Man Behind Arizona's Immigration Law * WorldNet Daily's Latest Snub * We're Still at War: Photo of the Day for May 5, 2010 MOST ACTIVE DISCUSSION Is Steel-Cut Oatmeal Really Better? Steel-cut oatmeal is expensive. And time consuming. So what if it's not actually healthier? [READ MORE] Follow MoJo's environmental coverage on Twitter Read the Blue Marble Want more environmental coverage from Mother Jones? Subscribe to the magazine for just $10/year by clicking here ! Mother Jones Hi. Thanks for signing up for Mother Jones' Econundrums newsletter. Wait, that was your cat? Smart cat! If you don't want to get Econundrums, or to make changes to your subscription, click here . And lock up the cat. MOTHERJONES.COM Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 Mother Jones Powered By Convio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 13 16:05:11 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 15:05:11 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Important Update - The Orion Project Message-ID: <000c01caf2e8$997d7170$cc785450$@net> This is a familiar story as there are those who will go to any lengths to keep new technology out of the market in order that their inferior products remain profitable. Meanwhile the rest of us will suffer as a result of their duplicity. How to end the 'reign of terror' under which we live today is the question of the day. From: The Orion Project [mailto:info at theorionproject.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of The Orion Project Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 2:47 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Important Update - The Orion Project The Orion Project Non-Profit IMPORTANT UPDATE - THE ORION PROJECT May 13, 2010 For the past two years, The Orion Project has worked to raise funds to build a facility where we can bring scientists and inventors together in a peaceful type of Manhattan Project for energy - to develop new sources of energy that will get us off the fossil fuel economy. We have also worked to identify scientists and inventors capable of this work. For the past hundred years, scientists such as Nicola Tesla have worked on such devices. The fact that many have tried, and we are still using predominantly fossil fuels - the same fuels used in the 1800s - can be illustrated by our recent experience. We reported last December that we had under contract a very talented scientist who wanted to work with us. Because he still is doing work for a private company that is linked to the Intelligence Community, he preferred working with his identity concealed. A side note is that he had agreed to work with us in the fall of 2008. At that time, he met with the Board of Directors and took a contract home to read and sign, but called us within three days saying that he was being deployed abroad for fifteen months. We heard nothing else from him until a year later - precisely after Dr. Greer publicly disclosed the energy briefing he had put together for President Obama. He resurfaced and said that he wanted to work with us to develop new energy technologies. He met with the Board of Directors again. He assured us that he was cleared by his "shepherds" in the Intelligence Community to work with us to build advanced energy systems, but he was not allowed to work on advanced propulsion systems - that is, he could build systems to power our houses and businesses, but he would not be allowed to reproduce the advanced propulsion systems he has developed in the past. We spent a long weekend with him and agreed upon a system he described that would be akin to a Tesla-type high-voltage system that would extract energy out of the Earth's energy field. It could run twenty-four hours a day, independent of solar energy or wind, and be more cost-effective, as well as non-polluting. This scientist also described three more technologies he could and would develop for us. He and his wife agreed that they wanted to work with us and would move to Virginia when we could fund a facility. They presented a timeline for completion of the first device, with work on the other devices to follow after that. Given his credentials and independent high-level confirmation from scientists who had reproduced his work, we were excited to move forward with this particular scientist. Things went well and were very positive for the first couple of months. He contacted Dr. Bravo several times a week to say he was working on the project and was quite excited about it, although he apologized that the work was going more slowly than he had hoped. In mid-March, there was a sudden change. He called Dr. Bravo to say that he was receiving threats from "foreign nationals" that had to do with his other job obligations. He said that phone calls with the Orion Project Board had been recorded and "played back" to him. He said there was no problem with us (The Orion Project) - in fact, several times over the past couple of months, he reiterated that his handlers in the Intelligence Community had checked us out and okayed our working together. He confirmed to Dr. Bravo that he planned to finish the device he was working on and come to work with us in the future. But then, over a course of six days, he changed his stance from "Yes, I'm anxious and excited about working with you guys" to "No, I can't work with you." Dr. Bravo had multiple conversations with him during that period. He said several people who worked in "security" visited him and they gave him disturbing information. One of these he identified (and named) was a past Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Apparently, he was getting disinformation - because he had previously mentioned multiple times that we had been thoroughly checked out by the Intelligence Community before he was allowed to sign a contract with us. Nothing had changed about us in the past few months. Hence, someone, somewhere must have decided that he indeed was capable of producing a paradigm-changing device, and The Orion Project was the group that could get it out to the world - and wanted that work to stop. This is called oppositional research or "oppo research", and it consists of distorting truth or telling absolute lies meant to deceive. One absurd statement he made is that he was told that we were teaching terrorists how to explode weapons of mass destruction by using their minds. Just after this occurred, three more scientists who had agreed to work with us - with impeccable credentials and experience in the aerospace industry, a major government laboratory and military projects - were all provided with disinformation or threatened in some way to keep them from working with us. This is an astonishing example of how a group who wishes to retain power - this group called "Majestic" - keeps its grip on the world, maintaining the fossil fuel economy with its multi-trillion dollar derivatives value. Coal-mine shafts collapse worldwide and kill many, vast amounts of oil continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, while many in the world continue without basic energy resources. We must have been on the right track for these beasts to circle their wagons with illegal wire-tapping of our conversations, interference with a legal contract, and bringing in a powerful former CIA director to intimidate and kill this initiative. Further, since we started The Orion Project, Dr. Greer has received multiple death threats and repeatedly been stalked. This has accelerated in the last year. There are FBI files open on this as well as local law enforcement files. Dr. Greer's computer was hacked into by one of the most lethal programs a criminal can use. One of our chief engineers who is volunteering with The Orion Project had his email hacked into. A specific email from an inventor with a sensitive document that involved a Department of Defense memo and the inventor's contact information was deleted from his inbox - these were the only things tampered with. So, what can we do in the face of these highly orchestrated suppression efforts? We have, in the last couple of weeks, created a very extensive file (including both audio and paper documents) that contains information relating to these events. In the event that anything happens to any of us (injury, false legal charges, disappearance, death), and we cannot go forward, copies of this information will be released to the public. The file includes every bit of information about the scientists who can do this work and are not allowed to as well as very reliable evidence and information about those involved in the suppression - names, addresses, phone numbers, specific details of actions. We have contacts who can get it to the President, as well as the highest people in the media and Hollywood. And it will be released to you. We feel this is the best strategic step we can take because we cannot enter into protracted legal battles with these individuals with limitless money and power. Our one weapon - the best one we could have - is the truth, and the documentation we have of the truth. Our goal is not to get into endless fights with these corrupt individuals; we just want to give humanity a chance to move forward with earth-saving, life-saving technologies. We have not raised the three million dollars we had hoped for to open a laboratory and invest in equipment and staff. We have only received enough to provide modest grants to people working on their own. With no facility, people who are senior scientists and engineers cannot quit their day jobs without assurance that we have a place to bring them and give them salaries. We have concluded at this point that people working on their own without collaborative support or project management are not going to be able to do this work successfully. If there is anyone who has a fully operational technology, please go the www.theorionproject.org and review the protocol we have for moving forward. Of course, we will sign non-disclosure agreements. We have some very qualified engineers who understand the complexity and the urgency of the situation. Dr. Greer, Dr. Loder, Dr. Bravo, and these engineers are volunteering their time and energy. None of us has ever taken a salary or any compensation for our efforts solely because we believe in what we are doing. So, if you know anyone or any group who has a legitimate technology and they are willing to cooperate transparently and honestly with the testing and reproduction of it so that it can be verified and shown to be legitimate, they are welcome to contact us. With any technology, it is crucial to follow the scientific method of evaluation. There are inventors who say they have technologies that work, but they do not know how they work. Over the years, Dr. Greer has uncovered many frauds. An example has to do with one technology that Dr. Greer and Dr. Loder were called to evaluate. This was brought from another country and was actually a circuit embedded in a plastic resin that appeared to be pulling energy from the zero point or ether. The late Eugene Mallove, PhD (MIT - he is the scientist who blew the whistle on the distortion of cold fusion data and the coverup) was also involved in this evaluation. It turned out that this technology was actually a clever circuit that was tricking the meters and causing what is known as a power phase angle shift (the electronics people know what this means), but the bottom line is that many people had sunk money into this, and it was a clever fraud. This is why we require transparency. We are professionals. We have very professional engineers. We do not wish to be involved in a sleight of hand trick. We also cannot at this time fund people's ideas. We have come to the realization that in order to get this work done, we must set up a secure lab, properly equipped with scientific research equipment and a professional scientific staff. We are also in the process of completing a professional proposal for funding. The individual writing it is first-rate and highly qualified. We have an extensive amount of research and information in this proposal that we believe will make it the best proposal put forward in the new energy field. We will make this proposal available to foundations. We have always realized that adequately outfitting a lab and bringing in the best talent will require millions of dollars. Although we have just endured the intimidation of these scientists (reported above), several more excellent scientists stand ready to work with us. So, if you are a personal point of contact to someone you think would be interested in funding really new energy sources, please feel free to contact us. It has been a very trying two years, culminating in the recent events we have just reported. Yet we see the good future that is possible for humanity. We want to thank the many amazing people throughout the world who have supported our efforts and continue to support us. Thank you, The Board of Directors of The Orion Project [Permanent Link] 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 dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 14 03:12:29 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 14 May 2010 09:12:29 +0000 Subject: [GJM] New austerity for Portugal; markets calmer  - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 217.12.6.88 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- New austerity for Portugal; markets calmer?? http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100513/tts-uk-eurozone-ca02f96.html ============================================================ From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 14 06:38:02 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 12:38:02 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Big Finance and the Greek Drama Message-ID: <391114.91008.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> About Blogger Bios Partners Follow Me: Twitter Facebook Grab This RSS Feed TripleCrisis Global Perspectives on Finance, Development, and Environment Big Finance and the Greek Drama C.P. Chandrasekhar The Financial Times reports that banks in Europe have appealed to the European Central Bank to become a ?buyer of last resort? of eurozone government bonds, to prevent another financial crisis. Though the European Central Bank (ECB) is yet to take a decision on the matter, the option has not been ruled out. The ECB is also planning on launching a loan facility which will offer funds to the tune of ?600 billion to banks at a one per cent rate of interest to tide over the current funds crunch. If true, these moves reflect an effort to provide cheap liquidity and take over currently doubtful (sovereign) assets, in order to keep credit moving. That is, the authorities concerned want to do in Greece precisely what was done during the 2008 crisis to banks overexposed to opaque assets that turned toxic. The argument then was that the presence of these assets had frozen the credit pipe, and if the flow was not restored the real economy would experience seizure. To prevent that, the government and the monetary authority should take over doubtful assets, pump in cheap liquidity and buy into bank equity. This time too, the reason being offered is that Greece could be the world?s new Lehman, inasmuch as its default could damage systemically important banks. Such concern is not surprising. Barclays Capital has estimated that French and German banks and insurance groups hold close to ?80 billion in Greek sovereign debt. Besides, there is substantial exposure to private Greek debt of various kinds, which is also in threat of default if the economy slips. Many of the banks exposed heavily to Greece are international giants and their collapse would have repercussions across the globe. Therefore, the desire to bail-out the banks seems perfectly reasonable. There are, however, two differences between the current conjuncture and that which preceded the 2008-09 bailout. First, the assets under question today are sovereign debts. With governments having the right to tax and the ability to persuade lenders to restructure debt, dealing with sovereign assets should be easier than handling privately generated toxic junk. So rushing in with public money to bail out banks may not be the easy option. Second, in 2008-09, there was a fair degree of consensus that the banks that were being bailed out were among those responsible for the crisis. So the bailout was presented as an unavoidable temporary measure that would have to precede initiatives to change the nature of the banking system. In the case of the current ?crisis?, the banks are not being seen as responsible. The fact that the banks had willingly lent huge sums to governments that were supposedly profligate is hardly seen as reflective of bad judgement. And the fact that they were otherwise overexposed in countries that were unstable is ignored. So in the current round of discussions on bailing out the banks, the issue of restructuring the banking system is missing. The argument seems to be that the banks should not be allowed to go under for doing their job, just because their services were being misused by governments. For developing countries that have been through a series of debt and financial crises, especially since the Mexican debt crisis of 1982, this attitude towards the banks is not new. Even since the late 1970s, global banks have reached out to emerging markets in search of new investment avenues and pushed credit that encouraged the latter to over-borrow. But whenever a developing country found that it was caught in a debt trap, the adjustment had to be only on the borrower?s side, barring a few exceptional cases. The banks were bailed out and the country concerned was burdened with austerity measures that set back growth. Greece is seeing a repeat of that experience. If the initiatives under consideration are indeed implemented the banks are bound to laugh their way back to their own vaults. It is now not news that the easy liquidity offered during the 2008-09 bailout was used to borrow cheap and invest in ventures that were as risky as the investments that generated the crisis. That speculative surge yielded the expected results and the profits of some banks swelled. This drama is likely to be repeated, with the liquidity from the ECB and elsewhere being used to invest in a similar basket of assets, including, perhaps, new Greek debt placed at extremely high interest rates! SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Big Finance and the Greek Drama", url: "http://triplecrisis.com/big-finance-and-the-greek-drama/" }); ShareThis May 11, 2010 | C.P. Chandrasekhar | Tags: development, finance, financial crisis, foreign investment| 1 Comment ? One Response to ?Big Finance and the Greek Drama? Robert Searle says: May 14, 2010 at 7:34 am Is it any suprise that banks can over-lend when they can create new repayable money (ie. loans) out of thin air?.and ultimately, get bailed out? In other words, so-called credit creation. Though this may be an over-simplistic point in the eyes of economists?the simple fact remains that most of the money supply of the world is created ex nihilo but as a debt by banks with interest ofcourse!! Do we, or can we ever think of the moral implications of this for society, and our world?or is that asking too much? ?Though it is not expressed too clearly in the article it is assumed that the European Central Bank may have to in part to resort to Quantitative Easing(buying up government debt). This in effect is producing ?enough? new non-repayable money electronically ex nihilo to help stabilize the situation notably in Greece. Ofcourse, repayable loans would still be created ex nihilo as usual?????.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 15 03:14:53 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 09:14:53 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] The Future of Money, and Technology Summit.. Message-ID: <791701.2714.qm@web27406.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Dear All, ? This link may be of some interest... ? http://futureofmoney.com/moneyconference/ ? ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 15 07:58:50 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 15 May 2010 06:58:50 -0700 Subject: [GJM] G7 ministers hold teleconference on Greek crisis - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.190.42 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- G7 ministers hold teleconference on Greek crisis http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100514/tbs-g7-ministers-hold-teleconference-on-5268574.html ============================================================ From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Sat May 15 10:24:55 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 21:54:55 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Need to Call for Right to Ecologically Safe Habitats and Livelihoods/Re: [IHRO] Fw: Maoist Killings In-Reply-To: <1922774056-1273921048-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1592452350-@bda150.bisx.produk.on.blackberry> References: <1922774056-1273921048-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1592452350-@bda150.bisx.produk.on.blackberry> Message-ID: <967836.56534.qm@web94904.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distinguished members of IHRO group, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi ,the president of Congress has called for addressing the root causes of rural unrest especially in?these regions?where tribals. There is call for defending?the rights of villagers in Kalinga Nagar for their habitats. We know for sure that it is for the expansion of ecologically hostile urban habitats that these mineral rich regions are?being acquired violating the recommendations of the?recommendations of the Bhuria?Committee. Prof.B.K.?Burman?had called for correction of provisions of the Forest Act for accomodating the interests of?forest dwellors and their rights.?Thus, there is need to work for rights of farmers and villagers to their ecologically sustainable habitats and livelihoods?. Nothing compensates for the guarunteed agriculture and forest based livelihood for those who?for generations and millennia have been dependant of that. People have lost lives and land and the story of Gladson Dungdung is an example http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com/profiles/blogs/am-i-a-maoist-by-gladson. Many of us migrants in urban areas would realise that our ancestors survived on agriculture.?Ecologically intelligent?decision would be to halt the expansion of?the ecologically hostile urban habitats and stick to?the spirit?of?National?Climate Action policy.?We must call for ecologically safe governance, prepare for the end of petro-modern times as?we?do not have?gurunteed supply of energy for running the expanding ecologically hostile urban habitats. We can see evidence of increasing rate of decline of fossil fuels and this has been acknowledged by Fatih Birol?,Chief Economist of Paris based International Energy Institute http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drfatih-birol-chief-economist No one has fixed a target?for us. China is?geostrategically?adopting an ecologically hostile policy following the?lead of nations, even?China?needs to prepare for the end petro-modern times and it might get?ready soon, though this appears difficult. Nonetheless, we?need to have?community based ecostrategic planning http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com/forum/topics/community-based-ecostrategic?with total consent and not a consent derived?by coercion?and monetary compentation. I am marking copies to?President, Vice President and Prime Minister of India for the needful consideration. ? Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: "Subhashini_Ali at yahoo.com" To: IHRO at yahoogroups.com Sent: Sat, 15 May, 2010 8:58:28 PM Subject: [IHRO] Fw: Maoist Killings ? Sent from my BlackBerry? smartphone ________________________________ From: "Communist Party of India \(Marxist\)" Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 15:09:35 +0530 To: Communist Party of India\(Marxist\ ) Subject: Maoist Killings ? Class enemies? __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: * New Members 3 Visit Your Group 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. MARKETPLACE Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now. ________________________________ Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center. ________________________________ Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests. Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 15 11:00:49 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 10:00:49 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Healthy Food Tips and Recipe: Braised Cod with Celery Message-ID: <005301caf450$70599300$510cb900$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS With the emphasis being on eating healthier more nutritious food today, I thought this might be of interest to some. Especially the part about the orange juice and how much sugar you may be getting from it dependent upon how it is processed. From: whf-bulletin at aweber.com [mailto:whf-bulletin at aweber.com] On Behalf Of George Mateljan Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 3:06 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Healthy Food Tip and Recipe: Braised Cod with Celery !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> Food of the Week who we are - what's new - getting started - community WHFoods The George Mateljan Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation with no commercial interests, is a new force for change to help make a healthier you and a healthier world. May 15, 2010 If you prefer not to receive the "Healthy Food Tip and Recipe", please click the link at the bottom of this page, select "Change Details" and enter "no" in the "daily tips" box (followed by "submit", of course). Forwarded from a friend? Sign up for your own copy of the Weekly Newsletter and Healthy Food Tip and Recipe. healthy food tip and recipe Today's Recipe If you don't know what to have for dinner tonight ... he combination of ingredients in this recipe offers a delicious flavor while providing you with an excellent source of health-promoting selenium, vitamin B12 and protein to your Healthiest Way of Eating. And it only takes 30 minutes for you to have a complete meal. Enjoy! Braised Cod with Celery Braised Cod with Celery Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: ? 1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thick ? 6 cloves garlic, sliced ? 2 cups celery, cut diagonally about 1 inch long ? 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained ? 3/4 cup green olives cut in fourths ? 1 TBS + ? cup chicken or vegetable broth ? 1 TBS fresh lemon juice ? 1-1/2 lbs cod, cut into 2 inch pieces ? pinch red chili flakes ? salt and black pepper to taste ? 2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro Directions: 1. Slice onion and garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to enhance its health-promoting benefits. 2. Heat 1 TBS broth in a 10-12 inch skillet. Healthy Saut? chopped onion in broth over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until translucent. 3. Add garlic and celery and saut? for another minute. Add drained diced tomatoes, green olives and remaining broth. Stir, cover, and simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until celery is tender. 4. Place cod, lemon, salt, pepper, and chili flakes on top of celery and continue to simmer covered for another 5 minutes, or until fish is cooked. This is our Stovetop Braising cooking method. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve. Serves 4 Serving Suggestions: Serve with ? Brown Rice Printer Friendly Version of Braised Cod with Celery In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Braised Cod with Celery Healthy Food Tip Does orange juice from concentrate (without additional ingredients) have the same benefits as fresh orange juice? The more processing that a food undergoes, the more potential there is for nutrient loss. Any juice will have fewer benefits than an equivalent amount of the whole food from which it is made (provided that there are whole food parts-such as pulp-never making it into the final juice). For example, whole, organic oranges always provide better nutrition than freshly squeezed organic orange juice, unless all of the pulp that would have been eaten with the whole orange was also consumed in the freshly squeezed juice. Freshly squeezed organic orange juice provides better nutrition than organic orange juice made from concentrate because it takes processing to manufacture orange juice concentrate. However, the differences here may not be very dramatic. One cup of orange juice from concentrate, for example, contains about 100 milligrams of vitamin C and 40 micrograms of beta-carotene (according to the USDA's SR19 nutrient database). The same cup of freshly squeezed orange juice contains about 125 milligrams of vitamin C and 80 micrograms of beta-carotene. I haven't seen data for other phytonutrients contained in fresh orange juice compared to orange juice from concentrate, but I suspect that cryptoxanthin, hesperidin, limonene, and other phytonutrients found in the orange are found in decreasing amounts as the processing of the orange increases and therefore that the orange juice concentrate would have less of these phytonutrients. Even though processing does have an impact on the nutritional value of whole oranges, I do not believe that organic orange juice from concentrate is a bad dietary choice. Many supermarkets do carry cartons of fresh, organic orange juice that is not made from concentrate. If that is not available, I think that an organic orange juice made from concentrate is still a very high quality drink compared to dozens of other choices (such as fruit drinks and soda pop), and it provides a very significant and worthwhile amount of many nutrients. With all fruit juices, you do need to be more careful about the amount you consume than you do with whole fruits. Many people wanting a snack would naturally eat one whole orange and then stop. In that one medium-sized orange, they would get about 100 calories and 18 grams of sugar. On the other hand, it's not hard to find a 16-ounce bottle of orange juice in many stores, which will provide about 225 calories and 42 grams of sugar! If you have any questions about today's Healthy Food Tip Ask George Your Question What's New on the Home Page This Week Breakthrough News Olive Oil Helps Protect Thought Processes in Older Persons George's Q&A Does covering the pot when making soup help to preserve nutrients? New Book How to Order The World's Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating. See sample pages and find out how to place an order for our new book. The special offer of free shipping is still in effect. We are already getting wonderful feedback which we want to share with you, so we're posting it on the bottom of our home page. Enjoy the book and let us know how you like it. I just received your book this week and cannot put it down. It is amazing. Thank you forall of your hard work. The video's are interesting and the book itself is fabulous. In fact, my neighbor ordered a copy. Thank you. -Tarmi Copyright ? 2010 The George Mateljan Foundation, All Rights Reserved George Mateljan Foundation, PO Box 25801, Seattle, Washington 98165 To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?LKzMrGyMtCycjOxM7JyctEa0bBxsnEzsHA== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 15 11:35:08 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 10:35:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] More about Oxytocin Message-ID: <006801caf455$340e4b70$9c2ae250$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Touch Reduces Stress Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD Brigham Young University Married couples who give each other back rubs or touch each other affectionately in other ways for at least 30 minutes three times a week have 34% lower levels of stress. Researchers found that being affectionate releases the hormone oxytocin, which may protect against stress-related illnesses. Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, assistant professor, department of psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, and leader of a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 15 16:21:05 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 15:21:05 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: The Tapping Solution Message-ID: <009b01caf47d$24fbede0$6ef3c9a0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Have signed up for this and if funding is available will order the package presented here. I had just ordered the EFT Manual and have been reviewing it when time permits when this message came across my desktop. I understand the mechanics of ?tapping? using the underlying meridians (acupuncture/acupressure) points to unblock energy flows in the human body although I have not as yet fully indoctrinated myself in the program. However, I have over the past six years or so heard so many good things about it from so many professionals, it seemed time I got on the bandwagon and learned how to do EFT. I feel quite sure that had I have had this knowledge available when the anxiety attacks associated with the lack of Vitamin D3 and B1 occurred, that I would have been able to manage them more effectively once I knew for sure I was not having heart attacks. As Dr. Mercola says here in the video, thousands of professionals, including many from the medical profession, have used this approach with their patients and have testified to its effectiveness. And, I am thinking it is about time this was introduced into the rehabilitation centers and prisons around the world many of which are still basing their treatment on religious belief systems. However, please do not mistake this to mean that I am recommending EFT as a replacement for proper nutrition and/or supplementation ? diet is still the most important factor when it comes to emotional disorders according to many researchers. But I did see an acupuncturist on a regular basis during my healing and found it to give me great relief especially when coupled with massage. And my acupuncturist is also well versed in nutrition, so she immediately got me on a liquid diet supplement containing all the nutrients I needed and that was quickly assimilated into my body. m r From: Dr Mercola [mailto:jm at mercola.com] Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 10:42 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Congratulations! You are Registered! Mercola Mercola I?m excited to share with you the good news that the doors for the online 2010 Tapping World Summit are officially open! If you were one of the 81,000 people who attended last year?s Summit, you already know about this amazing ? and free ? event. Last year?s event was the largest ever to take place in the EFT / MTT Tapping world. This year?s Tapping World Summit includes a top notch list of practitioners and they expect to top last year's attendance record. Joining the lineup includes presenters such as Carol Look, Patricia Carrington, Brad Yates, Bob Doyle, and Carol Tuttle. In fact, there will be over 18 instructors with over 20 presentations... Just take a look here at what you will experience, at no charge to you: Carol Look Carol Look http://tappingworldsummit.s3.amazonaws.com/Intro-Bonus-Carol.mp3 Nick Ortner Nick Ortner http://tappingworldsummit.s3.amazonaws.com/WSnick.mp3 Julie Schiffman Julie Schiffman http://twsfinal.s3.amazonaws.com/Pre_Event_JulieSchiffman 80kbps.MP3 Joe Vitale Joe Vitale http://tappingworldsummit.s3.amazonaws.com/wsJoeVitale.mp3 Jack Canfield Jack Canfield http://tappingworldsummit.s3.amazonaws.com/IntroBonus-JackCanfield.mp3 Bruce Lipton Bruce Lipton http://tappingworldsummit.s3.amazonaws.com/WSBruceLiptonBONUS.mp3 Meridian Tapping is an unparallel method of taking your health and personal well being to a whole new level. Please make sure you catch what promises to be the greatest Tapping Summit yet. Wishing you the best of health, Dr.Mercola Mercola.com 3200 W Higgins Road Hoffman Estates, IL 60169 support.mercola.com Mercola -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 15 18:39:13 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 17:39:13 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Absolutely Must Read: The Global Economic Crisis, The Great Depression of the XXI Century. Message-ID: <00bf01caf490$70a5c320$51f14960$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for forwarding this book review. As difficult as this is to read and face up to as the truth, there is an upside here in that the actions of the elite are forcing the rest of us to wake up and begin a return to a more organic lifestyle as we are forced to forgo the artificial systems forged out of technology and social systems design and return to the basic qualities of life that were inherent at the time of our biological beginnings. The qualities that are feminine in nature and which provide us with soul. What is happening has been repeated many times throughout civilization and is part of the evolutionary process as the darkness and the light chase one another causing the pendulum of life to swing in both directions. The only questions are how long it will take the light to break through the darkness and how many of us will have survived this era. As my friend Carlo Ami is fond of telling me: "Everything is always as it should be." I am holding the field for the fullest potential to unfold now in the best interests of all concerned. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 8:28 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Global Economic Crisis, The Great Depression of the XXI Century. (To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) The Global Economic Crisis, The Great Depression of the XXI Century. by Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall May 13, 2010 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19025 The following text is the Preface of The Global Economic Crisis. The Great Depression of the XXI Century, Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall (Editors), Montreal, Global Research, 2010, which is to be launched in late May. Each of the authors in this timely collection digs beneath the gilded surface to reveal a complex web of deceit and media distortion which serves to conceal the workings of the global economic system and its devastating impacts on people's lives. The complex causes as well as the devastating consequences of the economic crisis are carefully scrutinized with contributions from Ellen Brown, Tom Burghardt, Michel Chossudovsky, Richard C. Cook, Shamus Cooke, John Bellamy Foster, Michael Hudson, Tanya Cariina Hsu, Fred Magdoff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, James Petras, Peter Phillips, Peter Dale Scott, Bill Van Auken, Claudia von Werlhof and Mike Whitney. Despite the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives presented within this volume, all of the contributors ultimately come to the same conclusion: humanity is at the crossroads of the most serious economic and social crisis in modern history. PREFACE In all major regions of the world, the economic recession is deep-seated, resulting in mass unemployment, the collapse of state social programs and the impoverishment of millions of people. The economic crisis is accompanied by a worldwide process of militarization, a "war without borders" led by the United States of America and its NATO allies. The conduct of the Pentagon's "long war" is intimately related to the restructuring of the global economy. We are not dealing with a narrowly defined economic crisis or recession. The global financial architecture sustains strategic and national security objectives. In turn, the U.S.-NATO military agenda serves to endorse a powerful business elite which relentlessly overshadows and undermines the functions of civilian government. This book takes the reader through the corridors of the Federal Reserve and the Council on Foreign Relations, behind closed doors at the Bank for International Settlements, into the plush corporate boardrooms on Wall Street where far-reaching financial transactions are routinely undertaken from computer terminals linked up to major stock markets, at the touch of a mouse button. Each of the authors in this collection digs beneath the gilded surface to reveal a complex web of deceit and media distortion which serves to conceal the workings of the global economic system and its devastating impacts on people's lives. Our analysis focuses on the role of powerful economic and political actors in an environment wrought by corruption, financial manipulation and fraud. Despite the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives presented within this volume, all of the contributors ultimately come to the same conclusion: humanity is at the crossroads of the most serious economic and social crisis in modern history. The meltdown of financial markets in 2008-2009 was the result of institutionalized fraud and financial manipulation. The "bank bailouts" were implemented on the instructions of Wall Street, leading to the largest transfer of money wealth in recorded history, while simultaneously creating an insurmountable public debt. With the worldwide deterioration of living standards and plummeting consumer spending, the entire structure of international commodity trade is potentially in jeopardy. The payments system of money transactions is in disarray. Following the collapse of employment, the payment of wages is disrupted, which in turn triggers a downfall in expenditures on necessary consumer goods and services. This dramatic plunge in purchasing power backfires on the productive system, resulting in a string of layoffs, plant closures and bankruptcies. Exacerbated by the freeze on credit, the decline in consumer demand contributes to the demobilization of human and material resources. This process of economic decline is cumulative. All categories of the labor force are affected. Payments of wages are no longer implemented, credit is disrupted and capital investments are at a standstill. Meanwhile, in Western countries, the "social safety net" inherited from the welfare state, which protects the unemployed during an economic downturn, is also in jeopardy. The Myth of Economic Recovery The existence of a "Great Depression" on the scale of the 1930s, while often acknowledged, is overshadowed by an unbending consensus: "The economy is on the road to recovery". While there is talk of an economic renewal, Wall Street commentators have persistently and intentionally overlooked the fact that the financial meltdown is not simply composed of one bubble - the housing real estate bubble - which has already burst. In fact, the crisis has many bubbles, all of which dwarf the housing bubble burst of 2008. Although there is no fundamental disagreement among mainstream analysts on the occurrence of an economic recovery, there is heated debate as to when it will occur, whether in the next quarter, or in the third quarter of next year, etc. Already in early 2010, the "recovery" of the U.S. economy had been predicted and confirmed through a carefully worded barrage of media disinformation. Meanwhile, the social plight of increased unemployment in America has been scrupulously camouflaged. Economists view bankruptcy as a microeconomic phenomenon. The media reports on bankruptcies, while revealing local-level realities affecting one or more factories, fail to provide an overall picture of what is happening at the national and international levels. When all these simultaneous plant closures in towns and cities across the land are added together, a very different picture emerges: entire sectors of a national economy are closing down. Public opinion continues to be misled as to the causes and consequences of the economic crisis, not to mention the policy solutions. People are led to believe that the economy has a logic of its own which depends on the free interplay of market forces, and that powerful financial actors, who pull the strings in the corporate boardrooms, could not, under any circumstances, have willfully influenced the course of economic events. The relentless and fraudulent appropriation of wealth is upheld as an integral part of "the American dream", as a means to spreading the benefits of economic growth. As conveyed by Michael Hudson, the myth becomes entrenched that "without wealth at the top, there would be nothing to trickle down." Such flawed logic of the business cycle overshadows an understanding of the structural and historical origins of the global economic crisis. Financial Fraud Media disinformation largely serves the interests of a handful of global banks and institutional speculators which use their command over financial and commodity markets to amass vast amounts of money wealth. The corridors of the state are controlled by the corporate establishment including the speculators. Meanwhile, the "bank bailouts", presented to the public as a requisite for economic recovery, have facilitated and legitimized a further process of appropriation of wealth. Vast amounts of money wealth are acquired through market manipulation. Often referred to as "deregulation", the financial apparatus has developed sophisticated instruments of outright manipulation and deceit. With inside information and foreknowledge, major financial actors, using the instruments of speculative trade, have the ability to fiddle and rig market movements to their advantage, precipitate the collapse of a competitor and wreck havoc in the economies of developing countries. These tools of manipulation have become an integral part of the financial architecture; they are embedded in the system. The Failure of Mainstream Economics The economics profession, particularly in the universities, rarely addresses the actual "real world" functioning of markets. Theoretical constructs centered on mathematical models serve to represent an abstract, fictional world in which individuals are equal. There is no theoretical distinction between workers, consumers or corporations, all of which are referred to as "individual traders". No single individual has the power or ability to influence the market, nor can there be any conflict between workers and capitalists within this abstract world. By failing to examine the interplay of powerful economic actors in the "real life" economy, the processes of market rigging, financial manipulation and fraud are overlooked. The concentration and centralization of economic decision-making, the role of the financial elites, the economic thinks tanks, the corporate boardrooms: none of these issues are examined in the universities' economics programs. The theoretical construct is dysfunctional; it cannot be used to provide an understanding of the economic crisis. Economic science is an ideological construct which serves to camouflage and justify the New World Order. A set of dogmatic postulates serves to uphold free market capitalism by denying the existence of social inequality and the profit-driven nature of the system is denied. The role of powerful economic actors and how these actors are able to influence the workings of financial and commodity markets is not a matter of concern for the discipline's theoreticians. The powers of market manipulation which serve to appropriate vast amounts of money wealth are rarely addressed. And when they are acknowledged, they are considered to belong to the realm of sociology or political science. This means that the policy and institutional framework behind this global economic system, which has been shaped in the course of the last thirty years, is rarely analyzed by mainstream economists. It follows that economics as a discipline, with some exceptions, has not provided the analysis required to comprehend the economic crisis. In fact, its main free market postulates deny the existence of a crisis. The focus of neoclassical economics is on equilibrium, disequilibrium and "market correction" or "adjustment" through the market mechanism, as a means to putting the economy back "onto the path of self-sustained growth". Poverty and Social Inequality The global political economy is a system that enriches the very few at the expense of the vast majority. The global economic crisis has contributed to widening social inequalities both within and between countries. Under global capitalism, mounting poverty is not the result of a scarcity or a lack of human and material resources. Quite the opposite holds true: the economic depression is marked by a process of disengagement of human resources and physical capital. People's lives are destroyed. The economic crisis is deep-seated. The structures of social inequality have, quite deliberately, been reinforced, leading not only to a generalized process of impoverishment but also to the demise of the middle and upper middle income groups. Middle class consumerism, on which this unruly model of capitalist development is based, is also threatened. Bankruptcies have hit several of the most vibrant sectors of the consumer economy. The middle classes in the West have, for several decades, been subjected to the erosion of their material wealth. While the middle class exists in theory, it is a class built and sustained by household debt. The wealthy rather than the middle class are rapidly becoming the consuming class, leading to the relentless growth of the luxury goods economy. Moreover, with the drying up of the middle class markets for manufactured goods, a central and decisive shift in the structure of economic growth has occurred. With the demise of the civilian economy, the development of America's war economy, supported by a whopping near-trillion dollar defense budget, has reached new heights. As stock markets tumble and the recession unfolds, the advanced weapons industries, the military and national security contractors and the up-and-coming mercenary companies (among others) have experienced a thriving and booming growth of their various activities. War and the Economic Crisis War is inextricably linked to the impoverishment of people at home and around the world. Militarization and the economic crisis are intimately related. The provision of essential goods and services to meet basic human needs has been replaced by a profit-driven "killing machine" in support of America's "Global War on Terror". The poor are made to fight the poor. Yet war enriches the upper class, which controls industry, the military, oil and banking. In a war economy, death is good for business, poverty is good for society, and power is good for politics. Western nations, particularly the United States, spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to murder innocent people in far-away impoverished nations, while the people at home suffer the disparities of poverty, class, gender and racial divides. An outright "economic war" resulting in unemployment, poverty and disease is carried out through the free market. People's lives are in a freefall and their purchasing power is destroyed. In a very real sense, the last twenty years of global "free market" economy have resulted, through poverty and social destitution, in the lives of millions of people. Rather than addressing an impending social catastrophe, Western governments, which serve the interests of the economic elites, have installed a "Big Brother" police state, with a mandate to confront and repress all forms of opposition and social dissent. The economic and social crisis has by no means reached its climax and entire countries, including Greece and Iceland, are at risk. One need only look at the escalation of the Middle East Central Asian war and the U.S.-NATO threats to China, Russia and Iran to witness how war and the economy are intimately related. Our Analysis in this Book The contributors to this book reveal the intricacies of global banking and its insidious relationship to the military industrial complex and the oil conglomerates. The book presents an inter- disciplinary and multi-faceted approach, while also conveying an understanding of the historical and institutional dimensions. The complex relations of the economic crisis to war, empire and worldwide poverty are highlighted. This crisis has a truly global reach and repercussions that reverberate throughout all nations, across all societies. In Part I, the overall causes of the global economic crisis as well as the failures of mainstream economics are laid out. Michel Chossudovsky focuses on the history of financial deregulation and speculation. Tanya Cariina Hsu analyzes the role of the American Empire and its relationship to the economic crisis. John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff undertake a comprehensive review of the political economy of the crisis, explaining the central role of monetary policy. James Petras and Claudia von Werlhof provide a detailed review and critique of neoliberalism, focusing on the economic, political and social repercussions of the "free market" reforms. Shamus Cooke examines the central role of debt, both public and private. Part II, which includes chapters by Michel Chossudovsky and Peter Phillips, analyzes the rising tide of poverty and social inequality resulting from the Great Depression. With contributions by Michel Chossudovsky, Peter Dale Scott, Michael Hudson, Bill Van Auken, Tom Burghardt and Andrew Gavin Marshall, Part III examines the relationship between the economic crisis, National Security, the U.S.-NATO led war and world government. In this context, as conveyed by Peter Dale Scott, the economic crisis creates social conditions which favor the instatement of martial law. The focus in Part IV is on the global monetary system, its evolution and its changing role. Andrew Gavin Marshall examines the history of central banking as well as various initiatives to create regional and global currency systems. Ellen Brown focuses on the creation of a global central bank and global currency through the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Richard C. Cook examines the debt-based monetary system as a system of control and provides a framework for democratizing the monetary system. Part V focuses on the working of the Shadow Banking System, which triggered the 2008 meltdown of financial markets. The chapters by Mike Whitney and Ellen Brown describe in detail how Wall Street's Ponzi scheme was used to manipulate the market and transfer billions of dollars into the pockets of the banksters. We are indebted to the authors for their carefully documented research, incisive analysis, and, foremost, for their unbending commitment to the truth: Tom Burghardt, Ellen Brown, Richard C. Cook, Shamus Cooke, John Bellamy Foster, Michael Hudson, Tanya Cariina Hsu, Fred Magdoff, James Petras, Peter Phillips, Peter Dale Scott, Mike Whitney, Bill Van Auken and Claudia von Werlhof, have provided, with utmost clarity, an understanding of the diverse and complex economic, social and political processes which are affecting the lives of millions of people around the world. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 15 21:39:27 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 20:39:27 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Another Must Read: The Foxes and the Corporate Coop Message-ID: <00d301caf4a9$9c36fc20$d4a4f460$@net> Thanks again to Trading Post Paul for getting the latest news to us. ` -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 1:05 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] The Foxes and the Corporate Coop The Foxes and the Corporate Coop Regulatory Paralysis and the Financial Crisis http://www.counterpunch.org/smith05142010.html By SHARON SMITH May 14 - 16, 2010 The Congressional post-mortem of the 2008 financial crisis has focused primarily on the handful of rogue banks, in particular Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, whose actions helped precipitate the meltdown. This serves the convenient purpose of deflecting attention away from the network of government and government-anointed personnel that could have stopped their misdeeds before they infected the entire global financial system. Still, the investigations currently underway have provided a rare glimpse at the elite club of cronies who run the financial system from behind closed doors. All its members are culpable in the financial meltdown of 2008. To be sure, the banks conned their clients in a manner befitting a mafia family. But the government institutions that were empowered to police them were all too happy to look the other way until the deals went sour -- en masse. This includes many of the same members of Congress now spewing vitriol at bankers' shady business practices while TV cameras roll -- but who happily accepted corporate dollars when campaigning for election. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations now raking Goldman managers over the coals, also has had his hands in the corporate till. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top 5 donors to the Michigan senator's re-election campaigns between 2005 and 2010 do not include Goldman -- but do include Ford, General Motors and Cerberus Capital Management, which took control of Chrysler in 2007 and then propelled it into bankruptcy in 2009. In hindsight, Levin's current outrage at Goldman appears disingenuous at best. Along with most Democrats, Levin voted for the Republican-sponsored Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, signed into law by Bill Clinton. This piece of legislation nullified the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 -- the New Deal legislation requiring the separation of investment and commercial banks -- and single-handedly enabled banks to run the unaccountable "shadow banking system" at the center of the 2008 financial crisis. Even three decades of deregulation legislation did not entirely remove Wall St. oversight, however. Between them, the Security and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), the Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve surely could have taken action against these bankers' game of Russian roulette while the good times were still rolling. After all, as soon as Wall St. entered its downward spiral, these same agencies banded together with lightning speed to save their banking brethren -- swiftly gaining congressional approval for the government bailout on October 3, 2008. Anton R. Valukas, a court-appointed examiner investigating how Lehman Brothers cooked the books to hide its enormous debt, clearly found the S.E.C. negligent in its duties. "I saw nothing in my investigation to suggest that the S.E.C. asked even the most fundamental questions that might have uncovered this practice early on, before Lehman escalated it to a $50 billion issue," Valukas stated in written testimony released by the House Financial Services Committee. Yet, when questioned about their collective inaction in the events leading up to Lehman's bankruptcy on September 5, 2008, those with the power to have stopped the firm's escapades engaged in an elaborate game of buck passing. The S.E.C.'s then-chairman Christopher Cox claimed it lacked the authority to take action. Cox "told Mr. Valukas that he believed that the agency's jurisdiction 'was limited to Lehman's broker-dealer subsidiary and that it was not the regulator of Lehman itself,'" wrote the New York Times. Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted to Valukas that in March 2008 the Federal Reserve assigned two examiners to keep track of Lehman, but claimed they "had no authority to regulate Lehman's disclosures, capital, risk management, or other business activities." The Obama administration has been even more sweeping in its defense of regulatory paralysis in the face of widespread wrongdoing, arguing that no one had the authority to take action. Larry Summers, director of the Obama's National Economic Council, recently claimed on PBS Newshour, "Regulators didn't have authority in a comprehensive way to monitor the derivatives market." ***** When the S.E.C. charged Goldman Sachs with fraud last month, no one was more shocked by this sudden change of heart than the accused executives themselves. Until then, the Goldman brass enjoyed an especially cordial relationship with government regulatory agencies. Goldman executives transition regularly to employment at the Treasury Department - as did Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin under Clinton and Henry Paulson under G.W. Bush. The crossover has continued under Obama: Goldman lobbyist Mark Patterson left his high-powered job last year to serve as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Treasury Department collaborated with Goldman probably more than any other Wall St. firm during the 2008 financial collapse. Upon taking office in June 2006, Paulson had ruled out any official contact with Goldman to avoid a conflict of interest with his former employer, but less than 15 months later, he requested and received an "ethics waiver" voiding that pledge. That was on September 17, 2008, just one day after the government agreed to lend AIG $85 billion to pay off its substantial debts to Goldman and other big banks. Goldman was the largest recipient of the payoff. According to the New York Times, during the week of the AIG bailout Paulson spoke to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein "two dozen times, the calendars show, far more frequently than Mr. Paulson did with other Wall Street executives." At the end of that tumultuous week, the Federal Reserve rushed through emergency requests by Goldman and Morgan Stanley to change their status from investment banks to traditional bank holding companies--with the flick of a pen bypassing the legal five-day antitrust waiting period. The deal was struck over a single weekend, and Goldman and Morgan Stanley emerged on Monday morning as entirely new entities - a signal from the Fed that it would not allow these two firms to fail. Interestingly, their new status switched their holding companies from S.E.C. to Federal Reserve oversight. The S.E.C. was not simply asleep at the wheel while the financial system careened toward disaster. In 2004, it had designed a special program, known as the "consolidated supervised entities" program, which enabled the reckless borrowing that later caused the banking crisis. The special program was created, according to the New York Times, "after heavy lobbying for the plan from all five big investment banks. At the time, Mr. Paulson was the head of Goldman Sachs. He left two years later to become the Treasury Secretary." The same five investment banks -- Goldman and Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Lehman and Merrill Lynch -- immediately "volunteered" to enroll in the new S.E.C. program that was created at their behest. Through this special program, the S.E.C. allowed these Wall St. giants to vastly increase their amount of leveraged debt. S.E.C. rules had long required banks to hold roughly $1 of equity for every $15 of debt, or a 15-1 debt-to-net-capital ratio. The new program lifted these limits. As Ben Protess reported at ProPublica.org, "Merrill Lynch's leverage ratio was possibly as high as 40-to-1 [in 2008] and Lehman Brothers faced a ratio of about 30-to-1, according to Bloomberg." In return for this cash cow, the banking behemoths agreed to allow the S.E.C. to regulate their holding companies. But this also was at the banks' request. Voluntarily submitting to S.E.C. oversight would allow their overseas operations to avoid European Union regulators. They preferred the S.E.C. for reasons that later became obvious: Their backslapping pals at the S.E.C. provided virtually no regulatory oversight. The S.E.C. failed to shut down this disastrous program even as the system began to convulse in March 2008, at the time of Bear Sterns' collapse and subsequent fire sale to JP Morgan Chase - months before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America. By the time the S.E.C. dissolved the program on September 26, 2008, none of the five investment banks remained as such, although their trail of poison was still working its way through the global financial system. ***** In the meantime, the top three credit rating agencies, Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, also played a key role in inflating -- and then bursting -- the housing bubble. One day they were handing out AAA ratings to subprime mortgage securities like cocktails at happy hour. Then suddenly the party was over. On the eve of the housing crisis in 2007, all three ratings agencies began simultaneously downgrading AAA-rated mortgage securities to junk. By the end of 2007, fully 91 percent of AAA-rated mortgage securities had been downgraded to junk status, as investors realized that their securities were fast becoming worthless. In theory, "independent" credit rating agencies attach AAA-ratings to only the safest securities, based on objective criteria. In reality, these top three rating agencies make up an oligopoly, created and sustained by the S.E.C. since 1975. In that year, the S.E.C. elevated a small number of credit ratings agencies to the coveted status of "Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization" (NRSRO) that it empowered to assess the safety of securities, even though the NRSRO was made up of a group of corporations that were entirely unregulated. In this public-private partnership, even the S.E.C. had no authority over their conduct until the crisis was well underway in 2008. By the 1990s, a series of mergers had left only three NRSROs: Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch. Facing criticism, the S.E.C. granted a handful of other credit agencies NRSRO status beginning in 2003, but these three top agencies continued to dominate the market. As the Wall Street Journal complained in April 2009, "To this day, the Fed will only accept assets as collateral if they carry high ratings from S&P, Moody's and Fitch." In the process, the ratings agencies' traditional means of compensation switched from investors who paid for their services to the corporations whose securities they were charged with rating. This created a scenario of cutthroat competition among the three dominant credit rating agencies for market share from the corporations paying them. As might be expected, they became much less concerned with the integrity of their ratings than the goodwill of their banker clients. A May 2006 message from a UBS banker to a Standard & Poor's employee plainly threatened to take its business to competitors: "Heard you guys are revising your residential mbs rating methodology - getting very punitive. heard your ratings could be 5 notches back of mo[o]dys equivalent. gonoa (sic) kill your resi biz. may force us to do moodyfitch only cdos!" If their clients were willing to blackmail and bully their way to AAA ratings, the ratings agencies were well aware of their role in the charade. As one Standard & Poor's internal email read, "Ratings agencies continue to create an even bigger monster - the CDO market. Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters." Rating agency employees who refused to accommodate to the wishes of their banker clients were swiftly moved to other accounts. Richard Michalek, a former managing director in Moody's structured products derivatives group, testified before the Senate that, because he was unwilling cater to their wishes, managers told him he was "not welcome on deals" involving certain banks - including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. Moody's managing director Yuri Yoshizawa testified that they quietly moved analysts to other accounts because "we felt that our analysts were being abused." ***** With mid-term elections looming large, the Democratic Party needs desperately to shore up its voting base. This can only be accomplished if its first year of Congressional inaction is followed by tough talk raising the specter of some action, however meager. Although congressional Republicans were prepared to play their familiar obstructionist role, bent on preserving every iota of corporate privilege in the name of fighting "big government," they were forced to abandon their plans. So great is the public's support for government action against Wall St. that no politician dares to openly stand in the way. Unfortunately, the Democrats' financial regulation bill now being hotly debated in Congress is far from the "sweeping overhaul" described by most mainstream journalists. In truth, it is aimed at preventing significant reform. At minimum, a regulatory overhaul would reinstate the provisions of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, requiring the separation of investment and commercial banks. In addition, no overhaul can be effective unless it dismantles the system by which rating agencies get paid by the corporations whose securities they are rating, rather than the investors they are ostensibly serving. Perhaps more importantly, no politician has suggested so far that Corporate America be barred from policing itself. The line between banks and their overseers has become so blurred because watchdog agencies actively recruit from big banks and vice versa, in a revolving door of golfing partners. But this practice continues. As the Wall St. Journal recently reported, "Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement chief Robert Khuzami oversaw a group of lawyers at his old firm, Deutsche Bank AG, that was closely involved in developing collateralized debt obligations, the same product in the agency's fraud lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to people familiar with the matter." No worries, however, the Journal article continues: "Because of Mr. Khuzami's old job and his financial interest in the company, he has recused himself from any matters related to Deutsche Bank." The 2008 financial crisis exposed the degree to which foxes have been guarding the chicken coop. And there doesn't appear to be any end in sight. Until there is an independent and accountable agency regulating the regulators, Congress is merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic until it hits the next iceberg. From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 16 02:28:15 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 01:28:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] =?utf-8?q?FW=3A_=5BFixGov=5D_A_CRISIS_IN_LEADERSHIP_?= =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=93_WILL_THE_EURO_SURVIVE?= Message-ID: <001a01caf4d1$f7d14630$e773d290$@net> For your information and consideration. Thanks to Bruce Porteous of the Fix Gov. list for this post. Comments welcome. From: FixGov at yahoogroups.com [mailto:FixGov at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of bruceporteous50 Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 4:56 PM To: bruce Porteous Subject: [FixGov] A CRISIS IN LEADERSHIP ? WILL THE EURO SURVIVE A CRISIS IN LEADERSHIP ? THE END OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM The world is currently experiencing three historic events that will reshape the geopolitical landscape of the world. We are seeing unfold: Germany emerged as the dominant European power dictating the terms on economic policy. The Catholic Church is facing its biggest crisis in leadership for centuries. The beginning of global stag-inflation, and the end of American free-market capitalism. The significance of the three events will have a profound impact on shaping the world for the next decade. Germany, by insisting that they will only bail out Greece on their terms, against the request of the majority of the other Eurozone members, has been able to impose its authority on the EU. Why has Germany taken such a firm stand on providing direct financial support for Greece? Germany itself is only just recovering from recession, and has budget deficits of its own to cope with. The German people do not see why they should rescue the spend-thrift Greeks when they have their own problems, and have made sacrifices to correct imbalances in their own economy. Though the German economy is already recovering from the recession, with exports up, and unemployment falling, they cannot save the rest of Europe alone. Germany is the one country in the EU which is now benefiting from having the recent weaker Euro, with a strong manufacturing base, and little inflationary pressures to take advantage of a weaker currency to expand exports. This has been helped by those global markets which have stimulated domestic demand following the recession by inflating their money supplies. Germany, having been the world?s largest exporter for many years, has accumulated extensive investments abroad. Its strong manufacturing base and technical expertise will allow Germany to enforce greater authority over the direction of Europe. Because Germany is in a stronger financial position than the rest of the EU the German economy has recovered quicker from the recession than the other members of the EU. Yet Germany cannot impose its will on the rest of Europe unless there is a political and economic crisis that will force the other EU members to accept German leadership? Only serious crises affecting the rest of the EU accept Germany?s terms in return for economic stability and leadership. The crisis the EU is facing is threatening its very existence as an institution. It is a much a crisis of leadership as it is an economic crisis. Yet is also an opportunity for those pushing for a Federal United States of Europe to bring about the reforms to achieve this goal. Unless these reforms are made immediately most of the States in the Eurozone will default and Europe will disintegrate into economic chaos and depression. This would in turn drag the rest of the world down into a serve economic depression. While most countries around the world have inflated their money supplies to stimulate their economies to assist their recoveries from the recent economic crisis, the Eurozone countries have not been able to achieve this under the terms of accepting the Euro. The European Central Bank (ECB) is prevented under its charter from increasing the money supply to inflate individual member states economies. The Germans, still remembering the devastation inflation created in 1923 and following WW2, are still very aware that printing money will devalue your currency and create inflation, insist on the ECBs independence in maintaining fiscal stability. As many European governments have been spending more than they earn, they have borrowed money from the global money markets to finance their deficits. This has created fiscal problems for those Eurozone countries which financed domestic growth out of debt, as the cost of servicing these loans has become unsustainable. In addition the global recession has reduced government revenue. These governments now need to reduce expenditure to balance their budgets, which means making some very unpopular economic and political decisions. Lower Government expenditure is also causing further contraction of many EU economies. Countries in the Eurozone such as Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and even France are now facing liquidity crisis?s, with falling government revenues, pressure to increase government expenditure to stimulate economic growth, and rising interest rates. Unlike countries outside the Eurozone who have been able to print money to inflate their economies, the Eurozone countries have had to attempt to reduce Government, and continue borrowing money on the international capital markets to finance their deficits. It will take years before these countries will be able to restructure their economies to get their budgets back into balance, repay their debts, and to be able achieve economic growth again. It is during this period of restructuring there will be a period of social unrest, political upheaval, and high unemployment. These Eurozone nations now fear the specter of national bankruptcy. If they cannot inflate their money to repay their national debts, and are unable obtain further credit, they will default on their loans. A number of countries in the Eurozone will default if they can no longer obtain credit. These Eurozone nations are looking to Germany to bail them out. Germany as the largest and wealthiest EU nation is the only country with the reserves to fund the debts of those Eurozone nations facing insolvency. However the scale of the problem German cannot alone save the rest of the Eurozone - they have their own problems with deficits exceeding what is allowed under ECB rules. Bailing out the rest of the EU is only going to drag the Germany economy into insolvency as well. What can now be done to prevent a total disaster unfolding and the Euro collapsing? This can only be achieved by imposing political and economic reforms upon the EU that will bring about full political and economic union under a single President who has the authority to govern the EU as a single political entity. A new Federal Government is needed to take over the management of the economies of the member nations in the Eurozone. While the EU does have a President, unless individual member states are prepared to give up their national sovereignty he remains little more than a figure-head. Unless the EU members agree to having the individual economies managed by a single governing authority the Euro and the European economy are facing disintegration. If this was to happen, Europe will break up ? they will experience economic collapse and widespread political unrest. Europe is facing the worse crisis since its creation ? it is much as a crisis of leadership as it is an economic crisis. Interesting the USA experienced a similar crisis following the War of Independence and it was through the efforts of US Treasurer Alexander Hamilton in having the Federal Government to form a new Central Bank, and take over the debts of the individual states in return for their loyalty and sovereignty to a centralised Federal Government, and which bought about the political unity and prosperity for the USA. The Euro will emerge from this crisis as the only global currency accepted as the world?s reserve currency. The Euro will survive this crisis and strengthen again when an inspirational leader emerges to restore confidence. This must happen soon, to avoid disaster. As inflationary pressures build up around the world the Euro will be adopted by governments as the global world reserve currency. It will be accepted as a new global currency, replacing many countries domestic currencies. Unlike the Eurozone, the rest of the world has gambled by inflating their currencies to enable them to stimulate economic growth to revive their domestic economies. However it appears that in a desperate gamble to prevent the collapse of the Euro the EU is now prepared to prop up insolvent member states by creating credit and purchasing their government bonds. In the short term this is working, but as China is now beginning to experience, it will soon create an inflationary bubble. Inflation quickly reduces a country?s ability to maintain a viable export sector, as rising costs lessen any benefits from a weakening currency, destroying their production sector, and leading to speculation in property. Very soon most of the world will experience an inflationary boom that will result in rapidly rising prices in property, commodities and food. With rising prices so will there be increasing pressure on wages and consumer prices. In brief, prices will go up as money looses value. Global inflation will destroy the value of most currencies, especially for those countries holding reserves in US dollars and will find that their reserves have become worthless. Governments will be forced to increase interest rates to try and prevent their currencies loosing value, which will only worsen the situation and create another more serious economic crisis. Governments will discover that they cannot just continue to just borrow money, print money and create credit to satisfy the consumer lusts of their citizens. As money loses value, social unrest will spread. Without money people will starve, disease will become wide-spread, as well as poverty. Already many countries are facing the prospects of famine as the supply of food becomes affected by drought and other natural disasters, forcing up the prices. Those countries depended on imported food will no longer be able to afford to fed their people, resulting in starvation. This will be followed with political upheaval as people demand solutions. Rising interest rates and large government deficits will result in many countries defaulting, wiping out trillions of dollars in savings. It will plunge the world into depression. This social unrest will have considerable impact politically, motivating people to look for a strong leader such as another Napoleon or Hitler to restore order, unity and political leadership. Most countries will be willing to accept the Euro as the world?s reserve currency, and agree to submit to the economic authority under a new economic order. It will mean the end of free-market capitalism, to be replaced by State-controlled capitalism similar to what was practiced under Hitler by the Nazis. Not only is Europe experiencing an economic and political leadership crisis at this time, it is also facing a religious leadership crisis. The moral authority of the Catholic Church has been largely undermined of the sex abuse scandals and their cover-ups. Around the world daily new sex scandals are being revealed almost daily that have been covered up by the Catholic Church. The crisis in the Catholic Church coinciding with the economic crisis in Europe is the precursor for bringing about some of the greatest changes in international politics the world has ever experienced This leadership void in the Catholic Church and EU politics will only be filled with a new religious leader who will be able to transform the Catholic Church, and restore it moral authority. This leader will become the intermediary to unite Europe and Christianity. It now appears that the current Pope will be forced to resign, to be replaced by a new leader who can restore moral the wounded Catholic Church, and reform the institution. This leader will play a key role in reshaping a unified Europe and installing his authority throughout the world to create a new economic order. The coming weeks we will be seeing some of the most significant events in history unfold. Bruce Porteous bruceport at xtra.co.nz Further reading: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,692666,00.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/business/global/09ripple.html?th &emc=th [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: ? New Members 1 Visit Your Group MARKETPLACE Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now. _____ Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center. _____ Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests. Yahoo! Groups Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 16 20:43:36 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 19:43:36 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Movie depicts seamy life of Facebook boss Message-ID: <000001caf56a$fc3f5d30$f4be1790$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS -- As Fritz Perls wrote in ?In and Out of the Garbage Pail? ? ?Lose your mind and come to your senses, Mark Zuckerberg seems to be doing quite well. While Facebook may have its seamy side, I see it loaded with opportunity. To have access to the over 400 million members Facebook now boasts, I see nothing but potential here with regard to getting the important message of the imminent crisis we face with regard to: ecological, environmental, and social systems collapse across to those who are open to receiving. Where else can one get critical messages on these subjects across to such a large audience and pay no fees? When I am faced with an opportunity such as this, I could care less what Zuckerman does in his personal life. And, the publicity is probably just going to draw more people to Facebook. While the 26-year old Zuckerman could perhaps do with some personal counseling to see if he perhaps suffers from bi-polar disorder, since many of those who have this disease have been found to be exceedingly brilliant and frequently forego treatment for fear of losing their ability to hang on to the ?edge? their disorder gives them, with a personal wealth estimated to be at around $4 billion at this point, I would say that Zuckerman is profiting well from what may be an unbalanced brain/mind field and has come to his senses. Although I have to add ?money isn?t everything,? and no matter how much of it there is, it can?t buy happiness. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder and chief executive of Facebook, the Internet's second-largest social network, speaking at a conference Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder and chief executive of Facebook (Noah Berger/New York Times) John Harlow JUST as he hoped to clean up his image, Mark Zuckerberg, the inventor of Facebook, is to be portrayed in a Hollywood film as a ruthless and untrustworthy sex maniac. The website and its 400m users have been beset in the past week by rows over changes to its privacy settings. However, they have nothing on the invasion of privacy facing Zuckerberg in a ?40m black comedy called The Social Network, adapted from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, with a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing. Six years ago Zuckerber created what was to become the internet phenomenon Facebook in a ?tidal wave? of grief after being dumped by his girlfriend. On Friday, as Zuckerberg celebrated his 26th birthday, he faced another tsunami of anger, this time from Facebook users who turned the socially awkward youth into the world?s youngest billionaire. Zuckerberg wanted to enjoy his birthday in the Caribbean. Instead, the pale-faced supergeek is spending the weekend in crisis meetings in California, seeking ways to calm many of Facebook?s users who fear that website changes mean he is going to sell details of their on-line lives to the highest bidder. A horrified Zuckerberg told colleagues he wants to establish himself as a ?good guy?, a task made more difficult as the draft script of the film leaked online. The Social Network is a highly dramatised version told in flashbacks recalled in the drama of a court hearing. The film, set for release in October, opens on the night of February 4, 2004 when Zuckerberg, then 19, is seen to be dumped in a Harvard bar by his girlfriend, Erica. She tells him he will ?go through life thinking that girls don?t like you because you?re a tech geek?. The reality, she says, is rather more upsetting: ?I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won?t be true. It?ll be because you?re an asshole.? In the film Zuckerberg retreats to his college dormitory where, in a drunken fever, he writes the computer code turning Harvard?s annual collection of student photographs and biographies into a website where he and his male friends rank Harvard women as barnyard animals. Thirty minutes after ?Thefacebook? goes live, it is so popular that it crashes Harvard?s computer network. The film shows how Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, also 26, drops out of college and moves to Silicon Valley in California where he builds Facebook with Sean Parker, co-founder of the music piracy site Napster, played in the film by Justin Timberlake, 29. The early operation was funded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, twins who were stars of the Harvard rowing team. They commissioned Zuckerberg to expand the Facebook code to create a social networking site for their athletic friends. Zuckerberg agreed but, according to the film, as Facebook catches fire across American colleges, he cuts them out. This leads to a court battle, which in 2008 reportedly ended with the twins being awarded $65m (?44m) by a Delaware judge. The twins, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics coxless pairs race, are now studying for business MBAs at Christ Church, Oxford. Last month they rowed for the Dark Blues in the Boat Race against Cambridge, which Oxford lost. The film claims that after Zuckerberg quit Harvard his personal life spun out of control, with Parker helping him indulge his fantasies with a stream of ?groupies?. Sorkin?s screenplay suggests Parker knew Zuckerberg was driven not just by money or fame but also sexual insecurity. While he is depicted as receiving sex in bars, Parker runs the business. Yet Zuckerberg may have had the last laugh: Parker sold his share of the firm for about $200m. But, says Forbes, Zuckerberg is now worth $4 billion. Critics who have seen the draft script for the film, which is being produced by Kevin Spacey, artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London, and directed by David Fincher, say it portrays Zuckerberg as a ?borderline-autistic conniver?. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 21393 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 16 21:52:57 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 20:52:57 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Dr. Dean Ornish Message-ID: <000f01caf574$b264c380$172e4a80$@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, May 16, 2010 10:05 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Dr. Dean Ornish How to Transform Your Lifestyle and Your Life (Part One) Dr. Dean Ornish, Medical Editor, The Huffington Post, Founder and President of Preventive Medicine Research Institute May 15, 2010 12:34 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dean-ornish/how-to-transform-your-lif_b_577 486.html Two days ago, after 16 years of review, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a proposed decision to provide Medicare coverage for the comprehensive lifestyle program for reversing heart disease that my colleagues and I at the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute have developed and tested (www.pmri.org). This is the first time that Medicare will be providing coverage for an integrative medicine program, so we are grateful to everyone involved in this decision. Since reimbursement is a major determinant of both medical practice and education, this is an important breakthrough. So, in celebration of this, I'd like to share with you a brief summary of what my colleagues and I have learned so far about what really works to motivate people to make and maintain lasting changes in diet and lifestyle (part one): 1. You have a full spectrum of nutrition and lifestyle choices. It's not all or nothing. Diets aren't sustainable because they're all about what you can't have and what you must do. If you go on a diet, sooner or later you're likely to go off it. What matters most is your overall way of eating and living. If you indulge yourself one day, you can eat more healthfully the next. If you're a couch potato one day, exercise a little more the next. If you don't have time to meditate for 20 minutes, do it for one minute -- the consistency is more important than the duration. Studies have shown that those who eat the healthiest overall are the ones who allow themselves some indulgences. 2. Even more than feeling healthy, most people want to feel free and in control. If I tell people, "Eat this and don't eat that," or "Don't smoke," they immediately want to do the opposite. It's just human nature, and it goes back to the very first dietary intervention that failed -- "Don't eat the apple" -- and that was God talking, so we're not likely to do better than that... And if their spouse says, "Honey, you know you're not supposed to be eating that," people sometimes start to feel a little crazy. Nobody wants to feel controlled or treated like a child. Even my son, Lucas, doesn't like to be treated like a child. When he was four, I said to him, "No one can tell you what to eat, not even me. You don't ever have to eat anything you don't want." He feels regarded and respected, so he feels free to make healthful choices that are sustainable. He understands the reasons for eating this way rather than telling him, "Because I said so!" Paradoxically, he eats much more healthfully than most of his friends because he feels free to choose. In our home, we serve mostly healthful foods. If he wants a treat, or some dessert, and he's eaten his meal, then he gets it. But since there isn't a charge around it, it's not a "forbidden fruit," so he doesn't feel compelled to pig out. Whether you're six or sixty, if you go on a diet and lifestyle program and feel constrained, you're likely to go off it sooner or later. Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective; then, you feel free and empowered. 3. Eating bad food does not make you a bad person. The language of behavioral modification often has a moralistic quality to it that turns off a lot of people (like "cheating" on a diet). It's a small step from thinking of some foods as "bad" to seeing yourself as a "bad person;" at that point, might as well finish the pint of ice cream. Also, the term "patient compliance" has a fascist, creepy quality to it, sounding like one person manipulating or bending his or her will to another. In the short run, I may be able to pressure you into changing your diet, but sooner or later (usually sooner), some part of you will rebel. What's sustainable are joy, pleasure, and freedom. 4. How you eat is as important as what you eat. When I eat mindfully, I have more pleasure with fewer calories. If I eat mindlessly while watching television, reading, or talking with someone else, I can go through an entire meal without tasting the food, without even noticing that I've been eating. The plate is empty but I didn't enjoy the food -- I had all of the calories and little of the pleasure. Instead, if I eat mindfully, paying attention to what I'm eating, smaller portions of food can be exquisitely satisfying. "Eating with ecstasy" is much more sustainable than "portion control." Here's a downloadable guided meditation: http://www.pmri.org/spectrum/guided_meditations.html Also, when you pay attention to what you're eating, you notice how different foods affect you, for better and for worse. More healthful foods make you feel good -- light, clear, energetic. Less healthful foods make you feel bad -- heavy, dull, sluggish. Then, it comes out of your own experience, not because some doctor or book or friend told you. 5. Joy of living is a much better motivator than fear of dying. When you make healthy diet and lifestyle changes, most people find that they feel so much better, so quickly, it reframes the reason for changing from fear of dying to joy of living. Joy and love are powerful, sustainable motivators, but fear and deprivation are not. Trying to scare people into changing doesn't work very well. Telling someone that they're likely to have a heart attack if they eat too many unhealthful foods or that they may get lung cancer if they don't quit smoking doesn't work very well, at least not for long. Efforts to motivate people to change based on fear of getting sick or dying prematurely are generally unsuccessful. Why? It's too scary. We all know we're going to die one day -- the mortality rate is still 100 percent, one per person -- but who wants to think about it? Even someone who has had a heart attack usually changes for only a few weeks before they go back to their old patterns of living and eating. Once we accept fully that we're going to die one day, then we can start to ask, "How can I live more fully?" As Quincy Jones likes to say, "Live every day like it's your last, and one day you'll be right." For the same reasons, talking about "prevention" or "risk-factor reduction" is boring to most people. Telling someone they're going to live to be 86 instead of 85 is not very motivating -- even when they're 85 -- for who wants to live longer if you're not enjoying life? Sometimes, people say, "I don't care if I die early -- I want to enjoy my life." Well, so do I. That's the false choice -- is it fun for me or is it good for me? Why not both? It's fun for you and good for you to look good, feel good, have more energy, think more clearly, need less sleep, taste better, smell better, and perform better athletically--and sexually. Ironically, some of the behaviors that many people think are fun and sexy -- like smoking cigarettes, overeating, abusing alcohol, and chronic stress -- are the same ones that leave them aging faster and feeling tired, lethargic, depressed, and impotent. How fun is that? (Check out Christy Turlington's site, www.smokingisugly.com.) When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate, and have more love in your life, then your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you think more clearly, have more energy, need less sleep. Your brain can grow so many new brain neurons in only three months that your brain can get measurably bigger! Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and can even begin to reverse heart disease. Your sexual organs receive more blood flow, so you may become more potent -- the same way that drugs like Viagra work. For many people, these are choices worth making -- not just to live longer, but also to live better. Life is to be fully enjoyed. From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Mon May 17 09:26:18 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 20:56:18 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] ecological audit of the entire processes in consumption, leisure, travel, tourism, production, transport, habitat design, urban planning, rural development, food production paving the way for post-carbon habitats/Re: Warning! Unholy Experiment In Progress In-Reply-To: <1274100282.28448.1375448881@webmail.messagingengine.com> References: <1274100282.28448.1375448881@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <855088.6958.qm@web94908.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Ms. Sorcha Faal and distinguished member in the co-learning forums, Greetings for peace, Indeed the Satanic forces globally are?getting more and more powerful as?unregulated democracy?and its supporters are attacking Islam/communication of interfaith monotheistic commons and standards communicated through messengers across the lands and languages. Ecologically hostile urban habitats?are getting more support and those who have been wanting to regulate and?bring it within limits are getting?killed,tortured,marginalised, sabotaged. Islamic civilisation will nonetheless have the victory with the dominance of pious men and women in governance like the delivernance of Moses(PBUH) along with those who followed him from the Pharaonic oppression and arrogance. That is the only way out.?Energy?for sustaining?the globalisation of atheistic anti-Islamic?/anti-Christian?exhibitionist culture?is not guarunteed. Please support my call for transforming ecologically hostile leisure with faith based measure?across the cities and villages?through ecological audit of the entire processes in consumption, leisure,travel, tourism, production,transport,habitat design, urban planning, rural development, food production. These audits are necessary for paving way for post carbon world. If we donot do this, we would be preparing for unseen disaster as you rightly say energy prices would increase by 500%. Kindly have a look at? http://www.slideshare.net/mukhtaralam/carbon-neutral-neighbourhood-discussionsconsultations-for-ecological-audit-neighbourhood-and-personal-processes-for-personal-and-social-wellbeing-and-countering-climate-change ? May we all be free from Satanic insinuations. With warmest regardsDr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: Sorcha Faal Sent: Mon, 17 May, 2010 6:14:42 PM Subject: Warning! Unholy Experiment In Progress Hello Folks, I wanted to bring your attention to Sister Orla?s appeal for this spring season "Warning! Unholy Experiment In Progress" that you can read at http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1371.htm Sister Orla is also the Orders main writer for the upcoming report on this summer?s rare astrological alignment called by the names ?Cosmic Cross? ?Cardinal Cross? and ?T-Square?. Of particular interest in Sister Orla?s report is what she terms ?the great significance? of the August 2010 New Moon?s alignment with the Galactic Center in a precursor to the events set to unfold in 2012. There used to be a time on this Earth when people knew the ?signs of the times?, sadly that isn?t today.? In fact, the powers that be would have you believe that the ancient ways, myths and beliefs no longer have any bearing on our ?modern? world.? They couldn?t be more mistaken! No matter where you travel upon this great Earth of ours, the evidence for a civilization whose technology allowed them to build mega-structures we can?t even begin to understand boggles the mind.? And according to the myths and legends, the people of those ancient times, like those today, became so arrogant in their technological prowess they nearly destroyed this planet?.that is until they themselves were destroyed instead. Today you find yourselves in the midst of a war you did not want, barely understand, and before it?s all over will completely overturn all that you have ever known, most importantly your beliefs in nearly everything you?ve ever been told?.because nearly all of them are lies. The Sisters sole mission is to make sure that as many as possible are protected from the many catastrophes to come, but they can?t do it without your help.? What you need to know though is that your natural ability to help those who are helping you has been deliberately conditioned out of you so that instead of knowing the truth, it will always be kept from you?.and this is not the first time it has happened either. Upon the advent of radio broadcasts early last century thousands of independent news sources (newspapers, magazines, periodicals, journals, etc.) were bankrupted.? Upon the advent of television thousands more were destroyed.? With the rise of the Internet nearly every independent news source is now going and has been replaced by an information ?machine? controlled by a handful of major government/banking/corporate interests, and what you think is a world full of information couldn?t be further from the truth.? What the Internet has become is exactly what it was designed to be?.the Great Destroyer Of Truth. Those few of us who still remain grow weaker by the day and without your support will, like all those before us, fall to the wayside eventually leaving you with nothing but the ?official? story you are supposed to believe because everyone says so. Is that what you want?? If not than please start doing something about!? And we?re not asking for a lot either, just a nickel a day, that comes out to $20.00 a year that if everyone of you gave would sustain us for a year. For those of you able to help us Sister Orla says she would be honored to send to you her report on the coming Cosmic Cross, and the Sorcha Faal?s latest lecture is always included too. For those of you who won?t help I have only this advice?.start wising up and learning who your real allies are in this war before its too late?.you life does depend on it. All the best, Brian Webmaster Paris -- ? Sorcha Faal ? sorchafaal at fastmail.fm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 17 12:03:16 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 11:03:16 -0700 Subject: [GJM] An Absolutely Must Watch Video - Anthony Sutton On: "Wall Street and The Rise of Hitler 3" Message-ID: <009c01caf5eb$7c2c5400$7484fc00$@net> My thanks to Namoi Mullen, a Facebook "friend" to whom I am extremely greatful for bringing this series of videos to my attention. I have long known of Anthony Sutton and the information he has to present in these series of video presentation should be of interest to all of us who care about freedom. Too, long has the truth been hidden from us, and classified as "conspiracy theory," when, in fact it is the truth. Calling it "conspiracy theory" has long been a ploy of the power brokers in order to keep doubt of the truth in play in order to allow those who want to control us for their benefit to continue their evil ways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYzXp2eUGz8 Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Sun May 9 12:25:28 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Sun, 09 May 2010 19:25:28 +0100 Subject: [GJM] The U.S. is taking the ridiculous and unscientific position that GMOs are not different from conventional foods, claiming labels that say GMO or non-GMO are misleading. Message-ID: <4BE6FE18.5080007@gn.apc.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Immediate Action Needed Re: Codex Conference Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 23:04:50 -0500 (CDT) From: Institute for Responsible Technology Reply-To: newsletter at responsibletechnology.org To: ecotort at gn.apc.org *Action Alert ? Protect Your Right to Know Which Foods Contain GMOs * Please send this URGENT message to U.S. Government leaders to protect your right to know which foods are made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). _Click and send an email today_ to the Secretaries of State (Clinton), Agriculture (Vilsack), and Health and Human Services (Sebelius). Please try to do this before Wednesday, May 5^th , but don?t stop until they come around. They must stop U.S. negotiators at an international (Codex) conference from May 3-7, from pushing an agenda that could make it difficult for anyone, *anywhere in the world* to label foods as genetically modified (GM) ? or even make *non-GMO claims on their product?s label. * * * The U.S. is taking the ridiculous and unscientific position that GMOs are not different from conventional foods, claiming labels that say GMO or non-GMO are misleading. If they succeed at the meeting, the U.S. may then file lawsuits through the World Trade Organization against any country that implements mandatory labeling of GMOs, or even allows non-GMO claims on packages. *This Is a Grave Threat to the Non-GMO Tipping Point ? We Must Push Back Now!* The growing evidence and concern about health dangers of GMOs is making waves. A renowned US Medical organization (American Academy of Environmental Medicine) called on doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients. Consumers are seeking non-GMO brands, and the fastest growing claim among store brands in 2009 was ?GMO-Free? (Neilson Survey). The trade journal /Supermarket News/ predicts GMO concerns will erupt this year, specifically /because/ consumers are now given choices by the new _Non-GMO Shopping Guide website_ and the Non-GMO Project?s third-party verified standard for making non-GMO claims. /Most Americans (53%) say they would avoid GMOs if they were labeled./ But even 5% would likely be enough to create a tipping point of consumer rejection, forcing all GM ingredients out of our food supply. We can see the tipping point just over the horizon, but it is now threatened by the US position at Codex. Tell our government leaders that you will not stand for this outrageous obstruction of our democracy and human rights. Demand that the U.S. support the right for countries everywhere to label GMOs. And remind them that 9 out of 10 Americans want mandatory GMO labeling, and that President Obama actually made a campaign pledge to implement it?which are all waiting for. _Send an email today >_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This email was sent to ecotort at gn.apc.org, by The Institute for Responsible Technology , located at PO Box 469 - - Fairfield, IA 52556 - United States of America. * To unsubscribe~from this publication or remove~your email~address from all lists maintained by The Institute for Responsible Technology, please visit: Unsubscribe * To update your contact information: Update Profile / Email Address * Read our Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Mon May 10 13:46:43 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 20:46:43 +0100 Subject: [GJM] rEvolutionary EcoTort film script - shooting in two weeks time in Dalston, Hackney, LONDON. (+: Message-ID: <4BE862A3.90009@gn.apc.org> Dear committed brothers and sisters of the rEvolution! The Ecotort Theatre is proud to announce that it has secured funding to make a 20 minute film of its theatrical script "NEWSFLASH -- A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LUMBERJACK". We will be rehearsing and shooting it on the 14^th and 15^th of June in Dalston. Ecotort Theatre has linked up with the Passing Clouds Arts Centre in Dalston, who will be assisting with the production, and has assembled a first-rate production team and cast. However, we still need some additional hands and help. Having spoken to many of you in the past about the project, I know there is a great amount of support for it and would love to have that energy involved. In particular, we need lots of extras for the crowd scene, and a couple of speaking parts may still be up for grabs. Please read a synopsis of the film below, and if you are interested in reading the full script, reply with "EcoTort film script" in the subject line. The aim of this project is to raise levels of consciousness and empower people in as wide an audience as possible, by illustrating that we have the Law on our side in the battle to change the criminal behaviour of the "powers that be", which is destroying the planet we all have to live upon. To show that through a common understanding and discussion of the True Law , change is really possible. */_SYNOPSIS_/**:* */"/* NEWS FLASH is a short, highly empowering piece of theatre about a dissillusioned tree-surgeon who is pushed to the limits of his reason after being forced to take a job as a lumberjack, cutting down the very trees he loves in order to provide for his family. One day, he decides he can't take it any more and quits the job, instead heading off to an interview for a new job as an organic herdsman. However, on the way to the interview, an unexpected accident results in the Lumberjack getting arrested and taken to the local police-station. His dealings with the police and solicitors give him a platform to express his discontent with the status quo, and to stipulate a lawful solution, which in turn */sparks a global Permaculture rEvolution for the environment . . . ! /"* If you have any questions or suggestions, please email or call me (Nick) on 07932 734 817 Many thanks for your support. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From 121Rhahl at kilowattcards.com Fri May 14 03:59:58 2010 From: 121Rhahl at kilowattcards.com (Robert Hahl) Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 02:59:58 -0700 Subject: [GJM] How alternative media builds social movements Message-ID: <6d438c4e$46f2e772$632a7b30$@com> In the article below Michelle Langlois explains how social media are working today. I find that it is not enough to just hear "Facebook" and "Twitter" and understand how this new tool of communicaiton works its magic. -Bob -----Original Message----- From: moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG [mailto:moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG] Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 9:11 PM To: PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG Subject: How alternative media builds social movements How alternative media builds social movements by Michelle Langlois Rabble.ca's Staff Blog rabble.ca (Canada) - May 9, 2010 http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/rabble-staff/2010/05/how-alternative-med ia-builds-social-movements Today I'm going to be speaking at an event called Building Social Movements Through Alternative Media and I thought I'd share my remarks with rabble readers here in our staff blog. (Warning: this will be a looooong post!) First of all, I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day. As a mom myself of a politically astute 11 year-old son, and as a woman who has a strong and amazing mom who raised me to be a strong woman, a lovely stepmom, and an inspiring and interesting grandmother (or Oma, as I call her), this is a special day for me, and I'm sure that it is for many of you as well. So thanks for sharing this special day with me. Mother's Day is not entirely off-topic when it comes to what I'm going to talk about today, which is building social movements through alternative media, and how the media organization I'm with, rabble.ca, does that. My talk is going to be a bit wide-ranging -- I'm going to talk about some of the stuff happening out there in the social and alternative media realm, and then how rabble.ca is plugging into that and helping to build movements. The activist side of Mother's Day and where you'll hear about it As I'm sure most of you know, the origins of the current North American Mother's Day started out as an activist holiday before it got co-opted by greeting card companies and flower shops. Wikipedia, an example of alternative media, tells us that the current Mother's Day started out in 1870 as "a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Julia Ward Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level." Probably a lot of you knew that already if you're activist or progressive folks. But if you didn't, you might possibly have found that out if you did an online search on "Mother's Day" in order to send your mom an e-card or flowers and discovered the Wikipedia entry. Or you might have discovered it from an activist lefty or feminist friend on Facebook if they posted it as their Mother's Day greeting. Or perhaps you might have read about it on an activist or alternative media site that publishes stories about the activist side of Mother's Day, instead of the happy, consumerist glurge you see on mainstream news - you know the kind of report. Streeters with shoppers at the mall, asking them they are buying Mom, or what meals they might cook for Mom this one time per year. (Okay, I get stuff cooked for me more than that, I'll admit.) This is probably a good time to introduce what I do at rabble. I'm the editor of the In Cahoots section of the site, and before that, I was a moderator of rabble's discussion forum, babble. rabble is a multimedia site, with a video section called rabbletv, a podcast section called the rabble podcast network, a book review section called the rabble book lounge, a blog section, and of course lots of print articles and opinion pieces. We also have what we call Issue Pages - these are pages that gather news and discussions from all areas of our site that are about a certain issue into one spot, so you can read all our site content on that particular issue. For instance, we have a G8/G20 page, a feminism page, an Indigenous Rights page, etc. In Cahoots with rabble.ca I'll tell you more about my area of the site, In Cahoots. This is where we post news from partnering organizations who support our web site. For instance, the story I posted for Mother's Day in the In Cahoots section is a campaign call from Amnesty International, one of our partners. They are promoting a campaign with other organizations called momsrule.org, where you can send an e-card to your mother for Mother's Day, and it will also send a message to Harper demanding that he keep maternal health on the agenda at the G8 summit. This is an example of the way alternative media can be used to promote social justice causes. Any In Cahoots partner of ours that has any sort of campaign or news that they need to get the word out about has one more way of publicizing it and building awareness and action among the readers of our web site. This e-card campaign, for instance, is a good way to not only get people thinking politically about Mother's Day instead of the aforementioned glurge, but also for people to spread the word to others and to take action by sending a message to our elected politicians. I'm always on the lookout for new In Cahoots partners, so if you are part of an organization whose news you'd like to reach a wide audience of activists and progressives across the country, let me know and I'll be happy to help you become a partner -- it's pretty painless. We're a good way of getting the word out and driving traffic to your site, since the In Cahoots links go directly to the full story on your site. Maternal health, pro-choice activism, and social media I'd like to stay with the theme of Mother's Day because some interesting online activism has been happening over the past week that is a great example of how alternative and social media is being used to build social movements and actions. As you've probably heard, the Harper government has decided that Canada's foreign aid for maternal health care initiatives will exclude abortion services. They tried to exclude even birth control a couple of months ago, but there was such a backlash that they had to back down on that. But now they're excluding abortion services for women who need them in majority world nations. When an outcry started among pro-choice feminists about this, six mainstream aid organizations (including Plan Canada and UNICEF, if you can imagine) made a statement telling choice activists and opposition parties to shut up about abortion, otherwise funding could be delayed and women will die. As you can imagine, a great many pro-choice feminists were not happy with that statement! Do you know how I know about all of this? It's not because I read about it in the mainstream news or saw it on TV. There may have been reports about it here and there in the mainstream news, but those came after the fact. The first place I found out about that joint statement condemning activists instead of the Harper government is through social media -- namely Facebook and Twitter. As soon as I heard about it there, I posted it here on babble, which is my online community home, along with the e-mail addresses of all the organizations involved, and a call out for feminist activists to e-mail them about this. Bloggers were all over it too, spreading the word. And that is where the feminist action began -- through alternative and social media. Feminists posted the news on many blogs and alternative media sites like rabble, and shared it with each other on Facebook and Twitter. The first thing we did was use these tools to inform each other. Then we used them to organize. I'm sure you've all heard about Senator Nancy Ruth advising pro-choice activists to shut the fuck up about abortion because, as a pro-choice feminist herself, she was afraid it would become an election issue here if we needled Harper too much. Three Ontario NDP MPPs, including the leader, Andrea Horwath, put cards with X's on them over their mouths in the legislature as a protest. (Note: don't you love how the CTV headline calls it a "pro-abortion gesture" instead of "pro-choice"?) Now, a grassroots campaign has started on Facebook and Twitter -- the "I Won't Shut The Fuck Up" campaign -- where women all over the country are putting Xs over their mouths on their profile pictures to protest conservative attempts to silence women on reproductive choice. You can see mine here. Online organizing for offline results Some campaigns happen mostly online, like this STFU campaign at the moment. People joke about this, I know -- about clicking a mouse instead of hitting the streets. But the fact is, the more people you engage with mouse-clicks, the more likely you're going to be to inspire people to go further than that. This is how I became politically active in real life -- I started with the click of my mouse on babble when I was a not-so-politically active single parent going to university. Other campaigns organize online and then continue in the offline, real world. A great example of that is the No Prorogue protests. Some guy starts a Facebook group, it captures the mouse clicks and imaginations of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and then tens of thousands of those Canadians used social and alternative media sites and tools to organize locally and then hit the streets. Alternative media sites like rabble not only reported on, but also supported these protests. We created a placard design to be used on signs at the street protests. We helped spread the word about organizing meetings using various features of our web site like babble and What's Up. And we do that for all sorts of issues. During the Olympics, the Canadian mainstream media almost completely shut out any of the issues that protesters were talking about. International media covered it but mainstream Canadian media didn't. Alternative media sure did, though. Let me tell you what rabble did to support and build the protests around the Olympics. First of all, we reported on it. Yes, that's pretty basic, but it was something that no one except alternative media was doing. We had bloggers and writers reporting from the Olympic actions ont he ground, and video coverage as well. We used our In Cahoots section to link to our partners' web sites where they were building campaigns against the Olympics and sharing their news about it. We had our What's Up section available for anyone to promote events such as alternative Olympic events, forums, protests, information sessions, etc. (This section is always open to everyone to post activist, arts and culture and any other progressive events being held anywhere in the country, so please use it -- that's why it's there.) Our discussion forum, babble, was a place where activists and progressives discussed all the issues behind the Olympics that the mainstream wasn't covering. It's a community, where people can share news and information, as well as interesting discussions. It was also a place where we discussed and debated tactics, and helped each other get to the bottom of why the protests were happening. Don't forget, there was education to be done, because the mainstream media was reporting that everyone supported the Olympics, including all the First Nations groups. So there was a lot of discussion and education to do with each other in the community around why we weren't hearing the whole story, and why people were protesting. Basically, what we and many other alternative media did was to give Olympics protesters a platform, a place to amplify their voice, and the legitimacy that the mainstream media denied them. We plan to do the same thing for the G8/G20 summits here in Toronto in June, as well as the People's Summit the week beforehand. We will be reporting. We will be promoting our progressive partners' actions in In Cahoots. We will offer online space for organizing and discussing tactics and strategies, and for announcing events and meetings. We will be one of the alternative media destinations to go to find news about the G8/G20 that the mainstream news almost certainly will not cover. Why alternative media builds social movements We do this because alternative media is not just about reporting. It is about reporting, but that's not all. Traditional media is about one-way reporting, one-to-many reporting. They talk, you listen as a passive audience. Alternative media is about facilitating communication between people, between activists and organizations, and about raising voices that don't get heard in the mainstream media. It's about helping to build movements, not just report on them. It's about creating space for people to organize, creating and sharing online tools to help make that happen. It's about online communities gathering news themselves, being citizen journalists, citizen pundits, analyzing the world around us and sharing that analysis with each other, instead of being told by "opinion leaders" what our opinions should be. So I hope that we can continue to work together on building our social movements and activism. Because that's also what alternative media is about -- working together, collaborating, sharing. I look forward to a lot more sharing and activism with you. [Michelle Langlois is the editor of In Cahoots, a moderator on rabble.ca's discussion forum, babble, and a mostly unrepentant babble addict. She has written articles and book reviews for rabble.ca, and occasionally produces videos for rabbletv. ] _____________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: moderator at portside.org Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe Account assistance: portside.org/contact Search the archives: portside.org/archive -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From joniplum at googlemail.com Fri May 14 23:32:46 2010 From: joniplum at googlemail.com (John Plumridge) Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 06:32:46 +0100 Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Quantum Physicist Amit Goswami In-Reply-To: <511146.36042.qm@web94908.mail.in2.yahoo.com> References: <00c601caf17f$9153cf90$b3fb6eb0$@net> <511146.36042.qm@web94908.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <72719A480527B03909E1D7FF@chueewowees-imac.local> --On 12 May 2010 12 May-09:19:18 +0530 "Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam" wrote: > Tomorrow, if some one come up with a nanological analysis and if this > comes as a best seller like Tao of Physics, they would lap it up and > present the finding as if this was known to the seers. --On 11 May 2010 11 May-20:00:53 -0700 mary rose wrote: > I have previously said that Buddhism is based in quantum physics. This > may be better understood by reading The Dalai Lama?s book: ?The > Universe in an Atom? or studying Amit Goswami?s work. There are the enlightening holy books... But I have to agree with Dr Muhammad. And yet, for the western people, spiritual teachers use everyday science to try and move beyond materialism into spirit. It's easy to understand why. You can get stuck in wasted life. Intellect is not a complete toolkit for liberation..it only takes you so far. When the intellect depends solely upon sensory input and theorising it's most limited. It might be better to recall your awakening as a father when your son was born, or memory of when you almost died. Dream phenomenon might serve better too: for this embodied world of birth and death we dimly perceive meaning from through the senses, in the subtle worlds we percieve phenomenon through meaning. But employing the latest materialistic theory and analysing them in the context of spirit can go on for ever, life after life, it reveals no knowledge, or knowledge about the teacher... just, restating, there's more to this than meets the eye! If it's not confusing. It's an attempt to revisit what your father told you as a son when he touched your spirit: follow the truth in your conscience; speak only the truth in all conscience: the intelligence of the heart. Leave all the theorising behind, but the imprint of materialism has gripped you, maybe? Then contemplate your death and your sorrow. Matter did not give birth to matter. Mind did not give birth to mind. Energy did not give birth to energy or matter or life. Matter is energy energy is matter. Matter did not give birth to life. Step beyond, into the freshness of the morning. This is a dream... a real dream! and you are in it for a while... It cannot be explained by intellect theorising upon sensory phenomenon. Our senses are limited to our sphere. Machine aids to our senses are extremely limited, depended upon our theorising. Technology is not 'science'. 'Science' is not technology. Technology doesn't corroborate scientific theorising, it's quite separate. 'Modern Science', theory limited to what appears to the bodily sense, arrives at word-bound ideas about 'the big bang' .. or when there was nothing'; or 'chaos'; If they taught something else in primary schools, you would be happy with, or bound by that With an Islamic education about this world of spirit, you might shudder at the cold materialism, it's poverty of mind and human experience. That's indoctrination for you; you even believe in progress in knowledge... Knowledge bound by time! Or, Refined in time! OR, Growing in time! As if you're smarter at age six than your grandfather. Assumes that truth lies within time; that time has a beginning and end and is not created! Reductio ab absurdam: Science called psychology, reduces mind to something 'caused by matter' where, senses are meaningless There is no you to perceive, no perception... emptiness is nihilism, is nothingness is is emptiness ... There is, Nothing! Oh good answer. Thanks, sir. Material (atoms etc) begets matter (atoms etc). And you've moved nowhere toward the light of knowledge. I say, Leave all mental speculation behind. Be brave. Be old fashioned. Be fresh. life is not a riddle to solve and earn a school prize. It is an adventure. Follow the inner voice of conscience, and don't step off the path of life. No, on second thoughts, better stick with mental speculation... it's safer the school of slaves obedient to worldly powers. -- Regards, John __ | / / | / / | | ___ (___ ___ (___|( _ _ ___ ___| ___ ___ )| )| )| ) | | | )| | )| )| | )| )|___) _/ |__/ | / | / | | |__/ | / | | |__/ |__/ |__ __/ - From pippa at pippa-bartolotti.co.uk Sun May 16 09:23:13 2010 From: pippa at pippa-bartolotti.co.uk (pippa bartolotti) Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 16:23:13 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: NJPN E-BULLETIN 4 09.04.10 (Money, mining, environment) In-Reply-To: References: <158325064511443488758B8128CD7D87@PhilipsUserPC> Message-ID: <001c01caf50b$b39a26f0$1ace74d0$@co.uk> Dear Peter, I am up in London Tuesday 18th and will be free late afternoon/early evening in the Victoria/Westminster area. If this is a good time for our meeting please let me know. My mobile number is 07981 717757 Regards, Pippa From: discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net [mailto:discussion-bounces at globaljusticemovement.net] On Behalf Of Peter Challen Sent: 10 April 2010 06:41 To: GJM Discussion Subject: [GJM] Fwd: NJPN E-BULLETIN 4 09.04.10 (Money, mining, environment) FYI. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Date: 2010/4/9 Subject: NJPN E-BULLETIN 4 09.04.10 (Money, mining, environment) To: admin at justice-and-peace.org.uk 32nd Annual Justice & Peace Conference: Our Daily Bread: Food Security, People and Planet Hayes Conference Centre - Swanwick ? Derbyshire 16 - 18 July 2010 Now booking: forms available from www.justice-and-peace.org.uk or NJPN, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX, Tel: 020 7901 4864, Email: admin at justice-and-peace.org.uk Dear Friends Contents of this bulletin: 1. Land Value Taxation Campaign petition 2. Robin Hood Tax Campaign update 3. Landmark Law passed to tackle Vulture Funds 4. Christian Ecology Link Newsletter 5. London Mining News: See attachment for full newsletter; headings below 6. Shadow banking and destructive mining; a guided tour 7. Anglo-Shame: How Mining Companies put profit before people 8. Selection of items from Independent Catholic News The items below are emails received from around the Network which may be of interest to those involved in working for justice and peace. The views expressed are not necessarily those of NJPN. To unsubscribe from these mailings, email admin at justice-and-peace.org.uk with ?unsubscribe? in the subject box. Donate to NJPN: Send cheques payable to NJPN to: NJPN, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX. Donate online: www.cafonline.org/donate, type in National Justice and Peace Network under ?Find a Charity? Make a regular donation by standing order: Download standing order/membership forms from www.justice-and-peace.org.uk (NJPN is a registered charity no: 1114947 Company no: 5036866 Registered Office: 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX) 1. Land Value Taxation Campaign petition (This was sent in before the announcement of the General Election, so maybe could be addressed to party leaders? Please could you pass on notification of this petition for a fair tax system. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TaxLess4more/ ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? " We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to replace taxes on earnings, goods and services by a charge on the unearned rental value of land, thereby raising public revenue in accordance with natural justice, reducing inequality, encouraging economic development and restoring prosperity while preventing ?boom-bust? cycles" More details The present tax system is unjust and complicated. It is a burden on labour and business. It stifles jobs; cripples enterprise; encourages tax avoidance; distorts markets; keeps people poor; and makes them dependent on benefits. It does not raise sufficient revenue, and forces governments to borrow to pay for current expenses. The country needs a radical change in the way government is paid for. There is an ample source: land rents ? site location values, which are created by the presence and actions of the community. Land rental value should be collected for society in place of taxes on work, goods and services. The reform would make houses affordable; stabilise the banking system; curb speculation; and be fair to all, taking less from those who make society work. The land value charge should be based on current rental values. The use of land value for public revenue in thriving cities like Hong Kong, Sydney and states such as Taiwan, shows how great the benefits can be ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++ Many thanks -- Regards Henry Hon Secretary Land Value Taxation Campaign http://www.landvaluetax.org Petition http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TaxLess4more/ cid:682002215 at 15022010-0c9c 2. Robin Hood Tax Campaign update NB. Anne Peacey, Chair of NJPN, wrote to the party leaders on behalf of NJPN about including this in party manifestos (see below re Urgent Action) Following the ?Sachs-in-the-City? update that related the amazing few days of Jeff Sachs? whirlwind visit when we met with Alastair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable, culminating in the Archbishop of Canterbury coming out in favour of the campaign, this instalment features: our campaign swelling to more than100 members, pre-budget antics outside the Treasury, our post-budget response, international news and celebrities joining the campaign by the day. The Robin Hood Tax campaign is growing quickly we now have 106 member organisations, with the National Union of Journalists bringing us beyond the 100 mark in the last few days. To see who we are, click here: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/who-we-are/. About a quarter of our membership is made up of trade unions, which means if we add up the amount of UK citizens now behind the campaign it numbers many millions - a strong position as we move into the election period. Having got ourselves established we are now looking to step up a gear ? so look out for an Urgent Action email in the next day or two asking all member organisations to write to Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the run-up to the launch of their party manifestos. Robin Hoods visit the Treasury ? one of the highlights of last week for me was being present when 10 Robin Hoods with green budget boxes descended on Parliament, sang ?Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding through the glen...? to surprised Treasury officials and turned up at Lib Dems and Conservative party headquarters. This was an extremely successful action with an excellent 5-minute package shown on Channel 4 News that night entitled ?Squeaky-bum time for the banks?, if you haven?t watched it yet, you have to see it, click here and scroll down: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/homepage/photo-feature-robin-delivers-a-budget-to -believe-in/ To see great pix of the Robin Hoods in action, visit the site of ace photographer, Andrew Aitchison: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/andrewaitchison/gallery-list . This all goes to show that the Robin Hood character and story is (what he had always thought) extremely media-friendly ? it?s fun, it?s colourful, it?s different ? so let?s play with this both nationally and especially locally! The Budget - in just five days running up to the budget more than 3,400 supporters responded to our Budget Day Action by emailing the Chancellor. An impressive showing! When it came to it the Chancellor let down the 150,000 people officially signed up to the campaign by letting rich financial institutions off the hook. He proposed a different sort of bank levy, which will raise a fraction of the tens of billions of pounds for good causes that the Robin Hood Tax would raise by taxing financial transactions. This is really disappointing since it is nowhere near enough to protect jobs, help poor people at home and abroad or fight climate change. As well, frustratingly, the Chancellor dismissed unilateral transaction taxes, such as the sterling transaction tax the campaign has been asking for, which we believe to be an important stepping stone towards coordinated international action to tax the financial sector more extensively. The Campaign reaction ? see the letter published in Saturday?s Guardian from the heads of more than half of the 100 members of the RHT campaign stating our disappointment: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/debate/in-the-news/response-to-budget-letter-to-e ditor/ . This initiative was put together immediately after the budget announcement and it?s brilliant to have achieved this many sign-ons in such a short time. Well done everyone for moving on this so quickly! The curious case of Government denial in the face of incontrovertible evidence Our pressure is helping to create policy differences between the major parties. For us, the implementation of Financial Transaction Taxes (FTTs) needs to be pursued at an international level by the G20 ? the top-down approach ? but also critically by countries introducing certain kinds of FTTs unilaterally ? the bottom-up approach. For us, therefore, the principle that FTTs can be implemented unilaterally is key. Last Saturday David Cameron moved the Conservatives to a more progressive position than the Labour Government by announcing that a levy on banks should not rely on international agreement. The Lib Dems, some weeks ago, conceded that FTTs can be applied unilaterally (ie nationally) or regionally (ie within the EU) but importantly not waiting on the US to proceed. However, the Government persist in saying that FTTs have to be applied internationally, which appears to be an entirely untenable position since we have got not one, but two, unilateral FTTs in this country already. Namely, a stamp duty on share transactions introduced in the 1960s (at 0.5% raising more than ?3 billion a year); and the tax on bankers bonuses introduced last November. In the election period it is going to be critical for us to exploit these policy differences to the max! International news: Robin Hood on the march - from Italy to Australia RHT campaigns are launching ?Molto bene?!!! Italy have just launched a national FTT campaign called ZERO ZERO CINQUE - 0,05 - bringing together NGOs, social movements, think tanks, trade unions, catholic groups and ethical banks - check out their website: http://www.zerozerocinque.it/ . Australian campaigners plan to launch their campaign in the next 2 weeks. Support for the Robin Hood campaign is expanding across the globe. A campaign has been running in Germany for some time called Steuer gegen Armut (Tax Against Poverty) ? see their version of the Richard Curtis-Bill Nighy film: http://www.steuergegenarmut.org/ (Max thinks it?s hilarious!). Our friends in the States have been pushing for action in Congress and the White House, as well as protesting outside banks all over the USA, and are planning a mid-April campaign launch. In Brussels outside the EU Heads of State meeting last week, Robin Hoods and Maid Marians had a tug of war with a gang of protesting bankers to highlight the need for Europe to introduce a Robin Hood Tax. See these brilliant pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfamsol/sets/72157623566580145/show/ - which you can contrast with our Robin Hoods descending on Parliament (see link above). Find the Brussels story here: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/homepage/robin-hood-battles-brussels-bankers/ Celebrities join the campaign Sienna Miller, Nick Frost, Emma Thompson, David Threlfall and Lamar have joined Bill Nighy as a first wave of celebrity endorsers of the Robin Hood Tax. See them all wearing the green masks here: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/homepage/celebrities-join-our-merry-band/, where you?ll find links to stories in Heat magazine, the Daily Mail, The Mirror, and the Sun. Especially, check out the piece by David Threlfall (aka Frank Gallagher in Channel 4?s Shameless) explaining how the RHT could improve the lives of millions of children in the UK and abroad in the Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2903234/Why-Robin-Hood-must-ta ke-from-rich-banks-and-give-to-poor-kids.html . What is exciting is the extension of coverage from the broadsheets to the tabloid press - an essential ingredient for campaign success! What next? In the run-up to Easter, let?s concentrate on three things. Firstly, there will be an Urgent Action for all member organisations to write to the 3 Party Leaders in the run-up to the launch of their party manifestos. Secondly, on the faith front, we are especially looking to build on the Archbishop of Canterbury?s recent public support for the campaign, focusing particularly on getting our message to the Christian community. Thirdly, we are about to launch our new campaign film starring a host of new celebs including Sir Ben Kingsley, Noel Clarke (from Dr Who) and Jamie Winston. This should create a surge of new support, adding petrol to the tank and propelling us forward with renewed energy! *** Owen Tudor Head of European Union and International Relations TUC, Congress House, 23-28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS T: +44 20 7467 1325 F: +44 20 7467 1343 M: +44 7788 715261 I blog at www.touchstoneblog.org.uk and www.strongerunions.org (and sometimes at http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_profile.asp?uid=318086) Follow the TUC's international work on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TUCglobal 3. Landmark Law Passed to Tackle Vulture Funds UK becomes first country to ban ?Third World Debt? profiteering in final hours of Parliamentary session A landmark bill to protect the poorest countries in the world from profiteering by so-called vulture funds became law today after passing in the House of Lords during the ?wash-up? at the end of the Parliamentary session. Jubilee Debt Campaign welcomed the successful passage of the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill, which is the world?s first law to restrict the ability of Vulture Funds to sue some of the world?s poorest countries for full repayment of debts that they have bought up cheaply. Last November two Vulture Funds were awarded $20 million in the High Court from Liberia ? the second poorest country in the world - for a debt dating back to the 1970s. This law is expected to make that verdict unenforceable. There was an outcry last month after the bill was blocked at third reading by an unidentified Conservative MP ? thought to be backbencher Christopher Chope. But the Government made time for the Bill in the wash-up, after securing cross-party agreement with a sunset clause which will mean the law has to be reassessed to be made permanent in a year?s time. International support for the bill has been expressed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana. Nick Dearden, Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: ?This is a landmark law. With this act, the UK has become the first country in the world to stop vulture funds using its courts to profiteer from poverty. It will mean the poorest countries in the world can no longer be attacked by these reprehensible investment funds who grow fat from the misery of others. We now call on other governments, particularly the US administration, to take similar steps to outlaw vulture practices.? ?We hope this is the first step towards creating a more just financial system, which operates for the great majority of people, not a tiny minority of unethical investors.? Andrew Gwynne MP, Sponsor of the bill said: ?I am absolutely thrilled that my bill has been passed into law. It was completely unacceptable that a small number of companies were ever allowed in the UK courts to profiteer off the third world debt market. These ?vulture funds? were completely unjust and it is to the credit of this parliament, and the efforts of the Jubilee Debt Campaign that we have finally managed to pass this law. I said I would put a stop to these vulture funds, and I did.? Sally Keeble MP, who took the bill through the House of Commons, said: ?These vulture funds are international predators. Their victims are the poorest people in the world. It is excellent that at this stage it has been possible to get this piece of legislation on to the statute books to outlaw the activities of these vulture funds. This was a victory for a broad based campaign led by jubilee debt and other NGOs which brought this issue to public attention.? For more information contact JDC media line: 020 7324 4724; 07818 651124 Notes for editors (1) Vulture Funds are private investment companies which take advantage of the relaxed laws in British courts to buy up Third World debt at dramatically reduced prices and sue poor countries for their full value plus costs. In the process, companies make excessive rates of profit. (2) Jubilee Debt Campaign is a UK coalition demanding 100% cancellation of unpayable and illegitimate developing country debts. For more information see www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk . (3) The Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill is a Private Member?s Bill sponsored by Andrew Gwynne MP. Owing to Mr Gwynne?s illness, Sally Keeble has steered the bill through the House of Commons. It was objected to at Third Reading on 12 March, http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/debtreliefdevelopingcountries.ht ml. 4. Christian Ecology Link Newsletter 70 Happy Easter! 1. GENERAL ELECTION http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/election-2010.htm 2. POST ELECTION SERVICE AND ALL-NIGHT VIGIL http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/vigil.htm 3. BP FORTNIGHT OF SHAME 1-15 APRIL 4. OPERATION NOAH GATHERING http://www.operationnoah.org/node/238 5. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR LOW CARBON BUILDING PROJECT IN ESSEX APRIL-MAY http://bit.ly/ctGKXl5. 6. NEW PAGES ON CEL WEBSITE 7. APRIL EVENTS ************************************************************** 1. GENERAL ELECTION The upcoming general election gives us all the opportunity to promote democratic choice and to make climate change a doorstep issue. There is an introductory page on CEL's website on 'Ask the Climate Question' campaign. http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/ask-the-climate-question.htm Especially if you live in a marginal seat, get involved with the 'Ask the Climate Question' campaign through: Tearfund http://www.tearfund.org/Campaigning/Election+2010/Election_ACQ.htm Christian Aid http://www.christianaid.org.uk/ActNow/election2010/index.aspx CAFOD http://www.cafod.org.uk/election Stop Climate Chaos http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/ask-the-climate-question Whether or not you are in a marginal seat, it is still worth organising a hustings in your area. Go to the CTBI web site: http://www.ctbi.org.uk/CFH/427 for a step-by-step guide on how to go about it. And when you have organised your event, or when you go to one, go to CEL's web site for ideas of questions to ask such as: 1. Massive reductions in energy use in this country are necessary but will not be easy. How unpopular are you prepared to be? Give us an example of the courage you will show in this area. 2. Addressing climate change requires a paradigm shift in our way of being in the developed world. What will you do to change the culture of our country from one of human-buyings to one of human beings? More questions at www.christian-ecology.org.uk/election-2010.htm ************************************************************** 2. POST ELECTION SERVICE AND ALL NIGHT VIGIL London 15th /16th May. The new government may need reminding of the importance of prioritising addressing climate change above the economy, education and the EU. CEL is organising a service at St. Martin's in the Fields at 11pm from which we will join the Campaign against Climate Change vigil as it processes down Whitehall to Parliament Square. CaCC are organizing the overnight vigil in Old Palace Yard, outside Parliament. It will continue through the night of 15/16 May until 5am. A venue not far from Parliament will be open all night for Taize, tea and toilets, and breakfast will be served at 6am. Please join us. Visit CEL's website for more information. http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/vigil.htm ************************************************************** 3. BP FORTNIGHT OF SHAME 1-15 APRIL Rising Tide ( http://risingtide.org.uk/index.htm ) and others are calling for BP to reverse their plans to move into Canada's tar sands. According to the NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen humanity can probably burn all the oil in the earth and survive. But we must leave most of the coal and all of the unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar sands, in the ground. BP must know this, they just need reminding. The BP Fortnight of Shame runs between the annual Fossil Fools day on April 1st and BP's Annual General Meeting on April 15th. Please pray that the fortnight is effective and let Ruth know if you plan to join the demonstration outside the AGM on the 15th at ruthj at phonecoop.coop . ************************************************************** 4. OPERATION NOAH GATHERING By Cloud and Fire - spiritual journeys to climate safety. The Operation Noah gathering and AGM will be held at 11am, 22nd May, Friends' House, Euston Rd. Michael Northcott, Mary Grey, Paul Bodenham and you will chart a path through the post-Copenhagen spiritual and political wilderness. http://www.operationnoah.org/node/238 ********************************************************** 5. LOW CARBON BUILDING PROJECT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED APRIL-MAY The Othona Community, at Bradwell on Sea, Essex, has opportunities during April and May 2010 for volunteers to get involved with our award-winning low-carbon building project, which has won ?103,000 funding from the EEDA Cut Your Carbon competition. Volunteers can spend from a few days to a few weeks on the project, and will gain hands-on experience of natural building techniques including constructing walls using strawbale, earth-ramming and cobbing. No experience necessary - training will be provided, and accommodation on site is available. Find out more at http://bit.ly/ctGKXl 01621 776 564 ************************************************************** 6. NEW PAGES ON CEL WEBSITE: April prayer guide: http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/p1004.htm 2010 Storm of Hope Brochure http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/soh-brochure.htm CEL members have already received this as a paper copy. Whether you are a member or not, If you would like to be sent some spare copies to put in your church or to display at events please ask Jill at resources at christian-ecology.org.uk Short "Tar sands" article for a church magazine http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/m1004.htm March Grass of the month: Blue Moor-grass http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/grass3.htm April Grass of the Month: Sweet Vernal-grass http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/grass4.htm Introduction to Ask the Climate Question http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/ask-the-climate-question.htm Press release on Churches on Transition on 22 March http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/pr-cit-20100322.htm ************************************************************ 7. APRIL EVENTS Visit www.christian-ecology.org.uk/whatson.htm for What's On in April and the rest of 2010. The John Houghton Talk in Edinburgh which we said in an earlier email was on 1st May is not on 1st May - it is in the evening on 15th April: http://bit.ly/9YLd0G For details about what time this starts please contact Dr Murdo Macdonald mmacdonald at cofscotland.org.uk Please send us details of other upcoming events you would like us to publicise on the whatson page of the website. ************************************************************** If you do not wish to receive CEL News emails, please let me know Best wishes from Judith Allinson ____________________________________________________________________ * CHRISTIAN ECOLOGY LINK - Support in greening our church and world. Information and Resources (leaflets) available from 0845 4598460. 10 Beech Hall Road, Highams Park, London, E4 9NX info at christian-ecology.org.uk Company Reg. No. 2445198 Reg Charity No. 328744. Visit CEL's website http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk for: Daily prayer guide (produced monthly); UK Events List; Green sermon notes; Resources list; Useful links. 5. London Mining News: see attachment for full newsletter For news about mining companies listed on the London Stock Exchange or financed from London, see http://londonminingnetwork.org For global mining news and comment, see http://www.minesandcommunities.org Stories with weblinks 1) Rio Tinto news 2) News about BHP Billiton 3) CAFOD calls on mining giant AngloGold Ashanti to share its contract with local community 4) GATA's evidence of silver and gold manipulation at CFTC hearing (includes JPMorganChase and London markets) 5) Peruvian Regional Council seeks ban on all mining (involves Xstrata) 6) Seven Tanzanians Buy Barrick Shares 7) India's Tata accused of harassing tribal protestors 8) Ocean Industries Launch World Ocean Council (involves Rio Tinto, Anglo American) 9) ICMM presents its 2009 Annual Review 10) Coal fuels much of Internet "cloud," Greenpeace says 11) Taxpayers' money could fund child labour or slavery overseas under new rules, warn campaigners 12) Discovery studies Botswana underground copper mine 13) Future Earth - Addicted to Power Stories reproduced here in full 14) UK Mining revival 15) Short-term contracts big win for BHP 16) European Nickel and BHP Billiton in Turkey 17) Gold Fields seeks R3.7 billion loan refinancing 18) London Mining buys Colombian coking coal business 19) ICBC to take part in Russian iron ore project 6. Shadow banking and destructive mining: a guided tour Saturday 8 May, 12.30 - 4pm, starting in Piccadilly, London W1 Hedge funds, derivatives, exchange traded mechanisms and other complex financial instruments have emerged from the shadows over the past year and a half as a result of the banking crisis. There is widespread concern about their effects on the economy as a whole. But they are usually presented as if they were some rarefied form of speculation without any roots in the real world. In fact, this 'shadow banking' has been used to finance all manner of real economic projects with real impacts on real people - often very negative impacts. Among other things, it has been used as a way to finance destructive mining projects around the world. This tour will look at the way shadow banking operates, how it helps finance destructive mining projects, and how London is central both to this form of finance and to the world's mining industry. The tour will cover about three miles in total, beginning with a one hour indoor presentation. Tour leaders: Nick Hildyard, the Corner House; Richard Solly, London Mining Network. Researchers: Nick Hildyard and Roger Moody. It is essential to register for this event by Friday 30 April, as numbers are limited. For more information, and to register, contact: Richard Solly, London Mining Network, LMN at gn.apc.org, 07929 023214. Please pass this information on via your own networks, making clear the need to register in advance as noted above. 7. Anglo-Shame: How mining companies put profit before people War on Want and London Mining Network Thursday 22 April, 7 - 9pm Room B104 School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) 10 Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG (nearest tube, Russell Square) Speakers Alpheus Blom, former gold miner, South Africa Richard Meeran, Leigh Day and Co Solicitors Ruth Tanner, War on Want Richard Solly, London Mining Network (Chair) British mining company Anglo American is the world's fourth largest mining company and nets billions in profits every year. But Anglo American is profiting from a pattern of abuse at the expense of poor people across the world. This meeting will hear from a former Anglo American South Africa worker who is taking the company to court over the legacy of silicosis, a life-threatening lung disease, among gold miners in South Africa. It will also be an opportunity to hear how Anglo-American damages local communities around the world from Colombia to the Philippines and find out what you can do to stop this company fuelling more conflict situations and human rights abuses. 8. Selection of items from Independent Catholic News Philippines: mining company banned from demolishing homes of indigenous people -- Regards Henry Current affairs comment http://physiocrat.blogspot.com The case against high speed rail http://no2hs2.blogspot.com/ Pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/seadipper/ Land Value Taxation Campaign http://www.landvaluetax.org Petition http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TaxLess4more/ --Forwarded Message Attachment-- _____ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail ? Free. Sign-up now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 73 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 17 16:05:15 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 15:05:15 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Are You Prepared if Disaster Strikes? Message-ID: <00d801caf60d$401a3eb0$c04ebc10$@net> For your information and consideration. I am not promoting Dr. Sinatra's products, but It pays to be prepared. Do you have everything you need on hand? From: Dr. Sinatra's Advanced BioSolutions Team [mailto:drsinatra1 at stephensinatramail.com] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 2:30 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Are You Prepared if Disaster Strikes? You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive health information from Healthy Directions and its affiliated doctors. To unsubscribe, click here. If you're having trouble viewing this e-mail, please click here. This bag could save your life! Dear , Usually, I'm writing to you with important health news. But today, I want to talk to you about something equally vital. It's making sure you have a plan in place to save your life and the lives of your loved ones in the event of a natural disaster. This is something that natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Ike and Katrina, the earthquakes in Japan, and even the more recent floods in the Midwest, have sadly taught us. Whether it's torrential rains, a hurricane, a power outage, or wildfires-we can't just rely on the government to save us. We have to be prepared to protect ourselves. I had a personal experience with this 20 years ago when my family and I were stuck without power for 12 days in the dead of winter. Since then, I've always had an emergency kit ready, just in case. In just 3 minutes, you can be ready for just about any emergency that could strike. The Emergency Pack contains In general, most of us don't think about emergency preparedness until it's too late. And who can blame us? It's a daunting task to plan for a true emergency. What would you need to take with you? Where would you go? It takes a huge amount of time, effort, and money to put together an emergency kit and plan-plus it can be overwhelming to think of all the items you may need. That's why I was so relieved when Seychelle-a company I've long respected for their water purification technology-put together a Survivor Emergency Pack. In a lightweight, yellow, water-resistant canvas bag, they've given you what you would need in an emergency-from a means to purify water, to food, emergency shelter, first aid, and more. And because it's lightweight and portable, you can take it with you if you need to evacuate, which is critical. So where does the "3 minutes" part come in? That's about how long it would take for you to be out of your home and on your way to safety, no matter what type of disaster strikes. There's never been an easier way to be prepared. At this point, I have two Seychelle Survivor Emergency Packs. I keep one in my car, since my wife and I often make the long car ride down the East Coast to our home on the Tampa Coast. That way if we break down en route, we have everything we need. I also keep another pack in my Tampa home in case of hurricanes, floods, or power outages. There are expandable pockets in the Emergency Pack, so you can add personal items such as medications, vitamins, and sunscreen. I also recommend using the waterproof pouch to store phone numbers, insurance information, copies of prescriptions, emergency cash, maps, and an escape plan in case you need to evacuate in a hurry. The Seychelle Survivor Emergency Pack is by far the easiest, most convenient way I've ever found to be completely prepared for the next time an emergency strikes. I hope you'll take this opportunity to give yourself this much-needed peace of mind. Warm regards, Signature Stephen Sinatra, M.D. P.S. I've been told my publisher negotiated a special discount with Seychelle for you to save $90 on the Survivor Emergency Pack. To order, just click here. To view our Privacy Policy, please click here. UNSUBSCRIBE You are receiving this e-mail at maryrose333 at att.net because you indicated an interest in receiving special updates and offers from Dr. Stephen Sinatra and his staff at Advanced BioSolutions. We hope you'll find these updates interesting and informative. But if you'd rather not receive them, click here. You will be immediately removed from our database. Remember, your personal information will only be used by Healthy Directions, LLC, for editorial and marketing purposes. Thank you. Advanced BioSolutions 1845 Brevard Road Arden, NC 28704 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 17 17:03:36 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 16:03:36 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Censored News: Big Banks Obscene Profits, Jesse Ventura: 9/11 an Inside Job, Roswell UFO in Popular Science, More Message-ID: <00eb01caf615$66cc4690$3464d3b0$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 8:00 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Censored News: Big Banks Obscene Profits, Jesse Ventura: 9/11 an Inside Job, Roswell UFO in Popular Science, 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/10/05_banks_obscene_profits_jesse_ventura_9-11_roswell Bookmark and Share Dear friends, Below are key excerpts of important news articles which include revealing information on the big banks making obscene profits on Wall Street, Governor Jesse Ventura claiming 9/11 was an inside job, the Roswell UFO cover-up reported in Popular Science magazine, 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 . The most important sentences are highlighted. 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 Special Note: Thank you so much to all who contributed after our appeal for support several days ago. Nearly 50 caring individuals contributed a total of over $1,000. This helps lower our budget deficit for the year to about $2,800. If others who have not yet donated would like to help, please click here. And for an astounding list on the Forbes website of the richest companies in the world by assets, click here . All of the top 10 companies are banks, with collective assets of over $22 trillion! Yet we as taxpayers continue to pay to bail them out when they have problems. Is something wrong with this picture? For a graphic representation of this, click here . _____ Four Big Banks Score Perfect 61-Day Run May 12, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/business/12bank.html It is the Wall Street equivalent of a perfect game of baseball ? 27 up, 27 down, the final score measured in millions of dollars a day. Despite the running unease in world markets, four giants of American finance managed to make money from trading every single day during the first three months of the year. Their remarkable 61-day streak is one for the record books. Perfect trading quarters on Wall Street are about as rare as perfect games in Major League Baseball. But Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Company produced the equivalent of four perfect games during the first quarter. Each one finished the period without losing money for even one day. Their showing ... underscored the outsize ? and controversial ? role that trading has assumed at major financial institutions. It also drives home the widening lead that a handful of big banks are enjoying over lesser rivals on post-bailout Wall Street. The four banks ... reaped big rewards without necessarily placing big bets that stocks or bonds would go up or down. ?This is not about hitting home runs,? said Jaidev Iyer, who runs his own risk management consulting firm, J-Risk Advisors. ?This is just, as we call it, milking the market and your captive client base.? Note: For an astounding list on the Forbes website of the richest companies in the world by assets, click here . All of the top 10 companies are banks, with collective assets of over $22 trillion! Yet we as taxpayers continue to pay to bail them out when they have problems. Is something wrong with this picture? For a graphic representation of this, click here . And for an abundance of deep reporting in major media articles on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy operations, click here. _____ Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate May 7, 2010, Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704370704575228164133105390.html Last-minute maneuvering in the Senate allowed the Federal Reserve to sidestep legislation that would have exposed its interest-rate decision-making to congressional auditors. Pressure from the Obama administration led Senate lawmakers to alter a provision pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) that was gaining momentum despite opposition from the Treasury and the Fed. It would have largely repealed a 32-year-old law that shields Fed monetary policy from congressional auditors. Thursday's Senate showdown came after senators on the left and right joined forces to support Mr. Sanders' provision. "At a time when our entire financial system almost collapsed, we cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer," Mr. Sanders said. "The American people have a right to know." But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ... said in a letter to Congress the Sanders measure would "seriously threaten monetary policy independence, increase inflation fears and market interest rates, and damage economic stability and job creation." Note: For an abundance of deep reporting on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy operations, click here. _____ Jesse Ventura claims gov?t involved in 9/11 March 9, 2010, MSNBC http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35728268/ns/today-today_books/ In his new book, American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells Us, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura begins an investigative journey to prove that there is more to our national history than the government wants us to know. In this excerpt, he writes about an alleged 9/11 cover-up. Chapter 12: What really happened on September 11? Our government engaged in a massive cover-up of what really happened, including its own ties to the hijackers. Unanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down, and whether a plane really struck the Pentagon. The Bush Administration either knew about the plan and allowed it to proceed, or they had a hand in it themselves. I certainly never expected to think that elements of the Bush Administration were complicit. Today, though, I am convinced that some people inside our government knew the attack was going to happen and allowed it to come to pass ? because it furthered their political agenda. I say this after expending many hours researching things about the official story that don?t add up, and interviewing a number of witnesses with firsthand knowledge that contradicts what we were told. As a patriotic American, I say this with a heavy heart ? and with an outrage that really knows no words. But it?s something we, as a nation, must come to terms with. Otherwise, it could happen again. Note: For the questions raised by many other highly respected former government officials about what really happened on 9/11, click here . _____ U.S. Said to Allow Drilling Without Needed Permits May 14, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species ? and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf. Those approvals, federal records show, include one for the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and resulting in thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the gulf each day. The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists. Those scientists said they were also regularly pressured by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies if they predicted that an accident was likely to occur or if wildlife might be harmed. ?M.M.S. has given up any pretense of regulating the offshore oil industry,? said Kier?n Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, ... which filed notice of intent to sue the agency over its noncompliance with federal law concerning endangered species. ?The agency seems to think its mission is to help the oil industry evade environmental laws.? Note: For lots more from reliable souces on government corruption and collusion with industries it is supposed to be regulating, click here . _____ Gulf Spill May Far Exceed Official Estimates May 14, 2010, NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525 The amount of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico may be at least 10 times the size of official estimates, according to an exclusive analysis conducted for NPR. At NPR's request, experts examined video that BP released Wednesday. Their findings suggest the BP spill is already far larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska, which spilled at least 250,000 barrels of oil. BP has said repeatedly that there is no reliable way to measure the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by looking at the oil gushing out of the pipe. But scientists say there are actually many proven techniques for doing just that. Steven Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, analyzed videotape of the seafloor gusher using a technique called particle image velocimetry. A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 barrels a day ? much higher than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day. The method is accurate to a degree of plus or minus 20 percent. This new, much larger number suggests that capturing ? and cleaning up ? this oil may be a much bigger challenge than anyone has let on. Note: For lots more from reliable souces on government corruption and collusion with industries it is supposed to be regulating, click here . _____ Pope Issues His Most Direct Words to Date on Abuse May 12, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/world/europe/12pope.html Pope Benedict XVI on [May 11] issued his most forceful remarks on the sexual abuse crisis sweeping the Catholic Church. He called it ?truly terrifying? and, in a marked shift in tone, suggested that its origins lay with abusive priests and with highly placed church officials who for decades concealed or minimized the problem. The problem, he said, was ?the sin inside the church,? and by implication not accusations from victims or the media. ?Forgiveness is not a substitute for justice,? he said, in remarks that underscored the Vatican?s recent if fitful efforts to break with a longstanding practice of handling abuse cases inside the church, rather than reporting abuse to civil authorities for prosecution. Victims groups said they were still waiting for concrete action more than words, and the Vatican has not yet announced whether it will change its norms for handling abuse. Benedict ... has been criticized for not acting aggressively enough against allegations of abuse as archbishop of Munich and later as the head of a powerful Vatican office. _____ To Sinead O'Connor, the pope's apology for sex abuse in Ireland seems hollow March 28, 2010, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502363.html As recently as 2007, 98 percent of Irish schools were run by the Catholic Church. Schools for troubled youth have been rife with barbaric corporal punishments, psychological abuse and sexual abuse. In October 2005, a report sponsored by the Irish government identified more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse by priests in Ferns, a small town 70 miles south of Dublin, between 1962 and 2002. Accused priests weren't investigated by police; they were deemed to be suffering a "moral" problem. In 2009, a similar report implicated Dublin archbishops in hiding sexual abuse scandals between 1975 and 2004. Pope Benedict's so-called apology takes no responsibility for the transgressions of Irish priests. His letter states that "the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children." What about the Vatican's complicity in those sins? Benedict's infamous 2001 letter to bishops around the world ordered them to keep sexual abuse allegations secret under threat of excommunication -- updating a noxious church policy, expressed in a 1962 document, that both priests accused of sex crimes and their victims "observe the strictest secret" and be "restrained by a perpetual silence." _____ Stock Selloff May Have Been Triggered by a Trader Error May 6, 2010, CNBC/Reuters http://www.cnbc.com/id/36999483 In one of the most dizzying half-hours in stock market history, the Dow plunged nearly 1,000 points before paring those losses. According to multiple sources, a trader entered a "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble, a component in the Dow. Sources tell CNBC the erroneous trade may have been made at Citigroup. The massive selloff, which began shortly after 2 p.m. ET, amplified concerns about the spreading European debt crisis as the approval of austerity measures by the Greek Parliament sparked renewed rioting in Athens. According to a person familiar with the probe, one focus is on futures contracts tied to the Standard & Poor?s 500 stock index, known as E-mini S&P 500 futures, and in particular a two-minute window in which 16 billion of the futures were sold. Amid the sell-off, Procter & Gamble shares plummeted nearly 37 percent to $39.37 at 2:47 p.m. EDT, prompting the company to investigate whether any erroneous trades had occurred. Note: For an abundance of deep reporting on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy operations, click here. _____ U.S. Approval of Killing of Cleric Causes Unease May 14, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/14awlaki.html The Obama administration?s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism. The notion that the government can, in effect, execute one of its own citizens far from a combat zone, with no judicial process and based on secret intelligence, makes some legal authorities deeply uneasy. To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen, intelligence agencies would have to get a court warrant. But designating him for death, as C.I.A. officials did early this year with the National Security Council?s approval, required no judicial review. ?Congress has protected Awlaki?s cellphone calls,? said Vicki Divoll, a former C.I.A. lawyer who now teaches at the United States Naval Academy. ?But it has not provided any protections for his life. That makes no sense.? But like the debate over torture during the Bush administration, public discussion of what officials call targeted killing has been limited by the secrecy of the C.I.A. drone program. Note: Obama is the first president to publicly order the assassination of an American citizen. Neither George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney asserted such a power on the part of the president. For an analysis, click here. _____ A Filmmaker?s Quest for Journalistic Protection May 8, 2010, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08pollution.html A case about pollution, big business and the movies has reopened longstanding debates about who is a journalist and how far parties to a lawsuit can reach when seeking ammunition for their side. The case involves a documentary, ?Crude,? that tells the story of a long-running legal battle in which Ecuadorean plaintiffs are suing Chevron over the pollution of the Amazon rain forest. As part of its defense, Chevron demanded 600 hours of outtake footage from ?Crude,? saying it could help the company show corruption and misconduct by the plaintiffs. The filmmaker argued that his work was protected by journalist privilege, which protects reporters and others in the newsgathering business from being compelled to reveal confidential sources or divulge confidential material. On [May 6], Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court in New York granted the request for the subpoena. The judge?s decision sparked outrage among documentary filmmakers, who said it endangered their form of journalism. The filmmaker Michael Moore said the decision could have ?a chilling effect.? ?If something like this is upheld, the next whistle-blower at the next corporation is going to think twice about showing me some documents if that information has to be turned over to the corporation that they?re working for,? Mr. Moore said. Note: For lots more from reliable souces on government corruption and collusion with industries it is supposed to be regulating, click here . _____ Guards accused of cruelty, racism May 9, 2010, Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA's leading newspaper) http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/09/2737459/the-public-eye-guards-accused.html Jason Brannigan's eyes widened as he relived the day he says prison guards pepper-sprayed his face at point-blank range, then pulled him through the cellblock naked, his hands and feet shackled. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Brannigan recalled gasping in pain and humiliation during the March 2007 incident. "They're walking me on the chain and it felt just like ? slaves again," said the African American inmate, interviewed at the Sacramento County jail. "Like I just stepped off an auction block." Brannigan, 33, said the incident occurred in the behavior modification unit at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, where he was serving time for armed assault. He is one of more than 1,500 inmates who have passed through such units in six California prisons. A Bee investigation into the behavior units, including signed affidavits, conversations and correspondence with 18 inmates, has uncovered evidence of racism and cruelty at the High Desert facility. Inmates described hours-long strip-searches in a snow-covered exercise yard. They said correctional officers tried to provoke attacks between inmates, spread human excrement on cell doors and roughed up those who peacefully resisted mistreatment. Many of their claims were backed by legal and administrative filings, and signed affidavits, which together depicted an environment of brutality, corruption and fear. _____ New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access May 5, 2010, Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703961104575226583645448758.html In a move that will stoke a battle over the future of the Internet, the federal government plans to propose regulating broadband lines under decades-old rules designed for traditional phone networks. The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable companies and their allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and consumer advocates. He wants to adopt "net neutrality" rules that require Internet providers like Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all traffic equally, and not to slow or block access to websites. Internet giants like Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc., which want to offer more Web video and other high-bandwidth services, have called for stronger action by the FCC to assure free access to websites. Cable and telecommunications executives have warned that using land-line phone rules to govern their management of Internet traffic would lead them to cut billions of capital expenditure for their networks, slash jobs and go to court to fight the rules. Consumer groups hailed the decision ..., an abrupt change from recent days, when they [had] bombarded the FCC chairman with emails and phone calls imploring him to fight phone and cable companies lobbyists. _____ Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets April 15, 2010, CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/19/eveningnews/main6412439.shtml At a warehouse in New Jersey, 6,000 used copy machines sit ready to be sold. Almost every one of them holds a secret. Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive ... storing an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine. In the process, it's turned an office staple into a digital time-bomb packed with highly-personal or sensitive data. If you're in the identity theft business it seems this would be a pot of gold. "The type of information we see on these machines with the social security numbers, birth certificates, bank records, income tax forms," John Juntunen said, "that information would be very valuable." Juntunen's Sacramento-based company Digital Copier Security developed software called "INFOSWEEP" that can scrub all the data on hard drives. He's been trying to warn people about the potential risk - with no luck. All the major [digital copier] manufacturers told us they offer security or encryption packages on their products. One product from Sharp automatically erases an image from the hard drive. It costs $500. But evidence keeps piling up in warehouses that many businesses are unwilling to pay for such protection, and that the average American is completely unaware of the dangers posed by digital copiers. Note: For lots more from reliable sources on threats to privacy, click here . _____ Key Articles From Years Past _____ Roswell Plus 50 July 1997 Issue, Popular Mechanics http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1282456.html As a presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter claimed to have seen a UFO. As president, Ronald Reagan mused openly on how petty differences among nations might evaporate in the face of an extraterrestrial threat. And no one has done more to turn up the speculative heat than retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, who held a slew of top intelligence posts, including deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In a Learning Channel documentary, Inman said ? but has since repeatedly and vigorously denied ? that the military is attempting to use technology from unspecified "recovered vehicles." The most perplexing UFO mystery of all began in the desert north of Roswell, NM. Ideas of what happened here during the first week of July 1947 range from the simple ? a weather balloon crash ? to the downright silly ? Earth was being scouted for an intergalactic invasion. The latest official government explanation ? there have been three thus far ? is that the recovered debris came from a Project Mogul balloon that was carrying instruments to detect Soviet nuclear tests. After interviewing witnesses who had seen and handled crash-site debris, and reviewing [classified documents], we have concluded that there really was a crashed disc, dead bodies and a secret that could have been politically deadly to presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Note: If the above link fails, click here or here . This well researched article raises more questions than it answers, yet it leaves virtually no doubt that there was a major cover-up. For lots more intriguing media articles suggesting a major cover-up of UFOs and related phenomena, click here. _____ Free-hug man speaks out September 28, 2006, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia's leading newspaper) http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/freehug-man-speaks-out/2006/09/28/1159337257... The man behind the latest YouTube sensation has spoken out for the first time about his global cuddling controversy. Serial hugger Juan Mann describes the free hugs he hands out...as fast-food emotion. His cuddling campaign received an international dose of publicity today, after a clip showing his public displays of affection won a coveted front page spot on the video sharing website. Today, the hugger was at it again, brandishing his "free hugs" sign in the busy pedestrian thoroughfare, and having quite a few people take him up on his offer. "It's a way to make people smile," Mann said. "For every person who gets a hug, you see five walk past with a smile on their face." But his efforts to spread the love became a little too popular for some people's liking, according to a blurb on the YouTube video, which said: "As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED." Undeterred, Mann collected more than 10,000 signatures on a petition he presented to the City of Sydney council. Demands for a halt to the hugs petered out shortly after, and the end of the clip shows Mann hugging an official. City worker Elly Mitchell, who handed out a few free hugs on her lunch break today, said she was inspired to organise [an] event after seeing the video online. "We're going to hug the city," Ms Mitchell said. Note: If you haven't seen this powerfully inspiring four-minute video clip, join the over 10 million who have by clicking here . The free hugs movement is rapidly spreading around the world! Click here and here to see more. For several other short, deeply inspiring videos, click here. _____ Bookmark and Share 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 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: www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore the mind and heart expanding websites managed by the nonprofit PEERS network: www.peerservice.org - PEERS websites: Spreading inspiration, education, & empowerment www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart www.personalgrowthcourses.net - Dynamic online courses powerfully expand your horizons www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all To respond to this message, visit www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Powered by YMLP -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 17 22:37:48 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 21:37:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Summary - NetNews May 18 2010 # 2 Message-ID: <000201caf644$200c5a90$60250fb0$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for providing these news summaries. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 8:41 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 18 2010 # 2 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) The New Poor In Job Market Shift, Some Workers Are Left Behind By CATHERINE RAMPELL Published: May 12, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/economy/13obsolete.html JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Many of the jobs lost during the recession are not coming back. Period. For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway: dismiss millions of people - like file clerks, ticket agents and autoworkers - who were displaced by technological advances and international trade. The phasing out of these positions might have been accomplished through less painful means like attrition, buyouts or more incremental layoffs. But because of the recession, winter came early. The tough environment has been especially disorienting for older and more experienced workers like Cynthia Norton, 52, an unemployed administrative assistant in Jacksonville. "I know I'm good at this," says Ms. Norton. "So how the hell did I end up here?" But since she was laid off from an insurance company two years ago, no one seems to need her well-honed office know-how. Ms. Norton is one of 1.7 million Americans who were employed in clerical and administrative positions when the recession began, but were no longer working in that occupation by the end of last year. There have also been outsize job losses in other occupation categories that seem unlikely to be revived during the economic recovery. The number of printing machine operators, for example, was nearly halved from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2009. The number of people employed as travel agents fell by 40 percent. This "creative destruction" in the job market can benefit the economy. Pruning relatively less-efficient employees like clerks and travel agents, whose work can be done more cheaply by computers or workers abroad, makes American businesses more efficient. Year over year, productivity growth was at its highest level in over 50 years last quarter, pushing corporate profits to record highs and helping the economy grow. But a huge group of people are being left out of the party. Millions of workers who have already been unemployed for months, if not years, will most likely remain that way even as the overall job market continues to improve, economists say. The occupations they worked in, and the skills they currently possess, are never coming back in style. And the demand for new types of skills moves a lot more quickly than workers - especially older and less mobile workers - are able to retrain and gain those skills. Offices, not just in Jacksonville but all over the country, have found that life without a secretary or filing clerk - which they may have begun somewhat reluctantly when economic pressures demanded it - is actually pretty manageable. After all, the office environment is more automated and digitized than ever. Bosses can handle their own calendars, travel arrangements and files through their own computers and ubiquitous BlackBerrys. In many offices, voice mail systems and doorbells - not receptionists - greet callers and visitors. U.S. Home Seizures Reach Record as Recovery Delayed May 13, 2010, 9:41 AM EDT http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-13/u-s-home-seizures-reach-record-a s-recovery-delayed-update1-.html May 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. home foreclosures climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according to a report by RealtyTrac Inc. "Right now it appears that the banks are focusing on processing the loans already in foreclosure, and slowing down the initiation of new foreclosure proceedings as a way of managing inventory levels," Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's executive vice president, said in an e-mail. "We'll probably see this trend continue for a while." Bank repossessions rose to 92,432 in April, up 45 percent from a year earlier, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said today in a statement. Foreclosure filings, including default and auction notices, fell 2 percent to 333,837. One out of every 387 households received a filing. Unemployment of 9.9 percent and a rising percentage of homes worth less than the mortgages on them are combining to thwart a housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac. About 5 million delinquent loans will probably end up in the foreclosure process in addition to the 1.2 million homes already taken back by lenders, Sharga said. Defaults may not peak until 2011 depending on how lenders process them, Sharga said. "The underlying conditions -- mostly unemployment and millions of 'underwater' loans -- haven't improved," he said. Monthly foreclosure filings will remain "at a very high level that will not drop off in the near future," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer, said in the statement. April marked the 14th straight month that foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000. More than a fifth of U.S. mortgage holders owed more than their homes were worth in the first quarter, according to Zillow.com. The proportion rose to 23 percent from 21 percent in the previous quarter, the Seattle-based property service said this month. Home prices may fall as much as 5 percent through the first quarter of 2011, according to forecasts from IHS Global Insight of Lexington, Massachusetts. Still, economist Patrick Newport said foreclosures may not get much worse. "The key thing is fewer problem loans are going into the pipeline," he said. SEC Admits to Inadequate Tools to Conduct Investigation http://www.counterpunch.org/martens05172010.html By PAM MARTENS May 17, 2010 A CounterPunch Special Report SEC Chair Mary Schapiro made a stunning admission during House subcommittee hearings last week seeking answers to the May 6 hit and run in the stock market which briefly trimmed 998 points off the Dow and caused massive losses to small investors who had placed stop loss orders on individual stocks. According to Ms. Schapiro, the SEC has no consolidated audit trail that captures time and sales in a chronological order among the 40 or more electronic trading platforms and exchanges that constitute today's deeply fragmented U.S. stock market. Ms. Schapiro said in her testimony before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises that there were 66 million trades on May 6, coming from the 40 or more stock trading venues. The SEC has requested the individual trading records and must figure out how to review all the disparate trading in sequential time order. Some trading records reside at unregulated entities like hedge funds. Other trades are done by dark pools, internal matching of buys and sells inside brokerage firms (benignly called internalization) and over the counter derivative trades that could impact the stock market but have no oversight by anyone. Ms. Schapiro said she has issued subpoenas but didn't say to whom. Ms. Schapiro's testimony raises the question as to whether the SEC has been properly monitoring potentially rigged trading in real time up to this point. As far back as five months ago, the SEC was gently coaxing Wall Street to let it police it with proper tools. Below is an excerpt from a speech delivered by James Brigagliano, Deputy Director of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets on January 21, 2010 to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the heavy handed trade and lobby association of Wall Street: "Chairman Schapiro has expressed her commitment to improving intermarket surveillance. As a step towards fulfilling that commitment, she created an inter-division task force to work with markets to explore ways to establish a comprehensive consolidated audit trail for orders and executions across all markets. While we recognize that such a proposal would require a substantial effort by the SROs [Self Regulatory Organizations] and their members, a consolidated audit trail could be an invaluable regulatory tool to enhance the ability of the SROs and the Commission to detect illegal activity across multiple markets, and would greatly benefit investors and help to restore trust in the securities markets." Since when do real cops ask the perps for permission to police them? Many eyebrows were raised among Wall Street skeptics when President Obama appointed Ms. Schapiro to head the SEC on January 20, 2009. Ms. Schapiro came to the SEC from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self regulatory watchdog of Wall Street, where she served as CEO. Prior to that, she was the Chairman and CEO of the predecessor self regulator, NASD Regulation, which carried the stigma of running a private justice system for Wall Street that investors, industry employees and lawyers felt was rigged in favor of the industry. Why Ms. Schapiro did not insist on creating a consolidated audit trail in her prior regulatory roles or after the four-decade Madoff swindle was revealed remains a nagging question. New Toxic and Carcinogenic Weapons Experimented in Gaza: Palestinian Population Risks Genetic Mutations May 15, 2010 Newweapons Committee - 2010-05-11 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19155 Toxic and carcinogenic metals, able to produce genetic mutations, have been found in the tissues of people wounded in Gaza during Israeli military operations of 2006 and 2009. The research has been carried out on wounds provoked by weapons that did not leave fragments in the bodies of the victims, a peculiarity that was pointed out repeatedly by doctors in Gaza. This shows that experimental weapons, whose effects are still to be assessed, were used. The researchers compared the quantity of 32 elements present in the tissues through ICP/MS (a type of highly sensitive mass spectrometry) . The job, carried out by laboratories of Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Chalmer University (Sweden) and Beirut University (Lebanon), was coordinated by the New Weapons Research Group (Nwrg), an independent committee of scientists and experts based in Italy, who is studying the use of unconventional weapons and their mid-term effects on the population of after-war areas. The relevant presence of toxic and carcinogenic metals found in the wound tissues points to direct risks for survivors, but also to the possibility of environmental contamination. Biopsies of tissues were performed by doctors of Shifa hospital, in Gaza city, who selected and classified the type of wounds. Research was conducted on 16 tissue samples belonging to 13 victims. Four biopsies were taken in June 2006, during the operation "Summer Rains", while the others were taken in the first week of January 2009, during the operation "Cast Lead". All tissues were appropriately preserved and then examined by each of the three universities. Tissues belong to four types of wound: amputation (marked with an "A" in the study), charred (C), burns (B), multiple piercing wounds by white phosphorus (M). The following elements were found in quantities well beyond normal: - Alluminium, titanium, copper, strontium, barium, cobalt, mercury, vanadium, cesium and tin in samples of A and C wounds; - Alluminium, titanium, copper, strontium, barium, cobalt and mercury in M wounds; - Cobalt, mercury, cesium and tin in B wounds; - Lead and uranium in all wound types; - Barium, arsenic, manganese, rubidium, cadmium, chromium and zinc in all but M wounds; - Nickel in A wounds. Some of these elements are carcinogenic (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and uranium), others are potentially carcinogenic (cobalt and vanadium), others are also fetotoxic (alluminium, copper, barium, lead and manganese). The first ones can produce genetic mutations; the second ones can have the same effect on animals, but they are not proven to do the same on people; the third ones have toxic effects on people ad can affect either the embryo or the foetus in pregnant women. All metals found in high amounts have pathogenic effects on human respiratory organs, kidney and skin and affect sexual and neurological development and functions. The combination of metals in each type of wound is referred to as a "metal signature", as shown in the following picture: Doomsday safe-haven offered under Mojave Desert Published: 02:01 p.m., Monday, May 17, 2010 http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Doomsday-safe-haven-offered-und er-Mojave-Desert-489837.php BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) - A company with a doomsday plan is taking money for what it promises will be a comfortable, nuke-proof bunker under the Mojave Desert, with an atrium, gym and jail, and sloppy joes and pearl potatoes on the menu. Robert Vicino, who runs the Del Mar-based company called Vivos, has collected deposits on half the 132 spaces planned in the 13,000-square-foot bunker in Barstow. The facility is among several popping up across the country as fears of doomsday have been fueled recently by strong earthquakes, terrorism and predictions of the world's end in 2012 when the ancient Mayan calendar is said to end. "I'm careful not to promote fear. But sooner or later, I believe you're going to need to seek shelter," said Vicino, a real estate salesman whose career started with advertising and moved on to timeshares. The political climate now in some ways reflects the Cold War era, when many Americans dug backyard fallout shelters, said Jeffrey Knopf, an associate professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. "There's a lot of free-floating anxiety out there about the dangers that terrorists will get nuclear weapons and it multiplies," he said. Facilities such as Vicino's are attracting interest in other states such as Oregon and Kansas, where one engineer is developing underground survival condos for $1.75 million. In Barstow, $50,000 will get a bunk in a four-person room. Vicino is still taking reservations: $5,000 for adults and $2,500 for kids. Pets are free. Mitch McConnell Knocks Elena Kagan For Arguing Against Citizens United 05/17/10 03:53 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/mitch-mcconnell-knocks-el_n_579233. html WASHINGTON - The Senate's top Republican is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan for backing limits on the ability of corporations and labor unions to influence elections. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Kagan's argument in a Supreme Court case testing those restrictions was "troubling to those who cherish free speech." In Citizens United v. FEC, the court upheld the First Amendment rights of corporations and labor unions to spend money on campaign ads. Kagan, the solicitor general, argued unsuccessfully that the government could limit such activities. Last week, she told a senator the court wasn't deferential enough to Congress in that case. McConnell says he needs to be convinced Kagan is committed to free speech rights. From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue May 18 02:55:40 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 08:55:40 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] The Journey to Enlightenment... Message-ID: <121517.62514.qm@web27407.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Discussion Board Topic view Start new topic Topic: The Journey To Enlightenment Reply to topic Displaying all 2 posts. Richard Parsons ........THE JOURNEY TO ENLIGHTENMENT ........BECOMING A MORE LOVING PERSON .....DISCOVERING EVERYONE IS YOUR FRIEND ... ................ STEP 1 ................ when someone upsets you seek a quiet place calm down by visualizing LOVE flowing through you ................ STEP 2 ................ write down what you think the other person was trying to tell you ................ STEP 3 ................ return and thank him for having the courage and taking the time to point out areas for you to improve making you a more loving person this step is very very difficult as you must first overcome your fear ................ STEP 4 ................ show him your list of ideas he suggested ask him if this is what he meant to tell you he will be happy to point out where your list is correct and where it needs to be revised thank him again for his suggestions and tell him you will be working on them and want him to keep an eye on you and let you know when you need more help ................ STEP 5 ................ return to your quiet place divide the list into three piles put the most difficult one's on your mental shelf to be worked on when you are able to address them make a second almost able to do pile now start working on the easiest pile ................ STEP 6 ................ watch the other person?s reaction to your efforts to remove your faults using his suggestions you have turned an enemy into a teacher into a friend ................ STEP 7 ................ WHEN THE STUDENT IS READY THE TEACHER WILL APPEAR *********** YOU HAVE JUST MET ONE *********** ................ STEP 8 ................ anytime someone upsets you repeat these steps you will eventually reach a point where you will be seeking out people who can upset you and they will become harder and harder to find ... ... ABSOLUTE JUSTICE ... your thoughts are magnets and will attract others with similar magnets the two coming in contact will dissipate each other the result will be as pleasant or unpleasant for you as the thought was when you created it this is an absolute system of justice and by your choices you are your own judge ... ... MILE MARKERS ON YOUR JOURNEY ... self......................individual consciousness self centered.........focused upon your own interests self serving...........advancing your own interests self willed..............tenacious adherence to your own interests self doubt..............questioning your direction self judgment.........evaluating your direction self pity................seeing your lack of concern for others self evaluation.......determining your worth self mastery..........removing ego from all decisions self less................your primary concern is your effect upon others self......................group consciousness . all of us will reach this last 'self' where we are over qualified to be famous and under qualified to be invisible by allowing love to express through us we are becoming a quiet helper a teacher some call these angels ... ... LIVING AN IMPERSONAL LIFE ... use 'i' and 'me' with an apology 'you' with a compliment refer to 'self' by first name ... ... INTEGRITY ... integrity has he who is what he believes others should be ... ... IS THE CUP HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY ? ... assume the cup is our mind and can hold only negative and positive thoughts if it is half full of negative thoughts trying to remove them one by one we end up with an empty cup but if we keep putting positive thoughts into the cup each positive will push a negative one out of the cup we end up with a cup full of positive thoughts ... ... EXPERIENCE ... understanding (belief) is what you read or were told the stove is hot knowing (faith) is the 'action' of personal discovery touching the stove the difference between understanding and knowing is 'experience' and each new experience creates more compassion and less fear moving you closer to your 'ideal' ... ... IDEAL ... a moral guide post or compass i am light going to meet light and only goodness can result let there be more love in the world and let some flow through me I AM expressing I AM THAT I AM create your own ideal refer to it frequently and only make decisions that match this 'ideal' ... ... CRITICISM AND SUGGESTION ARE THE SAME WORD ... criticism -- being reminded you are not following your 'ideal' and unhappy you were reminded suggestion --being reminded you are not following your 'ideal' and thankful someone took the time to tell you seek out people who can upset you and thank them for pointing out your faults refer to 'Discovering Everyone Is Your Friend' above ... ... HOW DO YOU FIND A TRUE TEACHER ? ... criticize him a 'true' teacher will never react feeling it was a criticism he will know it was a suggestion to him criticism and suggestion are the same word there will be a pause as he analyzes your input using the eight step program above then he will thank you this friend is a role model ... ... FORGIVENESS CLOSURE ... you cannot forgive another only yourself for holding such anger against another forgiveness will happen when you are able to refocus your thoughts anger attracts anger calm attracts peace 'closure' 'Absolute Justice' will establish balance ... ... JUST A SUGGESTION ... "be more aware of MY presence" ... ... LOVE ... there is an eternal creative presence in each of us our purpose is to allow this presence to express through us this expression we call LOVE by giving attention acknowledgment appreciation respect and admiration to all we encounter until it becomes so automatic we are no longer aware of doing it we have become a channel for this expression by giving what we wanted to receive we became that which we sought ... ... THE SILENCE ... purpose of yoga and meditation become quiet assume a comfortable position focus on a positive mental image until you are aware of your body and mind but they no longer interfere enter the silence you are no longer aware of your mind and body you and your soul are one become absorbed by the 'presence' your soul is one with the 'presence' your focus is absolute without 'time' your minds are joined allowing the 'presence' to express through you your whole life changes becoming easier more fulfilling healthy you are no longer responsible for your actions you are only responsible for remaining 'receptive' this is called ... ... ENLIGHTENMENT ... THE AWAKENING 13 May at 16:53 ? Report Robert Searle It depends on karma, and most important of all on GRACE. Without the latter nothing is possible but this Truth can only be realized via an awakening through a living Teacher, or through a very high degree of personal spiritual evolution.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 18 10:11:59 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 09:11:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Antioxidant Overdose -- Are You in Danger? Message-ID: <007801caf6a5$18c411e0$4a4c35a0$@net> I have purchased quite a few of the books advertised on Bottom Line's Daily Health News and find them to be quite helpful. In fact told my primary care physician about a remedy I found in one of these that helped me. It was something he knew about but not for this particular use. Being one of the more open minded younger doctors, he conducted his own research on it and tells me he is now recommending this to some of his other patients. We all need to become more aware and knowledgeable about prescription drugs and their side effects and what natural remedies are available that may do the same job but in a faster and more effective natural way. We need to be as well, or even more informed as our conventional doctors are and keep them in line. Knowledge is power, let us get it and use it. From: Daily Health News [mailto:dailyhealthnews at edhn.bottomlinesecrets.com] Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 11:07 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Antioxidant Overdose -- Are You in Danger? Don't miss any of Bottom Line's Daily Health News. Add our address, dailyhealthnews at edhn.bottomlinesecrets.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. May 17, 2010 Bottom Line's Daily Health News In This Issue... * You're Being Lied to About Diabetes! * Antioxidant Overdose -- Are You in Danger? -- Too Much of a Good Thing Can Mean Trouble * Prescription Drugs to Avoid Like the Plague * How Many Psychiatric Drugs Can Seniors Take? -- Multiple Meds for Depression and Anxiety _____ Special Offer You're Being Lied to About Diabetes! Why doctors are ignoring the most successful diabetes treatment in the world -- even though it's been thoroughly proven to... Stop and reverse Type 2 and prediabetes in their tracks Get patients off their medications and diabetes-related drugs Lower insulin doses in Type 1s by up to 80% or more Protect all diabetics from the horrible complications. See the proof... It may shock you to learn the secret reason this amazingly simple non-drug solution is being kept from you. Watch the brief video above to discover why. _____ Antioxidant Overdose -- Are You in Danger? Is your body getting all the oxidants you need? Yes, you read that right... this is a bit of advice I bet you haven't heard before: Our bodies actually require oxidants... and more and more evidence is piling up that overenthusiastic consumption of antioxidant supplements has serious consequences. Oxidants & Health It turns out that good health requires hanging onto some oxidants -- especially if you exercise regularly. While research had already demonstrated that exercise boosts the body's level of a type of oxidant called reactive oxygen species (ROS), scientists initially thought it indicated a need for more antioxidants. Researchers at the Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory at Kansas State University (Manhattan) have now learned that some oxidants (hydrogen peroxide, for instance) act as vasodilators (expanding blood vessel walls) to increase delivery of oxygen to muscles -- getting rid of them with antioxidants impairs that process. The studies also revealed that a very high level of antioxidants interferes with the natural regulatory systems that help muscles to function properly. Yet another study, this one done with mice at Monash University in Australia (Melbourne), found that oxidants can help hold back the onset of type 2 diabetes. They help prevent insulin resistance, a hallmark of impending diabetes, by improving the body's ability to respond appropriately to insulin signals. The mice given antioxidants developed diabetes at higher rates than the control group even though their high-fat diets were otherwise the same. And a third study, a very early one from Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, finds that high doses of antioxidant supplements may boost cancer risk. More research is needed on this preliminary finding, and it doesn't pinpoint the level that may be dangerous, but even so it is yet more evidence that it's possible to overdo antioxidant supplementation. Oxidants for Good Health Oxidants definitely have health benefits. Daily Health News contributing medical editor Andrew L. Rubman, ND, told me about some of the important functions they help fulfill... * Oxidants help fight cancer. They weaken cell membranes to facilitate the natural destruction and turnover of tissue cells (apoptosis), including pre-cancerous tissue. * Oxidants are important to heart health. Blood vessels need oxidants for proper function -- in fact, patients with heart disease are prescribed the oxidant nitric oxide (in the form of nitroglycerin), which relieves angina by expanding cardiac arteries. * Oxidants facilitate sexual satisfaction. When people are sexually aroused, oxidants expand appropriate blood vessels to allow for engorgement -- it's actually the mechanism responsible for making erectile dysfunction drugs work. A Matter of Balance It almost sounds as if oxidants are our new best friends, but Dr. Rubman stresses that balance between oxidants and antioxidants is what's important -- he describes it as "a dance between the two." The reality of the way most of us eat (lots of oxidants) combined with environmental challenges (such as pesticides, petrochemicals and plastics) means that most Americans are already skewed in the direction of oxidants, Dr. Rubman said. The best way to achieve and maintain appropriate balance is to eat plenty of whole foods that provide your body not only with the nutrients it needs, but also the enzymes and cofactors that optimize their absorption. If you aren't sure your diet accomplishes that, antioxidant supplements may then be in order. How to tell? Blood tests aren't a great measure, as they fluctuate day to day, and you can't always tell by how you feel, either. Dr. Rubman said a far better measure is to consider how your body copes with challenges. For instance, if you suffer from a mild seasonal allergy to pollen, high levels may bring congestion, but if you are "in balance" you should bounce back quickly without becoming stuffed-up and sick. Similarly, you may notice that your gym workouts aren't achieving the results you'd expect -- you're not building muscle commensurate with the effort you are exerting. These subtle signs may be clues your system is overloaded with antioxidants -- if you suspect that you have this problem, get advice from a doctor trained in the nuances of nutrition. He/she can help figure out how to achieve the right balance. Meanwhile, I imagine we'll be hearing more on this important topic in months and years to come -- I'll provide updates as they arise. Source(s): Andrew L. Rubman, ND, medical director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut. www.naturopath.org . Email this to a friend _____ Special Offer Prescription Drugs to Avoid Like the Plague Some drugs are just so bad, you should avoid them at all costs. If your physician won't prescribe a safer alternative -- or let you use a natural remedy -- then run (do not walk) to one who will. What kinds of drugs? * Widely used antibiotic so dangerous to your kidneys that up to 28% of those who use it develop some impairment. * This former rat poison is now touted as a cure-all for everything from dental problems to bone loss. Banned in Japan and Europe, it's unavoidable here in the US -- unless the proper precautions are taken. * Widely prescribed drug for high blood pressure that is so dangerous, it should be used only as a last-ditch effort if nothing else works for you. * Popular osteoporosis drug is just a rehashed version of an older one that built bone of such poor quality, breaks actually increased. Not to mention side effects such as permanent damage to the esophagus and kidneys, stress, diarrhea, constipation, fever, calcium and vitamin D deficiencies, rashes, headaches, and muscle pain. Read on... _____ How Many Psychiatric Drugs Can Seniors Take? Have you seen those ads promoting certain psychiatric drugs "in addition to" other ones? It's a disturbing example of a growing trend toward patients taking two, three and even more psychiatric drugs at a time. The practice is especially common among senior citizens, the group that is arguably the most vulnerable to problems from taking combinations of medications. A recent study from Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University showed that the practice of prescribing multiple psychiatric drugs (sometimes for the same symptoms) is on the rise -- about 60% of patients on psychiatric drugs were given at least two prescriptions, up from 43% nine years ago. Sometimes the drugs are given to treat different symptoms, while sometimes doctors add another medication because the first one didn't really work on its own. An astonishing 33% of the patients in this study take three or more psychiatric drugs. Why So Many Drugs? Four drug categories were evaluated -- antidepressants (including SSRIs, such as sertraline/Zoloft)... antipsychotics such as risperidone (Risperdal)... mood stabilizers such as lithium... and sedative-hypnotics (including benzodiazepines such as alprazolam/Xanax). The most common combinations were antidepressants plus sedatives. Sometimes people benefit from taking more than one of these drugs, and some drugs are designed to be used this way. However, according to Ramin Mojtabai, MD, PhD, MPH, at Johns Hopkins University, one of the study's authors, this is of grave concern when a rushed psychiatrist focuses on quickly reducing symptoms rather than counseling patients to resolve the underlying problem. It's Just Plain Dangerous Dr. Mojtabai offered some advice on what patients should do to ensure they're not taking more psychiatric drugs than is appropriate... * When your doctor prescribes a psychiatric drug, ask if there is evidence that your symptoms will improve if you take this medication and what benefits you will gain by being on it. Also find out whether the drug should be viewed as temporary and for how long it should be taken -- and revisit the need for it as time goes on. * Don't be taken in by pharmaceutical advertising on TV -- these are sales tools, not patient-care information. * Work with your doctor to establish optimal drug management. If your antidepressant isn't helping, ask to switch to a different one to see if it works better, or discuss with your doctor the possibility of increasing the dose of the first medication before agreeing to add a second one. * As always, be sure your doctor is aware of all drugs you currently take. Bring the medication bottles to your visits so that you can discuss them one by one every time the doctor wants to prescribe another. * Keep track of the reasons why you take each of your medications. In addition to potentially dangerous side effects, drugs sometimes interfere with the effectiveness of other ones. That may mean a drug should be replaced with another one, not taken in addition to it -- and that's typically a safer strategy than just taking drug on top of drug on top of drug. The dangers of this are obvious. As Dr. Mojtabai says, patients on multiple drugs are at "increased risk of drug-drug interactions, with uncertain gains for quality of care and clinical outcomes." There's no way this is a prescription for good health. Source(s): Ramin Mojtabai, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor, department of mental health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. Email this to a friend Be well, Carole Jackson Bottom Line's Daily Health News _____ You received this free E-letter because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as maryrose333 at att.net. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. Click here to easily subscribe. You can easily unsubscribe by clicking here . To change your e-mail address click here To update your e-mail preferences click here _____ Important: Help your friends live more healthfully -- forward this E-letter to them. Better: Send it to many friends and your whole family. This is a free e-mail service of BottomLineSecrets.com and Boardroom Inc. Need to contact us? http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/cust_service/contact.html Boardroom Inc. 281 Tresser Boulevard Stamford, CT 06901-3246 ATTN: Web Team Privacy Policy: BottomLineSecrets.com Web Site Privacy Policy Required Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be construed as a health-care diagnosis, treatment regimen or any other prescribed health-care advice or instruction. The information is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine or any other health-care profession and does not enter into a health-care practitioner/patient relationship with its readers. The publisher does not advise or recommend to its readers treatment or action with regard to matters relating to their health or well-being other than to suggest that readers consult appropriate health-care professionals in such matters. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication. The information and opinions provided herein are believed to be accurate and sound at the time of publication, based on the best judgment available to the authors. However, readers who rely on information in this publication to replace the advice of health-care professionals, or who fail to consult with health-care professionals, assume all risks of such conduct. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions. Bottom Line's Daily Health News is a registered trademark of Boardroom, Inc. Copyright (c) 2010 by Boardroom Inc. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 18 10:39:29 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 09:39:29 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Must Read: "Drop Dead Economics": The Financial Crisis in Greece and the European Union Message-ID: <00a201caf6a8$ecdb63e0$c6922ba0$@net> http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va &aid=19107 "Drop Dead Economics": The Financial Crisis in Greece and the European Union The Wealthy Won't Pay Their Taxes, So Labor Must Do So By Michael Hudson Excerpt from this article: Riddle: How are the Greek rioters like America's Tea Party movement? Answer: Both reject government being taken over by the financial oligarchy to shift the tax burden onto labor. The difference is that the Tea Partiers have lost faith in government. This is just what the financial oligarchy wants, of course. Giving up hope of gaining electoral control to pursue a fair fiscal agenda, the Tea Partiers have abandoned the centuries-long fight for reform to make governments better by giving them the power to check predatory finance and wealth. Sliding to the right wing of the political spectrum and acting mainly out of frustration, they have succumbed a utopian desire simply to shrink government that they see acting adversely to their interests. Comment from Mary Rose: IMHO, it is not just the "Tea Partiers" who have lost faith in government it is "most of we-the-people" and we are expressing it in different ways. What we need is to enact a new form of governance - one that is "resource-based" rather than "capital-based." What we have in the form of a Congress today is a group of people who rather than represent the people who elected them now represent their own interests and the capitalists (corporations) who put them into office. What we have today is "monetized politics" which means that money rules rather than good common sense which dictates that we must take care of our life support system (our resource system) first above and beyond all else. For centuries we have been led to believe that "faith-based" religion would be our salvation, but what we are being forced to recognize today is that it is the Earth and the Sun in a cooperative effort that form our life support system. And, while the sun will not fail us for many thousands of years, we are currently destroying the Earth upon which we must rely to nourish us at an unprecedented rate. We are, in effect, committing mass suicide by instituting artificial systems while at the same time we destroy the natural systems upon which our lives depend. Comments please. This article is long, so please read it in its entirety here: http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va &aid=19107 Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 18 10:44:14 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 09:44:14 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Global warming? No problem! Message-ID: <00a801caf6a9$961e8950$c25b9bf0$@net> From: Ben Wikler - Avaaz.org [mailto:avaaz at avaaz.org] Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 9:14 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Global warming? No problem! Dear friends, This absurd position may become the Senate's official stance on climate change as soon as this week unless we act! Sign the petition to defeat the "Dirty Air Act" now -- it will be hand-delivered to your Senator's office: Take Action Now!SIGN THE PETITION Global warming? No problem! That's the view the US Senate will vote on this week -- in the form of an anti-science, lobbyist-written resolution that would gut the Clean Air Act. Fortunately, we still have a few days to stop it. The resolution -- written by the fossil fuel lobby before being proposed by Alaska's Senator Murkowski -- would remove the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate global warming gases through the Clean Air Act. Unbelievably, the "Dirty Air Act" would do so by rejecting the core finding behind this regulation -- and along with it, decades of international scientific consensus -- that greenhouse gases cause climate change, which threatens Americans. Let's defeat the Dirty Air Act! Sign the petition and forward this message -- we'll hand-deliver the signatures to Senate offices across the country this week! http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/save_clean_air_act/9.php?cl=582007492 &v=6332 The timing of this resolution only adds to the farce. This vote is coming less than a month after the offshore oil disaster that demonstrated the immediate dangers of continued fossil fuel reliance -- and just days after Murkowski showed her true colors by stumping for a Big Oil bail-out, blocking a proposal to increase corporate liability for damage by oil spills. And let's not forget: a week after Senators Kerry and Lieberman introduced their long-awaited comprehensive climate bill. Harder to believe than the resolution's content is that it may pass. Unlike the climate bill, the resolution only requires 51 votes to clear the Senate. Some undecided Senators see this as a consequence-free vote, because President Obama would never sign it into law. But with the comprehensive climate bill on life-support, the consequences are very real: This vote is a test of strength for the fossil fuel lobby's ability to choke off Senate action. We have little hope for the Senate if they say climate change isn't a problem. Let's show our Senators that there's no such thing as a "free vote" with our futures at stake. Help the hand-delivered petition send a clear message -- sign today and forward it to friends: http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/save_clean_air_act/10.php?cl=582007492 &v=6332 With hope, Ben, David, Ricken, Maria Paz, and the Avaaz team PS: The Senate's calendar is uncertain -- so this vote could happen at any moment. The faster we act, the better our chance of affecting the outcome. Click to sign the petition now, and then pass it along! SOURCES: "Murkowski and her lobbyist allies," Washington Post: http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/01/murkowski_and_her_lobbyist_allies.html "Alaska's Murkowski blocks Senate on higher oil spill liability," Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/13/1628188/alaskas-murkowski-blocks-senate.html "Murkowski still planning EPA block," Mother Jones: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/05/murkowski-still-planning-epa-block Support the Avaaz community! We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way -- donate here. _____ Avaaz.org is a 4.9-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here , or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . This message was sent to maryrose333 at att.net. To change your email address, language, or other information, click here. Want to leave this list? Click here to unsubscribe. To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 18 10:59:42 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 09:59:42 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] End of the World (As We Know It) Message-ID: <00b901caf6ab$c1a818a0$44f849e0$@net> I am wondering how people on this list view this? Comments please. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 9:30 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] End of the World (As We Know It) It's the End of the World (As We Know It) Oil Production Peak Much Sooner Than Expected May 14, 2010 by Craig Severance http://energyeconomyonline.com/End_of_World_as_Know_It.html A storm is quickly approaching, and the world is not ready for it. The permanent end of the era of cheap oil is coming as soon as next year, according to a raft of official reports that have made their way into energy media over the last few months. Governments are now beginning to acknowledge the looming crisis. Yet, perhaps because they waited too long to prevent it, leaders are not yet alerting the public. The entire world economy is built on cheap oil, A permanent oil production shortage will thus lead to The End of The World (As We Know It). What will come on the other side of this -- will it be good or bad? Public Unaware. Except for a few stories in financial pages such as London's Financial Times, this earth-shaking news has yet to reach the Mainstream Media. While "Peak Oil" researchers have long warned of approaching oil shortages, the difference now is these dire warnings are being validated by the highest government and oil company officials. Yet, no political leader has had the courage to make a major announcement to prepare the public for what lies ahead. This public blindness is tantamount to the isolationism that gripped the U.S. in the years preceding WWII. While the highest government leaders did their best to prepare for inevitable war, they were hamstrung by the resistance of a public unable to accept what really lay ahead. Similar to today, some politicians advanced their own careers by feeding on the public's desire to believe no coming storm could ever reach them. Yet, the storm came anyway. The Limits of Oil. The looming crisis we now face is often referred to as "Peak Oil" -- a status where global oil production will reach a plateau, then begin its irreversible decline. Source: Peak Oil Primer Oil fields follow a production curve where output increases at first, then reaches a plateau or "peak", after which a steep decline occurs. Because existing oil fields decline, oil companies must continually develop major new finds just to maintain existing production. If these new projects do not exceed the decline of existing fields, it becomes impossible to maintain oil production, let alone grow oil output to fuel economic growth. The problem in recent years is that new oil finds have been smaller, deeper, and in more difficult to reach places. Cheap oil prices simply won't support the investment needed to develop them, so oil companies have not invested heavily enough to keep up with demand. Lester Brown of Worldwatch Institute notes that major oil companies, awash in cash, have instead spent billions buying up their own stock, aware their existing reserves will soon increase greatly in value. Did Global Oil Production Permanently Peak in 2008? Until 2008, world energy forecasters had always assumed global oil production would keep up with economic growth. According to classic economic theory, as world economies grew they would demand more oil, and oil companies would respond by investing in more exploration and development. "Peak Oil" was considered decades away. Beginning around 2005, however, world oil production began to hit a brick wall, and by 2008 global oil demand actually exceeded supply. With only a 2% shortfall of supply compared to demand, oil spiked to $147/barrel, and U.S. gasoline prices soared to over $4/gallon. That same year, the International Energy Agency for the first time published a "bottom-up" oil analysis, evaluating each of the world's major oil fields to see if production actually could continue to increase. After looking at the oil field data, the IEA revised its forecasts of future oil production downward, yet still took a very optimistic official view, by using rosy projections of as-yet-undiscovered oil fields. Independent researchers, however, using IEA's same "bottom-up" data, have now stated the IEA was wildly optimistic. The Global Energy Systems Group has concluded the world actually reached Peak Oil in 2008, and global oil production will now begin to decline. Investment alone cannot fix the problem as the decline rates of existing fields are accelerating. Significantly, though IEA's official forecasts remained rosy, IEA's Chief Economist Dr. Fatih Birol began urgently telling anyone who would listen the era of cheap oil is over, and "we have to leave oil before oil leaves us". If we do not "leave oil" behind us fast enough, economic growth may be choked off as oil prices rise to unaffordable levels. >From "Tin Hat" Theory to "Crikey!" In the last few months, there has been a sea change in attitudes about global oil supply among top officials. The UK government, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Joint Forces Command, among others, have begun to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. On March 25th, the French publication LeMonde reported on a semi-private U.S. Department of Energy Roundtable held in April 2009, where top U.S. DOE energy analyst Glen Sweetnam presented the graph below summarizing prospects for world liquid fuel production vs. demand: Source: Sweetnam, DOE, April 2009 The chart includes all known sources of supply, including undeveloped projects and "unconventional" sources such as tar sands. It politely labels the expected gap as "unidentified projects". The gap occurs very soon (beginning in 2011) and is very large -- roughly 10 million barrels/day by 2016. To put this in perspective, 10 mbd is roughly equivalent to the entire output of Saudi Arabia, and is well over 10% of total world demand. (Recall $147/barrel in 2008 occurred with only a 2% shortfall.) DOE still avoids any use of the words "Peak Oil", instead talking of an "undulating plateau" of oil prices & production. Shortages will lead to higher prices and more investment, spurring more production and lower prices. However, oil price volatility discourages new investment, so production plateaus. Richard Heinberg of Post Carbon Institute asks "What's the difference?" in "Quacks Like a Duck...". Whatever you call it, there is now a growing official consensus the world faces serious oil supply shortages beginning in the 2011-2015 time frame and continuing. Rick Monroe of the staff of Energy Bulletin has provided links to the growing list of official warnings here. Peak oil analyst Jeremy Leggett, who participated in a closed-door UK government summit on oil supply March 22, summarized the recent awakening of official realization: "Government has gone from the BP position - '40 years of supply left, the price mechanism works, no need to worry' - to 'crikey'." The End of "As We Know It". The coming oil descent can be seen as both a crisis and an opportunity. The end of cheap oil will be the end of living life "As We Know It". Those who try to continue doing things in the old ways that depend on cheap oil will experience severe hardships. Yet, there will be opportunities. Those who prepare now will be better able to weather the storm, to see the rainbow on the other side. The End of...Gas Guzzlers To win WWII, Americans had to give up buying new cars, as auto factories were converted to weapons production. The opposite will now be true -- we will need to buy different vehicles that use little or no gasoline or diesel. Think back to 2008. When gas prices hit $4/gallon, families with gas guzzlers suddenly found they were paying $400/month for fuel. Prices for very nice SUV's and heavy trucks plummeted -- you couldn't give them away. Meanwhile, buyers lined up to buy hybrids. The time to unload your gas guzzlers and buy something else is now. 80 mpg motorcycle, 50+ mpg Prius The End of...Cheap Food? I love my big burgers, but this too may come to an end if corn-fed beef gets too pricey. To replace a paltry 6% of U.S. gasoline, we already feed 1/3 of the entire U.S. corn crop to the corn ethanol industry, with impacts worldwide on crop prices, conversion of rain forest to cropland, and ocean dead zones from fertilizers. Ethanol corn use is projected to increase to 1/2 of the entire U.S. corn crop by 2015 under Congressional mandates. If you actually had to raid your refrigerator to fuel your car, you would see the obscenity of feeding food to machines. Yet this is exactly what we are doing. One of the worst decisions ever made was to build the infrastructure to convert food crops to fuel, because we have now directly tied the price of food to the price of fuel. As oil prices rise so will the price of food. Even if we were not directly feeding our food supply to our machines, our very production of food is heavily dependent on petroleum. There may be hope -- a study just released by Iowa State University shows farmers could be just as productive using half their present fuel use. Yet, lower fuel use depends on crop-rotation away from fuel-intensive corn, a move unlikely to happen if corn prices are tied to skyrocketing oil prices. It is unlikely Congress will find the sanity to eliminate taxpayer subsidies of ethanol. Therefore, a switch away from gasoline to electric vehicles may be the only way to keep food prices affordable. My big burger days may soon end -- but at least my waistline could be better for it. Those whose waistlines are already too thin -- the billions of hungry people in the world -- will feel the impact of higher grain prices much more. In 2008, food price riots broke out worldwide the last time oil prices skyrocketed. We must stop feeding food to cars. The End of...Globalization? Higher oil prices mean the world is about to get a lot smaller, as the cost of transporting goods halfway around the world will no longer be cheap. Jeff Rubin, former chief economist at CIBC World Markets, argues "a lot of long-lost jobs are going to be coming home". Rubin has written a book Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization. He notes that already in 2008 high oil prices began to make U.S. steel and furniture producers competitive again. Rubin expects China's economic growth to be fueled more by growth in their own consumption. Walmart may once again carry products labeled "Made in USA". The End of...Pristine Wilderness? Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (FWS) Avatar promo clip Millions of us are now viewing once again the movie Avatar -- James Cameron's wonderously beautiful tale of a pristine world. This time, however, we are not magically transported to Pandora in a theater by the magic of 3D. Instead, we may notice ourselves driving a small DVD home from the store in a 3,000 lb. vehicle, to view it on our big-screen TV. If we truly look at ourselves, we will see that we are the voracious society in search of our own "unobtanium ". Our unobtanium is oil, and shouts of "Drill, Baby, Drill!" have shown there are those among us who are willing to do anything, and destroy anything, to acquire it. As oil becomes scarce and prices skyrocket, these shouts will grow louder, coupled with skapegoating tactics to lay blame for the oil crisis at the feet of those who wish to preserve our most precious natural areas. There will once again be pressures to open to drilling Alaska's pristine wilderness, the Arctic National WIldlife Refuge. If this is done, it will not solve the crisis, as EIA projected ANWR would likely reduce oil prices only 30-50 cents per barrel (about a penny per gallon of gasoline). Yet, hunters take note, a wildlife area critical to scores of species of North American migratory birds would be violated. Despite the British Petroleum oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, expanded offshore oil development in all U.S. coastal waters will likely be approved. Whether another Deepwater Horizon event occurs may be determined by whom we elect -- those most beholden to the oil companies, or those willing to strictly regulate them. Canada has already begun the rape of its northern forests to exploit tar sands, the surface mining of which results in a landscape of complete devastation. SImilarly, there will be calls to utterly devastate the forests and water resources of Western Colorado to exploit oil shales. Only a move away from oil as quickly as possible can save these pristine areas from the destructive forces of a desperate society. We Can Do It. Though Americans resisted the recognition that WWII was coming, once it came they rose valiantly to the call to action. A similar can-do spirit is needed now for the transition to a post-oil world. This crisis is coming soon. It is too late to prevent it, so we simply need to get used to it. Peak Oil is happening. We will need to adapt -- but we can do that. We must repeat this to ourselves, as we face the challenging times ahead: It's The End of the World (As We Know It) -- and I feel fine From mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com Tue May 18 12:15:51 2010 From: mukhtaralam2000 at yahoo.com (Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 23:45:51 +0530 (IST) Subject: [GJM] Carbon-proof Agriculture would survive the end of Petro-Modern Age/Re: FW: [globalnetnews-summary] End of the World (As We Know It) In-Reply-To: <00b901caf6ab$c1a818a0$44f849e0$@net> References: <00b901caf6ab$c1a818a0$44f849e0$@net> Message-ID: <92756.6730.qm@web94911.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Distingguished members , Is is not quite the end of?world?rather the end of petro-modern support systems?and livelihoods specially in the urban areas?that would be effected?with ever increasing decline of?oil production. Roads reached my village called?Kishandaspur?in my childhood?in the early 70s and with the construction of the pucca road, horse carts were the first to arrive on the roads. Nowadays, they have given way to?fossil fuel based?carts. Some of them are using pumping?sets for irrigation. Motor cycles and cars?are?the belongings of the few and?still we find bullock carts used for?transporting?agricultural produce from the nearby villages?to market called Hatias. In the nearby tribal villages, where?children's enrollment rate is low, most of the people continue to be attached to agriculture based rural ecologically safe and sustainable livelihoods. It is these post carbon scenarios that we would reach- the age?of bullock carts and that would?not be bad. Yes, we would not have these energy intensive instruments?for communications, unless alternatives?are found?for running?the essential services.?On the occassion of the launch of International Agriculture Consulting Group, I heard this?call for making agriculture more profitable for farmers in order to ensure that people do not sell off land for securing future in the urban areass. It was interesting to hear from Food and?Agriculture Organisation representative that their focus would be on small scale farmers. There?is?a large scale?push for stand alone solar?panels?in the rural areas for producing electricity. For all of us, it would be easy to recall?survival equations and ecologically sustainable life suppport?systems?in?the past of our own families going few generations back. Thus what is needed?is to transform the?ecologically hostile and energy insecure urban habitats that?must prepare for the end of petro-modern age.?Petro-modern?bubble of an age of abundance, dreamers of new frontiers may end soon in the?urban areas and it is?there we need to focus. I am not selling land in my village and hope to continue cultivating land with the help of cousins. Food and nutritional security is the concern of?all nations and?that can be ensure?with making agriculture carbon-proof. Prophet Muhammad said?access to food,water,housing and clothing were the?fundamental rights and?if these were denied, people should fight. So long Sun is alive and burning at a distance with the will of Allah/God/..., we would have these?even when,?fossil fuels are not there as I had them in my childhood where the only?use of fossil fuel was for?lighting?a lantern/ dibiya. Many households did not?need that and used this very judiciously. Let us promote ecological audit of?the entire processes and strengthen the Movement for Transforming Ecologically Hostile Habitats http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com Let us make all transition effort carbon proff adopting carbon-nuetral measures for leisure, strengthen agriculture, promote culture of prayer and donation, strenghten moral fibre of soceity and?accelerate carbon-neutral discussion across the neighbourhoods across the cities and?villages across the?lands. ?Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam 58-C, Top Floor,DDA Janta Flats, Ashok Vihar-III,Delhi-110052,India Tel:+9968345380 http://slideshare.net/mukhtaralam http://transitionurbanindia.ning.com http://ecostrategiccommunicators.ning.com http://muhammad_mukhtar_alam.tigblog.org http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/DrMuhammadMukhtarAlam ________________________________ From: mary rose To: "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" ; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Tue, 18 May, 2010 10:29:42 PM Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] End of the World (As We Know It) I am wondering how people on this list view this? Comments please. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 9:30 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] End of the World (As We Know It) It's the End of the World (As We Know It) Oil Production Peak Much Sooner Than Expected May 14, 2010? by Craig Severance http://energyeconomyonline.com/End_of_World_as_Know_It.html A storm is quickly approaching, and the world is not ready for it. The permanent end of the era of cheap oil is coming as soon as next year, according to a raft of official reports that have made their way into energy media over the last few months.? Governments are now beginning to acknowledge the looming crisis. Yet, perhaps because they waited too long to prevent it, leaders are not yet alerting the public. The entire world economy is built on cheap oil,? A permanent oil production shortage will thus lead to The End of The World (As We Know It).? What will come on the other side of this -- will it be good or bad? Public Unaware.? Except for a few stories in financial pages such as London's Financial Times, this earth-shaking news has yet to reach the Mainstream Media.? While "Peak Oil" researchers have long warned of approaching oil shortages, the difference now is these dire warnings are being validated by the highest government and oil company officials.? Yet, no political leader has had the courage to make a major announcement to prepare the public for what lies ahead. This public blindness is tantamount to the isolationism that gripped the U.S. in the years preceding WWII.? While the highest government leaders did their best to prepare for inevitable war, they were hamstrung by the resistance of a public unable to accept what really lay ahead.? Similar to today, some politicians advanced their own careers by feeding on the public's desire to believe no coming storm could ever reach them.? Yet, the storm came anyway. The Limits of Oil.? The looming crisis we now face is often referred to as "Peak Oil" -- a status where global oil production will reach a plateau, then begin its irreversible decline.? Source: Peak Oil Primer Oil fields follow a production curve where output increases at first, then reaches a plateau or "peak", after which a steep decline occurs.? Because existing oil fields decline, oil companies must continually develop major new finds just to maintain existing production.? If these new projects do not exceed the decline of existing fields, it becomes impossible to maintain oil production, let alone grow oil output to fuel economic growth. The problem in recent years is that new oil finds have been smaller, deeper, and in more difficult to reach places.? Cheap oil prices simply won't support the investment needed to develop them, so oil companies have not invested heavily enough to keep up with demand.? Lester Brown of Worldwatch Institute notes that major oil companies, awash in cash, have instead spent billions buying up their own stock, aware their existing reserves will soon increase greatly in value. Did Global Oil Production Permanently Peak in 2008?? Until 2008, world energy forecasters had always assumed global oil production would keep up with economic growth.? According to classic economic theory, as world economies grew they would demand more oil, and oil companies would respond by investing in more exploration and development.? "Peak Oil" was considered decades away. Beginning around 2005, however, world oil production began to hit a brick wall, and by 2008 global oil demand actually exceeded supply.? With only a 2% shortfall of supply compared to demand, oil spiked to $147/barrel, and U.S. gasoline prices soared to over $4/gallon. That same year, the International Energy Agency for the first time published a "bottom-up" oil analysis, evaluating each of the world's major oil fields to see if production actually could continue to increase. After looking at the oil field data, the IEA revised its forecasts of future oil production downward, yet still took a very optimistic official view, by using rosy projections of as-yet-undiscovered oil fields. Independent researchers, however, using IEA's same "bottom-up" data, have now stated the IEA was wildly optimistic.? The Global Energy Systems Group has concluded the world actually reached Peak Oil in 2008, and global oil production will now begin to decline.? Investment alone cannot fix the problem as the decline rates of existing fields are accelerating. Significantly, though IEA's official forecasts remained rosy, IEA's Chief Economist Dr. Fatih Birol began urgently telling anyone who would listen the era of cheap oil is over, and "we have to leave oil before oil leaves us".? If we do not "leave oil" behind us fast enough, economic growth may be choked off as oil prices rise to unaffordable levels. >From "Tin Hat" Theory to "Crikey!"? In the last few months, there has been a sea change in attitudes about global oil supply among top officials.? The UK government, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Joint Forces Command, among others, have begun to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. On March 25th, the French publication LeMonde reported on a semi-private U.S. Department of Energy Roundtable held in April 2009, where top U.S. DOE energy analyst Glen Sweetnam presented the graph below summarizing prospects for world liquid fuel production vs. demand: Source: Sweetnam, DOE, April 2009 The chart includes all known sources of supply, including undeveloped projects and "unconventional" sources such as tar sands.? It politely labels the expected gap as "unidentified projects". The gap occurs very soon (beginning in 2011) and is very large -- roughly 10 million barrels/day by 2016.? To put this in perspective, 10 mbd is roughly equivalent to the entire output of Saudi Arabia, and is well over 10% of total world demand. (Recall $147/barrel in 2008 occurred with only a 2% shortfall.) DOE still avoids any use of the words "Peak Oil", instead talking of an "undulating plateau" of oil prices & production.? Shortages will lead to higher prices and more investment, spurring more production and lower prices.? However, oil price volatility discourages new investment, so production plateaus.? Richard Heinberg of Post Carbon Institute asks "What's the difference?"? in? "Quacks Like a Duck...". Whatever you call it, there is now a growing official consensus the world faces serious oil supply shortages beginning in the 2011-2015 time frame and continuing.? Rick Monroe of the staff of Energy Bulletin has provided links to the growing list of official warnings here.? Peak oil analyst Jeremy Leggett, who participated in a closed-door UK government summit on oil supply March 22, summarized the recent awakening of official realization: "Government has gone from the BP position - '40 years of supply left, the price mechanism works, no need to worry' - to 'crikey'." The End of "As We Know It".? The coming oil descent can be seen as both a crisis and an opportunity.? ? The end of cheap oil will be the end of living life "As We Know It".? Those who try to continue doing things in the old ways that depend on cheap oil will experience severe hardships.? Yet, there will be opportunities.? Those who prepare now will be better able to weather the storm, to see the rainbow on the other side. The End of...Gas Guzzlers To win WWII, Americans had to give up buying new cars, as auto factories were converted to weapons production.? The opposite will now be true -- we will need to buy different vehicles that use little or no gasoline or diesel.? ? Think back to 2008.? When gas prices hit $4/gallon, families with gas guzzlers suddenly found they were paying $400/month for fuel.? Prices for very nice SUV's and heavy trucks plummeted -- you couldn't give them away. Meanwhile, buyers lined up to buy hybrids.? The time to unload your gas guzzlers and buy something else is now. 80 mpg motorcycle, 50+ mpg Prius The End of...Cheap Food? I love my big burgers, but this too may come to an end if corn-fed beef gets too pricey.? To replace a paltry 6% of U.S. gasoline, we already feed 1/3 of the entire U.S. corn crop to the corn ethanol industry, with impacts worldwide on crop prices, conversion of rain forest to cropland, and ocean dead zones from fertilizers. Ethanol corn use is projected to increase to 1/2 of the entire U.S. corn crop by 2015 under Congressional mandates. If you actually had to raid your refrigerator to fuel your car, you would see the obscenity of feeding food to machines. Yet this is exactly what we are doing.? One of the worst decisions ever made was to build the infrastructure to convert food crops to fuel, because we have now directly tied the price of food to the price of fuel.? As oil prices rise so will the price of food. Even if we were not directly feeding our food supply to our machines, our very production of food is heavily dependent on petroleum. There may be hope -- a study just released by Iowa State University shows farmers could be just as productive using half their present fuel use. Yet, lower fuel use depends on crop-rotation away from fuel-intensive corn, a move unlikely to happen if corn prices are tied to skyrocketing oil prices. It is unlikely Congress will find the sanity to eliminate taxpayer subsidies of ethanol.? Therefore, a switch away from gasoline to electric vehicles may be the only way to keep food prices affordable.? My big burger days may soon end -- but at least my waistline could be better for it.? Those whose waistlines are already too thin -- the billions of hungry people in the world -- will feel the impact of higher grain prices much more.? In 2008, food price riots broke out worldwide the last time oil prices skyrocketed.? We must stop feeding food to cars. The End of...Globalization? ? Higher oil prices mean the world is about to get a lot smaller, as the cost of transporting goods halfway around the world will no longer be cheap. Jeff Rubin, former chief economist at CIBC World Markets, argues? "a lot of long-lost jobs are going to be coming home".? Rubin has written a book Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization.? He notes that already in 2008 high oil prices began to make U.S. steel and furniture producers competitive again.? Rubin expects China's economic growth to be fueled more by growth in their own consumption. Walmart may once again carry products labeled "Made in USA". The End of...Pristine Wilderness? Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (FWS)? ? ? ? Avatar promo clip Millions of us are now viewing once again the movie Avatar? -- James Cameron's wonderously beautiful tale of a pristine world.? This time, however, we are not magically transported to Pandora in a theater by the magic of 3D.? Instead, we may notice ourselves driving a small DVD home from the store in a 3,000 lb. vehicle, to view it on our big-screen TV.? If we truly look at ourselves, we will see that we are the voracious society in search of our own "unobtanium ".? Our unobtanium is oil, and shouts of? "Drill, Baby, Drill!" have shown there are those among us who are willing to do anything, and destroy anything, to acquire it. As oil becomes scarce and prices skyrocket, these shouts will grow louder, coupled with skapegoating tactics to lay blame for the oil crisis at the feet of those who wish to preserve our most precious natural areas.? There will once again be pressures to open to drilling Alaska's pristine wilderness, the Arctic National WIldlife Refuge.? If this is done, it will not solve the crisis, as EIA projected ANWR would likely reduce oil prices only 30-50 cents per barrel (about a penny per gallon of gasoline).? Yet, hunters take note, a wildlife area critical to scores of species of North American migratory birds would be violated. Despite the British Petroleum oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, expanded offshore oil development in all U.S. coastal waters will likely be approved.? Whether another Deepwater Horizon event occurs may be determined by whom we elect -- those most beholden to the oil companies, or those willing to strictly regulate them. Canada has already begun the rape of its northern forests to exploit tar sands, the surface mining of which results in a landscape of complete devastation.? SImilarly, there will be calls to utterly devastate the forests and water resources of Western Colorado to exploit oil shales. Only a move away from oil as quickly as possible can save these pristine areas from the destructive forces of a desperate society.? We Can Do It.? Though Americans resisted the recognition that WWII was coming, once it came they rose valiantly to the call to action. A similar can-do spirit is needed now for the transition to a post-oil world.? This crisis is coming soon.? It is too late to prevent it, so we simply need to get used to it.? Peak Oil is happening. We will need to adapt -- but we can do that. We must repeat this to ourselves, as we face the challenging times ahead: It's The End of the World (As We Know It) --? and I feel fine _______________________________________________ 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 Wed May 19 10:22:54 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 09:22:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Some May Be Genetically Prone to Type 2 Diabetes Message-ID: <008301caf76f$c8b07b00$5a117100$@net> Some May Be Genetically Prone to Type 2 Diabetes By The Lifescript Editorial Staff Published May 19, 2010 Lifestyle plays an important and undeniable role in a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but one study indicates that it may not be the only factor at work. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Harvard Medical School identified a gene variation that can raise type 2 diabetes risk by as much as 80%. Researchers gathered data from more than 3,500 subjects, finding that those patients with a notable variation in a gene identified as TCF7L2 were almost twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes than their peers. A previous Harvard study found an association between type 2 diabetes risk and another genetic variant, classified as ARNT. However, researchers in this study noted that healthy diet and a regular fitness program could help high-risk adults reduce their genetic diabetes risk. http://www.lifescript.com/Health/Conditions/Diabetes/Tips/Some%20May%20be%20 Genetically%20Prone%20to%20Type%202%20Diabetes.aspx? Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 18:52:08 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 17:52:08 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Science for Life - Enhance Your Child's Development Message-ID: <00eb01caf7b6$eb4003b0$c1c00b10$@net> From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 3:39 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Science for Life - Enhance Your Child's Development Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, Our guests on Science For Life this week are Mark and Dr. Lara Romero. Mark has been a frequent guest on the show, and this week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Lara as well. Dr. Lara and Mark will be talking about their new series to empower children's lives. Now through the power of music, vibration and guided imagery you can greatly enhance your child's development as well as your own. Discover how this revolutionary musical technology is transforming people's lives around the world! This is a show you don't want to miss. So join us at 9am Pacific on May 19th for an exciting hour with Dr. Lara and Mark Romero....or on demand 24/7 after that. Options for listening are shown below. Click here for more information about Mark and Dr. Lara's new series entitled "Self-Empowerment for Children". Love and light, This Wednesday 9:00 AM Pacific, Noon Eastern, or 24/7 On Demand www.ScienceforLife.net separator Design:Onegraphic. This message was sent from Spiritcrossing to maryrose333 at att.net. It was sent from: Spirit 2000, SpiritCrossing P.O. Box 11736 , Murfreesboro, TN 37129-0035. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 18:57:20 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 17:57:20 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Some Really Important News/ NetNews May 18 2010 # 2 Message-ID: <00f001caf7b7$a1e4c240$e5ae46c0$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for these very important news items. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 8:41 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 18 2010 # 2 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) The New Poor In Job Market Shift, Some Workers Are Left Behind By CATHERINE RAMPELL Published: May 12, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/economy/13obsolete.html JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Many of the jobs lost during the recession are not coming back. Period. For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway: dismiss millions of people - like file clerks, ticket agents and autoworkers - who were displaced by technological advances and international trade. The phasing out of these positions might have been accomplished through less painful means like attrition, buyouts or more incremental layoffs. But because of the recession, winter came early. The tough environment has been especially disorienting for older and more experienced workers like Cynthia Norton, 52, an unemployed administrative assistant in Jacksonville. "I know I'm good at this," says Ms. Norton. "So how the hell did I end up here?" But since she was laid off from an insurance company two years ago, no one seems to need her well-honed office know-how. Ms. Norton is one of 1.7 million Americans who were employed in clerical and administrative positions when the recession began, but were no longer working in that occupation by the end of last year. There have also been outsize job losses in other occupation categories that seem unlikely to be revived during the economic recovery. The number of printing machine operators, for example, was nearly halved from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2009. The number of people employed as travel agents fell by 40 percent. This "creative destruction" in the job market can benefit the economy. Pruning relatively less-efficient employees like clerks and travel agents, whose work can be done more cheaply by computers or workers abroad, makes American businesses more efficient. Year over year, productivity growth was at its highest level in over 50 years last quarter, pushing corporate profits to record highs and helping the economy grow. But a huge group of people are being left out of the party. Millions of workers who have already been unemployed for months, if not years, will most likely remain that way even as the overall job market continues to improve, economists say. The occupations they worked in, and the skills they currently possess, are never coming back in style. And the demand for new types of skills moves a lot more quickly than workers - especially older and less mobile workers - are able to retrain and gain those skills. Offices, not just in Jacksonville but all over the country, have found that life without a secretary or filing clerk - which they may have begun somewhat reluctantly when economic pressures demanded it - is actually pretty manageable. After all, the office environment is more automated and digitized than ever. Bosses can handle their own calendars, travel arrangements and files through their own computers and ubiquitous BlackBerrys. In many offices, voice mail systems and doorbells - not receptionists - greet callers and visitors. U.S. Home Seizures Reach Record as Recovery Delayed May 13, 2010, 9:41 AM EDT http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-13/u-s-home-seizures-reach-record-a s-recovery-delayed-update1-.html May 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. home foreclosures climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according to a report by RealtyTrac Inc. "Right now it appears that the banks are focusing on processing the loans already in foreclosure, and slowing down the initiation of new foreclosure proceedings as a way of managing inventory levels," Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's executive vice president, said in an e-mail. "We'll probably see this trend continue for a while." Bank repossessions rose to 92,432 in April, up 45 percent from a year earlier, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said today in a statement. Foreclosure filings, including default and auction notices, fell 2 percent to 333,837. One out of every 387 households received a filing. Unemployment of 9.9 percent and a rising percentage of homes worth less than the mortgages on them are combining to thwart a housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac. About 5 million delinquent loans will probably end up in the foreclosure process in addition to the 1.2 million homes already taken back by lenders, Sharga said. Defaults may not peak until 2011 depending on how lenders process them, Sharga said. "The underlying conditions -- mostly unemployment and millions of 'underwater' loans -- haven't improved," he said. Monthly foreclosure filings will remain "at a very high level that will not drop off in the near future," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer, said in the statement. April marked the 14th straight month that foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000. More than a fifth of U.S. mortgage holders owed more than their homes were worth in the first quarter, according to Zillow.com. The proportion rose to 23 percent from 21 percent in the previous quarter, the Seattle-based property service said this month. Home prices may fall as much as 5 percent through the first quarter of 2011, according to forecasts from IHS Global Insight of Lexington, Massachusetts. Still, economist Patrick Newport said foreclosures may not get much worse. "The key thing is fewer problem loans are going into the pipeline," he said. SEC Admits to Inadequate Tools to Conduct Investigation http://www.counterpunch.org/martens05172010.html By PAM MARTENS May 17, 2010 A CounterPunch Special Report SEC Chair Mary Schapiro made a stunning admission during House subcommittee hearings last week seeking answers to the May 6 hit and run in the stock market which briefly trimmed 998 points off the Dow and caused massive losses to small investors who had placed stop loss orders on individual stocks. According to Ms. Schapiro, the SEC has no consolidated audit trail that captures time and sales in a chronological order among the 40 or more electronic trading platforms and exchanges that constitute today's deeply fragmented U.S. stock market. Ms. Schapiro said in her testimony before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises that there were 66 million trades on May 6, coming from the 40 or more stock trading venues. The SEC has requested the individual trading records and must figure out how to review all the disparate trading in sequential time order. Some trading records reside at unregulated entities like hedge funds. Other trades are done by dark pools, internal matching of buys and sells inside brokerage firms (benignly called internalization) and over the counter derivative trades that could impact the stock market but have no oversight by anyone. Ms. Schapiro said she has issued subpoenas but didn't say to whom. Ms. Schapiro's testimony raises the question as to whether the SEC has been properly monitoring potentially rigged trading in real time up to this point. As far back as five months ago, the SEC was gently coaxing Wall Street to let it police it with proper tools. Below is an excerpt from a speech delivered by James Brigagliano, Deputy Director of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets on January 21, 2010 to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the heavy handed trade and lobby association of Wall Street: "Chairman Schapiro has expressed her commitment to improving intermarket surveillance. As a step towards fulfilling that commitment, she created an inter-division task force to work with markets to explore ways to establish a comprehensive consolidated audit trail for orders and executions across all markets. While we recognize that such a proposal would require a substantial effort by the SROs [Self Regulatory Organizations] and their members, a consolidated audit trail could be an invaluable regulatory tool to enhance the ability of the SROs and the Commission to detect illegal activity across multiple markets, and would greatly benefit investors and help to restore trust in the securities markets." Since when do real cops ask the perps for permission to police them? Many eyebrows were raised among Wall Street skeptics when President Obama appointed Ms. Schapiro to head the SEC on January 20, 2009. Ms. Schapiro came to the SEC from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self regulatory watchdog of Wall Street, where she served as CEO. Prior to that, she was the Chairman and CEO of the predecessor self regulator, NASD Regulation, which carried the stigma of running a private justice system for Wall Street that investors, industry employees and lawyers felt was rigged in favor of the industry. Why Ms. Schapiro did not insist on creating a consolidated audit trail in her prior regulatory roles or after the four-decade Madoff swindle was revealed remains a nagging question. New Toxic and Carcinogenic Weapons Experimented in Gaza: Palestinian Population Risks Genetic Mutations May 15, 2010 Newweapons Committee - 2010-05-11 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19155 Toxic and carcinogenic metals, able to produce genetic mutations, have been found in the tissues of people wounded in Gaza during Israeli military operations of 2006 and 2009. The research has been carried out on wounds provoked by weapons that did not leave fragments in the bodies of the victims, a peculiarity that was pointed out repeatedly by doctors in Gaza. This shows that experimental weapons, whose effects are still to be assessed, were used. The researchers compared the quantity of 32 elements present in the tissues through ICP/MS (a type of highly sensitive mass spectrometry) . The job, carried out by laboratories of Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Chalmer University (Sweden) and Beirut University (Lebanon), was coordinated by the New Weapons Research Group (Nwrg), an independent committee of scientists and experts based in Italy, who is studying the use of unconventional weapons and their mid-term effects on the population of after-war areas. The relevant presence of toxic and carcinogenic metals found in the wound tissues points to direct risks for survivors, but also to the possibility of environmental contamination. Biopsies of tissues were performed by doctors of Shifa hospital, in Gaza city, who selected and classified the type of wounds. Research was conducted on 16 tissue samples belonging to 13 victims. Four biopsies were taken in June 2006, during the operation "Summer Rains", while the others were taken in the first week of January 2009, during the operation "Cast Lead". All tissues were appropriately preserved and then examined by each of the three universities. Tissues belong to four types of wound: amputation (marked with an "A" in the study), charred (C), burns (B), multiple piercing wounds by white phosphorus (M). The following elements were found in quantities well beyond normal: - Alluminium, titanium, copper, strontium, barium, cobalt, mercury, vanadium, cesium and tin in samples of A and C wounds; - Alluminium, titanium, copper, strontium, barium, cobalt and mercury in M wounds; - Cobalt, mercury, cesium and tin in B wounds; - Lead and uranium in all wound types; - Barium, arsenic, manganese, rubidium, cadmium, chromium and zinc in all but M wounds; - Nickel in A wounds. Some of these elements are carcinogenic (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and uranium), others are potentially carcinogenic (cobalt and vanadium), others are also fetotoxic (alluminium, copper, barium, lead and manganese). The first ones can produce genetic mutations; the second ones can have the same effect on animals, but they are not proven to do the same on people; the third ones have toxic effects on people ad can affect either the embryo or the foetus in pregnant women. All metals found in high amounts have pathogenic effects on human respiratory organs, kidney and skin and affect sexual and neurological development and functions. The combination of metals in each type of wound is referred to as a "metal signature", as shown in the following picture: Doomsday safe-haven offered under Mojave Desert Published: 02:01 p.m., Monday, May 17, 2010 http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Doomsday-safe-haven-offered-und er-Mojave-Desert-489837.php BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) - A company with a doomsday plan is taking money for what it promises will be a comfortable, nuke-proof bunker under the Mojave Desert, with an atrium, gym and jail, and sloppy joes and pearl potatoes on the menu. Robert Vicino, who runs the Del Mar-based company called Vivos, has collected deposits on half the 132 spaces planned in the 13,000-square-foot bunker in Barstow. The facility is among several popping up across the country as fears of doomsday have been fueled recently by strong earthquakes, terrorism and predictions of the world's end in 2012 when the ancient Mayan calendar is said to end. "I'm careful not to promote fear. But sooner or later, I believe you're going to need to seek shelter," said Vicino, a real estate salesman whose career started with advertising and moved on to timeshares. The political climate now in some ways reflects the Cold War era, when many Americans dug backyard fallout shelters, said Jeffrey Knopf, an associate professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. "There's a lot of free-floating anxiety out there about the dangers that terrorists will get nuclear weapons and it multiplies," he said. Facilities such as Vicino's are attracting interest in other states such as Oregon and Kansas, where one engineer is developing underground survival condos for $1.75 million. In Barstow, $50,000 will get a bunk in a four-person room. Vicino is still taking reservations: $5,000 for adults and $2,500 for kids. Pets are free. Mitch McConnell Knocks Elena Kagan For Arguing Against Citizens United 05/17/10 03:53 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/mitch-mcconnell-knocks-el_n_579233. html WASHINGTON - The Senate's top Republican is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan for backing limits on the ability of corporations and labor unions to influence elections. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Kagan's argument in a Supreme Court case testing those restrictions was "troubling to those who cherish free speech." In Citizens United v. FEC, the court upheld the First Amendment rights of corporations and labor unions to spend money on campaign ads. Kagan, the solicitor general, argued unsuccessfully that the government could limit such activities. Last week, she told a senator the court wasn't deferential enough to Congress in that case. McConnell says he needs to be convinced Kagan is committed to free speech rights. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 19:04:12 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 18:04:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] More Important News NetNews May 18 2010 Message-ID: <00f101caf7b8$9a34b8b0$ce9e2a10$@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, May 17, 2010 10:47 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 18 2010 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) ADHD In Children: Agricultural Pesticides May Be Missing Link CARLA K. JOHNSON | 05/17/10 08:08 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/adhd-pesticides-in-fruits_n_578366. html CHICAGO - A new analysis of U.S. health data links children's attention-deficit disorder with exposure to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables. While the study couldn't prove that pesticides used in agriculture contribute to childhood learning problems, experts said the research is persuasive. "I would take it quite seriously," said Virginia Rauh of Columbia University, who has studied prenatal exposure to pesticides and wasn't involved in the new study. More research will be needed to confirm the tie, she said. Children may be especially prone to the health risks of pesticides because they're still growing and they may consume more pesticide residue than adults relative to their body weight. In the body, pesticides break down into compounds that can be measured in urine. Almost universally, the study found detectable levels: The compounds turned up in the urine of 94 percent of the children. The kids with higher levels had increased chances of having ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, a common problem that causes students to have trouble in school. The findings were published Monday in Pediatrics. The children may have eaten food treated with pesticides, breathed it in the air or swallowed it in their drinking water. The study didn't determine how they were exposed. Experts said it's likely children who don't live near farms are exposed through what they eat. "Exposure is practically ubiquitous. We're all exposed," said lead author Maryse Bouchard of the University of Montreal. She said people can limit their exposure by eating organic produce. Frozen blueberries, strawberries and celery had more pesticide residue than other foods in one government report. A 2008 Emory University study found that in children who switched to organically grown fruits and vegetables, urine levels of pesticide compounds dropped to undetectable or close to undetectable levels. Because of known dangers of pesticides in humans, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits how much residue can stay on food. But the new study shows it's possible even tiny, allowable amounts of pesticide may affect brain chemistry, Rauh said. Bank Of America Protest: Dozens Storm Bank Branch In DC Updated: 05-17-10 11:07 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/bank-of-america-protest-d_n_578539. html Dozens of noisy purple-shirted SEIU protesters stormed a Bank of America branch near the U.S. Capitol on Monday, forcing the bank to close down as confused customers looked on and tellers retreated to an interior room. Other groups from SEIU and National People's Action were set to stage protests at BofA's and JPMorgan Chase's lobby shops downtown as part of a daylong anti-K Street extravaganza. A security guard told HuffPost the branch would be closed only temporarily. After blocking an interection in DC's tiny Chinatown, the group stopped by a Citibank branch. "Corporate greed has got to go!" Hundreds of protesters from SEIU and National People's Action arrived at the offices of Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta, who boasts Bank of America among his massive client list. "We're fired to take down Wall Street," they chanted. Flood of Cash to Congress Is Unabated as Banks Seek Influence http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aq8VW7B4waQU&pid=20601087# May 17 (Bloomberg) -- As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote as early as this week on legislation rewriting the rules for Wall Street, the financial industry is holding fundraisers for lawmakers at a rate of almost one every business day this month. Some members of Congress have criticized Wall Street one month only to ask the industry for money the next. U.S. Representative John Adler, a New Jersey Democrat, demanded accountability from Wall Street in an April 29 statement. This week, he's holding what is billed as a "financial services dinner" in Washington with a minimum contribution of $1000. At least 20 House and Senate lawmakers have scheduled fundraisers in May targeting the industry or hosted by lobbyists for banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc., according to Democratic and Republican party committee schedules sent to prospective donors. The events allow lobbyists to mingle with lawmakers as the Senate debates sweeping new regulations for the industry. "How hard are you going to be on somebody who's handing you money?" said Bill Allison, an editor at the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based watchdog group. The list of fundraisers includes those for Senate Republicans and for House Democrats and Republicans. The schedule for Senate Democrats couldn't be obtained. Lobbyists for New York-based Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are among those hosting a $1,000-a-plate breakfast on May 20 for Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee. The group sponsoring the Washington event, Capitol Tax Partners LLP, lobbies on tax issues, not banking legislation, said one partner, Lindsay Hooper. One of the hosts of a $1,000-per-person Washington fundraiser on May 18 for another Senate Banking Committee member, Bob Corker of Tennessee, will be Tim Locke, a lobbyist whose clients include Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. Class Warfare: Hundreds Protest Outside Bankers' Houses In DC Updated: 05-17-10 08:58 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/16/class-warfare-hundreds-pr_n_578015. html Huge raucous crowds converged outside bank employees' houses on Sunday afternoon to demand banks stop lobbying against Wall Street reform. "Bank of America: bad for America!" shouted community leaders outside the house of Bank of America general counsel Gregory Baer. The Chicago-based grassroots organization National People's Action, in coordination with the SEIU, bused more than 700 workers from 20 states to Baer's neighborhood, one of the wealthiest corners of Washington. The action kicks off several days of protests targeting K Street for lobbyists' role in financial reform. Baer himself apparently tried to blend in with the crowd until a neighbor outed him. The mob booed loudly as he walked into his house. "I don't have time for you," he said, according to Trenda Kennedy of Springfield, Ill. who used a bullhorn to tell the crowd about her trouble getting a mortgage modification from Baer's bank. Kennedy told HuffPost she'd been making reduced monthly payments thanks to a trial modification via the Home Affordable Modification Program. She said that when the bank turned her down for a permanent mod, she was told she still owed all the money she'd been paying during the trial. She said she's been notified of several sheriff's sale dates but has somehow managed to keep her home. "Every time I'm inches away from losing my house, by some miracle it's been pushed off," said Kennedy, who is a member of Illinois People's Action. Passersby and dogwalkers smiled at the sight of people gathered all over Baer's lawn and blocking the road. Baer's neighbor from across the street won little sympathy when he angrily yelled at protesters for waking up his two-year-old daughter. Kennedy was one of several people who used a bullhorn to tell personal bank horror stories. Baer, formerly a senior official at the Treasury department, is a lawyer for the bank's regulator and public policy legal group. Bank of America declined to comment. "Bank of America came to the homes of everyday Americans when you spread predatory loans in neighborhoods across, the country, when you financed payday-lending storefronts, when your reckless behavior sent the economy to the brink of disaster, and when your bank-owned properties littered neighborhoods from coast to coast," said a letter the group asked Baer to deliver to CEO Brian Moynihan. "You've created a historic mess and have been unreceptive to very polite, very formal and very consistent requests to fix the problems you helped create." The group also protested outside the house of Peter Scher, a lobbyist for JPMorgan Chase. Nobody answered the door. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 19:15:59 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 18:15:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: The Middle Way Message-ID: <00f201caf7ba$420f09e0$c62d1da0$@net> From: Lorin Kiely [mailto:topdownyoga at gmail.com] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 1:24 PM Subject: The Middle Way Here's some data on the physics middle way. Implying existence slightly outweighs non-existence. This to me makes big sense... A New Clue to Explain Human Existence By DENNIS OVERBYE Published: May 17, 2010 . SIGN IN TO RECOMMEND . TWITTER . SIGN IN TO E-MAIL . PRINT . REPRINTS . SHARE Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory are reporting that they have stumbled onto a new clue that could help unravel one of the biggest mysteries of cosmology: why the universe is composed of matter and not its evil-twin opposite, antimatter. If confirmed, the finding portends fundamental discoveries at the new Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva, as well as a possible explanation for our own existence. In a mathematically perfect universe, we would be less than dead; we would never have existed. According to the basic precepts of Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics, equal amounts of matter and antimatter should have been created in the Big Bang and then immediately annihilated each other in a blaze of lethal energy, leaving a big fat goose egg with which to make to make stars, galaxies and us. And yet we exist, and physicists (among others) would dearly like to know why. Sifting data from collisions of protons and antiprotons at Fermilab's Tevatron, which until last winter was the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the team, known as the DZero collaboration, found that the fireballs produced pairs of the particles known as muons, which are sort of fat electrons, slightly more often than they produced pairs of anti-muons. So the miniature universe inside the accelerator went from being neutral to being about 1 percent more matter than antimatter. "This result may provide an important input for explaining the matter dominance in our universe," the team's leader, Guennadi Borissov of Lancaster University, in England, said in a talk Friday afternoon at Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill. Over the weekend, word spread quickly among physicists. Maria Spiropulu of CERN and the California Institute of Technology called the results "very impressive and inexplicable." The results have now been posted on the Internet and submitted to the Physical Review. It was Andrei Sakharov, the Russian dissident and physicist, who first provided a recipe for how matter could prevail over antimatter in the early universe. Among his conditions was that there be a slight difference in the properties of particles and antiparticles known technically as CP violation. In effect, when the charges and spins of particles are reversed, they should behave slightly differently. Over the years, physicists have discovered a few examples of CP violation in rare reactions between subatomic particles that tilt slightly in favor of matter over antimatter, but "not enough to explain our existence," in the words of Gustaaf Brooijmans of Columbia, who is a member of the DZero team. The new effect hinges on the behavior of particularly strange particles called neutral B-mesons, which are famous for not being able to make up their minds. They oscillate back and forth trillions of times a second between their regular state and their antimatter state. As it happens, the mesons, created in the proton-antiproton collisions, seem to go from their antimatter state to their matter state more rapidly than they go the other way around, leading to an eventual preponderance of matter over antimatter of about 1 percent, when they decay to muons. Whether this is enough to explain our existence is a question that cannot be answered until the cause of the still-mysterious behavior of the B-mesons is directly observed, said Dr. Brooijmans, who called the situation "fairly encouraging." The observed preponderance is about 50 times what is predicted by the Standard Model, the suite of theories that has ruled particle physics for a generation, meaning that whatever is causing the B-meson to act this way is "new physics" that physicists have been yearning for almost as long. Dr. Brooijmans said that the most likely explanations were some new particle not predicted by the Standard Model or some new kind of interaction between particles. Luckily, he said, "this is something we should be able to poke at with the Large Hadron Collider." Neal Weiner of New York University said, "If this holds up, the L.H.C. is going to be producing some fantastic results." Nevertheless, physicists will be holding their breath until the results are confirmed by other experiments. Joe Lykken, a theorist at Fermilab, said, "So I would not say that this announcement is the equivalent of seeing the face of God, but it might turn out to be the toe of God." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 13970 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 20:45:23 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 19:45:23 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Absolutely Must Read: Blackwater's CEO: We Are Fighting "Barbarians" in the Middle East Message-ID: <010c01caf7c6$b91d7060$2b585120$@net> If you recall, it was just about a week ago that I sent a message out revealing that Amway owner Rick DeVos was the major contributor to the Republican Party and also revealed that his son Richard DeVos was married to the former Betsy Prince sister of Eric Prince, owner of Blackwater. I also revealed that Rich DeVos is a 39th Degree Mason and a member of the Christian Right. Recall also that Prince made a large contribution to both Pat Robertson and Ron Paul in the election year of 2008. Now the story gets even more interesting as we learn what Blackwater is doing in Pakistan. And the burning question that won't go away is: Just who in the hell is running this country? It certainly isn't President Obama. And, remember a couple years back when Blackwater tried to establish a post here in the area where I live in order to take over the duties of the Border Patrol. I reported that behind this effort was Congressman Duncan Hunter who introduced Blackwater to County Supervisor Diane Jacobs, who was then instrumental in aiding the company in placing a bid for the property they were interested in acquiring in Potrero, CA. Fortunately, due to some legal restrictions, Blackwater was unable to acquire the property. The reason Blackwater is so lethal, so to speak, is due to its makeup of "mercenaries" - that is, guns for hire who know no allegiance to anyone or any country. In many instances, they perform the same duties as soldiers in the military; however, they are paid far more to perform these duties. They also do not operate under the same discipline as a soldier is required to do. Blackwater has been taken to task for its behavior time and again in multi-media news outlets. They were also asked to leave Iraq by government representatives there. The situation we now find ourselves in is that as U.S. taxpayers, we-the-people are saddled with the debts of endless war that our children and grandchildren will be paying for for years, brought about by a company employed by the government to fight what appears to be an "illegally enacted war." Is this OK with you? http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/blackwaters_ceo_we_are_fighting_barb arians_in_the_middle_east Blackwater's CEO: We Are Fighting "Barbarians" in the Middle East Ever wonder what's inside the mind of the world's most powerful private military contractor? Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, seldom makes public appearances. The few times he's made speeches in public, he has attempted to ban journalists from attending and prevented audience members from recording or videotaping his remarks. Fortunately, The Nation's investigative sleuth Jeremy Scahill has managed to obtain a rare audio recording of a recent private speech delivered by Prince at the University of Michigan this past January. The result is an absolutely stunning window into the worldview of the man who somehow continues to secure billions of dollars of the American taxpayers' money by winning government contracts to fight the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Pakistan. In front of an audience of ROTC commanders and cadets, military veterans, and entrepreneurs, Prince delivered a speech entitled, "Overcoming Adversity: Leadership at the Tip of the Spear," in which the Blackwater CEO touched on a range of issues associated with the fight against terrorism and America's military involvement in the Middle East. Fortunately, Scahill was able to place a contact inside the meeting, who managed to capture Prince's remarks by clandestinely recording the speech underneath his seat. I'd strongly encourage you to listen to the recording, as there are simply too many troubling statements to take up here. But here are some of the highlights lowlights: - When asked whether he was concerned whether Blackwater's secretive mercenary operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan stood outside the bounds of protection under the Geneva Conventions, Prince dismissively replied, "absolutely not because the people we are fighting are barbarians and they crawled out of a sewer." (Note: In acknowledging that Blackwater is indeed operating in Pakistan, Prince seems to have backtracked on his prior statements, as well as those of the Obama administration and the Pakistani government). Speaking in gross and offensive generalizations, Prince tarnished all of the people of the Middle East with the same brush, remarking that "They are [all] there to kill us," and "they have a 1200 AD mentality. They don't even know where Geneva is, let alone that there was a convention there." - Prince suggested that Iran is "at the absolute dead center ... of badness" and charged that the Iranian government was trying to acquire nuclear weapons as part of a "master plan to stir up and organize a Shi'a revolt through the whole region." In order to reverse this spread of Iranian influence, Prince proposed that the U.S. government hire Blackwater to be deployed as a private army in Yemen, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia. He suggested that using private contractors to roll-back Iran's "sinister hand" would be cost-effective, politically expedient, and would allow for a "very, very small, very light footprint." - Prince also proposed sending in Blackwater troops to fight "terrorists" in the oil-rich nation of Nigeria, to counter the growing influence of "criminal syndicates" that are "stealing" oil and using the revenue to "fund terrorist organizations." He failed to mention that the presence of multinational U.S-based oil corporations on Nigerian soil - and the human rights abuses and pollution associated with these companies' business operations - have sparked much of the opposition throughout the country. - Prince cited instances in which Blackwater forces operating in Afghanistan resupplied a U.S. military unit, and even called in U.S. military airstrikes near the Pakistan border, because there is too much "lawyering" involved with the U.S. military chain of command. Prince's culturally-imperialistic statements reflecting his Christian-crusader mentality - in which Blackwater represents a force of unparalleled "good" fighting a barbaric, anti-modern, and homogenous people of "evil" - are profoundly unsettling, raising serious questions about why the Obama administration continues to employ his company in Iraq and the Af-Pak region. But, Prince's contentions that Blackwater has in various instances superseded the military chain of command by calling in airstrikes and resupplying U.S. military convoys sound an even louder alarm - confirming that private military contractors are able to operate unilaterally, with little oversight, and above the rules of warfare. Given Blackwater's egregious track record on compliance with international law - take the Iraqi Nisour Square massacre as just one example - the possibility of a Blackwater "A-Team" patrolling the streets of San'a, Riyadh, Lagos, or Mogadishu is altogether unacceptable and should make you quiver. Fortunately, we can prevent this from happening. Join the effort to tell Congress to stop outsourcing our security to Blackwater and other private military contractors operating outside the bounds of international law. Don't allow this company to continue to secure lucrative government contracts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 20:55:33 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 19:55:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: America's Blatant Discrimination; Anti-Muslim Mercenaries; Cleaning Oil Spills Message-ID: <011b01caf7c8$2647a5b0$72d6f110$@net> From: Change.org Weekly [mailto:mail at change.org] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 2:17 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: America's Blatant Discrimination; Anti-Muslim Mercenaries; Cleaning Oil Spills Change.org Weekly May 10 - May 16 TOP ACTIONS THIS WEEK Tell Congress: We Need Comprehensive Immigration Reform This Year by Reform Immigration for America Sign the Petition ? Tell Sarah Palin: Start Telling The Truth by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Sign the Petition ? Support The D.C. Healthy Schools Act by Earth Day Network Sign the Petition ? THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG America's Blatant Discrimination Plus: Anti-Muslim Mercenaries ? Cleaning Oil Spills ? Seattle?s Anti-Immigrant Police ? Walmart?s Ironic Philanthropy ? Racist Drug Policies Dear Mary , A personal story on Change.org this week illustrates the terrible consequences of one of the most blatantly discriminatory policies in America. The story is about Tracey Cooper-Harris, who served in the U.S. Army for a dozen years as both a soldier and a non-commissioned officer. Performing her duties with honor and integrity, Cooper-Harris was commended by her peers for her service and reached the rank of Sergeant. During her first duty assignment, at the age of 19, a few of Cooper-Harris' male colleagues found out that she was gay. Under the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, these men could have reported Cooper-Harris to authorities, and she would have been discharged from the military. Instead, these men gave Cooper-Harris an ultimatum: perform sexual favors for us, and we'll keep your sexual orientation a secret. Such is the life of a soldier under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Cooper-Harris shares her story in one of a series of letters published on Change.org this week courtesy of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which is mobilizing a coalition of voices, including former and current U.S. soldiers, calling on President Obama to end the military's discriminatory policy that bans openly gay, lesbian and bisexual troops from serving. Those voices include a current active duty soldier serving in Iraq and the grandson of President Harry Truman ? the President who broke with popular opinion during his day and tore down racial barriers in the military by desegregating the Armed Forces. The injustice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has already resulted in close to 14,000 well-qualified troops being discharged from the military, and caused untold damage to the tens of thousands of service members struggling to keep their sexuality a secret. We've recently seen how "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is also being used to punish college students for being open and honest about their lives. The most prominent example is Sara Isaacson, an ROTC student at the University of North Carolina (UNC). After coming out to her ROTC commanders, Isaacson was forced to leave ROTC, despite eight semesters of service. Worse, Isaacson had received an ROTC scholarship of $80,000 to attend UNC. Now, because the military doesn't approve of her sexual orientation, Isaacson is being asked to repay that $80,000, and to incur a huge chunk of debt - all because she chose to be honest about who she was. Aren't living honestly and with integrity supposed to be core values within the U.S. military? "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromises those values. In Isaacson?s case, thousands of people have sent letters to UNC urging them to respond to the situation. The school's student newspaper, The Daily Tarheel, has pleaded with the university to find a way to help Isaacson, and you can join their call here. President Obama himself said a few months ago "I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It's the right thing to do." It's the right thing to do, and the right moment to do it. Add your voice now. For news and information from your favorite causes this week, see the summaries below. Anti-Muslim Mercenaries in HUMAN RIGHTS Ever wonder what's inside the mind of the world's most powerful private military contractor? Take a look at what Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, had to say about his company's involvement in the Middle East. Among other nuggets, Human Rights blogger Jake Horowitz reports, Prince calls Muslims "barbarians," and says that international law gets in the way of military progress. With views like that, why does the U.S. continue to give so much money to private security contractors like Blackwater? Read more ? Cleaning Oil Spills in ENVIRONMENT News on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to flow. And while much of the coverage is pretty bleak, there are a number of steps citizens can take to lend the Gulf a helping hand. Environment blogger Marah Hardt highlights ways folks can clean up the Gulf, from donating items and money to providing photos and information to pushing politicians to end offshore oil drilling. Read more ? Seattle?s Anti-Immigrant Police in IMMIGRANT RIGHTS The Seattle Police Department has a problem of police misconduct on their hands. Immigrant Rights blogger Alex DiBranco writes that a newly released video shows an officer yelling racially-charged comments at, stomping on, and kicking a young defenseless Latino man. Yet this is only one of more than 176 complaints of misconduct the Department has received in the last year alone, and so far, the only action taken against the officers involved is to reassign one. Given the severity of the racially toned beating, the officer should be fired immediately. Read more ? Walmart?s Ironic Philanthropy in POVERTY IN AMERICA Walmart has announced that it will donate a whopping $2 billion to hunger relief efforts in the United States over the next five years. There's no doubt that aid is welcome, but if Walmart is truly concerned about ending hunger, it should re-evaluate its own role in perpetuating poverty throughout America, writes Poverty in America blogger Charlotte Hill. The company's words may express a desire to fight food insecurity, but its actions demonstrate a clear refusal to help its one million U.S. employees escape poverty and enjoy the benefits of economic self-sufficiency. Read more ? Racist Drug Policies in RACE IN AMERICA Change.org Changemaker Ethan Nadelmann writes that blacks and Latinos are arrested on drug charges at rates that are completely out of proportion to overall U.S. drug use. In New York City alone, 46,500 people were arrested for marijuana possession last year, and 87% of these people were black and Latino ? despite the fact that minorities are no more likely to smoke in public than whites. Fortunately, voters and politicians across the U.S. have begun to realize the disastrous social and racial impact of our drug policies and their enforcement. And you can be a part of that change. Read more ? Have a great week, ? The Change.org Team This email was sent by Change.org to maryrose333 at att.net Unsubscribe from future weekly updates. Edit your email notification settings . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 19 21:16:41 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 20:16:41 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Must Read: Finally, the Republicans Come Out to Fight: Where Is the President? Message-ID: <012001caf7cb$1f392160$5dab6420$@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, May 19, 2010 10:29 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Finally, the Republicans Come Out to Fight: Where Is the President? Finally, the Republicans Come Out to Fight: Where Is the President? Simon Johnson MIT Professor and co-author of 13 Bankers May 19, 2010 10:22 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/finally-the-republicans-c_b_5816 03.html The Senate Republicans are refusing to allow a vote on the Merkley-Levin amendment, which would put a meaningful version of the Volcker Rule into law (splitting off proprietary trading from major banks). After weeks of dancing around, the Democrats finally have a signature issue on which to fight. Senator Carl Levin frames it exactly right: "It's a sad day when the power of Wall Street can overwhelm the power of the American people in the US Senate." This is the opportunity that White House claims it has long sought -- to have an intense fight on a financial reform issue that everyone can understand. Paul Volcker made his determination long ago: the big banks are too big and must, in this fashion, be broken up. Senators Merkley and Levin negotiated the precise language of their amendment in good faith. The Republicans have made their answer clear: No way. Time for President Obama to make the call. Only the president can break through the daily logjam of information. Only the president can define the issues in the simple, powerful and convincing terms that people can grasp. Only the president can insist -- this is a matter of urgent national priority. The economic analysis (Volcker), political back-story (Brown-Kaufman and all that involved), and just the right rhetoric are already in place: "We got into this financial crisis because Wall Street set the rules to benefit itself, and now with an assist from Senate Republicans, they're doing it again," said Merkley. "Obviously the lobbyists are afraid they'll lose this vote, and in typical Wall Street fashion their solution, with help from Senate Republicans, is to rig the result. Main Street is being shut out of this debate. It is time to stop letting Wall Street call the shots -- let this amendment have a vote." "The long arm of Wall Street reached directly into the Senate chamber today," Levin said. "By blocking us from even debating this amendment, the Republican leadership is carrying Wall Street's water and standing in the way of real reform." This is a defining issue for the president. Either he takes up the Volcker Rule -- proposed by his administration, to great fanfare (and some skepticism) in January. Or he rolls over -- admitting that Wall Street has won. We know where Goldman Sachs and its fellow travellers stand on this issue -- adamantly and publicly opposed. And we pointed out here in February which way the Republicans were likely to go. "But if you don't have the votes in the Senate, what can you do?" This one is easy. You stop the clock and put everything else on hold. The president calls the American people to order and asks them to take a long hard look at the issues and the corporate interests at stake. And then you start to pound away. Day in and day out, the president and other leading members of his administration need to come out swinging with relentless pursuit of substance on TV talk shows and prime time speeches -- demanding an up-or-down vote on Merkley-Levin. Admittedly, this may be awkward for leading officials, who have been rather accommodative to financial interests over the past 15 months or so. That's unfortunate (for them), but now entirely water under the bridge. All is forgiven to the policymaker who finally gets it and changes course in the right direction. Don't move on. Pick up the baseball bat that Paul Volcker has given you. Either that or go down to the most embarrassing, humiliating, and memorable defeat in the history of Wall Street-Washington confrontations. It's the president's call. From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Thu May 20 04:50:43 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 20 May 2010 10:50:43 +0000 Subject: [GJM] Juncker says markets irrational  - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.190.43 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- Juncker says markets irrational?? http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100520/tts-uk-eurozone-ca02f96.html ============================================================ From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 20 09:29:26 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 08:29:26 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: A Surprising Cause of OCD Message-ID: <006e01caf831$77abe380$6703aa80$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Many of the professionals in both alternative and conventional health care system are agreeing that the mental health situations we face today are the greatest challenge to finding peace, both within ourselves and in our social systems. And are realizing that many of them are "environmentally" caused due to the tremendous number of pollutants and toxins we have released in the Industrial Age as we powered it via technological advances. Few ever thought of the long term consequences associated with what we were doing. It was mostly about obtaining instant gratification. And now we find a huge bill coming due do to our carelessness and lack of attention to what we were doing. With regard to ADHD, as revealed in the article below, please recall the work of Dr. Amen, (which I reported on recently) who also found that this condition was caused by blows to the head at some point in life. And, that these blows frequently damaged the brain. Pictures taken using a SPECT scan reveal the damaged areas of the brain. Another suspected cause is due to brain damage caused when the baby is moving down through a space too small for the head to emerge through easily and the attending physician uses forceps to aid in birthing. So, pesticides are just one more cause. I also want to mention here that mental/emotional illness, and the fact that so many who were ill in this manner were released onto the streets with no provision for their well-being during the Reagan administration is now over-loading our prisons and jails as there is no place else for them to go. Since little or no rehabilitation programs are offered in these institutions the result has been punishment for those who desperately need medical care. It is becoming more recognized among professionals in the health care system that many forms of emotional illness can be treated with nutritional supplements when they are formulated properly to assure easy assimilation into the body. See: www.truehope.com for more on this. From: Emotional Health From Everyday Health [mailto:EmotionalHealth at EverydayHealth.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 10:25 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: A Surprising Cause of OCD Emotional Health May 19, 2010 My Profile Meet Friends Read Blogs Post Photos Follow Everyday Health on Twitter and Facebook A Surprising Cause of OCD Some children with strep infections may develop a condition known as PANDAS that mimics the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder. . Learn more about OCD in children. Is There a Pesticide-ADHD Link? According to a new study, exposure to high doses of pesticides on fruits and vegetables may increase the chance of ADHD in children. . Read more about it. Today's Healthy Recipe Avocado Tea Sandwiches Smoked salmon plays off crispy cucumber and creamy avocado. Get the recipe! Ask the Expert Long-Term Use of Antidepressants Q: I have been taking an antidepressant for almost 13 years. Is this safe? See Michael E. Thase, MD's answer > _____ About Dr. Thase Dr. Michael Thase is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the director of the Depression Treatment and Research Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, also in Pittsburgh. Ask Dr. Thase a Question Mental Health Awareness Manage depression and anxiety 5 signs of mental health issues: Find out if your emotions point to an underlying condition. Plus, view our photo gallery of celebrities with anxiety disorders. Try Our Video Symptom Checker Everyday Health symptom checker The Doctor Is In Tell our interactive tool your symptoms to find out possible causes and treatments - and whether you need to see a doctor. . Check it out now! >From DeniseAustin.com Lose Weight in 12 Minutes a Day! Need to lose those stubborn pounds, but just don't have the time? Denise Austin's sensible new plan will help you get in shape quickly! Learn more about Denise's Daily Dozen . Featured: Fast and Easy Exercises . Plus: Get in Shape at Home! DeniseAustin.com is a part of the Everyday Health Network _____ Everyday Health Network Thanks for joining our mailing list, maryrose333 at att.net, for Everyday Health - Emotional Health on 04/30/2010 REMOVE me from this list | Add me to this list | Manage my e-mail settings | Contact Customer Service Copyright 2010 Everyday Health, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 Marshall Street, North Adams, MA 01247 Subject to our terms of service and privacy policy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 20 11:09:43 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 10:09:43 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Drug Company to Pay Half a Billion Dollar Fine for ILLEGAL Marketing Message-ID: <00a601caf83f$7ab28b70$7017a250$@net> Moving Into TOTAL WELLNESS As I have reported earlier, the Shoveling Up II report issued by Columbia University on Substance Abuse and the Effect on Local, State, and Federal Budgets has reported that pharmaceutical drugs were far more of a problem than illegal drugs. Here, the New York Times is not only reporting on the results of investigations into Astra Zeneca which still faces double-digit lawsuits from individual users after paying a half a billion dollar fine in relationship to a drug named Seroquel, but is revealing the names of other companies who have in recent years paid large fines, some of them in the billions of dollars, for the illegal marketing of other drugs. While in this article Seroquel has been named as a treatment for schizophrenia, in my research in preparation for writing a white paper on bipolar disorder have found it to be heavily marketed for this dis-ease as well. Recall that I have also written with regard to predictions made by several leading researchers in the field of bi-polar disorder, including that of Gracelyn Guyol, "Healing Depression & Bipolar Disorder Without Drugs," which includes a foreword by Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C., that by the year 2020 if we do not do something dramatic to intercede, bipolar disorder is predicted to be the leading cause of death due to the high rate of suicide associated with it. Yet, Guyol's book also reveals that nutritional supplements have been found to be highly effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Please see the results of scientific research conducted by the TrueHope organization, a company in Canada that is marketing EMPowerPlus, a nutritional supplement for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Results show an 80% heal rate which is very high. It is also my contention that many of those who are now confined to our over-flowing prisons are among the mentally-ill, with many of them suffering from bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses which should be treated medically and not by imprisonment. And certainly not with the types of drugs the pharmaceutical companies are pandering and being hauled into courts for and found to have been illegally marketing. However compared to the profits these companies are making off of the sale of these drugs, the fines they pay are but a token and of no real consequence to them. The only solution to the dilemma of drugs, whether they be illegal or prescribed by one's physician, is for the consumer to become educated in what the cause of their emotional disorder is, find out how it can be treated naturally (and, may I say less expensively) and then "just say *no* to those seeking to make money from our illness as the only motive for doing what they do. Only when we begin to take back our communities from the hands of the drug dealers, whether they be illegal drug cartels or our local clinics in the hands of pharmaceutical companies, and begin the practice of natural preventive measures as individuals, will we be able to end our substance abuse problem as a collective consciousness. 20 May 2010 - Mary Rose - Founder, Future Dawning Enterprises. Drug Company to Pay Half a Billion Dollar Fine for ILLEGAL Marketing http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27drug.html?partner=rss &emc=rss For $520 Million, AstraZeneca Will Settle Case Over Marketing of a Drug By DUFF WILSON Published: April 26, 2010 AstraZeneca has completed a deal to pay $520 million to settle federal investigations into marketing practices for its blockbuster schizophrenia drug, Seroquel. The Justice Department plans a news conference on Wednesday to disclose details of the case, according to two people close to the negotiations who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Add to Portfolio . AstraZeneca PLC Go to your Portfolio > AstraZeneca becomes the fourth pharmaceutical giant in the last three years to admit to federal charges of illegal marketing of antipsychotic drugs, a lucrative category of medications that have quickly risen to the top of United States sales charts. Aggressive sales and promotional practices have helped expand the use of powerful new antipsychotic drugs for children and the elderly. AstraZeneca will sign a corporate integrity agreement with the federal government over its marketing of Seroquel for unapproved uses, but will not face criminal charges, the people close to the negotiations said. The company, based in London, has been accused of misleading doctors and patients by playing up favorable research and not adequately disclosing studies that show Seroquel increases the risk of diabetes. AstraZeneca still faces more than 25,000 civil lawsuits filed on behalf of patients contending that the company did not disclose the drug's risks. The deal would make formal an agreement in principle the company reached last October with the United States attorney in Philadelphia. At that time, AstraZeneca said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had set aside $520 million in respect to the investigation. The company was facing two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits involving Seroquel sales and marketing practices. One of the investigations related to physicians who had participated in clinical trials. The other inquiry involved sales staff. Details are expected to be announced Wednesday. As a result of aggressive marketing, Seroquel has been increasingly used for children and elderly people for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The drugs have caused rapid weight gain in children, and side effects including deaths have prompted warnings against giving the drugs to elderly patients for dementia. Although doctors are permitted to prescribe any approved drug for off-label uses, it is illegal for drug makers to promote medications for any purpose not specifically approved by the F.D.A. Tony Jewell, a company spokesman, declined to comment on Monday. Patricia Hartman, a spokeswoman for Michael L. Levy, the United States attorney in Philadelphia, said she would neither confirm nor deny the report. "We don't have anything public on AstraZeneca," Ms. Hartman said. AstraZeneca, which reported $4.9 billion in Seroquel sales in 2009, plans to report its first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The company will join a series of American pharmaceutical companies that have admitted to illegal marketing after federal investigations and whistle-blower filings and have signed agreements with the government to monitor and avoid such activity in the future. In the largest such case, Pfizer paid $2.3 billion last September, including $1.3 billion in the biggest criminal fine of any type in United States history, for off-label marketing of the painkiller Bextra and other drugs. Bextra was withdrawn from the market in 2005. The Pfizer fine included $301 million for off-label marketing of its antipsychotic drug Geodon. Eli Lilly paid $1.4 billion in January 2009 to settle investigations into illegal marketing of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. Lilly's settlement included a $515 million criminal fine, which until the Pfizer case was the largest such fine ever imposed on a corporation. In 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb and a subsidiary paid $515 million to settle federal and state investigations into marketing of its antipsychotic drug Abilify. The newer generation of antipsychotics has surpassed cholesterol-lowering drugs to become the nation's top-selling category of medications, accounting for $14.6 billion of the nation's $300 billion in drug spending last year, according to the research firm IMS Health. Seroquel, a pill usually taken once or twice a day that sells for more than $4 each, was the fifth-best-selling drug in the United States last year, IMS said. As with other antipsychotics, much of that spending is by the federal government, through the Medicaidand Medicare programs. AstraZeneca, with American headquarters in Wilmington, Del., has previously denied wrongdoing in the Seroquel investigations. It has paid $656 million to defend itself in court against more than 25,000 civil lawsuits, the company said in an S.E.C. filing in January. Those cases are only recently beginning to reach trial. The company has argued that people who were found to have diabetes after taking Seroquel already had diabetes or had existing conditions that made them at high risk of the disease. According to company e-mail unsealed in civil lawsuits, AstraZeneca "buried" - a manager's term - a 1997 study that showed Seroquel users gained 11 pounds a year, while publicizing a study that claimed users lost weight. Company e-mail messages also refer to doing a "great smoke-and-mirrors job" on unfavorable studies. Gardiner Harris contributed reporting. A version of this article appeared in print on April 27, 2010, on page B3 of the New York edition. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 20 13:42:00 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 12:42:00 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: GCI Commentaries - Mother Earth - Solar Activity - Circadian Cycle Message-ID: <00e401caf854$c3b15300$4b13f900$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Dear Friends - If you are not signed up to receive information from the Global Coherence Initiative and to receive information and invitations to participate in their events may I suggest that you do this. The information contained in this message is exceptional and demonstrates that this organization is on the cutting edge of scientific research and bringing the very latest in happenings related to you to your attention. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Global Coherence Initiative Date: Thu, May 20, 2010 at 11:26 AM Subject: GCI Commentaries - Mother Earth - Solar Activity - Circadian Cycle http://www.glcoherence.org/templates/gcp/e-mail/e-broadcast/commentaries/201 0/online/gcms-commentaries-2010-05-19-online.html?mtcC Click here for online version. The Connection Between Solar Activity, Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes, Weather and Cycles on Earth www.glcoherence.org GCI Message Dear Mary, Our Mother Earth has been very active since the beginning of the New Year. Figure 1: Earthquake map 2010, by USGS. Several big earthquakes occurred, starting in Haiti (January 12), followed by Chile (February 27), China (April 15), Taiwan (March 4), and Turkey (March 8), and many smaller earthquakes that had a lesser impact on human life, property and environment (Figure 1: earthquake map for 2010, by USGS). Many wonder if the number of earthquakes is increasing, but scientist say they are not becoming more frequent: (USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ eqarchives/year/eqstats.php) Also, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokul erupted on April 14, forming a massive cloud of volcanic ash (Figure 2) that had an enormous impact on air traffic, with 27 airports closed for many days. Figure 2: Lava and lightning light the crater of Eyjafjallajokul volcano on April 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) Recent scientific research confirms a connection between high energy charged particles in the ionosphere and earthquakes. A study conducted in 2008 by Jann-Yeng Liu, from the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research in Chung-Li, Taiwan, examined more than 100 earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.0 or larger in Taiwan over several decades. The results indicate that almost all of the quakes down to a 35 km depth were preceded by distinct electrical disturbances in the ionosphere. Figure 3: Geomagnetic index Kp, in red geomagnetic storm conditions (K>4). http://swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html Solar activity is picking up in the current Cycle 24. Presently (May 10), the moderate sunspot 1069 is active. On April 3rd, the largest solar storm of Cycle 24, also called a coronal mass ejection (CME) took place. The solar wind hit Earth on Monday, April 5th and sparked the strongest geomagnetic storm of the year. The event registered a geomagnetic index Kp 7 (on a 0-9 scale, Figure 3). Luckily the storm was not strong enough to interfere with power grids and satellites, but it created auroras in the Polar Regions (Figure 4). On May 5th another solar eruption came from a spotless region near the sun's southwestern limb, producing a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) and came to an end on May 9th. Extreme ultraviolet images from the Solar and Heliographic Observatory captured the solar eruption. (Figure 5), current images: ( http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov) Figure 4 by NASA Figure 5: Solar eruption on May 5th, by NASA As discussed in previous commentaries, the solar activity affects the Earth's magnetic field. Some science is starting to emerge that demonstrates a possible connection between solar activity and Earth events like earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, floods and storms. Not only is the Earth's magnetic field affected by the solar activity, so is human health and behavior. Some of the scientific findings are discussed in more detail below. The electrical currents from the sun also affect the human body's magnetic field. The environmental scientist Neil Cherry (2001) reviewed a large number of studies that identified significant physical, biological and health effects that are associated with changes in Solar and Geomagnetic Activity (S-GMA). He suggested that the Schumann Resonances (SR) frequencies that link solar and geomagnetic activity are what link solar activity to the effects on human health and behavior. The SR have ultra low frequency peaks at 7.8Hz, 14, 20, 26, 33, 39, 45, and 51 Hz, which closely overlap with the human brain (also see GCI commentary July 15, 2009, http://glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/commentaries.html). Everything on Earth is driven by cycles. The "circadian rhythm" is a cycle every living being on Earth experiences, which is a roughly 24 hr (daily) cycle (Figure 6). Prof. Franz Halberg of the University of Minnesota and board member of GCI, coined the term circadian and is widely considered the "father of chronobiology". Chronobiology is the science that examines cycles of living organisms as well as their adaption to solar and lunar related rhythms (Patrick at el., 2003). "Chrono" pertains to time, and biology to living organisms. The 24 hr cycle influences biochemical, physiological and behavioral processes. Figure 6: Circadian cycle, from Wikipedia The connection between the daily (circadian) and seasonal cycles and geomagnetic activity. The human body is designed to adapt to daily and seasonal climatic variations. Environmental factors alter the hormone balance of the body, specifically the melatonin/serotonin balance, which affect many physiological functions, e.g. blood pressure, breathing, immune and reproductive systems as well as cardiac and neurological processes. Research by Burch et al. (1996) and Rapoport et al. (1998) gives evidence that the melatonin levels are reduced during increased solar and geomagnetic activity. In rats, seasonal melatonin levels were correlated with the seasonal variations in the Earth's geomagnetic field (Bartsch et al., 1994). Diseases like cancer, neurological disease, acute heart disease and heart attacks are all related to melatonin levels that are too low, as is accelerated aging. In the daily cycle, blood pressure, heart rate, neurological, cardiopulmonary and reproductive functions are affected. Since the fetus has melatonin receptors, an increase in sudden infant death is observed during higher Geomagnetic Activity (GMA). Also, reduced melatonin produces arrhythmic cardiac activity, e.g. cardiac activity dropped in rabbits during a magnetic storm (Chibisov et al., 1995). In addition, clinical measurements have identified significant changes in blood pressure, blood flow, aggregation and coagulation, cardiac arrhythmia and heart rate variability during GMA events; all of these conditions are influenced by melatonin levels. EEG pattern, pulse rate, blood pressure and reaction time were measured in a group of people by Doronin et al., (1998). The authors noted that the oscillations in the Kp index had identical periods in the monitored EEG Alpha-Rhythm. This confirms that whole body changes occur in conjunction with GMA alteration by changing heart and brain patterns. Another study by Pobachenko et al. (2006) monitored the Schumann resonances of the environment and the EEG in a frequency range between 6-16 Hz simultaneously. During a daily cycle, individuals studied showed variations in the EEG similar to changes in the Schumann resonances. Hence, the biological EEG rhythm is characteristic of the daily rhythm of the Schumann resonances. However, some deviations were observed for some individuals, which can be due to the individual's adaptive ability. Due to the global interconnection between solar and geomagnetic activity, the ionospheric waveguide, Schumann resonances and the human brain (EEG) and heart, increased solar activity can disturb the biological rhythm of humans and animals and exacerbate existing diseases. Increased solar activity and GMA is also correlated to a significant increase in heart attacks and incidence of death, myocardial infarction incidence (Villoresi et al., 1998), a 30% to 80% increase in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease (Oraevskii et al, 1998) and cardiovascular death. Neurological Effects correlated to GMA: The brain is a very sensitive electromagnetic organ. The Schumann Resonances appear to interact with the brain, altering the brain waves and neurohormone responses. Geomagnetic storms are strongly related to human health effects and death. Altered EEG rhythms and GMA have been observed by Belov et al. (1998). Strong GMA effects were identified as stressors, while low frequency magnetic oscillations had a sedative effect. A 10 Hz signal stimulates people; while a 3 Hz signal slows them down. Also, memory and attention were correlated to GMA (Tambiev et al., 1995); rats were observed to behave more aggressively during GMA events (St. Pierre and Persinger (1998); GMA and war (Persinger, 1999); crimes and GMA (1-3 days after solar activity). Rajaram and Mitra (1981) found a correlation between patients with seizures in Calcutta and GMA; increase in epileptic experiences during increased GMA; increase in hospitalization for mental disorders, psychiatric admission and suicide; and increase in depression after geomagnetic storm. GMA is also a trigger for migraine attacks. Birth rates were observed to drop and mortality to increase during increased solar and GMA (Zeitseva and Pudovkin, 1995). Cycles related to the solar cycle: Schumann Resonances are closely correlated with the solar cycle, which include the daily, semi-weekly, weekly, 13.5 day and 27-28 day solar rotation, semiannual, annual, 11 year and 22 year cycles (Cornelissen et al., 1998). Dimitrov (1993) found a 7.5 and 11 year cycle in malignant melanoma. Halberg et al. (2009) found more cycles being related to the solar cycle: Terrorism 39 year and ~ 16 month component (solar wind speed and geomagnetism), ~ 7 day rhythms in heart rate, ~1.3 year component in systolic blood pressure and terrorism, ~10 months and 5 months rhythms reflected in sudden cardiac death and cardiac arrhythmia. We can change the course of planetary events. While solar cycle 24 is becoming more active, affecting all beings on Earth, we can decide on how to react to these changes. It is important to remember that the increasing solar activity has a positive affect - it's a time when opportunity and creativity can flourish along with increased individual and collective enlightenment. It's an auspicious opportunity for advancing our intelligence on how to cooperate more harmoniously with each other and with Mother Earth. This can eventually lead to a global consciousness transformation and increasing peace. A few effective co-creative actions we can take through these opportune times would include committing to reducing fear, becoming more responsible for our own energy, and increasing love, care and respect for others and for ourselves. This can do much to restore balance and energetic alignment between Earth and the global community. Many thanks to all who are caring and holding the vision of humanity in the state of joy, love, peace and health and a vision of a vibrant Earth. I would like to end this commentary with a quote by Albert Einstein: "Our task must be to free ourselves - by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." With much love and gratitude, Annette Deyhle, Ph.D. and GCI Research Team 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. -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 02:38:24 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: 21 May 2010 01:38:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Yahoo! News Story - Congress aims to put some discipline in lending - Yahoo! News Message-ID: robert searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.) ------------------------------------------------------------ Personal message: Congress aims to put some discipline in lending - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100521/ap_on_bi_ge/us_financial_overhaul ============================================================ Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/ From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 02:39:56 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 21 May 2010 08:39:56 +0000 Subject: [GJM] Wall Street reform backed by Senate - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 217.12.6.109 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- Wall Street reform backed by Senate http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100521/twl-wall-street-reform-backed-by-senate-41f21e0.html ============================================================ From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 02:57:58 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 04:57:58 -0400 Subject: [GJM] Could Iceland's Volcano Slow Global Warming? - Science and Tech - The Atlantic Message-ID: <1161248868.3642447.1274432278606.JavaMail.brainiac@v0104-08.clearspring.local> I was informed by an "expert" that volcanoes only increase the process of global warming.... Who, or what "expert" is telling the truth? http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/04/could-icelands-volcano-slow-global-warming/39066/ --- This message was sent by dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk via http://addthis.com. Please note that AddThis does not verify email addresses. Make sharing easier with the AddThis Toolbar: http://www.addthis.com/go/toolbar-em From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 05:52:14 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 11:52:14 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] City fears of "Great Depression MarkII " Message-ID: <475074.36145.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Tell us what you think about the new Finance News page. City fears of 'Great Depression Mark II' Buzz up! 59 Print Companies: Royal Bank Of Scotland DJ INDUSTR AVERAGE DAX Topics: Europe Economic news Bonds Related Quotes Symbol Price Change RBS.L 42.66 -2.16 ^DJI 10,068.01 -376.36 ^GDAXI 5,714.74 -153.14 {"s" : "RBS.L,^DJI,^GDAXI","k" : "c10,l10,p20,t10","o" : "","j" : ""} Edmund Conway, 0:14, Friday 21 May 2010 Leading City experts have started raising the prospect of "Great Depression II" amid worries that the European economic crisis could trigger a deeper bout of chaos. Markets on both sides of the Atlantic dipped to fresh lows as fears surrounding the fate of the euro project transmuted into worries about the wider global economic system. Bill Gross of bond fund Pimco said that hedge funds were starting to liquidate their positions in a bid to preserve their capital a worrying "mini relapse" towards 2008 territory. Andrew Roberts, head of European rates strategy at RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) , said "Great Depression II" could now be approaching, adding: "It now has potential to speed toward its conclusion; a European $1trn package which does little and political panic tells you we are about to reach the end of the road. The world should be discussing deflation, not inflation." The -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 05:58:39 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 11:58:39 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Crunch time for debt-riddle Europe............ Message-ID: <728879.17730.qm@web27401.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Crunch time for debt-riddled Europe Buzz up! 0 Print Topics: Europe Currencies Bonds Roddy Thomson, 10:24, Friday 21 May 2010 Crisis-hit European finance ministers lock horns on Friday under pressure from Germany to fix tough new cross-border budget controls. After the biggest drop in more than a year on Wall Street triggered fresh turmoil in Asian markets on Friday, the talks starting at 2:00pm (1200 GMT) come on the day the German parliament is to approve its share of a near trillion-dollar eurozone bailout. Summoned by European Union president Herman Van Rompuy, the ministers are to come up with workable ideas to ensure the 27 national governments take greater shared responsibility for the EU's combined economy, the world's biggest trading bloc. Some market analysts have speculated that failure to crack down adequately could break up the 16-nation eurozone. Economic tensions are already high despite French President Nicolas Sarkozy moving on Thursday to deny a rift with Germany. In Berlin, the tone remained sharp with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defending a unilateral move to curb speculative trading by saying: "If you want to drain a swamp, you don't ask the frogs what they think of the situation." "The markets are a whole mess of uncertainty and fear right now," said Joshua Raymond of City Index in London. "It is hardly surprising that investors are fleeing risky assets everywhere and this means heavy weakness for stocks, sterling and the euro." International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said there was no risk of the eurozone splintering but warned the crisis could cost Europe its credibility. "The whole world is watching this... and is losing confidence in Europe," he told French television late Thursday. With the sovereign debt crisis threatening to unleash global economic chaos the way the banking crisis did in 2008, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will visit Britain and Germany next week for emergency talks. In America, the most sweeping overhaul of financial industry rules since the Great Depression of the 1930s is already under way with President -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 06:00:13 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 12:00:13 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] The Venus Project newsletter In-Reply-To: <6ac4ef5aacd05271187467ddab79ff32@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: <535982.56177.qm@web27407.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Thu, 20/5/10, admin wrote: From: admin Subject: The Venus Project newsletter To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Date: Thursday, 20 May, 2010, 23:01 Greetings From The Venus Project May 17, 2010 The Venus Project appreciates your ongoing support and there are several exciting things to announce. Please take a moment to check out our current and forthcoming activities. We would like to thank Guy Villeneuve who has been working on The Venus Project Network site. Please take a look: http://www.thevenusprojectnetwork.com/ Also check out our new YouTube media channel that Joel Holt has been organizing and contributing to: http://www.youtube.com/thevenusprojectmedia We invite you to follow the progress of The Venus Project World Lecture Tour 2010 with Jacque and Roxanne. View videos put together by Luke Wonderly and Christoper Madden and read comments by Roxanne Meadows. Roxanne and others at various locations supply the photos. These can be found on our blog: http://www.thevenusproject.com/blog/ -- If you do not want to receive any more newsletters, http://www.thevenusproject.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=307a4fe28c855f558de3de9db03f53b0 To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit http://www.thevenusproject.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=307a4fe28c855f558de3de9db03f53b0 Forward a Message to Someone http://www.thevenusproject.com/lists/?p=forward&uid=307a4fe28c855f558de3de9db03f53b0&mid=21 -- Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Fri May 21 06:31:39 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (Robert Searle) Date: 21 May 2010 12:31:39 +0000 Subject: [GJM] Scientists create first ' synthetic' life - Yahoo! News UK Message-ID: Robert Searle (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) has sent you a news article X-Originating-IP: 77.238.190.43 -------------------- Personal message text: -------------------- Scientists create first 'synthetic' life http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100520/twl-scientists-create-first-synthetic-li-41f21e0.html ============================================================ From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 21 14:24:33 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 13:24:33 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Bruce Lipton - Free Replay on Healing with the Masters Message-ID: <00aa01caf923$de516bd0$9af44370$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS For your information and use. From: Spiritcrossing [mailto:info at spiritcrossing.com] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 12:15 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Bruce Lipton - Free Replay on Healing with the Masters Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. newsletter header + title Hello Friends, Bruce Lipton had a great interview with Jennifer McLean yesterday on "Healing with the Masters". I hope you were able to listen live, but if you missed it, Jennifer makes the replay available absolutely free for 48 hours after the event. To listen to the free replay, all you need to do is register at "Healing with the Masters" using the link below: http://www.healingwiththemasters.com/Spirit2000 Love and Light, Doug separator Design:Onegraphic. 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 by iContact - Try It Free! To be removed click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 21 19:40:44 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 18:40:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Kucinich on the oil spill Message-ID: <00c901caf950$09e98800$1dbc9800$@net> Friends, I am in absolute overwhelm right now, so just forwarding and commenting on what I can. Thanks Lorin for this one. From: Lorin Kiely [mailto:topdownyoga at gmail.com] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 5:17 PM Subject: Kucinich on the oil spill http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0521/firedup-kucinich-reducing-earth-smoking-glo wing-oily-mess/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 22 00:22:21 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 23:22:21 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: 5 Keys to Success from ScottHSilverman.com Message-ID: <00eb01caf977$6224e510$266eaf30$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Folks, there is a new man in my life and I want to introduce some of his thoughts for your consideration, and, as well as tell you a little about him. A few years ago, Scott was so depressed he was ready to jump out of a 44th floor window. Today he has a best-selling book out and is one of the most respected men in San Diego. Why? Because he is taking on a job no one else wants to do. And he's really doing a good job of it. He gives people fresh out of prison and jail and gives them a Second Chance. Now let me tell you why this is so important. The State of California is about to release 40,000 non-violent prisoners from the horrendously overcrowded prisons that have grown out of all proportions into places which in Scott's words: ". . .teach people how to be better criminals." Donovan State prison here in San Diego was built to house 2200 prisoners and now has about 4770 prisoners in it. Many of these prisoners are associated with the deadly L.A. gangs which have moved down into this area in order to participate in the very lucrative drug trade that is coming across the Border as the poor people in Mexico, with no way to make a living there, struggle to cross into the U.S in order to find work to keep food in mouth and roof over head. While some of them make their way alone, or rely on friends or family to guide them, most of them pay a "Coyote" to guide them to the Border and see them safely across. But the Coyote needs to be paid for his work. And in order for poor people to be able to pay their way they agree to carry several thousand dollars worth of drugs per person across. And then the Coyote sells these drugs to members of the L.A. gangs who are waiting on this side to purchase them and then transport them into other areas of the U.S. However, I suspect that some of the gang members are also operating on the other side of the Border as well. But not all of these Coyotes or gang members get across without getting caught by the Border Patrol, nor do those who carry the drugs. So, they end up in prison. On the first of February of this year, Radio Station KFMB went into the Donovan State Prison here in San Diego and interviewed some of the personnel working there. What they learned is that there are about 8 different gangs represented in the prison and they have literally taken it over. As new inmates come in, they are forced under the threat of death by gang members to choose which gang they will join and serve when they are released. So the State now has its hands full, trying to protect not only the citizens of the State on the outside, but now trying to protect prisoners within the system who do not want to be associated with gangs and drugs from being killed. Meanwhile back at the ranch, we have these 40,000 prisoners being released into a society that already has an astronomical jobless rate. So, while Scott Silverman heretofore has been able to help releasees find jobs when they got out, this is no longer going to be the case. And, I don't think any of us has to be the class valedictorian to recognize that when these forty thousand former prisoners can't find jobs, but realize that a lucrative drug trade is going on right under their nose, what do you suppose they are going to do? Right, they are going to begin using drugs and getting others hooked on them in order to sell them so they can eat and keep a roof over their head. Now, with the population of the U.S. already consuming 40% of all the illegal drugs produced in the world with only 0.05% of the population, we have one hell'uva problem already. And then, we have doctors prescribing illegal pharmaceutical drugs that companies are being fined right and left for marketing, and the charts just go off the wall with substance abuse. But, we not only have substance abuse, we have people who are mentally ill who have been picked up off the streets and thrown in jail or prison with no screening to determine if they are sane or not. And, some of these people are going to be released as well. So, what to do? Well, we need a plan. And, I've been thinking on this for a long while now and here is what I have come up with. First of all, the prisons are going to have a problem getting food in for the prisoners once the price of gas goes up to $3.50 or more. So the prisons are going to have to begin growing their own food using prison labor to do so. And, I've watched some videos on this and have seen the turnaround in inmates who participated in setting up gardens and tending them. They begin to feel pride in themselves that they are able to do something useful. And the prisons and jails that have already done this, not only feed themselves, but as well are able to donate food to homeless shelters where it is beginning to be tough to find enough food to feed those who desperately need it. Now step 2 in this is that inmates who are participating in the gardening, are not only learning gardening skills but they begin to learn about nutrition and how to eat to maintain a healthy brain heart coherence pattern. So, let's get out the "Shovel It - Mother Nature's Health Plan" and "Gardening for the Future of the Earth" books and let these inmates set up their own library, and establish a learning program for themselves on how to do this. Let's encourage them to learn also how to do "edible landscaping" so they are not only raising healthy food for themselves, but are at the same time reconnecting back to the Earth they have become so dissociated from, so they are ready to think about beauty and combining flowers and berries and edible fruit trees in with the mix. Now these guys and gals are becoming "artists" and beginning to think as to how the colors flow and come together in patterns that delight the eye. They begin to see what flowers attract the humming birds and the bees. So, now we bring in a few bird baths and feeders along with some bee hives. And now we have bees making honey. And with bird feeders and baths, all kinds of birds are now attracted to the area. We are now moving out of the concrete jungle and back into a natural environment. There is already a group of Buddhist Monks at Donavan State Prison teaching meditation, so now the inmates have a place of beauty within which to meditate and they are also learning yoga. And maybe the next step is to let them begin to plan their own menus so they are learning how to choose the most nutritious foods to eat and to plan for balanced meals. Let's get Dr. Bruce Lipton's CD's in here and begin to show these inmates how their bodies work biologically. Let's also get Dr. Carla Hannaford involved in this, and get her book: "Smart Moves - Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head" in here for these guys and gals to read because it is so well illustrated and goes into how certain movements affect learning. It is well known that many babies who did not get through the crawling period sufficiently, later in life were unable to learn how to read. And another well known fact is those who cannot read and are unable to assimilate into the social system because they lack certain skills, e.g., ability to use teller machines, take a written driver's test, etc. with which to maintain themselves in our modern society, are those who most frequently wind up in prison. The number of people who are unable to read here in San Diego County is 450,000. I just flipped open Hannaford's book and she writes on "Basics for Brain Nutrition," "Basics for the Brain: Water and Oxygen," "The Vestibular System and Learning Disorder," "The Affect of Stress on Learning," and "Drugs and Hyperactivity" in the book among other important things. Her book: "The Dominance Factor" is also vital for understanding the workings of the human body/energy system and how we achieve the "holographic mind/body configuration" in which we become all-knowing and all-seeing beings. We also need to bring in someone with the ability to demonstrate "Brain Gym" which are the movements associated with learning. And, let's bring in the music, Constance Demby's especially along with Phil Crosby's, and let's get it playing throughout the jails and prisons so that the notes are coaxing the body's coherence pattern back into its natural order. Let's make drums out of plastic water bottles and begin drumming circles so we are getting everyone's hearts beating as one. Energy expresses itself as light and sound, so let's get some soft soothing colors inside of the prison and jail walls. Aromatherapy also affects the body's coherence pattern, so let us have pleasant aromas wafting throughout. I got in someone's car the other day and the smell of vanilla hanging from an ornament on the rearview mirror was so relaxing. Let's help these people learn Psych-K, Holodynamics, EFT, Acupressure, HeartMath and other modalities which quickly aid in relieving stress through learning how to manage one's emotions. And, after they are out of prison/jail let us also aid them in learning Qigong which is a healing modality so they are, through this practice, establishing a pattern that will serve to balance their chi for the rest of their life while serving also as a daily exercise program. As I wrote and told some friends the other day, the Chinese developed and perfected this over a period of several thousand years, so why are we now trying to reinvent the wheel in this respect by designing new exercise programs here in the West. In fact, there is a video out on Qigong made by a Chinese doctor demonstrating how much can be saved in health care costs by practitioners of this modality when used as a preventive measure. Now we also need to replicate this program for rehabilitation centers used by the County to deal with those who have problems with substance abuse. But there is also another step here that must be implemented. We need to develop screening programs to determine who among those being referred for treatment suffer from a mental illness, e.g., bipolar disorder, ADD, ADHD, schizophrenia and/or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. As we have learned, we need to find out how many people may have suffered from a blow to the head, and how many might have brain damage from having been delivered as a baby by forcepts. Then we need to get these people SPECT scans to determine if the brain has been damaged. We need screening tests for those who may be suffering from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ADD. And we need to then get those who qualify for it on nutritional supplements. And the reason for the supplements, rather than just using good nutrition practices in eating is that (as I understand it from www.TrueHope.com) some nutrients may be lacking in the overall diet which prevent other nutrients from being assimilated into the body. And nutritional supplements like EMPowerPlus are formulated in such a way as to assure that all the nutrients needed are in the supplement. I have just finished reading six books on bipolar disorder and it appears that the best overall treatment for this disorder is nutritional supplementation coupled with cognitive behavior therapy which aids the individual in managing his or her emotions. In my research, I have also found Qigong recommended to be an excellent modality of healing for those who suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. The next step in this process then is to train many of those who have been turned around by this natural healing process in how to go out into the community and get this information into communities everywhere. We can facilitate this through the Community Learning and Information/Wellness Centers that are going to form the basis for the Future Dawning Enterprises Network which will serve to disseminate all kinds of information, not just that pertaining to mental illness and substance abuse. And we particularly need to train those who have "been there and done that" in aiding others in changing their behavior pattern from one of chaos to one of coherence. So, as they come out of prison or jail or rehab, former inmates can find and easily link into a support system designed give them a Second Chance. In this way, we can begin to strengthen the immune system of our communities and protect ourselves from further abuse by rehabilitating those 40,000 individuals who are going to be released and may be a dire threat to our communities if we do not take strong natural measures to protect ourselves. And rather than Future Dawning Enterprises going out and developing a whole new program to address these needs, it seems best to link up with Scott Silverman and aid him in further developing the Second Chance program. And, now here is Scott with a few words on: The 5 Keys From "Tell Me No. I Dare You!" which led him to success. And I am not going to say "NO" to this man. With love and in gratitude to all for all that we do together. MaryRose From: ScottHSilverman.com To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: 5 Keys to Success from ScottHSilverman.com ScottHSilverman.com Welcome to ScottHSilverman.com Dear Mary, Thank you for ordering "The 5 Keys to Success" These are the keys that I use to live a yes centered life and which I write about in my book, "Tell Me No. I Dare You!" I believe we each have the capability and potential to be heroic regardless if it is in our own family, our community or in the world. I also believe that many people have lost that belief or never even formed it. I encourage you to use the 5 keys daily in all parts of your life and then let me know what happens. Write to me at scott at scotthsilverman.com We have each been given this life to live fully and to live from a place of yes not no. Join me and begin today as we say, "Tell Me No. I Dare You!" Thank You, Scott H. Silverman The 5 Keys From "Tell Me No. I Dare You!" Scott pic 1. Know Your Yes. This may sound simplistic yet I have met thousands of people who are uncertain of what their personal yes is. They fall for anything because they stand for nothing. Find what it is that is your passion, your deep inner desire and then own it. Write it down. Tell others. Let it become what guides you. To find this inner yes you must ask yourself what it is for you. No one can tell you. Others may assist you, coach you, or give good advice but at the end of the day it is your yes. Practice by asking yourself as you wake first thing in the morning, "What is my gut telling me is in my highest today?" You can even ask the question before you get out of bed, "What is my yes today? What can I do today to stay in alignment with yes?" Then just write it down and take it with you. ACTION FOR KEY #1: Take an afternoon, go to a park and allow yourself time to ask what it is you truly want, what it is that you feel positive about in life, and how you want your life to look. Who do you want to be in your life? Write it down so you will remember. Stay with this. 2. Commitment Once you have your particular yes pledge to yourself that what you are after is worth the work, worth the determination. To commit means there is only the yes you have decided on, there is not going to be a time of giving up, calling it quits, or walking away. Commitment takes courage. Commitment takes heroism. Do you have the courage? I know you do. If I did it, you can too. This is a vital key. If you find your yes and do not commit to that yes, it will weaken, lose strength and eventually disappear. I believe our yes never goes away but I also know from experience that it can be pretty darn hard to find, if we give up on it. Commitment is not a one-time saying "I do" type of action. It can be a moment-by-moment decision, as the part of us that would like to slide backwards shouts, "Who cares, who will know, everybody does it, and who will it really hurt?" That is when the hero inside of you can say, "I care, I will know, I don't do it, and it will hurt me!" Stand firm. Do not settle. This is your life, commit to a life centered in yes. ACTION FOR KEY #2: Begin in a small way today. Find one item that is your yes for today. Is it exercise? Is it finishing your taxes? Is it getting the cable guy to service your account? Pick something that can be handled in one day and commit to accomplishing it. Do not wimp out on this important step. Pick a yes that you know can be tough for you and no matter what see that goal completed by the end of the day. Be careful, if you put it off you may find yourself at the gym at midnight. Now begin picking one something daily to commit to and as you do this action make a vow to yourself that you will begin to use your commitment muscle to bring forth your yes. 3. Ability to be Uncomfortable Debbie Ford says that the biggest enemy of great is good. I could not agree more. What may seem like a nice comfy, no hassles, life could actually be what is keeping you from success! The true secret in this, is that what we believe is comfortable, easy, no hassles is actually deadening. There was a time that my main focus was what would make happy right now. What could I use, drink, or do that would give me gratification and take away discomfort right now. What I was really wanting was a way to numb what did not feel good. Don't get me wrong, I do not advocate pain, not at all! I advocate living, living with purpose, living with passion, living with growth. It is not always comfortable. It is always worth it. ACTION FOR KEY#3: What is uncomfortable for you? Is it speaking in front of a group? Join Toastmasters. Dislike confrontation? Take a class in assertiveness or get a coach. Hate waiting? Practice sitting and breathing while you wait. The key is not necessarily being uncomfortable, the key is facing the discomfort, taking it on and overcoming it! 4. Take the Time I tell the clients I work with at Second Chance, "You take the time or do the time." To be successful in whatever you do takes time. It may mean you take the time to wait on the phone to get to the person who will give you the refund you deserve, or it may mean that you take the year needed to complete your degree. It may also mean that you take the walk with your seven year old instead of golfing. I have no idea what it looks like for you. I do know that a yes centered life takes time. We are each given a limited amount of time. How we spend it is up to us. What I know is that there is no possible way to get the time back that got wasted, no way to somehow redeem it. What is gone is gone. What will you do with the 24/7 you have been given? ACTION FOR KEY #4: Look at what your yes is. Have you committed to your yes? Are you willing to be uncomfortable for awhile? If you have answered yes to these questions you are now ready for this action. If you are uncertain, go back and review the first three keys. Never spend your limited resource on something you are uncertain about. Once you are certain, get a time sheet out and decide how much time you will give to your yes today, tomorrow, and next week. Be sure you have the time or do not plan it. Always do what you promise yourself to do. Keep your promise to yourself. Now write down what you will do and how much time you will devote. Perhaps it is only 5 minutes today but if you let go of one reality show or got up a little earlier, you could bump it up to 30 minutes. Now commit to this time. 5. There is Always a Way. Do you believe this? If you do not believe this you have not read my book. Read my book. There is always a way. Always. Our brains are habitual machines and they resist change. What is amazing is that if you have a yes, are 100% committed to that yes, are willing to be uncomfortable as you learn and have decided it is worth the time, your brain begins to give up the resistance and begins to assist. Ideas are limitless. We are beings blessed with creativity and imagination. There is always a way. If you tell yourself, "There is no way." you are right. If you tell yourself, "There is always a way." there is. ACTION FOR KEY #5: What is stopping you from going to your next level? What is it that you are failing at or not getting the results you are after? Got it? Great. Get a pen and paper or better yet a small recording device. Put on some quiet music and ask yourself, "What is the answer here? What could I do? Who could lend a hand? What is a better answer?" Now just start writing a list of whatever comes to mind. Just write. Do not judge it. Let your brain be creative, imaginative. You can judge it later. If you are lucky enough to have a tape recorder just start talking it out loud. You will be amazed at what you come up with. This is an excellent exercise to do with a very trusted partner or friend. These are not the Keys to The Kingdom but they could be the keys to a new way of life for you and your family, perhaps the world. They are the keys I have used and continue to use to enrich my life, to bring life and hope to the hopeless, and to just have more fun. Please send me your results, your questions or your ideas.We are forming a community of yes players. Come play with us! Scott Scott Silverman ScottHSilverman.com 619-993-2738 Join Our Mailing List Forward email Safe Unsubscribe This email was sent to maryrose333 at att.net by mwinicki at secondchanceprogram.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe T | Privacy Policy . Email Marketing by ScottHSilverman.com | 1971 Bahia Way | La Jolla | CA | 92037 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 22 02:51:35 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 08:51:35 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: 12 Days To Go - Program Updated! Message-ID: <81517.8962.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Fri, 21/5/10, The Buckminster Fuller Institute wrote: From: The Buckminster Fuller Institute Subject: 12 Days To Go - Program Updated! To: "dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk" Date: Friday, 21 May, 2010, 23:47 #yiv2093267564 { background-color:#fff;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, Sans;font-size:1.3em;line-height:1.5em; } #yiv2093267564 table.main { background-color:#fff;font-size:70%;} #yiv2093267564 td { border:none;border-bottom:1px dotted #336600;padding:10px;margin-bottom:5px;margin-top:5px;} #yiv2093267564 td.first { border:none;border-bottom:1px dotted #336600;padding:0px;} #yiv2093267564 h2 { color:#808080;} The Buckminster Fuller Institute invites you to attend The 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Conferring Ceremony On Wednesday June 2nd, we will announce the winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, at The National Press Club at 12 p.m. The Challenge is the world's only large prize program rewarding integrated, whole-systems approaches to solving the world?s sustainability crises. The winner will receive a $100,000 prize to support the development and implementation of their strategy to solve humanity's complex and entrenched problems. All six finalists have submitted game changing strategies addressing issues from range land management to urban farming, and will be present for the ceremony. This includes: - Ellen Fish from India's Barefoot College - Stacy Murphy of Brooklyn's BK Farmyards - Martin Felson + Sarah Dunn of Chicago's Eco-Boulevards - Jason McLellan from Seattle's Living Building Challenge - Allan Savory from the African Center for Holistic Management - Martin Buchholz from Berlin-based Watergy Greenhouse Members of the distinguished 2010 jury attending include Hilary Brown, Ryan Chin, Susan Szenasy, Hardin Tibbs and Jose Zaglul. Members of the Board of Directors of The Buckminster Fuller Institute, Fuller's family, other dignitaries and special guests will also be in attendance. The conferring ceremony will be followed immediately by a reception. This event is free and open to the public and is part of a two-day convergence culminating with opening night of the critically acclaimed one-man show R. Buckminster Fuller : The History (and Mystery) of the Universe at the renowned Arena Stage Theatre. RSVP required by June 1st: rsvp at bfi.org *Click here for the latest program updates* This email is sent from: The Buckminster Fuller Institute 181 N11th St, Suite 402 Brooklyn, NY 11211 United StatesTo never receive email from The Buckminster Fuller Institute, send email to this address. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 22 11:00:16 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 10:00:16 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Article: Collapse, Transition, Great Turning: Why Words Matter by Carolyn Baker. Message-ID: <008901caf9d0$7e7ac7d0$7b705770$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS I just forwarded a link from Carolyn Baker to Facebook, and as well am sending it to all of you. I consider Carolyn to be one of the foremost authors/historians on the Shift that humanity is undergoing today. And feel honored that she is sending her articles to Future Dawning for further distribution. May we all benefit from her knowledge and wisdom. With love and in gratitude, Carolyn. m r ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carolyn Baker Date: Fri, May 21, 2010 at 1:54 PM Subject: Submission Hi Mary Rose, I've just posted entitled "Collapse, Transition, Great Turning: Why Words Matter" at: http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1661/1/ Here's an excerpt: As the work I do circulates around the nation and the world, I frequently encounter resistance to the use of the word "collapse" to describe the unprecedented changes that humans and the earth community is now experiencing. Many people insist that we should focus only on "Transition" and the "Great Turning" because these words make more bearable and palatable the challenges of present and future time. The word collapse, they argue, should be ditched. I disagree and feel adamant about using the term for a number of reasons. In the first place, I am an historian, and as I endeavor to make sense of human history, I notice that monumental changes do not occur in one fell swoop, but over time through a variety of stages. Personally, I am deeply involved in the Transition movement, and I am also strongly aligned philosophically with individuals such as Joanna Macy and David Korten who frequently use the words Great Turning. I could not agree more that in the larger scheme of the unprecedented changes we are navigating, a Great Turning is indeed occurring. However, I believe that it is crucial to hold both the larger picture and the current predicament in our consciousness simultaneously in order to remain effectively present in this moment, as well as in a state of preparation and anticipation for a more redemptive future. I hope you will want to post or link. Thanks, Carolyn -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 22 11:30:02 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 10:30:02 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Inexpensive Water Bidet - Save Toilet Paper Message-ID: <008e01caf9d4$9e78a490$db69edb0$@net> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KKRCFA?gclid=CJPOmpGe5qECFR5V5wodoT-3Lw I have long been concerned with regard to the inevitable disappearance of toilet tissue when energy price increases will make it unaffordable to manufacture and transport it and other paper products to point of sale outlets. Here is a relatively low-priced solution for people who live in areas that are not deficient in water supplies. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 22 17:50:58 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 16:50:58 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Response to "collapse" by Constance Demby Message-ID: <00d701cafa09$deba9560$9c2fc020$@net> Constance, thanks for your input . . . You are right about Greece, and some people are conjecturing that the collapse could come as early as July. I do feel it imperative that we begin stocking up on food supplies now. From: Constance Demby [mailto:cdemby at constancedemby.com] Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:17 AM To: mary rose Subject: Re: Article: Collapse, Transition, Great Turning: Why Words Matter by Carolyn Baker. I think I forwarded you the info from one of our top "seers" Mark Krueger... www.in2light.com He has pretty clear vision as to the immediate and longview future and his take on it was, total financial collapse of the system in October of this year watching the stock market lately, the people of earth will have to get used to the fact that what happens somewhere else, like Greece or Europe, inevitably affects us all, because in the long view, we are all one Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS I just forwarded a link from Carolyn Baker to Facebook, and as well am sending it to all of you. I consider Carolyn to be one of the foremost authors/historians on the Shift that humanity is undergoing today. And feel honored that she is sending her articles to Future Dawning for further distribution. May we all benefit from her knowledge and wisdom. With love and in gratitude, Carolyn. m r ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carolyn Baker Date: Fri, May 21, 2010 at 1:54 PM Subject: Submission Hi Mary Rose, I've just posted entitled "Collapse, Transition, Great Turning: Why Words Matter" at: http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1661/1/ Here's an excerpt: As the work I do circulates around the nation and the world, I frequently encounter resistance to the use of the word "collapse" to describe the unprecedented changes that humans and the earth community is now experiencing. Many people insist that we should focus only on "Transition" and the "Great Turning" because these words make more bearable and palatable the challenges of present and future time. The word collapse, they argue, should be ditched. I disagree and feel adamant about using the term for a number of reasons. In the first place, I am an historian, and as I endeavor to make sense of human history, I notice that monumental changes do not occur in one fell swoop, but over time through a variety of stages. Personally, I am deeply involved in the Transition movement, and I am also strongly aligned philosophically with individuals such as Joanna Macy and David Korten who frequently use the words Great Turning. I could not agree more that in the larger scheme of the unprecedented changes we are navigating, a Great Turning is indeed occurring. However, I believe that it is crucial to hold both the larger picture and the current predicament in our consciousness simultaneously in order to remain effectively present in this moment, as well as in a state of preparation and anticipation for a more redemptive future. I hope you will want to post or link. Thanks, Carolyn -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 22 17:54:24 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 16:54:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] A Major Crash Lies Right Around The Bend Message-ID: <00dc01cafa0a$53e7af30$fbb70d90$@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, May 22, 2010 2:15 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] A Major Crash Lies Right Around The Bend [note: while some writers reflect my own views more or less, some do not necessarily but need to be seen when trends or points of view are promotedd by a growing crowd of writers and analysts.] A Major Crash Lies Right Around The Bend By Guy R. McPherson 22 May, 2010 http://www.countercurrents.org/mcpherson220510.htm If you're indebted to the federal government and its evil twin the industrial economy for your financial well-being or, like most Americans, for your very survival, the coming storm will not resemble a monsoon so much as a hurricane-style downspout. And of course it will come as a total surprise to the typical neoclassical economist, who has declared the recession over (and hasn't recognized that the recession has been replaced with an ongoing depression that will be replaced by complete economic collapse). The industrial economy is circling the drain, and a hard rain is on the way. I've been writing about the ongoing collapse for a few years, and have developed a comprehensive set of arrangements to deal with its ultimate endpoint. At first, I was deemed insane. Then fringe. Suddenly, collapse has gone mainstream. I'm not such a whack job after all, if recent news is any indication. This post provides a brief and partial overview of the dire straits facing the industrial economy age. Let's start with the housing market, on which the U.S. economy depends for economic growth. The last time the housing bubble popped, it rocked our suburban world. So the federal government blew up the bubble again, and it just might bring down the entire industrial economy when it pops anew. Then there's sovereign debt. Currently, Greece is the primary concern of most economists. That alone should tell you the irrelevance of Greece. The entire Eurozone teeters on the brink, with Greece being one of the few countries of such minor economic significance that it can be bailed out. Japan - the world's second largest economy - could easily be next in line. And Greece's debt to GDP ratio is downright tiny compared to that of the U.S. (112% vs. 421%, respectively), suggesting that the U.S. economy could take the Grecian route in the blink of an eye. The only difference between Greece and the U.S. is a printing press, and that alone cannot keep the U.S. from following Greece's lead. Add to the world economic woes that 49 of 50 U.S. states are underwater, which hardly bodes well for entities that cannot go deeper into debt by printing money to kick the can down the road. The end of fiat currency looms large. The American stock markets are about to go over the edge. A major crash lies right around the bend, as the entire industrial world is hitting the wall. The government stimulus is about used up, and China is ridding itself of fiat currencies and opting for gold instead (a move that could destroy the world's industrial economy all by itself). Four big banks rule the American financial world and they keep getting bigger, but I doubt they can keep the show going much longer, even though they can essentially print their own money today (they borrow from the U.S. government at zero interest, and loan it back at three percent or more). In short, the panic is on. The collapse of industrial society is imminent. Even Ben Bernanke is getting scared as the ultimate Ponzi scheme nears its end. Among the more important issues we face: The industrialized world cannot live without deepwater oil, and the living planet cannot live with deepwater oil and its side-effects. This seems like a no-brainer to me, and the White House is covering up the extent of the gusher, but few people agree that the living planet on which we depend for our own survival should be a high priority. I'm a big fan of hastening the empire's decline, if only for the selfish reason of saving our species. Call me silly. But I think we're on the verge of killing the beast. How do industrial humans survive the coming storm? Or do we? From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sun May 23 02:53:35 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 08:53:35 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: BFI Newsletter V.11 No.5 (Now TRIMTAB!) Message-ID: <230484.52604.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 22/5/10, The Buckminster Fuller Institute wrote: From: The Buckminster Fuller Institute Subject: BFI Newsletter V.11 No.5 (Now TRIMTAB!) To: "Robert Searle" Date: Saturday, 22 May, 2010, 19:57 HTML Body of Header #yiv1557819066 { margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#ffffff;} #yiv1557819066 a img { border:none;} #yiv1557819066 td.permission { padding:20px 0 20px 0;} #yiv1557819066 td.permission p { font-family:Arial;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.permission p a { font-family:Arial;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;color:#6C723A;} #yiv1557819066 td.header h1 { font-family:Century, serif;font-size:55px;font-weight:bold;color:#ffffff;margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.side table { margin:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar { background-color:#ffffff;padding:0 17px 0 16px;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar h3 { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;margin:0 0 10px 0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar h3.left { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;text-align:left;text-transform:uppercase;margin:0 0 10px 0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar h4 { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;color:#6C723A;text-align:left;margin:0 0 4px 0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar h4 a { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;text-align:left;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar h5 { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;text-align:left;margin:0 0 4px 0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar ul { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;margin:0 0 10px 0;padding:0;list-style-type:none;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar ul li { padding:0 0 10px 0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar ul li a { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;text-decoration:none;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar p { font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;margin:0 0 16px 0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.sidebar img.button { display:block;text-align:center;padding:0 0 4px 0;} #yiv1557819066 table.post { background-repeat:repeat-x;background-position:bottom left;background-color:#FFFFFF;} #yiv1557819066 td.title { background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:2px 10px 4px 10px;} #yiv1557819066 td.title h2 { font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.title h2 a { font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;text-decoration:none;} #yiv1557819066 td.body p { font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;margin:0;padding:0 0 10px 0;} #yiv1557819066 td.body p a { font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;} #yiv1557819066 td.body p.top { margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv1557819066 td.body p.top a { font-family:Tahoma;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;color:#6C723A;} #yiv1557819066 td.body img { padding:0 0 10px 0;} #yiv1557819066 td.body img.inline { padding:0 10px 0 0;} #yiv1557819066 td.bottom { height:4px;background-color:#FFFFFF;} #yiv1557819066 td.footer { font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;padding:10px 0 0 0;} ? Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser. *Welcome to our re-designed e-newsletter TRIMTAB, formerly entitled Design Science News. The new layout was designed in conjunction with a redesign of our website (see story below). We hope you enjoy the new look!* BFI Updates 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Winner Announced on June 2nd! National Press Club in Washington D.C. June 2nd at 12 pm. Full Schedule here! BFI Launches New Website! Many thanks to David Walczyk, Cedomir Kovacev and Ann Morris for their tremendous work. New site here. Guest Post on Challenge Blog Jason F. McLennan guest blogs about The Living Building Challenge, a finalist in the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Read here. BFC winners at the Cooper-Hewitt 2008 Challenge winner John Todd and 2009 winner MIT's Smart Cities Group are featured in the National Design Triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. ? Trends and Perspectives 1st U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Approved NYTimes article & Interview with BFI board member Greg Watson The Other Inconvenient Truth As the international community focuses on climate change as the great crisis of our era, it is ignoring another looming problem: the global crisis in land use. Seed Magazine. Sunny Memories On display now at the Center for Architecture, NY. Fast Company article here. ? Resources BFC Juror Hardin Tibbs on BBC Radio If Buckminster Fuller really was the 20th Century's answer to Leonardo da Vinci, then why is he so little known about today? Listen to the episode here. Thriving Beyond Sustainability 'Andres Edwards is a walking database of information on efforts to create sustainable socieites, and his enthusiasm for the promise of sustainability is infectious.' ? Events 2012: Time For Change at Greenfest May 22nd, Chicago GreenFest. Screening and panel featuring filmmaker Joao Amorim and BFI director Elizabeth Thompson. Film info here. Revisit Bucky: Exploring Synergetics Join SNEC June 11-13th in Washington D.C. for this exciting workshop and symposium featuring keynote speaker Amy Edmondson. More info here. R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of The Universe The much anticipated opening May 28th at Arena Stage in Crystal City. Info here. Bucky Art in Crystal City A temporary, outdoor art exhibit that pays homage to Fuller and the Geodesic dome. On display now! Info here. ? Vol. 11 No. 5 Featured Store Item Written in the 1980's in allegorical form, this serious satire about the rise of multi-national corporations, capitalistic selfishness and the technological revolution emphasizes that our present economic system, and the theories on which it is based are no longer useful because of its false assumption of scarcity. A prophetic writting with the current global financial crisis! Purchase here >From the Idea Index Resources 2010 Semi-Finalist Re-Sources: Saving Living Systems: a replicable, multi-disciplinary, integrated-systems project addressing ecological degradation and cultural genocide. Phase one is the rich, undocumented water culture in the Tibetan areas of Western Sichuan. With grassroots, collaborative strategies, we will use the roots of this culture to teach sustainable practices for economic survival. Support BFI Your donation makes this newsletter and all of the other great work of the Institute possible! This email is sent from: The Buckminster Fuller Institute 181 N11th St, Suite 402 Brooklyn, NY 11211 United Statesp 718 290 9280 | f 718 290 9281 | bfi.org | contact To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send email to this address. To never receive email from The Buckminster Fuller Institute, send email to this address. HTML Body of Footer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 23 22:05:41 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:05:41 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: this is only the beginning Message-ID: <006b01cafaf6$a191b4a0$e4b51de0$@net> Thanks for Lorin Kiely for this article. -----Original Message----- From: Lorin Kiely [mailto:topdownyoga at gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 1:12 PM To: lawrence kiely Subject: this is only the beginning http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/23/gulf-oil-spill-cleaning-w_n_586240. html From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 23 22:16:51 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:16:51 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Craig Venter Creates Synthetic Life Form Message-ID: <006c01cafaf8$305487c0$90fd9740$@net> Published on Thursday, May 20, 2010 by The Guardian/UK Craig Venter Creates Synthetic Life Form Craig Venter and his team have built the genome of a bacterium from scratch and incorporated it into a cell to make what they call the world's first synthetic life form by Ian Sample Scientists have created the world's first synthetic life form in a landmark experiment that paves the way for designer organisms that are built rather than evolved. [The synthetic life form made by Craig Venter and his colleagues can replicate and contains identifying watermarks in its genome. Photograph: Evan Hurd/Getty Images]The synthetic life form made by Craig Venter and his colleagues can replicate and contains identifying watermarks in its genome. Photograph: Evan Hurd/Getty Images The controversial feat, which has occupied 20 scientists for more than 10 years at an estimated cost of $40m, was described by one researcher as "a defining moment in biology". Craig Venter, the pioneering US geneticist behind the experiment, said the achievement heralds the dawn of a new era in which new life is made to benefit humanity, starting with bacteria that churn out biofuels, soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and even manufacture vaccines. However critics, including some religious groups, condemned the work, with one organisation warning that artificial organisms could escape into the wild and cause environmental havoc or be turned into biological weapons. Others said Venter was playing God. The new organism is based on an existing bacterium that causes mastitis in goats, but at its core is an entirely synthetic genome that was constructed from chemicals in the laboratory. The single-celled organism has four "watermarks" written into its DNA to identify it as synthetic and help trace its descendants back to their creator, should they go astray. "We were ecstatic when the cells booted up with all the watermarks in place," Dr Venter told the Guardian. "It's a living species now, part of our planet's inventory of life." Dr Venter's team developed a new code based on the four letters of the genetic code, G, T, C and A, that allowed them to draw on the whole alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks to write the watermarks. Anyone who cracks the code is invited to email an address written into the DNA. The research is reported online today in the journal Science. "This is an important step both scientifically and philosophically," Dr Venter told the journal. "It has certainly changed my views of definitions of life and how life works." The team now plans to use the synthetic organism to work out the minimum number of genes needed for life to exist. From this, new microorganisms could be made by bolting on additional genes to produce useful chemicals, break down pollutants, or produce proteins for use in vaccines. Julian Savulescu, professor of practical ethics at Oxford University, said: "Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny. He is not merely copying life artificially ... or modifying it radically by genetic engineering. He is going towards the role of a god: creating artificial life that could never have existed naturally." This is "a defining moment in the history of biology and biotechnology", Mark Bedau, a philosopher at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, told Science. Dr Venter became a controversial figure in the 1990s when he pitted his former company, Celera Genomics, against the publicly funded effort to sequence the human genome, the Human Genome Project. Venter had already applied for patents on more than 300 genes, raising concerns that the company might claim intellectual rights to the building blocks of life. C 2010 Guardian News and Media Limited Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 7837 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 23 22:25:12 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:25:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Discussion Digest, Vol 80, Issue 74 Message-ID: <007201cafaf9$5aaf7790$100e66b0$@net> Thanks to Robert Searle of the Global Justice Movement for this message ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 11:58:39 +0000 (GMT) From: robert searle To: discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: [GJM] Crunch time for debt-riddle Europe............ Message-ID: <728879.17730.qm at web27401.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Crunch time for debt-riddled Europe Roddy Thomson, 10:24, Friday 21 May 2010 Crisis-hit European finance ministers lock horns on Friday under pressure from Germany to fix tough new cross-border budget controls. After the biggest drop in more than a year on Wall Street triggered fresh turmoil in Asian markets on Friday, the talks starting at 2:00pm (1200 GMT) come on the day the German parliament is to approve its share of a near trillion-dollar eurozone bailout. Summoned by European Union president Herman Van Rompuy, the ministers are to come up with workable ideas to ensure the 27 national governments take greater shared responsibility for the EU's combined economy, the world's biggest trading bloc. Some market analysts have speculated that failure to crack down adequately could break up the 16-nation eurozone. Economic tensions are already high despite French President Nicolas Sarkozy moving on Thursday to deny a rift with Germany. In Berlin, the tone remained sharp with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defending a unilateral move to curb speculative trading by saying: "If you want to drain a swamp, you don't ask the frogs what they think of the situation." "The markets are a whole mess of uncertainty and fear right now," said Joshua Raymond of City Index in London. "It is hardly surprising that investors are fleeing risky assets everywhere and this means heavy weakness for stocks, sterling and the euro." International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said there was no risk of the eurozone splintering but warned the crisis could cost Europe its credibility. "The whole world is watching this... and is losing confidence in Europe," he told French television late Thursday. With the sovereign debt crisis threatening to unleash global economic chaos the way the banking crisis did in 2008, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will visit Britain and Germany next week for emergency talks. In America, the most sweeping overhaul of financial industry rules since the Great Depression of the 1930s is already under way with President -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemo vement.net End of Discussion Digest, Vol 80, Issue 74 ****************************************** From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 23 22:36:22 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:36:22 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Reader comment Message-ID: <008601cafafa$eb0f7ff0$c12e7fd0$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for forwarding this important reader Comment. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 10:56 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Reader comment Reader comment from Carstie: What we need to keep in mind regarding British Petroleum is that the primary owners of this conglomerate happen to be the Rothschild clan, with probable retentive (Amoco) interests on the part of the Rockefeller clan and likely holdings by the British Royal family. Essentially, these are the people who own the world, at least the major Western governments, central banks and corporations. Some will call this "conspiracy theory" but if they are willing to do the research they will discover this to be essentially factual. Both major American political parties are basically a charade, a shell game manipulated by these financial elitists. The political officeholders are puppets on a string. So is the mass media of mesmerization and misinformation. If anyone, particularly faithful liberals, believes that BP will cover all the costs of this misadventure, rather than much of it being shifted over to the taxpayers, I happen to own this nice bridge in New York City spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. I am a motivated seller and willing to make such a deal. > Month After Oil Spill, Why Is BP Still In Charge? > MATTHEW DALY | 05/21/10 09:59 PM > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/22/month-after-oil-spill- > why_n_585908. > html From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon May 24 03:14:43 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 09:14:43 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: They backed down Message-ID: <368702.69024.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 22/5/10, Barack Obama wrote: From: Barack Obama Subject: They backed down To: "Robert Searle" Date: Saturday, 22 May, 2010, 19:32 Robert -- On Thursday, the Senate passed historic Wall Street reform. This movement proved again that the strongest special interests, who for so long have called the shots in Washington, can be beat. When opponents in Congress tried to block the legislation altogether, you stood up -- and they backed down. When the lobbyists pushed for loopholes and exemptions just before a final vote, you did not relent -- and we fought them off. Your support brought us to this day -- and, because of that, we're poised to implement sensible reforms that will provide a stronger foundation for economic growth. Now, the House and Senate must iron out their differences before I can sign it into law. But the financial industry will not give up. They have already spent more than $1 million per member of Congress, lobbying on this issue. And in the coming days, they will go all in. This is their last shot to stall, weaken, or kill reform, and they are not accustomed to losing. But this movement has you -- and together, we have beaten the special interests before. Please donate $5 or more today to help Organizing for America continue to mobilize thousands -- to counter the special interests' attacks and get strong Wall Street reform to my desk. Every American has a stake in this bill. If you have ever been treated unfairly by a credit card company, this reform works for you -- never again will Americans be duped by fine print or hidden fees. If you ever try to take out a home loan or student loan, this reform works for you -- putting an end to predatory and deceptive lending practices. And, if you or your small business relies on credit from community banks that are being punished for playing by the rules while their competitors do not, this reform works for you -- reining in the big banks and making sure all our lenders are subject to tough oversight. These reforms would put in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history. And, by helping safeguard our economy from recklessness on Wall Street, it would ensure that a crisis like the one that caused this recession never happens again. This is not a zero-sum game where Wall Street loses and Main Street wins. As we have learned, in today's economy, we are all connected. When the economy prospers, we all win. Senators of both parties recognize that fact, and that is why lawmakers stood up to the lobbyists and worked across the aisle to ensure that Wall Street reform passed. But this fight is not yet over. And it is up to us to overcome this final test and pass reform into law. When we do, the power of this movement to make change in Washington -- despite the best efforts of the special interests -- will no longer be up for debate. Please donate $5 or more today: https://donate.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVictory Thank you, President Barack Obama Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions or gifts to the Democratic National Committee are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes. This email was sent to: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Change Email Address | Unsubscribe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon May 24 03:17:53 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 09:17:53 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: BFI Newsletter V.11 No.5 (Now TRIMTAB!) Message-ID: <178888.79777.qm@web27408.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 22/5/10, The Buckminster Fuller Institute wrote: From: The Buckminster Fuller Institute Subject: BFI Newsletter V.11 No.5 (Now TRIMTAB!) 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Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser. *Welcome to our re-designed e-newsletter TRIMTAB, formerly entitled Design Science News. The new layout was designed in conjunction with a redesign of our website (see story below). We hope you enjoy the new look!* BFI Updates 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Winner Announced on June 2nd! National Press Club in Washington D.C. June 2nd at 12 pm. Full Schedule here! BFI Launches New Website! Many thanks to David Walczyk, Cedomir Kovacev and Ann Morris for their tremendous work. New site here. Guest Post on Challenge Blog Jason F. McLennan guest blogs about The Living Building Challenge, a finalist in the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Read here. BFC winners at the Cooper-Hewitt 2008 Challenge winner John Todd and 2009 winner MIT's Smart Cities Group are featured in the National Design Triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. ? Trends and Perspectives 1st U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Approved NYTimes article & Interview with BFI board member Greg Watson The Other Inconvenient Truth As the international community focuses on climate change as the great crisis of our era, it is ignoring another looming problem: the global crisis in land use. Seed Magazine. Sunny Memories On display now at the Center for Architecture, NY. Fast Company article here. ? Resources BFC Juror Hardin Tibbs on BBC Radio If Buckminster Fuller really was the 20th Century's answer to Leonardo da Vinci, then why is he so little known about today? Listen to the episode here. Thriving Beyond Sustainability 'Andres Edwards is a walking database of information on efforts to create sustainable socieites, and his enthusiasm for the promise of sustainability is infectious.' ? Events 2012: Time For Change at Greenfest May 22nd, Chicago GreenFest. Screening and panel featuring filmmaker Joao Amorim and BFI director Elizabeth Thompson. Film info here. Revisit Bucky: Exploring Synergetics Join SNEC June 11-13th in Washington D.C. for this exciting workshop and symposium featuring keynote speaker Amy Edmondson. More info here. R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of The Universe The much anticipated opening May 28th at Arena Stage in Crystal City. Info here. Bucky Art in Crystal City A temporary, outdoor art exhibit that pays homage to Fuller and the Geodesic dome. On display now! Info here. ? Vol. 11 No. 5 Featured Store Item Written in the 1980's in allegorical form, this serious satire about the rise of multi-national corporations, capitalistic selfishness and the technological revolution emphasizes that our present economic system, and the theories on which it is based are no longer useful because of its false assumption of scarcity. A prophetic writting with the current global financial crisis! Purchase here >From the Idea Index Resources 2010 Semi-Finalist Re-Sources: Saving Living Systems: a replicable, multi-disciplinary, integrated-systems project addressing ecological degradation and cultural genocide. Phase one is the rich, undocumented water culture in the Tibetan areas of Western Sichuan. With grassroots, collaborative strategies, we will use the roots of this culture to teach sustainable practices for economic survival. Support BFI Your donation makes this newsletter and all of the other great work of the Institute possible! This email is sent from: The Buckminster Fuller Institute 181 N11th St, Suite 402 Brooklyn, NY 11211 United Statesp 718 290 9280 | f 718 290 9281 | bfi.org | contact To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send email to this address. To never receive email from The Buckminster Fuller Institute, send email to this address. HTML Body of Footer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon May 24 03:18:48 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 09:18:48 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: Coalition programme for government Message-ID: <643619.70016.qm@web27405.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Sat, 22/5/10, I&Rgb wrote: From: I&Rgb Subject: Coalition programme for government To: press at iniref.org Date: Saturday, 22 May, 2010, 19:17 Preliminary announcement Conservative/LibDem coalition programme for government. Promised shift of "power to the people"? See http://www.iniref.org/conlibdem.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: I&Rgb,small.logo.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 14543 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Mon May 24 10:37:30 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 12:37:30 -0400 Subject: [GJM] Constructal Theory Predicts Global Climate Patterns In Simple Way Message-ID: <2121104349.4123076.1274719050478.JavaMail.brainiac@v0101-06.clearspring.local> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060209164629.htm --- This message was sent by dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk via http://addthis.com. Please note that AddThis does not verify email addresses. Make sharing easier with the AddThis Toolbar: http://www.addthis.com/go/toolbar-em From maryrose333 at att.net Mon May 24 18:02:30 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 17:02:30 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Bonfire of the Loopholes Message-ID: <00d401cafb9d$d6eb69f0$84c23dd0$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for this one. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 11:02 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Bonfire of the Loopholes Bonfire of the Loopholes The financial-reform bill will do its part to save the economy-by creating jobs for accountants and lawyers. By Michael Hirsh | Newsweek Web Exclusive May 21, 2010 http://www.newsweek.com/id/238334 President Obama and leading Democrats are calling the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010" the greatest overhaul of Wall Street since the Great Depression. And that may well be true. But judging from the many loopholes in the legislation-with more to come as the banks maneuver stealthily to tweak the final product in conference-the new bill might be better termed "the Accountants' and Lawyers' Welfare Act of 2010." The bottom line is that despite the blizzard of amendments and provisions added-including some very smart changes at the 11th hour, like imposing greater control of ratings agencies-what's likely to emerge on the other side of this in the years to come is a Wall Street that's largely unchanged if marginally more regulated. Indeed, if any structural changes to Wall Street follow from this law, it is likely to be that the biggest banks get even more powerful than they already are, despite the size limits being placed on them. The accountants and lawyers-read lobbyists-have already made some serious inroads. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington State had wanted to add a simple provision shedding light on the vast "dark" market in swaps, which until now has been almost entirely unregulated. The language stated clearly that it shall be "unlawful" if a swap that the Securities and Exchange Commission wanted to be "cleared" out in the open was not cleared. But that language was somehow deemed too strong or troublesome for the industry. Now there is no threat of a finding of illegality and no penalty promised if swaps deals don't go through a clearinghouse. Another provision, also introduced somewhat mysteriously, says that clearinghouses can't be forced by authorities to accept swaps for clearing-again, allowing at least some swaps to be traded privately by default. All this led Cantwell to vote against the bill because, she said, "it fails to close the very same loopholes in derivatives trading that led to the biggest economic implosion since the Great Depression." Other problems: the banks fought hard-and won a partial victory-in an effort to water down the definition of open and competitive derivatives trading. When the bill passed out of Sen. Blanche Lincoln's agriculture committee-which shared oversight of derivatives with the banking committee-it had language defining a so-called swap execution facility as a "trading facility," clearly meaning that swaps could only be traded in pits or on electronic platforms with multiple buyers and bidders. That sounds like an obscure point, but it's actually central to Wall Street's profits, and it explains how the multi-trillion-dollar derivatives market got away from regulators in the 2000s. For the banks, the more swaps and other derivatives they can trade off exchanges in "custom-made" deals with customers, the harder it is for those customers to figure out the trade's fair value and real risk-and the easier for the banks to increase their profit margin. But Chris Dodd's banking committee dropped the term "trading facility." Even though the Senate bill is still stronger than the House version-requiring an openness to multiple bidders-the erased language seems to open the door to behind-the-scenes telephone trading by the banks. In other words, less openness, less competition. Cantwell and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa had earlier tried to introduce an amendment further defining a "swap execution facility" so that transparency was ensured, but it never got off the ground. A new tough generation of regulators led by Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), says they're not worried by these nuances because the bill gives them broad discretion to write rules requiring open trading and clearing of swaps and other derivatives. And that's what they intend to do. The problem is: Gensler's not going to be around forever, and the Bush-era regulators got into the habit of not using any of their discretion at all. After all, banks urged them over the years not to worry. The same cycle is likely to repeat itself when the next boom arrives. Rob Johnson, a former economist with the Senate banking committee who has been active in pushing for greater reform, says the new bill actually ought to be called the "Trust the Fed and Regulators Act of 2010." "It is a bill that has few structural changes and lots of responsibilities put on the shoulders of regulators who did not perform well in the last go-round," he says. "The [bankruptcy] resolution powers are helpful but nowhere near sufficient to create the conditions for real ability to close too-big-to-fail institutions." Indeed, perhaps the oddest unintended result of the new legislation may be that it ends up making the too-big-to-fail banks even more significant in the financial system. Gensler is very happy with the Senate bill overall, but one provision he is worried about provides the new clearinghouses with access to the Federal Reserve discount window. "The fear is it would lower risk-management practices at the clearinghouses," says a CFTC official-in other words, create a whole new brand of moral hazard. And who is likely to come to control the clearinghouses? The big banks, which will be able to create a whole new futures market of their own, perhaps even displacing the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The only thing that might prevent this is if tough ownership-limitation provisions are put in, as in the House version. (Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., had proposed language barring banks from owning more than 20 percent of any clearinghouse.) But the Wall Street lobby-which called the Lynch amendment "anticompetitive"-will be working hard in the coming weeks to prevent that from happening too. Michael Hirsh is also the author of At War with Ourselves: Why America Is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World. From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Tue May 25 02:15:01 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 08:15:01 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] Fw: The 15th Convergence Sustainable Living Festival, 26th May - 1st June Message-ID: <652579.57584.qm@web27402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- On Mon, 24/5/10, Feasta News wrote: From: Feasta News Subject: The 15th Convergence Sustainable Living Festival, 26th May - 1st June To: "Feasta News Subscriber" Date: Monday, 24 May, 2010, 18:50 (Mailing list information, including unsubscription instructions, is located at the end of this message.) The week long Convergence Festival, which this year has the theme Resilient Communities ??? Green, Smart and Sustainable, features talks, conferences, films, workshops and world caf?? discussions on how urban and rural communities can adapt and thrive in these uncertain times. Full details at www.cultivate.ie It takes place mostly in the Greenhouse (the former ENFO building in Dublin 2) but other events are being held in the Lighthouse Cinema, Wood Quay Venue and the Cloughjordan Ecovillage Events of particular interest to Feasta members will be Planning Our Retreat from Fossil Fuels - Exploring the Ramifications of Peak Oil at 7pm on Wednesday the 26th. It features Minister Eamon Ryan, David Korowicz (Feasta) and Richard O'Rourke (ASPO). Chaired by John Gibbons. Feasta's Richard Douthwaite will be speaking at an event being held in Cloughjordan on the 1st of June titled Investing in Ourselves - Realising Jobs and Capital for Communities. This event explores how to enhance community assets and create jobs and livelihoods in our localities. Topics covered include social finance, mutuality, cooperatives, community land trusts, asset development, energy bonds and other ways for communities to invest in themselves and become economically viable. For those looking for an opportunity to visit the Cloughjordan Ecovillage there is a day trip from Dublin planned on Sunday the 30th, which includes a Slow Food lunch, a tour and presentations. Other highlights include Greening our Communities, by the Green Communities Network, The Green New Deal from Below - Cooperative and bottom up opportunities to the green economy, A Day In Transition, for anyone active in or thinking about the Transition Process, the Creative Cities Lecture, a free screening of HOME and lots, lots, more. Full details on these and all Convergence events at www.cultivate.ie - or email davie at cultivate.ie for further information. The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription: You are subscribed to the following list: Feasta News using the following email: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL: http://www.feasta.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/feasta_news/ If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism. You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen: http://www.feasta.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/feasta_news If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: website at feasta.org The following physical address is associated with this mailing list: FEASTA The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability 14 St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2 Ireland Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail Powered by Dada Mail 4.0.2 Copyright ? 1999-2009, Simoni Creative. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 25 18:00:48 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 17:00:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Absolutely Must Read: A Reader comment Message-ID: <00ca01cafc66$c3f09c70$4bd1d550$@net> Mary, it's been so long since we have heard from you, but what a whopper of a revelation you've brought us here. We've heard a lot about the Rothchilds and the Rockefellars but not as much in depth as this expose reveals. However, I have known for a long time that the financial center of the world was in London and not the U.S. and that it is the Rothchilds and the Rockefellars who hold us hostage through their control of the monetary system. As mentioned in this expose there are other families involved, and it is these families that David C. Korten reveals as the "thirteen families who rule the world," and who sit in interlocking directorates on the boards of directors of the largest corporations in the world -- most of which were formed here in the U.S. Korten also revealed in his book: "When Corporations Rule the World," that these people (about 450) intermarry in order to maintain their control over the corporate sector and of the banking system. For everyone's information, Mary Nelson was one of four women who held weekly documentary film showings in Nevada City, CA for four years running. I don't recall now when these began and maybe you could fill me in on this Mary. And after these documentary films were shown, this group facilitated a discussion among the attendees. Needless to say, the people who attended these venues are undoubtedly some of the most well informed people in the world. And I want to thank Mary for being here on our list and for all that she has done to bring the truth of our present predicament to the attention of we-the-people. What you have done, Mary is priceless. And I want to express my love and gratitude to you for all that you have done and continue to do. -----Original Message----- From: Mary Nelson [mailto:m_nelson at aperdat.com] Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:57 PM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: [globalnetnews-summary] Reader comment Since way back when....."The Rothschild were behind the colonization and occupations of India and the Rothschild owned British Petroleum was granted unlimited rights to all offshore Indian oil, which is still valid till this day." http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/02/18464823.php MaryN -----Original Message----- From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:36 PM To: FixGov at yahoogroups. com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Reader comment Thanks to Trading Post Paul for forwarding this important reader Comment. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 10:56 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Reader comment Reader comment from Carstie: What we need to keep in mind regarding British Petroleum is that the primary owners of this conglomerate happen to be the Rothschild clan, with probable retentive (Amoco) interests on the part of the Rockefeller clan and likely holdings by the British Royal family. Essentially, these are the people who own the world, at least the major Western governments, central banks and corporations. Some will call this "conspiracy theory" but if they are willing to do the research they will discover this to be essentially factual. Both major American political parties are basically a charade, a shell game manipulated by these financial elitists. The political officeholders are puppets on a string. So is the mass media of mesmerization and misinformation. If anyone, particularly faithful liberals, believes that BP will cover all the costs of this misadventure, rather than much of it being shifted over to the taxpayers, I happen to own this nice bridge in New York City spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. I am a motivated seller and willing to make such a deal. > Month After Oil Spill, Why Is BP Still In Charge? > MATTHEW DALY | 05/21/10 09:59 PM > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/22/month-after-oil-spill- > why_n_585908. > html From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 25 18:17:23 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 17:17:23 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Rand Paul Runs and Hides from... Rand Paul Message-ID: <00cb01cafc69$11a6f340$34f4d9c0$@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, May 23, 2010 11:48 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Rand Paul Runs and Hides from... Rand Paul Liberated from Libertarianism: Rand Paul Runs and Hides from... Rand Paul http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/23 by David Michael Green Sunday, May 23, 2010 Maybe we can finally have a serious discussion in this country about the lunacies of libertarianism. I doubt it. This is, after all, America. I doubt we'd know an intelligent political discourse if it whacked us upside the haid. But now we have Rand Paul, son of Ron, marching toward the United States Senate, with a mission to "take back our government". Oh boy. I might be able to get a little bit excited about that if it really was his goal. The truth is that the American government exists almost entirely to serve the interests of the American plutocracy. If libertarians want to break that evil connection, well, then, definitely give me a shout. I'll be glad to pitch in. But, of course, you pretty much never hear them talk about that part as they rant about the evils of government. What do libertarians actually want, Herr Doktor? It's not entirely clear to me that they know themselves. They're pretty good with the shibboleths, but always seem to have trouble beyond that. That's because it is precisely on the other side of the sappy slogans where the contradictions of libertarianism come glaringly into focus. This is the place where naive but kindly people would say "Wot, I signed up for that?", and that's exactly why libertarians don't want to go there. Such avoidance of reality is not only rarely a problem in American political discourse, it's nearly a national religion. In this sense, the discussion Rand Paul had with Rachel Maddow the other night was doubly instructive. First, because Paul - the national savior on horseback du jour - was reduced to repeated instances of the most basic, and base, political maneuvering in order to come to grips with the implications of his own ideology. And, second, because Maddow gave us a partial reminder of what good journalism would actually look like in America. She didn't actually get quite all the way to where she should have gone, but her polite, thoughtful and semi-relentless questioning of her guest was as foreign to what passes for journalism in this country today as would be six-headed fourteen-dimensional gaseous creatures from a distant galaxy. Maddow is fast becoming a national treasure, which says a lot about her, but, regrettably, a lot more about her colleagues in the ?news' business. There are several key explanations for the rise of the insane right over the last three decades, but surely one of them has been the compliance of the mainstream media. Politicians have been able to make the most absurdly ridiculous and hypocritical statements without fear of being called on them. And if they ever were, they need only repeat the same line in some slightly different variation, and that's the end of the affair - media lapdogs are well trained to cease and desist. One of Maddow's great virtues - which ought to be a sine qua non for anyone calling themselves a journalist - is her doggedness. To see what I mean, check out this paraphrased approximation (not too far from verbatim, actually) of her conversation with Rand Paul the other night: MADDOW: Congratulations on your big victory last night. Do you believe that private business people should be able to not serve black people or gays or any other minority group? PAUL: I don't believe in racism. I don't think there should be any governmental or institutional racism. Now I'm going to go into a long diversionary soliloquy about William Lloyd Garrison, an early nineteenth century abolitionist, and also about when ?desegregation' [actually anti-discrimination] legislation was passed into law in Boston... MADDOW: Yes, okay, that was pretty weird. But what about private businesses who might want to not serve blacks or gays? Should they have the legal right to do so? PAUL: We had incredible problems with racism in the 1950s concerning voting, schools and public housing. This is what civil rights addressed and what I largely agree with. MADDOW: But what about private businesses? I don't want to be badgering you on this, but I do want an answer. PAUL: I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form, I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race. What's important here is to not get into any sort of "gotcha" on the question of race, but to ask the question, "What about freedom of speech?" Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent? MADDOW: The Civil Rights Act was created to take away the right of individual business owners to discriminate, taking away their right to make that decision. Which side of that debate are you on? PAUL: In the totality of it, I'm in favor of the federal government being involved in civil rights, which is mostly what the Civil Rights Act was about. I'm opposed to any form of governmental racism or discrimination or segregation. MADDOW: The reason that this is something I'm not letting go of this is because it effects real people's lives. This question involves the matter of private discrimination in public accommodations. Should that be allowed? PAUL: The debate involves a lot of court cases with regard to the commerce clause. Many states are now saying that they have a right to force restaurant owners to allow people to enter with guns even if the owners don't want them to. So you see how this issue can cut both ways, against liberals too. MADDOW: What if the owner of a restaurant or a swimming pool or a bowling alley wanted to segregate their facility? Should they be allowed to do so under your world view? PAUL: We did some very important things in the 1960s that I'm all in favor of. That was desegregating schools, public transportation, water fountains. MADDOW: How about lunch counters? PAUL: Well, if you do that, then can the owner of the restaurant keep out guns? Does the owner of a restaurant own his restaurant or does the government own his restaurant? MADDOW: Should Woolworths lunch counters have been left to be segregated? Sir, just yes or no? PAUL: I don't believe in any discrimination. If you believe in regulating private ownership, you have to decide on whether you also want to force guns in restaurants when the owner doesn't want them. This is a red herring being used by my political opponents. It's an abstract, obscure conversation from 1964 that you want to bring up. Every fiber of my being doesn't believe in discrimination, doesn't believe that we should have that in our society, and to imply otherwise is just dishonest. MADDOW: I couldn't disagree with you more on this issue, but I thank you for coming on the show and having this civilized discussion about it... So, by my count, Maddow asks Paul the core question here no fewer than eight times in a row. This is precisely what she should have been doing, and in doing so she provides a huge service to American society. If I were to fault her anywhere, it would be only for not identifying Paul's diversionary tactics for what they were, calling them out, and thereby pushing them off the table. I would have liked to have seen her say, "With respect, sir, we're not talking about that. Or that, or that, or that. We're talking about this." And she would have needed to do that several times over, because Paul's game here is to shift the discussion to domains where he is more comfortable, and where the problems with his ideology don't show up so readily. Maddow says let's talk about discrimination in privately-held public accommodations, and he says let's talk about my lack of prejudice. She tries again and he wants to discuss governmental discrimination. She repeats the question and he says let's talk about nineteenth century history. She asks once more and he starts talking about censorship and the First Amendment. She tries yet again and he changes the topic to guns, which involves legislating behavior, rather than race, which concerns who you are. She asks still another time and he cries foul, claiming that this is some obscure red herring being used by his opponents for purposes of political assassination. All of these are diversionary lies, meant to avoid the unpleasant realities of what libertarianism would actually look like in action. But the last lie is the most egregious. The entire reason for Rand Paul's existence right now - which is also almost literally true, given that he has the unfortunate burden of being named for Ayn Rand, a twisted soul if ever there was - is his premise of reclaiming American government in the name of liberty for the American people. That's who he is. That's what he represents himself to be. That's his political shtick, his raison d'?tre. What the Maddow interview reveals, however, is that he's really just another politician trying to win office, not a crusader at all. And what it also reveals is just how bankrupt are those libertarian notions if you look at them at all closely. The ideology has some nice bumper-sticker like appeal, especially for the more simplistic among us. I mean, who, after all, could be against more freedom? And, indeed, when it comes to social issues, the libertarians have it exactly right. The government shouldn't be in the business of controlling women's bodies, or telling people what substances they can imbibe, or who they can sleep with or marry, or whether they can end their own lives should they choose to. But you don't need to be a libertarian to get to those places. These are also progressive ideas as well. Where libertarianism breaks down is in assuming that we can all just do what we want and it will work out great. And in assuming that all private actors are essentially well intentioned. Neither of these is true, and a libertarian society would leave each of us at the mercy of these twin fallacies. And that's an ugly place to be, let me tell you. Suppose you bought a house and had a fat mortgage outstanding on it. Now the guy who owns the plot next door decides to build an abattoir on his land. You can't live in your house anymore because of the nauseating, permeating, stink. You also can't sell it, because no one else wants to live there either. And you're still stuck paying the mortgage, probably plunging you into bankruptcy since you're now also paying rent to live somewhere else. Why did all this happen? Because you voted for that libertarian city council, and they threw out all the zoning laws on the books, preferring maximum freedom for use of private property instead. Aren't you thrilled about how that worked out? So you pack all your belongings in your car and decide to drive away. But you turn around after going just a couple of miles, because everybody drives on any side of the road they want to, whenever they want to, and it's scary dangerous out there. Why? Because the libertarian state government you elected - true to its principles - eliminated all such driving laws as the restrictions on personal freedom they truly are. So maybe you'll fly instead, eh? Oops. Sorry. That's just as frightening. The new libertarian federal government eliminated the FAA and all its restrictions on private carriers as an invasion of their corporate liberties. No red tape here anymore! No onerous regulations! Now each carrier can hire whomever it wants, at whatever salary, to do whatever amount of safety inspection it deems appropriate. Or none at all. No reason to worry, though. I'm sure a corporation would never cut corners in order to maximize profits, right? Well, actually, never mind - the flying off to a better place idea is moot anyhow. You see, there's no airport in your town. No private actors had either the resources or the motivation to build one. And since government is evil, they never did the job either. Which is also why you're about to lose you job, as well. With no ports, trains, highways, internet or other mass infrastructure, the US is about to become an economic actor more or less on the scale of Togo. Congratulations on that bright move, my libertarian friend! How does the freedom of chronic unemployment taste? Yummy, eh? But, really, what do you care, anyhow? Your water is polluted because anyone can dump anything into it they want. Ditto with your filthy air. And global warming is about to take out all the living things on the planet, anyhow. We will be quite free to die, thanks to libertarianism. Well, all is not lost. At least you can walk down to your local dining establishment and have a nice meal without having to fear the presence of darkies or queers in the same room with you. That pretty much makes it all worth it, no? We could go on and on from here, but why bother? The point is made. The problem with libertarianism is that it is a child's candy store fantasy. Lots of sugar, no nutritional value. It's the Mel Gibson ("Freeeee-dom!!") of political ideologies. The ugly truth is that we hominids are social animals, not atomistic asteroids, each flying through space in our own little orbit. At the end of the day, the simultaneous great delight and awful curse of our humanness is, ultimately, each other. That is not to say that individual liberty is not important. It is, and I no more favor libertarianism's opposite number, totalitarianism, than I do the lunacy of Ayn Rand, who spent her life (vastly over-)reacting to the Stalinism of her youth. I don't want to live in either of those worlds. It's just that it's naive and juvenile to believe that what is required here is anything other than some sort of difficult balance between the needs of the individual and those of society. That's the only solution that works. One would think we might have learned this lesson of late. We've just come through an era of wholesale foolish deregulation in the name of setting free Americans and their productive capacities. The whole of our ethos of political economy these last three decades could easily be boiled down to a single bumper-sticker: "Government Bad, Industry Good". So now we might wanna ask ourselves, as Sarah Palin would put it (assuming she had a brain larger than a centipede's), "How's that whole deregulatey depressiony thing working out for you?" Sorry, Mr. Paul. Just when we've seen precisely what happens when greedy individuals with all the morality of mafia hit men are allowed to do whatever they want by a government that is completely coopted by them on a good day, and utterly AWOL the rest of the time, you come talking to me about more ?freedom' from government intrusion?!?! Are you joking? Government, as imperfect and downright lethal as it can be when in the hands of those who use it for the wrong purposes, is the instrument and expression of the public will. It is the tool through which society conveys its values and seeks to achieve our mutual goals. And it is meant to be triumphant over private actors because societal needs (which, by the way, can, should and often do include government protecting individual liberties - see, for example, "Rights, Bill of") are broadly more important than those of the individual. It would be a mark of our (return to) political maturity if we could acknowledge that. If that's too much to ask, though, I wonder if my libertarian friends would at least be willing to take ownership of the real implications of their own ideology. I mean, if you guys are just going to practice deceit and hypocrisy, why bother taking over the Republican Party? Those guys are already experts. David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive readers' reactions to his articles (mailto:dmg at regressiveantidote.net), but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net. From maryrose333 at att.net Tue May 25 20:22:21 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 19:22:21 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: E-News - Moving Toward a New Economy Message-ID: <00e301cafc7a$858cfe60$90a6fb20$@net> Future Dawning Enterprises is about connecting movements, people and events and I consider anything from David Korten to be an extension of this. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: kat at greatturning.org Date: Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:11 AM Subject: E-News - Moving Toward a New Economy To: dustysummerrose at gmail.com In This Issue Message From David Korten Moving Toward A New Economy - Together Connecting Upcoming Events NEW BOOK! Get It Here First! Greetings, friends! Our BIG news, and our top priority these days, is David Korten's Second Edition of Agenda for a New Economy. (Be the first to read this new edition! YES! Magazine is offering a special opportunity for you to pre-purchase "Agenda 2" at a deep discount before it hits the book stores!) Fans of "Agenda 1 " and new readers alike will appreciate David's analysis of events since the first edition and the wealth of new material based on the latest work of the New Economy Working Group . He elaborates on seven key interventions needed to replace our badly broken system and a new vision for a system based on shared prosperity, ecological stewardship, and citizen democracy, and advocates for a major grassroots campaign to make it happen! The main theme in this newsletter is working together for a New Economy. David speaks to his latest collaborations, and we've included a few stories about making connections, forging new alliances, and sharing resources to move us closer to the New Economy we all want. We'd like to hear more; please send us your stories about what's happening in your community, organizations, and faith groups, and help spread the word! Kat Gjovik Outreach and Communication kat at greatturning.org _____ A Message From David Korten David KortenOur decisive moment as a nation has arrived. For years, people have been telling me things would have to get worse before people would be ready to contemplate the deep changes called for by the Great Turning. The September 2008 crash made things a lot worse for just about everyone, with the highly visible exception of Wall Street bankers and their top tier retainers. The speed with which Washington responded with public money to save the Wall Street bankers who created the mess, while largely leaving Main Street to flounder, has exposed the power and corruption of the Wall Street-Washington political axis. The resulting pain and uncertainty leave us poised as a nation on a psychological knife-edge between a turn to further division, racial scapegoating, and repression and a choice to come together in common cause to actualize the promise of democracy and life-serving local market economies. Read David's message _____ Moving Toward a New Economy - Together Like rivers meeting and gaining speed and strength as they flow together toward an ocean, we're seeing a powerful confluence of local and national initiatives extending the reach of new and well-established campaigns. Organizations are stretching beyond traditional boundaries to partner with others, expand the base, share resources, and promote each other's events/actions to raise the volume and propel the movement far beyond what any single initiative could accomplish. Move Your Money PDX! move_your_money_portland_sm.jpg Early last year, a small group of people from Real Wealth of Portland and the Sustainable Business Network of Portland (a BALLE network) set out to give new meaning to "put your money where your mouth is;" now, they've become a trend-setter for the Move Your Money initiative! Read more... "What about my.?" The very mention of breaking up big banks and replacing Wall Street with local, community-focused economies brings us to our feet with cheers - and to the streets to stand up against corporate interests! When we return to the quiet of our homes, however, with mortgage payments, medical bills, and thoughts of disappearing retirement nest eggs, the rallying cry can quickly turn to a fearful, sinking feeling of being stuck in this badly broken system. In the Second Edition of Agenda for a New Economy, David added a chapter - "What about my.?" to acknowledge and explore the hold Wall Street has on us and the serious, liberating but gut-wrenching choices we face regarding our mortgages, credit cards, insurance, college and retirement funds. Here are a few examples of how people are coming together to deepen their understanding of the big economic picture and the implications for family and community, face the tough choices, and create alternatives. Finding "We" in Common Security Clubs Telling the truth about money or revealing our fears and hopes about our personal economic situations is not easy; some say it's more difficult than talking about politics, religion, and sex. Common Security Clubs (CSC), sponsored in part by the Institute for Policy Studies and now in more than 100 communities and churches around the country, are breaking down barriers, inviting people to share their experiences, and rekindling a new, deeper sense of community. Read about the benefits , the stories , the resources, and how to start a Common Security Club in your congregation or neighborhood. Communities of Faith and the New Economy Faith communities are rallying around the New Economy as a moral issue. A significant move will be taken by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations if the proposal to adopt National Economic Reform: A Moral Imperative as the Study Action Item for 2010-2014 receives the most votes at the UU General Assembly in Minneapolis next month. If this item is adopted, it will create a framework for a wave of concerted actions across the network of UU congregations; possibilities include adult education curricula, study groups, workshops, Common Security Clubs, and alternative investment opportunities. If you plan to attend the General Assembly, please vote! Turning Toward Community DunkirkOConnelHouse.jpg One person's bold financial move is paying off in "real wealth" for Dunkirk, NY. The Observer reports that Harriett "Skeeter" Tower, inspired by David's Agenda for a New Economy, turned from Wall Street to Main Street and the payoff can be seen in jobs, affordable housing, and the character and dignity of this New York community. Shareholders Unite! While it might not be feasible - or smart - for everyone to liquidate every last share of Wall Street stock overnight, how can shareholders exert their influence on the GreenAmerica.gif policies and practices of the companies they own? Green America advises us to let our voices be heard! They have developed a family of programs to support Socially Responsible Investment strategies , community investing , and shareholder activism , which includes voting your proxies, writing letters, and, if all else fails, divesting. Check out their Guide for Social Responsible Investing and the link to Moxy Vote to view recommendations from Green America and other "advocates " and to make voting proxies easier. _____ Connecting We want to connect! Word about the New Economy is spreading and we hope you'll pass it along via e-mail, newsletters, and coffee shop conversations. We're pleased to befriend, follow, Tweet and Retweet on Facebook and Twitter, as well; please join us and invite your friends! Facebook - David Korten and The Great Turning Twitter - David Korten and Kat Gjovik Websites: David Korten and The Great Turning Initiative For a wealth of news and resources, we also recommend that you check out and tell your friends and colleagues about the websites, e-newsletters, Facebook Pages, and Twitter posts for our partners in the New Economy Working Group . Sign-up and connect via their websites: YES! Magazine (While you're there, check out the New Economy section, rich with connections to real-time initiatives and resources, and blogs by David Korten , Chuck Collins and Andree Zaleska for Common Security Clubs , and others .) Institute for Policy Studies Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) New Economy Working Group _____ Upcoming Events June 5: Seattle Green Fest ; 3:00pm presentation June 10: Book Salon hosted by the Transpartisan Alliance , Washington DC. June 11-14: Network of Spiritual Progressives Conference in Washington DC. David's presentation at 9:00am on June 12, with launch of "Agenda for a New Economy" Second Edition, followed by workshop with John Canavagh, Heather Booth, Gar Alperovitz, and Noel Ortega. June 13: Book/Author event at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC; details pending. June 20: Canadian Social Forum in Windsor, Ontario, Canada;1pm presentation. June 23-25: US Social Forum in Detroit, MI; David will participate in two panels - Local Economics Organizing and Spirituality and Economy Transformation. July 27-30: Association of Cooperative Educators Conference in Cleveland, OH; details pending. Check David's website for updates to his calendar _____ If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe _____ Click here to forward this email to a friend PCDForum - The Great Turning Initiative 284 Madrona Way NE Suite 112 Bainbridge Island, Washington 98110 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy. 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 Tue May 25 20:26:44 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 19:26:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Black and gold: oil and the US dollar Message-ID: <00e801cafc7b$2322f170$6968d450$@net> As I read all the posts that cross my desktop and determine which one to forward on to this list, the thoughts that cross my mind are that the best thing I can do is to: 1) get up each morning and write down ten things I am most thankful for in my life 2) drink a lot of water 3) eat a breakfast that is going to sustain me for several hours, usually oatmeal with fruit, cinnamon and almonds, and take the liquid vitamin supplement that my acupuncture/herbologist/nutritionist has prescribed for me to ensure I do not encounter another deficiency 4) either do a meditative mindfulness walk of a half mile or more, or do some Tai Chi/Qigong movements so that my body/mind field stays balanced 5) ensure that I am out in the sun for at least 1/2 hour - I usually do this while I am either walking or working in my yard 6) listen to healing music at some point in the day 7) enjoy each day for what it brings and try not to fret over all the bad news that keeps crossing my desktop 8) try to be the best newsperson I possibly can within my limited resources 9) try not to do anything in the interests of money any more, but in the best interests of all concerned -- and in doing this I find that the money comes when needed 10) try to get 8 hours of sleep each night and am mostly able to leave the day's troubles behind me as I get up refreshed each morning 11) if I get up stressed I put both arms over my head and shaking my hands or lightly clenching and unclenching my fists I say over and over again "I feel good" so I'm getting my endorphins moving and erasing any anxiety or stress that might be there. 12) also tell myself frequently that I love myself: I say "I am love, I am loved and I am loving" and assure myself that I am pure intelligence unfolding into unlimited potential. I also tell myself that I am: healthy, centered, and wise 13) take the time every day to write a short letter to a person who is in a very stressful situation at the present time 14) with every message I send out to someone I try to close with love and in gratitude or in appreciation -- when I began doing this a couple years ago I found that my relationships with people improved immensely and along with this my own life 15) I take time to smell the roses and keep a blooming orchid in my bathroom at all times 16) I am tremendously thankful that I do not have to go out somewhere to work anymore and that I am not at someone else's beck and call -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 11:16 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Black and gold: oil and the US dollar "Oil will hit peak, and the U.S. economy will fall. The tragedy is that by attempting to stave off more immediate economic threats, the nation is not readying itself to better deal with the more long-term issue life post oil." Petrodollar warfare Black and gold: oil and the US dollar By Matthew Wild http://peakgeneration.blogspot.com/p/petrodollar-warfare.html A dozen national leaders will sit in a room in Libya sometime in 2012 and essentially decide whether the U.S. continues as a country. The men are the leaders of the oil producing nations, and the meeting the next Opec conference. More radical members are pushing to have the cartel move away from trading in the U.S. dollar. It would devastate the U.S., while rewarding the oil states. Forget for moment peak oil, party politics, the credit crisis, terrorism or even nuclear rogue states ? these are all secondary to the new Cold War. This time around it?s economic warfare, played out on the business pages. According to the petrodollar warfare hypothesis, Continental Europe and the United States have been embroiled in a bitter fight since the 1995 introduction of the euro ? which can explain the Iraq invasion and demonization of Iran; the underlying themes can be traced back to successive U.S. administrations? refusal to acknowledge peak oil, climate change or renewable energy sources. Complicating things for the future is the involvement of Russia and China. Guns and butter To tell the story I must first step back to 1971, when President Nixon, needing to control inflation caused by rampant ?guns and butter? spending on the Vietnam war and social programs, brought the U.S. off the gold standard. That year also saw Opec countries agreeing to trade oil exclusively in US dollars ? ironically, the year U.S. production hit peak. The 1944 Bretton Woods agreement - of the WWII Allies - had established the US dollar as the world?s reserve currency. All other currencies had their rates of exchange fixed to the dollar, which in turn was redeemable for gold at $35 per ounce. But the US was soon expanding the supply of Federal Reserve notes - essentially creating money which was not backed by gold. When Nixon came off the gold standard it sent a shockwave across the world's markets. The US dollar remains as a reserve currency. four-fifths of all foreign exchange transactions and half of all world exports are denominated in dollars, and IMF loans are counted out in greenbacks. But then, the world desperately needs dollars to buy oil. Third World countries sell raw materials for dollars just to stay afloat. Having the dollar buoyed by oil rather than gold made the U.S. rich. This also suited the oil producing nations, as a strong dollar is more profitable than payment in a weak currency. The last ever American trade surplus was recorded in 1975. Every year since has seen a deficit, yet the economy has grown. The U.S. is essentially exporting dollars in return for goods and services. It is addicted to oil. U.S. economy depends on massive global oil consumption Ronald Reagan was the first politician to focus on the relationship between the dollar and oil. His first action as president in 1981 was to remove the solar panels Jimmy Carter had installed on the White House roof (and axe the tax credit for those wanting to fool around with renewable energy). He saw the future of the US depending on the massive international consumption of oil, and encouraged the Saudis to flood the market. This brought the price of oil down to a particular low around 1985-86, boosting global consumption; a complete reversal of the 1973 oil embargo. This was win-win: increasing oil use boosted international demand for the dollar and the American economy soared, while the low price of oil brought the Soviet economy to its knees, as their inefficient extraction meant they could not sell at a profit. The Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991. But in 1995, European nations gambled everything on creating a currency to capture oil revenue. The euro was launched specifically to become the ?new? US dollar, a reserve currency used in the oil trade (it is currently used daily by 327 million Europeans and has more banknotes in circulation than the US dollar). If the world had adopted the euro as reserve currency the U.S. economy would have been wiped out. And it looked like this was beginning to happen in 2000, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein began to trade Oil for euros. Depending on who you listen to, this was either revenge for sanctions or a level-headed economic decision, as the euro was stronger than the dollar and had more purchasing power (a barrel of oil traded for euros bought more on the world market than one traded for dollars). Afghanistan and Iraq invasions The next major player is George W Bush. Elected 2001, he launched the Afghanistan invasion shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and the following year named Iraq as part of an ?axis of evil,? along with Iran and North Korea. The U.S. stance on Iraq, supposedly over weapons of mass destruction, was backed by Britain and Australia ? both with sovereign currencies tied to the dollar ? and most bitterly opposed by France and Germany, which had invested all in the euro. On one side, countries with an interest in Iraq reverting to the dollar, and on the other, nations with a financial interest in continuing euro oil sales. The Iraq war began March 2003; Bagdad fell in April; by June, the London Financial Times announced Iraq was now selling oil in dollars. Iran?s 'nuclear bomb' The next international leader to talk up the euro bandwagon was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who became president of Iran mid-2005. (Iran had actually been quietly accepting euros for oil since 2003 but never made an issue of it.) Iran was subsequently announced to be ?10 years away from developing a nuclear bomb.? Looked at this way, economic warfare is Iran?s nuclear bomb. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was next to the game, announcing his intention to move foreign-exchange holdings out of the dollar and into the euro in October 2005. (Bizarrely, this immediately followed American media support for religious broadcaster Pat Robertson?s call for Chavez?s assassination.) Ahmadinejad and Chavez got their chance to attack the U.S. at the November 2007 Opec summit. ?They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper,? Ahmadinejad told an impromptu press conference, ?We all know that the U.S. dollar has no economic value.? He pushed Opec members to dump the dollar, while Chavez argued for a more Socialist agenda for the group. US ally Saudi Arabia rallied against both calls. Prophesy for 2012? The next Opec summit is held in Libya in 2012. Ahmadinejad has already said he will be urging oil exporting countries to cease accepting the US dollar. At the time of writing (March 2010) the euro is in freefall over the collapse of the Greek economy, and beginning to look like an experiment that failed. The euro might not exist in 2012, or it might be so worthless that no sane Opec leader would contemplate the switch. But what?s to stop Ahmadinejad pushing to trade in a basket of other currencies, including the Chinese yuan? Iran has a special trading relationship with China, in pretty much the way that Saudi Arabia does with the US. The bell tolls According to an October 2009 report in the British Daily Telegraph newspaper, China?s recent actions suggest it is preparing to go head-to-head with the U.S. over reserve currency. It?s worth quoting at length: You can date the end of dollar hegemony from China's decision last month to sell its first batch of sovereign bonds in Chinese yuan to foreigners. Beijing does not need to raise money abroad since it has $2 trillion (?1.26 trillion) in reserves. The sole purpose is to prepare the way for the emergence of the yuan as a full-fledged global currency. It's the tolling of the bell,? said Michael Power from Investec Asset Management. ?We are only beginning to grasp the enormity and historical significance of what has happened.? (Daily Telegraph, China Calls Time on Dollar Hegemony, October 2009) Beijing previously kept the yuan pegged to the dollar, deliberately low to boost exports that keep factories running full tilt, but this is no long term strategy as it risks inflation due to rising domestic demand. The next Great Depression Opec nations account for two-thirds of the world?s oil reserves and one-third of production. If they turn against the dollar en masse in 2012, or if enough oil producing nations individually switch to other currencies, the US economy is over. The last Great Depression was bad enough, but back then the U.S. had vast reserves of oil. The only way out of the next one will be for the nation to export more than it imports. Being realistic, the average Opec leader is deeply conservative and decidedly pro-Western ? educated in the West and arguably reliant on Western expatriates to keep their economies running. But they are under immense pressure to ramp up domestic spending; if nothing else, to fend off Islamic revolution. If the dollar slumps, other currencies would give them more purchasing power on the world market ? their oil is simply worth more sold this way. The question is, how long would they remain loyal to a plummeting dollar? Meanwhile, Russia ? strong again thanks to rising oil prices ? is emerging as a wildcard, ramping up oil and natural gas sales to Europe. Currently trading in euros, Vladimir Putin has let it known he would prefer payment by ruble. It is perhaps no coincidence that the U.S. has a ?missile defence plan? in Eastern Europe. Ostensibly to shield against launches from Iran or North Korea, the Kremlin feels they are squarely aimed against Russia. Committed to Iraq and Afghan presence This economic argument suggests why, despite a new U.S. president coming to power with a mandate of change, the nation remains committed to a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barak Obama, like Nixon, has a guns and butter spending problem: how can he invest in the home economy while maintaining a $3 trillion overseas war? Put simplistically, the best way to ensure Iraq exports oil for greenbacks is to keep the troops there to oversee things. The U.S. also needs control of Afghanistan to exert influence over Central Asian reserves. (It is estimated that the Caspian Sea basin has $12 trillion reserves of oil and natural gas.) Even if this involves a pipeline through Afghanistan, the U.S. does not intend to steal anyone?s oil ? but the nation remains utterly dependent on oil trade continuing in the dollar. There?s a Catch-22 situation here: Obama can?t afford to call the troops home if it means losing a grip on the oil producing regions; he can?t afford to keep them in place if it causes the dollar to weaken. Either way, oil producing nations could turn their backs on U.S. currency. Forty year free ride The world buying oil with dollars has given the U.S. economy a 40-year free ride. Being tied to oil is a great strength, but also a colossal weakness: the day the world stops buying vast amounts of oil is the day the US collapses. Accepting this argument goes some way to explaining why successive U.S. governments: ? can afford to run massive deficits year in, year out ? won?t acknowledge peak oil, alternate energy or global warming (in favour of promoting oil consumption) ? invaded Afghanistan, and maintain a presence in the country ? invaded Iraq, and maintain a presence there ? came head-to-head with France and Germany over Iraq ? threatened Iran ? promote a missile defence plan in Eastern Europe ? look on the rise of China with alarm It has the benefit of being simple (perhaps overly simplistic) but does not rely on illogical rhetoric like having to believe particular presidents are evil or stupid. Disclaimer: the small print I am not attempting to be anti-U.S, nor ?rehabilitate? Iraq or Iran, both of which are longtime rogue states. I am not trying to come up with some sort of universal theory of the world; just look at disparate different events from a unified viewpoint. I?m also aware that placing information in a chronological framework could look like blame or finger-pointing. By far the greatest danger, however, in arguing too strongly for the petrodollar warfare hypothesis I can give the impression that there are no other benefits to the US of its involvement in the Mid East. As a recent column by the excellent writer Charles Hugh Smith observes, the "US has neatly carved out a sphere of influence in the fulcrum of the Mideast." He has drawn a map of US influence that can either be interpreted as surrounding Iran, or else as neatly bisecting the region in a line from the Mediterranean to China. (It probably is both - it's about being close to all oil resources and the major players; no one can embark on colonial ambitions without having to cross US forces). As Smith tells it: It is a strategic power play of breathtaking consequence. Ultimately, the U.S. doesn't have to "win" or even control territory; it simply has to deny control to others, introduce a permanent uncertainty and unease in their plans, and establish forward bases for power projection. Clearly, there is room for both positions - petrodollar warfare and a more traditional view of empire. Soldiers on the ground are a way of keeping the peace, both in military and economic terms. If nothing else - if you reject this argument - oil being traded in the US dollar has given Americans a particular advantage: the price of oil does not fluctuate with their currency. For example, oil becomes a lot more expensive in the UK when the pound sterling slumps in value (against the dollar, that is). British citizens are paying the same dollar price per barrel of oil, but each dollar costs more pounds, so to them, oil has become more expensive.. This essay of mine is an attempt to look at oil from a currency viewpoint, which suggests that the U.S. has more to fear than just peak oil. Hydro-carbon resource collapse is coming; it?s just that bigger threats to the American economy are closer at hand. Personally, I believe that a world be shaped by American ideals is a better place than one shaped a Chinese dictatorship that starved 30 million of their own people. For obvious reasons I do not want the U.S. economy to collapse. Oil will hit peak, and the U.S. economy will fall. The tragedy is that by attempting to stave off more immediate economic threats, the nation is not readying itself to better deal with the more long-term issue life post oil. From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 26 12:55:22 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 11:55:22 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Slow Money Message-ID: <00b201cafd05$3652cba0$a2f862e0$@net> For your information and consideration. From: Ooooby [mailto:mail at ooooby.ning.com] Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 5:16 PM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Slow Money Ooooby A message to all members of Ooooby Slow Money Alliance is a non-profit organisation that is bringing together some of the worlds most eminent thinkers in the sphere of local food and sustainable lifestyles at a conference June 9-11 in Vermont, USA. The Slow Money Principles, which I have signed (and you can sign here ): In order to enhance food security, food safety and food access; improve nutrition and health; promote cultural, ecological and economic diversity; and accelerate the transition from an economy based on extraction and consumption to an economy based on preservation and restoration, we do hereby affirm the following Principles: 1. We must bring money back down to earth. 2. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down -- not all of it, of course, but enough to matter. 3. The 20th Century was the era of Buy Low/Sell High and Wealth Now/Philanthropy Later?what one venture capitalist called ?the largest legal accumulation of wealth in history.? The 21st Century will be the era of nurture capital, built around principles of carrying capacity, care of the commons, sense of place and non-violence. 4. We must learn to invest as if food, farms and fertility mattered. We must connect investors to the places where they live, creating vital relationships and new sources of capital for small food enterprises. 5. Let us celebrate the new generation of entrepreneurs, consumers and investors who are showing the way from Making A Killing to Making a Living. 6. Paul Newman said, "I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out." Recognizing the wisdom of these words, let us begin rebuilding our economy from the ground up, asking: ? What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live? ? What if there were a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits? ? What if there were 50% more organic matter in our soil 50 years from now? Visit Ooooby at: http://ooooby.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network To control which emails you receive on Ooooby, click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From doctorforu123 at yahoo.com Mon May 17 19:15:35 2010 From: doctorforu123 at yahoo.com (javed jamil) Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 18:15:35 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Westernism Part 13 Impact of Dangerous Choices (contd) Message-ID: <116601.14365.qm@web51008.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Westernism: the Ideology of Hegemony By Dr Javed Jamil ? Part 13 Impact of Dangerous Choices (contd) ? To repeat initial submission: When I speak against Westernism, it does not imply that I am against Western nations or people; for people are similar all over the world having both strengths and weaknesses and their behaviour is the product of their inherent tendencies and social and legal system they live in. It is unfortunate that the great work done by Western scientists has been misused by the economic and political powers to damage the lives of their own people and to dominate the whole world. It is the ideology of these economic and political forces that I call Westernism. ? As I have repeatedly used the word ?Westernism?, I have often been asked what exactly Westernism means. I think it is now the right time to throw some light on the subject. I define Westernism as the ideology that primarily revolves around (1) the dominance of economics in the affairs of life and the world in general and that of market economics in particular and (2) the dominance of the world by Western powers through both use and misuse of the great scientific and technological progress their scientists achieved. ? In order to achieve its aims and objectives, the think-tank of Westernism has introduced certain ideas and concepts, which first they defined in a way so as to serve their purposes, and then selectively used them as sticks to beat their opponents. These ideas include Laissez Faire, which is one of the deadliest forms of Economic Fundamentalism, Democracy (Western model), Secularism, Freedom of Choice, Freedom of expression, Human Rights, etc. To achieve these, international institutions were either created or persuaded to follow a certain line. We will discuss all the concepts of Westernism one by one. ? It is also to be pointed out that Westernism as an ideology or its effects are now not limited to Western countries. Most countries of the world are in fact undergoing Westernisation in one way or the other and in varying degrees. The only difference between ?Westernism? and a country?s getting westernised (Westernisation) is that in the former case, the dominance of Western powers is also an important ingredient while Westernisation chiefly refers to adoption of cultural and political ideologies of the West. ? Impact of Gambling Continuing with impact of Dangerous Choices given by Westernism, let us now concentrate on gambling, which too has been prohibited by Qur?an and along with Alcohol has been described as one of the mischievous activities of the devil. It is interesting to note that Qur?an admits some beneficial effects of both gambling and alcohol but still prohibits them because their ?disadvantages outweigh their disadvantages?. Gambling too has certain advantages, which are in fact the motives behind gambling. Describing the benefits, an article says: ? ?Attitudes towards gambling are positively related to availability and cultural acceptability Gambling has been described as an inherent component of human society. We enjoy the thrill of risk and competition. Gambling provides social interaction, escape from stress and boredom, excitement (suspense and anticipation) and social reinforcement (it is desirable to be seen as daring). These general motivational factors are central to gambling. Gambling can of course also provide financial reward or the expectation of it.?? ? Furthermore, there are economic experts who see gambling as a big booster of ?development?. Markets are of course the biggest beneficiaries. But as will be seen below, gambling has highly damaging effects on society as a whole.????????????? ? ?Gambling is a practice that rapidly becomes a habit and then within no time transforms into addiction. Addiction of Gambling is recognised by medical scientists as a disease, which is called pathological gambling. According to the National Research Council, ?pathological gamblers 'engage in destructive behaviours: they commit crimes, they run up large debts, they damage relationships with family and friends, and they kill themselves. With the increased availability of gambling and new gambling technologies, pathological gambling has the potential to become even more widespread'"(p. 4-1). The National Research Council of US states that ?many families of pathological gamblers suffer from a variety of financial, physical, and emotional problems, including divorce, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and a range of problems stemming from the severe financial hardship that commonly results from problem and pathological gambling. Children of compulsive gamblers are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviours such as smoking, drinking, and using drugs, and have an increased risk of developing problem or pathological gambling themselves.? Other problems include crime, loss of employment and bankruptcy. According to NRC, 'As access to money becomes more limited, gamblers often resort to crime in order to pay debts, appease bookies, maintain appearances, and garner more money to gamble.' It has been found that ?28 percent of pathological gamblers attending Gamblers Anonymous reported either that they had filed for bankruptcy or reported debts of $75,000 to $150,000.' (Ladouceur et al. (1994)). social problems due to gambling are even severer. Relatives, friends and employers suffer hugely. Employers complain of loss of work hours, embezzlement and inability to fulfil their financial obligations. NRC report further states: "How can we begin to measure the social impact of individuals who spend their children's milk money or cash their welfare checks to buy lottery tickets, as the Commission heard during visits to convenience stores? We cannot, but the Commission can acknowledge that when gambling is promoted as 'the only way to get ahead' and, in particular, targets those who do not have 'leisure dollars' to spend, the economic and social, indeed, the moral fabric of our nation is damaged." (p. 7-18)? Reports say that one in fifth of gamblers attempt suicide; other reports speak of as high as two third contemplating suicide. ? The impact on familyis equally dangerous. In NORC's survey, 53.5 percent of identified pathological gamblers reported having been divorced, versus 18.2 percent of non-gamblers and 29.8 percent of low-risk gamblers.Further NORC respondents representing two million adults identified a spouse's gambling as a significant factor in a prior divorce. In a survey of nearly 400 Gamblers Anonymous members, 18 percent reported experiencing a gambling-related divorce. Another 10 percent said they were separated as a direct consequence of their gambling.The domestic violence and child abuse are significantly greater problems in the families of gamblers than non-gamblers. Several cases of children dying in cars have been reported, on account of their father or mother leaving them locked and forgetting them, as they joined the casino. ` Economics of Gambling ? According to Wikipedia, the biggest online encyclopedia, ?Gambling has a specific economic definition referring to wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period of time.? In the modern context, gambling is of several types ncluding casino games, such as Table games (Blackjack, Pai Gow Poker, Poker, Teen Patti, Casino War, Craps, Pyramid Poker, etc), Electronic gaming (Slot machine, video game), Sports Betting, Bingo, Non-casino games likeCard games, Coin tossing, Carnival games, fixed odds gambling. ?Parimutual betting, Sports betting, etting on financial indices and many others. ? The major difference between gambling and business is that, while in other businesses, people exchange money with goods, which are of almost the same value as the money, in gambling the exchange is always unequal; most people get nothing out of their money and some people get huge returns much more than the money they spent. The only party that always benefits is the one that runs the gambling business.Global Betting and Gaming Consultants calculates that gamblers worldwide lost a total of $208 billion in 2003?an average of almost $570 million a day!? The money lost by the people was obviously the turnover the gambling industry achieved. While the personal financial losses are astounding, there are a host of other problems that spring up from the gambling craze?According to Nottingham Trent University Research, since 2001, there has been a seven-fold increase in betting alone.? This amounts to 50 billion pounds per year, the equivalent of more than 800 pounds per person.? The number of people using the online advice service from Gamcare has risen from 5,000 people per month to 62,000 per month today.? The average debt reported by people looking for advice is 25,000 pounds. In 2003, the total gambling expenditure by Ontario, Canadaresidents was estimated at $4.04 Billion, of which 35%, or $1.41 Billion, was derived from moderate-to-severe problem gamblers. In the same year, the Ontariogovernment allocated $36 million to problem gambling prevention, treatment and research, a proportionately low amount compared to revenues. The ?U.S. News & World Report says: ?Each year Americans lose $80 billion to gambling in its various forms -- from casinos to bingo to online gambling to horse racing.? Forty-eight states have some form of legalized gambling ? Utahand Hawaiiare the only exceptions.? There are more than 1,200 casinos, card rooms and bingo parlors in the U.S.And casino gambling is extremely popular.? About 73 million Americans visited a casino in 2005-- up from the more than 53 million that did so in 2000.? The rate at which patrons visit casinos is growing, too.? The average gambler visits a casino six times a year, which is almost double the number of trips 10 years ago.? But state lotteries are also extremely popular -- 42 states run them, according to the Education Commission of the States (ECS).? Total lottery profits in the U.S.in 2004 amounted to almost $14 billion.? Gambling has become not only one of the biggest but also one of the fastest growing industries of the world. ?? The same report brings light into one of the ?most promising? industries for financial investors?.The MECN Gambling Industry Index, which tracks a representative group of 47 gambling companies, increased by 39% in the past 12 months. With this performance the Gambling Index outperformed most indices, including the Dow Jones, FTSE, and many other industry-specific indices. ?Stocks of top performers, such as online operator SportingBet or WynnCasinos, rose by about 320% or 181%, respectively, in the past 12 months?.. About 2/3 of the stocks of the 15 largest gambling companies increased by over 40% in the past 12 months?.Europe seems the place to be: 7 out of the top 10 stock performers are European companies.? ? The socio-economic effects of betting on sports and financial indices (as in Stock Market) are even more disturbing, as it affects not only the persons involved in betting racket but also the persons engaged in sports activities and the common people having small shares in the market.? Millions of dollars of the minor shareholders are lost in the process owing to the ups and downs in the market caused by speculation and betting.?Whenever there is a demand on banning alcohol or gambling, there is always a group of economists crying wolf that if they are banned, the state would lose a big source of revenue. This argument is absolutely fallacious; for the proponents of this argument, national economy is nothing more than the economy of the industries and the government. They forget that the real economy is the welfare of the people; if government and industry earn at the cost of the people, this is nothing more than a disaster for the health of the nation.Describing the economic effects of gambling, a report says: ?This study conducted by the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department shows the state?s tax revenue would have been more than $1 billion better off without casino gambling. That is counting the 18% ?fair share? of handle paid by the casinos. The study demonstrates how gambling sucks revenue from other businesses ? businesses that used to pay taxes? (RichardAllenJohnson.com)?It is not difficult to see that if gambling (and alcohol) is banned, the money saved will flow to other businesses, which will not only pay taxes on their returns but will also pay back to the people better things than what gambling (or alcohol) pays in exchange of their money. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From doctorforu123 at yahoo.com Sat May 22 18:58:32 2010 From: doctorforu123 at yahoo.com (javed jamil) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 17:58:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Every woman is a working woman Message-ID: <852631.82074.qm@web51004.mail.re2.yahoo.com> ? Every woman is a working woman ? ? Dr Javed Jamil ? Let me clarify at the outset that I am one of those who have always respected, even campaigned for women?s right to all kinds of education, reproductive rights and right to earn through their own endeavours ? of course within the parameters of Islam. But what has pained me is that these very rights have been and are being used to exploit humankind in general and women in particular. In a world dominated by market economics, ?rights? are always a ploy used by the forces of economics to exploit weaker and vulnerable sections of society. The truth is that almost all human society except a very few has become vulnerable. What further pains me is that women in general and the ?feminists? in particular have allowed their ?right to work? to have been severely misused by the market to the huge loss of mankind. ? The unfortunate thing on the part of women is that they mostly think and behave the way men want them to behave. And men always make them feel that this is what is best for them. Before the onset of Industrial revolution, women normally behaved the way the leading men of the family ? fathers and husbands -- wanted them to. After the onset of Industrial Revolution that led to increasing commercialization of human weaknesses, the role of the family was taken by the market; and women started behaving the way the bosses of the market, mostly men, want them to act ? obviously in the interest of market which caters to the demands of men by exploiting women. The increasing economic independence of women is men-given for their own benefits. Why should women cater only to the desires of husbands, why not for the benefit of as many men as possible? ? Is work without an exchange of currency no work? ? They have not raised the questions that must have been raised with the result that the increasing participation of women in ?economic? activities has resulted in: ? 1.????? Stupendous rise in crimes against women(rapes, sexual assaults, physical assaults, domestic violence); 2.????? Stupendous rise in the market of ?works? that exploit human weaknesseswith the result that sex has become one of the biggest trades; 3.????? Almost complete disintegration of family systemwith huge rise in (a) the level of promiscuity including premarital and extramarital relationships, (b) separation and divorces: (c) men and women becoming single parents in increasingly large numbers; (d) increasingly large number of children being born out of wedlock; (e) increasing large number of children being forced to live with a single parent 4.????? Rise of economic disparity, which has been one of the reasons why the ?working? of women has been promoted at such a huge scale. This has led to bigger concentration of wealth in families where both men and women are working; with the result that they are in a better position to buy the products of the market. (Lesser number of women working will give more opportunities to unemployed youth with better distribution of wealth; but this will not help the cause of the market forces which first create disparity and then thrive on it.) 5.????? Huge number of women themselves becoming involved in degrading and inhuman activities(a) increasingly larger number of women are turning into prostitutes, pornographic actors, posing for nude photographs, giving nude shows in hotels; (b) increasingly large number of women working in casinos; (c) increasingly large number of women aborting their children (50-70 million every year) (d) increasingly large number of women succumbing to homosexuality 6.????? Increasingly large number of women losing livesdue to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and also increasingly large number of women becoming widows. ? ? What is Work? ? The market forces have reduced work to the activities that directly or indirectly benefit them. In the current international system dominated by the market, only an activity that is supportive of the market interests is a desirable economic activity; other activities are either totally disregarded or are given minimal importance. This is why the work is now measured in terms of currency. I will give a few interesting examples. Suppose, a patient comes to a doctor friend and receives medical care worth 20 dollars. But the doctor obliges him by not taking any charges from him. In return, the patient, a Car mechanic, rectifies his car, an activity for which he would normally charge 20 dollars. But he obliges his doctor friend by not charging anything. Now, these activities will not find any place in the Gross Domestic Product of the country, as no currency has been exchanged. If on the other hand, the mechanic would have given the doctor 20 dollars and the doctor would have given the mechanic 20 dollars, an economic activity of 40 dollars would have been recorded. The effect of this definition has been that the work done by women within family even though it is a highly useful economic activity is not recognized as work.? If a woman serves food to her husband, she performs no or an insignificant economic activity but if she serves food to a customer in a hotel, this becomes a significant economic activity. If one sleeps in one?s own house, howsoever palatial it is, he does not perform a significant economic activity, but if he sleeps in a hotel, howsoever cheap it is, it again becomes a significant economic activity.? Women working in brothels are ?Sex workers? but women working in homes are only housewives not house managers.? A working woman by definition is only a woman working outside homes in exchange of currency. Need of the Hour In order to save mankind particularly women from total ruin, we have to rethink our definitions and philosophies: 1.????? We have to recognize -- legally, socially, medically and economically the importance of familyin the creation of a healthy, peaceful and prosperous society; 2.????? We have to recognize that any work, which is useful for society is an economic activity, which should be measured in terms of the benefits it causes rather than in terms of exchange of currency? 3.????? We have to define a work as ?Dangerous?if it causes threat to health, family peace or social order; and Dangerous Economics should be effectively banned; 4.????? We have to recognize the fact that those who have no spouses working must be given preference in jobs. The first preference should be given to widows, orphans, divorces, single women followed by unemployed men. 5.????? A clear preference for certain professionsshould be shown for women seeking work outside homes like Medical, Teaching, Social work involving women and children; 6.? There should be new schemes and plans mooted that make it possible for women to work within the confines of their houses. When there can be outsourcing from one country to other countries, why not from companies to homes? ? My argument is that it is not that women have started working now. Women have always been performing important socio-economic activities. The truth is that every woman is a working woman.Saying that certain women are ?working? degrades other women making them useless beings.? But their role within the family is not recognized as work because that work does not directly benefit the market and does not involve an exchange of currency. The market-designed expulsion of women has resulted in huge problems because it was not intended to help the cause of mankind in general and womankind in particular; it was aimed at giving a boost to the market economy controlled by a very few. The result is that women have lost much more than what they have gained. Their security and peaceful existence and their natural rights and duties ? all have been severely compromised. The whole mankind has suffered but the biggest sufferers have been women and children. The need of the time is to press the point that the security of the people particularly those of the vulnerable sections of society including women must be ensured. Women?s work should be recognized and organized not according to the demands of the market but according to the needs of individual, family and social peace. ? Islam recognizes their work in family as a highly valuable work for which they must be duly compensated for, and gives them the right to work (outside) as well not to work. The modern man has very cleverly shifted some of his burden on the shoulders of women without giving them security. ? I have never tried to say or prove that women are more likely to fornicate. Men are surely more responsible for the rising promiscuity, prostitution, pornography, abortions, crimes against women, and for almost everything. I am also not with those who only want women to behave giving men the entire license to be licentious. To sum up, I am not against women's working outside homes. My write-up highlights the practical consequences of a system that exploits women, and I want a system that allows women to work without compromising their security and without their being used in businesses that commercialize sex. Moreover, I feel that we have to understand that family peace is extremely important for the overall peace of society, and we must find ways to safeguard family system. There is also a strong need to recognize the work at home as important economic activity. For me, every woman is a working woman, whether she works at home or outside. ? I wish there emerged some women leaders who can lead the women in a way that they work for the benefit of humankind as a whole, and are not guided by the mischievous men. ? ???????? Dr Javed Jamil is Executive Chairman, International Centre for Applied Islamics and Chief Editor, ?Islam, Muslims & the World?; and is author of more than a dozen books -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Sat May 22 09:23:45 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 16:23:45 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: The IMF & the Greek Meltdown/Four Big Banks Score Perfect 61-Day Run Message-ID: <4BF7F701.5060305@gn.apc.org> *''If you want to be slaves to banks and pay the cost of your own slavery let the banks create the money''* *''**The IMF & the Greek Meltdown* http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/839.html ========= *Jayati Ghosh: Greece's Debt Must Be Restructured *http://act.commondreams.org/go/654?akid=59.123607.GBFYkU&t=26 ============== Support for Spanish government falls sharply Financial Times ============== *Four Big Banks Score Perfect 61-Day Run* *May 12, 2010, /New York Times/* http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/business/12bank.html It is the Wall Street equivalent of a perfect game of baseball ? 27 up, 27 down, the final score measured in millions of dollars a day. Despite the running unease in world markets, four giants of American finance managed to make money from trading every single day during the first three months of the year. Their remarkable 61-day streak is one for the record books.* Perfect trading quarters on Wall Street are about as rare as perfect games in Major League Baseball. But Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Company produced the equivalent of four perfect games during the first quarter.* Each one finished the period without losing money for even one day. Their showing ... underscored the outsize ? and controversial ? role that trading has assumed at major financial institutions. It also drives home the widening lead that a handful of big banks are enjoying over lesser rivals on post-bailout Wall Street. The four banks ... reaped big rewards without necessarily placing big bets that stocks or bonds would go up or down. ?This is not about hitting home runs,? said Jaidev Iyer, who runs his own risk management consulting firm, J-Risk Advisors. ?This is just, as we call it, milking the market and your captive client base.? *Note:* For an astounding list on the /Forbes/ website of the richest companies in the world by assets, click here . All of the top 10 companies are banks, with collective assets of over $22 trillion! Yet we as taxpayers continue to pay to bail them out when they have problems. Is something wrong with this picture? For a graphic representation of this, click here . And for an abundance of deep reporting in major media articles on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy operations, click here . ================== Finance 202: How We Became Debt Slaves (And Learned to Love It) By Gordon Arnaut Right now, the US Congress is holding hearings about bank wrongdoing. It is very entertaining kabuki theatre, but nothing will change. The Goldman chief (thief?) and his cohorts may take a bit of a grilling, but behind the scenes his bagmen are funnelling millions of dollars into the campaign trunks of every representative, senator (or likely hopeful) in the land. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25449.htm [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103406165469&s=11694&e=001ZgnI7CzAqKDvjYwboityrGcW51HIVLPmhLfHzFK65A0iRo8Eli1Bkh6JwP6LUXtUQEFuo4Wk8cEtWY0pclilj9nxE70PgSJM2MnI5UgVz1bdSm5v2R67cVl7HcgkXVcDb8ebNdmz0L1mUK92Mrc-VsmNquBigbjv ] === -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Tue May 25 00:39:21 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 07:39:21 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Drug Company to Pay Half a Billion Dollar Fine for ILLEGAL Marketing Message-ID: <4BFB7099.1020005@gn.apc.org> *Drug Company to Pay Half a Billion Dollar Fine for ILLEGAL Marketing* http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27drug.html?partner=rss&emc=rss * * For $520 Million, AstraZeneca Will Settle Case Over Marketing of a Drug *By DUFF WILSON *** *Published: April 26, 2010* AstraZeneca has completed a deal to pay $520 million to settle federal investigations into marketing practices for its blockbuster schizophrenia drug, Seroquel. The Justice Department plans a news conference on Wednesday to disclose details of the case, according to two people close to the negotiations who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Add to Portfolio ? *AstraZeneca PLC* Go to your Portfolio ? AstraZeneca becomes the fourth pharmaceutical giant in the last three years to admit to federal charges of illegal marketing of antipsychotic drugs, a lucrative category of medications that have quickly risen to the top of United States sales charts. Aggressive sales and promotional practices have helped expand the use of powerful new antipsychotic drugs for children and the elderly. AstraZeneca will sign a corporate integrity agreement with the federal government over its marketing of Seroquel for unapproved uses, but will not face criminal charges, the people close to the negotiations said. The company, based in London, has been accused of misleading doctors and patients by playing up favorable research and not adequately disclosing studies that show Seroquel increases the risk of diabetes. AstraZeneca still faces more than 25,000 civil lawsuits filed on behalf of patients contending that the company did not disclose the drug's risks. The deal would make formal an agreement in principle the company reached last October with the United States attorney in Philadelphia. At that time, AstraZeneca said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had set aside $520 million in respect to the investigation. The company was facing two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits involving Seroquel sales and marketing practices. One of the investigations related to physicians who had participated in clinical trials. The other inquiry involved sales staff. Details are expected to be announced Wednesday. As a result of aggressive marketing, Seroquel has been increasingly used for children and elderly people for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration . The drugs have caused rapid weight gain in children, and side effects including deaths have prompted warnings against giving the drugs to elderly patients for dementia. Although doctors are permitted to prescribe any approved drug for off-label uses, it is illegal for drug makers to promote medications for any purpose not specifically approved by the F.D.A. Tony Jewell, a company spokesman, declined to comment on Monday. Patricia Hartman, a spokeswoman for Michael L. Levy, the United States attorney in Philadelphia, said she would neither confirm nor deny the report. "We don't have anything public on AstraZeneca," Ms. Hartman said. AstraZeneca, which reported $4.9 billion in Seroquel sales in 2009, plans to report its first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The company will join a series of American pharmaceutical companies that have admitted to illegal marketing after federal investigations and whistle-blower filings and have signed agreements with the government to monitor and avoid such activity in the future. In the largest such case, Pfizer paid $2.3 billion last September, including $1.3 billion in the biggest criminal fine of any type in United States history, for off-label marketing of the painkiller Bextra and other drugs. Bextra was withdrawn from the market in 2005. The Pfizer fine included $301 million for off-label marketing of its antipsychotic drug Geodon. Eli Lilly paid $1.4 billion in January 2009 to settle investigations into illegal marketing of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. Lilly's settlement included a $515 million criminal fine, which until the Pfizer case was the largest such fine ever imposed on a corporation. In 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb and a subsidiary paid $515 million to settle federal and state investigations into marketing of its antipsychotic drug Abilify. The newer generation of antipsychotics has surpassed cholesterol-lowering drugs to become the nation's top-selling category of medications, accounting for $14.6 billion of the nation's $300 billion in drug spending last year, according to the research firm IMS Health. Seroquel, a pill usually taken once or twice a day that sells for more than $4 each, was the fifth-best-selling drug in the United States last year, IMS said. As with other antipsychotics, much of that spending is by the federal government, through the Medicaid and Medicare programs. AstraZeneca, with American headquarters in Wilmington, Del., has previously denied wrongdoing in the Seroquel investigations. It has paid $656 million to defend itself in court against more than 25,000 civil lawsuits, the company said in an S.E.C. filing in January. Those cases are only recently beginning to reach trial. The company has argued that people who were found to have diabetes after taking Seroquel already had diabetes or had existing conditions that made them at high risk of the disease. According to company e-mail unsealed in civil lawsuits, AstraZeneca "buried" --- a manager's term --- a 1997 study that showed Seroquel users gained 11 pounds a year, while publicizing a study that claimed users lost weight. Company e-mail messages also refer to doing a "great smoke-and-mirrors job" on unfavorable studies. /Gardiner Harris contributed reporting./ *A version of this article appeared in print on April 27, 2010, on page B3 of the New York edition.* to leave the EcoTort mailing list, reply with "remove" in the subject line. * * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Tue May 25 06:33:45 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 13:33:45 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: Hay used to CLEAN OIL SLICK Message-ID: <4BFBC3A9.9040208@gn.apc.org> *Hay used to CLEAN OIL SLICK* *http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/844.html* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Fri May 28 05:12:36 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 12:12:36 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Fwd: Banksters aren't betting against Greece alone; they've got plans for Portugal, Ireland, and Spain as well Message-ID: <4BFFA524.5080408@gn.apc.org> http://www.ecotort.gn.apc.org/scandalous.htm *By Richard Clark **Banksters aren't betting against Greece alone; they've got plans for Portugal, Ireland, and Spain as well* Deregulation has brought ever larger and more powerful players to the derivatives market -- namely the big investment banks, which now have what amounts to interest-free money from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (backed by the U.S. taxpayer) with which to gamble. These big, unregulated, financial institutions -"- non-commodity users -- now dominate the commodities markets much more than the commodity users themselves. ======= *By David Glenn Cox* *Money for Nothing and Your Schools for Free* Reduce unemployment? Riddle me this, Batman, how does giving the banks free money help unemployment? We've been giving the banks free money for almost two years now and only bank profits have improved. So is the answer just to keep on doing it and hope for the best? ==== The Truth About the Big Banks' Unprecedented Lobbying Avalanche (May 13, 2010) The six biggest banks in the United States continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby Washington policymakers. The lobbyists have connections with federal agencies through both previous and current employment, creating a conflict of interest and hampering checks-and-balances. This shadow bank lobby is playing a big role in shaping the current financial reforms so as to weaken consumer protection and bank regulation. Without transparency, the "Big Six" army will be difficult to stop and the pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that led to the financial crisis will continue. (/Alternet/) *The Truth About the Big Banks' Unprecedented Lobbying Avalanche (May 13, 2010) * The six biggest banks in the United States continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby Washington policymakers. The lobbyists have connections with federal agencies through both previous and current employment, creating a conflict of interest and hampering checks-and-balances. This shadow bank lobby is playing a big role in shaping the current financial reforms so as to weaken consumer protection and bank regulation. Without transparency, the "Big Six" army will be difficult to stop and the pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that led to the financial crisis will continue. (/Alternet/) ======== *Who are the real Winners in Europe's Bailout (May 11, 2010) * As public funds from around the Eurozone finance Greek debt, European banks will not lose a dollar for their profiteering and over-lending - meanwhile Greek citizens face crippling austerity measures. Banks are the real winners in Europe's bailout as they regain 100 percent of their toxic loans at the expense of taxpayers and citizens. Wealthy European countries lend money to Greece because they themselves would come under great financial pressure if these loans were not repaid. John Talbott explains this predicament of Europe often overlooked in the drama laden debt saga. (/Reuters/) ========= *Portugal Looking More Like Greece (May 7, 2010) * Credit rating agencies and financial speculators wreak havoc on smaller European economies. The fact that credit rating agencies are based in the US, make many European analysts believe that the agencies' activities favor American speculators - who see the falling credit ratings of European countries as an opportunity to turn a quick profit. The impacts of these sliding credit ratings on families, however, are drastic as their interest rates on private loans rise. Countries like Spain, Portugal, and Italy, like Greece have lost the ability to respond to economic pressures. The lack of monetary tools to control currency and stimulate growth makes the deficit and debt targets that financial institutions desire nearly impossible to meet. (/IPS/) reply with remove in the subject line to leave the EcoTort mailing list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecotort at gn.apc.org Mon May 24 05:57:22 2010 From: ecotort at gn.apc.org (EcoTort Theatre) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 12:57:22 +0100 Subject: [GJM] Banksters aren't betting against Greece alone; they've got plans for Portugal, Ireland, and Spain as well Message-ID: <4BFA69A2.10306@gn.apc.org> sorry if you got this twice - wrong date on my computer . . . sorted now (+: http://www.ecotort.gn.apc.org/scandalous.htm *By Richard Clark **Banksters aren't betting against Greece alone; they've got plans for Portugal, Ireland, and Spain as well* Deregulation has brought ever larger and more powerful players to the derivatives market -- namely the big investment banks, which now have what amounts to interest-free money from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (backed by the U.S. taxpayer) with which to gamble. These big, unregulated, financial institutions -"- non-commodity users -- now dominate the commodities markets much more than the commodity users themselves. ======= *By David Glenn Cox* *Money for Nothing and Your Schools for Free* Reduce unemployment? Riddle me this, Batman, how does giving the banks free money help unemployment? We've been giving the banks free money for almost two years now and only bank profits have improved. So is the answer just to keep on doing it and hope for the best? ==== The Truth About the Big Banks' Unprecedented Lobbying Avalanche (May 13, 2010) The six biggest banks in the United States continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby Washington policymakers. The lobbyists have connections with federal agencies through both previous and current employment, creating a conflict of interest and hampering checks-and-balances. This shadow bank lobby is playing a big role in shaping the current financial reforms so as to weaken consumer protection and bank regulation. Without transparency, the "Big Six" army will be difficult to stop and the pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that led to the financial crisis will continue. (/Alternet/) *The Truth About the Big Banks' Unprecedented Lobbying Avalanche (May 13, 2010) * The six biggest banks in the United States continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby Washington policymakers. The lobbyists have connections with federal agencies through both previous and current employment, creating a conflict of interest and hampering checks-and-balances. This shadow bank lobby is playing a big role in shaping the current financial reforms so as to weaken consumer protection and bank regulation. Without transparency, the "Big Six" army will be difficult to stop and the pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that led to the financial crisis will continue. (/Alternet/) ======== *Who are the real Winners in Europe's Bailout (May 11, 2010) * As public funds from around the Eurozone finance Greek debt, European banks will not lose a dollar for their profiteering and over-lending - meanwhile Greek citizens face crippling austerity measures. Banks are the real winners in Europe's bailout as they regain 100 percent of their toxic loans at the expense of taxpayers and citizens. Wealthy European countries lend money to Greece because they themselves would come under great financial pressure if these loans were not repaid. John Talbott explains this predicament of Europe often overlooked in the drama laden debt saga. (/Reuters/) ========= *Portugal Looking More Like Greece (May 7, 2010) * Credit rating agencies and financial speculators wreak havoc on smaller European economies. The fact that credit rating agencies are based in the US, make many European analysts believe that the agencies' activities favor American speculators - who see the falling credit ratings of European countries as an opportunity to turn a quick profit. The impacts of these sliding credit ratings on families, however, are drastic as their interest rates on private loans rise. Countries like Spain, Portugal, and Italy, like Greece have lost the ability to respond to economic pressures. The lack of monetary tools to control currency and stimulate growth makes the deficit and debt targets that financial institutions desire nearly impossible to meet. (/IPS/) reply with remove in the subject line to leave the EcoTort mailing list __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5140 (20100524) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 26 20:21:28 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 19:21:28 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Holding Banks Responsible by Community Organizing Message-ID: <00ff01cafd43$8e9906b0$abcb1410$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS I expect we are going to see more of this. Published on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 by New America Media Holding Banks Responsible by Community Organizing by Anuja Seith San Jose, Calif. -- Last Friday, when the Bank of America opened a new branch on King Road in East San Jose, protestors holding white flowers in their hands gathered outside the building. The flowers, organizers said, symbolized the community's loss of faith with the bank. ["We could have great leverage if more municipalities call for bank responsibility within their jurisdiction." (A protest of the bank bailouts and home foreclosures outside a Bank of America in Boston. photo by Flickr user Adam Pieniazek)]"We could have great leverage if more municipalities call for bank responsibility within their jurisdiction." (A protest of the bank bailouts and home foreclosures outside a Bank of America in Boston. photo by Flickr user Adam Pieniazek) East San Jose is at the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in the Bay Area. People Acting in Community Together (PACT), an affiliate of the People Improving Communities through Organizing- (PICO) National Network, organized the event, and brought about a dozen people together who planned to divest from the Bank of America. While PACT is focusing on San Jose, PICO, a national network of faith-based community organizations, is taking initiatives in other parts of the country. Vice Mayor Judy Chirco and candidates running for district 5 City Council attended the event. District 5 candidate J. Manuel Herrera said he has had an account with the bank for almost 40 years, "I declare my intent to divest from Bank of America within 30 days," he said. "It is no longer acceptable for banks to solely focus on their profits with no consideration for community and environment." The action in San Jose stemmed from a survey PACT did last year in their congregations to assess how the foreclosure crisis had affected them. The survey revealed that when it comes to loan modifications, Bank of America had the worst record in the community. The protestors claimed that Bank of America was not using the money available through Obama's Home Affordable Program (HAMP) to keep families in their homes. Protestors said that the money they moved out of Bank of America would be invested into more socially responsible institutions. "We realize bank accountability is a larger issue, so we are encouraging congregations, individuals, cities and counties to look at how banks are serving their communities," said Lucy Kolin, national spokesperson for PICO. "If we can get more and more money out of these big banks then we can catch their attention." According to Adam Kruggel, executive director of Contra Costa Interfaith (CCISCO), which is a member of PICO National Network, "The initial plan for this strategy stemmed from the fact that families and congregations were tired of banks using (their customers') money to exploit our communities. "Our idea is that the congregations and large institutions -- unions, schools, universities, pension funds, local and state governments - should start moving their deposits and investments out of banks that are not working to keep families in their homes." The network is working to identify banks and credit unions that are committed to ending predatory lending. Gina Gates and Mercy Martinez, both PACT leaders, had moved their money out of the Bank of America and put it into credit unions in their communities. "This was the same bank that is giving huge bonuses to its executives but wouldn't do my loan modification," Martinez said. "You feel struck as they keep making you go back and forth without doing anything." She said that interest on her loan had skyrocketed, making it difficult to make payments. "Bank of America is coming in and not doing loan modifications. Neither are they lending to our small businesses so why should they be here," said Gates. "We think banks only understand dollars. So, we are voting with our dollars." But Richard Simon, spokesperson for the bank's home loans division defended the bank: "Providing solutions to distressed homeowners has been, and remains, a central focus for Bank of America, and we have been at the forefront of industry efforts." According to Simon, "Bank of America has been quite responsive to PICO and its affiliates." Bank officials had multiple face-to-face meetings with PICO leaders, he said. Protestors however, claimed that despite their interactions with Bank of America executives, nothing had changed. They hoped that by divesting their accounts, it would force the bank to clean up its act. Recently, the Los Angeles city council unanimously passed the Banking Responsibility Ordinance introduced by councilmember Richard Alarc?n a year-and-a-half ago. The ordinance directs the treasury to prepare a scorecard and grade banks based on their performance and their service to the community. The evaluations would then be sent to the city council. "The whole notion behind this initiative is that the governments need to use public dollars wisely," Kruggel explained. "We could have great leverage if more municipalities call for bank responsibility within their jurisdiction." Protestors said that if more cities and counties adopted similar measures, big banks would be more likely to change their corporate policies. Copyright ? 2010 Pacific News Servi Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 13763 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Wed May 26 22:59:26 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 21:59:26 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Even Out Your Mood With Food Message-ID: <011401cafd59$a31c54a0$e954fde0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS This article is best viewed from the URL below as it has an associated video with it. Recall also that coffee, particularly when combined with sugar and cream, creates spikes accompanied by drops in energy. If you need a boost, better to try raw chocolate which provides a real energy boost due to the number of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in it. http://www.joybauer.com/healthy-living/good-mood-food.aspx Even Out Your Mood With Food It's possible to beat back the blues - or an attack of the grumpies - by watching what (and when!) you eat. Joy Bauer explains how what you eat can help boost your moodIf you sometimes find yourself short-tempered and irritable - quick to snap at your friends, family members, and co-workers - you may be in need of a better eating plan. One of the biggest contributors to either a sudden or a chronic low mood is a drop in blood sugar, or glucose. Snacking on concentrated sweets is not an effective solution for the long term, however, because the spike in sugar they induce is usually followed by a mood-destroying drop, which can leave you feeling fatigued, agitated, and depleted. You can go a long way toward maintaining an even blood sugar level by heeding the following tips: Eat every four to five hours. Eating consistently throughout the day - every four to five hours - provides your brain and body with a constant source of fuel and can prevent dips in your blood sugar levels. Some people with diagnosed hypoglycemia may need to eat even more frequently (every two to three hours). Today Show Video: Joy Bauer Talks About Food and Mood Limit refined carbohydrates. Concentrated sources of sugar, like soda, candy, fruit juice, jam, and syrups, can cause radical spikes (and drops) in your blood sugar, which ultimately leave you feeling grumpy and tired. Refined starches, such as white bread, crackers, bagels, and rice, often produce the same effect because they break down quickly in your digestive system to form blood sugar. Stick with whole-grain versions of these foods, which are digested more slowly because of their higher fiber content and which therefore keep your blood sugar stable. Combine high-quality carbohydrates with lean protein. Protein combined with high-fiber carbohydrates (specifically those rich in soluble fiber, like oats, barley, and certain fruits and veggies) has the ability to slow the absorption of sugar in your blood and lessen mood swings. Try an egg-white omelet loaded with veggies for breakfast, grilled chicken and peppers in a whole-grain tortilla for lunch, shrimp-broccoli stir-fry for dinner, and celery sticks with peanut butter or nonfat yogurt with berries as snacks. In addition to the role food can play in regulating your blood sugar, studies have shown that certain nutrients in food can positively affect mood. Indeed, some nutrients influence the function of specific neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) in the brain. Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and folic acid. Omega-3 fatty acids are present in the brain at higher levels than any other part of the body, and of particular interest is the ability of omega-3 fats to help alleviate depression. Omega-3 fats can be found in fatty fish like wild salmon, sardines, and Atlantic mackerel, and to a lesser extent in ground flaxseeds, walnuts, and omega-3-fortified eggs. If you'd like to try fish oil supplements, consult your physician. Folic acid, also called folate, also seems to be important in regulating mood, and some studies have shown that low levels of this B vitamin in the blood are related to depression. If you're experiencing the blues on a regular basis, you should report this to your doctor. But if you're having some transitory moodiness, try to include leafy greens, fortified breakfast cereal, sunflower seeds, soybeans, beets, and oranges - all of which are rich in folic acid - into your diet. Also, consider a multivitamin that provides 100 percent of the daily value for folic acid. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 174 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 11:47:54 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 10:47:54 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Transition US Newsletter - May 2010 Message-ID: <00a001cafdc4$fc5dbf20$f5193d60$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS If you have not as yet joined the Transition Movement, I urge you to do so now. As we move into more chaos, which is bound to happen as we come face-to-face with the end of cheap oil, an unprecedented in scope economic crisis, food shortages due to inability to get produce from point of production to point of sale due to increases in oil costs, coupled with the effects of global climate change, we must become very well organized in order to meet and manage the magnitude of change that lays before us. And we cannot count on government to do it for us ? we must do this ourselves ? government is too busy waging war. In order for us to be effective in managing this change, communication is most important, but even more important is obtaining valid information upon which we can make informed and intelligent decisions. And this is an important function of TransitionUS. As communities move into resource management and the design of sustainable living communities, each community as it comes on line needs to know what other communities before it have done and what they can replicate that has worked. But, everyone also needs to be aware as soon as it comes on line, what new and innovative concepts have been discovered and applied in other communities. What we don?t need is people trying to reinvent the wheel each time a community makes the decision to re-localize and/or create a new sustainable living community. Les Squires has done an excellent job of setting up the frame work for a grid that crosses the U.S. and moves into other countries so that other emerging organizations can link into what has already been established. But let us concentrate on getting the U.S. and Canada set up first and then move offshore into other countries. I will be providing an update on what Future Dawning Enterprises is doing in a few days. But what our main mission is about is finding 1 million of the most creative people we can find to address the ?unprecedented in past recorded history? challenges the human family faces today and bring them together on the www.Futuredawning.org website. This website is set up as a virtual learning center and think tank. We have been held up both by my illness and NINGs decision to dispense with its free websites and we are busy addressing this issue right now. However, please be aware that another focus of Future Dawning Enterprises is to unite the larger movements that are already underway so that we are speaking with one voice. And I will address more of this in another message. But, I again urge you to join TransitionUS and get the message out to other friends and family members, business associates, etc. so that we are fast becoming a united Civil Society speaking with one voice for freedom and justice for all. We cannot continue to war against one another and expect to survive this crisis. With love and in gratitude to all for all that we do together. We must be the change we wish to see in our lives. M Gandhi From: Transition US [mailto:info=transitionus.org at mcsv65.net] On Behalf Of Transition US Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:54 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Transition US Newsletter - May 2010 Email not displaying correctly? Read this newsletter online. Transition US Newsletter Welcome! We hope you enjoy the format of this newsletter - we are experimenting and would love to hear your feedback. Email us at newsletter at transitionus.org This Issue: Transition Initiatives <> & Stories Trainings <> & Online Workshops Transition US Blog <> Resources <> Web Update <> Transition Network News <> Post Carbon Institute <> Green Choice Campaign <> Related Events <> Web links Transition 101 Take Action Support Transition US _____ Upcoming Events Training for Transition (T4T) (click to host a Training course): June 5-6 Asheville, NC June 25-26 Vancouver, BC, Canada June 26-27 Durham, NH photo T4T Oklahoma City, OK Common Challenges: How the Transition Process Helps Build Community Resilience Thurs. June 10 (5:00-6:00pm PST Online) WEBINAR: What are some of the typical challenges that Transition Initiatives experience? Join Tina Clarke and others for a discussion of some of the "tricky bits" of translating the Transition process into different types of U.S. communities. ( more) Monthly Transition Salon Thurs. June 17 (11:00am-12:15pm PST) This monthly conference call is an open dialogue space where Transition Initiative leaders around the US meet voice-to-voice, celebrate, network, swap ideas, get help, give help, and learn together...( more) See online trainings archive for recordings of past webinars. _____ Transition US Blog Our blog team has been busy - read posts by Joanne Poyourow of Transition LA, exploring climate change and getting to 350ppm, and the nitty-gritty of community resilience, Trathen Heckman of Daily Acts on the recent 350 Garden Challenge, and last but not least an inaugural post by our guest blogger Janaia Donaldson of Peak Moment TV on their upcoming Pacific Northwest tour. _____ Resources Find Your Power: A Toolkit for Resilience & Positive Change by Dr Chris Johnstone Foreword by Rob Hopkins (Permanent Publications, 2010) With a background in medicine, psychology and groupwork, Dr. Chris Johnstone is a specialist in the psychology of positive change. After working for many years as an addictions specialist in the UK health service, he now focuses on teaching, training and writing. Chris has been active in the Transition movement, contributing to a chapter on the psychology of change in The Transition Handbook - see Rob Hopkins' recent interview with Chris. Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society by Andr?s R. Edwards Foreword by Bill McKibben (New Society Publishers, 2010) Thriving Beyond Sustainability draws a collective map of individuals, organizations and communities from around the world that are committed to building an alternative future - one that strives to restore ecological health, reinvent outmoded institutions and rejuvenate our environmental, social and economic systems. The projects and initiatives profiled are meeting the challenges of the day with optimism, hope and results, leading the way in: relocalization, green commerce, ecological design, environmental conservation, social transformation. (read more) _____ image Last month we participated in the Green Choice Campaign 2010 which sought to identify organizations who are showing environmental stewarship. Thanks to your support, we made the GreatNonprofits' Top-Rated Environmental Nonprofits List, along with some of our favorite organizations, including the Pachamama Alliance. Thanks for your positive reviews! _____ Submit Your News If you've come across some useful resources, are involved in projects or have ideas for projects related to Transition that you would like to share in this newsletter please feel free to submit them to us at newsletter at transitionus.org Follow Transition US on twitter and facebook or subscrible via RSS ! This newsletter redesign was inspired by Transition Newburyport's excellent newsletter. Top banner image from the Transition Laguna Beach Great Unleashing. logo Transition US Newsletter // May 2010 Greetings and Happy Spring! What a crescendo of inspiring events we have seen in these past few weeks: Great Unleashings <> in Whatcom County, WA, Carrboro-Chapel Hill, NC, Bloomington, IN and Laguna Beach CA; the first statewide Transition gathering in Vermont <> ; and in our own backyards (literally) the rustle of people building gardens in the 350 garden challenge (in the end over 600 new gardens were installed)! Detroit will figure prominently next month as it hosts the US Social Forum, June 22-26 <> . If you are going consider one of the workshops TUS Board Member Dave Room and Transition Trainers Tina Clark and Bill Aal will be facilitating on Building Community Resilience and Economic Well-Being and Social Equity. Our friends at Bay Localize will be there too. For those in California: Vote NO on Prop. 16! This is a PG&E monopoly protection scheme that closes the door to local clean energy. This kind of grab from local control has implications across the nation. We?ll end with a reminder that TUS was given a challenge grant of $100,000. To all whose generosity has shone through with donations of $10 - $20 or $250 ? Thank you! We are $5,091.60 closer. _____ Transition Initiatives Transition Initiatives are continuing to emerge in communities around the world. Browse the initiatives map and learn more about becoming an Official Transition Initiative . This month, we welcome two official Transition Initiatives: * Transition Montague in Massachusetts * Transition Silicon Valley in California photo A May Round-up of What?s Happening out in the World of Transition Some highlights of what's keeping Transition Initiatives busy across the country and around the world...( more) photo Great Unleashings Across the Country Recaps of the Unleashing events in Carrboro-Chapel Hill, NC, Bloomington, IN and Laguna Beach, CA ...(more ) photo Vermont State Transition Organizers Meet Organizers from Transition Initiatives in Vermont gathered in Montpelier, VT for the first Vermont State Transition Organizers Meeting...(more ) photo Growthbusters Film: Hooked on Growth Transition US leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area were interviewed for a film that plans to feature Transition as an alternative...(more ) photo Transition Media, PA: Beginnings Great article telling the story of how Transition Media in Pennsylvania got started by Art Carey, Inquirer Staff Writer....(more ) photo Tucson takes it up a notch: Cyclovia Tucson In Arizona, members of Sustainable Tucson, 29th Official Transition Initiative in the US, have been collaborating with the folks planning Cyclovia for Tucson...(more ) photo Big media in the big city Transition LA has been capturing attention across the board from the South LA Earth Fest to the kickoff of their local LETSystem for community-based finances...(more ) Read more stories online. _____ Web Update The Transition movement has grown in a large part due to the tools and connectedness made possible through the web. Its important for us to think about our dependence on the web in the work that we do and find ways to make our technology resilient just as we would think of other aspects of our community. Ed Mitchell, Web Co-ordinator with the Transition Network provides an excellent overview of the recent developments with the Ning social networking platform and options for transition initiatives going forward. You can also join the discussion about options for current Ning site users following Les Squire's 'Open Message to all Transitioners ' on the US Transition Ning social networking site. Announcing Transition Drupal At the April DrupalCon San Francisco conference the open-source Transition Drupal project was kicked off. Drupal is a popular website management system that specializes in creating social networks (its tag line is "community plumbing"). Most of the conversation about the project itself is taking place at groups.drupal.org/transition-towns (anyone can register for an account). There will be plenty of ways throughout the project to help. Learn more here. _____ Transition Network News * Energy Descent Action Plans for cities: some thoughts? * An Interview with Peter North, author of ?Local Money: how to make it happen in your community? * An Online Chat to the City of Edmonton * A Chance to Learn How to Replicate Growing Communities in your Community * Exclusive Interview: Chris Johnstone on Inspiration, Finding Your Power and Transition * Valuable Research Explores the Growth of Transition in Dorset * Totnes EDAP Launch Part Two: ?the single most important book about Totnes ever published? If you're interested in receiving updates from the Transition Network in the UK, where it all began, you can sign up for their newsletter here . _____ Partner Update: Post Carbon Institute Visit www.postcarbon.org for more articles, reports and news With the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico shining a spotlight on the high cost of our oil dependence PCI offered 12 Fresh Angles on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill , from our Fellows. This month also saw the release of more of our PCI Fellows videos. Find out what inspired Brian Schwartz to devote his life to public health and how the realization that energy resources are finite led him to a deeper understanding of what will be the largest public health challenges in the future. (Photocredit: freefoto.com) _____ Related Events image Slow Money's 2nd National Gathering June 9-11, Shelburne Farms, VT The beautiful grounds of historic Shelburne Farms. A phenomenal roster of speakers, including Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org . The chance to hear investment presentations from two dozen small food enterprises and collaborate with folks... (read more, including a special discount for Transition US supporters) Transition Network 2010 Conference June 12-14, Seale-Hayne, UK This year?s conference will feature a dazzling smorgasbord of open space and inspiring workshops, including some longer in-depth sessions, skill shares, project shares, networking, entertainment, all your meals, lots of meaningful fun and frivolity, and hopefully you! Details + registration. US Social Forum June 22-26, Detroit, Michigan Featured workshops: Building Community Resilience: This interactive workshop will provide an overview of why the Transition process is so successful in building community resilience and how communities are going about implementing it. The workshop will be led by Tina Clarke (Transition Trainer) and Dave Room (TUS Board Member). Read more. Economic well-being and social equity: The global Transition Network, U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (SEN) and BALLE/Local First are three movements creatively rebuilding local economies and networks of mutual support. Join David Korten, Tina Clarke and leaders of these networks to explore the ideas, principles, methods and programs that are helping people around the world strengthen community economic well-being and social equity. Read more. Get involved * Spread the word: forward this newsletter to a friend * Browse the project guides, online training archives for ideas on organizing * Hold an informational meeting in your home, show a film or organize a Transition Salon ( what is a Transition Salon?) * Form a group that is ? Mulling? it over? start a Transition Initiative * Contact us for more information at info at transitionus.org Learn more: Transition US // Transition Network // Transition Culture You are subscribed to the Transition US mailing list. Unsubscribe maryrose333 at att.net from this list | Forward to a friend | Update your profile Transition US is a nonprofit organization that provides inspiration, encouragement, support, networking, and training for Transition Initiatives across the United States. We are working in close partnership with the Transition Network, a UK based organization that supports the international Transition Movement as a whole. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 12:37:56 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 11:37:56 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Sugar Linked to Mental Problems in Kids Message-ID: <00aa01cafdcb$f8bffac0$ea3ff040$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS I cannot help but wonder why we have catered to the soft drink companies all these years, making them wealthy at the cost to our own personal well-being. Are we nuts or something? And, I cannot help but ask if sugar is linked to mental problems in kids only. Let's get out of this M.O. fast! And move into healthier lifestyles. http://www.lifescript.com/Health/Conditions/Diabetes/Tips/Sugar%20Linked%20t o%20Mental%20Problems%20in%20Kids.aspx?utm_campaign=2010-05-27-50622 &utm_source=living-with-diabetes&utm_medium=email&utm_content=tip-of-day_Sug ar%20Linked%20to%20Mental%20Proble&VID=50622&FromNL=1&sc_date=20100527T000 Sugar Linked to Mental Problems in Kids By The Lifescript Editorial Staff Published May 27, 2010 http://images.lifescript.com/Media/Taxonomy/food/Beverages/soda_article.jpg A bubbly, refreshing soft drink from the school vending machine just may be putting your child at risk of mental and behavioral problems, one study warned. Published in theAmerican Journal of Public Health, the study by Norwegian researchers takes aim at sugar-laden beverages that have been found to play a key role in the type 2 diabetes epidemic among young people. Researchers studied sugar consumption and mental and behavioral health among a sample of more than 5,000 high school students between the ages of 15 and 16. The majority of students in the sample reported drinking between one and six servings of soft drinks a day. Those whose consumption was at the higher end of that range were significantly more likely to suffer from hyperactivity and distress than those who rarely or never drank the sugary beverages. In addition, sugary drink-guzzlers were more likely to exhibit truant and disruptive behavior at school. Overall, boys were found to be five times more likely than girls to be heavy soda consumers. Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3801 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 15:28:10 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 14:28:10 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Among the Teabaggers Message-ID: <00dd01cafde3$b97fbb80$2c7f3280$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for this one. What concerns me about people like Horowitz and the Teabaggers is that their narrow-minded vision, which propels them to disseminate so many lies, is that this will lead to conflict along the U.S. Border and force Obama to declare martial law. While there may be many who do not like the way government is handling things, to bring people together and inflame them with inciteful lies is not the way to counteract the situation and bring about peaceful resolution. Horowitz and other Teabaggers should read Daniel Goleman's books on Emotional, Social, and Environmental Intelligence, all which are about learning how to handle things in more mature ways. This stuff coming from the Republican Right is pure "10-year olds in the playground" kind of mentality that serves none of us. But, of course, like attracts like and those who are immature are the ones who are going to flock to this type of meeting. Its time for the Republican Right-wingers and Teabaggers to grow up and learn how to communicate and act in a responsible manner that seeks justice while promoting peace. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 10:52 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Among the Teabaggers "The gathering was overwhelmingly white?no African Americans and very few even moderately brown faces. " Horowitz the Flim Flam Man Among the Teabaggers http://www.counterpunch.org/ward05272010.html By RICHARD WARD May 27, 2010 I had less fun than Voltaire and am not a philosopher but a certain curiosity found me at a dinner a few evenings ago held by the Albuquerque Tea Party featuring as guest speaker the right?s own aging billy goat, David Horowitz. Flim flam man, wannabe Borscht Belt entertainer and pint-sized demagogue, Horowitz held forth for two hours in a room at the Albuquerque Convention Center, thoroughly teabagging the credulous crowd of middle-aged and older white folks, ordinary Americans justifiably outraged at the mendacity, hypocrisy and sheer elitist arrogance of their own government, whether Republican or Democrat, and who, to their credit, are actively seeking avenues for a redress of grievances. The gathering was overwhelmingly white?no African Americans and very few even moderately brown faces. Unusual was a tall young man who looked Central Asian, a Pakistani, or Indian, maybe, certainly not a Muslim. Horowitz expelled half his verbal gas hatefully excoriating the Muslim religion, which the crowd seemed to accept routinely and in some cases with vociferous approval. The vibe in the room when Horowitz talked about immigration and the ?corrupt culture? of Mexico (?culture,? not ?system,? or even ?culture of corruption?) was palpably ugly. Our waiters and waitress were mostly brown skinned people who served us impassively. When Horowitz praised the ?great governor of Arizona? the crowd cheered heartily. I sat at a table with five others, all white, middle class, elderly, perfectly nice people. The guy on my left, Dan, was a retired electrical engineer from Sandia National Labs who moved to Albuquerque in 1953 when many of the city?s main streets were still unpaved. I tried engaging him but he was so tight-lipped that after a while I gave up. Maybe it was the years working in the labs. He was a lifelong Republican and not normally active politically but moved by the present situation to check out the Tea Party. The guy on my right, Tony, was a long time Albuquerque resident, originally from Corning, New York, home of Corning Glass Works, the folks who brought you Pyrex. Tony was an affable, remarkably fit guy for someone in his mid seventies, more interested in talking sports than politics. Next to him was his wife, Joan, demure and pleasant-looking, probably 20 years younger than Tony, the most outwardly political of the group. Her main concern was education and the leftists who control it, a big theme of Horowitz?s. This was a pretty dull table and a pretty dull gathering but there were pockets of true believers scattered around the room, including one woman near me who intoned loud amens as Horowitz spoke and one large, powerful-voiced woman who, during the Q & A, vowed to defend the country from progressives. It takes a lot to get the older set worked up, which is one reason fear of the Tea Party is likely exaggerated. No flesh-rending Brown Shirt brigade this group, though younger, more passionate recruits remains a possibility. At the end of the function I asked some questions of one of the event?s organizers, a pleasant middle-aged man a bit uptight in his responses, which he formulated carefully. One of the founders of the Albuquerque Tea Party (which, by the way, has one of Jasper Johns? flag paintings as its website background, a curiosity), his main concerns were the wastes of taxation, which he sought to prove in a brief mental exercise taught by one of his economics professors, government intrusion on privacy (he disliked the Patriot Act, which he thought Obama would eliminate or at least weaken, alas) and the strengthening of the free enterprise system, which he felt was under unrelenting attack by progressives. When I asked him to define progressivism, he said it was the most dangerous of all movements, lumping socialism, statism, Nazism, fascism, FDR and Woodrow Wilson together in a toxic brew lapping at the shores of liberty. He was nervous throughout, asking at one point if I was recording his words. Only up here, I said, pointing to my head. The main attraction though was Horowitz, the awareness and pleasure of which he barely concealed standing in front of the silver-haired rubes gazing in polite if not rapt attention. He is a man comfortable with his notoriety and reputation as one of the right?s leading intellectuals, especially in front of a crowd he obviously feels superior to. After all, this was Albuquerque. He hammered the Democratic Party relentlessly, a pathetically easy target, deservedly despised by sensible people for their mealy-mouthed hypocrisy. But for Horowitz the evil of the Democrats lies much deeper. Forget liberals, he said, waving his arms, these guys are communists. Communists! Collectivists whose dangerous messianic beliefs control academia, the media and even the Pentagon! Surely, I thought, as Horowitz carried on, the guy can?t be serious. Islam is the only religion, he railed, that makes martyrs out of mass murderers. The males go to heaven and consort with 34 Virginians. Virginians! Was he making a joke? Does he know something about Virginians that I don?t? Maybe. Horowitz is a curious cat. A guy who was raised by communist parents and spent his youth involved in leftist causes who now goes at it with equal fervor from the other side. He is probably not a self-hating Jew, but he could be a self-hating communist. Nothing, certainly not facts, will deter him. Nidal Hasan killed 39 people at Fort Hood, he said. The number, still horrific, was 12. Maybe he was confusing him with Baruch Goldstein, but then, that was only 29. There was nothing in Palestine except ?three strips of desert? and the scattered remnants of a dead Turkish empire when the state of Israel was created in 1948. ?There were no Palestinians!? a woman in the audience shouted when he said this. ?Amen!? said the woman at the table next to me. Horowitz assured the audience repeatedly that he knew what was really going on with the communists because he?d been there and seen the light?a special envoy, as it were. He and a few others were ?second thoughters.? He talked about the Manichaeism of the Democrat/communists and how they saw the world in dangerous, simplistic, religious terms. Earlier in his talk, to get things warmed up, he?d said the Democrats were the serpent in the Garden of Eden, wanting to be as gods. The audience loved this. His two great enemies are the Muslim world, determined to wipe Israel and the United States off the map, and the Democrat/communists, infiltrating every corner of American life. Horowitz seemed genuinely passionate about the communist stuff but he didn?t look as menacing as McCarthy. No firm numbers on the infiltration either, though liberal academia, another b?te noire, is filled to the brim. The Tea Party is not a dangerous or powerful movement but, as others have pointed out, prone to capture or influence by venomous oddballs like Horowitz with more clearly delineated right wing agendas. There is too much muddled thinking, lack of focus and old age to solidify into a strong independent movement. What likely will happen is that their angry, confused energy will be swallowed by an increasingly right wing Republican Party, the Patraeuses and Palins, resulting in a stronger, deadlier version of business as usual. The Teabaggers have at least one thing right: our present government is an enemy. But like any gusher without real direction, they?ll likely as not get swept away by a stronger, loopier current. Richard Ward lives in New Mexico. He can be reached at: r.ward47 at gmail.com From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 19:00:48 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 18:00:48 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Cute video to honor the mothers around us Message-ID: <010201cafe01$77327ba0$659772e0$@net> From: Mary Nelson [mailto:m_nelson at aperdat.com] Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 12:43 PM To: 'mary rose' Subject: RE: Cute video to honor the mothers around us Mary Rose, We could honor the mothers around us, human and more-than-human, by stopping the killing by stopping industrial civilization. I have a deep and painful gut response to this patriarch telling us anything about mothers. Forgive me. Did you see the video of Michelle Obama last week blowing off the fears of the little girt asking her why her mother is being deported? Disgusting! http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/item/second-grader-asks-michelle-obama-about-immigration-reform Forgive me again. MaryN Mary, I feel you know that there is not anyone more concerned about the Border issues than I, having written the Hands Across The Border: Operation Lifesave Proposal which was directed toward the migration issue and questioned the real cause of this movement of people from South to North. The proposal as well suggested a solution to the problem and was endorsed by two sitting presidents in Mexico. For a very long time, the land in Mexico has been severely eroded by both 1) the cutting down of the rainforests in order to raise more beef cattle for shipment into the U.S. and to Europe to satisfy the demands in these countries for meat, and 2) by Big Oil as they have cut the forests in order to extract the ?black gold? that lies underground. And, in this respect, the people of Mexico have for years been victimized by those on both sides of the Border who would play games with their lives in order that one country could enrich the lives of the other. I have several times written that the U.S. could not have developed such a large middle class were it not for the fact that we practiced ?colonialism? for years, raping the undeveloped countries through devious business practices while at the same time sowing propaganda as to how good we were being to these countries with our ?token? programs that were exactly that. And I am not going to go deeper into this now except to say that when the World Bank made loans to Third World Countries like Mexico, they were called ?Structural Adjustment Loans? meaning that the pay back terms were structured in such a way as to be highly beneficial to the U.S., but very detrimental to countries like Mexico. Which is why there has been such a demand as the truth became known about how these loans were structured to have them forgiven so these already poor countries could dig themselves out of the coffins the loans and their payback terms had encapsulated them in. And, now living here just 5 mile north of the Border and witnessing what is happening right here in my own small community as the hatred of Mexicans explodes, largely due to misunderstandings of what is really taking place, I am appalled by the lack of compassion by Americans human beings no different than themselves except for what the circumstances of their environment has brought them. One of the things that needs to be brought out here is that the developing countries have as valuable amount of assets as do the G-8. However, under the terms of colonialization, the developing countries were denied the educational benefits that the developed countries had. So, while as much or more ?equity? was available to the developing countries as was available to the developed countries, the means to structure the documentary papers needed to legitimize these assets and make them available in the form of loans, was not taught. As a consequence, the developing countries never acquired the means by which to mortgage properties and withdraw large amounts of cash which could then be used to ?leverage? one?s way into other land holdings or make large investments into business opportunities. However, let me say also that things have changed and the fear today is largely due to the fact that the big drug cartels have now moved into the Mexico ? U.S. Border area from the South, and the famous L.A. and New York gangs have moved into the Border area from the north in order to take advantage of the large sums of money being made from drug dealing. But as always, we want to identify the ?source? of the problem in order to solve it. And the source is the large number of those living in the U.S. who use 40% of the world?s illegal drug production with only 0.05% of the world?s population. But we here in the U.S. also use goodness only knows how much of the world?s legal drug production in the form of pharmaceuticals. And, let me insert here that the findings of the Shovel Up II Report from Columbia University, March 2009, detailing the affects of Substance Abuse on Local, State, and Federal Budgets indicates that pharmaceutical drugs present far more of a problem than do illegal drugs. Nevertheless, as those in the know have stated over and over again, as long as there is a demand for drugs of this magnitude, there is no way to stop them from coming across the Border. No wall or no Border Patrol units can stem the flow of drugs when the profit factor is so lucrative. But what is even more disturbing in this scenario is the number of people involved in the drug trade who are mentally ill. And we are talking about those who are both dealers and users, and particularly among those who are less educated. Also of grave concern is the large amount of profits involved in the drug trade which allows those who participate in it to develop an almost military presence whose weapons include the latest in military technology including planes, ships, rocket launchers, etc. So, in essence, what we have here is a situation that is completely out of control. That is, of course, unless we work with people on both sides of the Border and rehabilitate them in such a way as to dramatically lessen the demand for drugs. Now, there are many people who say this can?t be done. However, I am here to tell you that Dr. V. Vernon Woolf, in a federally-funded project in Utah, in six cities there with 100 addicts in each city, stopped substance use dead in its tracks. And after undergoing rehabilitation, all of those involved in this project, when offered $30 million in free drugs with which to go back into dealing, said ?no.? So, why does everyone feel it is impossible to stop substance abuse. We have a model that says it isn?t impossible. We can do it! But we need to stop both pharmaceutical drug use and illegal drug use ? drug use is drug use. What we know today, thanks to cell biologist Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, is that minds are programmable and we can reprogram the sub-conscious mind in such a way that it reprograms the genes in our body. How we think affects our genes. So, if we change the way we think, we can change our lives. And what we need in order to do this is ?conscious intention.? Our conscious intention, when stated, takes us into the ?the theta state of mind? which is vibrating at approximately 4 ? 7 cycles per second. You may read more on the Theta State of Mind here: http://www.energyopen.com/howtheta.html. Please note that I am not endorsing Tara?s healing process, only referring you to the information provided there, which based on the research of both cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton and pharmacologist Dr. Candace Pert, I deem to be reliable. Research also shows that mental illness may be due in part to nutritional deficiency, or it may also be due to a blow to the head, or to damage to the brain when the fetus is emerging through the birth canal. Whatever the cause, we now know that mental illness can easily be healed without the use of pharmaceutical drugs ? especially those that are being illegally distributed by the pharmaceutical companies and for which they are increasingly being sued. We can heal mental illness using natural methodologies which produce no harmful side effects. So, let us link what we have learned here and apply it in rehabilitation centers and in prisons. Let is begin now. Let us stop substance abuse dead in its tracks and put the drug cartels and the L.A. gangs out of business. Let us heal our communities and rid them of not only substance abuse, but of all other diseases mental or physical. Let us take back our power and move into TOTAL WELLNESS. In healing our communities, let us remember that peace begins first with each one of us. And as we heal ourselves and find peace, we will be open to loving and accepting one another regardless of race, creed or color. In knowing that we are all One, we will no longer need the artificial borders imposed by nation-states and we will move back into the natural configurations of bio-regions and learn to live in wellness and with love for one another. Nor will we need mental institutions and prisons. We may even dispense with hospitals except for emergency situations and replace them with wellness centers where prevention is of the utmost concern. 27 May 2010. _____ From: mary rose [mailto:maryrose333 at att.net] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 4:05 PM To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Subject: FW: Cute video to honor the mothers around us From: Rabbi Michael Lerner [mailto:rabbilerner at tikkun.org] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 11:10 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Cute video to honor the mothers around us Tikkun to heal, repair and transform the world A note from Rabbi Michael Lerner Join or Donate Now! Dear Mary , As we struggle daily in weighty political analyses and the mundane toils of maintaining a voice for peace and social justice in a highly contested public space, it's easy to neglect our capacity to be light-hearted, goofy, loving, and connected. This Mother's Day video made us laugh, and what better connection to share as we honor and celebrate mothers. We're sending it along in case you want to share it and connect similarly with all the mothers in your life (click on the picture below). The first principle of our Spiritual Covenant with America calls for a society that promotes rather than undermines loving and caring relationships and families. Any occasion that legitimates the public expression of genuine love and gratitude deserves to be continuously re-created and made real in our lives. Love and generosity can and should be the foundation for all of our politics -- that's precisely what we have in mind when we talk about a New Bottom Line. The video was developed by MomsRising.org, a group committed to ending economic discrimination against mothers. Tikkun's July/August 2008 issue featured this article about the group's potential to lead the United States toward a New Bottom Line. Love and blessings, Michael Rabbi Michael Lerner Rabbilerner at tikkun.org _____ web: www.tikkun.org email: info at spiritualprogressives.org Click here to stop receiving future emails _____ Copyright ? 2010 Tikkun? / Network of Spiritual Progressives?. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 19:22:44 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 18:22:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] More On Theta Healing Message-ID: <010c01cafe04$849063e0$8db12ba0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS nOTE: When we are talking about "the source" we are talking about the underlying electromagnetic energy field which as physicist, Dr. Lawrence Fagg notes in his book: Electromagnetism and the Sacred, is called "God" by many. Mary Rose HOW DOES THETA HEALING WORK? The scientific basis of Theta Healing: epigenetics Theta HealingT, a mind/body healing technique founded and developed by Vianna Stibal, can be explained by looking at the science of epigenetics. The literal translation of the word epigenetics is "control above genetics," and that is exactly what this cutting-edge science studies: how our genes are controlled not just by their DNA but by their environment. That is, although genes are indeed programmed by their original DNA, is has been scientifically proven that they can be and are re-programmed by their environment. Genes cannot turn themselves on and off; they cannot program themselves. Instead, they are constantly affected by their immediate environment: things like nutrition, medicine, stress, or emotions. This bit of science is vitally important to you and me, because it means that no matter how we started out, we can change our selves, our very cells, and therefore our lives. This is why Theta Healing is so effective: it operates at the cellular level, literally changing the way our minds and bodies work. How Theta work creates permanent change But how?, you may well ask. Simply put, we have receptor cells all over our bodies. They each have a specific vibration. We also have neuropeptides running through our bodies. (Scientists used to believe neuropeptides were mainly in our brains, but in the past couple of decades researchers such as Dr. Candace Pert have proven that these important little information carriers are found nearly everywhere in our bodies. This gives scientific basis to the concepts of body intelligence and cell memory.) Each neuropeptide has a specific vibration, just like the receptor cells each have a certain vibration. When a neuropeptide meets a receptor cell that vibrates at its same frequency, the two connect; the neuropeptide is allowed into that cell rather than passing it by. One way to change the pattern of neuropeptide flow in our minds and bodies, then, is to change the vibration of the receptor cells. This is what Theta does: it changes the vibration of the receptor cells. The vibration is, of course, energy. Quantum physics tells us that everything in the universe, including our bodies, is made up of energy. The factors mentioned above that can change the environment of our cells - medicine, nutrition, stress, emotions - each have their specific energy. We are not solid beings whose parts run like the parts of a clock, as we used to imagine ourselves in the days of Isaac Newton and old science. We are part of the quantum age! Therefore it is not a huge leap to understand that since we are made up of energy - vibrating cells, over 50 trillion of them - then we can use energy to change ourselves. This is what mind/body medicine does. What actually happens during a Theta Healing session So now we know that Theta Healing is based on the science of epigenetics and quantum physics. It also relies on the technique of kinesiology, or muscle response testing. During a session, the practitioner pinpoints the core structures that need to be changed by going into a theta brainwave. Theta is a very slow wave, the same brainwave you would go into during a very deep meditation, but Theta Healers go into and out of it very quickly. In the theta state, the practitioner can communicate with Source and with the client. Using this theta brainwave, we ascertain exactly what areas need change. The client then works with the practitioner by unearthing any negative beliefs and giving permission every step of the way for the practitioner to re-pattern the cells that need to change in order to result in healing. In order to circumvent the conscious mind and immediately access the unconscious, the practitioner uses kinesiology by lightly pulling at the client's finger and thumb to get either a strong or weak response, which is the body's way of saying "yes" or "no." This way we are not using guesswork or even logic to get at the root of the problem: we are actually asking the client's body, the cells, to show us the way. We then go directly to Source - not the energy of the practitioner - to transform the structures and patterns that need to change. The fact that everything in a Theta session is done by connecting to Source is the reason Theta is so effective. This method does not rely on the faith of the client, the wisdom of the practitioner, or the interaction of any herb, sound, or other substance. It relies completely upon Source, the loving energy of the Divine that runs throughout the universe, to transform the structures the client needs to heal. Clients report that even if they came into their Theta sessions full of doubt or anxiety about mind/body techniques, their experience during the session was a combination of warmth, compassion, humor and catharsis. Most also report feeling lighter and more joyful immediately after their session for several days. Of course the ultimate goal is long-lasting and real change, and the majority of clients report this as well. >From this simple technique of Theta Healing, many beautiful physical and emotional healings have come about. Theta Healing does not take the place of medical advice. Theta actually works well hand in hand with Western medicine and psychotherapy. Please visit the Testimonials page to read about others' experience with Theta, or simply email taragreenway at aol.com to book a session with Tara, in person in her Manhattan office or by telephone. Much of the information on this page has been gleaned by studying the following books: The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., cell biologist Molecules of Emotion and Everything You Need to Feel G(o)od by Candace Pert, Ph.D., psychopharmacologist Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Thu May 27 19:29:50 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 18:29:50 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: CBS News: Students Build Breakthrough Car Engine Design. Where's the Publicity? Message-ID: <011201cafe05$82320c10$86962430$@net> From: PEERS: WantToKnow.info Email List [mailto:emaillist at peerservice.org] Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:01 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: [SPAM]CBS News: Students Build Breakthrough Car Engine Design. Where's the Publicity? 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/060303carenginebreakthrough Bookmark and Share "A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No ? just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School." -- CBS News on breakthrough in car engine design Dear friends, The CBS news article below reveals a major breakthrough in car engine design. This car engine gets over 50 mpg, goes from zero to 60 in four seconds, and runs on soybean oil! So why didn't this remarkable engine design breakthrough make front page headlines in all major media? It may be the same reason many other major energy breakthroughs have been reported but never given the headlines they deserve. Those who are reaping huge profits from oil sales have much more political and media influence than you might imagine. Under the CBS article, a brief description and links are included for several other car engine breakthroughs reported in the mainstream media, including car engines that get over 1,000 mpg! Explore these fascinating articles to see if these aren't legitimate inventions that should transform car engine design. Yet why isn't the public aware of this? You can make a difference now by playing the role at which the media is so sadly failing. Spread the news on these amazing breakthroughs far and wide. And see the "What you can do" box at the bottom for ideas on how you can further educate yourself and make a difference. With best wishes, Fred Burks for the WantToKnow.info Team Former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton _____ CBS News - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car ? one that combines performance and practicality under one hood. But as CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports in this week's Assignment America, the car that buyers have been waiting decades [for] comes from an unexpected source and runs on soybean bio-diesel fuel to boot. A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No ? just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School. The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year ? rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren't exactly the cream of the academic crop. "We have a number of high school dropouts," he says. "We have a number that have been removed for disciplinary reasons and they end up with us." One of the Fab Five, Kosi Harmon, was in a gang at his old school ? and he was a terrible student. The car project has changed all that. "I was just getting by with the skin of my teeth, C's and D's," he says. "I came here, and now I'm a straight-A student." To Hauger, the soybean-powered car shows what kids ? any kids ? can do when they get the chance. "If you give kids that have been stereotyped as not being able to do anything an opportunity to do something great, they'll step up," he says. Stepping up is something the big automakers have yet to do. They're still in the early stages of marketing hybrid cars while playing catch-up to the Bad News Bears of auto shop. "We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?" Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies. "They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down ? to low billions upon billions." _____ More car engine and energy breakthroughs in the major media that should have been headline news (verbatim quotes from articles) _____ 2,757.1 MPG Achieved at 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas April 19, 2009, CNBC News http://classic.cnbc.com/id/30287740 More than 500 students from North and South America were on hand to stretch the boundaries of fuel efficiency. So who came out on top? The student team from Laval University, with an astonishing 2,757.1 miles per gallon, equivalent to 1,172.2 kilometres per liter, won the grand prize. Note: CNBC removed this article for some reason, but it is still available on the Shell website at this link . If students built a car engine that gets over 2,000 mpg, why can't Detroit make one that gets over 100 mpg? _____ Loremo: The 'Low Resistance Mobile' February 20, 2008, MSN http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=457882 The Loremo's German designers revisited the basics ? engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag ? to create a car that offers fuel-efficiency in the neighborhood of 130 to 150 miles per gallon. The Loremo is likely to dazzle drivers not with its acceleration, but with its ability to drive from New York to L.A. with only three stops at the pump. Not only will it enter mass production next year, it will sport a base price attainable by mortal motorists: 15,000 euros (about U.S. $22,000). After its 2009 release in Europe, the Loremo will be redesigned to reach the North American market the following year. _____ 100 MPG Car Heralded by London Times in 2002 - Where is it now? December 2 , 2004, London Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,588-451038,00.html Tucked away on the Toyota stand you will find a cheeky little coup? that looks sporty but whose raison d??tre is fuel economy, the lowest exhaust emissions and ease of recycling. The ES3 ? the initials stand for Eco Spirit ? achieves 104mpg in the official European fuel consumption tests, a record for a four-seat car. Not only is it even more economical than the special ?3 litre? (three litres of fuel for every 100km travelled, or 94mpg) versions of the Audi A2 and VW Lupo that sell in Germany, but the Toyota is more lively and responsive and would be very acceptable as an everyday car. Note: Read the revealing WantToKnow.info article at this link to learn how this amazing car, which was the talk of the fuel economy car industry in 2002, eventually disappeared. _____ Eco-car more efficient than light bulb July 5, 2005, CNN http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/07/04/eco.car The hydrogen-powered Ech2o needs just 25 Watts -- the equivalent of less than two gallons of petrol -- to complete the 25,000-mile global trip, while emitting nothing more hazardous than water. But with a top speed of 30mph, the journey would take more than a month to complete. Ech2o, built by British gas firm BOC, will bid to smash the world fuel efficiency record of over 10,000 miles per gallon at the Shell Eco Marathon. The record is currently....5,385 km/per liter [over 12,000 mpg!]. _____ Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher Washington Post, March 10, 2005 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21991-2005Mar9 GM agrees that the car in question, called the EV1, was a rousing feat of engineering that could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in under eight seconds with no harmful emissions. The market just wasn't big enough, the company says, for a car that traveled 140 miles or less on a charge before you had to plug it in like a toaster. Ted Flittner [a Costa Mesa industrial engineer] said, "they have such a brilliant solution they've developed. They've put it on the market and proved it works. People still want it and they're taking it away and destroying it." _____ BlackLight's physics-defying promise: Cheap power from water July 2, 2008, CNN http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/01/smallbusiness/blacklight.fsb/index.htm Dr. Randell Mills, a Harvard-trained physician and founder of BlackLight ... claims this electricity will cost less than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, which compares to a national average of 8.9 cents. BlackLight is negotiating with several utilities and architecture and engineering firms. The business, Mills says, has attracted $60 million in funding from wealthy individuals, investment firms ... and it is no longer seeking money. BlackLight's board of directors reads like a Who's Who of finance and energy leaders. [And this from an article in the UK's Guardian] Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. "We've got 50 independent validation reports, we've got 65 peer-reviewed journal articles," he said. "We ran into this theoretical resistance and there are some vested interests here. _____ Magnetic energy? Perhaps September 7, 2005, San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/07/BUG9NEJD3L1.DTL "All we know is that we're seeing more energy output than input. Does Goldes realize what's he's saying -- that he's perhaps discovered a clean, inexhaustible energy source? "That's exactly what it appears to be," he answered. A handful of other companies worldwide are believed also to be pursuing zero-point energy via magnetic systems. One of them ... is run by a former scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, the Pentagon and at least two large aerospace companies are actively researching zero-point energy as a means of propulsion. _____ 1908 Ford Model T: 25 MPG, 2008 EPA Average All Cars: 21 MPG Detroit News/WantToKnow.info, June 4, 2004 http://www.WantToKnow.info/050711carmileageaveragempg Ford's Model T, which went 25 miles on a gallon of gasoline, was more fuel efficient than the current Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle -- which manages just 16 miles per gallon. How can it be that we've had such dramatic, almost miraculous advances in so many fields, while the energy and transportation sectors have made so little progress? Could it be that greed and the desire for economic and political control by the power elite of the world have kept the profit-rich energy and transportation sectors from developing as rapidly as they might have in a more open climate? Note: This article is an excellent summary of eye-opening contradictions which have received very little media coverage, including links to major media articles to back up the facts presented. How is it that car engine design has had only relatively small improvements over the last 100 years? Could vested oil interests prevent key discoveries, like some of those above, from moving car engine design forward? What you can do: * Inform your media and political representatives of this important information. To contact those close to you, click here . Urge them to pay attention to and promote this and other energy sources and inventions which are being suppressed. * Read a powerfully revealing, two-page article on the cover-up of other amazing new energy inventions which could transform our world at this link. * Read about a rich variety of new energy inventions reported in major media articles which should be making top headlines at this link . * Visit our New Energy Information Center at www.WantToKnow.info/newenergyinformation * Spread this news to your friends and colleagues, and bookmark this article on key news websites using the "Share This" icon just below the title of this article, so that we can fill the role at which the major media is sadly failing. Together, we can make a difference. Bookmark and Share 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 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: www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk Explore the mind and heart expanding websites managed by the nonprofit PEERS network: www.peerservice.org - PEERS websites: Spreading inspiration, education, & empowerment www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart www.personalgrowthcourses.net - Dynamic online courses powerfully expand your horizons www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all To respond to this message, visit www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days): www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe _____ Change email address / Leave mailing list Powered by YMLP -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 28 06:10:03 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 05:10:03 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Is there slavery in your chocolate Message-ID: <006701cafe5e$eb4d40d0$c1e7c270$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Are you eating to live or living to eat? This is a question each of us must become more conscious about. While I have been promoting using raw chocolate over coffee for your daily energy boost since chocolate contains a lot of vitamins and coffee, now, this article from John Robbins tells us we must be careful not to purchase chocolate produced by slave labor. So, please in-form yourself and read this article telling the horrendous story of how child labor is used in the production of the cocoa bean in the Ivory Coast area of Africa. In this article, John Robbins also tells which companies are safe to purchase from. And, he includes information on coffee as well as chocolate. However, I would like to note, that acreage used to grow cocoa is a far better choice than that of growing coffee even though it be Fair Trade organic coffee. And, again the reason is that coffee does not contain the vital nutrients that the cocoa bean contains. More and more we must begin to look to growing foods that are rich in nutrients and that can be grown in small spaces like kitchen gardens. The reason again is to reduce the costs of transportation from grower to retail outlet while at the same time assuring we are getting as much bang for the nutrient buck as we can. As the cost of energy in the form of oil keeps escalating, this factor will be critical to our survival and ability to feed everyone. As an added note here, let us also be conscious of "voting our dollars in the marketplace." The U.S. consumer has tremendous power and choosing whether to purchase or not from a particular company is going to weigh heavily on their profit factor and ultimately whether or not they remain in business. I very much agree with those that are refusing to purchase gas from British Petroleum - this is a good move on the part of we-the-people. And, as well is moving one's money out of the large banks and into small local commercial banks or credit unions. Let's let the power of our dollar speak for us and watch the tide turn. Now - read this article: http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/is-there-slavery-in-your-chocolate/ Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 28 13:37:11 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 12:37:11 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Don't Let "Immigration Reform" Be an Excuse for Greater Repression of Those Seeking Assylum Message-ID: <00c601cafe9d$603691b0$20a3b510$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Excerpt from the below article. ?This is just one of many attempts to refocus the policy debate on humane principles. Yet when we state the underlying principles, we immediately run into a political roadblock: the fear that residents of the world's richest country have of being overrun by others seeking our wealth and taking our jobs. While in the short run this fear is not well-founded, it has a logic to it -- would we really allow everyone who could figure out a way to cross our borders to become citizens? If not, what should we do to help make their lives at home in their own countries more attractive to them? Isn't that a smarter alternative than further arming our borders? These questions are rarely answered persuasively, even by those who speak to the deeper level of problems facing immigrants.? It seems to me the real question here and the one that points toward the most humane answer is: ?What should we do to help make their (migrant) lives at home in their own countries more attractive to them?? This is what the Hands Across the Border: Operation Lifesave Proposal that I wrote and which was presented at the highest levels of government in Mexico in 1997 was designed to do. However, even this does not address the real question of: ?Why are we dividing ourselves into tribes that are called: ?U.S. citizens? and ?Mexicans citizens? when we are, in fact, ALL one tribe. Regardless of what we have been taught in the past in order to divide us so that the greedy can ?divide and keep divided in order to conquer,? biologically-speaking, we are all alike ? there is no difference. AND, as the Native Americans knew, and still know, no one can really own the land. It is here for all of our descendants for all time to come. We are here to be the ?keepers? of it, not the destroyers of it. If we are to have peace in the world, we must begin by creating sustainable living communities where the people who live in them are committed to restoring the Earth to its natural balance along with restoring our own balance. We must do away with ?nation-states? which only serve to divide us and create ?artificial boundaries? which promote competition that in the end engenders bigotry and hatred. Thanks to Rabbi Michael Lerner for this important message. From: Rabbi Michael Lerner [mailto:rabbilerner at tikkun.org] Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 6:37 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Don't Let "Immigration Reform" Be an Excuse for Greater Repression of Those Seeking Assylum Tikkun to heal, repair and transform the world A note from Rabbi Michael Lerner Join or Donate Now! Authentication Login with: [My Google Profile \/] Endorse the GMP Help Us Refine the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment (ESRA) to the Constitution : Come to the NSP/Tikkun conference in DC June 11-13 . Registration: www.spiritualprogressives.org/conference. Money a problem? We'll reduce your registration fee to whatever you can afford. The Global Marshall Plan is generosity and solidarity in action. Read more... JOIN THE NETWORK OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVES Immigration: Don't Let "Reform "Be an Excuse for Increased Repression EmailArticle To a Friend ViewPrintable Version Immigration: Don't Let "Reform" Be an Excuse for Increased Repression by Michael Lerner The deeply flawed plan for immigration reform put forward by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York (and backed by Obama) is not a positive place to begin the discussion. While the nation's media attention was focused on health care reform, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters massed on Washington, D.C. They rejected the notion that reform should prioritize a portrayal of Democrats as "tough" on illegal immigrants by placing harsh enforcement strategies at its heart. Yet that is what Schumer and Graham seem to agree on. As the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights points out, the Schumer/Graham plan "emphasizes increases in worksite and border enforcement as an apparent tradeoff for a 'tough but fair' legalization program." And it relies on the idea of providing temporary worker visas to lower-skilled immigrants who are apparently expected to send their money home, providing American farmers, agribusiness, and other employers with a source of cheap labor that can depress the wages of other laborers. These temporary workers can easily be exploited and may even soon become a new group of undocumented workers. The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights calls for a different approach based on core reforms: * Suspend detentions and deportations while humanitarian policy alternatives are being put in place, and reinstate due process. * Support legalization without the onerous hurdles of past proposals that will limit applications. * Uphold family reunification as a core principle of immigration policy. * Expand and expedite legal immigration. * End the criminalization of immigrants by repealing employer sanctions, stopping the militarization of the border, and ending local police collaboration with such programs. * Strengthen labor law enforcement for all workers, regardless of citizenship or immigrant status. * Ensure immigrant access to social services. This is just one of many attempts to refocus the policy debate on humane principles. Yet when we state the underlying principles, we immediately run into a political roadblock: the fear that residents of the world's richest country have of being overrun by others seeking our wealth and taking our jobs. While in the short run this fear is not well-founded, it has a logic to it -- would we really allow everyone who could figure out a way to cross our borders to become citizens? If not, what should we do to help make their lives at home in their own countries more attractive to them? Isn't that a smarter alternative than further arming our borders? These questions are rarely answered persuasively, even by those who speak to the deeper level of problems facing immigrants. To its credit, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights acknowledges that immigration is tied to policies that create displacement and forced migration. It calls for policymakers to support policies that promote sustainable economic development, livable environments, job creation, and peace "so that migration is an option and not a last resort for economic survival." We spiritual progressives need to enter the national debate with an ever more forceful insistence that immigration reform should include a commitment to the Global Marshall Plan (GMP) developed by the Network of Spiritual Progressives and introduced this January as H.Res.1016 by Congressman Keith Ellison. The GMP is the only coherent answer to the legitimate fear that fair treatment of illegal immigrants could bring tens of millions more to our shores in the next few decades. The answer is ending global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, and inadequate health care (i.e., implementing our proposed Global Marshall Plan). If we make these long-term reforms, people en masse will have a far greater incentive to stay in their home countries. But what about those who do want to come, even when a GMP has eliminated global poverty and put the rest of these changes in place? The simple and consistent answer from the standpoint of a spiritual progressive should be: LET THEM IN! OPEN OUR BORDERS! Spiritual progressives take seriously the moments in the Torah where God responds to the "realists" who warn that the elimination of debts every seven years, and the return to the original equal distribution of land every fifty years called for by the Jubilee, can't possibly work. God's response: "The land belongs to me." Which is another way of saying the land doesn't belong to us and we have an obligation to share what we have. It belongs neither to the humans who were first there, nor to the people who took the land by conquest, nor to the people who later bought it, an understanding shared by many indigenous people who found it difficult indeed to wrap their minds around concepts of "ownership" brought by Western colonialists. Spiritual people need to teach this message: we humans don't have a "right" to any part of the earth, but only an obligation to care for it and share it with all other human beings and with the animals and plant life. Take that seriously and you can immediately see what a crime it is against God, spirit, Gaia, the unity of all being, the consciousness of the universe, or what our ethical commitments ought to be when people stand on the borders with guns and kill, wound, torture, imprison, or deport others who want to come to live with us. "Well," you may argue, "that position is so utopian for the current period we'd better not even put that into public discourse." And our response is this: It's no more utopian than to think that you can get people to treat undocumented immigrants with respect and decency in a society that believes that: 1) we have an absolute right to the earth or the part of it called the United States, 2) we have the right to use violence against those who want to come here illegally, and 3) that if we don't use that violence but instead treat undocumented immigrants humanely we will be overrun by even more who will abuse our "generosity" by using our health care, social services, and educational systems, which are already under-financed, over-used, and requiring more and more of our tax dollars to keep running. So, take your pick about which utopian fantasy you want to go with. For spiritual progressives, it ought to be the one that reflects our fundamental commitment to generosity and caring for others, and that means that we should be insisting that anyone who talks about immigration reform should simultaneously be talking about the goals of the Global Marshall Plan, even as we fully embrace the proposal of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, remembering the love that the Bible instructs us to show toward not only our neighbors but also to "the stranger." _____ Lerner, Michael. 2010. Immigration: Don't Let "Reform "Be an Excuse for Increased Repression. Tikkun 25(3): 11 What's Related * More from Magazine > May/June 2010 Story Options * Mail Story to a Friend * Printable Story Format Yes! I want to help support Tikkun. * I'll to subscribe to the magazine * Tell me more about your activist organization, the Network of Spiritual Progressives [ ] Follow [Cancel][Post] Leave a comment @Controls Echo 1 Items Admin Log In Edit My Profile Follow Moderation General Settings Admin Notices Get this for your site Echo Blog Echo on Twitter Help - MADurstewitz Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 2342 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1200, Berkeley, CA 94704 . Phone: 510-644-1200 . Fax: 510-644-1255 . Editor Login _____ web: www.tikkun.org email: info at spiritualprogressives.org Click here to stop receiving future emails _____ Copyright ? 2010 Tikkun? / Network of Spiritual Progressives?. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 28 13:55:39 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 12:55:39 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Announcing a New Book by YES! Founding Board Chair John Robbins Message-ID: <00d201cafe9f$f7557af0$e60070d0$@net> Steph, thanks for forwarding this. It is good, and I excerpted the article re: chocolate and slavery last night and sent it along. I am such an admirer of John Robbins because he had what it took to walk away from the Baskin Robbins family money and stand up for his beliefs. If only more of us could and would do this the world would be a much better place in which to live. I will be ordering a copy of this. With love and in gratitude for all that you do. m r ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stephanie Sutton Date: Wed, May 26, 2010 at 8:59 PM Subject: Announcing a New Book by YES! Founding Board Chair John Robbins To: Mary Rose This looks good..!!! From: Ocean Robbins Date: May 26, 2010 10:52:13 AM MDT To: ssutton at phisciences.com Subject: Announcing a New Book by YES! Founding Board Chair John Robbins Reply-To: ocean at yesworld.org A New Book By John Robbins Dear Friends in the YES! Community, I am so excited to tell you about a new book my dad released yesterday. I believe that The New Good Life: Living Better than Ever in an Age of Less is timely, potent, brilliant and practical, and that it can make a major contribution in direct response to some of the pressing challenges and pivotal opportunities of our times. I was the book's lead editor, and I thought you might like to know about it. Yours for a thriving, just and sustainable future, Ocean Robbins, Founder and Co-Director, YES! The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less The New Good Life cover John Robbins was heir to the vast Baskin Robbins ice cream company and walked away from it in favor of making his own way in the world. Moving to a small island home with his wife and their son, Robbins lived happily for a decade on less than $500 a year, redefined what wealth and happiness meant to him, and became a leading spokesperson for personal and planetary health. Many in the media called him the "rebel without a cone" and the "Prophet of Non-profit." Robbins' books sold millions, and he earned monetary wealth doing what he believed in. Then on December 11, 2008, he awoke to the news that most of his hard-earned life savings had been lost to the Madoff scam. In recent years, millions have watched their American Dreams go up in smoke. The international financial collapse, inflation, massive layoffs, and burgeoning consumer debt have left people in dire financial straits-including John Robbins. But having already gone through many of the shocks and adjustments that so many people must now navigate-and come out even more grounded-Robbins realizes that there is a potential upside to our collective financial downturn: a world in which our necessarily curtailed consumerism can lead to a healthier planet, and legions of more deeply satisfied people living on it. The New Good Life provides a philosophical and prescriptive path from conspicuous consumption to conscious consumption. A passionate manifesto on finding meaning beyond money and status, this book delivers a sound blueprint for living well on less. Discover how to: * create your own definition of success based on your deepest beliefs and life experience * alleviate depression, lower blood pressure, and stay fit with inexpensive alternatives for high-cost medications * develop a diet that promotes better health, and saves you money * plan for, and protect yourself from, future economic catastrophes * cut down on your housing and transportation costs * live frugally without deprivation * follow in the footsteps of real people who have effectively forged new financial identities The New Good Life provides much-needed hope and comfort in a time of fear and uncertainty. Here is everything you need to develop high-joy, low-cost solutions to life's challenges. Practical and inspiring, this book equips you with the skills needed not only to survive but to thrive in these challenging times. Click here to read the introduction Click here to get it now What People Are Saying About The New Good Life "John Robbins is one of the most important voices in America today, and the most powerfully sane man I know. He cuts through nonsense like no one else does. He delivers crucial information like no one else does. He gives hope like no one else does. His words are lifelines for the mind, heart, body and soul. When the going gets rough, Robbins' wisdom is what people need to see them through." - Marianne Williamson, author A Return To Love and A Woman's Worth "The choices John Robbins has made and the integrity with which he has lived have illuminated the way for many during an era of greed running amok. Now, in a time of growing economic distress, his is the voice many want to hear, and his is the guidance they want to heed. The New Good Life offers eloquent, clear, compassionate and insightful guidance." - Dean Ornish, M.D., author of many bestsellers on health and diet "If there is anyone who can provide a new vision for money and happiness, it is John Robbins. His ability to take a complex and emotional subject and bring the reader insight and resolve are unparalleled." - Paul Hawken, author of Natural Capitalism, and Blessed Unrest "John Robbins has lived the gamut - from riches to chosen "rags," to riches, to un-chosen "rags" - a journey that makes him an authority on every choice, every blessing and every curse of the money journey we all are taking. He brings so many unique talents and perspectives to this conversation that The New Good Life is sure to be a best loved resource." - Vicki Robin, author of Your Money Or Your Life Click here to get it now ************************* For more information about John Robbins and his work, visit his new website by clicking here . Bookmark and Share Forward email Safe Unsubscribe This email was sent to ssutton at phisciences.com by ocean at yesworld.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe T | Privacy Policy . Email Marketing by YES! | 240 Harkleroad Avenue | Santa Cruz | CA | 95062 -- >From the desk of mary rose dustysummerrose at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Fri May 28 14:28:20 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 13:28:20 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping Message-ID: <00db01cafea4$8bd0f7a0$a372e6e0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Synchronicity seems to follow me around daily. And here it is again. I have been reviewing the new EFT manual I got from Amazon a week or so ago. Time going by so fast I can?t remember exactly when. But yesterday I am writing about Theta Healing and sending it out to all of you; then later yesterday afternoon this appears in my email box. I shall be ordering ? Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping soon.? So, I?ll let you know how everything turns out. In the meantime if you want to order something related to Theta Healing here are some suggestions from Amazon.com. From: Amazon.com [mailto:vfe-campaign-response at amazon.com] Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 2:40 AM To: maryrose333 at att.net Subject: Amazon.com: Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping Amazon.com More to Explore Are you looking for something in our New Age Music department? If so, you might be interested in these items. _____ Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping Theta Meditation System: Let Go of Stress, Renew Your Spirit, Gain Insight, and Intuition The Healing Energy of Reiki, Theta Brain Waves to be used in Reiki Healing Creating Abundance, Isochronic Tones for Emotional Freedom Techniques Theta Meditation System 2.0 Frequencies: Sounds of Healing Healing Mind System - See even more similar items _____ Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping Average customer review: 4.4 List Price: $27.00 Price: $23.99 You Save: $3.01 (11%) Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ Theta Meditation System: Let Go of Stress, Renew Your Spirit, Gain Insight, and Intuition by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson Average customer review: 4.4 Price: $19.95 Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ The Healing Energy of Reiki, Theta Brain Waves to be used in Reiki Healing by Reiki Healing Average customer review: 4.4 Price: $24.00 Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ Creating Abundance, Isochronic Tones for Emotional Freedom Techniques by EFT Brainwaves Average customer review: 4.4 Price: $24.00 Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ Theta Meditation System 2.0 by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson Average customer review: 4.4 Price: $11.98 Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ Frequencies: Sounds of Healing by Jonathan Goldman Average customer review: 4.4 List Price: $16.98 Price: $13.99 You Save: $2.99 (18%) Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ Healing Mind System by Jeffrey Thompson Average customer review: 4.4 List Price: $11.98 Price: $10.99 You Save: $0.99 (8%) Add to cart Add to wishlist Rate this item: * * * * * [ ]I Own It _____ See even more similar items If you already own or have experience with the items shown above, please let us know by using the link provided near the item. For problems unrelated to this e-mail, please contact customer service. Sincerely, Amazon.com We hope you found this message to be useful. However, if you'd rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, please opt-out here . Please note that product prices and availability are limited time offers and are subject to change. Prices and availability were accurate at the time this newsletter was sent; however, they may differ from those you see when you visit Amazon.com. (c) 2010 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon, Amazon.com and the Amazon.com logo and 1-Click are registered trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon.com, 1200 12th Ave. S., Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98144-2734. Reference 15636380 Please note that this message was sent to the following e-mail address: maryrose333 at att.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 29 03:57:43 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 09:57:43 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] THREE THOUSAND MILLION POUNDS PER WEEK............ Message-ID: <615660.71621.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> ? Dear All, ????????? ?????????? I was listening to the news this morning in connection with the David Laws scandal and the present UK Coalition Government. A person on it was trying to defend him, and claimed if I heard correctly that THREE THOUSAND MILLION POUNDS was being borrowed by the government on a weekly basis...In other words, money created electronically out of air which the government could have done itself sans the interest, or alternatively, in part , or even wholly as something debt-free, or non-repayable...enough of which would not lead to serious inflation if done carefully, and with strategic precision to help public services, and ofcourse, the huge deficit..... ? Ofcourse, the main reason why the above is not undertaken is by the usual spastic establishment neo-classical economic advisors to governments and ....their out dated?econonic thinking which helped pave the way to the present global financial crisis, and many other problems besides!!!! ? ????????????????????????? .....The idiocy of it all defies belief........... ??????????? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk Sat May 29 08:43:23 2010 From: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk (robert searle) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 14:43:23 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [GJM] More Info on Non-Eating Yogi Message-ID: <599445.91526.qm@web27404.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Dear All, ? ?????????? ,,interesting.....! ? ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyk7KDsNDCA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 14:17:07 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 13:17:07 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] Vietnam MIAs: Ghosts Return to Haunt McCain and the US Press Message-ID: <019501caff6c$22da4080$688ec180$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS For your information and consideration thanks to Trading Post Paul. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 7:18 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] Vietnam MIAs: Ghosts Return to Haunt McCain and the US Press Vietnam MIAs: Ghosts Return to Haunt McCain and the US Press http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn05282010.html By ALEXANDER COCKBURN May 28 - 30, 2010 The ghosts that haunt Senator John McCain are about 600 in number and right now they are mustering for an onslaught. McCain, one of America's foremost Republicans and President Barack Obama's opponent in 2008, is currently locked in a desperate bid for political survival in his home state of Arizona. After 20 years of immunity from challenge from his fellow Republicans, he's now involved in a close primary battle with J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned radio broadcaster who sports the Tea Party label. Hayworth says McCain is a fake Republican, soft on issues like immigration. The polls have been tightening, and if McCain got bludgeoned by some new disclosure, it could finish him off. That very disclosure is now bursting over the head of McCain, the former Navy pilot who was held in a North Vietnamese prison for five years, and returned to the US as a war hero. His nemesis is Sydney Schanberg, a former New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer prize for his reporting from Cambodia that formed the basis for the Oscar-winning movie, The Killing Fields. In recent years Schanberg has worked relentlessly on one of the great mysteries of the Vietnam War, one that still causes hundreds of American families enduring pain. Did the US government abandon American POWs in Vietnam? By 1990 there were so many stories, sightings, intelligence reports, of American POWs left behind in Vietnam after the war was over, that pressure from Vietnam vets and the families of the MIAs prompted the formation of a special committee of the US Senate to investigate. The chairman was John Kerry, a Navy man who had served in Vietnam. McCain, as a former POW, was its most pivotal member. Down the years Schanberg has pieced together the evidence, much of it covered up by the Senate committee. In 1993, an American historian unearthed in Soviet archives the record of a briefing of a Vietnamese general to the Soviet politbureau. The briefing took place in 1973, right before the final peace agreement between the US and Hanoi. What the Vietnamese general told the Russians was that his government was intent on getting war reparations, $3.25 billion in reconstruction money, pledged by the US in peace negotiations headed on the US side by Henry Kissinger. The general told the Russians that Hanoi would hold back a large number of POWs until the money arrived. It seems the Vietnamese had successfully used the same tactic with the French, to elicit promised funds, after which POWs were transferred. But Nixon and Kissinger had attached to the deal a codicil to the effect that the US Congress would have to approve the reparations - which the two knew was an impossibility in the political atmosphere of the time. Thus they effectively sealed the POWs fate. On signature of the 1973 treaty Hanoi released the names of 591 POWs scheduled to be returned. , At the time there was widespread consternation in the US - in the New York Times for example -- at the unexpectedly low number. In fact, as top official in the US government knew, about 600 POWs were being held back, against delivery of the promised $3.25 billion. All of this was suppressed by the Kerry-McCain committee, with the complicity of the US press, enamored of both McCain and Kerry. McCain was particularly vicious in mocking what he and his press allies suggested were the fantasies of MIA families and Vietnam vets. "In a private briefing in 1992," Schanberg writes, "high-level CIA officials told me that as the years passed and the ransom never came, it became more and more difficult for either government to admit that it knew from the start about the unacknowledged prisoners. Those prisoners had not only become useless as bargaining chips but also posed a risk to Hanoi's desire to be accepted into the international community. "The CIA officials said their intelligence indicated strongly that the remaining men - those who had not died from illness or hard labor or torture - were eventually executed." Schanberg stigmatizes the indifference of the press: "In recent years, I have offered my POW stories to a long list of editors of leading newspapers, magazines, and significant websites that do original reporting. And when they decline my offerings, I have urged them to do their own POW investigation with their own staff under their own supervision. The list of these news organizations includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York magazine, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper's, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, Salon, Slate, Talking Points Memo, ProPublica, Politico, and others. To my knowledge, none have attempted or produced a piece. Their explanations for avoiding the story have never rung true. . Some said they didn't have enough staff to do the story. Others said the story was 'old' -even though we have never found out what happened to the missing prisoners. . "I asked these editors about the mountain of hard evidence attesting to the existence of abandoned men. In particular, I asked about the witness evidence, the 1,600 firsthand live sightings of American prisoners after the war. Did these journalists believe that every last one of the 1,600 witnesses was lying or mistaken? Many of these Vietnamese witnesses were interrogated by U.S. intelligence officers. Many were given lie-detector tests. They passed. The interrogators' reports graded the bulk of the witnesses 'credible.' "I would run through the long gamut of known intelligence-official radio intercepts of prisoners being moved to and from labor camps in Laos, satellite photos, conversations overheard by Secret Service agents inside the White House, ransom offers from Hanoi through third parties, sworn public testimony by three U.S. defense secretaries who served during the Vietnam era that 'men were left behind.' The press wasn't and isn't interested." In late 2008 The Nation published a shorted version of Schanberg's investigation, and Hamilton Fish put a much fuller account up on the National Institute's website." In the presidential campaign of 2008, as we reported more than once here in CounterPunch at the time, McCain faced accusations that in fact, as a POW, he had broken and cooperated with his North Vietnamese captors, who regarded McCain as a valuable prize because his father was a prominent US admiral, at the time commander of all US forces in the Pacific. McCain Jr., so his accusers said, disclosed vital information, and made broadcasts denouncing the US, which were then used by the Vietnamese to break other POWs. The issue never became a big one in 2008 - but now it's coming back with a vengeance. This last Wednesday, the American Conservative, a monthly, released a special issue, 'The Men our Media Forgot', with Schanberg's full story and accompanying commentary by the veteran reporter. The US media, pressured in any number of ways by successive US governments to ridicule and suppress enquiries into the missing POWs, are the prime target, but McCain also bulks large in The American Conservative's sights, since McCain's present political crisis forms an excellent peg for Schanberg's story. The calculation is evidently that this could be a huge boost to Hayworth. In one of his two pieces in The American Conservative, titled 'McCain and the POW Cover-Up', Schanberg insinuates, without saying so directly, that the Pentagon blackmailed McCain to squelch the MIA hearings: "It's not clear whether the taped confession McCain gave to his captors to avoid further torture has played a role in his postwar behavior in the Senate. That confession was played endlessly over the prison loudspeaker system at Hoa Lo - to try to break down other prisoners - and was broadcast over Hanoi's state radio. "Reportedly, he confessed to being a war criminal who had bombed civilian targets. The Pentagon has a copy of the confession but will not release it. Also, no outsider I know of has ever seen a non-redacted copy of the debriefing of McCain when he returned from captivity, which is classified but could be made public by McCain." Can this nation's major newspapers and television networks sedulously refuse to discuss assertions that US servicemen were abandoned by their government? The answer is yes. An example: On October 22, 2003 the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, resulting in the deaths of 34 US crew members and the wounding of 173, issued its report on Capitol Hill. Among its findings: "There is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA director Richard Helms, former NSA directors Lieutenant General William Odom, USA (Ret), Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret)." The crew, the report said, were "abandoned by their own government... fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the US Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty... due to the influence of Israel's powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people... there has been an official cover-up without precedent in American naval history." Signing these emphatic conclusions were some of America's best known military men: Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen Raymond G. Davis, former assistant commandant of the Marine Corps; Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, former Judge Advocate General of the Navy, and Ambassador James Akins (Ret), former United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. And how were these categorical conclusions dealt with in the press? Reviewing the record four years later, Alison Weir, executive director of If Americans Knew, reported here on the CounterPunch website that a review of the hundreds of newspapers indexed by Lexis-Nexis "does not turn up a single US newspaper that mentioned this commission, a single US television station, a single US radio station, a single US magazine. "While it was mentioned in an Associated Press report focusing on one of the commission's most dramatic revelations, Lexis reveals only a sprinkling of news media printed information from this AP report, and those few that did failed to mention this commission itself, its extremely star-studded composition, and the entirety of its findings." And who, in the case of the Liberty, conducted the initial, cursory Navy Court of Inquiry in the immediate aftermath of the attack? None other than Admiral John S. McCain, father of Arizona's senior US senator, preparing the hasty cover-up under the supervision of Johnson's White House and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Millions of words have been expended down the decades on the matter of the press's role in "cover-ups." Every cover-up has its own specific mix - whether it be fear of the Israel lobby, as with the saga of the Liberty; or direct pressure from a government agency, as when the CIA persuaded Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times to suppress Sydney Gruson's reports of the Agency's role in the 1953 Guatemalan coup overthrowing President Arbenz; or the competitive rivalries that prompted the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and New York Times to launch a collective onslaught on the San Jose Mercury News for Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" series in 1996, charging CIA complicity in the importing of cocaine into the US. The blend varies from case to case but there are consistent features, starting with the extreme unease with which the corporate press approaches a story which casting grave discredit on the government of the United States. The onslaught on the Isolationists who strove to keep America clear of both World Wars furnish the clearest illustration here of this antipathy. In the case of the Second World War, there is a mountain of evidence attesting to FDR's prolonged, devious and ultimately campaign to get America into the war. The role of the British intelligence services in this enterprise has been slowly excavated down the years. Professor Thomas Mahl, who published a brilliant excavation of the covert British campaign in his 1998 book Desperate Deception -- British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-44 writes in his introduction that "until recently, the study of the intelligence history of World War II has lacked respectability. The conventional charge is that it smacks too much of conspiracy - a word with a very unprofessional ring among American historians. Graduate students are warned about the 'furtive fallacy.'. How does the historian avoid the charge that he is indulging in conspiracy history when he explores the activities of a thousand people, occupying two floors of Rockefeller Center, in their efforts to involve the United States in a major war? What should we properly call the public rigging of an opinion poll, the planting of a lover, or a fraudulent letter by an intelligence agency in order to gain information or to influence policy?" The ruthless campaign to discredit Charles Beard's pioneering 1948 book, President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War 1941 attested to the determination by the foreign policy and academic establishments to crush the Non-Interventionists and neutralize them as a political force amid the postwar rise of American Empire. Denouncing "conspiracy mongering" was an integral part of this campaign - never more vehement than when addressing the whole issue of FDR's conduct in the run-up to Pearl Harbor. Sometimes a conspiracy does surface, propelled into the light of day by a tenacious journalist. But by then the caravan has moved on. Webb's charges became "an old discredited story", just as the murder bids on Castro became, by the mid-80s, "alleged" once more. Despite the conclusive and damning record the assault on the US Liberty reverts in many references these days reverts to the comforting rationale of a case of possible "mistaken identity on which the jury is still out." As so often, the jury came back in and issued its verdict, but by then the press box was empty. But maybe now, with the decline in power of the established corporate press, the far greater availability of dissenting versions of politics and history, the exposure of the methods used to coerce publish support for the 2003 US attack on Iraq, have engendered a greater sense of realism on the part of Americans as to what their government is capable of. And maybe in this more fertile soil, Sydney Schanberg's long battle to get the press t focus on the fate of the POWs will be rewarded, with the bonus of McCain's discomfiture in Arizona. From doctorforu123 at yahoo.com Thu May 27 08:10:10 2010 From: doctorforu123 at yahoo.com (javed jamil) Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 07:10:10 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] Westernism Part 14 Impact of Dangerous Choices (contd): Sexual Revolution Message-ID: <426849.59994.qm@web51002.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Westernism: the Ideology of Hegemony By Dr Javed Jamil ? Part 14 Impact of Dangerous Choices (contd) If West had used its enviable scientific and technological development with wisdom only for the true needs and comforts of society, it would have turned the earth into paradise. But its reins fell into the hands of market and its agents, and they undid what the scientists had done for the mankind. They used the researches to turn human weaknesses into money-spinners. The result is that Westernism turned the earth into a Shangri-la that looks good on the surface but is stinking inside. And the biggest misuse has been of sex because this is one human desire that is most likely to turn into weakness. The so-called ?Sexual Revolution? has become the biggest tormentor of mankind; the merchants of sex are the biggest merchants of death. ? Economics of Sex ? ??????????? Sex is the water of life. It sustains the human existence and brings colour to the life. But sex also brings huge responsibilities with it. The case of human beings is different from animals. In animals all responsibilities related to sex fall on the shoulders of females; males do absolutely nothing but impregnate females. They have nothing else to shoulder -- during pregnancy, at the time of delivery and during the growth of children. God has been extremely kind to women, on the other hand; in every part of their biological functions, they have been assured of men?s support. This necessitates family system, which does not only relieve women of the burden of looking after children alone but also provides children with a highly congenial atmosphere for growth. Furthermore, it protects women from unwanted intrusions into their modesty, exploitation and abuse, safeguards children against abuse and devastation in life and bestows upon men a life of comfort and peace. Family system also acts as an infallible barrier between human beings and life-threatening viruses, bacteria and protozoans, ensuring longevity and better quality of life.??? If Sex within marriage is guarantee to health and security, sex outside marriage is invitation to diseases, destruction and devastation. ??????????? The problems related to prohibited sexual practices have assumed such enormous proportions that sex can now be regarded as the biggest tormentor of human life. It has been killing millions of men, women and children, exterminating family system, desecrating the sanctity of women, denigrating them into prostitutes and porn actors, transforming them into single mothers, divorcees and unwed mothers; and killing foetuses, converting children into half-orphans and making them vulnerable to all sorts of abuses. ? ??????????? Physical problems related to prohibited practices include AIDS, Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Chancroid, Lymphogranuloma venereum, Herpes, Reiter?s Disease, Hepatitis B and many other diseases. AIDS has already killed more than 20 million people across the world and is expected to kill double that number in the next decade. Promiscuity, homosexuality and prostitution are the biggest breeding grounds for HIV.? Syphilis has been one of the major killers in the past. Even till fifty years back, it caused fatal complications, and in many parts of the world, has continued to be one of the major factors in the incidence of repeated miscarriages. Gonorrhoea and Chancroid continue to be a troubling factor for sexually promiscuous and pervert; Herpes is one of the major infections in many countries including the US. The propagation of Hepatitis B through sexual route is now well documented. Diseases like Gonorrhoea and Chancroid do not only cause painful problems themselves, but also facilitate the propagation of HIV. ? ??????????? Psychiatric disorders related to unhealthy sexual practices and extramarital lesions include Nervousness, Anxiety, Depression and Suicidal tendencies. The detection of HIV in blood has led to many a suicide in the last two decades. There have also been a number of reports regarding HIV positive persons going on the infecting spree as part of revenge or frustration. ? Social problems are much severer. Millions of women and children are made prostitutes, not only exposing them to severe health risks -- a huge percentage is likely to falling victim to AIDS or other problems -- but also destroying their family and social lives. Liberal sexual life leads to breaking of marriages, women becoming single parents and children living with one parent only. Domestic violence, abuse of women and children are other common consequences. Crimes against women including rape are on the rise assuming dangerous levels in several countries. Teenage pregnancies and abortions have become the norm of life in several countries where sexual liberty has been allowed. More than 50 million foetuses are aborted every year. Pornography is affecting lives of millions of men, women and children who have been dragged or lured into the business; they all become vulnerable to severe health hazards and social deprivation. The impact on the watchers too is often immense. ? For a much fuller understanding of the modern sexuality and its effects, please refer to my book, ?The Killer Sex?. Here I am focussing only on the economic implications and the extent of the sex industry. ? ????? A website provides great details about the extent of pornography. Some of the important findings are as follows: - Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography - Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography - Every second - 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines - Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States -2006 revenues in pornography amounted to $97.06 Billion. ?The top countries are as follows: ????????????????????????? Country Revenue (Billions) Per Capita China $27.40 $27.41 South Korea $25.73 $526.76 Japan $19.98 $156.75 US $13.33 $44.67 Australia $2.00 $98.70 UK $1.97 $31.84 Italy $1.40 $24.08 Canada $1.00 $30.21 Philippines $1.00 $11.18 Taiwan $1.00 $43.41 Germany $.64 $7.77 Finland $.60 $114.70 CzechRepublic $.46 $44.94 Russia $.25 $1.76 Netherlands $.20 $12.13 Brazil $.10 $53.17 ? 2006 Top Adult Search Requests ? Demographics Search Term 2006 Search Requests 2006 % Change 2005 % Change Web Pages Containing Keyword (Millions) ? Male Female <18 18-24 25-34 35-49 50+ ? 75,608,612 7% 40% 414.00 50% 50% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% ? 30,288,325 622% 80% 1.40 36% 64% 20% 20% 21% 20% 19% ? 13,684,718 53% 21% 1.82 58% 42% 20% 19% 23% 21% 17% ? 23,629,211 -3% 29% 88.80 96% 4% 23% 14% 10% 36% 17% ? 15,955,566 4% 1% 2.65 58% 42% 20% 16% 19% 19% 26% ? 13,982,729 36% 25% 2.10 44% 56% 22% 19% 19% 22% 18% ? 13,484,769 0% 20% 2.42 44% 56% 22% 19% 19% 22% 18% ? 13,362,995 301% 51% 1.58 36% 64% 19% 21% 21% 20% 19% ? 13,230,137 382% 40% 0.28 50% 50% 20% 20% 19% 20% 21% ? 12,964,651 88% 33% 2.07 50% 50% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% ? 12,964,651 -10% 54% 2.74 97% 3% 22% 14% 10% 35% 19% ? 12,065,000 25% 14% 181.00 50% 50% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% ? 11,861,035 97% 36% 2.21 50% 50% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% ? 9,960,074 76% 21% 2.95 67% 33% 19% 19% 16% 28% 19% ? 8,502,524 -20% 3% 1.24 41% 59% 23% 25% 14% 30% 8% ? 7,411,220 71% 40% 1.44 64% 37% 17% 19% 26% 27% 11% ? 6,641,209 -6% 24% 43.20 86% 14% 10% 33% 25% 25% 7% ? 6,130,065 7% 38% 1.97 82% 18% 23% 17% 14% 28% 18% ? 5,487,925 -26% 14% 71.30 77% 23% 33% 14% 10% 17% 26% ? 4,344,924 21% 33% 198.00 50% 50% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% ? Internet Pornography Statistics Pornographic websites 4.2 million (12% of total websites) Pornographic pages 420 million Daily pornographic search engine requests 68 million (25% of total search engine requests) Daily pornographic emails 2.5 billion (8% of total emails) Internet users who view porn 42.7% Received unwanted exposure to sexual material 34% Average daily pornographic emails/user 4.5 per Internet user Monthly Pornographic downloads (Peer-to-peer) 1.5 billion (35% of all downloads) Daily Gnutella "child pornography" requests 116,000 Websites offering illegal child pornography 100,000 Sexual solicitations of youth made in chat rooms 89% Youths who received sexual solicitation 1 in 7 (down from 2003 stat of 1 in 3) Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites 72 million visitors to pornography: Monthly Internet Pornography Sales $4.9 billion ? Children Internet Pornography Statistics Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography 11 years old Largest consumer of Internet pornography 35 - 49 age group 15-17 year olds having multiple hard-core exposures 80% 8-16 year olds having viewed porn online 90% (most while doing homework) 7-17 year olds who would freely give out home address 29% 7-17 year olds who would freely give out email address 14% Children's character names linked to thousands of porn links 26 (Including Pokemon and Action Man) Adult Internet Pornography Statistics Men admitting to accessing pornography at work 20% US adults who regularly visit Internet pornography websites 40 million Promise Keeper men who viewed pornography in last week 53% Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home 47% Adults admitting to Internet sexual addiction 10% Breakdown of male/female visitors to pornography sites 72% male - 28% female Women and Pornography Women keeping their cyber activities secret 70% Women struggling with pornography addiction 17% Ratio of women to men favoring chat rooms 2X Percentage of visitors to adult websites who are women 1 in 3 visitors Women accessing adult websites each month 9.4 million Women admitting to accessing pornography at work 13% Country Porn Pages United States 244,661,900 Germany 10,030,200 ? ? ? ? Pornographic pages by country ? United Kingdom 8,506,800 Australia 5,655,800 Japan 2,700,800 The Netherlands 1,883,800 Russia 1,080,600 Poland 1,049,600 Spain 852,800 ? (Sources:Pornography Time Statistics 2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues 2006 & 2005 US Pornography Industry Revenue Statistics 2006 Top Adult Search Requests 2006 Search Engine Request Trends Internet Pornography Statistics Children Internet Pornography Statistics Adult Internet Pornography Statistics Women and Pornography Porn Producing Countries and Cities Pornographic Web pages by country US Adult Video Sales and Rentals US Hardcore Pornography Titles Released US Adult Internet User Demographics - Income US Adult Internet User Demographics - Age) ? Prostitution The National Task Force on Prostitution suggests that over one million people in the UShave worked as prostitutes in the United States, or about 1% of American women. ? Abortions ????? There were a total of 10-22million "clandestine" abortions, bringing the total world-wide figures to 36and 53million abortions. There are approximately 126,000 abortions conducted each day Sources: International Family Planning Perspectives, 16:59, June 1990; USA ????? An estimated 325,000 U.S.children age 17 or younger are prostitutes, performers in pornographic videos or have otherwise fallen victim to "commercial sexual exploitation (USAToday,9.9.2001) ????? The United Nations says one million children are drawn into prostitution annually. It estimates that 100,000 children and women in the Philippines, 400,000 in India, 100,000 in Taiwan, 200,000 in Thailandare subject to commercial sexual exploitation in the region. (CNN.com, 17.12,01) ? A comprehensive paper entitled ?Globalization and the Sex Trade?: Trafficking and the Commodification of Women and Children?makes several interesting comments about the extent of the sex industry and its socioeconomic implications: ?Capitalist globalization today involves an unprecedented "commodification" of human beings. In the last 30 years, the rapidly growing sex trade has been massively "industrialized" worldwide (Barry?; Jeffreys). This process of industrialization, in both its legal and its illegal forms, generates profits amounting to billions of dollars. It has created a market of sexual exchanges in which millions of women and children have been converted into sexual commodities. This sex market has been generated through the massive deployment of prostitution (one of the effects of the presence of military forces engaged in wars and/or territorial occupation (Strudevant and Stolzfus) in particular in the emerging economies, the unprecedented expansion of the tourist industry (Truong), the growth and normalization of pornography (Poulin 2000), and the internationalization of arranged marriages (Hughes)?..The sex industry, previously considered marginal, has come to occupy a strategic and central position in the development of international capitalism. For this reason it is increasingly taking on the guise of an ordinary sector of the economy. This particular aspect of globalization involves an entire range of issues crucial to understanding the world we live in. These include such processes as economic exploitation, sexual oppression, capital accumulation, international migration, and unequal development and such related conditions as racism and poverty?.The industrialization of the sex trade has involved the mass production of sexual goods and services structured around a regional and international division of labour. These "goods" are human beings who sell sexual services. The international market in these "goods" simultaneously encompasses local and regional levels, making its economic imperatives impossible to avoid. Prostitution and related sexual industries - bars, dancing clubs, massage parlors, pornography producers etc. - depend on a massive subterranean economy controlled by pimps connected to organized crime. At the same time, businesses such as international hotel chains, airline companies, and the tourist industry benefit greatly from the sex industry??The industrialization of the sex trade and its globalization are fundamental factors that make contemporary prostitution qualitatively different from the prostitution of yesterday. "Consumers" in the economic North now have access to "exotic" and young, very young bodies worldwide, notably in Brazil, Cuba, Russia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and, given the trafficking of children, in their own countries. The sex industry is diversified, sophisticated, and specialized?: it can meet all types of demands?..Another factor, which confers a qualitatively different character on the current sex trade, is the fact that prostitution has become a development strategy for some countries. Under obligations of debt repayment, numerous Asian, Latin American, and AfricanStateswere encouraged by international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to develop their tourism and entertainment industries.In each case, the development of these sectors inspired the development of the sex trade (Hechler). In certain cases, as in Nepal, women and children were put directly on regional or international markets (notably in Indiaand in Hong-Kong) without the country experiencing a significant expansion of local prostitution. In other cases, as in Thailand, local, regional, and international markets developed simultaneously (Barry).?? Capitalist globalization is more and more characterized by a feminization of migration (Santos). Women of ethnic minorities and other relatively powerless groups are particularly exploited. So, the internal traffic of Thai females consists mostly of 12-16 year olds from hill tribes of the North and the Northeast. In Taiwan, 40 per cent of young prostitutes in the main red light district are aboriginal girls (Barry 139). At the world level, the customers of the North abuse women of the South and of the East as well as local women from disadvantaged groups. From an economic point of view, these "goods" are doubly valuable because bodies are both a good and a service. More precisely, we have seen a commodification not only of the body, but also of women and children as human beings. This has led many to see this tafficking in women and children as a form of slavery (CATW)???? The report shows huge concern over the rapid expansion of the sex market: ?Over the last three decades, most of the countries of the Southern Hemisphere have experienced a phenomenal growth of prostitution. For a decade, this has also been the case for the countries of the ex-USSR and Eastern Europe. Millions of women, teenagers, and children thus live in the red-light districts of the urban metropolises of their own countries or in those of the nearby countries. Two million women prostitute themselves in Thailand (Barry 122), 400,000 to 500,000 in the Philippines (CATW), 650,000 in Indonesia (CATW), about ten million in India (of whom 200,000 are Nepalese) (CATW), 142,000 in Malaysia (CATW), between 60,000 and 70,000 in Vietnam (CATW), one million in the United States, between 50,000 and 70,000 in Italy (of whom half are foreigners, most notably from Nigeria), 30,000 in the Netherlands (CATW), 200,000 in Poland (Opperman), and between 60,000 (Gu?ricolas) and, more credibly, 200,000 (Opperman) in Germany. German prostitutes sell sexual services to 1.2 million "customers" per day (Opperman?; Ackermann and Filter).? The irony is that the world condemns sex trade only when it involves children and despite that child prostitution and pornography have been rapidly expanding. The same article says? ?UNICEF estimates that a million children are brought into the sex industry every year. The industry of child prostitution exploits 400,000 children in India(UNICEF 2003), 100,000 children in the Philippines(CATW), between 200,000 and 300,000 in Thailand(Oppermann), 100,000 in Taiwan(UNICEF 2001) and in Nepal(ECPAT), 500,000 children in Latin America, and from 244,000 to 325,000 children in the United States. If one includes children in all the sex industries, the U.S.figures climb to 2.4 millions (UNICEF 2001). In the People?s Republic of China, there are between 200,000 and 500,000 prostituted children. In Brazil, estimates vary between 500,000 and two million (UNICEF 2001). About 35 per cent of the prostitutes of Cambodiaare less than 17 years old (CATW). Certain studies estimate that during one year, the prostituted "sexual services" of one child are sold to 2,000 men (Robinson).? The article also comments on the link between sex trade and migration: ?Just as the development of local prostitution is tied up with rural migration towards cities, hundreds of thousands of young women are moving internationally towards the urban areas of Japan, Western Europe, and North America. These rural migrations towards close or distant urban areas show no sign of slowing down (Santos). On the contrary, everything indicates that it is continuing and that traffic in women and children is widespread. The women and children of South and Southeast Asiaconstitute the most important group?: 400,000 persons a year are objects of the aforementioned traffic. Russiaand independent states from the ex-USSR constitute the second most important group (175,000 persons a year) (UUSC) followed by Latin Americaand the Caribbean(about 100,000 persons) and Africa(50,000 persons). ?The number of prostitutes from the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Russiainstalled in Japanis estimated at 150,000 (CATW). About 50,000 Dominicans prostitute themselves abroad, notably in the Netherlands, where they were found to make up 70 per cent of the occupants of 400 Amsterdamsex-shop "windows" (Gu?ricolas 31). About 500,000 women of Eastern Europeand between 150,000 and 200,000 women of the countries of the ex-USSR prostitute themselves in Western Europe. Of these, it is estimated that 150,00 are in the red-light districts of Germany-a country where 75 per cent of the prostitutes are foreign (Oppermann). About 40 per cent of Zurich?s prostitutes are from a Third World country (Oppermann). About 50,000 foreigners arrive each year in the United Statesto supply the prostitution networks (O?Neill)??..Sex tourists do not limit themselves to poor countries. Hamburg?s Reeperbahn, Berlin?s Kurf?rstendamm and the red-light districts of Amsterdamand Rotterdamare well known destinations. In countries that have legalized prostitution or where it is tolerated, prostitution has become an important tourist draw. NGOs from these countries are actively lobbying at the European and international levels for the recognition of prostitution as simply "sex work," an occupation like any other.? Sex trade is not only accepted but promoted at every level also because it has become the pivot of tourism industry in most countries of the world. ?The growth of sexual tourism over the last 30 years has entailed the "prostitutionalization" of the societies involved. In Thailand, with 5.1 million sexual tourists a year, 450,000 local customers buy sex every day (Barry 60). The now massive South East Asian sex industry began with the Vietnam war. The U.S. government stationed servicemen not only in Vietnam, but also in Thailand and the Philippines (Jeffreys), these last two countries serving as rear bases in the fight against the Vietminh. The resulting increase in local prostitution established the infrastructure necessary for the development of sexual tourism. The presence of the military created an available work force. More importantly the military presence also provided opportunities for contact with foreigners and the social construction, through pornography, of an exotic sexual image of young South Asian women. Government policies favourable to sex tourism contributed to the explosion of this industry. A decade ago there were 18,000 prostitutes in the service of the 43,000 U.S.servicemen stationed in South Korea(Barry 139). Between 1937 and 1945 the Japanese army of occupation exploited between 100,000 and 200,000 Korean women imprisoned in "comfort stations" (Barry 128). After the Japanese defeat, the Association for the Creation of Special Recreational Facilities, financed indirectly by the U.S.government, opened a first comfort station for U.S.soldiers. At its height this association exploited 70,000 Japanese prostitutes (Barry 129). Today these numbers have swelled and include women from the Philippines, Russia, and other countries in sex industries.???? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 18:32:24 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 17:32:24 -0700 Subject: [GJM] What Ever Happened to Welfare Mothers? Message-ID: <01aa01caff8f$d081bc90$718535b0$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Thanks to Trading Post Paul for posting this article that pulls the covers off of "welfare reform." What has been pissing me off recently is the way the Republicans have been trying to convince everyone that healthcare reform was socialism at its worst. But one thing I would like to see is just how many of those who are getting multi-million dollar bonuses at Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions are registered as Republicans, and are among those who will now go after Social Security and Medicare. The same is true of Big Oil -- I would like to see the roster of names of those involved with this industry who are registered Republicans -- especially those associated with BP. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 12:26 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] What Ever Happened to Welfare Mothers? What Ever Happened to Welfare Mothers? Katha Pollitt May 13, 2010 This article appeared in the May 31, 2010 edition of The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/what-ever-happened-welfare-mothers Long lines of gloomy people in business suits at a jobs fair. Foreclosure signs on tidy suburban lawns. Adults moving into their parents' basement. In the news these days, the face of poverty is middle class, educated and often married: the hard-working, play-by-the-rules victims of the ongoing financial crisis. It's the man-bites-dog story that never ends. But what about the people who already were poor before the crisis? Like women on welfare? Oh, them. The welfare reform bill, pompously titled the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) and signed by Bill Clinton in the run-up to the election, was supposed to pull these hapless folk off the dole with a mix of carrots and sticks aimed at forcing mothers off welfare and into the workforce. Not only would they find jobs that would allow them to support their children, the theory went; once single motherhood ceased to be subsidized by the taxpayer, poor women would settle down and marry before having kids. On its tenth anniversary PRWORA was widely trumpeted as a success: "Pragmatic progress," declared Newsweek's Robert Samuelson. "Everything has worked," Douglas Besharov of the American Enterprise Institute told USA Today. "Welfare reform has been a triumph for the federal government and the states-and even more for single mothers," claimed Brookings Institution senior fellow Ron Haskins in its newsletter. On the New York Times op-ed page, Clinton patted himself on the back for a successful triangulation ("At the time, I was widely criticized by liberals who thought the work requirements too harsh and conservatives who thought the work incentives too generous") and for moving millions from "dependence to empowerment." True, the widespread disaster-1.1 million newly poor children, for instance-predicted by some opponents did not come about: child poverty actually went down. Millions of welfare mothers found work, albeit often casual, low-wage jobs that did not lift them out of poverty. How much of a triumph is it that in the late 1990s, 65 percent of former recipients in South Carolina were working, earning an average hourly wage of $6? Or that in Maryland, in one quarter, about half of former recipients had found work at pay that annualized to roughly $9,500-way below the poverty line for an average family? In a New York City study I wrote about in February 1999, only 126 former recipients out of a sample of 569 even had valid phone numbers, hardly a sign of prosperity and stability; of the 126, 58 percent were supporting their families "mainly through work," and the median wage was $7.50. But those women were entering the workforce at a moment of labor-force expansion and prosperity in the US economy; 16 million jobs were created in the 1990s. And even then-with a good jobs market, well-funded transitional programs and federal and state coffers flush with tax dollars-most welfare mothers stayed poor. Some, indeed, became poorer than ever, a development that tended to be briefly noted, if at all. As for the effects PRWORA was supposed to have on sexual mores, teen pregnancy did go down-but that happened for many reasons, and the United States is still way out in front of the other industrialized nations, including those with generous supports for young mothers and their children. Single motherhood continued to rise, accounting for 41 percent of all births in 2008, a historic high. Since single motherhood is rising all over the world, in countries from Ireland to Japan, it is not surprising that it has proved resistant to PRWORA's supposed miracle cure. If the boom years failed to lift poor mothers into the middle class, how are they faring now that the middle class is becoming the new poor? The fact that the welfare rolls have risen less than 10 percent since December 2007 while food stamp use has soared by 40 percent-an amazing one in eight Americans now uses them-suggests that welfare isn't reaching poor families: either women who apply are being turned away, or the programs are so minimal, or so onerous, that people aren't signing up. How do they manage? Sharon Hays, author of Flat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform, writes in an e-mail, "They get by in the same way the poor of New Orleans and Haiti are getting by, by cobbling together every available source of aid and support, and then trying to learn how to adjust to constant suffering and insecurity. Increasing rates of domestic violence are just one hidden story here." And what about women who have reached their state's time limit-two years, three years, five years-and can't get welfare for the rest of their lives? Jane Collins, the author, with Victoria Mayer, of Both Hands Tied: Welfare Reform and the Race to the Bottom of the Low-Wage Labor Market, writes, "In Wisconsin, most people who have used up their time limits are simply out of luck." Sounds like the laid-off workers for whom Congress recently capped unemployment benefits at ninety-nine weeks-but their situation, unlike that of welfare mothers, evokes widespread sympathy. No one sane assumes that today's unemployed are loafing, that jobs are "out there" for them or that getting married would solve their problems. If you think about it, though, given that PRWORA has been in effect for nearly fifteen years, it would not be difficult for a mother to reach the lifetime limit, even in Wisconsin, where it's a comparatively generous sixty months. I asked Collins if she saw anything good in welfare reform. "It was always a stigmatized program, a football in racial politics. If it were possible to make unemployment and other entitlement programs gender sensitive-to take account of caregiving, for example, and the need for childcare-and put women into these mainstream programs instead of welfare, that would reconceive poor mothers as economic citizens, as workers with rights. And that would be good." But for that to happen, people would have to care. Ronald Reagan perfected racial politics by putting a black face on welfare recipients. The fact that more whites were on welfare than blacks was masked by the media. Anytime the subject was welfare, pictures of blacks standing in line were the only images shown. It made a lot of people assume that "we're supporting those people." Women had to work two or three minimum wage jobs with no benefits. They had no childcare and no support. Blaming the poor when the economy is down is old politics. By Republican standards, eliminating help for the poor would make the deficit go away. Reagan coined the term "welfare queens." From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 19:00:59 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 18:00:59 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: FW: Don't Let "Immigration Reform" Be an Excuse for Greater Repression of Those Seeking Assylum Message-ID: <01b001caff93$cdc95680$695c0380$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Dear Dave, thanks for your comments on this article. Were I a resident of AZ would consider voting for you. However, having arrived at the conclusion that government is the problem and not the solution could not in the long run do this. But wish you well in the race to the bottom of the barrel. -----Original Message----- From: Dave Ewoldt [mailto:dave at reststop.net] Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 2:31 PM To: mary rose Subject: Re: FW: Don't Let "Immigration Reform" Be an Excuse for Greater Repression of Those Seeking Assylum Like Oxfam, Rabbi Lerner seems to believe that to "raise people out of poverty" we must force economic development upon them, although he does at least think it should be "sustainable." Whether they want it or not, or whether it is even in their best long-term interests, doesn't seem to matter all that much. On the immigration issue, I managed to get on Arizona Governor Brewer's mail list, and today she sent out a long e-mail whining about big bad California boycotting poor little Arizona. The core of her message, and my response, is below. On 27 May 2010 at 22:15, Governor Jan Brewer wrote: > Contact the Mayor of Los Angeles and tell him that you support Arizona > and you oppose his boycott! Sorry, Governor Brewer, but your short-sighted and mean-spirited actions (this must be what happens when you stand too close to Sarah Palin) has made Arizona the laughingstock of all rational people. First, no matter how high a fence you build, someone will always build a taller ladder. More importantly, though, SB1070 falls into the category of slapping band-aids on symptoms while steadfastly ignoring the root causes--corporate greed. We have allowed a situation to be created where people, in sheer desperation, are leaving their homes, families, and friends in an attempt to regain that which has been stolen from them--the dignity of being able to have a means of right livelihood. We subsidize American corporations so they can undercut prices in other countries, our blind adherence to NAFTA causes wage depression home and abroad, and off- shoring our manufacturing sector in the race to the bottom has left us with nothing more than a service sector economy that no longer has a middle class who can afford it. And the best response you can come up with is scapegoating the victims? Shame on you, Governor Brewer. You've brought this one on yourself. Sincerely, Dave Ewoldt Independent Candidate, AZ State Senate - LD28 DaveForArizona at gmail.com http://www.daveforarizona.org From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 22:13:25 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 21:13:25 -0700 Subject: [GJM] How the GOP Became the White Man's Party Message-ID: <01bd01caffae$b3522d20$19f68760$@net> Thanks to Trading Post Paul for directing me to this article. http://www.alternet.org/rights/147004/how_the_gop_became_the_white_man's_p?p age=entire AlterNet / By Robert Perkinson How the GOP Became the White Man's Party In this excerpt from Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, Robert Perkinson shows how the Right embraced racial animus as a political strategy. May 26, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/storyimages_barrygoldwater.jpg_310x22 0 Photo Credit: Wikipedia Publisher's Note: In the latter third of the twentieth century, the United States built the largest penal system in the history of democratic governance. This exceptional prison buildup had surprisingly little to do with crime and a great deal to do with politics, particularly racial politics. Texas Tough traces the entwinement of race, crime, and punishment all the way back to slavery. It argues that mass incarceration developed in the backlash against civil rights, just as Jim Crow took hold in reaction against emancipation and Reconstruction. On the national stage, the punitive turn in U.S. criminal justice policymaking gained forced in the second half of the Johnson administration, just as the civil rights movement cemented its historic gains. Leading the way were two arch-conservatives, a canny southern demagogue from Alabama and a belligerent anti-communist from Arizona. Not only did they help construct a prison nation; they polarized and racialized America's politics in ways that are still thwarting the task of governing two generations later. No one understood the politics of backlash better than Lyndon Johnson, Texas's most legendary politician since Sam Houston and the White House's most determined champion of civil rights since Ulysses S. Grant. Although Johnson had started out as a segregationist, as president, his social programs extended the New Deal and went further toward alleviating economic inequality than any policy regime before or since. His deployment of federal power in the interest of civil rights retraced the footsteps of Reconstruction and for the first time gave genuine credibility to the age-old American credo, equal justice before the law. "I'm going to be the President who finishes what Lincoln began," Johnson pledged -- and to a certain extent he was. Even as his Great Society ushered new voters into the Democratic Party, however, Johnson increasingly antagonized his traditional white southern base. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he confided to Bill Moyers, "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come." The Great Society's fiercest critics indeed came from Johnson's own section of the country, often from his home state. In 1960, he and Lady Bird had been jostled and spit on by a right-wing mob in Dallas. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, J. Evetts Haley, a wealthy rancher and far-right rabble rouser, denounced the president as a "traitor" to the South whose policies would result in "race and national suicide." By the mid-1960s, however, neo-Confederate obstructionists were in retreat. A strong majority of white poll respondents nationwide said they accepted the basic justice of civil rights demands; even whites in the South were no longer responding to racial venom with the same fervor they once had. Critics of the Johnson administration, therefore, had to refine and redirect their ire. Anticommunism remained at the ready, but with the president dispatching hundreds of thousands of combat troops to Vietnam, red baiting was losing its zing. A fresh issue on the home front, however, held unusual promise. Not only might it allow the right to tap into smoldering fears and frustrations without resorting to outmoded racist demagoguery, but it suggested a way to reclaim the populist mantle from redistributionist liberals. The issue was crime, and after 1964, it became one of the most divisive forces in American politics. Since crime had traditionally been a mayoral or at most gubernatorial concern -- with the notable exception of Prohibition -- Johnson was slow to grab hold. "A visitor coming to America for the first time might have been forgiven for assuming that the President of the United States commanded all the city police departments and that control of the courts was his personal responsibility," he explained "[But] crime is a local problem. . The federal government has little or no power to deal with the problem . nor should it have." From the mid-1960s, however, Johnson's foes increasingly ignored his civics lesson. As the president himself was sabotaging his experiment in social democracy by diverting resources and attention to Southeast Asia, the New Right began ravaging it from within in the name of public safety and just desserts. A pioneer in this effort was George Wallace, the sharp-tongued segregationist who ran four times for president between 1964 and 1976. When first elected governor of Alabama in 1962, he epitomized southern demagogy. In his first inaugural address, he lambasted federal enforcement of civil rights by invoking the Civil War. "From this cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland," he thundered, "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." As most Americans accommodated themselves to legal equality, however, Wallace was one of the first Dixiecratic firebrands to figure out how to talk about race without hurling racial epithets. Instead of "White Man's Government," he championed states' rights, public order, and perceived white victimhood. Crime proved to be especially fruitful terrain, as it enabled him to stoke subterranean fears of integration while assailing what he called the fanciful theories of liberal elites. "If a criminal knocks you over the head on your way home from work," he complained, "he will be out of jail before you're out of the hospital and the policeman who arrested him will be on trial. . Some psychologist will say, well, he's not to blame, society is to blame." Much of the trouble, in Wallace's view, stemmed from the federal judiciary. "The same Supreme Court that ordered integration and encouraged civil rights legislation," he blasted, is now "bending over backwards to help criminals." Affirmed by an outpouring of national support following a carefully choreographed standoff with the Justice Department over admissions to the University of Alabama, the governor believed he glimpsed the fuming, fearful soul of a nation. "They all hate black people, all of them," he mused, according to NBC news. "They're all afraid, all of them. Great God! That's it! They're all Southern! The whole United States is Southern!" Crime served as a perfect surrogate for Wallace's brand of racial resentment. As an issue, it had the respectability that old-fashioned "Negrophobia" lacked. It was also an undeniable social problem, even if the ballyhoo surrounding it sometimes outstripped the reality. Over the span of centuries, most historians agree, U.S. crime rates had been steadily declining, culminating in a precipitous drop during World War II. In the 1960s, however, both property and violent crime rebounded. In 1960, there were 9,110 murders and 17,190 rapes recorded in the United States; by 1975, the toll had mounted to 20,510 murders and 56,090 rapes. In per capita terms, the national homicide rate increased by 88 percent. "Today, we are in the midst of a crime wave of unprecedented proportions," warned U.S. News & World Report. Partisans blamed their favorite villains. Social critics on the left labeled property crime "reparations" and depicted rising illegality as the result of pent-up frustrations in the face of persistent injustice. On the right, Wallace and other foes of social liberalism blamed legalistic permissiveness, moral degeneration, and a "culture of welfare." Academic criminologists put little stock in such explanations. They pointed out that local and state crime reporting became more systematic during the 1960s, thus inflating the numbers. They also noted that the first baby boomers hit their teens and twenties in the 1960s, thereby expanding the most crime-prone demographic. Two other factors stand out to crime researchers in retrospect. First, during the wartime and postwar economic expansion, millions of Americans, many of them low-wage African American workers from the South, moved to cities in search of jobs; more affluent white Americans, in turn, followed the new interstate highway system out to the suburbs, taking resources with them. Second, starting in the late 1960s, the phenomenally productive U.S. economic engine started to sputter, wracked by increasing competition from Japan and Germany, declining profits, inflation, rising unemployment, and finally the oil crisis. Together, stagnation and suburbanization concentrated poverty in the inner cities, where crimes rates climbed most steeply. Most experts believed that the expansion of civil liberties by the federal courts had little to do with the baby-boom crime wave. Court decisions like Miranda have had as much of an effect on crime rates "as aspirin on a brain tumor," argued a former prosecutor. But public perception was another matter. Opinion polls showed that Americans were becoming increasingly concerned about crime in the 1960s, especially as politicians spotlighted the issue. They also disagreed sharply about what should be done. Ironically, those groups that were most vulnerable and most often victimized, notably women and African Americans, had the least punitive attitudes; they tended to favor preventative and rehabilitative solutions to crime. White men, although they were less often victimized and less personally fearful of crime, favored the harshest penalties. Such differences help explain George Wallace's potency. His hyperventilating style never got him elected to national office, but Wallace secured a legacy by splitting votes, by coaxing white voters, especially in the South but also in northern cities with growing black populations, away from their traditional homes in the Democratic Party. Wallace mapped out a racially charged "southern strategy" that his ideological heirs followed to victory. The ultimate beneficiary, of course, was not the party of Jefferson Davis, where Wallace began and ended his career, but that of Abraham Lincoln. Barry Goldwater, the archconservative senator from Arizona was one of the first Republicans outside the South to recognize the potential of Wallace's right-wing racial populism. The Democrats increasingly had a lock on the black electorate, he acknowledged, but this represented an opportunity rather than a liability. "We're not going to get the Negro vote," he told a southern audience, "so we ought to go hunting where the ducks are." To Goldwater, this meant bagging frustrated, fearful white voters not by hurling racial slurs but by honing a message of states' rights and crime control. "The abuse of law and order in this country is going to be an issue," Goldwater pledged at the start of his rousing 1964 presidential bid, which ultimately won Wallace's endorsement. "At least I'm going to make it one." Goldwater placed crime fighting front and center when he accepted the Republican nomination at San Francisco's Cow Palace. "Security from domestic violence, no less than from foreign aggression, is the most elementary and fundamental purpose of any government," he bellowed, "and a government that cannot fulfill this purpose is one that cannot long command the loyalty of its citizens." Here the candidate privileged martial over social governance and chained street crime to the cold war. In both cases, he argued, the enemies were socialist ideas. "If it is entirely proper for the government to take away from some to give to others," he mused, conflating progressive taxation with theft, "then won't some be led to believe that they can rightfully take from anyone who has more than they? No wonder law and order has broken down, mob violence has engulfed great American cities, and our wives feel unsafe in the streets." Goldwater thus wielded crime as a dagger to strike at the heart of social democracy. In his view, Johnson's myriad antipoverty programs not only failed to prevent crime; by cultivating a pathological culture of dependency and permissiveness, they actually caused crime. Such obdurate pronouncements proved too ideological for the 1964 electorate. When a journalist asked Goldwater what it might feel like to become president one day, he had replied, "Frankly, it scares the hell out of me." Voters agreed, and he picked up just 52 of 538 electoral votes. Even as the Arizona senator fell far short in his drive for national power, however, he proved an able revolutionary within his own party. Unlike any politician since Prohibition, he made crime a galvanizing national campaign issue. By winning five ex-Confederate states plus his own, he proved that Republicans could compete in the "solid South," and he shifted the party's center of gravity to the Sunbelt. Proclaiming famously that "extremism in defense of liberty is no vice," he drove liberals like his primary opponent Nelson Rockefeller into Republican exile. Within a single election cycle he repositioned the Grand Old Party as the standard bearer of opposition to civil rights. Only two years earlier, poll respondents had perceived almost no difference between the two major parties when it came to race. By late 1964, however, Americans overwhelmingly identified Democrats with civil rights and Republicans with a go-slow, states' rights approach. The sea change was apparent at party gatherings, where the conservative journalist Robert Novak was dismayed to hear a new cadre of GOP activists conversing freely about "niggers" and "nigger lovers." Under Goldwater's leadership, he concluded, the Republican Party "was now a White Man's Party." Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17831 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 22:32:05 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 21:32:05 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 30 2010 Message-ID: <01c301caffb1$4c395340$e4abf9c0$@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, May 29, 2010 8:45 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 30 2010 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) Freedom flotilla ready to break through blockade 30 May, 2010, 04:32 http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-05-29/freedom-flotilla-gaza-blockade.html Deficit Eclipses Jobs In Congress: 'Nickel-And-Diming The Most Fragile People' Updated: 05-29-10 10:40 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/deficit-eclipses-jobs-in_n_593914.h tml Late on Thursday evening, Democrats were arguing on the House floor over the size of a jobs bill that was two days overdue for a vote when word started to filter through the chamber that the Senate had adjourned and was leaving for the Memorial Day break. With no Senate, there could be no bill. "People were astounded. I mean stunned," said freshman Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). "We're in the midst of this debate and trying to find a path to doing the right thing and they went out on recess? Without addressing these issues? Some of which have deadlines? I mean, there are going to be unemployed Americans who will not have their unemployment extended." On June 1, several programs, including extended unemployment benefits, will expire. By the end of the week, 19,400 people will prematurely stop receiving checks, according to data from the Department of Labor. How long will it take the Senate to finish the bill? With Republicans promising to stand in the way, leadership will need to file at least one time-consuming "cloture" motion to break the filibuster and to set up a vote by the end of the week in the best-case scenario. By the end of the following week, the number of premature unemployment exhaustions will climb to 323,400. The week after that, 903,000. By the end of the month, 1.2 million. "But the numbers really don't tell the story," said Marc Katz of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. "The states are going to get calls from very concerned claimants about what's going on, what's the outlook. That's the real story. And it puts claimants through real anguish. It's just terribly unfair to them." It will be the third time this year that lawmakers have allowed extended unemployment benefits to lapse, and the second time they've decided to leave town for recess fully knowing the lapse would cause panic and confusion among blameless layoff victims -- not to mention what Katz calls a "huge" administrative burden on state workforce agencies. A Mother's Catch-22 William Greider May 25, 2010 http://www.thenation.com/article/mothers-catch-22 When Congress and Bill Clinton decided to end "welfare as we know it," they made a deal with the poor folks who were being cut loose from their AFDC checks. Go out and find a job, they told the mothers with dependent children. Government will help by providing a modest subsidy to pay for child care. As a practical matter, most mothers with small children couldn't go to work without it. Now that promise is gradually being withdrawn. The federal government still funds the child-care subsidy, but across the country local governments and some states are deciding they can no longer afford to take the federal money. Faced with horrendous budget deficits, cities and counties are cutting back the local matching money required of them. Child care providers, often former welfare recipients themselves, see their incomes plummet and have to close down. Working women with kids are stranded without good choices. They scramble. Some wind up back on the welfare rolls or getting emergency cash assistance. Poor mothers who work in low-wage jobs are not exactly a high-profile interest group. Their calamity is just one more dislocation among the many caused by the Great Recession. The New York Times took notice, however. Reporter Peter Goodman told their story with powerful reporting and his comprehensive account led the newspaper's front page. A 23-year-old mother in Tucson, Arizona, told Goodman: "I'm totally able, physically and intellectually, to continue working. But I can't work without child care, and I can't afford child care without work." If President Obama were serious about large-scale public job creation to confront unemployment (he isn't serious, not yet anyway), he might start with this mother's humble dilemma. The realm in which these women scramble and struggle is actually a promising opportunity for economic development--one place where public investment can generate massive job creation. In fact, the broad universe of "care giving" would deliver a bigger payoff in new jobs than federal spending on infrastructure or green energy projects. Typically in recessions, poor people are first to be thrown over the side. This recession is worse than typical. In Erie County (Buffalo), the county government has cut eligibility for the federal subsidy. Ed Gresco, the CSEA organizer, described the ripple effect: 50 to 60 providers go out of business, 1,500 children lose their child care, 700 families lose their ability to hold jobs. This is a small living example of why reducing the federal deficits at this fragile stage of economic recovery is utterly wrong-headed (though Obama says he is going to try). In many areas, cutting public spending adds to the ranks of unemployed and may ultimately add to the government's costs for welfare support. A state or local government may make bad choices in the name of balancing the budget. The federal government does not have that excuse. BP Says So Far, Gulf Well Plug Isn't Working BEN NUCKOLS | 05/29/10 08:51 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/29/bp-says-so-far-gulf-well-_n_594501. html ROBERT, La. ? BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but is readying yet another approach after repeated failures to stop the crude that's fouling marshland and beaches. BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser. In the six weeks since the spill began, the company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher, as estimates of how much oil is leaking grow more dire. The spill is the worst in U.S. history ? exceeding even the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster ? and dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates. "This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet." The company failed in the days after the spill to use robot submarines to close valves on the massive blowout preventer atop the damaged well, then two weeks later ice-like crystals clogged a 100-ton box the company tried placing over the leak. Earlier this week, engineers removed a mile-long siphon tube after it sucked up a disappointing 900,000 gallons of oil from the gusher. Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death. President Barack Obama visited the coast Friday to see the damage as he tried to emphasize that his administration was in control of the crisis. He told people in Grand Isle, where the beach has been closed by gobs of oil, that they wouldn't be abandoned. 'Business Good. Government Bad.' http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/29-0 by Bruce Luske Saturday, May 29, 2010 I just read Arthur C. Brooks' precious recent Washington Post polemic, "America's new culture war: Free enterprise vs. government control," and I want to comment on his one-size-fits all libertarian prescription for every conceivable social ill. As political scientist David Michael Green observed, it can be expressed in a bumper sticker: "Business good. Government bad." Please join me in repeating this line aloud twice, making sure to punctuate each rendition with a parrot's whistle. You've got it! Simple, isn't it? This ubiquitous "master narrative" has prevailed for over 30 years as the exact cause of our current economic meltdown and overall societal disintegration; namely, a run-amock thoroughly deregulated so-called "free market." I want to go on record here by saying that I and virtually all Americans love Brooks' grand IDEA of huge numbers of small businesses imaginatively innovating and competing in every area of American life. But the problem with this exceedingly attractive proposition (in the abstract) is that as an empirical matter the "Biggest Fish" (transnational corporations) have long since eaten most of the "little fish" (small and medium businesses). The alluring libertarian dream of the "free market" no longer exists--indeed, never has existed--since the matter of which businesses thrive and expand and which do not has always been a product of governmental policy. A good historic case in point are the railroads in the 19th century. Today's "free market" is in reality an oxymoron as a wholly owned and controlled creature (Frankenstein?) of the largest international corporations served by the federal government as the "corporate state." A simple metaphor: The corporations are the "dog" and the federal government is the "tail." The right, Tea Partiers, their assorted allies, and a largely misled populace refuse to acknowledge and/or to understand this dominant truth of contemporary American society. I can't think of a more poignantly compelling example than the federal government's utter dependency on the BP corporation that caused the Gulf catastrophe to control attempts to plug the gusher as well as the accompanying narrative fed to the corporate media in the attempt to "spin" the disaster in the least damaging way for BP as possible. But it ain't gonna work this time. Now even the Gulf state Bubbas who used to fish and swim in the Gulf are starting to get it. We are entering the Age of Rage. Posted Thursday, 27 May 2010 By: Gordon T Long http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1274988000.php It is presently most visible in Europe as austerity programs that potentially could shred a half century of social entitlement advances are met with increasingly violent street demonstrations. It is seen in the US Tea Party rallies with their fury that the very fabric which the US capitalist system is based on is being destroyed and discarded. Unfortunately these demonstrations of rage are focusing on the effects and not the cause. The cause is a systemic plaque of unenforced financial control fraud. Americans witnessed CEOs arrested during the nightly news coverage of the S&L Crisis of the early 90?s. They were placated as they heard the details of over 1000 indictments of the perpetrators of fraud. In the aftermath of the tech bubble implosion ten years later, injured investors once again witnessed the most senior executives at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Qwest and others being led off in handcuffs and disgrace to waiting police cruisers. Retirees with decimated retirement plans felt that some level of restitution had been made when 25 year sentences were meted out to these formerly high-flying felons. After nearly two years since the greatest financial malfeasants in history and ten years since the last public example of financial crime, the public haven?t seen a single CEO sentenced to hard time for the financial meltdown. They have not had their thirst for revenge quenched by a single high level court case. Instead, the public infuriatingly witnesses politically crafted theater in congressional hearings that go nowhere, read watered down legislation that is replete with even richer lobbyist-authored loopholes and only occasionally see small headlines of quiet settlements with insulting token amends payments. Why? Were there no crimes committed? No laws broken? The public is forced to accept excuses that we have enforcement agencies not enforcing, regulators not regulating and legislators not equipped to legislate properly in our modern fast moving financial world. The public is left with the gnawing concern of whether it is incompetence or something much deeper, more troubling, and more sinister. Confidence and trust in government and our democratically elected politicians continue to worsen from already pathetic levels. The taxpayer while standing in long unemployment lines, reads in the newspapers of financial institutions that were making mind-numbing profits and paying horrendous executive bonuses suddenly being insolvent and needing taxpayer bailouts. Then as their unemployment benefits near exhaustion, they read of the banks? profits soaring once again. These are the foundations of the emerging new age of public rage. We have much more than a crisis of integrity. We have fraud that is so pervasive that it is now unknowingly institutionalized into our business and political culture. The sickening part is that it a like a cancer; if it?s not detected early, it will be too late to fight. We need to fully understand and prosecute the tenets of fraud before it is too late. The Infuriating Cell Phone Racket If you're not already angry with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint -- here's some ridiculous news to raise your righteous ire. May 29, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/media/147037/the_infuriating_cell_phone_racket/ If you're not angry with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint -- America's four national wireless providers that reportedly control 90 percent of the market -- then here's some ridiculous news to raise your righteous ire. Perhaps you'd be interested to know about one of the most outrageous cell phone scams? It's simple: Charge customers for being forced to listen to 15 seconds of unnecessary voicemail instructions reminding them how to leave a message after the beep. According to New York Times technology writer David Pogue, if Verizon customers leave voicemails or check their messages twice a day, the mammoth New Jersey-based telco takes in around $620 million. In return, you lose wasted hours of your life and have to pay for it. Speaking of Verizon, have you heard about the representative who refused to shut down a dead man's service, even though his daughter produced a death certificate and needed the account closed so settlement of his estate could proceed? Or the rep who tried to collect an overdue $308 bill from customer Al Burrows by threatening to, and I quote, "blow your muthafucking house up"? Do we need to even talk about AT&T's various controversies, from censoring Pearl Jam to allegedly helping the National Security Agency unlawfully monitor the American people's communications? The telco giants' latest disgrace, according to a recent Federal Communications Commission report, has been given the egregious name of "bill shock" (PDF). Which is a misnomer, actually: it's certainly not shocking to find, as the FCC explains, that "30 million Americans -- or one in six mobile users -- have experienced...a sudden increase in their monthly bill that is not caused by a change in service plan." It's even less alarming to discover that "nearly half of cell phone users who have plans with early termination fees (ETFs) -- and almost two-thirds of home broadband users with ETFs --don?t know the amount of the fees they?re accountable for." Christian 'Pregnancy Crisis Centers' Masquerading as Health Clinics Tell Women Abortion Causes Cancer and Infertility -- And You're Helping Pay for Them Under the dubious free speech protection, CPCs are going to disgusting lengths to scare women out of seeking abortions -- with the help of federal and state funding. May 29, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/146980/christian_%27pregnancy_cr isis_centers%27_masquerading_as_health_clinics_tell_women_abortion_causes_ca ncer_and_infertility_--_and_you%27re_helping_pay_for_them She sat in the counseling room, looking at the posters of fetal development covering the walls. In her hands she held the pamphlets urging her to forgo abortion. Together with a partner, the young woman, Alexa Cole, had entered the crisis pregnancy center ? CPC, for short ? hoping to get more information about abortion and birth control options. ?[It] was in kind of like a shopping plaza area,? Cole later recalled. ?It had a sign on the curb or by the sidewalk advertising Pregnancy Resource Center or something along those lines.? Inside, the office was decorated like a campus health clinic. On the reception desk sat a jar with plastic fetuses for visitors to take home. After check-in, the receptionist ushered Cole and her friend inside the counseling room, then left them there for 10 minutes under the unflinching gaze of the unborn. Cole had heard about all this before: the health clinic d?cor, the anti-abortion pamphlets, the rooms decorated with fetus photos. She had heard of video presentations where women lament their decision to terminate their pregnancies. She had even heard of one woman, while waiting for her own appointment, being asked to hold a live infant while the mother excused herself to the restroom. Creeping Terror: The New American Way of War http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/1970-creeping-terror-the-n ew-american-way-of-war-.html Written by Chris Floyd Tuesday, 18 May 2010 13:04 The American way of war is a marvelously ingenious thing. And thoroughly modern too. No more of that "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" jazz; your modern "warfighter" (they aren't called "soldiers" anymore, you know) prefers to view his targets through, say, a computer screen safely ensconced back in the Homeland or thousands of feet in the sky, or else through the unearthly greenish glow of night-vision scopes. And open combat? Forget it. The new American way is the sneak attack on civilian homes in the dead of night. You creep up, you break in, you cap a few ragheads, then you run away. What glory! What magnificent valor! The Washington Post reports on yet another glorious page in the annals of the exceptional nation "intended by God to be a light set on a hill to serve as a beacon of hope and Christian charity to a lost and dying world." It's the usual story. Secret "warfighters" suddenly attack a civilian compound in the middle of the night. This, not surprisingly, provokes a few shots from some of the inhabitants, who have no idea who is attacking their home. The superior firepower of the beacons of hope and Christian charity quickly overcome the piddling arms of the demonic heathens, however, and in a trice, there are dead gook ? sorry, raghead ? bodies all around. Including children ? you've got to have children in your body count these days, if you want to be a thoroughly modern Christian beacon warfighter. Then you and your brave band of secret warriors run away and prepare for the next bold raid. Naturally, the local losers come out and boo-hoo-hoo over their dead relatives, as if no one had ever seen their son shot to death in front of their eyes before. They trot out all their evidence that the victims had nothing to do with the "insurgents" (which is what your modern warfighter calls anyone who objects to the presence of armed foreigners prowling all over their land), they keen and wail and do all the other animalistic stuff that primitives do when one of the pack snuffs it. "Oh, I lost my son, oh my son, my precious son," etc., etc. ? as if there's not a dozen more when he came from; you know how those people breed. But anyway, here's the beauty part: if the local dorky darkies start to complain, you just say, "Hey man, we came under fire! Those monkeys shot at us when we came sneaking up on their house in the middle of the night with our guns drawn. That proves they were bad guys. We had to take them out." That's it. That's the drill. It happens virtually every week now in Afghanistan ? just as it happened time and again in Iraq, back when some guy named Stanley McChrystal was in charge of covert ops for that evil, reactionary throwback, George W. Bush. Whatever happened to old Stan anyway? Oh yeah; the nice, progressive, thoroughly modern Barack Obama put him in charge of the whole shooting match in Afghanistan, as well as the not-so-secret war of assassination in Pakistan. And oddly enough, the slaughter of civilians in both of these target countries has been rising ever since. Just How Much BPA Is Really in Your Canned Foods? May 29, 2010 http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/29/just-how-much-bpa-is-really-i n-your-canned-foods/ A coalition of public health and environmental groups, collectively known as the National Workgroup for Safe Markets, has produced a report on the amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods: No Silver Lining: An Investigation into Bisphenol A in Canned Foods. What did it find? BPA in 92% of the foods sampled. Most canned foods are lined with BPA plastic, and it leaches into the foods. I?ve discussed concerns about the health effects of BPA in previous posts. Here is an update on attempts to get rid of it. * Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed an amendment to the endlessly pending food safety bill to ban BPA. * The Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) and the Chamber of Commerce have threatened to oppose the food safety bill if it bans BPA. How?s that for a good example of food politics in action. * The canning industry knows it must replace BPA and is looking for alternatives. * The French will ban BPA in baby bottles, since infants are most at risk. To put all this in context, take a look at Jerome Groopman?s New Yorker article, The Plastic Panic: How Worried Should We Be About Everyday Chemicals? He isn?t exactly sure, but points out how difficult it is to test the health effects of any one of many chemicals in our environment?flame retardants and plastics among them?and how far regulation lags in dealing with this problem. He concludes: How do we go forward? Flame retardants surely serve a purpose, just as BPA and phthalates have made for better and stronger plastics. Still, while the evidence of these chemicals? health consequences may be far from conclusive, safer alternatives need to be sought. More important, policymakers must create a better system for making decisions about when to ban these types of substances, and must invest in the research that will inform those decisions. There?s no guarantee that we?ll always be right, but protecting those at the greatest risk shouldn?t be deferred. Given the evidence brought forth to date on BPA, I?d call this an understatement. BP oil spill is the anti-Katrina and does expose conservative ideology to criticism By John Amato Saturday May 29, 2010 8:00am http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bp-oil-spill-anti-katrina-and-does-expo The right wing movement in all its forms (well, there really is only one at this point) has been trying to equate the BP oil spill catastrophe to Hurricane Katrina and President Bush's mishandling of it. Kevin Drum dispatches that notion effortlessly: This conflates two very different things. Katrina was an example of the type of disaster that the federal government is specifically tasked with handling. And for most of the 90s, it was very good at handling them. But when George Bush became president and Joe Allbaugh became director of FEMA, everything changed. Allbaugh neither knew nor cared about disaster preparedness. For ideological reasons, FEMA was downsized and much of its work outsourced. When Allbaugh left after less than two years on the job, he was replaced by the hapless Michael Brown and the agency was downgraded and broken up yet again. By the time Katrina hit, the upper levels of FEMA were populated largely with political appointees with no disaster preparedness experience and the agency was simply not up to the job of dealing with a huge storm anymore. The Deepwater Horizon explosion is almost the exact opposite. There is no federal expertise in capping oil blowouts. There is no federal agency tasked specifically with repairing broken well pipes. There is no expectation that the federal government should be able to respond instantly to a disaster like this. There never has been. For better or worse, it's simply not something that's ever been considered the responsibility of the federal government. Shocking Law: Doctors Now Allowed to Keep Information About Birth Defects from Women in Order to Stop Abortions April 28, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/146662/shocking_law_doctors_now_ allowed_o_keep_information_about_birth_defects_from_women_in_order_to_stop_a bortions In addition to a law that requires women view ultrasounds before their abortions, Oklahoma now shields doctors who hide information about birth defects from malpractice suits. Oklahoma is not a hospitable place for a woman seeking to assert her reproductive rights. There are only three licensed abortion providers in the whole state, and local legislators appear fixated on narrowing residents' already-limited abortion options by passing one restrictive, demeaning, and almost certainly unconstitutional law after another. On Tuesday, the Oklahoma state legislature overrode the governor's vetoes on two such bills and made them law. One requires that a woman seeking an abortion must look at her ultrasound -- the screen must be in her line of sight (she has the option of covering her eyes) -- as the health care provider narrates the state of the fetus. The other law prevents a woman from suing her doctor for withholding information about potential birth defects. Within hours of the new laws' passage, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) went to court to challenge the bills as unconstitutional. Unfortunately, it's not the first time the abortion rights group has taken on the conservative-dominated Oklahoma legislature. In 2008, when these same statutes were passed and made law -- after legislators once again overturned vetoes by Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat -- CRR filed suit and successfully had the measures struck down. The Supreme Court has called the passage of such anti-choice laws "a continued failure to abide by the Oklahoma constitution." The state's own highest court has called such legislative attempts "a waste of time for the Legislature and the Court, and a waste of taxpayers' money." The Republican-dominated legislature's antics are growing quite tiresome -- and offensive. Just a week ago, an Oklahoma district court ruled unconstitutional a 2009 law that created a public Web site where doctors would have to publish personal information, including names, about women who had legally terminated their pregnancies in the state. From maryrose333 at att.net Sat May 29 22:35:03 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 21:35:03 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 29 2010 Message-ID: <01c401caffb1$b2131610$16394230$@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, May 28, 2010 8:51 PM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] NetNews May 29 2010 (Entries are excerpts from website links. See links for full articles) Prominent Oil Industry Insider: "There's Another Leak, Much Bigger, 5 to 6 Miles Away" http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/05/prominent-oil-industry-insider-theres .html Thursday, May 27, 2010 Matt Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush, is an adviser to the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, and is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Simmon is chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, an investment bank catering to oil companies. Simmons told Dylan Ratigan that "there's another leak, much bigger, 5 to 6 miles away" from the leaking riser and blowout preventer which we've all been watching on the underwater cameras: I have no idea whether or not Simmons is right. The government should immediately either debunk or admit his claim. If accurate, the bigger leak could have been caused by the destruction of the well casing when the oil rig exploded. That is Simmons' theory. Or it could be caused by a natural oil seep, although the odds of a seep of that size occurring right around the time of the Deep Horizon disaster is nearly zero. There is another possibility. It is well-known that there were previous accidents at the Deepwater Horizon rig. For example, as AP notes: From 2000 to 2010, the Coast Guard issued six enforcement warnings and handed down one civil penalty and a notice of violation to Deepwater Horizon, agency records show. On 18 different occasions during that period the Coast Guard cited the vessel for an "acknowledged pollution source." And as 60 Minutes reports: [Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon, and one of the last workers to leave the doomed rig] said they were told it would take 21 days; according to him, it actually took six weeks. With the schedule slipping, Williams says a BP manager ordered a faster pace. "And he requested to the driller, 'Hey, let's bump it up. Let's bump it up.' And what he was talking about there is he's bumping up the rate of penetration. How fast the drill bit is going down," Williams said. Williams says going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools and that drilling fluid called "mud." "We actually got stuck. And we got stuck so bad we had to send tools down into the drill pipe and sever the pipe," Williams explained. That well was abandoned and Deepwater Horizon had to drill a new route to the oil. It cost BP more than two weeks and millions of dollars. "We were informed of this during one of the safety meetings, that somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million was lost in bottom hole assembly and 'mud.' And you always kind of knew that in the back of your mind when they start throwing these big numbers around that there was gonna be a push coming, you know? A push to pick up production and pick up the pace," Williams said. Asked if there was pressure on the crew after this happened, Williams told Pelley, "There's always pressure, but yes, the pressure was increased." But the trouble was just beginning: when drilling resumed, Williams says there was an accident on the rig that has not been reported before. He says, four weeks before the explosion, the rig's most vital piece of safety equipment was damaged. It is therefore possible that there has been another ongoing leak which BP has tried to cover up. 22-Mile Oil Plume Under Gulf Nears Rich Waters MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN | 05/28/10 10:40 AM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/22mile-oil-plume-under-gu_n_593658. html NEW ORLEANS ? A thick, 22-mile plume of oil discovered by researchers off the BP spill site was nearing an underwater canyon, where it could poison the foodchain for sealife in the waters off Florida. The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume reported since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. The plume is more than 6 miles wide and its presence was reported Thursday. The cloud was nearing a large underwater canyon whose currents fuel the foodchain in Gulf waters off Florida and could potentially wash the tiny plants and animals that feed larger organisms in a stew of toxic chemicals, another researcher said Friday. Larry McKinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said the DeSoto Canyon off the Florida Panhandle sends nutrient-rich water from the deep sea up to shallower waters. McKinney said that in a best-case scenario, oil riding the current out of the canyon would rise close enough to the surface to be broken down by sunlight. But if the plume remains relatively intact, it could sweep down the west coast of Florida as a toxic soup as far as the Keys, through what he called some of the most productive parts of the Gulf. The plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet, said David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at USF. Is BP Oil Catastrophe ?Unprecedented?? Hardly http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/28/oil-disaster-not-unprecedented/ Numerous politicians and oil industry officials have claimed the BP oil catastrophe growing in the Gulf of Mexico is ?unprecedented.? From BP CEO Tony Hayward, who called his company?s environmental crime an ?unprecedented accident,? to Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard, who called it an ?unprecedented anomalous event,? officials and pundits have given the impression that the consequences of this catastrophe could not have been predicted. In a Congressional oversight hearing on the apocalyptic disaster on Thursday, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) even argued the country should respond to this ?unprecedented? event by making sure ?that we continue to produce oil here in the states.? Watch a compilation prepared by ThinkProgress: On Thursday, May 27, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) responded to the myth that this catastrophe was unprecedented and thus unforeseeable: Every time we have a catastrophic event like this involving British Petroleum or other parts of the oil and gas industry, we?re told that this is an unpredictable cascade of unforeseeable errors, that this is unprecedented, that nobody could have foreseen this. This is sort of like the bankers on Wall Street. Nobody could have foreseen the risks that they engineered themselves, so nobody?s responsible. I don?t believe this was some ?black swan? or ?perfect storm? event. There wasn?t something that could not have been foreseen. And I don?t think this is something you can promise will never happen again. Like the rest of the oil industry, BP has a long record of tragic, extraordinary environmental disasters, stretching from Alaska to Nigeria. And this particular disaster is not unprecedented in size, in the kind of accident, nor in the methods used to respond. There have been dozens of oil well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico, including 39 since 2007, and the worst oil blowout in history in 1979. What makes this catastrophe new is its location in the fertile and fragile ecosystem of the northern Gulf, and the depth at which the well was drilled, increasing the dangers. But this event is yet another tragic reminder of the truth of George Santana?s dire maxim: ?Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.? How the GOP Became the White Man's Party In this excerpt from Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, Robert Perkinson shows how the Right embraced racial animus as a political strategy. May 26, 2010 | http://www.alternet.org/rights/147004/how_the_gop_became_the_white_man%27s_p arty/ Publisher's Note: In the latter third of the twentieth century, the United States built the largest penal system in the history of democratic governance. This exceptional prison buildup had surprisingly little to do with crime and a great deal to do with politics, particularly racial politics. Texas Tough traces the entwinement of race, crime, and punishment all the way back to slavery. It argues that mass incarceration developed in the backlash against civil rights, just as Jim Crow took hold in reaction against emancipation and Reconstruction. On the national stage, the punitive turn in U.S. criminal justice policymaking gained forced in the second half of the Johnson administration, just as the civil rights movement cemented its historic gains. Leading the way were two arch-conservatives, a canny southern demagogue from Alabama and a belligerent anti-communist from Arizona. Not only did they help construct a prison nation; they polarized and racialized America's politics in ways that are still thwarting the task of governing two generations later. Rand Paul: U.S. Should Stop Granting Citizenship To Children Of Illegal Immigrants (VIDEO) Updated: 05-28-10 12:52 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/rand-paul-us-should-stop_n_593269.h tml Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul recently shared with a Russian television station his belief that the United States should end its policy of guaranteeing citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. "We shouldn't provide an easy route to citizenship," Paul explained. "We're the only country that I know that allows people to come in illegally, have a baby, and then that baby becomes a citizen. And I think that should stop." In the interview Paul also suggested what steps he thinks lawmakers should take to address illegal immigration -- one of his ideas being constructing an "underground electrical fence" along the boarder. The Senate hopeful even mentions the solution on his campaign website in defining his stance on the issue: Millions crossing our border without our knowledge constitutes a clear threat to our nation's security. I will work to secure our borders immediately. My plans include an underground electric fence, with helicopter stations to respond quickly to breaches of the border. Also on his campaign website, Paul supports his position on illegal immigration by citing the protections outlined in the 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution -- a frequent point of reference for the self-described "constitutional conservative." I support local solutions to illegal immigration as protected by the 10th amendment. I support making English the official language of all documents and contracts. Paul doesn't mention however, the 14th amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees U.S. citizenship to all persons born in the country. Ecological Denial on the Gulf Oil Disaster: U.S. Policies Continue Toward Collapse http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/649/1/ by Jan Lundberg, oil industry analyst 28 May 2010 The impact of the Gulf oil disaster on the national psyche and the economy have barely begun. When Florida, a more substantial state than Louisiana, is hit by the unprecedented pollution assured to have lasting effects, the quickened erosion of confidence in government, industry and modern technology may accelerate the end of this current phase of U.S. society. A transition or breakdown was already afoot. Thus, the shock of the Gulf oil disaster's impacts will further undermine the dominant consumer culture and life as we know it. There are several unacknowledged problems with the oil gusher and the growing mess: (1) The first priority has been to plug the hole and stop the hemorrhage. This is only logical and understandable, but it does not include the idea of retreating from the ongoing, inevitable devastation of usual petroleum industry activity. Who is framing the discussion, and why? (2) The idea of cleaning up the current mess in the Gulf is questionable. Yes, it must be tried, but clean-up attempts give the impression that this is the answer and that clean up will be successful. The dispersal of the oil, much of it not even visible yet on the surface, presents an insurmountable challenge to contain. Again, the ongoing devastation of petroleum activity is exempt from consideration except by marginalized, independent thinkers and activists. (3) Finally, the ecological consequences of the Gulf oil disaster are global. Louisiana's suffering is the tip of the iceberg that industrial society has smashed into. The oil and chemicals are on their way to Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, an inevitably Texas and Mexico -- even before hurricanes hit and drive much of the oil onto many a shore. Even if all the spilled oil could be gathered by men in boats, it would somewhere be burned in engines in order to warm the globe in the name of the economy. The ocean is a sad place for oil pollution, but so is the atmosphere. Business as Usual on Capital Hill Credit Storm in Europe http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney05282010.html By MIKE WHITNEY May 28 - 30, 2010 Credit market turmoil in the Eurozone has ignited frenzied trading on global markets. On Tuesday, shares tumbled nearly 300 points on the Dow Jones before launching an unconvincing 257-point late-day comeback. Wednesday the mayhem continued; all the major indexes seesawed wildly as positive news on durable goods was nixed by reports on wobbly EU banks. Erratic selling pushed the S&P down to 1,067 while the Dow slipped below 10,000 for the first time since February 7. The rise in Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate) is increasing volatility, a red flag indicating trouble in interbank lending. Banks are wary of each other?s collateral as Greece and other underwater Club Med members appear to be headed for debt-restructuring. Libor is not yet at pre-Lehman levels, but the rate that banks charge each other for short-term loans has rocketed to a 10-month high. Improving economic data have not eased fears of another meltdown or removed the rot at the heart of the system. The banks are still loaded with loans and assets that are losing value. The credit system is breaking down. When banks post collateral overnight for short-term loans, the collateral is effectively downgraded, limiting the banks? access to capital. This is what triggered the financial crisis two years ago, a run on repo. Regulated "depository" institutions now rely on a funding system that operates beyond government oversight, a shadow banking system. The banks exchange collateral, in the form of bundled securities and bonds with institutional investors (aka---"shadow banks"; investment banks, hedge funds, insurers) via repurchase agreements (repo) for short-term loans. The repo market now rivals the traditional banking system in terms of size but lacks the guard rails and stop signs that make the regulated system safe. The system is inherently unstable and crisis-prone as a recently released paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) admits. Moody's rating agency summarized the paper's findings like this: the tri-party repo market ?will remain a major source of systemic risk, especially given the current market volatility and the fact that the Federal Reserve?s primary dealer emergency lending facilities are no longer in place...... the market remains structurally vulnerable to a repo run...... If cash investors pulled away in a stressed environment, the clearing banks would be faced with a choice (as they were several times in 2008) of taking on large secured credit exposure to dealers or severely constraining intra-day credit to them. Such market mechanics can exacerbate the effect of a systemic and/or a dealer-specific crisis.....Until the remaining issues in the tri-party repo market are resolved, the risk of a repo run remains in place. (Moody's, thanks to zero hedge) It's too bad Congress doesn't take time to read Moody's analysis before gutting the derivatives and capital requirements provisions in the new reform bill. It might help them understand that by placating Wall Street they're laying the groundwork for another financial disaster. U.S. Defence Spending Far Outpaces Rest of the World Amanda Bransford http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3087 NEW YORK, 28 May (IPS) - The United States continues to lead the world in defence spending, according to a new report released Thursday by the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a U.S.-based non-partisan research organisation. In fact, the U.S outspends Russia, the next highest spender, by more than 800 percent. In 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, the U.S. expenditure was 696.3 billion dollars, followed by Russia's 86 billion and China's 83.5 billion. The U.S. defence budget is 15 times that of Japan, 47 times that of Israel, and nearly 73 times that of Iran. Not only does U.S. spending dwarf that of other nations, but it has also grown in recent years. The budget for fiscal year 2011 is 720 billion dollars, up 67 percent from 2001's 432 billion, accounting for inflation. In a recent speech to the U.S. Navy League, U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates pointed out examples of the effects of his country's disproportionate spending. The U.S. Navy can carry twice as many aircrafts at sea as the rest of the world put together, he said, and the navy's overall power is estimated to exceed that of the next 13 most powerful navies combined. This extreme dominance exists in all branches of the armed forces. It is notable in the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation's report that, while China and Russia are big spenders, defence spending comes overwhelmingly from the Western industrialised world. The United States itself accounts for 44.32 percent of the global total spending of 1.57 trillion dollars, with the rest of NATO and non-NATO Europe accounting for another 22.43 percent. Former Argentine president says Bush told him ?the best way to revitalize the economy is war.? http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/28/argentine-prime-bush-war/ Oliver Stone?s new documentary South of the Border, which interviews several left-wing leaders of Latin American countries, has unearthed a startling new allegation from Argentina?s former president N?stor Kirchner. During his interview with Stone, Kirchner said he once discussed global economic problems with former President George W. Bush. The former Argentine president says that when he suggested a new Marshall Plan, referring to the WW II-era European reconstruction plan, Bush ?got angry? and suggested that ?the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats.? Instead, Kirchner says, Bush suggested that ?the best way to revitalize the economy is war?: Great Analysis Of Exactly What Is Going On The BP Deep water horizon, Macondo Well Blowout. and what we are facing in the Gulf. By SHR 5-15-10 http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1667/1/ I want to try and put in simple terms what we are facing as far as what is coming in this potentially catastrophic well blow out event. It's going to be a long post, but an important one, it is of critical importance if you are not fully aware as you can be of what is going on, what the action plan is and what is taking place, because this event may very well affect us all...as in GLOBAL. There is a lot of partial truths..a lot of falsehoods, a lot is not being said and a lot of lies are out there, I think we all see this...we all want some answers...we all want to have a grasp of what is happening. First of all, don't feel bad if you don't understand what is going on or feel sort of lost, this is an extremely complicated event. I hope I can inform people and give them some basic factual knowledge and I never ever mean to "Talk down" to anyone...I only want to inform and hope everyone that wishes to learn does learn...I also hope the "pros" fact check me and assure all that I do say is true and factual and if is not...then speak up......and also add in regardless. With that being said I will try and instill the sense of urgency and seriousness that I personally feel about this....this is a bad one people...we are close...real close and all this is a very real, present and IMMINENT Danger. Trust me when I tell you that people who know are scared of this, it is THAT bad. People who deal with things that would scare most people half to death they deal with as a matter of course every single day...men who operate enormous machinery that most of us will never see or ever be around....I run and own some pretty big stuff...bigger and more powerful than cars or trucks, but the scale of some these oil and gas industry machines?...they dwarf these things...things so huge that most buildings cannot house them.....literally gargantuan equipment and all that is associated with it, huge forces and the people who operate these monsters?...they are worried, very worried....and they rarely worry, if ever....and I am worried...which is also not the norm. This is an edge of the abyss situation that we are facing in my opinion. Forget what you see now...this oil slick is minuscule in order of magnitude of what could happen..what is near to happening and what ABSOLUTELY WILL HAPPEN if it cannot be stopped. I cannot impress this enough...NEAR...because it truly is near. You probably sense it...know that this could go big...well it can...and although you might not understand exactly what is going on you can understand that we are not being told everything and it is difficult to form a clear picture. I hope to make some things clear and give people enough of an information handle to "get it". Resilient gardening - Part I by Christine Patton http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52929 Published May 26 2010 by Peak Oil Hausfrau Hail. Gale-force winds. Torrential rains. Blistering sun. Droughts. Late freezes. Flooding. Squash bugs, deer, squirrels, raccoons, tomato hornworms, spider mites. In any year, gardening can be a sheer exercise in will. With increasingly unpredictable weather, and zones that are already shifting North, it becomes almost an exercise in prayer. At the same time that gardening is becoming more difficult due to factors such as climate change, declining resources, colony collapse disorder, etc., it also becomes even more necessary as we begin to rely on our food gardens for financial and economic reasons. Because of that transformation from hobby to necessity, I've become very interested in incorporating resilience into gardening. The concept of resiliency can be variously defined as: - The capacity to keep functioning in spite of shocks to the system, - The ability to recover quickly from misfortune, and - The ability to adapt and respond effectively to disturbance. Evidence is accumulating that, due to peak oil/resource depletion, climate change/environmental disaster, and our ongoing financial upheaval, we will be experiencing an increasing level of "disturbance" of many different kinds. How then can we reduce the chance that disasters will destroy all of our food production capacity? This post focuses on backyard gardens, since they represent a very localized form of agriculture, and they are the one with which I have the most experience. Over the next two posts, we'll cover some ideas, compiled from various sources, to help add resilience to your gardens in four ways: * Reduce dependence on external inputs (localize) * Diversification * Backup plans (redundancy) * Feedback, knowledge and observation Reduce dependence on external inputs (Localize) From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 30 11:15:18 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 10:15:18 -0700 Subject: [GJM] URGENT: POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR OIL LEAK IN GULF - Disseminate widely. was: [SASC_Forum] Support for offshore oil drilling, dirty energy production gets dispersed by BP Message-ID: <004e01cb001b$ec58f140$c50ad3c0$@net> This may be a very important piece of information. Please send this to as many people as possible on lists that may know how to get this to the right people. Thanks Jim. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jim Bell Date: May 29, 2010 9:54pm Subject: FW: [SASC_Forum] Support for offshore oil drilling,dirty energy production gets dispersed by BP oil disaster < ClimateProgress To: Mary Rose > Hi Mary, > Please send this out to your contacts. Perhaps > one of them might know how to get these ideas to the right people. > Jim > From: > sasc_forum-bounces at lists.thesustainabilityalliance.org > [mailto:sasc_forum-bounces at lists.thesustainabilityalliance.org] On Behalf > Of Jim Bell > > Sent: Saturday, May > 29, 2010 6:24 PM > > To: 'Kathleen > Connell'; 'SASC Forum list' > > Subject: Re: > [SASC_Forum] Support for offshore oil drilling,dirty energy production gets > dispersed by BP oil disaster > > Hi Kathleen and All, > I have two potential solutions to shutting off the Gulf oil eruption > but I don't know how to get these ideas to the right person(s). > 1. Connect a deflated bladder large enough > to fill the oil pipe completely once inflated, to a steel rod or pipe. The rod > or pipe will be used to position the bladder in the pipe. Then bladder would be > filled by pumping water into it. Once filled, the oil and gas flow would be > stoped. > 2. Use a pipe to position a > reinforced closed-artery-like-valve (those that keeps blood in our leg veins > moving toward our heart). Once in position the pressure of the oil and gas will > be allowed to force the valve open against the pipe, blocking the oil. The harder > the oil presses against the valve, the more the valve will press against the > pipe. > If any of you can think of any connections that might get these ideas > out to the right people, > Please send them out or let me know who I should send them too. > Take care, > Jim 619-758-9020 > -----Original Message----- > > From: sasc_forum-bounces at lists.thesustainabilityalliance.org > [mailto:sasc_forum-bounces at lists.thesustainabilityalliance.org] On Behalf Of > Kathleen Connell > > Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 11:21 AM > > To: SASC Forum list > > Subject: [SASC_Forum] Support for offshore oil drilling, dirty energy > production gets dispersed by BP oil disaster < Climate Progress > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://climateprogress.org/2010/05/28/support-for-offshore-oil-drilling-dirt y-energy-production-gets-dispersed-by-bp-oil-disaster/?utm_source=feedburner &utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Pro gress%29 > > > > > > > > > > > > Kathleen Connell, M.A. > > > Principal > > > Connell Whittaker Group LLC > > > 858-361-3297 > > > > > > > > > Sent from my mobile phone > > > > > > > > > > > > ======= > > > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > > > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15100) > > > http://www.pctools.com/ > > > ======= > > > > > > > > > > > > ======= > > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15100) > > http://www.pctools.com > > ======= > > > > > > > > > > ======= > > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15100) > > http://www.pctools.com > > ======= > > > > > > > > > > ======= > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15100) > http://www.pctools.com > ======= > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 30 12:13:12 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 11:13:12 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Is Clutter Making You Fat? Message-ID: <005601cb0024$014d0ac0$03e72040$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS In addition to "eating to live," we need to get as much stress out of our lives as possible. Getting and remaining organized aids in relieving stress. Instead of going to the gym, as this article recommends, a better and healthier way to get your exercise while at the same time tuning up your body/mind field so that it is always reflecting a positive coherence pattern in your auric field, is to take up the practice of Qigong or Yoga. Either will aid in balancing the body/mind field while at the same time providing exercise for the whole body which will aid in keeping your weight down. Practicing Qigong is to practice a "way of living" that is both ethical and healthful. Also, taking up gardening is beneficial for your overall health. Recall that the tag line from Eva Shaw's book: "Shovel It" is: "Nature's Health Plan". Gardening is one way of getting "grounded" and maintaining it. We've talked about the importance of grounding before, and I will go into this more in depth for new people ASAP. Let's also talk about the importance of maintaining one's pH balance at a later date. Recall that it is difficult for "dis-ease" to live in a pH balanced body. We probably all need a refresher on what constitutes the difference between alkaline and acidic foods and how to choose so that a healthy pH balance is always maintained. http://www.dietdetective.com/columns/is-clutter-making-you-fat.aspx Is Clutter Making You Fat? Picture this: stacks of old newspapers on your kitchen counter, mail piled high on your desk, mounds of clothes shoved under your bed and in your closet, and disarray everywhere you turn. Does this sound familiar? If so, you may have a clutter problem. And it could be making you fat. Clutter has been called the fat of our homes and offices, and it may be why you're having trouble managing your weight. For most people, clutter leads to stress, and stress causes the production of the hormone cortisol, which increases belly fat. Cortisol also elevates your blood sugar levels, which causes insulin to be produced to regulate your blood sugar, leaving you feeling hungry. If you're hungry, chances are you're not going to realize it's because of the stressor surrounding you - the clutter. Instead, you're going to eat, and you're probably not going to go for the fruits and vegetables hidden in the back of your refrigerator (that is, if you even have any). Clutter can also affect your weight because it becomes an obstacle to eating healthfully and exercising. If you can't find your sneakers and gym clothes, you're not going to get to the gym. If the kitchen counters are covered with papers, and the pots and pans are hard to get to, you're more likely to eat out or order in than cook a meal for yourself. And we know that meals from restaurants and fast-food joints are higher in calories, fat, and sodium than food cooked at home - all of which can lead to weight gain. So what can you do? Declutter your life! You'll feel the weight lifting from the everyday stress of living in a cluttered environment, and your body will lose weight, too! Here are some ways to get your life and weight under control: . Clean out your fridge and pantry. Throw away items that have passed their expiration dates and that contain unhealthy ingredients (for example, partially hydrogenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup). "Trigger foods" must also go - these are the foods you typically turn to that can lead to binges and unhealthy eating patterns. . Restock your kitchen with healthier food. Make a shopping list of items you need and know you will eat. Keep fresh fruit and vegetables in the front of the fridge for easy access. . Organize your pots and pans. Make sure you know where everything is and that you can reach it all easily. Get rid of old cooking supplies you never use. . Clear off the kitchen counters. The counters are meant for food prep, not storage of household items and newspapers. Get a newspaper and magazine holder for a separate area of the house, and keep newspapers from only one or two days at a time. . Sort through your closets. Try on clothes you never wear and if they don't fit, give them away or put them in storage for when you lose weight (if it's something you love, it can give you motivation to fit into it again!). . Keep a gym bag packed at all times. Make sure you always have a clean set of gym clothes and your sneakers packed and ready to take with you. You'll have no excuse to miss the gym. Do the same at the office and you'll have clutter-free environments at all times! Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 30 12:36:44 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 11:36:44 -0700 Subject: [GJM] Heart Attack - Depression Link Message-ID: <006801cb0027$4827bf00$d8773d00$@net> Moving Into: TOTAL WELLNESS Avoiding a heart attack also means avoiding depression. So, it is important to know how to manage and control your emotions. Using techniques provided by the Institute of HeartMath or practicing EFT are very good ways. But if one is practicing Qigong every day then these other techniques are not necessarily needed. http://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-health/heart-attack-depression-link.aspx ?xid=nl_EverydayHealthEmotionalHealth_20100530 Your Logo, Inc. FutureDawning.org Mary Rose, www.futuredawning.org CEO and Founder - Agent for social transformation Future Dawning.org dustysummerrose at gmail.com Always have my latest info Want a signature like this? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 177 bytes Desc: not available URL: From maryrose333 at att.net Sun May 30 19:38:53 2010 From: maryrose333 at att.net (mary rose) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 18:38:53 -0700 Subject: [GJM] FW: What Have we Bought for $1 Trillion? Message-ID: <008101cb0062$44c33570$ce49a050$@net> As The Dalai Lama has said, ". . .it will be the Western woman who will find the solutions." Let us get organized and begin now. We must change our social systems so they work for us, not against us. As Dr. Bruce Lipton tells us, it is our environment that determines who we are, not our genes. And, as our social systems constitute the greater part of our environment it is here we must create change. And, since the monetary system is the driver of all of our social systems it is here that we must focus our attention. -----Original Message----- From: globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:globalnetnews-summary-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of TradingPostPaul Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2010 9:16 AM To: globalnetnews-summary at lists.riseup.net Subject: [globalnetnews-summary] What Have we Bought for $1 Trillion? "Even in difficult economic times, this is by far the most devastating cost of all: the lives we have lost in these two conflicts?" NO, it's the millions of Iraqis and Afghans dead, injured, and impoverished by the years of invasion, sanctions, and occupation, and destruction of some of the oldest cultures in the world. Neither of which had anything to do with 9-11. But decline and collapse is the fate of all empires, and these wars are hastening ours. __________ What Have we Bought for $1 Trillion? Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Congresswoman from Illinois May 28, 2010 05:37 PM http:/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jan-schakowsky/what-have-we-bought-f or-1_b_594031.html As of 10:06 on Sunday, May 30th, we will have spent $1 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan. A trillion dollars is a baffling amount of money. If you write it out, use twelve zeros. Even after serving in Congress for over a decade, I, like most Americans, still have a hard time wrapping my head around sums like this. This month, we mark the seventh anniversary of President Bush's declaration of "mission accomplished" in Iraq, yet five American soldiers have been killed there in May alone. Iraqis went to the polls nearly three months ago, but the political system remains so fractured that no party has been able to piece together a coalition. There are some indications that sectarian violence is again on the rise. The only clear winner of the Iraq war is Iran. Their mortal enemy, Saddam Hussein, was taken out and fellow Shiites are in charge. Iran has been emboldened to the point of threatening the stability of the region and the world with its growing nuclear capability. And then there's Afghanistan, which, after nearly a decade of war, represents the longest continuous U.S. military engagement ever. Even the non-partisan Congressional Research Service recently declared the situation in Afghanistan as a "deteriorating security situation and no comprehensive political outcome yet in sight." And the U.S. military just suffered its 1,000th casualty in Afghanistan on Friday. So the real question is: What have we bought for $1 trillion? Are we safer? As our troops and treasure are still locked down in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorists are training, recruiting and organizing in Somalia, Yemen and dozens of other places around the globe. While it appears that we have made significant progress in weakening Al Qaeda's network, we have increasing concerns about homegrown terrorists. Isn't it time to invest in a different strategy? I have been doing a lot of thinking about the nexus between the low status of women and the presence of instability, violence and terrorism. It is simply a fact that the countries in which women are least empowered are the most violent. Could it be that policy-makers and defense experts have overlooked a tool that is staring us right in the face? It's in the eyes of women -- sometimes masked by a burqa, sometimes scarred with acid, sometimes tear stained from the grief of losing a husband or child to war. It's these women who are often fiercely determined to stop the killing and provide a secure environment for their families. Does it even make sense for half of the human race to play only a minor role in countries now plagued by war and violence? The data indisputably prove the case that when investments are made in women, communities are more stable, healthier, and less violent. The principle tools, which just happen to be far less expensive than the weapons and manpower of war, are the education of girls and economic empowerment of women. We already have some positive experience that we can build upon. Where the U.S. military and our NATO allies have made a conscious effort to reach out to local women in a culturally sensitive way, they have seen the benefits of utilizing the unique abilities of these women. A Canadian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar met regularly with local women leaders who notified NATO of local corruption and security threats and also conveyed their priorities for improving life in their communities. The U.S. marines have found that using Female Engagement Teams to establish dialogue and collaboration with Afghan women has helped to build rapport between Americans and Afghans, as well as providing critical intelligence that might otherwise have been missed. On Sunday we hit the $1 trillion mark, but on Memorial Day we will honor all those men and women who gave their lives to fight for this country. This includes the over 5,000 men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Even in difficult economic times, this is by far the most devastating cost of all: the lives we have lost in these two conflicts. This weekend, I hope all Americans will take the opportunity to consider the cost of ongoing war. We simply cannot afford to continue pouring American blood and treasure into conflicts that will never be solved by a total dependence on military force. We should look to the women to provide the cost-effective, powerful force for peace. From rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com Mon May 31 05:23:22 2010 From: rodney.shakespeare1 at btopenworld.com (Rodney Shakespeare) Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 12:23:22 +0100 Subject: [GJM] FW: UPDATE: Israeli terror on the high seas EMERGENCY DEMOINSTRATION Message-ID: <004301cb00b3$ae266950$0a733bf0$@shakespeare1@btopenworld.com> Dear All, I am enraged by the Israeli brutal attack on civilians trying to get medical supplies etc into Gaza and will be at the Emergency Demonstration today -- 2.00 p.m. Downing Street, London. Rodney Shakespeare. -----Original Message----- From: stwc-owner at lists.riseup.net [mailto:stwc-owner at lists.riseup.net] On Behalf Of Stop the War Coalition Sent: 31 May 2010 11:14 To: stwc at lists.riseup.net Subject: UPDATE: Israeli terror on the high seas STOP THE WAR COALITION 31 May 2010 Email office at stopwar.org.uk Tel: 020 7801 2768 Web: http://stopwar.org.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk 1) ISRAELI TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS 2) STOP THE WAR PRESS RELEASE ******************************** 1) ISRAELI TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS The death toll after the Israeli assault on the Gaz aid flotilla is now reported to be over 20. The attack took place in international waters, making it a major violation of international law. Imagine the response if such an attack had been carried out by Iran. We would now be at war. Below is athe press release issued by Stop the War earlier, calling for the British government to condemn the attack and to break links with Israel. See the Stop the War website for links to videos of the Israeli attack: http://bit.ly/aEMHws Please use all means you can -- by email, text, Facebook, Twitter, phone -- to publicise today's emergency demonstration. EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION TODAY MONDAY 31 MAY 2.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON ****************************** 2) STOP THE WAR PRESS RELEASE The killing of at least 10 people and the injuring of many more on board the flotilla taking aid to Gaza is the latest in a series of crimes which should see Israel condemned under international law. The 600 protesters were on a peaceful mission and unarmed. Israel has repeatedly flouted law and public opinion worldwide in its treatment of the Palestinians. Its bombing of Gaza in 2009 and its continued blockade has caused outrage round the world. The flotilla was an attempt to bring aid to the blockaded population of Gaza. It was supported by many organisations and individuals internationally. The decision by Israel to attack the flotilla with such loss of human life shows its arrogant and deadly intent in opposing any aid to the Palestinians. The British and EU governments should immediately condemn this act of terror and break all links with Israel. The Stop the War Coalition will be joining other organisations at 2pm today to demonstrate outside Downing Street at 2pm. ********************************* -- To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank e-mail to stwc-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net From greg27241 at yahoo.com Sun May 30 08:22:04 2010 From: greg27241 at yahoo.com (Greg Southworth) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 07:22:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GJM] How the GOP Became the White Man's Party In-Reply-To: <01bd01caffae$b3522d20$19f68760$@net> References: <01bd01caffae$b3522d20$19f68760$@net> Message-ID: <969159.95942.qm@web113317.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Interesting. I live in 21st century Texas and there are some curious developments occurring. Texans are forever arguing over whether they are really a Southern state, or something else, as there are many countervailing influences (Western, Midwestern, Latino, etc) but aside from that discussion, Texas is not the redneck land it was?25, 35, 40 or 50 years ago. Bubba is in his 70s in a nursing home in rural East Texas and is adjusting his oxygen tank because he was a Marlboro man (cigarettes) for so many years. The state still leans Republican--at the moment. Under the surface there are some demographic trends which will alter this state for a long time to come. Even the state's own demographers predict that the largest?ethic population will be Latino by mid-decade. Don't forget Texas is now "minority majority" as of 2004-5. That is US census-speak for no ethnic group in the majority. Latinos are 35-37% of the population and growing, African Americans about 12% and stable, and Asian-Americans about 4% and growing. That leaves Anglos as somewhere in the 40s%?and dropping. So why does the state still lean Republican? Again, look at the demographics. Most of those gringos are near middle age, middle age and older. That is the most reliable voting group. The young, 18-30, and non-Anglo ethnics are less likely to vote unless a hot issue, or candidate,?is on the table, or someone who hacks them off. Also, again, looking at the demographics, the Latino population is a young population, many are not even voting age--we are talking about US citizens here. So as this group matures and attains adulthood, unless the Republicans are able to reach out to non-Anglo voters, they may find themselves as the "Pete Wilson" party of Texas. (Pete Wilson, you may recall was the Republican nominee for California Governor whose anti-immigrant stands caused the Republican Party in CA to go down to a crushing defeat from which it has only recently begun to recover). You will notice that Republican leaders in Texas, with a very few exceptions, have been very cautious not to antagonize the Latino voting groups. Some on the fringe are zealously anti-immigrant and if I were a Democratic Party political leader, I would be smiling. So, in the words of another 1960s icon: the times they are a-changin' Greg Southworth ________________________________ From: mary rose To: "FixGov at yahoogroups. com" ; discussion at globaljusticemovement.net Sent: Sat, May 29, 2010 11:13:25 PM Subject: [GJM] How the GOP Became the White Man's Party Thanks to Trading Post Paul for directing me to this article.? ? ? http://www.alternet.org/rights/147004/how_the_gop_became_the_white_man's_p?page=entire ? AlterNet?/?By?Robert Perkinson ? How the GOP Became the White Man's Party In this excerpt from?Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, Robert Perkinson shows how the Right embraced racial animus as a political strategy. May 26, 2010??| ? ? Photo Credit: Wikipedia ? ? Publisher's Note:?In the latter third of the twentieth century, the United States built the largest penal system in the history of democratic governance. This exceptional prison buildup had surprisingly little to do with crime and a great deal to do with politics, particularly racial politics.?Texas Tough?traces the entwinement of race, crime, and punishment all the way back to slavery. It argues that mass incarceration developed in the backlash against civil rights, just as Jim Crow took hold in reaction against emancipation and Reconstruction. On the national stage, the punitive turn in U.S. criminal justice policymaking gained forced in the second half of the Johnson administration, just as the civil rights movement cemented its historic gains. Leading the way were two arch-conservatives, a canny southern demagogue from Alabama and a belligerent anti-communist from Arizona. Not only did they help construct a prison nation; they polarized and racialized America's politics in ways that are still thwarting the task of governing two generations later. No one understood the politics of backlash better than Lyndon Johnson, Texas's most legendary politician since Sam Houston and the White House's most determined champion of civil rights since Ulysses S. Grant. Although Johnson had started out as a segregationist, as president, his social programs extended the New Deal and went further toward alleviating economic inequality than any policy regime before or since. His deployment of federal power in the interest of civil rights retraced the footsteps of Reconstruction and for the first time gave genuine credibility to the age-old American credo, equal justice before the law. "I'm going to be the President who finishes what Lincoln began," Johnson pledged -- and to a certain extent he was. Even as his Great Society ushered new voters into the Democratic Party, however, Johnson increasingly antagonized his traditional white southern base. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he confided to Bill Moyers, "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come." The Great Society's fiercest critics indeed came from Johnson's own section of the country, often from his home state. In 1960, he and Lady Bird had been jostled and spit on by a right-wing mob in Dallas. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, J. Evetts Haley, a wealthy rancher and far-right rabble rouser, denounced the president as a "traitor" to the South whose policies would result in "race and national suicide." By the mid-1960s, however, neo-Confederate obstructionists were in retreat. A strong majority of white poll respondents nationwide said they accepted the basic justice of civil rights demands; even whites in the South were no longer responding to racial venom with the same fervor they once had. Critics of the Johnson administration, therefore, had to refine and redirect their ire. Anticommunism remained at the ready, but with the president dispatching hundreds of thousands of combat troops to Vietnam, red baiting was losing its zing. A fresh issue on the home front, however, held unusual promise. Not only might it allow the right to tap into smoldering fears and frustrations without resorting to outmoded racist demagoguery, but it suggested a way to reclaim the populist mantle from redistributionist liberals. The issue was crime, and after 1964, it became one of the most divisive forces in American politics. Since crime had traditionally been a mayoral or at most gubernatorial concern -- with the notable exception of Prohibition -- Johnson was slow to grab hold. "A visitor coming to America for the first time might have been forgiven for assuming that the President of the United States commanded all the city police departments and that control of the courts was his personal responsibility," he explained "[But] crime is a local problem. ? The federal government has little or no power to deal with the problem ? nor should it have." From the mid-1960s, however, Johnson's foes increasingly ignored his civics lesson. As the president himself was sabotaging his experiment in social democracy by diverting resources and attention to Southeast Asia, the New Right began ravaging it from within in the name of public safety and just desserts. A pioneer in this effort was George Wallace, the sharp-tongued segregationist who ran four times for president between 1964 and 1976. When first elected governor of Alabama in 1962, he epitomized southern demagogy. In his first inaugural address, he lambasted federal enforcement of civil rights by invoking the Civil War. "From this cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland," he thundered, "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." As most Americans accommodated themselves to legal equality, however, Wallace was one of the first Dixiecratic firebrands to figure out how to talk about race without hur