From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 1 01:08:19 2009 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:08:19 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated Message-ID: <4A9CD673.8080807@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links/. * * * Kanaky: Interview with jailed pro-independence trade union leader G?rard Jodar This interview with G?rard Jodar, president of the pro-independence trade union federation USTKE (Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers), was published in Lib?ration, issue #14790, on August 17 2009. He was interviewed by Matthieu Ecoiffier. Translated into English for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal by Annolies Truman. Sentenced at the end of June 2009 to a year in prison for ``hindering the circulation of an aircraft'' [click HERE for background information to the struggle], G?rard Jodar is one of very few trade unionists to be imprisoned in France -- and his lawyers' application for a lesser sentence has just been rejected by the appeals judge of the Noumea Supreme Court. * Read more Honduras: Al Giordano -- `The people are organising creatively to topple the coup' August 26, 2009, marks 60 days since Honduras' oligarchy overthrew the elected president of the country. As protests against the coup continue without let up, Western governments have refused to do anything concrete to support democracy, or as in the case of the US administration of President Barack Obama, been complicit. The international corporate mass media has shunned providing coverage of the mass opposition in the streets of Tegucigalpa. This news blackout, and the resulting heightened state repression, has done little to deter the ongoing resistance to the coup inside Honduras. * Read more Photo essay: Venezuela's Comuna 'Renacer del Sur' -- people's power in practice By Peter Boyle August 20, 2009 -- At the base of the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela are some 30,000 communal councils. These are pictures of some of the people active in communal councils in poor barrios (neighbourhoods) in the south of the city of Valencia. They were taken in November 2008 when members of the Australian-Venezuela Solidarity Netwok brigade were hosted by the Comuna ``Renacer del Sur'' (Rebith of the South Commune). Daniel Sanchez, a leader of the Rebirth of the South Commune, and Yoly Fernandez, a community organiser in Mission Mercal, Venezuela's subsidised food program, are touring Australia in August and September to explain how "people's power" is transforming their country and creating a new socialism of the 21st century. * Read more Industrial action for peace: The Communist Party of Australia and antiwar activity before 1960 By Douglas Jordan The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) emphasised the central role that the working class through their trade unions should play in the peace movement. The struggle for peace was as important to trade unionists as was the struggle for improved pay and better working conditions. Central to the party's approach was the view that trade unions had every right to use their industrial strength to pursue a range of political issues. In effect, this meant that trade union support for the peace movement should not be limited to an educational and propaganda role, but where possible it should include the use of traditional trade union tactics, such as strikes, bans and boycotts. In the postwar period, with the apparent imminent threat of a third world war, there were new opportunities to implement this policy. * Read more United States: Ted Kennedy -- The myth of the `liberal lion' By Lance Selfa August 28, 2009 -- Democratic Party senator Ted Kennedy's political career reflects the course of US liberalism, from its heyday in the 1960s to its sorry state today. For decades, Ted Kennedy was the bogeyman used by conservatives in their fundraising appeals to raise millions of dollars. To them, the liberal Kennedy seemed to represent everything they hated--there was no easier way to get a right-wing crowd booing and hissing than to mention Kennedy's name. So it was more than a little jarring to hear conservatives sing Kennedy's praises for his "bipartisanship" in the wake of Kennedy's death from brain cancer on August 25. * Read more The free-market fallacies of Ayn Rand By Phil Hearse August 22, 2009 -- Most people sympathetic to radical politics outside the United States have probably never heard of Ayn Rand, and a brief introduction to her ultra pro-free market views would doubtless be enough to convince them they haven't missed anything. Yet 27 years after her death, Ayn Rand continues to be seriously debated in the US, her books sell hundreds of thousands each year, her views are propagated by right wing think tanks and foundations and - bizarrely - Charlize Theron is in discussions to turn Rand's 1088-page magnus opus Atlas Shrugged into a TV mini-series. * Read more United States: Race and class -- African Americans in a sick system By Malik Miah August 2009 -- The critical lack of quality and affordable health care is devastating for African Americans. Twice as likely as whites to go without health insurance, African Americans suffer chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes at an escalating rate. The root of the problem is not inferior Black -- or better white -- health care. It is first and foremost a class issue, exacerbated for Blacks and Latinos because of the institutional racism that still permeates society. * Read more New books reveal Friedrich Engels' revolutionary life Engels: A Revolutionary Life, by John Green, Artery Publications, 2008. Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, by Tristram Hunt, Macmillan/Metropolitan, 2009. (First published in Britain as The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels.) Reviewed by Ian Angus August 24, 2009 -- Most people on the left know that Friedrich Engels was co-author of the Communist Manifesto and Karl Marx's lifelong collaborator. But few of today's radicals know much more than that about the man who built barricades and fought a guerrilla war in Germany in the 1848-49 revolution, the indefatigable organiser who played a decisive role in building the Marxist current from a handful of exiles in the 1850s into the dominant trend in the international working-class movement by the time of his death in 1895. * Read more The false promise of energy efficiency and a real alternative By Don Fitz August 22, 2009 -- An action can have opposite effects, depending on it s social contexts. An isolated individual who protests company policy by refusing to go to work could well get fired and become an example used to intimidate others. When an entire workforce stays off the job, it's called a "strike" and has a very good chance of forcing the company to change its policy... It is even more so with "energy efficiency". It is impossible for individual choices to purchase energy-efficient products to have any positive effect on climate change. But, in a democratically run economy, energy efficiency would be a cornerstone of resolving the catastrophic legacy of production for profit. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 1 03:19:27 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:19:27 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Slow-motion flop Message-ID: <20090901101930.3459AF4E4@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 2 21:10:10 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:10:10 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Airbrush working on Joe Stalin Message-ID: <20090903041014.AFFE7F748@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Stalin's grandson Yevgeny Djugashvili is taking a newspaper to court for libel against Stalin (i.e. having suggested the guy murdered people). In a real court in a real country (i.e. not a disorganised kleptocracy) such a case would be blown out of the water in the first half hour; but in Russia, who knows? In the restalinisation of Russia, a newly-restored inscription in the Moscow Underground, removed after Stalin's death in the 1950s, credits Stalin with the defeat of the Nazi invaders. It omits to mention that Stalin offered Soviet territory to Germany to rearm secretly, executed key Soviet generals, vetoed defensive militarily preparations recommended by the army in the light of the imminent invasion, and scarpered when the invasion was launched, to reappear more than a week later. People interested in the history of the war may like to read the account of the pending court case, published at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/stalins-grandson-fights-for-the-good-name-of-joseph-1780285.html I his photo, Mr Djugashvili is quite a good Joe Stalin lookalike. Fortunate that Hitler didn't breed. Dion Giles From thinker at xplornet.com Thu Sep 3 12:14:45 2009 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:14:45 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Airbrush working on Joe Stalin In-Reply-To: <20090903041014.AFFE7F748@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20090903041014.AFFE7F748@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <20090903191041.6097312D1E5C@smtprelay03.hostedemail.com> Too bad that Hitler didn't have any children and a grandson, we could finally find out what a great guy he really was. Cheers, Ed. At 09:10 PM 02/09/2009, you wrote: >Stalin's grandson Yevgeny Djugashvili is taking a newspaper to court >for libel against Stalin (i.e. having suggested the guy murdered >people). In a real court in a real country (i.e. not a disorganised >kleptocracy) such a case would be blown out of the water in the >first half hour; but in Russia, who knows? > >In the restalinisation of Russia, a newly-restored inscription in >the Moscow Underground, removed after Stalin's death in the 1950s, >credits Stalin with the defeat of the Nazi invaders. It omits to >mention that Stalin offered Soviet territory to Germany to rearm >secretly, executed key Soviet generals, vetoed defensive militarily >preparations recommended by the army in the light of the imminent >invasion, and scarpered when the invasion was launched, to reappear >more than a week later. > >People interested in the history of the war may like to read the >account of the pending court case, published at >http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/stalins-grandson-fights-for-the-good-name-of-joseph-1780285.html >I his photo, Mr Djugashvili is quite a good Joe Stalin >lookalike. Fortunate that Hitler didn't breed. > >Dion Giles > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: 270.13.76/2342 - Release Date: >09/02/09 18:03:00 From jomut at yahoo.com Fri Sep 4 11:38:30 2009 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 11:38:30 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] (no subject) Message-ID: <106061.38390.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi, ? There is yet some hope that a flaw in the mutative slipperiness of the HIV has at last been discovered. ? Now, as to this business of Mr. Grabby Grubby Pharmaceutical......... ? ? John ================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thinker at xplornet.com Sun Sep 6 12:27:49 2009 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:27:49 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Fiat lux 239 Message-ID: <20090906192340.33DA61EB2AE@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> To: record at cablerocket.com Subject: Fiat lux # 239 Fiat lux # 239 Sept 3, 2009. More and more education is always being promoted by the powers as the Holy Grail to save the world's problems and make everybody happy, healthy and wealthy. In their wealth creating imagination all humans should work in offices and service jobs, leaving most of the productive work for automated machines, for "greater efficiency", of course. Having been a notorious, iconoclastic loose cannon all my long life, I beg to differ. Yes, I've had my shot at formal education, boring me to tears, until I could go back to my own books and read what I found interesting and educational. Especially after I managed to shed the brainwash of my childhood and started working on our lives to become self sufficient and productive human beings, as opposed to programmed drones, incapable of free and original thought. My mother never forgave me when I became a cabinetmaker, but the last straw was when we bought our farm: "Ohmygod, my son became a peasant!". The ultimate insult anybody could suffer in her society, still prevalent in many parts of the world, especially in European minds filled with "sacred" traditions. The enforcers of our criminal economic theories have no brains, or conscience left even to imagine the reality of people being born with an incredible variety of talents and capabilities. It would be the duty of society to ensure human rights, encourage and permitting people to use those qualities, instead of boxing them into professions and jobs they're not suited for. Neither I or my wife could ever work in offices and neither have any of our children expressed any wish for university education to become incompetent drones behind desks. Many times, when I was working in some super fancy, high rise, executive offices in Vancouver and looked out of the window at the streets below, I thought, that if I would have to work there, I would put a chair through the window and go after it. Yes, like any system and theory, high education has given us some wonderful results in all fields, with the exception of politics and economics, but the benefits of those results have more than being wiped out by the ecological and human destruction caused, also by highly educated scientists with letters and titles behind their names, who gave us nuclear weapons, climate change, Gm seeds and foods, cancer epidemics, hundreds of thousands of poisons and chemicals in our air, water, foods and bloodstreams. Over the years I've had many opportunities to meet and talk with hundreds of scientists and people with high education. The narrow, blocked minded, compartmentalized, faith and superstition based ignorance of many, who considered the letters behind their names a licence to make decisions for their families and others, has often given me the creeps. At the same time, many times people in high positions have told me how miserable they were in their professions, blaming their parents for forcing them into forms of education they hated from the beginning, regardless of the high positions they later achieved, dreaming of the things they could have done if they'd been permitted to be free. The most disturbing area of miseducation has always been economics, but certain other academic professions also imagine themselves being super heroes, divinely destined to save the world. Within their narrow, preconditioned minds nothing else matters, or could be accepted than what they've memorized from their textbooks . I have the highest regards for the medical profession, especially when it comes to diagnosis and surgery, but the pillpushing activities of some of their members, ignoring every and anything else, are going a bit too far. I've known my wife for 64 years and we've been married for 58. In all these years I can not remember a single prescription medication that hasn't given her often very serious reactions. So, it was obvious that we had to look for alternatives and , like billions of people around the world, we've been using alternative healing methods for most of our lives. And they worked out very well. The large pharmaceutical companies are the worst profit hounds, but in spite of claims, the cost of their PR and political activities are far more than what they spend on research. With the growth of the number of people switching to other health care methods, they're now doing everything to destroy and take over the healthfood and alternative medication industries. They've already succeeded to a great extent in mentally moribound Europe, where a lot of herbal supplements are already banned. They might have succeeded here in Canada, but have been held back, so far, by the large Chinese and Asian population, who demand their herbs. Big Pharma always claim that they're doing it for "public safety" with the help of politicians they fully own. Now, the interesting part is that we never hear of anybody being killed by farm gate meats and foods, healthfoods and herbs, but the so great prescription drugs are killing about ten thousand Canadians every year and many times the number in the States. http://www.naturalnews.com/prescription_drug.html Now there's a movement, The Voices of Young Science, originating in e UK, who want to ban homeopathy, because in their pinhead sized narrow minds they can not understand how those tiny, pinhead sized remedies can be made and work? Yet, apart from the Queen and members of the British Rotyal Family, about four million Canadians have tried and are now using homeopathy, because they have experienced the benefits on their own bodies. I'll write more on this in my future columns, but let me just say that, apart from my hospital stay, when I was hooked up to dozens of tubes that poured morphine and other medications into my body during my long weeks of hospital stay, we haven't used any other medications than those tiny homeopathic remedies for many years. Now, in our eighties, we're the better for it, doing well and suffer no reactions, only constantly visible improvements. So, I would like to see any of these knowitall "young scientists" to show us what we're doing wrong, wile proving that they're not being paid off and in the service of Big Pharma to support their insatiable and ever growing profit demands. From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Sep 7 16:00:41 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:00:41 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Ignorance in America. Message-ID: <023201ca300f$57b45840$73ad57ca@jfos> The following article compliments Gore Vidal's proposition that his beloved but abandonded country is the United States of Amnesia, and Allan Bloom's compelling book The Closing of the American Mind! John Ignorance in America. by Prof. John Kozy Global Research, July 17, 2009 . Ignorance is pervasive in America; it affects the rich as well as the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the famous as well as the obscure. It's prevalent in the suites of our nation's CEOs, the Congress, the military, and even our universities. It defines this nation. Christiane Amanpour, one of CNN's stellar correspondents, presented a special in August 2008 titled God's Muslim Warriors. It mentioned Syyid Qutb's 1964 book, Milestones, which, she claims, "advocated violent jihad, even against Muslim governments" and inspired generations of Muslim radicals and the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood. She describes Milestones as "a moral indictment of America." Qutb, she says, "came to America in 1948 to study. But American culture shocked the scholarly Muslim poet and critic." She appears to quote (the transcript doesn't make this clear) Syed Qutb asking, "This great America, what is it worth in the scale of human values? I wish I could find somebody to talk with about human affairs, morality and spirit, not just dollars, movie stars and cars." She quotes a person named Azzam saying, "He [Qutb] used to express in some of his letters about his feelings that the American society is losing its soul because of its materialism. He said that's all they think about." She says, "Qutb wrote that Islamic values are the cure for spiritual emptiness. He urged Muslims to purge the world of Western influence, if necessary, by force." She interviewed Fawaz Gerges, a Lebanese born Christian, who holds the Christian A. Johnson Chair in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, who says, "Qutb resented the deep philosophical secular roots of American society. He resented the way women and men interact in society. He resented the obsessive nature of America materialism. He believed that America lacks ritualism." He describes Qutb as "a man who found the country to be a spiritual wasteland," and says Qutb's "views of America are terrifying . . . because they're narrow. They present America in very simplistic dichotomies." But Ms Amanpour makes it appear as though Qutb wrote a book that contained merely two sentences: "America and the Western world have a moral problem because they look at the human being only from a materialistic point of view" - a statement that many Americans would agree with - and "Islamic values are the cure for spiritual emptiness." How those two sentences could have inspired a jihadist movement and the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood is difficult to discern. Ms Amanpour tells us what happened because of the publication of Milestones but by reducing the book's content to two sound-bite sentences, she leaves us completely ignorant of why it happened. Such cavalier treatment of Milestones is a symptom of the value placed on books by Americans, and I recently realized just how curious the status of books in American society is. Having passed the midpoint in my seventieth year of life, my wife and I decided that it was time to downsize, so we started looking at smaller houses. Over those seventy plus years, I had accumulated an extensive library-more than two, perhaps more than three, thousand volumes. So as we looked at houses, my eye always looked for places where books could be shelved. But not one house we were shown had been designed to accommodate the shelving of books. Apparently American architects, developers, and builders do not consider books to be something they need to make accommodations for in American homes. Their houses have kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, family rooms, entertainment and game rooms, but no book rooms, making it clear that books are not an integral part of American culture. Books, however, are repositories of knowledge. People become educated by reading books. If homes lack books, the means to education are lacking. If a child finds that books are not valued in his home, why would he value them in school? If reading is not encouraged at home, how can teachers convince students of the usefulness of reading? If his family believes that what they learn from watching television is enough, why would any child believe differently? And the nation's dropout rate provides strong anecdotal evidence that learning is not important to many Americans. America has never been very good at educating its people. (Athletes receive scholarships; scholars do not.) Oh yes, America has its marvelous, prestigious universities, but they don't produce highly educated Americans. Most advanced degrees awarded by U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics go to foreign nationals. [http://www.uschamber.com/international/agenda/immigration_policies.htm]. Our controversial reliance on H1B visas is well known. America takes credit for building the atomic bomb, but much of the science was developed in Europe and many of the scientists involved were Europeans who were educated there. The president, in his "Yes, we can!" oratory says "We put a man on the moon in ten years." Yes, we did, but not without help from German scientists and engineers who many believe should have been tried as war criminals in Nuremburg at the end of World War II. The English built the first modern computer (secretly) and invented radar. A German designed the first operational turbojet engine. American colleges and universities do not graduate enough schoolteachers, nurses, or primary care physicians (many of which we now import from that intellectual giant named India). Even our nation's financiers relied on a Chinese mathematician's theorem to evaluate risk. (I have never heard anyone say that we lack enough MBAs.) When the nation's financiers decided to use David X. Li's Gaussian copula function to access risk, they led the world down a road to perdition. Li himself said of his own model: "The most dangerous part is when people believe everything coming out of it." Such belief results from mathematical ignorance. Although we have educated a few very well, we have not made education an integral part of our society. Not only have we taken to importing the products we sell, we have for decades imported the brains we use. Now we have even been reduced to having to import our own money. We have almost become an entirely dependent nation. The American educational system won't be improved by producing more teachers, building more classrooms to reduce class size, or creating programs such as 'head start' and 'no child left behind'. It can only be improved by a fundamental change in our cultural values. Imagine what American athletics would be like if bats and balls of all types and the broadcast of athletic events were as rare in American homes as books. Americans need to recognize that no nation was ever made great by its entertainers, athletes, and shopkeepers; yet a nation of entertainers, athletes, and shopkeepers is what America has become. None of these is an intellectual pursuit. America's ruling oligarchs may believe that the public can be kept ignorant while they and their children can be learned, but they're wrong. Ignorance is pervasive; it affects the rich as well as the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the famous as well as the obscure. It's prevalent in the suites of our nation's CEOs, the Congress, the military, and even our universities. It defines this nation. How anyone can believe that America can continue to prosper in this state of ignorant dependency is a conundrum of Gordian-knot proportions. I believe it was Dean Baker (sorry, I lost the reference) who wrote, "We need to remember what happened to the British Empire. Having originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the 17th century, by 1922, it held sway over one-quarter of the world's population on whom 'the sun never set.' Yet by 1914 it had become a 'nation of shopkeepers' which could not then nor again in 1939 defend itself against much smaller Continental powers." Those in power in America are ignorant of history, too. -0o0o0o0- John Kozy is a retired professor of philosophy and logic who blogs on social, political, and economic issues. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he spent 20 years as a university professor and another 20 years working as a writer. He has published a textbook in formal logic commercially, in academic journals and a small number of commercial magazines, and has written a number of guest editorials for newspapers. His on-line pieces can be found on http://www.jkozy.com/ and he can be emailed from that site's homepage. John Kozy is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by John Kozy ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Sep 7 16:18:53 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:18:53 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: CIA Atrocities Revealed to a National Shrug Message-ID: <02bb01ca3011$cc870b20$73ad57ca@jfos> CIA Atrocities Revealed to a National Shrug We Have met The Nazis, And They Are Us By Ted Rall September 04, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- NEW YORK--Nazis. Americans are Nazis. We are Nazis. Godwin's Law be damned--it's impossible to read the newly-released CIA report on the torture of Muslim prisoners without thinking of the Third Reich. Sadism exists in every culture. A century ago, for example, Western adventurers who visited Tibet reported that the authorities in Lhasa, that supposed capital of pacifism, publicly gouged out criminals' eyes and yanked out their tongues. But Nazi atrocities were stylistically distinct from, say, the Turkish genocide of the Armenians or the Rwandan massacres of the early 1990s. German war crimes were characterized by methodical precision, the application of "rational" technology to increase efficiency, the veneer of legality and the perversion of medical science. Nazi crimes were also marked by public indifference, which amounted to tacit support. Here and now, only 25 percent of Americans told the latest Pew Research poll that they believe torture is always wrong. "The CIA's secret interrogation program operated under strict rules, and the rules were dictated from Washington with the painstaking, eye-glazing detail beloved by any bureaucracy," observed The New York Times. We have much in common with the Germans. "In July 2002," the declassified report reveals, a CIA officer "reportedly used a 'pressure point' technique: with both of his hands on the detainee's neck, [he] manipulated his fingers to restrict the detainee's carotid artery." Another agent "watched his eyes to the point that the detainee would nod and start to pass out; then.shook the detainee to wake him. This process was repeated for a total of three applications on the detainee." The CIA's rinse-lather-repeat approach to torture is reminiscent of Dr. Sigmund Rascher's experiments at Dachau and a parallel project conducted by the Japanese Imperial Army's infamous Unit 731 in occupied Manchuria in 1942-43. Rascher, who was tried for war crimes after World War II, froze or lashed detainees nearly to death, then revived them over and over. German and Japanese doctors developed detailed protocols governing the severity of exposure to which inmates could be subjected--protocols seized by U.S. occupation forces and turned over to the OSS, predecessor of the CIA. So it was in the CIA's prisons at Guant?namo, Bagram, Diego Garcia, eastern Europe, Thailand and elsewhere. (Or, to be more accurate, so it is. Bush publicly banned torture in 2006, but we know it was still going on as of 2007. Obama supposedly banned it again earlier this year, but then his CIA director Leon Panetta told Congress the agency reserves the right to keep doing it. Until the entire secret prison network is dismantled and every single prisoner released, it would be absurd to assume that torture is not continuing.) Among the verbal treasures in the CIA papers is the "Water Dousing" section of the "Guidelines on Medical and Psychological Support to Detainee Rendition, Interrogation and Detention," which "allow for water to be applied using either a hose connected to tap water, or a bottle or similar container as the water source." Ah, the glorious war on terror. Detainees may be soaked in water as cold as 41 degrees Fahrenheit for as long as 20 minutes--no longer, no colder. For the record, the CIA's medical expertise is about as reliable as its legal and moral sense. Forty-one degrees is bracingly cold; 41 was the temperature of the Hudson River was when US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into it earlier this year. (Remember the ice floes?) "Generally, a person can survive in 41-degree water for 10, 15 or 20 minutes," Dr. Christopher McStay, an emergency room physician at New York City's Bellevue Hospital told Scientific American magazine. Like its Gestapo and SS antecedents, the CIA is highly bureaucratic. CIA employees were informed that "Advance Headquarters approval is required to use any physical pressures [against prisoners]." And those permissions came from the very top of the chain of command: the White House, which ordered the Office of Legal Counsel and other legal branches of the federal government to draft "CYA" memoranda. The memos, wrote Joshua L. Dratel in his introduction to "The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib," a compilation of memos authorizing torture of Muslim detainees reflect "a wholly result-oriented system in which policy makers start with an objective and work backward." Also reminiscent of Nazism is the utter absence of firewalls that has come to characterize the behavior of top government officials. Totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany corrupt the judiciary by using the courts to carry out political policy. Beginning under Bush and now under Obama, judicial independence has been eradicated. On August 28th The New York Times reported: "In July, Leon E. Panetta, the CIA director, tried to head off the investigation [of the CIA's torture program], administration officials said. He sent the CIA's top lawyer, Stephen W. Preston, to [the Department of] Justice to persuade aides to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to abandon any plans for an inquiry." There's a term for this: Obstruction of Justice. You're not supposed to try to influence the outcome of an investigation. It was count six of the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. To Holder's credit, he has appointed a special prosecutor. To his discredit, the focus of the investigation is narrow: he will only go after officials who went beyond the Bush Administration's over-the-top torture directives (which allow, as seen above, freezing people to death). He does not plan to go after the worst criminals, who are the Bush Administration lawyers and officials, including Bush and Cheney themselves, who ordered the war crimes--much less those like Obama who are currently covering them up. He should change his mind. While he's at it, he should throw Leon Panetta in jail. Holder's brief currently involves just 20 cases, which include detainees who were murdered by the CIA. But even those will be tough to prosecute, reports The New York Times: "Evidence, witnesses and even the bodies of the victims of alleged abuses have not been found in all cases." Because, you see, the bodies were burned and dumped. They--the CIA--are Nazis for committing the crimes. And we are Nazis for not giving a damn. Only a third of Americans told the April 27th CBS News/New York Times poll that there ought to be an investigation of Bush-era war crimes--and they don't care enough to march in the streets, much less break a few windows. So few of my columns on torture have been reprinted by American newspapers or websites that I seriously contemplated not bothering to write this one. We have met the Nazis, and they are us. Ted Rall, President of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, is author of the books "To Afghanistan and Back" and "Silk Road to Ruin." Visit his website www.tedrall.com Click on "comments" below to read or post comments Comments (87) ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Sep 7 16:32:35 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:32:35 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: CIA secret prisons organized from Germany Message-ID: <02eb01ca3013$7b829df0$73ad57ca@jfos> CIA secret prisons organized from Germany By Jan Peters Global Research, September 2, 2009 World Socialist Web Site - 2009-09-01 A report in the New York Times on August 13 confirms that the CIA planned and organized secret prisons from the German city of Frankfurt/Main. At least three secret prisons were administered by the CIA branch office in Frankfurt beginning in 2003. These illegal prisons belonged to the worldwide network of "black sites" to which the CIA transferred many of its prisoners in its "war against terror." There were at least eight such secret prisons maintained by the CIA outside the US. The prisons run from Frankfurt included two that were located respectively in the Romanian capital of Bucharest and a remote part of Morocco. A third is alleged to have been in the Polish town of Kiejkuty, near the Szymany airport. A fourth prison was located in Lithuania. The secret prisons were used to extort information from prisoners using methods of torture that would not have been possible in the US. The director of the Frankfurt CIA branch office at that time, Kyle D. Foggo, told the Times that these measures were organized from Frankfurt because "it was too sensitive to be handled by headquarters." In September 2006, then US president George W. Bush admitted the existence of secret prisons for the first time. These torture prisons were used to systematically subject those deemed to be terrorist suspects to sleep deprivation, waterboarding and beatings in order to obtain information or extort confessions. The CIA arrested "potential mass murderers" on the "battlegrounds of the world" and imprisoned them in secret locations where the suspects were subjected to "hard, necessary and effective methods of interrogation," as Bush claimed. The secret prisons had to be set up outside of the US, because they contravened existing US law. The fact that the methods of torture employed by the CIA also violated international law was obviously a matter of indifference for the US government as well as for the German and European authorities. Each of these prisons was designed to accommodate six prisoners and was constructed in identical fashion in order to confuse prisoners as to their exact location. The prisons were completely isolated and designed in such a way as to prevent life threatening injuries during interrogations. The floors were covered in skid-proof material, with plywood walls to cushion the impact when prisoners collided with the walls. According to the New York Times, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the "sleepy supply center" of the CIA in Frankfurt moved into action. The budget of this branch office was awarded an extra seven million dollars by the Bush government. At a later point this expanded budget was then trebled. Frankfurt became the most important supply base of the US secret service in Europe. In addition, the city developed into an important logistics base for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, organizing supply flights for CIA deployments on virtually a daily basis. Foggo, who was director of the Frankfurt CIA branch office, was well known for his organizational expertise. He worked for the CIA for over 20 years before pleading guilty to corruption charges in 2008 and receiving a sentence of three years in prison. Previously, in late 2004, he was appointed third-highest official of the CIA, following his deployment in Frankfurt. In the 1980s he was active in Honduras for the CIA. At the time, the US was conducting a dirty proxy war against Nicaragua, which was organized by the CIA in Honduras on behalf of the American government under president Ronald Reagan. The role of the German government Neither the office of the German chancellor, nor the interior ministry, the foreign office or the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), have commented on the New York Times article. This silence must be taken as an admission that the German government agencies were aware of what the CIA was doing. When questioned by the media individual police officers have declared that they knew nothing about the activities of CIA agents in Germany. This was the business of the Americans, they claimed. "Even if we got wind of anything," a high-ranking official told the S?ddeutsche Zeitung, "nothing would have changed anyway." As long ago as November 2005, the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch had uncovered the illegal prisons run by the CIA, and its criminal practice of kidnapping terror suspects. After these first exposures the secretary-general of the Council of Europe opened a preliminary investigation. It was led by former Swiss public prosecutor Dick Marty, president of the Commission for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. As special prosecutor Marty carried out investigations into the secret CIA prisons from 2005 to 2007. In June 2006 Marty submitted an initial report. It stated that it could not definitively prove the existence of the secret prisons, but presented substantial evidence to indicate the use of such facilities by the US secret services. Marty continued his investigations and prepared a second report. He discovered close cooperation between European secret services and the CIA, but met with a wall of silence and denial on the part of the European governments. The second Marty report of 2007 criticized the German and the Italian governments in particular for systematically suppressing the truth about the prisons. In Milan, leading political agencies closed down the investigation in the same year against 26 CIA agents who had openly kidnapped the Egyptian Imam Abu Omar in Italy in February 2003 and transported him to an Egyptian torture prison. Marty recently told the Frankfurter Rundschau that it was difficult to uncover the whole truth about all of the alleged terrorist suspects kidnapped during this period. In the main, European governments had "made little effort" to clarify what had taken place, he said. Between 2005 and June 2009 a German parliamentary committee of inquiry investigated the methods used by the CIA and its collaboration with the BND. The list of the topics to be examined was long. It included, in addition to the secret prison system and secret CIA flights over Germany, the participation of BND agents in the Iraq war, the knowledge by German intelligence sources of CIA kidnappings of German terrorist suspects, and the monitoring of journalists by the BND. In the event, the committee of inquiry served as a whitewash for the intelligence services and the German government. In its final report of June 19 the committee concluded that the Social Democratic Party-Green government at that time had no knowledge of either the secret transportation of suspects or the existence of secret prisons. The committee of inquiry expressed no interest in the fact that an inquiry set up by the European parliament had already uncovered some time before that between 2001 and 2005 CIA transport planes had landed on no less than 336 occasions at German airports. It is completely unrealistic to expect that the government and its intelligence services had no knowledge of such flights. The final report of the Bundestag committee served above all to cover the tracks of the current German foreign minister and SPD chancellor candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During the period in office of the SPD-Green government (1998-2005) Steinmeier was head of the German chancellery and personally responsible for the secret services. At the end of 2002 it was Steinmeier who prevented the Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz, who lived in the German city of Bremen, from entering the federal republic. Accused of being a terrorist, Kurnaz was detained in the US Guant?namo detention centre. The US authorities had offered to free Kurnaz in 2002 due to lack of evidence. Because of Steinmeier's refusal to readmit Kurnaz to Germany, however, he was forced to remain a further four years in Guant?namo. Steinmeier denied any responsibility for Kurnaz's fate at the committee of inquiry. He was also acquitted of any responsibility in the case of Khaled el-Masri. El-Masri is a Lebanese citizen resident in Germany who was kidnapped in 2004 by the US secret service in Macedonia and transported to Afghanistan-allegedly without the knowledge of the German government. The record shows clearly that no account of their real role will be forthcoming from the official authorities. The extent of the complicity of the German government in the criminal activities and torture methods of the CIA will only be revealed by an independent inquiry and investigation conducted by and on behalf of the working class. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. To become a Member of Global Research The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor at yahoo.com www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner. For media inquiries: crgeditor at yahoo.com ? Copyright Jan Peters , World Socialist Web Site, 2009 The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=15004 ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Mon Sep 7 23:53:53 2009 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 16:53:53 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Disbar Bush-Cheney Torture Lawyers In-Reply-To: <13186061.1247551792718.JavaMail.tomcat@web2.mcl.wiredforchange.com> References: <13186061.1247551792718.JavaMail.tomcat@web2.mcl.wiredforchange.com> Message-ID: <009CF258-2854-43A2-BB91-B03CB3D5DA23@powerup.com.au> Relayed for info by Doug Everingham FROM Global Peoples. Assembly forum ==== From: robineagle at worldcitizen.org Subject: [GPAforum] Disbar Bush-Cheney Torture Lawyers Date: 14 July 2009 4:09:52 PM To: gpaforum at yahoogroups.com Reply-To: GPAforum at yahoogroups.com Voters for Peace and a coalition of organizations led by Velvet Revolution, filed complaints against 12 Bush-Cheney torture lawyers ? lawyers who used their license to practice law to facilitate torture. The complaints seek their disbarment. Applying the rule of law to torturers, their enablers and those who created the policy are essential steps to facing up to the issue and putting torture behind America. Take action now and write your elected representatives in Congress as well as the President and Attorney General to urge disbarment, conduct hearings to investigate torture and appoint a special prosecutor. In the end, it is going to be essential to remove torture from partisan politics and apply the rule of law. Go to http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1312/t/6850/campaign.jsp? campaign_KEY=27281 to take action! __._,_.___ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: GPAforum-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com ? Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: serv.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jomut at yahoo.com Tue Sep 8 13:29:45 2009 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:29:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy Message-ID: <503611.4792.qm@web31106.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi ? Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the?surly Cheney and the great Dubious! ? John =============== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From duanebehrens at cox.net Tue Sep 8 18:42:48 2009 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:42:48 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <503611.4792.qm@web31106.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20090908214248.3PZI5.108470.imail@fed1rmwml28> I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided in your email. When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, and won't restart properly. Why? Please help. Thanks. ---- John Mutambirwa wrote: ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi ? Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the?surly Cheney and the great Dubious! ? John =============== From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 8 19:01:59 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:01:59 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Milestone in NY fight for poll on 9/11 fraud Message-ID: <20090909020201.78AD6128B8@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jomut at yahoo.com Thu Sep 10 12:49:48 2009 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:49:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <20090908214248.3PZI5.108470.imail@fed1rmwml28> Message-ID: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi, ? Haven't got the foggiest clue why.? I actually have not visited it for a very long time.? Part of the problem is I do not have the time to maintain it.? Accessed it without experiencing any glitches though. I also do not know where all those ads came from!! ? John ================ John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Wed, 9/9/09, Duane Behrens wrote: From: Duane Behrens Subject: Re: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy To: "A renewed Mai-Not" Cc: "John Mutambirwa" Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 1:42 AM I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided in your email.? When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, and won't restart properly.? Why?? Please help.? Thanks.? ---- John Mutambirwa wrote: ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi ? Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the?surly Cheney and the great Dubious! ? John =============== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From siamdave at yahoo.ca Thu Sep 10 20:40:37 2009 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:40:37 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <200909111040370796.005257F4@smtp.totisp.net> John et al, I have found with my webites that many 'free' website 'hit counters' do various kinds of popup adds as part of their 'service', which may explain your mysterious ads. Dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-10 at 12:49 PM John Mutambirwa wrote: Hi, Haven't got the foggiest clue why. I actually have not visited it for a very long time. Part of the problem is I do not have the time to maintain it. Accessed it without experiencing any glitches though.. I also do not know where all those ads came from!! John ================ John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Wed, 9/9/09, Duane Behrens wrote: From: Duane Behrens Subject: Re: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy To: "A renewed Mai-Not" Cc: "John Mutambirwa" Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 1:42 AM I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided in your email. When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, and won't restart properly. Why? Please help. Thanks. ---- John Mutambirwa wrote: ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be jomut at yahoo.com MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut Hi Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the surly Cheney and the great Dubious! John =============== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Thu Sep 10 21:18:37 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:18:37 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <200909111040370796.005257F4@smtp.totisp.net> References: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <200909111040370796.005257F4@smtp.totisp.net> Message-ID: <20090911041838.4E56F12BCE@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 090911 Weird stuff.doc Type: application/msword Size: 207360 bytes Desc: not available URL: From siamdave at yahoo.ca Fri Sep 11 00:43:40 2009 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:43:40 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] mail scanner (Re: pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <20090911041838.4E56F12BCE@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <200909111040370796.005257F4@smtp.totisp.net> <20090911041838.4E56F12BCE@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200909111443400406.0130DB46@smtp.totisp.net> Dion. That red stuff is from a program called Mail Scanner, which many places use to screen emails for spam etc. I get the same now and then from some emails, although I do not myself have this program - if your email server has this program, you may get the message - it could even be Mai-not, if Yves has this program, and the program has been told that emails from XXX were to be watched or flagged or something - just computers doing idiotic irrational stuff, as they do from time to time. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if somebody's secret spies were watching some or all of us, but this Mail Scanner is not them ... their site is here if you want to see what they do - http://www.mailscanner.info/ dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-11 at 12:18 PM Dion Giles wrote: When Dave's email hit my screen it contained a lot of scary red underlined stuff. In some of it the red doesn't show as the block of typoe has been highlighted to brinhg up the ra ra ra stuff in a yellow box. I've screen-grabbed it, copied it (piecemeal) into a Word document which I'm attaching in case anyone can understand what it all means. My guess is that some country's secret police have hacked into John's site. Dion Giles At 11:40 11/09/2009, Dave wrote: John et al, I have found with my webites that many 'free' website 'hit counters' do various kinds of popup adds as part of their 'service', which may explain your mysterious ads. Dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-10 at 12:49 PM John Mutambirwa wrote: Hi, Haven't got the foggiest clue why. I actually have not visited it for a very long time. Part of the problem is I do not have the time to maintain it. Accessed it without experiencing any glitches though.. I also do not know where all those ads came from!! John ================ John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Wed, 9/9/09, Duane Behrens wrote: From: Duane Behrens Subject: Re: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy To: "A renewed Mai-Not" Cc: "John Mutambirwa" Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 1:42 AM I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided in your email. When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, and won't restart properly. Why? Please help. Thanks. ---- John Mutambirwa < MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be jomut at yahoo.com> wrote: ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be jomut at yahoo.com MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut Hi Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the surly Cheney and the great Dubious! John =============== _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From siamdave at yahoo.ca Fri Sep 11 00:57:17 2009 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:57:17 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] mail scanner (Re: pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: <200909111443400406.0130DB46@smtp.totisp.net> References: <367420.86243.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <200909111040370796.005257F4@smtp.totisp.net> <20090911041838.4E56F12BCE@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> <200909111443400406.0130DB46@smtp.totisp.net> Message-ID: <200909111457170781.013D5425@smtp.totisp.net> - I meant to add to this one - Thailand has over the years been a popular place from which spammers operate, as the country has been somewhat notorious for lax regulations about spammers (or anything else, for that matter - it's a mixed bag - I find I prefer, for instance, the minimal enforcement of traffic laws here, to the fact of cops chasing you around everywhere you go in places like Canada with a 'zero tolerance' policy - some balanced approach would be better, but I do not like to have cops watching my every move, as they seem to be doing most of the time now in Canada...) - but anyway, as my server here is TOT (Telephone Organisation of Thailand), some programs like Mail Scanner may automatically flag this, or anything remotely connected to Thailand) *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-11 at 2:43 PM Dave Patterson wrote: Dion. That red stuff is from a program called Mail Scanner, which many places use to screen emails for spam etc. I get the same now and then from some emails, although I do not myself have this program - if your email server has this program, you may get the message - it could even be Mai-not, if Yves has this program, and the program has been told that emails from XXX were to be watched or flagged or something - just computers doing idiotic irrational stuff, as they do from time to time. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if somebody's secret spies were watching some or all of us, but this Mail Scanner is not them .... their site is here if you want to see what they do - http://www.mailscanner.info/ dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-11 at 12:18 PM Dion Giles wrote: When Dave's email hit my screen it contained a lot of scary red underlined stuff. In some of it the red doesn't show as the block of typoe has been highlighted to brinhg up the ra ra ra stuff in a yellow box. I've screen-grabbed it, copied it (piecemeal) into a Word document which I'm attaching in case anyone can understand what it all means. My guess is that some country's secret police have hacked into John's site. Dion Giles At 11:40 11/09/2009, Dave wrote: John et al, I have found with my webites that many 'free' website 'hit counters' do various kinds of popup adds as part of their 'service', which may explain your mysterious ads. Dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 09-09-10 at 12:49 PM John Mutambirwa wrote: Hi, Haven't got the foggiest clue why. I actually have not visited it for a very long time. Part of the problem is I do not have the time to maintain it. Accessed it without experiencing any glitches though.. I also do not know where all those ads came from!! John ================ John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Wed, 9/9/09, Duane Behrens wrote: From: Duane Behrens Subject: Re: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy To: "A renewed Mai-Not" Cc: "John Mutambirwa" Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 1:42 AM I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided in your email. When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, and won't restart properly. Why? Please help. Thanks. ---- John Mutambirwa < MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be jomut at yahoo.com> wrote: ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be jomut at yahoo.com MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "us.mc311.mail.yahoo.com" claiming to be chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut Hi Thought some of you would get a kick out of this one (Ouch! Where it hurts, of course, -- Hell! There are so many NUTS in this world!!). Guy's been forced to leave the white house, of course. The furore caused by Van Jones "foul" mouth has led some commentators into easy remembrance of the fumble-lips of the surly Cheney and the great Dubious! John =============== _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From creuss at bluewin.ch Fri Sep 11 12:58:27 2009 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:58:27 +0200 Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy Message-ID: Duane wrote: > I casually clicked on http://www.geocities.com/jomut link you provided > in your email. When I left the site, my computer immediately locked up, > and won't restart properly. Why? Please help. Thanks. A Javascript bug in the popup ad. If this is enough to lock your machine, try using a serious browser and OS... HTH, Chris P.S.: @Dion: As for secret service conspiracies, think of Occam's Raisor... ;-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 11 17:49:03 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:49:03 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] pros and cons piracy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20090912004904.8595E10F30@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> At 03:58 12/09/2009, Chris wrote: >P.S.: @Dion: As for secret service conspiracies, think of Occam's >Raisor... ;-) I do. The one answer fits all glitches! From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Sep 14 16:58:14 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:58:14 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Ideological cleansing continues: Non-neoclassical economics department at Notre Dame faces closure Message-ID: <028f01ca3597$3ae5e840$1bad57ca@jfos> Future of economics department uncertain John Tierney Issue date: 9/11/09 The College of Arts and Letters plans to discontinue one of its two economic departments in the next two years, according to College Dean John McGreevy. In the future, McGreevy said there will not be two economics departments in the College of Arts and Letters. Currently, the College houses the Department of Economics and Policy Studies and the Department of Economics and Econometrics. McGreevy said any action he takes will ensure that the voices of the Economics and Policy Studies professors continue to be heard. "We're trying to create the best economics conversation we can have at Notre Dame," McGreevy said. "There are lots of places around the University where we need economists," including at the Kellogg Institute, the Kroc Institute and the Poverty Studies program. He said the University has not made a final decision on what to do with the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, but that there will not be two departments in the future. "What I've said in a meeting with both departments is that two departments is not the best strategy long-term," he said. The Department of Economics and Policy Studies was the primary economics department at the University until the creation of the Department of Economics and Econometrics in 2003, according to Professor of Economics and Policy Studies David Ruccio. "The University decided in 2003 to create another economics department," Ruccio said. "The majority of people in the existing department voted against the idea and the College Council voted against the idea. "The people who wanted to create a new department went to the Academic Council and got a positive vote," Ruccio said. Of the 21 economics faculty members in 2003, 16 voted against the split and five voted in favor, according to Ruccio. The five members who supported the split went to the Department of Economics and Econometrics, which supports only neoclassical economic theory. The 16 members who voted against the creation of a new department remained in the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, whose mission statement is to teach and conduct research in "a distinctive way" that is "related to the Catholic identity of the University." "Economics and Policy Studies has a more open or pluralistic approach to economics so lots of different theories are taught and used in research," Ruccio said. He said this pluralistic approach is especially valuable in the current economic crisis, when the neoclassical approach "has been most called into question." Ruccio said he believes his department "is going to be dissolved over the course of the next two years." Ruccio said that the different approach of the Department of Economics and Policy Studies helps "make Notre Dame distinctive." "Lots of universities only teach neoclassical economics," he said. Notre Dame is different "partly because of the Catholic tradition of social justice." "Now students will only get one approach and that's a shame," Ruccio said. Without the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, "there won't be a department that would be devoted to a conversation rather than a monologue on campus," Ruccio said. Students are less likely to be exposed "to a variety of different theories, when the department no longer exists," he said. "That's especially true if Economics and Econometrics teaches all the intro courses," he said. Ruccio said the need for different approaches in economics stems from the concept of the liberal arts education. In a liberal arts education, "students are exposed to critical thinking and the only way to do critical thinking is to be exposed to a variety of approaches," he said. McGreevy said that moves to other roles in the University could allow Economics and Policy Studies professors to have a larger impact. "Our colleagues in Economics and Policy Studies have much expertise," he said. "We're asking where in the University they can have the most impact." McGreevy said the tenure of Economics and Policy Studies professors will be respected. "We can't be fired," Ruccio said. "But from what we've heard, we have been encouraged to find another position either inside the University or outside the University." ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 15 18:23:43 2009 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:23:43 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: 9/11, Chile, Honduras, climate talks & Africa, Cuba, Bolivia, Scottish SP, Paul Robeson Message-ID: <4AB03E1F.9040006@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: 9/11, Chile, Honduras, climate talks & Africa, Cuba, Bolivia, Scottish SP, Paul Robeson * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links/. * * * The other September 11: US backed coup in Chile, 1973 An excerpt from John Pilger's documentary The War on Democracy, which recounts the involvement of the United States government in the brutal 1973 military coup that overthrew the democratic socialist government of President Salvador Allende -- paradoxically on September 11. It ushered in a regime of torture and tyranny. Below, see director Ken Loach's moving contribution to the 11"9'01 project. * Read more Interview with Honduras resistance leader: `The US is sustaining the coup' During an August 17-19, 2009, international seminar on the economic crisis hosted by the Party of Liberty and Socialism in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Green Left Weekly/Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal journalists Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes, together with journalists from Marea Socialista (Venezuela) and Alternativa Socialista (Argentina), were able to interview Gilberto Rios from the international relations commission of the National Popular Resistance Front against the Coup about the growing resistance movement against the US backed coup which ousted the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28. * Read more Call for a 'Seattle' approach to Copenhagen climate talks, Africans demand reparations By Patrick Bond September 5, 2009 - Durban -- Here's a fairly simple choice: the global North would pay the hard-hit global South to deal with the climate crisis, either through the complicated, corrupt, controversial ``Clean Development Mechanism' (CDM), whose projects have plenty of damaging sideeffects to communities, or instead pay through other mechanisms that must provide financing quickly, transparently and decisively to achieve genuine income compensation plus renewable energy to the masses. The Copenhagen climate summit in December is all about the former choice. * Read more Hypocrisy over Cuba's `political prisoners' By Tim Anderson September 13, 2009 -- Political prisoners and Cuba can be a confusing mix, in our times of mass propaganda. Three groups have attracted international attention, over the past decade. The first group, 70 or so (the ``dissidents''), were arrested in March 2003 by the Cuban government and charged with taking money from a US program which aims to overthrow the Cuban constitution. Amnesty International and many European states, along with the US government, immediately declared them ``prisoners of conscience''. A number have since been released. The second group of several hundred (``enemy combatants'') were collected by the US government in Afghanistan and Pakistan over 2001-2002 and held for many years in concentration camps at a US military base carved out of the island of Cuba. International protest built up more slowly, and eight years on many are still held without charge or trial. The third group of five men (``the Cuban Five'') were arrested in the US in 1998 and accused of being spies, for passing on information about groups in south Florida that were preparing terrorist attacks on Cuba. The US courts have rubber-stamped their convictions. On September 12, 2009, they completed 11 years in US jails. * Read more Caracas to host world meeting of left parties, October 7-9, 2009 By Federico Fuentes, Caracas September 5, 2009 -- Caracas will play host to one of the most important international gatherings of left parties in years, when delegates from across the world meet for the First International Meeting of Left Parties over October 7-9, 2009. * Read more Bolivia's vice-president defends MAS government's record Interview with with ?lvaro Garc?a Linera, vice-president of Bolivia, by Maristella Svampa, Pablo Stefanoni and Ricardo Bajo, from August 2009 Bolivian edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. English translation and notes by Richard Fidler. * Read more How US warmongers exploited the 9/11 terrorist attacks By Norm Dixon [This article was first published on September 11, 2002, on the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Its observations remain relevant to this day.] * Read more Declaration of the Africa People's Movement on Climate Change Nairobi, Kenya, August 30, 2009 -- We, the leaders of various people's movements, community-based groups, academia, NGOs and civil cociety organisations, met in Nairobi under the banner of the People's Movement on Climate Change (PMCC) to discuss strategies to confront the climate change crisis for Copenhagen and beyond from August 27 to 28 , 2009. * Read more Eyewitness to Cuba: Report by the Scottish Socialist Party's delegation to Cuba In February 2009 for two weeks, a nine-strong delegation from the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) visited Cuba at the invitation of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC). Bill Bonnar reports on the visit. * Read more Paul Robeson: `The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery By Harry Targ On September 4, 1949, an angry crowd surrounded the 20,000 friends of Paul Robeson who had come to hear him in an open-air concert at Peekskill, New York. After the event right-wing, anti-communist inspired mobs attacked supporters who were leaving the event. These attacks included smashing the windows of Pete Seeger's automobile with several family members inside. Sixty years later we remember the great progressive Paul Robeson, his struggles for justice, and his refusal to bow to the politics of reaction. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From fresch at ica.net Sat Sep 19 18:27:10 2009 From: fresch at ica.net (Fred Schneider) Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:27:10 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption. Message-ID: <20090920012708.D4DCABB2B6@sendmail.ica.net> Forwarded message: EARTH MEANDERS Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption A call for reluctant Earth revolutionaries to unite and slay the economic growth machine consuming ecological being. September 20, 2009 By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk, http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/ A disease is ravaging Earth as ever more people, consume ever more, destroying natural ecosystems that are our shared habitat. In a few short centuries the violent, expansionist and deeply ecologically unsustainable Western mindset has become virtually universally accepted. The meaning of life is more, ever more of everything, at the expense of a finite biosphere. The emptiness of such a vacuous worldview is revealed through changing climate, devastating human inequities and an irredeemably corrupt economic system. More than just a climate crisis, humanity is facing profound over-population and injustice that are spurring dozens of inter-related ecological and social crises. Billions suffer as their basic human needs go unmet, while billions more gorge themselves. Forests, prairies, streams, rivers, estuaries, wetlands, lakes, soil, oceans, air and all the rest are all life's flesh and blood. Humanity, Earth and kindred species have entered the late stage condition of ecological overshoot -- whereby our cumulative demands upon ecosystems exceeds their life-giving capacity and causes them to collapse. We are eating creation. Hardly anyone is thinking or acting at the necessary scale to avert global ecological Armageddon. Market based solutions are pervasive with corruption and inequity. Nothing we do is going to maintain an affluent life, as it is now for some. Widespread economic decline will certainly accompany abrupt climate change and global ecosystem collapse; indeed, it has begun. If existing political systems are unable to deal with the inevitable collapse of the growth machine, at the same time as pursuing rigorous environmental policy-making, then new political structures will be necessary. A stewardship revolution that maintains life of some worthy, habitable sort is possible. Surely in a free country whose liberty came from such means, we can talk about revolutionary violence, as Thomas Jefferson said would continue to be necessary. "The blood of tyrants and patriots must flow to renew the soil." What could be more glorious than fighting, and perhaps dying, for the Earth, and maybe even succeeding in saving her (and us)? It is time for a credible revolutionary threat to protect the biosphere. What is needed is a steady ratcheting up of pressure ? protests, sit-ins, sabotage, assassinations -- giving opponents every opportunity to respond to reasoned arguments ? and culminating in guerrilla warfare and whatever else is necessary to save the Earth. If a few thousand insurrectionists can tie up the American military in Iraq, think what dedicated, highly decentralized and autonomous groups of tens of thousands of Earth insurgents could do to bring down industrial capitalism and the Earth eating growth machine. People power protest culminating in an Earth Revolution needs to be done urgently yet thoughtfully. Not speaking of mob rule or rioting -- that is what is coming from the status quo. We are speaking of highly disciplined, targeted protests including the possible use of violence to bring down the equipment and individuals responsible for destroying global ecosystems, and herald in a new ecologically sustainable, just and equitable way of living with the land, water and sky. Living must become a matter of what you can give to ecosystems, and others with whom you share being, rather than only being concerned with what you can take. Economic growth cannot continue forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, and the myriad of other eco-crises solved. Efforts to cap and trade, certify, sustainably manage and otherwise reform our way out of the situation are orders of magnitude inadequate and failing. Free markets appear to inherently be unable to price carbon and other externalities. It is becoming increasingly unlikely (if not impossible) that current political and business growth systems can reform in time to maintain the ecosystems necessary for life. The looming death of Gaia and most or all being is no one's fault, or rather, it is all our faults. As many species have done previously, we have collectively overgrazed our habitat. We simply must immediately allow traditional ecological disturbance, regeneration and succession patterns to again operate. The industrial growth machine must be powered off and we must herald in an era of ecological stewardship and restoration. Even while we organize and pursue revolutionary action; each of us must plant, tend and restore our Earth's natural ecosystems and permaculture gardens, and help others to do so. Only dramatic and immediate revolutionary action to destroy the growth machine offers any hope of maintaining a livable Earth. We must commit to stopping burning and cutting -- antiquated means to make a living -- indeed killing those that refuse to stop. Rich people are setting themselves up to be fine in geo-engineered comfort while sacrificing the poor who no longer have free ecosystem services to sustain them. There can be no engineering of a biosphere; indeed, thinking we can has brought us to this moment. We must return to nature. We must hold onto our humanity as we collapse and renew ourselves. Earth Revolution is as much about helping those that want to reconnect to Earth as it is sabotaging equipment and killing people directly responsible for ecocide. This means sharing food and water, shelter and clothing. But bring those responsible for ecocide to justice, utterly destroying them, their institutions and their equipment. The must be no indiscriminate terror, but if our warnings go unheeded, targeted violence against known ecological criminals is justified and warranted. Given the momentum of nearly seven billion seeking to be super-consumers , do not see any other way to stop the forces of destruction other than a revolution. There is absolutely no way current energy and other resource use-- much less expected growth in population and per capital consumption -- can be produced either from agrofuels or more drilling. Humans have hit the biogeochemical limits of a finite planet, and each of us must seek what is enough, rather than always more. It is well past time to be men and women of fortitude, set aside our computers and amusements, and commit our minds and bodies to stopping the destruction of being. We must demand more courage and less corruption from ourselves and our leaders. The Arctic has already been changed forever. Soon your neighborhood, ecosystem and bioregion will be too (if you really look, almost certainly it is already). Please, as I do, take the end of human being through needless habitat destruction personally. Part of the solution is allowing people to get back to Earth on their own plot of land. How we live in the future will be by necessity less urban. We will be called upon to make do with what is in our bioregion. Let me make some further suggestions to you. Acquire land and seeds. Make or restore an Earth friendly shelter and plant trees and permaculture forest gardens. Prepare to live in your changing bioregion. Go back to the land. Ecologically farm and restore as you connect with like minded Earth revolutionaries to clandestinely carry out escalating protest, sabotage and guerrilla war. I urge you to really think about what is necessary -- both personally and in terms of social change -- to sustain being, and committing to it. Token managerial reforms of the antiquated ecologically damaging activities of burning and cutting are not enough. Technology is not going to save us. Market campaigns using glamorous celebrities are not enough. Petitioning our leaders is not going to save us. Personal efforts will only get you and Gaia so far. Only escalating protest action targeting the destroyers, their equipment and their Earth eating worldview can still avert biosphere disintegration. Set aside your best efforts at ecological denial, acknowledge the task before us, and join with others in becoming a reluctant revolutionary. An Earth insurgency could topple the growth machine in a day, though it may take years. The sooner the better, as more ecological remnants will exist to serve as the basis of ecological restoration. Even as we pursue revolutionary strategies and tactics to maintain a habitable Earth, commit to remaining free and humane. The answer is neither tyranny of the left nor right. Above all else we must achieve global ecological sustainability through just and equitable means. Protest and restore natural ecosystems including old forests right now. Work with others to destroy coal, tar sands, fishing trawlers, oil palm, industrial agriculture, pipelines and ancient forest loggers. Start today. Now continued human existence depends upon your courage, ecological wisdom and taking direct lethal action in defense of our shared ecological heritage. Each of us and together will transition to a state of ecological grace, quickly, and through action against the Earth destroyers, or we will all die a horrific and barbaric death together as being ends. If we choose to fight for Earth there is hope, otherwise there is none. Share the anguish of not knowing if revolutionary violence is the answer or not. But it has to be considered comprehensively, thoroughly and quickly. Prove me wrong and demonstrate how to ecologically sufficiently address converging eco-crises in a couple years time within current economic and political systems. Yet revolution is almost certainly the only possible way to sustain and restore healthy ecosystems as the basis of human civilization and all life. Be strong, slay the growth machine, for Gaia. ### Discuss essay: http://www.ecoearth.info/blog/2009/09/earth_meanders_ecological_over.asp This is an excerpt from Dr. Glen Barry's forthcoming new book entitled "New Earth Rising". Sadly, this will not be finished by Copenhagen, though we intend to publish the introduction soon as we begin serializing it at http://www.newearthrising.org/. We eagerly seek a publisher and financial backers to finish the book which is nearing completion. My home page: "http://home.ica.net/~fresch/index.htm" ======================================== Fred Schneider, 905-279-7199, Fax: same, call first! #37-425 Meadows Blvd. Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1N3 From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Sep 19 19:07:48 2009 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:07:48 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption. In-Reply-To: <20090920012708.D4DCABB2B6@sendmail.ica.net> References: <20090920012708.D4DCABB2B6@sendmail.ica.net> Message-ID: <20090920020336.12EF924DAF28@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Sorry to rub it in, but my 1991 "Principle for the application of physical efficiency to economics " predicted all this. As long the present economic theory is permitted to continue, there won't be any change for the better and the world will be going to hell. Cheers, Ed. At 06:27 PM 19/09/2009, you wrote: >Forwarded message: >EARTH MEANDERS >Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption > >A call for reluctant Earth revolutionaries to >unite and slay the economic growth machine consuming ecological being. > >September 20, 2009 >By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet >Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk, http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ >http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/ > >A disease is ravaging Earth as ever more people, >consume ever more, destroying natural ecosystems >that are our shared habitat. In a few short >centuries the violent, expansionist and deeply >ecologically unsustainable Western mindset has >become virtually universally accepted. The >meaning of life is more, ever more of >everything, at the expense of a finite >biosphere. The emptiness of such a vacuous >worldview is revealed through changing climate, >devastating human inequities and an irredeemably corrupt economic system. > >More than just a climate crisis, humanity is >facing profound over-population and injustice >that are spurring dozens of inter-related >ecological and social crises. Billions suffer as >their basic human needs go unmet, while billions >more gorge themselves. Forests, prairies, >streams, rivers, estuaries, wetlands, lakes, >soil, oceans, air and all the rest are all >life's flesh and blood. Humanity, Earth and >kindred species have entered the late stage >condition of ecological overshoot -- whereby our >cumulative demands upon ecosystems exceeds their >life-giving capacity and causes them to collapse. > >We are eating creation. Hardly anyone is >thinking or acting at the necessary scale to >avert global ecological Armageddon. Market >based solutions are pervasive with corruption >and inequity. Nothing we do is going to maintain >an affluent life, as it is now for some. >Widespread economic decline will certainly >accompany abrupt climate change and global >ecosystem collapse; indeed, it has begun. If >existing political systems are unable to deal >with the inevitable collapse of the growth >machine, at the same time as pursuing rigorous >environmental policy-making, then new political structures will be necessary. > >A stewardship revolution that maintains life of >some worthy, habitable sort is possible. Surely >in a free country whose liberty came from such >means, we can talk about revolutionary violence, >as Thomas Jefferson said would continue to be >necessary. "The blood of tyrants and patriots >must flow to renew the soil." What could be more >glorious than fighting, and perhaps dying, for >the Earth, and maybe even succeeding in saving her (and us)? > >It is time for a credible revolutionary threat >to protect the biosphere. What is needed is >a steady ratcheting up of pressure ? protests, >sit-ins, sabotage, assassinations -- giving >opponents every opportunity to respond to >reasoned arguments ? and culminating in >guerrilla warfare and whatever else is necessary >to save the Earth. If a few thousand >insurrectionists can tie up the American >military in Iraq, think what dedicated, highly >decentralized and autonomous groups of tens of >thousands of Earth insurgents could do to bring >down industrial capitalism and the Earth eating growth machine. > >People power protest culminating in an Earth >Revolution needs to be done urgently yet >thoughtfully. Not speaking of mob rule or >rioting -- that is what is coming from the >status quo. We are speaking of highly >disciplined, targeted protests including the >possible use of violence to bring down the >equipment and individuals responsible for >destroying global ecosystems, and herald in a >new ecologically sustainable, just and equitable >way of living with the land, water and sky. >Living must become a matter of what you can give >to ecosystems, and others with whom you share >being, rather than only being concerned with what you can take. > >Economic growth cannot continue forever if >greenhouse gases are to be curbed, and the >myriad of other eco-crises solved. Efforts to >cap and trade, certify, sustainably manage and >otherwise reform our way out of the situation >are orders of magnitude inadequate and failing. >Free markets appear to inherently be unable to >price carbon and other externalities. It is >becoming increasingly unlikely (if not >impossible) that current political and business >growth systems can reform in time to maintain >the ecosystems necessary for life. > >The looming death of Gaia and most or all being >is no one's fault, or rather, it is all our >faults. As many species have done previously, we >have collectively overgrazed our habitat. We >simply must immediately allow traditional >ecological disturbance, regeneration and >succession patterns to again operate. The >industrial growth machine must be powered off >and we must herald in an era of ecological >stewardship and restoration. Even while we >organize and pursue revolutionary action; each >of us must plant, tend and restore our Earth's >natural ecosystems and permaculture gardens, and help others to do so. > >Only dramatic and immediate revolutionary action >to destroy the growth machine offers any hope of >maintaining a livable Earth. We must commit to >stopping burning and cutting -- antiquated means >to make a living -- indeed killing those that >refuse to stop. Rich people are setting >themselves up to be fine in geo-engineered >comfort while sacrificing the poor who no longer >have free ecosystem services to sustain them. >There can be no engineering of a biosphere; >indeed, thinking we can has brought us to this >moment. We must return to nature. > >We must hold onto our humanity as we collapse >and renew ourselves. Earth Revolution is as much >about helping those that want to reconnect to >Earth as it is sabotaging equipment and killing >people directly responsible for ecocide. This >means sharing food and water, shelter and >clothing. But bring those responsible for >ecocide to justice, utterly destroying them, >their institutions and their equipment. The must >be no indiscriminate terror, but if our warnings >go unheeded, targeted violence against known >ecological criminals is justified and warranted. > >Given the momentum of nearly seven billion >seeking to be super-consumers , do not see any >other way to stop the forces of destruction >other than a revolution. There is absolutely no >way current energy and other resource use-- much >less expected growth in population and per >capital consumption -- can be produced either >from agrofuels or more drilling. Humans have hit >the biogeochemical limits of a finite planet, >and each of us must seek what is enough, rather than always more. > >It is well past time to be men and women of >fortitude, set aside our computers and >amusements, and commit our minds and bodies to >stopping the destruction of being. We must >demand more courage and less corruption from >ourselves and our leaders. The Arctic has >already been changed forever. Soon your >neighborhood, ecosystem and bioregion will be >too (if you really look, almost certainly it is >already). Please, as I do, take the end of human >being through needless habitat destruction personally. > >Part of the solution is allowing people to get >back to Earth on their own plot of land. How we >live in the future will be by necessity less >urban. We will be called upon to make do with what is in our bioregion. >Let me make some further suggestions to you. >Acquire land and seeds. Make or restore an Earth >friendly shelter and plant trees and >permaculture forest gardens. Prepare to live in >your changing bioregion. Go back to the land. >Ecologically farm and restore as you connect >with like minded Earth revolutionaries to >clandestinely carry out escalating protest, sabotage and guerrilla war. > >I urge you to really think about what is >necessary -- both personally and in terms of >social change -- to sustain being, and >committing to it. Token managerial reforms of >the antiquated ecologically damaging activities >of burning and cutting are not enough. >Technology is not going to save us. Market >campaigns using glamorous celebrities are not >enough. Petitioning our leaders is not going to >save us. Personal efforts will only get you and >Gaia so far. Only escalating protest action >targeting the destroyers, their equipment and >their Earth eating worldview can still avert biosphere disintegration. > >Set aside your best efforts at ecological >denial, acknowledge the task before us, and join >with others in becoming a reluctant >revolutionary. An Earth insurgency could topple >the growth machine in a day, though it may take >years. The sooner the better, as more ecological >remnants will exist to serve as the basis of >ecological restoration. Even as we pursue >revolutionary strategies and tactics to maintain >a habitable Earth, commit to remaining free and >humane. The answer is neither tyranny of the >left nor right. Above all else we must achieve >global ecological sustainability through just and equitable means. > >Protest and restore natural ecosystems including >old forests right now. Work with others to >destroy coal, tar sands, fishing trawlers, oil >palm, industrial agriculture, pipelines and >ancient forest loggers. Start today. Now >continued human existence depends upon your >courage, ecological wisdom and taking direct >lethal action in defense of our shared >ecological heritage. Each of us and together >will transition to a state of ecological grace, >quickly, and through action against the Earth >destroyers, or we will all die a horrific and >barbaric death together as being ends. > >If we choose to fight for Earth there is hope, >otherwise there is none. Share the anguish of >not knowing if revolutionary violence is the >answer or not. But it has to be considered >comprehensively, thoroughly and quickly. Prove >me wrong and demonstrate how to ecologically >sufficiently address converging eco-crises in a >couple years time within current economic and >political systems. Yet revolution is almost >certainly the only possible way to sustain and >restore healthy ecosystems as the basis of human >civilization and all life. Be strong, slay the growth machine, for Gaia. > >### > >Discuss essay: >http://www.ecoearth.info/blog/2009/09/earth_meanders_ecological_over.asp > >This is an excerpt from Dr. Glen Barry's >forthcoming new book entitled "New Earth >Rising". Sadly, this will not be finished by >Copenhagen, though we intend to publish the >introduction soon as we begin serializing it at >http://www.newearthrising.org/. We eagerly seek >a publisher and financial backers to finish the >book which is nearing completion. > > >My home page: "http://home.ica.net/~fresch/index.htm" >======================================== >Fred Schneider, 905-279-7199, Fax: same, call first! >#37-425 Meadows Blvd. >Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1N3 > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: >270.13.108/2383 - Release Date: 09/19/09 17:50:00 From clementclarke at ozemail.com.au Sat Sep 19 19:48:18 2009 From: clementclarke at ozemail.com.au (Clement Clarke) Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:48:18 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption. In-Reply-To: <20090920020336.12EF924DAF28@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> References: <20090920012708.D4DCABB2B6@sendmail.ica.net> <20090920020336.12EF924DAF28@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: <4AB597F2.6030404@ozemail.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Sep 19 20:22:53 2009 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:22:53 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption. In-Reply-To: <4AB597F2.6030404@ozemail.com.au> References: <20090920012708.D4DCABB2B6@sendmail.ica.net> <20090920020336.12EF924DAF28@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> <4AB597F2.6030404@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: <20090920031846.6DC48780465@smtprelay03.hostedemail.com> Hi Clem, Here's the Principle, on exactly one page. It is the distillation of about 65 pages of notes . The first version was 17 pages, but I wanted something anybody could understand without the usual academic gobbledigook and fancy language, so I had a writer friend go over it to make it as simple as possible. Today I can do it on a half page with 4-5 definitions. Not tonight, but if I can I may do it tomorrow. The Principle has been on this list several times, also on many worldwide economic forums, incl. 4 or 5 by the World Bank. It is unbreakable, because it is not my invention, but based on solid physical laws, the ignoring of which are now destroying the world. It is also studiously ignored, because it is diametrically opposed to the ruling and destructive, "wealth creating" economic theory I took out the copyright to establish the date, not for any monetary reasons. Cheers, Ed. A PRINCIPLE FOR THE APPLICATION OF PHYSICAL EFFICIENCY TO ECONOMICS. By Ed Deak. "THE REAL, OR PHYSICAL COSTS OF A PRODUCT, OR SERVICE ARE CONSTANT." An efficient product contains physically efficient or ideal amounts of energy and matter, regardless of numerical or monetary considerations. Monetary "cost efficiency" can not exist outside the concepts of physical efficiency and becomes cost transfer on other sectors. Therefore it is not efficiency but temporary convenience. 1. Everything and everybody on earth is bound by physical laws. 2. The science, planning and the acts of production are based on physical laws, therefore economic principles must also follow them. 3. "Matter and energy can not be destroyed, only transformed". Both began in and continue into eternity, therefore monetary costs are momentary "subtotals" in continuous columns, without the possibility of "bottom lines". Our environmental and human disasters are caused by arbitrarily located subtotals falsely used as bottom lines by special interests, leaving unaccounted liabilities. 4. Because of the eternal qualities of matter and energy, we don't know the cost of anything and ignorantly use subtotals, i.e.the monetary costs of extraction, to create delusions of well being. 5. In physics "Efficiency is the most output for the least energy input".(Energy=matter). Economists conveniently substituted the word "money" for "energy", which permits the predetermination of equations and causes environmental and human destruction. 6. Measuring instruments and parameters must be permanently defined and of constant values, protected by agreements and laws. 7. Monetary value can not be permanently defined. Money is a speculative commodity under special interest control, an asset to the holder and liability to the issuer. It is infinitely and unpredictably variable, with corrupted conversions. Therefore it's use as economic measure is contradictory, unscientific, immoral and illegal. 8. The premise that huge production runs etc. are "cost efficient" is false, because it refers only to perceptions of temporary monetary benefits to special sectors, while transferring real and monetary costs on others through erroneous, or fraudulent accounting. 9. In physics "Mass increases with speed", i.e. to double the speed of a boat,the energy input may have to be squared. The speedup of production also uses inefficient inputs of capital, energy/matter and creates cost transfers on the environment and humanity. 10."For every action there's an equal reaction". Overcapitalized massproduction creates temporary benefits to a few with the distribution of research, development & administration costs, but multiplies transferred costs in inefficient, forced urbanization, pollution, enslavement, health & mental problems, violence, crime, stress, time & capital waste from commuting, taxation, etc. ad infinitum. 11.The "Gross Domestic Product" and "Productivity" are false concepts to permit the accounting of liabilities as assets. 12.Our economic systems are based on the misuse of words, concepts, mathematics and accounting. No sane person wishes to go back to primitivism or musclepower, but there must be new, democratically controlled determination of when, how far and for whose benefit convenience may, or must overrule the concepts of true efficiency within the recovery capacity of the environment and humanity. Copyright 1991 by Ed Deak, Box 9, Big Lake Ranch PO. BC. VOL 1GO, Canada. Phone:(250) 243-2263, , Email: thinker at xplornet.com ========================================================================================================= At 07:48 PM 19/09/2009, you wrote: >Ed, > >Where is it? > >Is it formatted in HTML? If not, may I do it? > >There is a website called >http://informaction.org/ >that has every email address of the major pollies on it. > >If someone would like to prepare a single page >letter to email to all of them, I can send it >out individually addressed to them all. > >Cheers, > >Clem > >Ed Deak wrote: >>Sorry to rub it in, but my 1991 "Principle for >>the application of physical efficiency to >>economics " predicted all this. As long the >>present economic theory is permitted to >>continue, there won't be any change for the >>better and the world will be going to hell. >> >>Cheers, Ed. >> >> >> >> >> >> >>At 06:27 PM 19/09/2009, you wrote: >>>Forwarded message: >>>EARTH MEANDERS >>>Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption >>> >>>A call for reluctant Earth revolutionaries to >>>unite and slay the economic growth machine consuming ecological being. >>> >>>September 20, 2009 >>>By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet >>>Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk, >>>http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ >>>http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/ >>> >>>A disease is ravaging Earth as ever more >>>people, consume ever more, destroying natural >>>ecosystems that are our shared habitat. In a >>>few short centuries the violent, expansionist >>>and deeply ecologically unsustainable Western >>>mindset has become virtually universally >>>accepted. The meaning of life is more, ever >>>more of everything, at the expense of a finite >>>biosphere. The emptiness of such a vacuous >>>worldview is revealed through changing >>>climate, devastating human inequities and an >>>irredeemably corrupt economic system. >>> >>>More than just a climate crisis, humanity is >>>facing profound over-population and injustice >>>that are spurring dozens of inter-related >>>ecological and social crises. Billions suffer >>>as their basic human needs go unmet, while >>>billions more gorge themselves. Forests, >>>prairies, streams, rivers, estuaries, >>>wetlands, lakes, soil, oceans, air and all the >>>rest are all life's flesh and blood. Humanity, >>>Earth and kindred species have entered the >>>late stage condition of ecological overshoot >>>-- whereby our cumulative demands upon >>>ecosystems exceeds their life-giving capacity and causes them to collapse. >>> >>>We are eating creation. Hardly anyone is >>>thinking or acting at the necessary scale to >>>avert global ecological Armageddon. Market >>>based solutions are pervasive with corruption >>>and inequity. Nothing we do is going to >>>maintain an affluent life, as it is now for >>>some. Widespread economic decline will >>>certainly accompany abrupt climate change and >>>global ecosystem collapse; indeed, it has >>>begun. If existing political systems are >>>unable to deal with the inevitable collapse of >>>the growth machine, at the same time as >>>pursuing rigorous environmental policy-making, >>>then new political structures will be necessary. >>> >>>A stewardship revolution that maintains life >>>of some worthy, habitable sort is possible. >>>Surely in a free country whose liberty came >>>from such means, we can talk about >>>revolutionary violence, as Thomas Jefferson >>>said would continue to be necessary. "The >>>blood of tyrants and patriots must flow to >>>renew the soil." What could be more glorious >>>than fighting, and perhaps dying, for the >>>Earth, and maybe even succeeding in saving her (and us)? >>> >>>It is time for a credible revolutionary threat >>>to protect the biosphere. What is needed is >>>a steady ratcheting up of pressure ? >>>protests, sit-ins, sabotage, assassinations -- >>>giving opponents every opportunity to respond >>>to reasoned arguments ? and culminating in >>>guerrilla warfare and whatever else is >>>necessary to save the Earth. If a few thousand >>>insurrectionists can tie up the American >>>military in Iraq, think what dedicated, highly >>>decentralized and autonomous groups of tens of >>>thousands of Earth insurgents could do to >>>bring down industrial capitalism and the Earth eating growth machine. >>> >>>People power protest culminating in an Earth >>>Revolution needs to be done urgently yet >>>thoughtfully. Not speaking of mob rule or >>>rioting -- that is what is coming from the >>>status quo. We are speaking of highly >>>disciplined, targeted protests including the >>>possible use of violence to bring down the >>>equipment and individuals responsible for >>>destroying global ecosystems, and herald in a >>>new ecologically sustainable, just and >>>equitable way of living with the land, water >>>and sky. Living must become a matter of what >>>you can give to ecosystems, and others with >>>whom you share being, rather than only being concerned with what you can take. >>> >>>Economic growth cannot continue forever if >>>greenhouse gases are to be curbed, and the >>>myriad of other eco-crises solved. Efforts to >>>cap and trade, certify, sustainably manage and >>>otherwise reform our way out of the situation >>>are orders of magnitude inadequate and >>>failing. Free markets appear to inherently be >>>unable to price carbon and other >>>externalities. It is becoming increasingly >>>unlikely (if not impossible) that current >>>political and business growth systems can >>>reform in time to maintain the ecosystems necessary for life. >>> >>>The looming death of Gaia and most or all >>>being is no one's fault, or rather, it is all >>>our faults. As many species have done >>>previously, we have collectively overgrazed >>>our habitat. We simply must immediately allow >>>traditional ecological disturbance, >>>regeneration and succession patterns to again >>>operate. The industrial growth machine must be >>>powered off and we must herald in an era of >>>ecological stewardship and restoration. Even >>>while we organize and pursue revolutionary >>>action; each of us must plant, tend and >>>restore our Earth's natural ecosystems and >>>permaculture gardens, and help others to do so. >>> >>>Only dramatic and immediate revolutionary >>>action to destroy the growth machine offers >>>any hope of maintaining a livable Earth. We >>>must commit to stopping burning and cutting -- >>>antiquated means to make a living -- indeed >>>killing those that refuse to stop. Rich people >>>are setting themselves up to be fine in >>>geo-engineered comfort while sacrificing the >>>poor who no longer have free ecosystem >>>services to sustain them. There can be no >>>engineering of a biosphere; indeed, thinking >>>we can has brought us to this moment. We must return to nature. >>> >>>We must hold onto our humanity as we collapse >>>and renew ourselves. Earth Revolution is as >>>much about helping those that want to >>>reconnect to Earth as it is sabotaging >>>equipment and killing people directly >>>responsible for ecocide. This means sharing >>>food and water, shelter and clothing. But >>>bring those responsible for ecocide to >>>justice, utterly destroying them, their >>>institutions and their equipment. The must be >>>no indiscriminate terror, but if our warnings >>>go unheeded, targeted violence against known >>>ecological criminals is justified and warranted. >>> >>>Given the momentum of nearly seven billion >>>seeking to be super-consumers , do not see any >>>other way to stop the forces of destruction >>>other than a revolution. There is absolutely >>>no way current energy and other resource use-- >>>much less expected growth in population and >>>per capital consumption -- can be produced >>>either from agrofuels or more drilling. Humans >>>have hit the biogeochemical limits of a finite >>>planet, and each of us must seek what is enough, rather than always more. >>> >>>It is well past time to be men and women of >>>fortitude, set aside our computers and >>>amusements, and commit our minds and bodies to >>>stopping the destruction of being. We must >>>demand more courage and less corruption from >>>ourselves and our leaders. The Arctic has >>>already been changed forever. Soon your >>>neighborhood, ecosystem and bioregion will be >>>too (if you really look, almost certainly it >>>is already). Please, as I do, take the end of >>>human being through needless habitat destruction personally. >>> >>>Part of the solution is allowing people to get >>>back to Earth on their own plot of land. How >>>we live in the future will be by necessity >>>less urban. We will be called upon to make do with what is in our bioregion. >>>Let me make some further suggestions to you. >>>Acquire land and seeds. Make or restore an >>>Earth friendly shelter and plant trees and >>>permaculture forest gardens. Prepare to live >>>in your changing bioregion. Go back to the >>>land. Ecologically farm and restore as you >>>connect with like minded Earth revolutionaries >>>to clandestinely carry out escalating protest, sabotage and guerrilla war. >>> >>>I urge you to really think about what is >>>necessary -- both personally and in terms of >>>social change -- to sustain being, and >>>committing to it. Token managerial reforms of >>>the antiquated ecologically damaging >>>activities of burning and cutting are not >>>enough. Technology is not going to save us. >>>Market campaigns using glamorous celebrities >>>are not enough. Petitioning our leaders is not >>>going to save us. Personal efforts will only >>>get you and Gaia so far. Only escalating >>>protest action targeting the destroyers, their >>>equipment and their Earth eating worldview can >>>still avert biosphere disintegration. >>> >>>Set aside your best efforts at ecological >>>denial, acknowledge the task before us, and >>>join with others in becoming a reluctant >>>revolutionary. An Earth insurgency could >>>topple the growth machine in a day, though it >>>may take years. The sooner the better, as more >>>ecological remnants will exist to serve as the >>>basis of ecological restoration. Even as we >>>pursue revolutionary strategies and tactics to >>>maintain a habitable Earth, commit to >>>remaining free and humane. The answer is >>>neither tyranny of the left nor right. Above >>>all else we must achieve global ecological >>>sustainability through just and equitable means. >>> >>>Protest and restore natural ecosystems >>>including old forests right now. Work with >>>others to destroy coal, tar sands, fishing >>>trawlers, oil palm, industrial agriculture, >>>pipelines and ancient forest loggers. Start >>>today. Now continued human existence depends >>>upon your courage, ecological wisdom and >>>taking direct lethal action in defense of our >>>shared ecological heritage. Each of us and >>>together will transition to a state of >>>ecological grace, quickly, and through action >>>against the Earth destroyers, or we will all >>>die a horrific and barbaric death together as being ends. >>> >>>If we choose to fight for Earth there is hope, >>>otherwise there is none. Share the anguish of >>>not knowing if revolutionary violence is the >>>answer or not. But it has to be considered >>>comprehensively, thoroughly and quickly. Prove >>>me wrong and demonstrate how to ecologically >>>sufficiently address converging eco-crises in >>>a couple years time within current economic >>>and political systems. Yet revolution is >>>almost certainly the only possible way to >>>sustain and restore healthy ecosystems as the >>>basis of human civilization and all life. Be >>>strong, slay the growth machine, for Gaia. >>> >>>### >>> >>>Discuss essay: >>>http://www.ecoearth.info/blog/2009/09/earth_meanders_ecological_over.asp >>> >>> >>>This is an excerpt from Dr. Glen Barry's >>>forthcoming new book entitled "New Earth >>>Rising". Sadly, this will not be finished by >>>Copenhagen, though we intend to publish the >>>introduction soon as we begin serializing it >>>at >>>http://www.newearthrising.org/. >>>We eagerly seek a publisher and financial >>>backers to finish the book which is nearing completion. >>> >>> >>>My home page: >>>MailScanner >>>has detected a possible fraud attempt from >>>"home.ica.net" claiming to >>>be >>>"http://home.ica.net/~fresch/index.htm" >>>======================================== >>>Fred Schneider, 905-279-7199, Fax: same, call first! >>>#37-425 Meadows Blvd. >>>Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1N3 >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Mai-not mailing list >>>Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >>>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >>> >>> >>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>>Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: >>>270.13.108/2383 - Release Date: 09/19/09 17:50:00 >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> >> >> >> >>No virus found in this incoming message. >>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: >>270.13.108/2383 - Release Date: 09/19/09 17:50:00 >> >> > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: >270.13.108/2383 - Release Date: 09/19/09 17:50:00 From creuss at bluewin.ch Sun Sep 20 05:59:30 2009 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:59:30 +0200 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption. Message-ID: Fred Schneider forwarded: > What is needed is > a steady ratcheting up of pressure - protests, > sit-ins, sabotage, assassinations -- giving > opponents every opportunity to respond to > reasoned arguments - and culminating in guerrilla > warfare and whatever else is necessary to save > the Earth. Calls for assassinations and civil war -- this is the kind of hairshirt BS that is "needed" to discredit reasoned arguments! Sounds more like a 5th column of Rummy which adopted his methods, giving the "Patriot Actors" another pretext to crack down on ecological citizens. > This is an excerpt from Dr. Glen Barry's > forthcoming new book entitled "New Earth Rising". > Sadly, this will not be finished by Copenhagen, No wonder the editor doesn't want to be associated with eco-terrorism... Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From McPogo at aol.com Mon Sep 21 07:11:49 2009 From: McPogo at aol.com (McPogo at aol.com) Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:11:49 EDT Subject: [Mai-not] Right Wing Lies Comparing USA and Canada Health Costs and Quality! Message-ID: OpEdNews.com (http://www.opednews.com/) September 18, 2009 _Canadian Health Care, Even With Queues, Bests US_ (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aNkLyH2VecGM) Submitted by Joan Brunwasser Opponents of overhauling US health care argue that Canada shows what happens when government gets involved in medicine,saying the country is plagued by inferior treatment, rationing and months-long queues.The allegations are wrong by almost every measure,according to research by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development & other independent studies published during the past 5 years. LINK: _http://www.opednews.com/populum/link.php?id=97622_ (http://www.opednews.com/populum/link.php?id=97622) Bloomberg.com Canadian Health Care, Even With Queues, Bests U.S. (Update 1) By Pat Wechsler Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Opponents of overhauling U.S. health care argue that Canada shows what happens when government gets involved in medicine, saying the country is plagued by inferior treatment, rationing and months-long queues. The allegations are wrong by almost every measure, according to research by the _Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development_ (http://www.oecd.org/home/) and other independent studies published during the past five years. While delays do occur for non-emergency procedures, data indicate that Canada?s system of universal health coverage provides care as good as in the U.S., at a cost 47 percent less for each person. ?There is an image of Canadians flooding across the border to get care,? said _Donald Berwick_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Donald+Berwick&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UT F-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , a Harvard University health- policy specialist and pediatrician who heads the Boston-based nonprofit _Institute for Healthcare Improvement_ (http://www.ihi.org/) . ?That?s just not the case. The public in Canada is far more satisfied with the system than they are in the U.S. and health care is at least as good, with much more contained costs.? Canadians live two to three years longer than Americans and are as likely to survive heart attacks, childhood leukemia, and breast and cervical cancer, according to the OECD, the Paris- based coalition of 30 industrialized nations. Deaths considered preventable through health care are less frequent in Canada than in the U.S., according to a January 2008 report in the journal Health Affairs. In the study by British researchers, Canada placed sixth among 19 countries surveyed, with 77 deaths for every 100,000 people. That compared with the last-place finish of the U.S., with 110 deaths. Infant Mortality The Canadian mortality rate from asthma is one quarter of the U.S.?s, and the infant mortality rate is 34 percent lower, OECD data show. People in Canada are also 21 percent more apt to survive five years after a liver transplant. Yet the Canadian ?bogeyman,? as U.S. President _Barack Obama_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF -8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) called it at an Aug. 11 gathering in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, may have ?all but defeated? the idea of a public option in the U.S., said _Uwe Reinhardt_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Uwe+Reinhardt&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet =wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=dat e:D:S:d1) , a health-care economist at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Senate Finance Committee Chairman _Max Baucus_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Max+Baucus&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml _no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , Democrat from Montana, introduced on Sept. 16 compromise health-care legislation that, unlike other House and Senate bills, omits a government-backed choice for the uninsured living in the U.S. who can?t afford private coverage. Insurance Mandate Private insurers, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession fear the ?market power? of a public plan, Reinhardt said. They ?deployed certain think tanks to find horror stories around the world that can be used to persuade Americans a public health plan in the U.S. would bring rationing. ? Given that Congress is likely to pass a mandate to cover the uninsured, Americans forced to buy policies will be left with no alternative to coping with ?double-digit rate increases? on commercial premiums, Reinhardt said. ?Both systems ration medical care,? he said. ?In Canada, they make people wait. In the U.S., we make people pay.? Fifty-four percent of chronically ill Americans reported skipping a test or treatment, neglecting to go to a doctor when sick, or failing to fill a prescription because of the cost, according to a 2008 _survey_ (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Surveys/2008/2008-Commonwealth-Fund-International- Health-Policy-Survey-of-Sicker-Adults.aspx) by the _Commonwealth Fund_ (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/) , a foundation that focuses on health care, and pollster Harris Interactive. That was more than twice the number in Canada, data from those New York-based groups showed. Payment Worries As the price of health care in the U.S. has risen three to four times faster than the rate of inflation, surveys show that Americans have become concerned they won?t be able to pay medical bills. Forty-three percent of consumers in a June _poll_ (http://www.rwjf.org/healthreform/product.jsp?id=46009) by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor said they worried they might not be able to afford care, even with insurance. ?Canadians value fairness, and they cannot conceive of a system in which someone can?t get health care,? said Wendy Levinson, a Canadian who runs the department of medicine at the University of Toronto and worked in the U.S. from 1979 to 2001. The U.S. spent $7,290 on health care for each person in 2007, 87 percent more than Canada?s $3,895, according to the latest OECD data. The U.S. also devoted the highest percentage of gross domestic product to health care, 16 percent, OECD numbers show. Canada?s expenditure was 10.1 percent. Canada?s _system_ (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/index-eng.php) consists of 10 provincial and three territorial nonprofit insurance plans that cover all citizens, including those with pre-existing conditions. It operates like Medicare, the U.S. program for the elderly and disabled. In Canada, the government uses taxpayer funds to pay claims by doctors, who mostly work in private practice or for a hospital and are paid fees for their services. Effect of Technology Care is free where it?s provided, as in a doctor?s office, except for dentistry, nursing home stays, prescription drugs outside hospitals, and rehabilitation services. The elderly and low-income residents get help with pharmaceutical purchases. Technology partly explains the cost discrepancy between the two nations. There are 67 percent more coronary-bypass procedures in the U.S. than in Canada and 18 percent more Caesarean sections, OECD data show. In 2006, the U.S. had more than four times the number of magnetic resonance imaging units - - 26.5 for every million residents compared with 6.2 for every million in Canada -- making Americans three times more likely than Canadians to get a scan, according to the OECD. In the U.S., technology is ?overused? because doctors have to justify equipment purchases with revenue, according to _Gerard Anderson_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Gerard+Anderson&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystyleshe et=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=d ate:D:S:d1) , a professor of public health and medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Canada in the 1960s was about as expensive as the U.S., he said. No. 1 in Cost ?The real difference has been their ability to control technology costs,? said Anderson, who directed reviews of health systems for the World Bank and developed U.S. Medicare payment guidelines for the Health and Human Services Department. ?The only thing the U.S. is consistently No. 1 in when it comes to international comparisons with Canada and other OECD countries is cost.? Less technology and, according to a 2007 report from the World Health Organization, 20 percent fewer doctors in Canada than in the U.S. have led to longer lines north of the border. In 2008, 20 percent of chronically ill Canadians _surveyed_ (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Surveys/2008/2008-Commonwealth-Fund-International-H ealth-Policy-Survey-of-Sicker-Adults.aspx) by the Commonwealth Fund reported waiting three months or more to see a specialist. Five percent of Americans polled said they had to wait that long. Television Commercial Washington-based lobbying groups including _Americans for Prosperity_ (http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about) and FreedomWorks have seized upon the delays, arguing that Obama?s proposal for a public option would eventually put private insurers out of business and force everyone to live with government-paid coverage and substandard care. FreedomWorks is led by _Dick Armey_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Dick+Armey&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfie lds=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) , a former Republican congressman from Texas. An educational foundation affiliated with Americans for Prosperity paid $3.3 million to run a 60-second television commercial on U.S. stations in which Shona Holmes, a 45-year-old native of Waterdown, Ontario, accused the Canadian health-care system of almost causing her to die by delaying critical treatment, according to Amy Menefee, a spokeswoman for the foundation. The ad ran for three weeks and was repeated on Sept. 9 after the president?s speech. The TV spot first aired in May. Holmes, a mother of two and a self-employed family mediator, said in the ad that she went to the U.S. for care. She traveled 2,237 miles (3,599 kilometers) to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and spent $97,000 for treatment of a benign brain tumor rather than wait for insurance-paid care in Canada, she said in a telephone interview. Bridge to Canada ?I felt strongly I could speak out because I?ve seen both systems,? Holmes said. ?I have seen how government involvement plays very negatively.? Obama administration officials are trying to use the public option as ?a bridge? to a system like Canada?s since ?they realize it isn?t politically acceptable to go directly to that,? said Phil Kerpen, the director of policy for Americans for Prosperity. In Ontario, where Holmes lives, the average waiting time for surgery to remove a tumor was 99 days in the second quarter, according to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan?s _Web site_ (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/transformation/wait_times/index.html) . If a patient was willing to go closer to Ottawa, the wait was 36 days at Pembroke Regional Hospital Inc. in Pembroke, 460 miles from Waterdown and 93 miles northwest of the Canadian capital. Closer to Waterdown, a patient could go to St. Joseph?s Healthcare Hamilton, less than 10 miles away, with a 56-day wait. Ontario Appeal Holmes began speaking out publicly, she said, after she couldn?t get Ontario in July 2005 to speed removal of her _craniopharyngioma_ (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000345.htm) , a type of slow-growing cystic tumor that can put pressure on the brain or optic nerve. She is now pushing for the province?s insurance plan to reimburse her for the money she spent on surgery, tests and follow-up, she said in the interview. Andrew Morrison, a spokesman for the Ontario plan, said Canadians need approval before getting care outside the country if they want to be reimbursed. He declined to comment on the Holmes case. Lori Coleman, registrar for the Toronto-based Health Services Appeal and Review Board, which handles complaints about the Ontario plan?s eligibility and payment decisions, also declined to comment. Even with the waits, a majority of Canadians balk at the idea of turning government insurance over to private hands. In a July Harris/Decima _poll_ (http://www.harrisdecima.ca/index.php?q=releases/2009/07/10/202-most-say-health -care-syste) , 55 percent of respondents said improvement should be made through the public plan, while 12 percent favored a private solution. Doctor Visits In both the U.S. and Canada, 26 percent of people interviewed told the Commonwealth Fund survey of chronically ill adults they got a same-day appointment with a doctor when they were sick -- the lowest number in any of the eight countries polled by the foundation. Thirty-four percent of the Canadians said they had to wait six days or more, compared with 23 percent of the Americans. Canadians visited their doctors more frequently: 5.9 visits per person compared with four for those in the U.S., according to 2005 OECD data. The U.S. leads industrial countries in the portion of the health-care dollar devoted to processing claims and paying providers, the Commonwealth Fund said. Private-insurance administrative costs in the U.S. are 12.7 cents of a dollar, and as high as 18 cents for some companies, said _Karen Davis_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Karen+Davis&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystyles heet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort =date:D:S:d1) , president of the Commonwealth Fund. Government plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, spend 5.8 cents excluding costs of private drug plans, she said. In Canada 4.2 cents is spent on administration. ?If we lowered our administrative costs to that of the lowest three countries with mixed public-private health-care systems, we could save $50 billion a year,? Davis said. ?This would go a long way toward financing coverage for the uninsured.? To contact the reporter on this story: _Pat Wechsler_ (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Pat+Wechsler&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&o utput=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1 ) in New York at _pwechsler at bloomberg.net_ (mailto:pwechsler at bloomberg.net) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 32087 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 35790 bytes Desc: not available URL: From thinker at xplornet.com Mon Sep 21 07:18:47 2009 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:18:47 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Fiat lux 240 Message-ID: <20090921141424.225DC2431B6B@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> To: record at cablerocket.com Subject: Fiat lux # 240 Fiat lux # 240, Sept. 18, 2009 One of the most ridiculous statements we often hear from so called "successful" people is that there's no luck, implying that their success and wealth have been solely the result of their intelligence and hard work. Absolute nonsense. Luck is not only a part of our everyday lives, but often a very important key to our survival, even if only very few do appreciate and recognize its effects and the doors it opens for a better future. I couldn't count the occasions when luck has saved my life. Perhaps the closest was, when a Russian sniper shot me in the stomach as I was throwing myself on the ground. A thousand of a second either way would have killed me, but luck directed his shot to ricochet off my own cartridge belt. I still have the bent cartridges. I've also been sentenced to death by my dear countrymen and saved from hanging by the end of the war. Then, a few years later, once again, my dear countrymen, by that time in the service of another criminal ideology, wanted to send me to the Soviet gulags, but they couldn't catch me, so they arrested and tortured my mother instead. It was a terrible blow at the time, yet the best stroke of luck that ever came my way was the loss of my home, family and everything at the age of 18. That disaster gave me a new life, away from my early years as a brainwashed, super patriot, warmonger punk. Many of the people who have grown up under some sort of brainwash from early childhood can hardly wait to fall into another trap, but even at that early age I had enough sense to realize that it was the chance for me to escape and to become a free thinker, no longer tied to any faith based hysteria that rules most of the human race. A very important fact I discovered during my childhood brainwash years was, that many, if not most people love being mental and emotional slaves, as it frees them from having to think and make decisions. Democracies are not knocked down by barbarians but by their own peoples who want to live under the thumb of rulers and have no more worries. The presently mounting campaign by the Big Pharma to eliminate all forms of alternative health protection, and healing methods, is part of this racket. So, let's go back a few years to our own experience and why we're determined to save our freedom of choice to alternative health care, that has kept us healthy and hard working now into our 80s. During my fruit tree spraying years in England we've been covered from head to toe with goodies like DDT, arsenic, lead, tar oils, etc. assured by the Cambridge professors that it was all safe and OK. Well, it wasn't and I was lucky be able to get away from it, before the criminal system killed me, as it later killed my friends I was working with. When we came to Canada in 1955 and every time we changed doctors I always warned them of the multitude of poisons on my body, but was always ignored. Then, a young woman came to us 7 years ago, asking if I could build a very special dolls' house for her little girl. I was planning to build a flat deck for my truck, but for some mysterious reason I took the job against my own better judgment. The flat deck took longer than I expected and I had to ask her if I could make it as a Christmas present for the little girl, but by that time I was coming down with paralysis in my right shoulder, arm and legs, so I called her again, telling of my problems. All the symptoms pointed to heavy metal poisoning and the last thing I wanted was to go to a medical doctor and get stuffed full of painkillers that wouldn't have solved anything. The lady was studying homeopathy at the time and asked me if I would consider going to their weekend seminar? I agreed, without any real idea of what homeopathy was about and then sat there for almost three hours, describing virtually every day of my 75 years, while the class took copious notes. . The teacher of the group, whom we'll call "C", called me later, suggesting that she would consider taking me on, because my body wasn't stuffed full of medications. I agreed and then came some of the worst and most painful times of my life, as the poisons were driven all over and out of my body by the remedies. I couldn't take any painkillers, because I had to describe the ever changing pains and symptoms in minute details to "C", who called twice a day and tell us which ones to take. The effects were usually almost instantaneous. My right shoulder, right thumb and left ankle may have been swollen and paralyzed, then as the remedies started working the swellings and paralysis would disappear and go to my right knee and left elbow, showing that there wasn't anything wrong with my body and the problems were caused by the poisons being driven around. Sometimes a certain remedy wouldn't work and make things worse. Then "C" would say that I should take an LM, which meant the same tiny remedies dissolved in a half glass of water, then a teaspoon of that transferred to another half glass and to drink that almost no existing solution. The effects were remarkable, sometimes within minutes. And this is what blows the minds of much of the medical profession and "scientists" who claim that the refinements and solutions of the original, natural contents of the remedies are impossibilities. Well, kiddies, you can jump around , but we've been on homeopathics ever since experiencing its healing effects on our bodies and have no second thoughts of its benefits. By the way, people are often denied entry to Canada on account of minor fines many years before, yet, one of the Big Pharma, Pfizers, have just been fined $2.4 billion for something, without any criminal records, while they and their products are still welcomed in this country. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 21 23:49:21 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:49:21 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Sirs prepare way for internment Message-ID: <20090922064945.7C6C812AAA@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Tue Sep 22 12:01:36 2009 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:01:36 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] OBAMA PICKS SIDES TO PREVENT DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES Message-ID: http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/a/w/1151/09-22-2009/20090922002008_32.html Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - A nod here. A nudge there. And the weight of the White House backing them up. President Barack Obama hasn't been shy about choosing sides to prevent Democratic Party primaries, which is something like a parent picking the favorite child in a sibling squabble - only with arguably higher stakes. With midterm elections looming next fall, the president is putting his popularity and fundraising prowess behind Senate incumbents in Pennsylvania, Colorado and New York. In a more surprising twist, the White House also made it known that it's concerned about New York Gov. David Paterson's bid for a full term. Or, more specifically, that it's worried that an unpopular governor could not just lose but also drag down the ticket, putting Senate and House seats in jeopardy. The implied - if not direct - message: Don't run. Not that Obama had anything negative to say Monday - at least in public - when he traveled to Albany, N.Y. The president called Paterson "a wonderful man" during an unrelated appearance at Hudson Valley Community College after the governor greeted Obama when Air Force One landed. A full year before the 2010 elections, the president clearly has embraced his other job, party standard-bearer. To varying degrees, every White House puts its hands in political races. But presidents before Obama didn't face a 24/7 news culture that seemingly has the spotlight shining much brighter on the White House - and presidential maneuvering in electoral politics. "It was always there but it was more under the table so it was not always as obvious the White House was getting involved," said the Brookings Institution's Stephen Hess, who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations and was an adviser to Presidents Ford and Carter. "It's a dangerous game that a president plays," Hess added. Chief among the risks: Obama's influence could be questioned if his chosen candidates lose. Outwardly, Obama seems cool to party housekeeping chores, among them raising money, recruiting candidates and clearing the political field for them if needed. He is careful not to appear overtly partisan unless it's in his best interest politically. He prefers to publicly portray himself as almost nonpartisan as he talks of the need to end partisan gridlock in Washington in favor of bipartisan solution-making. Yet, he's still a shrewd politician who loves to win, and he proved that repeatedly during the presidential campaign. Now Obama wants to ensure that he protects his comfortable Democratic majorities in Congress as best he can. Historically, the party in power loses seats in Congress during a president's second year, and Obama wants to minimize losses. Republicans are targeting more than two dozen House seats held by Democrats in districts Republican John McCain won last year in the presidential race. Democrats are in better shape in the Senate, where a wave of GOP retirements has lessened the prospects of Democratic defeats. Still, party primaries are undesirable. They are costly in both dollars and manpower, and can leave the eventual nominee severely damaged heading into a general election. Thus, Obama has used his sway to prevent primaries where he can. The results are mixed. He was quick to announce his support for Arlen Specter when the Pennsylvania senator abandoned the GOP in April to become a Democrat. The White House hoped the president's backing would dissuade other Democrats from entering the race. But Rep. Joe Sestak mounted a challenge anyway. Obama ramped up his involvement in the race last week with a fundraiser for Specter. Also last week, the president endorsed Michael Bennet for a Colorado Senate seat, one day after challenger Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker, entered the race. Bennet is seeking his first full term, having been appointed to the seat after Obama chose then-Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Interior Department. Obama also worked to clear the field for Kirsten Gillibrand in New York, another senator seeking a full term after being appointed to what was Hillary Rodham Clinton's seat before Clinton was named Secretary of State. Reps. Steve Israel and Carolyn Maloney decided not to run after calls from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, respectively, made it clear the White House was entirely behind Gillibrand. The White House sent the opposite message to Paterson about the New York governor's race, Democrats say, largely because of the potentially disastrous trickle-down effect if he were to lead the ticket. Gillibrand will be running statewide for the first time, and five, maybe six of New York's House incumbents are considered vulnerable. Paterson ascended after Eliot Spitzer's downfall but the new governor's tenure has been rocky and his job-approval rating low. Compounding the woes, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is seriously considering running for the Republican nomination, which could endanger the Democrats' hold on the governor's office and numbers in the state legislature. Lawmakers elected next fall will lead the every-decade redrawing of congressional districts inq From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 22 15:23:06 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:23:06 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Indos haven't changed - Al Jazeera gagged Message-ID: <20090922222307.B877613FCF@fep02.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> They remain the enemy of democracy, freedom and justice. Interesting review by Jason MacLeod of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Queensland, at http://www.truthout.org/092209C?n. There's a space where you can have your say on the issues. Dion Giles From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Tue Sep 22 18:53:53 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:53:53 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] =?windows-1252?q?Fw=3A_=5BS=5D_The_Road_to_Zelaya=92s_R?= =?windows-1252?q?eturn?= Message-ID: <006e01ca3bf0$b4855ff0$43ad57ca@jfos> Excerpt: ?This is not about President Zelaya. This is about my country. Many people gave their lives so that we could have a democracy. And we cannot let a group of elites take that away.? The Road to Zelaya?s Return: Money, Guns and Social Movements in Honduras http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2117/1/ Written by Benjamin Dangl Monday, 21 September 2009 Nearly three months after being overthrown by a violent military coup, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has returned to Honduras. "I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue," he told reporters. The embattled road to his return tested regional diplomacy, challenged Washington and galvanized Honduran social movements. During a recent beach-side interview, with tropical breezes blowing along a sandy shore in the background, Honduran coup leader Roberto Michelleti told a Fox News reporter, ?This is a quiet country, and a happy country.?(1) However, since Michelleti took over on June 28, Honduras been anything but quiet and content. Michelleti?s de-facto regime has ruled the country with an iron fist while popular movements for democracy have gained steam with nearly constant strikes, road blockades and massive street protests. The coup inspired a movement that is now seeking more than just the reinstatement of Zelaya, but the transformation of the country through a new constitution. Michelleti says presidential elections in November will proceed as planned, though few Hondurans, governments and international institutions say they will recognize the results given the violent situation in the country. At least 11 anti-coup activists have been killed since Zelaya was ousted.(2) Following the coup, approximately 1,500 people have been jailed for political purposes, and many Zelaya supporters have been beaten.(3) Via Campesina offices have been attacked, and the Feminists of Honduras in Resistance said that there have been 19 documented cases of rape by police officers since the coup took place.(4) The newspaper El Tiempo reported that armed groups in Colombia have been recruiting demobilized paramilitaries for mercenary work in Honduras. Honduras business leaders are hiring these paramilitaries for their own private security.(5) Though Zelaya was a relatively moderate president, his policies challenged the elite enough to inspire a right wing coup. While in office, he passed a 60% increase in minimum wage, bringing income up from around $6 a day to $9.60 a day.(6) Zelaya also gave subsidies to small farmers, cut bank interest rates and reduced poverty.(7) Salvador Zuniga, a leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) said, "One of the things that provoked the coup d'etat was that the president accepted a petition from the feminist movement regarding the day-after pill. Opus Dei mobilized, the fundamentalist evangelical churches mobilized, along with all the reactionary groups."(8) ?Maybe he made mistakes,? Honduran school teacher Hedme Castro said of Zelaya, ?but he always erred on the side of the poor. That is why they will fight to the end for him.? She continued, ?This is not about President Zelaya. This is about my country. Many people gave their lives so that we could have a democracy. And we cannot let a group of elites take that away.?(9) Ignoring the relevance of the Organization of American States, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Zelaya and Michelleti to meet with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to work out a solution to the crisis. Many believe Clinton made the move to impose conditions on Zelaya?s return and kill time as the November elections neared. Zelaya has accepted Arias? proposed solution, which entails his return to the presidency with limited powers, plus amnesty for those who have committed political crimes in the country. Micheletti rejected the Arias? solution.(10) While repression of anti-coup activists increases, so does the movement for democracy in Honduras. This broad coalition of activists has the support of many of the governments in the hemisphere, and has the backing of the country?s 1982 constitution, which explains, "No one owes obedience to a government which usurps power nor those who assume public functions or employment through the use of arms.... The people [of this country] have the right to recur to insurrection in defense of constitutional order."(11) This insurrection is taking place right now. Voices of the Resistance in Honduras Protests, strikes and road blockades have been going on in the country almost daily since Zelaya was ousted. Many of the interviews with activists participating in these protests offer insight into the relationship between Zelaya and the movement, and what might lie ahead for the country. "This struggle is peaceful, organized, and is not getting desperate. The coup leaders are getting desperate?they haven't been able to govern a single day in tranquility and we will defeat them," said Israel Salinas, a leader of the National Front Against the Coup in Honduras and member of the Unified Confederation of Honduran Workers.(12) Honduran women?s right activist Marielena spoke of the current reality under the Michelleti regime, "Today's not the same as the 80s because there's a popular movement that the coup leaders never imagined ? What Zelaya has done is symbolize the popular discontent accumulated over the years."(13) Bertha C?ceres, a leader of COPINH, the Front Against the Coup, and a mother of four children, spoke of the importance of the constituent assembly to rewrite the country?s constitution. It was partly this push for constitutional reform, which Zelaya backed along with broad support from the Honduran people, that led to the coup. When speaking of the assembly, C?ceres says, "For the first time we would be able to establish a precedent for the emancipation of women, to begin to break these forms of domination. The current constitution never mentions women, not once, so to establish our human rights, our reproductive, sexual, political, social, and economic rights as women would be to really confront this system of domination."(14) C?ceres discussed the work of the women?s movement for the new constitution ?to dismantle this belief that others have the right to make decisions about our bodies, to start guaranteeing that women are the owners and have autonomous rights to their bodies. It is a political act; a political proposal. ? The ability to have and guarantee access to land, territories, cultures, health, education, art, dignified and decent employment for women, and many other things, are elements that we must guarantee in this process of a new constitutional assembly that leads to a real process of liberation.?(15) Gilberto Rios, from the Front Against the Coup spoke of how the coup has galvanized a broad movement in the country. ?In the past, when we called for people to protest in the streets, they came out, but not in the same numbers as what is happening now. In recent days, we have had protests that start in the morning and stay in the streets all day. At night, there are convoys of cars in major cities. It shows that the workers are participating, and the middle class is also coming out.? He also affirmed that the movement is entirely grassroots. ?The leftist political parties recognize they do not control any part of the popular movement.?(16) Leticia Salom?n, the Director of Scientific Research for the National Autonomous University of Honduras said, ?It doesn't matter who wins the elections in November, the next government will have to deal with this important social force if it hopes to even minimally govern the country.?(17) World Isolates Coup Regime At the North American Leaders? Summit in Mexico in August, President Barack Obama said "critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we're always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America. You can't have it both ways."(18) But as New York University history professor and author Greg Grandin points out, all many are asking is for the US to act multilaterally with the OAS ? it did the opposite by defying the OAS and appointing Arias as the mediator between Michelleti and Zelaya. In addition, through its financial support to the regime, the US has been far from taking a neutral stance.(19) Indeed, Washington has been acting unilaterally since the beginning by not refusing to follow the lead of other nations in putting more pressure on the coup government.(20) However, US State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said on September 3rd that ?At this moment, we would not be able to support the outcome of the [November] elections [in Honduras].?(21) Zelaya was happy to hear this news from Washington. He said the move "puts the United States in line with Latin America, because it was not said before."(22) In addition to the US, the EU, the OAS, union leaders in Honduras and members of the Front Against the Coup say they will not recognize the election results.(23) Honduras business owners have devised their own plan to increase voting; they?ll be giving discounts to everyone who casts a ballot and then comes into their business with ink on their fingers, showing that they?ve voted.(24) The US State Department did end up revoking the US visas of over a dozen officials in the coup government, including Michelleti.(25) But the US could go further by blocking members of the regime from using US banks.(26) Various levels of funding to Honduras from the US and other governments and institutions have been cut since the coup took place. ?On Sept. 3, the State Department announced the termination of $33 million dollars, including $11 million in Millennium Challenge Funds and approximately $22 million in State Department funds,? according to Latin American analyst Laura Carlsen. The IMF said that due to the coup, Honduras won?t have access to $150 million in assistance.(27) A spokesperson from the IMF said the institution cut off all aid to the country three days after the coup.(28) On July 2, the US cut the following spending: $1.9 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $16.5 million in military funding.(29) The Inter-American Development Bank, and the Central American Bank of Economic Integration all cut lending to the Honduran government.(30) The UN has cut off various forms of aid to Honduras.(31) In addition, the EU froze $92 million in aid and the OAS froze aid and began trade blocks against the coup government.(32) However, ?For legalistic reasons, [the US State Department] continued to fall short of calling the coup a ?military? coup,? explained Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy. ?This means that some anti-poverty aid is being maintained, soldiers whose training was already paid for won't be sent back to Honduras, and State can flexibly restore aid once democracy returns.?(33) ?State Department officials closed the door on determining legally that a military coup took place in Honduras and requiring application of Section 7008 of the Foreign Operations law,? Carlsen explained. ?They assured reporters that all funds that could be suspended under Section 7008 have now been suspended ? The State Department has admitted that $70 million in aid over twice the amount suspended?will still flow to the coup.?(34) The Kansas City-based Cross-Border Network went on a delegation to Honduras after the coup and reported that "We met the U.S Ambassador who agreed it was a military coup even though the State Department won't call it that, thus invoking the law requiring cut off of all remaining aid."(35) Declaring the coup a coup, according to Grandin, ?would automatically trigger certain cutoffs, financial cutoffs, it also would have to be certified by Congress. And that?s a fight that I think Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton don?t want, because the Republicans, led by Connie Mack and other foreign policy conservatives, regime change conservatives, Republicans, have seized on this issue to basically try to link Obama with Hugo Chavez and the Latin American left. And they certainly don?t want to kick it into Congress, where it?ll be debated, because to call it a coup would have to be certified by Congress.?(36) But the Obama administration needs to understand that what?s at stake is more important than winning a political fight in Washington. The future of a nation, and perhaps the entire region, hangs in the balance. "The true significance of the coup, in one of the poorest and weakest countries in the hemisphere ... lies in the test it poses to the inter-American system," says Jorge Heine of the Balsillie School of International Affairs. "If the latter cannot succeed in restoring democracy in Honduras, it cannot do so anywhere. The message would thus be crystal clear: coup-makers can act with impunity."(37) Washington?s Ties to the Coup Washington has played a bloody role in Central America for years and this coup carries on that legacy while setting some new precedents. Fernando "Billy" Joya has returned to the stage in Honduras as Michelleti?s security advisor after serving in Battalion 316 in the 1980s, according to Grandin. Battalion 316 was a paramilitary unit that disappeared hundreds of people.(38) Joya was trained in Chile under the Pinochet dictatorship by Chilean police, and his Battalion 316 was created by the CIA to apply the repressive techniques used against ?subversives? in Argentina and Chile.(39) In 1981, John Negroponte arrived in Honduras as the US ambassador. While there, the military budget in the country rose from $3.6 million in 1981 to $77.8 million in 1985 ?when his mission was completed?having created the Contras in Nicaragua and protected the El Salvadoran dictatorship,? according to Honduras-based reporter Dick Emanuelsson.(40) Negroponte met with Michelleti before the June 28 coup on a trip made primarily to convince Zelaya not to transform a US airbase in Palmerola, Honduras into an airport for civilians.(41) Venezuelan Robert Carmona-Borjas has also joined the coup government in Honduras. He was involved in the attempted coup against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2002. Carmona-Borjas? Arcadio Foundation began a media campaign against Zelaya in 2007.(42) Lanny Davis, a lawyer to Bill Clinton and campaign advisor to Hillary Clinton, has been lobbying in Washington for Honduran coup leaders and elites. Some of the businesses that support the coup in Honduras that Davis is representing in DC are US companies such as Russell, Fruit of the Loom and Hanes ? all of which have benefited from the low wages, neoliberal policies and crackdowns on union rights in the country.(43) Davis recently testified before Congress on behalf of the coup leaders and backers, and has helped to get media on the coup?s side.(44) The week before the coup, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Thomas Shannon and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly met with Honduran figures that ended up participating in the coup.(45) Days before the coup took place, John McCain and leaders from the International Republican Institute, invited future leaders of the coup to meetings in Washington.(46) US businesses also hold a considerable amount of weight in the country: in 2006, 70% of exports from Honduras went to the US, and 52% of imports were from the US. That same year, US investments in the country totaled more than $568 million, two thirds of foreign investment.(47) A Movement Larger Than Zelaya Just as the coup may change the geopolitical landscape of the region, the grassroots fervor in Honduras will likely alter the country forever. And that might be Michelleti?s legacy ? that in ousting a moderate president, he inspired a revolution. When trying to break the political impasse Honduras finds itself in, Zelaya admits that much depends on the anti-coup movement of Honduras. "This movement is now very strong. It can never be destroyed," he said.(48) The coup leaders ?were wrong here, they miscalculated,? Honduran activist Bertha C?ceres of the Front Against the Coup and COPINH explained. ?They said it would be two days of resistance, and they were wrong. This population has demonstrated that we are capable of ? a much longer struggle.?(49) Gilberto Rios, from the Front Against the Coup, spoke of the similarities this coup has to others throughout the last century that still haunt the region: ?The oligarchy made the coup with an old manual, but the people have changed and the world has changed.?(50) Benjamin Dangl is the author of the forthcoming book, Dancing with Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America, (AK Press, 2010). He edits TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com. Photo from Indymedia.org Notes: 1. Interview with Roberto Michelleti, Fox News, (September 17, 2009), http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/26446742/roberto-micheletti-pt-1.htm#q=micheletti . 2. Greg Grandin, ?The Battle for Honduras and the Region,? The Nation, (August 12, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/grandin/print . 3. Daniel Luban, ?US-Honduras: State Dept Condemns ?Coup d'Etat?, Curtails Aid,? IPS News, (September 3, 2009), http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48323. 4. ?Group Says Honduran Cops on Rape Spree Since Coup,? Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=341851&CategoryId=23558 5. Unidad Investigativa, ?Estar?an reclutando ex paramilitares para que viajen como mercenarios a Honduras,? El Tiempo, http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/justicia/estarian-reclutando-ex-paramilitares-para-que-viajen-como-mercenarios-a-honduras_6086547-1 6. Ginger Thompson, ?President?s Ouster Highlights a Divide in Honduras,? The New York Times, (August 8, 2009), http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/world/americas/09honduras.html?pagewanted=print 7. Tom Hayden, ?Zelaya Speaks,? The Nation, (September 4, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/hayden_zelaya 8. Laura Carlsen, ?Coup Catalyzes Honduran Women?s Movement,? America Program, (August 20, 2009) http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6369 9. Ginger Thompson, ?President?s Ouster Highlights a Divide in Honduras,? The New York Times, (August 8, 2009), http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/world/americas/09honduras.html?pagewanted=print 10. Juan Ram?n Dur?n, ?Honduras: Vote to Go Ahead Despite Int'l Refusal to Recognise,? IPS News, (September 9, 2009), http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48385 11. Jennifer Moore, ?Honduras? Historic Two Months,? Am?rica Latina en Movimiento, (August 28,. 2009) http://alainet.org/active/32686? 12. Dick Emanuelsson, ?Military Forces Sow Terror and Fear in Honduras,? Americas Program, (August 13, 2009), http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6354 13. Laura Carlsen, ?Coup Catalyzes Honduran Women?s Movement,? America Program, (August 20, 2009) http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6369 14. Ibid. 15. Laura Carlsen and Sara Lovera, ?Honduran Constitutional Assembly Would Be a Step Toward the Emancipation of Women,? Americas Program, (August 19, 2009), http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6392 16. Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes, ?Honduras ? Resistance leader: US is behind the coup,? Green Left Weekly, (September 7, 2009), http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/809/41602 17. Jennifer Moore, ?National opposition to coup becomes a social force,? Am?rica Latina en Movimiento, (September 12, 2009), http://alainet.org/active/32978&lang=en 18. Cheryl W. Thompson and William Booth, ?Obama Vows to Focus on Borders,? Washington Post, (August 11, 2009), http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081001797.html 19. Greg Grandin, ?The Battle for Honduras and the Region,? The Nation, (August 12, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/grandin/print . 20. Amy Oyler, ?The Resurgence of US Interventionism in Latin America,? Z Communications, (August 31, 2009), http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22466 21. Ian Kelly, ?Termination of Assistance and Other Measures Affecting the De Facto Regime in Honduras,? US Department of State, (September 3, 2009), http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/sept/128608.htm 22. Tom Hayden, ?Zelaya?s Coup,? The Nation, (September 3, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/hayden_web 23. Juan Ram?n Dur?n, ?Honduras: Vote to Go Ahead Despite Int'l Refusal to Recognise,? IPS News, (September 9, 2009), http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48385 24. ?Honduran Resistance Boycotts Elections,? Weekly News Update on the Americas, (September 13, 2009), http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2009/09/wnu-1004-honduran-resistance-boycotts.html 25. ?State Dept. Revokes Visa of Leader of Honduran Coup Government,? Democracy Now!, ,(September 14, 2009), http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/14/headlines#7 26. ?US stops issuing visas in Honduras,? Al Jazeera, (August 26, 2009), http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/200982601353122962.html 27. Jorge Heine, ?It's time for Canada to take a strong stand on Honduras,? The Globe and Mail, (September 18, 2009), http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/its-time-for-canada-to-take-a-strong-stand-on-honduras/article1287401/ 28. ?Honduran Resistance Boycotts Elections,? Weekly News Update on the Americas, (September 13, 2009), http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2009/09/wnu-1004-honduran-resistance-boycotts.html 29. Ibid. 30. Mark Weisbrot, ?IMF: Stop Funding Honduras,? The Guardian Unlimited, (September 3, 2009), http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/03/imf-honduras-aid-zelaya 31. ?EU threatens further sanctions on Honduras,? Reuters, (September 15, 2009), http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLF361596._CH_.2400 32. Amy Oyler, ?The Resurgence of US Interventionism in Latin America,? Z Communications, (August 31, 2009), http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22466 33. Adam Isacson, ?Another Baby Step on Honduras,? Huffington Post, (September 3, 2009), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-isacson/another-baby-step-on-hond_b_276972.html 34. Laura Carlsen, Americas MexicoBlog, ?Honduran Coup Squeezed From Above and Below?But is it Enough to Restore Democracy?,? (September 10, 2009), http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/09/honduran-coup-squeezed-from-above-and.html 35. OneWorld, ?US Chided for Aiding Honduras Despite Coup,? Common Dreams, (September 9, 2009), http://www.commondreams.org/print/46772 36. ?US Cuts More Aid to Honduras as Zelaya Meets Clinton in Washington,? Democracy Now!, (September 4, 2009), http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/4/us_cuts_more_aid_to_honduras 37. Olivia Ward, ?Raising the stakes in Honduras,? The Star, (September 6, 2009), http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/691633 38. Greg Grandin, ?The Battle for Honduras and the Region,? The Nation, (August 12, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/grandin/print . 39. Dick Emanuelsson, ?Honduras: The Frontline in the Battle for Democracy,? Americas Program, (August 10, 2009), http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6337 40. Ibid. 41. Michaela D'Ambrosio, ?The Honduran Coup: Was it a Matter of Behind-the-Scenes Finagling by State Department Stonewallers?,? Council on Hemispheric Affairs, (September 16, 2009), http://www.coha.org/2009/09/the-honduran-coup-was-it-a-matter-of-behind-the-scenes-finagling-by-state-department-stonewallers/ 42. Greg Grandin, ?The Battle for Honduras and the Region,? The Nation, (August 12, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/grandin/print . 43. Amy Oyler, ?The Resurgence of US Interventionism in Latin America,? Z Communications, (August 31, 2009), http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22466 44. Mark Weisbrot, ?Who?s in charge of US foreign policy?? The Guardian Unlimited, (July 16, 2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/16/honduras-coup-obama-clinton/print 45. Michaela D'Ambrosio, ?The Honduran Coup: Was it a Matter of Behind-the-Scenes Finagling by State Department Stonewallers?,? Council on Hemispheric Affairs, (September 16, 2009), http://www.coha.org/2009/09/the-honduran-coup-was-it-a-matter-of-behind-the-scenes-finagling-by-state-department-stonewallers/ 46. Amy Oyler, ?The Resurgence of US Interventionism in Latin America,? Z Communications, (August 31, 2009), http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22466 47. Amy Oyler, ?The Resurgence of US Interventionism in Latin America,? Z Communications, (August 31, 2009), http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22466 48. Tom Hayden, ?Zelaya Speaks,? The Nation, (September 4, 2009), http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/hayden_zelaya 49. Laura Carlsen and Sara Lovera, ?Honduran Constitutional Assembly Would Be a Step Toward the Emancipation of Women,? Americas Program, (August 19, 2009), http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6392 50. Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes, ?Honduras ? Resistance leader: US is behind the coup,? Green Left Weekly, (September 7, 2009), http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/809/41602 Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 Tel 415 863-9977 www.Freedomarchives.org Justice Follows Direct Action: Former Boss of Occupied Factory Jailed http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1678/1/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From McPogo at aol.com Wed Sep 23 09:50:59 2009 From: McPogo at aol.com (McPogo at aol.com) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:50:59 EDT Subject: [Mai-not] Taking it with (Less than) a Grain of Salt Message-ID: When does the new free world of democracy actually start? September 22, 2009 at 10:58:25 (http://www.opednews.com/populum/nojavascript.php) Taking it with (Less than) a Grain of Salt (http://www.opednews.com/populum/twitter.php?id=97846&content=a&p=1) (http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.opednews.com/articles/Taking-it-with-Less-than-by-jill-mclaughlin-090920-636.html&title=Taking%20it%20with %20(Less%20than)%20a%20Grain%20of%20Salt) (http://digg.com/submit?url=http://www.opednews.com/articles/Taking-it-with-Less-than-by-jill-mclaughlin-090920-636.html&title=Taking%20it%20with%20(Le ss%20than)%20a%20Grain%20of%20Salt&bodytext=Not%20so%20many%20years%20ago%20 a%20young%20man%20lay%20naked,%20beaten,%20and%20chained%20to%20a%20floor%20 in%20a%20place%20not%20known%20by%20you%20or%20me...until%20now.%20It%20is%2 0a%20secret%20CIA%20black%20site%20called%20the%20Salt%20Pit.%20If%20his%20s tory%20is%20like%20that%20of%20many%20others,%20he%20was%20probably%20handed %20over%20by%20warlords%20or%20members%20of%20a%20rival%20tribe%20looking%20 for%20a%20handsome%20reward.%20But%20this%20case%20has%20not%20and%20will%20 not%20be%20investigated.%20Read%20more%20on%20why%20that%20is%20here&topic=p olitics) By jill mclaughlin _opednews.com_ (http://www.opednews.com/) For OpEdNews: jill mclaughlin - Writer Not so many years ago a young man lay naked, beaten, and chained to a floor in a place not known by you or me...until now. It is a secret CIA black site called the Salt Pit. If his story is like that of many others, he was probably handed over by warlords or members of a rival tribe looking for a handsome reward. The U.S. military promised monetary rewards for the handing over of persons who were known terrorists or had terrorist ties.In a country as poor and as destitute as Afghanistan you and I probably can't imagine how much money the good ol' U.S. of A doled out. Everybody and their brother was a terrorist it would seem. I wonder do the numbers of those detained and tortured number the amount of granules of salt in a salt pit? Those numbers probably will amount to that at the end of it all-if it ends at all-it, meaning what our government calls the "war on terror", which seem to have no end. But let's get back to that young man, a young Afghan man, who lays naked and chained to the floor. Well, he died. He froze to death or died from his beatings somewhere near Kabul. He died in the Salt Pit. Oh, but not so fast. Maybe he didn't freeze to death. Just because he was naked, lying beaten, and chained to a floor doesn't mean he died because of it. An article from the Washington Post reports that the investigation into CIA torture practices narrows even further. It now turns out that this already narrowed investigation(remember Holder and the Obama administration won't investigate members of the Bush administration and has decided it will go after CIA interrogators) is even more narrowed to just a few cases. In this article, it would seem, that the past and current government lawyers are taking these torture cases with a _grain of a salt_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091802510.html?hpid=morehe adlines) . Previous investigators couldn't determine if the young man died of his beatings or of hypothermia, which was originally listed as the cause of death. Now a current government official says that maybe his arteries were clogged. The official had this to say: "A lot of times cases look open-and-shut because a guy froze to death on a cold cement floor, but these cases are more complicated and involved than that," said a government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "You have to prove the cause of death. How do we know he froze to death? He may have died a natural death from clogged arteries. You have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he died as a result of the actions of the people who tied him to the floor naked. It may be a logical inference, but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt might be a different story." So I'm asking why was the young man naked? Why was the young man beaten? Tell me, Mr. Government official man, is not forced nudity torture? Is not beating a detainee torture? You do admit in this statement that people "tied him up to a floor naked". Gottcha, Mr. Government official man. I take anything coming from a government that has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity with less than a grain of salt. I take anything coming from government intent on covering up those crimes and looking the other way with less than a grain of salt. When President Obama says that the U.S. will not torture, but keeps in place rendition, I take that with less than a grain of salt. When he says "we will not torture", but then talks of preventative indefinite detention, I take that with less than a grain of salt. When Obama promises the U.S. will not torture, but expands Bagram detention center and denies detainees there habeas corpus I take that with less than a grain of salt. As long as the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan go on I take anything that Obama says about the U.S. not torturing with less than a grain of salt. As long as Bush era officials responsible for torture go without prosecution I take anything coming from the leadership of this Empire with less than a grain of salt. So what then? Well, I turn to you, the people of conscience-the salt of the earth.I ask you to take a stand, a visible one in resisting the crimes of our government. It is up to us, especially as the war in Afghanistan is escalating. A young Afghan man lying naked, beaten, and chained to a floor somewhere not known to me or you cries out for mercy -his cry for mercy is also a cry for our resistance to the U.S. torture state. Join World Can't Wait for the following to End U.S. Occupations and Torture Now! Monday October 5, WashingtonDC. Protest at the White House against Obama's Wars, on the anniversary of the US attack on Afghanistan, in coalition with _National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance_ (http://www.iraqpledge.org/nogoodwar.html) (NCNR) and Witness Against Torture, Activist Response Team & Veterans for Peace. Tuesday October 6. _We AreNot Your Soldiers!_ (http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/t/3716/p/salsa/event/distributedevent/public/create.sjs?distr ibuted_event_KEY=537) A day of resisting recruitment in high schools, nationwide with programs & protests. In support of these actions, we urge people to hold war protests on October 6 at recruiting stations, or city centers. Wednesday October 7:_Local Protests_ (http://www.worldcantwait.net/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=actions_for_october_6th_and_7th) on Anniversary of U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan Saturday, October 17: Local Protests to _End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars and Occupations_ (https://www.natassembly.org/Home_Page.html) . I have been involved with World Can't Wait since July of 2006. I currently sit on the Chicago and National steering committees of World Can't Wait. The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Thu Sep 24 23:56:23 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:56:23 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Wall Street Under Obama Message-ID: <01ff01ca3db1$1668e7c0$34ad57ca@jfos> September 14, 2009 Bigger and Riskier Wall Street Under Obama By SHAMUS COOKE After the financial levees broke and the crumbling banks ushered in the economic crisis, angry people clamored for drastic change in the financial system. Obama reflected these feelings well, at times using radical rhetoric to denounce the banking titans. What he promised was deep regulatory change so that such a crisis "would never happen again." Like every other promise of substance, Obama's pledge to "rein in" the banks has fallen by the wayside; the well-timed rhetoric smoothed over public tensions and now business is back to usual. The New York Times remarks: "Backstopped by huge federal guarantees [the bank bailouts], the biggest banks have restructured only around the edges.pay is already returning to pre-crash levels, topped by the 30,000 employees of Goldman Sachs, who are on track to earn an average of $700,000 this year. Executives at most big banks have kept their jobs." (September 11, 2009). Not only are the same people who helped destroy the economy still in their immensely powerful positions, but their power has increased. The Economist explains: "Far from ceding ground, the big banks have grown even bigger, aided by government-brokered mergers. Rules have been bent or broken . nearly half of American mortgages made in the first half of the year came from Wells Fargo, which took over Wachovia, or BofA, which swallowed Countrywide." And: "America's leading banks were too big to fail before the crisis. Now they are bigger still." (September 10, 2009). The super banks that emerged from the wreckage are still participating in the same ultra-risky financial gambling that ruined the lives of countless people. In fact, the banks' bad behavior has been incredibly reinforced, since the profit-induced gambling that led to their failure resulted in taxpayer bailouts that were equally profitable. The economist, Nassim Taleb, warned "that the system has grown riskier since last fall. The extensive government support that began after Lehman collapsed will lead investors to assume that governments will always prevent major banks from collapsing." (New York Times, September 11, 2009). The same article concluded that "The banks will keep the profits when their bets pay off, while taxpayers will swallow the losses when the bets go bad and threaten the system." Obama is treating financial regulation in the same manner he confronted health care: radical language was used to please public opinion with little action attached. The financial system is similar to health care in another way as well, prompting Obama into minimal action: Just like skyrocketing health care costs cut into the profits of many corporations, the shoddy financial system is a threat to corporations in general. This is the reason that some kind of reform is being pursued by the White House. The problem is that Obama crammed Wall Street executives into every crevice of his administration, while Congress, too, is inundated with lobbying (legal bribes) from the big banks. Any change, therefore, is difficult. The New York Times notes: "The Obama administration has proposed regulatory changes, but even their backers say they face a difficult road in Congress. For now, banks still sell and trade unregulated derivatives, despite their role in last fall's chaos. Radical changes like pay caps or restrictions on bank size face overwhelming resistance. Even minor changes, like requiring banks to disclose more about the derivatives they own, are far from certain." (September 11, 2009; emphasis added). Internationally, bank regulation is a hot-button issue. The junk stocks sold abroad by U.S. corporations amounted to tens of trillions of dollars, and infected the economies everywhere while making select corporations inside certain nations - the U.S. and England - immensely profitable. The G-20 is set to meet in Pittsburgh this month to discuss the issue. Germany and France want drastic change, since their banks are far less powerful. These nations' "leaders said they want the G-20 to limit the size of banks and tighten capital rules." (Bloomberg, September 2, 2009). This measure will obviously be denied by England and the U.S., where banks have grown in size and continue to profit immensely from lax rules. Although the world's closely linked economies would benefit from cooperation over financial regulation, it is the conflicting interests of powerful corporations inside these countries that will make true reform impossible. Or, as the managing director of the Institute of International Finance put it, "We're in a tug of war between national political pressures and the desire to coordinate" (Bloomberg, September 2, 2009). The G-20, therefore, will likely publish a vague statement about cooperation around financial regulation, while behind the scenes conflicts will erupt between France and Germany vs. the U.S. and England. Obama's short time in office has taught a valuable lesson to millions of people: the Democrats rank equal with the Republicans when it comes to aiding and abetting the super wealthy, who feel equally comfortable aligning themselves with either party. To them, campaign donations and lobbying are foolproof, profitable investments.(snip) rest of article at http://www.counterpunch.org/cooke09142009.html ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Fri Sep 25 00:07:44 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:07:44 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: The Afghan Folly - TARIQ ALI Message-ID: <020e01ca3db1$24d62480$34ad57ca@jfos> September 22, 2009 Europeans Don't Follow Their Leader The Afghan Folly By TARIQ ALI Italian, British and German soldiers are being returned from Afghanistan to their countries in coffins. Why? Through no fault of their own but because politicians of centre-right/centre-left despatched them to fight an imperial war on behalf of Washington. In Italy, to its eternal shame, Rifondazione voted to continue the Italian presence in the Hindu Kush. Die Linke in Germany was far more principled, in a country where 80 percent are not in favor, albeit ignored by mainstream politicians. In Britain and Italy, too, there are large sections of the population opposed to the war. Their voices remain unheard in the corridors of power: Brown and Berlusconi have become blood-brothers. When European politicians justify the slaughter of Afghans and the death of their own soldiers by mouthing mantras to the effect that this is necessary to safeguard Italian/German/British citizens, they speak falsely and the lies are deliberate for they have no other answer. Nor has Washington. At a time when US and European intelligence agencies continue to repeat that al-Qaida is no longer a threat, but terrorism remains a problem they never explain in public that the longer the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan continue, the more young people will be attracted to terrorist-type solutions. Obama's decision to expand the war by sending more troops to Afghanistan and treating Islamabad as if it were Baghdad is an extremely serious error. Disaster stares him in the face and no amount of rhetoric, sweet-talk, PR initiatives will solve the problem. Washington needs an exit strategy from that country but the longer it delays the greater the chance that no serious exit strategy will work and that one day, finally, US troops will have to be withdrawn Saigon-style leaving behind them a country in ruins. The Afghan 'Taliban' is now an umbrella underneath which Pashtuns of various political hues have assembled to resist and drive out the invader. Obviously this means that Washington is constantly trying to negotiate with and split the Taliban as they did the resistance in Iraq, but here they have met with total failure. The Pashtun nationalists are difficult to defeat via religion since the overwhelming bulk of them are Sunni. They are difficult to defeat ideologically since they believe their cause is just and the absolute failure to rebuild and re-equip the country has meant that more and more people agree with them, not that social reforms necessarily work as the Russians discovered to their enormous cost in the 1980s. The EU is a gutless and useless entity on the political level. It cannot speak with one voice, but its citizens must learn not to emulate their weak and pathetic politicians but demand with increasing vigor a withdrawal of all European troops from Afghanistan. Tariq Ali's latest book, The Protocols of the Elders of Sodom and other Essays, has just been published by Verso. ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Sep 25 01:04:00 2009 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:04:00 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] World Trade Center 7 building collapse 9/11 In-Reply-To: References: <38FA55F5-183A-4BD0-988C-8ED6EC77C848@cox.net> Message-ID: Relayed by Doug Everingham ==== From: johnbursill at gmail.com Subject: Fwd: New David Ray Griffin book on WTC 7 Date: 9 September 2009 12:02:21 PM FYI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Griffin Date: 2009/9/9 Subject: New David Ray Griffin book on WTC 7 To: David Griffin The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report About 9/11 Is Unscientific and False (Olive Branch Press, 2009), by David Ray Griffin At 5:20 in the afternoon on 9/11, Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed, even though it had not been struck by a plane and had fires on only a few floors. The reason for its collapse was considered a mystery. In August 2008, NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) issued its report on WTC 7, declaring that "the reason for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 is no longer a mystery" and that ?science is really behind what we have said.? Showing that neither of these claims is true, David Ray Griffin demonstrates that NIST is guilty of the most serious types of scientific fraud: fabricating, falsifying, and ignoring evidence. He also shows that NIST?s report left intact the central mystery: How could a building damaged by fire?not explosives?have come down in free fall? ?A definitive study of what happens when political concerns are permitted to override science and the scientific method. With intellectual finesse worthy of a scientist, Griffin shows that NIST?s WTC 7 report has no scientific credibility. A must read for all concerned with the restoration of science to its ?rightful place? in our democracy.??John D. Wyndham, Ph.D., Physics, Cambridge University; former Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology ?David Ray Griffin has written a powerful book that asks disturbing questions and seeks to debunk myths about September 11. It is provocative, well-researched, and beyond convincing.??Rosie O?Donnell "David Ray Griffin has provided a comprehensive dismantling of NIST's theory about WTC 7, according to which it suffered global collapse because of ordinary building fires. Besides showing that NIST committed massive scientific fraud, Griffin also points out that NIST was able to complete its theory only by affirming a miracle: a steel- framed high-rise building coming down in free fall even though explosives had not been used to remove its columns."?Richard Gage, member of American Institute of Architects; founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth ?During my 33 years as a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, it was my great joy to be able to contribute to the advancement of science without the slightest interference by NRL officials. So I was sickened to read in David Ray Griffin?s assiduously researched book of unequivocal evidence for massive scientific fraud committed by a politicized NIST. I implore President Obama to end the subversion of science at NIST and open a new, unfettered, investigation of the 9/11 attacks.? ?David L. Griscom, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society ?If you consider it important that the US government?s science agencies provide truthful information to the public, this book by David Ray Griffin is a must read. It shows beyond a shadow of doubt that NIST?s report on the ?collapse? of WTC 7 did not tell us the truth.??Dwain Deets, former Director for Research Engineering at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center ?Once again, David Ray Griffin has taken on a complicated piece of the 9/11 story and made it understandable. Whether you are a novice about 9/11 or have been following the inconsistencies of the government's story closely, you will find Griffin's new book enlightening.? ?Lorie Van Auken, widow of Kenneth Van Auken, who was killed at WTC 1 on 9/11, and member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission "Based on my engineering knowledge and experience, I fully agree with Dr. Griffin's conclusion that NIST?s report on the collapse of WTC 7 is pseudo-science, containing claims that are misleading and even outright false. Numerous contradictions exposed by outside experts during the public review process were completely ignored, because they did not fit NIST?s contrived explanation.? ?Jack Keller, Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers; member of the National Academy of Engineering ?In 2004, over 15,000 scientists charged that the Bush administration had engaged in persistent ?distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends.? In this book, David Ray Griffin shows that NIST?s report on the destruction of WTC 7 is plagued throughout with various forms of scientific fraud, all of which point to a deliberate effort to avoid the extensive evidence that WTC 7 was brought down by controlled demolition.??Earl Staelin, attorney in Denver, Colorado ?Professor Griffin?s meticulous dissection of NIST?s WTC 7 report shows just why its theory of fire-induced progressive collapse is wholly inadequate and essentially fraudulent, and why the actual demise of this huge building could have been brought about only by intentional demolition, which could have been set up and carried out only by domestic forces.??Tony Szamboti, mechanical engineer and former member of the US Navy David Ray Griffin has published 35 books in philosophy (including philosophy of science), religion, and politics. His previous book about 9/11, The New Pearl Harbor Revisited, was a Publishers Weekly ?Pick of the Week? in November 2008. The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report About 9/11 Is Unscientific and False is available at Interlink Books (http://www.interlinkbooks.com) and at local bookstores for $20. It is also available at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious- Collapse-World-Trade-Center/dp/1566567866/ref=sr_1_7? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250003848&sr=1-7) for $13.60. Reviews ?David Ray Griffin has written a powerful book that asks disturbing questions and seeks to debunk myths about September 11. It is provocative, well-researched, and beyond convincing.??Rosie O?Donnell ?During my 33 years as a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, it was my great joy to be able to contribute to the advancement of science without the slightest interference by NRL officials. So I was sickened to read in David Ray Griffin?s assiduously researched book of unequivocal evidence for massive scientific fraud committed by a politicized NIST. I implore President Obama to end the subversion of science at NIST and open a new, unfettered, investigation of the 9/11 attacks.? ?David L. Griscom, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society ?If you consider it important that the US government?s science agencies provide truthful information to the public, this book by David Ray Griffin is a must read. It shows beyond a shadow of doubt that NIST?s report on the ?collapse? of WTC 7 did not tell us the truth.??Dwain Deets, former Director for Research Engineering at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center -- 9/11 24/7 until justice! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sat Sep 26 17:38:44 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:38:44 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] 9/11 perps still resisting NY poll for inquiry Message-ID: <20090927003845.9DA7AF66D@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Sep 27 19:09:42 2009 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:09:42 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] FW: 'Capitalism' as Comedy and Tragedy Now Playing in NY and L.A....a message from Michael Moore Message-ID: <008b01ca3fe0$bebcd130$4dad57ca@jfos> 'Capitalism' as Comedy and Tragedy Now Playing in NY and L.A. Friday, September 25th, 2009 Friends, The time has arrived for, as Time magazine called it, my "magnum opus." I only had a year of Latin when I was in high school, so I'm not quite sure what that means, but I think it's good. I've spent nearly two years on this new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story," and have poured my heart and soul into this project. Many early critics and viewers have called it my "best film yet." That's a hard call for me to make as I'm proud of all of my films -- but I will tell you this: What you are about to see in "Capitalism" is going to stun you. It's going to make some of you angry and I believe it's going to give most of you a new sense of hope that we are going to turn the sick and twisted mess made by the last president around. Oh, and you're going to have a good laugh at the expense of all the banking and corporate criminals who've made out like bandits in the past year. I'm gonna show you the stuff the nightly news will rarely show you. Ever meet a pilot for American Airlines on food stamps because his pay's been cut so low? Ever meet a judge who gets kickbacks for sending innocent kids to a private prison? Ever meet someone from the Wall Street Journal who bluntly states on camera that he doesn't much care for democracy and that capitalism should be our only ruling concern? You'll meet all these guys in "Capitalism." You'll also meet a whistleblower who, with documents in hand, tells us about the million-dollar-plus sweetheart loans he approved for the head of Senate Banking Committee -- the very committee that was supposed to be regulating his lending institution! You'll hear from a bank regulator why Timothy Geithner has no business being our Treasury Secretary. And you'll learn, from the woman who heads up the congressional commission charged with keeping an eye on the bailout money, how Alan Greenspan & Co. schemed and connived the public into putting up their inflated valued homes as collateral -- thus causing the biggest foreclosure epidemic in our history. There is now a foreclosure filed in the U.S. once every seven-and-half SECONDS. None of this is an accident, and I name the names others seem to be afraid to name, the men who have ransacked the pensions of working people and plundered the future of our kids and grandkids. Somehow they thought they were going to get away with this, that we'd believe their Big Lie that this crash was caused by a bunch of low-income people who took out loans they couldn't afford. Much of the mainstream media bought this storyline. No wonder Wall Street thought they could pull this off. Jeez, I guess they forgot about me and my crew. You'd think we would've made a better impression on these wealthy thieves by now. Guess not. So here we come! It's all there, up on the silver screen, two hours of a tragicomedy crime story starring a bunch of vampires who just weren't satisfied with simply destroying Flint, Michigan -- they had to try and see if they could take down the whole damn country. So come see this cops and robbers movie! The robbers this time wear suits and ties, and the cops -- well, if you're willing to accept a guy in a ballcap with a high school education as a stand-in until the real deal shows up to haul 'em away, then I humbly request your presence at your local cinema this weekend in New York and Los Angeles (and next Friday, October 2nd, all across America). In the meantime, you can catch us on some of the TV shows that have been brave enough to let me on in the past week or so: - Nightline (as we take a stroll down Wall Street to Goldman Sachs) - Good Morning America (where they let me talk about Disney employees who don't get medical benefits) - The View (where the Republican co-host told everyone to go see it! Whoa!) - The Colbert Report (this guy is a genius, seriously) - Larry King (where a spokesperson for the Senator who got the sweetheart loans responds for the first time) - Keith Olberman (where we both wonder just how long these media corps are going to let us get away with what we do) - Wolf Blitzer (yes, he's back for more abuse - and lovin' it) ... And the amazing Jay Leno. This man called me after seeing the movie and asked me to be his only in-studio guest on the second night of his new prime-time show. I said, "Jay, shouldn't you be thinking of your ratings in the first week of the show? Are you sure you didn't misdial Tom Hanks' number (the area code where I live is 231; 213 is LA)?" He told me he was profoundly moved by this film. So I was the guest on his second show, and he told all of America it was my "best film" and to please go see "Capitalism: A Love Story." That was Jay Leno saying that, not Noam Chomsky or Jane Fonda (both of whom I love dearly). The audience responded enthusiastically and, after 20 years of filmmaking, it was a moment where I crossed over deep into the mainstream of middle America. Jay's bosses at General Electric musta been... well, let's just say I hope they didn't place a reprimand in his permanent record. He's one helluva guy (and following the example he set with his free concerts for the unemployed in Michigan and Ohio last spring, I've gotten permission from the studio to do the same with my film in ten of the hardest-hit cities in the U.S. next week). Oh, and he made me sing! Prepare yourself! Thanks everyone -- and see you at the movies! Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint at aol.com MichaelMoore.com Twitter.com/MMFlint Facebook.com/MMFlint MySpace.com/MMFlint Click here to join Mike's Mailing List. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 28 23:50:05 2009 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:50:05 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Honduras insurrection, Chinese Revolution@60, Caster Semenya, Timor Leste & Cuba, Swaziland, W. Sahara, Gramsci, HIV care & Cuba Message-ID: <4AC1AE1D.3070107@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: Honduras insurrection, Chinese Revolution at 60, Caster Semenya, Timor Leste & Cuba, Swaziland, W. Sahara, Gramsci, HIV care & Cuba * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * (Updated Sept. 28) International solidarity with the Honduran people's struggle for democracy Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal below is publishing various solidarity statements and reports of actions in solidarity with the democracy struggle of the people of Honduras. * Read more (Updated Sept. 27) Insurrection in Honduras: Resistance Front says 'we won't rest until victory' By Federico Fuentes, Caracas September 25 -- "The whole world knows that what we have here in Honduras is a coup regime", Armando Licona, a leader from the Revolutionary University Student Front said. Green Left Weekly spoke with Licona, whose organisation is part of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup (FNRG), on the phone from the Honduran capital, Tegucilgalpa. * Read more (Updated Sept. 25) Honduras: Zelaya returns -- Resistance prepares more action; coup regime reacts with repression By Federico Fuentes, Caracas September 22, 2009 -- The dictatorship in Honduras, which overthrew the elected government of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, has unleashed a wave of repression against the masses of people who have taken to the streets following Zelaya's dramatic return on September 21. * Read more People's Republic of China at 60: socialist revolution, capitalist restoration [Click HERE for more analysis of the Chinese Revolution and its evolution.] By Chris Slee September 23, 2009 -- October 1 will mark 60 years since Mao Zedong proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China. This followed the victory of the People's Liberation Army, led by the Communist Party of China (CCP), over the US-backed Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT). In 1921, when the CCP was founded, China was in chaos. Western intervention -- military, economic, political and cultural -- had destroyed or undermined traditional Chinese institutions. New, stable institutions had not been created. Various imperialist powers grabbed pieces of Chinese territory. * Read more People's Republic of China at 60: Maoism and popular power, 1949-1969 By Pierre Rousset With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) found itself at the head of a country three times larger than Western Europe, with a population of some 500 million. The internal situation was favourable to the revolutionary regime. At the end of a long series of civil and foreign wars, the population sought and relied on the new leaders to achieve peace while the ongoing people's mobilisation opened the way for a deep reform of society. * Read more People's Republic of China at 60: 1925-1949 -- Origins of the Chinese revolution Retrospectively, we know the importance of the period opened in China by the overthrow in 1911 of the Qing Dynasty: it concluded, nearly four decades later, with the victory of the Communist revolution on October 1, 1949 - an event of historical scope. However, at the time, the future of the country looked very uncertain. * Read more The persecution of Caster Semenya -- sport and intersex people's rights By Farida Iqbal September 20, 2009 -- Eighteen-year-old South African track athlete Caster Semenya has done nothing wrong. Yet she has been accused of deceiving the world about her sex. There is nothing wrong with Semenya's body. Yet her body has been paraded in front of the world by the mass media as if she were a sideshow freak. Semenya is a talented athlete. Yet her career is at stake. * Read more Los! Hau Bele! -- `Yo! Si Puedo' comes to Timor Leste: Cuba assists the eradication of illiteracy By Bob Boughton In Timor Leste [East Timor], which is one of the world's newest countries and Australia's poorest Asia-Pacific neighbour, Cuba is delivering an educational aid program which aims to eradicate illiteracy, currently affecting nearly 50% of the adult population, within a period of less than 10 years. * Read more Swaziland: Democracy leader released after 340 days, struggle continues September 22, 2009 -- Democracy activists in Swaziland celebrated on September 22 after the leader of the country's opposition was acquitted of terrorism charges and freed from prison after 340 days. Banned People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) leader Mario Masuku (pictured above) was arrested and charged with terrorism on November 15, 2008. The charge centred on seditious statements he had allegedly made during the funeral of a militant. Judge Mbutfo Mamba acquitted Mr Masuku because the evidence was too weak to link him to the charge. * Read more Western Sahara: Venezuela's President Chavez calls for liberation of the Sahrawi people By the Bolivarian News Agency September 21, 2009 -- The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, expressed his solidarity to the people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic to reach their independence from Morocco. * Read more Gramsci and hegemony By Trent Brown Antonio Gramsci is an important figure in the history of Marxist theory. While Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provided a rigorous analysis of capital at the social and economic levels - particularly showing how capital antagonises the working class and gives rise to crisis - Gramsci supplemented this with a sophisticated theory of the political realm and how it is organically/dialectically related to social and economic conditions. He provides us with a theory of how the proletariat must organise politically if it is to effectively respond to capital's crises and failures, and bring about revolutionary change. * Read more HIV/AIDS treatment in Cuba: a rights-based analysis; Lessons and challenges By Tim Anderson Cuba has achieved the lowest rate of HIV infection and the highest level of AIDS treatment in the Caribbean region. Yet the Cuban HIV program -- part of its famous health system -- has been subjected to many criticisms, usually linked to the themes of "freedom" and "rights." These criticisms must be seen in the broader context of demands for economic "freedoms" in Cuba and in the context of US demands for the dismantling of Cuban socialism and for widespread privatisation, including privatisation of the public health system. Outside understandings of the Cuban health system are further undermined by the US economic blockade of Cuba, roundly condemned each year by the United Nations General Assembly, which prevents normal scientific and cultural exchange between the US and Cuba. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 29 21:23:40 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:23:40 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] 9/11 perps leaving heel marks resisting inquiry poll Message-ID: <20090930042341.8B5F1F583@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hermann at picknowl.com.au Tue Sep 29 22:55:55 2009 From: hermann at picknowl.com.au (John Hermann) Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:25:55 +0930 Subject: [Mai-not] The Mysterious Collapse of WTC Seven Message-ID: <200909300555.n8U5ttTf013994@mail13.tpg.com.au> From: "Nadia McLaren" Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 The Mysterious Collapse of WTC Seven Why NIST's Final 9/11 Report is Unscientific & False by Prof. David Ray Griffin Global Research, September 14, 2009 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15201 At 5:21 in the afternoon of 9/11, almost seven hours after the Twin Towers had come down, Building 7 of the World Trade Center also came down. The collapse of this building was from the beginning considered a mystery. [1] The same should have been true, to be sure, of the collapse of the Twin Towers. But they had been hit by planes, which had ignited big fires in them, and many people assumed this combination of causes to be sufficient to explain why they came down. But WTC 7 had not been hit by a plane, so it was apparently the first steel-framed high-rise building in the known universe to have collapsed because of fire alone. New York Times writer James Glanz quoted a structural engineer as saying: "[W]ithin the structural engineering community, [WTC 7] is considered to be much more important to understand [than the Twin Towers]," because engineers had no answer to the question, "why did 7 come down?" [2] From a purely scientific perspective, of course, there would have been an obvious answer. Scientists, presupposing the regularity of nature, operate on the principle that like effects generally imply like causes. Scientists are, therefore, loathe to posit unprecedented causes for common phenomena. By 9/11, the collapse of steel-framed high-rises had become a rather common phenomenon, which most Americans had seen on television. And in every one of these cases, the building had been brought down by explosives in the process known as controlled demolition. From a scientific perspective, therefore, the obvious assumption would have been that WTC 7 came down because explosives had been used to remove its steel supports. However, the public discussion of the destruction of the World Trade Center did not occur in a scientific context, but in a highly charged political context. America had just been attacked, it was almost universally believed, by foreign terrorists who had flown hijacked planes into the Twin Towers, and in response the Bush administration had launched a "war on terror." The idea that even one of the buildings had been brought down by explosives would have implied that the attacks had not been a surprise, so this idea could not be entertained by many minds in private, let alone in public. This meant that people had to believe, or at least pretend to believe, that Building 7 had been brought down by fire, even though, as Glanz wrote: "[E]xperts said no building like it, a modern, steel- reinforced high-rise, had ever collapsed because of an uncontrolled fire." [3] And so, this building's collapse had to be considered a mystery ? insofar as it was considered at all. But this was not much. Although WTC 7 was a 47-story building, which in most places would have been the tallest building in the city, if not the state, it was dwarfed by the 110-story Twin Towers. It was also dwarfed by them in the ensuing media coverage. And so, Glanz wrote, the collapse of Building 7 was "a mystery that . . . would probably have captured the attention of the city and the world," if the Twin Towers had not also come down. [4] As it was, however, the mystery of Building 7's collapse was seldom discussed. For those few people who were paying attention, the mysteriousness of this collapse was not lessened by the first official report about it, which was issued by FEMA in 2002. This report put forward what it called its "best hypothesis" as to why the building collapsed, but then added that this hypothesis had "only a low probability of occurrence." [5] This FEMA report, in fact, increased the mystery, thanks to an appendix written by three professors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This appendix reported that a piece of steel from WTC 7 had melted so severely that it had gaping holes in it, making it look like a piece of Swiss cheese. [6] James Glanz, pointing out that the fires in the building could not have been hot enough to melt steel, referred to this discovery as "the deepest mystery uncovered in the investigation."[7] The task of providing the definitive explanation of the collapse of WTC 7 was given to NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Although NIST had been expected to issue its report on this building along with its report on the Twin Towers, which came out in 2005, it did not. NIST then continued to delay this report until August of 2008, at which time it issued a Draft for Public Comment. 1. NIST's Denial of Evidence for Explosives At a press briefing, Shyam Sunder, NIST's lead investigator, declared that "the reason for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 is no longer a mystery." Also, announcing that NIST "did not find any evidence that explosives were used to bring the building down," [8] he said: "[S]cience is really behind what we have said." [9] In the remainder of this lecture, I will show that both of those statements were false. NIST and Scientific Fraud With regard to the question of science: Far from being supported by good science, NIST's report repeatedly makes its case by resorting to scientific fraud. Before going into details, let me point out that, if NIST did engage in fraudulent science, this would not be particularly surprising. NIST is an agency of the US Department of Commerce. During the years it was writing its World Trade Center reports, therefore, it was an agency of the Bush-Cheney administration. In 2004, the Union of Concerned Scientists put out a document charging this administration with "distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends." By the end of the Bush administration, this document had been signed by over 15,000 scientists, including 52 Nobel Laureates and 63 recipients of the National Medal of Science. [10] Moreover, a scientist who formerly worked for NIST has reported that it has been "fully hijacked from the scientific into the political realm," with the result that scientists working for NIST "lost [their] scientific independence, and became little more than 'hired guns.'"11 Referring in particular to NIST's work on the World Trade Center, he said everything had to be approved by the Department of Commerce, the National Security Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget---"an arm of the Executive Office of the President," which "had a policy person specifically delegated to provide oversight on [NIST's] work." [12] One of the general principles of scientific work is that its conclusions must not be dictated by nonscientific concerns ? in other words, by any concern other than that of discovering the truth. This former NIST employee's statement gives us reason to suspect that NIST, while preparing its report on WTC 7, would have been functioning as a political, not a scientific, agency. The amount of fraud in this report suggests that this was indeed the case. According to the National Science Foundation, the major types of scientific fraud are fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. There is no sign that NIST is guilty of plagiarism, but it is certainly guilty of fabrication, which can be defined as "making up results," and falsification, which means either "changing or omitting data." [13] The omission of evidence by NIST is so massive, in fact, that I treat it as a distinct type of scientific fraud. As philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said in his 1925 book, Science and the Modern World: "It is easy enough to find a [self-consistent] theory . . . , provided that you are content to disregard half your evidence." The "moral temper required for the pursuit of truth," he added, includes "[a]n unflinching determination to take the whole evidence into account." [14] NIST, however, seemed to manifest an unflinching determination to disregard half of the relevant evidence. Physical Evidence of Explosives Some of the evidence ignored by NIST is physical evidence that explosives were used to bring down WTC 7. Swiss-Cheese Steel: I will begin with the piece of steel from WTC 7 that had been melted so severely that it looked like Swiss cheese. Explaining why it called this "the deepest mystery uncovered in the investigation," James Glanz wrote: "The steel apparently melted away, but no fire in any of the buildings was believed to be hot enough to melt steel outright." [15] Glanz's statement was, in fact, quite an understatement. The full truth is that the fires in the building could not have brought the steel anywhere close to the temperature ? about 1,482C (2,700F) ? needed for it to melt. [16] The professors who reported this piece of steel in the appendix to the FEMA report said: "A detailed study into the mechanisms [that caused] this phenomenon is needed."[17] Arden Bement, who was the director of NIST when it took on the WTC project, said that NIST's report would address "all major recommendations contained in the [FEMA] report." [18] But when NIST issued its report on WTC 7, it did not mention this piece of steel with the Swiss-cheese appearance. Indeed, NIST even claimed that not a single piece of steel from WTC 7 had been recovered. [19] This piece of steel, moreover, was only a small portion of the evidence, ignored by NIST, that steel had melted. Particles of Metal in the Dust: The Deutsche Bank building, which was right next to the Twin Towers, was heavily contaminated by dust produced by their destruction. But Deutsche Bank's insurance company refused to pay for the clean-up, claiming that this dust had not resulted from the destruction of the WTC. So Deutsche Bank hired the RJ Lee Group to do a study, which showed that the dust in the Deutsche Bank was WTC dust, which had a unique signature. Part of this signature was "Spherical iron . . . particles." [20] This meant, the RJ Lee Group said, that iron had "melted during the WTC Event, producing spherical metallic particles." [21] The study even showed that, whereas iron particles constitute only 0.04 percent of normal building dust, they constituted almost 6 percent of WTC Dust ? meaning almost 150 times as much as normal. [22] The RJ Lee study also found that temperatures had been reached "at which lead would have undergone vaporization" [23] ? meaning 1,749C (3,180F). [24] Another study was carried out by the US Geological Survey, the purpose of which was to aid the "identification of WTC dust components." Besides also finding iron particles, the scientists involved in this study found that molybdenum had been melted. This finding was especially significant, because this metal does not melt until it reaches 2,623C (4,753F). [25] NIST, however, did not mention either of these studies, even though the latter one was carried out by another US government agency. NIST could not mention these studies because it was committed to the theory that the WTC buildings were brought down by fire, while these studies clearly showed that something other than fire was going on in those buildings. Nanothermite Residue: What was that? A report by several scientists, including chemist Niels Harrit of the University of Copenhagen, showed that the WTC dust contained unreacted nanothermite, which ? unlike ordinary thermite, which is an incendiary ? is a high explosive. This report by Harrit and his colleagues, who included Steven Jones and Kevin Ryan, did not appear until 2009, [26] several months after the publication of NIST's final report in November 2008. But NIST, as a matter of routine, should have tested the WTC dust for residue of explosives, such as nanothermite. The Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations put out by the National Fire Protection Association says that a search for evidence for explosives should be undertaken whenever there has been "high-order damage." Leaving no doubt about the meaning of this term, the Guide says: High-order damage is characterized by shattering of the structure, producing small, pulverized debris. Walls, roofs, and structural members are splintered or shattered, with the building completely demolished. [27] That description applied to the destruction of the Twin Towers and WTC 7. The next sentence ? "Debris is thrown great distances, possibly hundreds of feet" ? applied to the destruction of the Twin Towers, a fact that NIST had to admit in order to explain how fires were started in WTC 7. [28] So NIST should have looked for signs of explosives, such as nanothermite. But when asked whether it had, NIST said No. A reporter asked Michael Newman, a NIST spokesman, about this failure, saying: "[W]hat about that letter where NIST said it didn't look for evidence of explosives?" Newman replied: "Right, because there was no evidence of that." "But," asked the reporter "how can you know there's no evidence if you don't look for it first?" Newman replied: "If you're looking for something that isn't there, you're wasting your time . . . and the taxpayers' money." [29] (You couldn't make this stuff up.) When Shyam Sunder, who headed up NIST's investigation of the WTC buildings, gave his press conference in August of 2008 ? at which he announced that "the reason for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 is no longer a mystery" ? he began by saying: Before I tell you what we found, I'd like to tell you what we did not find. We did not find any evidence that explosives were used to bring the building down. [30] By making this point first, Sunder indicated that this was NIST's most important conclusion ? just as it had been NIST's most important conclusion about the Twin Towers. However, although Sunder claimed that this conclusion was based on good science, a conclusion has no scientific validity if it can be reached only by ignoring half the evidence. Molten Metal: In addition to the ignored evidence already pointed out, NIST also, in its investigation of the WTC, ignored reports that the rubble contained lots of molten metal ? which most people described as molten steel. For example, firefighter Philip Ruvolo, speaking of the Twin Towers, said: "You'd get down below and you'd see molten steel, molten steel, running down the channel rails, like you're in a foundry, like lava." [31] Peter Tully, president of Tully Construction, which was involved in the clean-up operation, said that he saw pools of "literally molten steel." [32] However, when John Gross, one of the main authors of NIST's reports, was asked about the molten steel, he said to the questioner: I challenge your "basic premise that there was a pool of molten steel," adding: "I know of absolutely no . . . eyewitness who has said so."[33] However, in addition to Ruvolo and Tully, the eyewitnesses who said so included: ? Leslie Robertson, a member of the engineering firm that designed the Twin Towers. [34] ? Dr. Ronald Burger of the National Center for Environmental Health. [35] ? Dr. Alison Geyh of The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, who headed up a scientific team that went to the site shortly after 9/11 at the request of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. [36] ? Finally, the fact that "molten steel was also found at WTC 7" was added by Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition, Inc., which was involved in the clean-up. [37] And yet John Gross suggested that no credible witnesses had reported molten steel. That appears to have been a gross lie. Testimonial Evidence for Explosives Besides ignoring physical evidence that explosives had been used, NIST also ignored testimonial evidence. NIST's Twin Towers Report: In its 2005 report on the Twin Towers, NIST ignored dozens of testimonies provided by reporters, police officers, and WTC employees, along with 118 testimonies provided by members of the Fire Department of New York. [38] NIST even explicitly denied the existence of these reports, saying that there "was no evidence (collected by . . . the Fire Department of New York) of any blast or explosions" that would have suggested that explosives were going off. [39] However, when a group of scholars including scientists and a lawyer called NIST on this false statement, NIST refined its meaning, saying: NIST reviewed all of the interviews conducted by the FDNY of firefighters (500 interviews). . . . Taken as a whole, the interviews did not support the contention that explosives played a role in the collapse of the WTC Towers. [40] So, although NIST had said in its report that there was no testimonial evidence for explosives, it now seemed to be saying that, because only 118 out of 500 reported explosions, the testimonies, "taken as a whole," do not support the idea that explosions were going off, so that NIST had been justified in claiming that there was no testimonial evidence to support the idea that explosives had been used. Imagine an investigation of a murder on the streets of San Francisco. Of the 100 people who were at the scene at the time, 25 of them reported seeing Pete Smith shoot the victim. But the police release Pete Smith, saying that, taken as a whole, the testimonies did not point to his guilt. That would be NIST-style forensic science. Reports from People Outside WTC 7: NIST continued this approach in its WTC 7 report. There had been several credible reports of explosions. A reporter for the New York Daily News, said: [T]here was a rumble. The building's top row of windows popped out. Then all the windows on the thirty-ninth floor popped out. Then the thirty- eighth floor. Pop! Pop! Pop! was all you heard until the building sunk into a rising cloud of gray. [41] NYPD officer Craig Bartmer said: I was real close to Building 7 when it fell down. . . . [A]ll of a sudden. . . I looked up, and . . . [t]he thing started pealing in on itself. . . . I started running . . . and the whole time you're hearing "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom." [42] Reports from Hess and Jennings from Inside WTC 7: Besides ignoring these and other reports of explosions made by people outside Building 7, NIST distorted the testimony of two highly credible men who were inside: Michael Hess, who was New York City's corporation counsel, and Barry Jennings, the deputy director of the Emergency Services Department of the New York City Housing Authority. Immediately after the North Tower was struck that morning, both men followed the instruction that, whenever there was an emergency, they were to meet Major Giuliani at his Emergency Management Center on the 23rd floor of Building 7. The North Tower was struck at 8:46, so they would have arrived at about 9:00. They found, however, that everyone had left. Calling to find out what they should do, Jennings was told to get out of the building immediately. So, finding that the elevator would not work (the electricity had evidently been knocked out at 9:03 by the airplane strike on the South Tower), they started running down the stairs. But when they got to the 6th floor, there was a huge explosion, which blew the landing out from under them and blocked their path. They went back up to the 8th floor, broke a window, and signaled for help. Firemen came to rescue them, Jennings said, but then ran away. Coming back after a while, the firemen again started to rescue them, but then ran away again. They had to run away the first time, Jennings explained, because of the collapse of the South Tower, which occurred at 9:59, and the second time because of the North Tower collapse, which occurred at 10:28. On that basis, Jennings told Dylan Avery in an interview in 2007, he knew that, when that big explosion occurred, "both buildings were still standing." Finally, when the firemen returned after the second tower collapsed, Hess and Jennings were rescued. This must have been sometime between 11:00 and 11:30, because at 11:57, Hess gave an on-the-street interview several blocks away. Jennings also gave an on-the-street interview. Both men reported that they had been trapped for some time ? Hess specified "about an hour and a half." This story obviously was very threatening to NIST. It was going to claim that, when Building 7 came down at 5:21 that afternoon, it did so solely because of fires. There were no explosives to help things along. But here were two city officials reporting that a big explosion had gone off pretty early in the morning, evidently before 9:30. In his interview for Dylan Avery, moreover, Jennings said that the big explosion that trapped them was simply the first of many. He also said that when the firefighter took them down to the lobby, he saw that it had been totally destroyed ? it was, he said, "total ruins, total ruins." Jennings also that, when he and the firefighter were walking through this lobby, they were "stepping over people." [43] Jennings's testimony contradicted the official story, according to which there were no explosions in WTC 7 and no one was killed in this building. What would NIST do? NIST's Treatment of the Hess-Jennings Testimony: NIST simply ignored Jennings' report about the lobby and, with regard to the time that Hess and Jennings got trapped, followed the line that had taken by Rudy Giuliani in a 2002 book, according to which the event that Hess and Jennings took to be an explosion within WTC 7 was simply the impact of debris from the collapse of the North Tower. But that collapse did not occur until 10:28, whereas the event described by Hess and Jennings had occurred at least an hour earlier. Also, Jennings said that the South Tower as well as the North Tower was still standing when the event he called an explosion occurred, and that is surely what he told NIST when it interviewed him (as well as Hess) in the Spring of 2004. Another problem was that Hess had said that they had been trapped for "about an hour and a half." If the event that trapped them did not happen until almost 10:30, as NIST claims, then they would not have been rescued before noon. And sure enough, in an Interim Report on WTC 7 put out by NIST in 2004, it claimed that Hess and Jennings had been rescued "[a]t 12:10 to 12:15 PM." But that is clearly false, given the fact that Hess was being interviewed several blocks away before noon. [44] NIST would, of course, deny that it had distorted Jennings' testimony. But when we sent a Freedom of Information Act request to NIST to obtain a copy of the Hess and Jennings interviews, NIST declined on the basis of a provision allowing for exemption from FOIA disclosure if the information is "not directly related to the building failure." [45] NIST thereby suggested that a report of a massive explosion within the building would be irrelevant to determining the cause of its failure. Using such an obviously phony reason seemed to be NIST's way of saying: There's no way we're going to release those interviews. The BBC Helps Out: In any case, NIST's attempt to neutralize the testimony of Barry Jennings was aided by the BBC, which interviewed Jennings and then, obviously, changed the timeline, so that the narrator, with her reassuring voice, could say: "At 10:28, the North Tower collapses. . . . This time, Tower 7 takes a direct hit from the collapsing building. . . . Early evidence of explosives were just debris from a falling skyscraper." [46] Mike Rudin, who produced this BBC program, recently telephoned me to discuss the possibility of interviewing me about my little book, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? [47] I told him that I had a book coming out shortly about WTC 7 and that, after seeing it, he probably would not want to interview me. When he asked why, I said because I pointed out that he had obviously distorted the timeline of Jennings's account. When he denied this, I said, OK, show me the uncut, unedited interview. If this interview had showed that Rudin had not distorted the timeline, I would have told the world. Rudin, however, declined to allow me to see the unedited interview. [48] This BBC program had appeared in July of 2008. The first version of NIST's final report ? its Draft for Public Comment ? was to be released at a press briefing on August 21, at which time Sunder would announce that the mystery of the collapse of WTC 7 had been solved. The Death of Barry Jennings: Two days prior to that, Barry Jennings died ? and died very mysteriously. No one has been willing to provide any information as to how or why this 53-year-old man had died. Dylan Avery, trying to find out something, hired a private investigator - reputed to be one of the best in the state of New York - to find out what she could. He used his credit card to pay her a considerable fee. Within 24 hours, however, Avery received a message from her, saying: Due to some of the information I have uncovered, I have determined that this is a job for the police. I have refunded your credit card. Please do not contact me again about this individual. This is not the response one would expect, Avery observed, if she had merely found that Jennings had passed away "innocently in a hospital." [49] The dedication page on my book says: "To the memory of Barry Jennings, whose truth-telling may have cost him his life." Be that as it may, his death was very convenient for NIST, which now did not need to fear that Jennings might hold his own press conference to say that NIST had lied about his testimony. The BBC Helps Out Again: The death of Jennings was also convenient for the BBC, which could now put out a second version of its program on WTC 7, this time including Michael Hess. In the first version, the BBC had pretended that Jennings had been in the building all by himself. Even though Jennings would say, "We did this, and then We did that," the BBC spoke only of Jennings, never mentioning the fact that Hess was with him. But in the new version, which was aired at the end of October 2008, Hess was the star. While admitting that, back on 9/11, he had "assumed that there had been an explosion in the basement," he said: "I know now this was caused by the northern half of Number 1 [the North Tower] falling on the southern half of our building," exactly what Giuliani had said in his book. It is no surprise that Hess supported Giuliani's account, given the fact that since 2002 Hess has been Giuliani's business partner. In spite of the fact that Hess could in no way be considered an impartial witness, Mike Rudin portrayed him as such. On his BBC blog, Rudin said that some "self-styled truthers" had charged that the BBC, in presenting Barry Jennings' testimony, had "misrepresented the chronology." But, Rudin said triumphantly, Michael Hess, "In his first interview since 9/11 . . . confirms our timeline." But Hess's account could be said to "confirm" the BBC timeline only if it were a credible account. In my book, however, I show that it is riddled with problems, so that anyone can easily see that he was lying. [50] 2. NIST's Own Theory of WTC 7's Collapse Thus far, I have spoken about the first half of my book, which deals with NIST's negative claim, namely, that it had found no evidence that explosives were used to bring down WTC 7. NIST could make this argument, I have pointed out, only by committing two kinds of scientific fraud: Ignoring relevant evidence and falsifying evidence ? in this case, the testimony of Barry Jennings. The second half of my book deals with NIST's own theory as to how fire brought the building down. To develop such a theory, NIST had to falsify and fabricate data on a possibly unprecedented scale. And yet, after all of that, it had to violate one of the basic principles of science: Thou shalt not affirm miracles. You perhaps know the cartoon about this. A physics professor has filled several boards with mathematical equations, at the bottom of which we read: "Then a miracle happens." In science, you cannot appeal to miracles, whether explicitly, or only implicitly ? by implying that some basic principle of physics has been violated. And yet that is what NIST does. Fabrication of Evidence But before describing its miracle story, I will point out three especially obvious examples of scientific fraud committed by NIST before it resorted to this desperate expedient. These examples all involve fabrication. No Girder Shear Studs: NIST's explanation as to how fire caused Building 7 to collapse starts with thermal expansion, meaning that the fire heated up the steel, thereby causing it to expand. A steel beam on the 13th floor, NIST claims, caused a steel girder attached to Column 79 to break loose. Having lost its support, Column 79 failed, and this failure started a chain reaction, in which all 82 of the building's steel columns failed. [51] Without getting into the question of whether this is even remotely plausible, let us just focus on the question: Why did that girder fail? It failed, NIST said, because it was not connected to the floor slab with sheer studs. NIST wrote: In WTC 7, no studs were installed on the girders. Floor beams . . . had shear studs, but the girders that supported the floor beams did not have shear studs. This point was crucial to NIST's answer to a commonly asked question: Why did fire cause WTC 7 to collapse, when fire had never before brought down steel-framed high-rise buildings, some of which had had much bigger and longer-lasting fires? NIST's answer was: differences in design. One of those crucial differences, NIST stated repeatedly, was "the absence of [girder] shear studs that would have provided lateral restraint." But this was a fabrication on NIST's part. How can we know this? All we need to do is to look at NIST's Interim Report on WTC 7, which it had published back in 2004, before it had developed its theory of girder failure. This report stated that girders as well as the beams had been attached to the floor by means of shear studs. [52] We have here as clear a case of fabrication as one will see, with NIST simply making up a fact in order to meet the needs of its new theory. The Raging Fire on Floor 12 at 5:00 PM: NIST also contradicted its "interim report" in telling a lie about the fire in the building. NIST claims that there were very big, very hot fires covering much of the north face of the 12th floor at 5:00 PM. This claim is essential to NIST's explanation as to why the building collapsed 21 minutes later. However, if you look back at NIST's interim report, published before it had developed its theory, you will find this statement: Around 4:45 PM, a photograph showed fires on Floors 7, 8, 9, and 11 near the middle of the north face; Floor 12 was burned out by this time. Other photographs even show that the 12th floor fire had virtually burned out by 4:00. And yet NIST now claims that fires were still going strong at 5:00 PM. [53] We have here another clear case of fabrication. Shear Stud Failure: A third case of fabrication involves shear studs again ? this time the shear studs that connected to the steel beams to the floor slab. NIST claims that, due to the failure of that crucial girder discussed earlier, the floor beams were able to expand without constraint. But each of these beams was connected to the floor slab by 28 high- strength shear studs. These studs should have provided plenty of restraint. They would have, except for the fact, NIST tells us, that they all broke. Why did they break? Because of what NIST calls "differential thermal expansion," which is simply a technical way of saying that, in response to the heat from the fires, the steel beams expanded more than the floor slabs did. But why would that have been the case? Steel and concrete have virtually the same "coefficient of thermal expansion," meaning that they expand virtually the same amount in response to heat. If that were not the case, reinforced concrete ? that is, concrete reinforced with steel ? would break up when the weather got very hot or very cold. NIST itself points out that "steel and concrete have similar coefficients of thermal expansion." So why does NIST claim that the shear studs broke because of differential thermal expansion? To understand this point, you need to understand that NIST's theory is an almost totally computer-based theory. NIST fed various variables into a computer program, which then supposedly told it how WTC 7 would have reacted to its fires. So, what did NIST feed into its computer that caused it to say that the steel would have expanded so much more than the concrete slab that all of the shear studs would have broken? The answer is given in this bland statement: No thermal expansion or material degradation was considered for the concrete slab, as the slab was not heated in this analysis. When I first read this statement, I had to rub my eyes. Surely, I thought, I have mis-read the statement, because a few pages earlier, NIST had said: "differential thermal expansion occurred between the steel floor beams and concrete slab when the composite floor was subjected to fire." The "composite floor," by definition, is the steel beams made composite with the floor slab by means of the shear studs. So NIST had clearly said, in stating that the composite floor had been subjected to fire, that both the steel beams and the concrete slab had been heated. But then in the eye-rubbing passage, NIST said: When doing its computer simulation, it told the computer that only the steel beams had been heated; the concrete floor slab was not. [54] So of course the steel beams would have expanded, while the floor slabs stayed stationary, thereby causing the sheer studs to break, after which the steel beams could expand like crazy and bump into Column 79, which then causes the whole building to come down. A comic book version of the official story of 9/11 has been published. [55] This was an exercise in redundancy, because the official reports already are the comic book version of what happened on 9/11. In any case, I come now to NIST's miracle. NIST's Miracle Members of the 9/11 Truth Movement had almost from the first been pointing out that WTC 7 came down at the same rate as a free- falling object, at least virtually so. NIST'S Denial of Free Fall: In NIST's Draft for Public Comment, it denied this, saying that the time for the upper 18 floors to collapse "was approximately 40 percent longer than the computed free fall time and was consistent with physical principles." Implicit in this statement is that any assertion that the building did come down in free fall would not be consistent with physical principles ? that is, the principles of physics. Explaining why not, Shyam Sunder said at a technical briefing: [A] free fall time would be [the fall time of] an object that has no structural components below it. . . . [T]he . . . time that it took . . . for those 17 floors to disappear [was roughly 40 percent [longer than free fall]. And that is not at all unusual, because there was structural resistance that was provided in this particular case. And you had a sequence of structural failures that had to take place. Everything was not instantaneous. Chandler's Challenge: However, high-school physics teacher David Chandler challenged Sunder's denial at this briefing, pointing that Sunder's 40 percent claim contradicts "a publicly visible, easily measurable quantity." The following week, Chandler placed a video on the Internet showing that, by measuring this publicly visible quantity, anyone knowing elementary physics could see that "for about two and a half seconds. . . , the acceleration of the building is indistinguishable from freefall." Finally, Chandler wrote a comment to NIST, saying: "Acknowledgment of and accounting for an extended period of free fall in the collapse of WTC 7 must be a priority if the NIST is to be taken seriously." NIST Admits Free Fall: Amazingly, NIST did acknowledge free fall in its final report. It tried to disguise it, but the admission is there on page 607. Dividing the building's descent into three stages, it describes the second phase as "a freefall descent over approximately eight stories at gravitational acceleration for approximately 2.25 s[econds]. "Gravitational acceleration" is a synonym for free fall acceleration. So, after presenting 606 pages of descriptions, testimonies, photographs, graphs, analyses, explanations, and mathematical formulae, NIST on page 607 says, in effect: "Then a miracle happens." Why this would be a miracle was explained by Chandler, who said: "Free fall can only be achieved if there is zero resistance to the motion." The implication of Chandler's remark is that, by the principles of physics, the upper portion of Building 7 could have come down in free fall only if something had removed all the steel and concrete in the lower part of the building, which would have otherwise provided resistance, and only explosives of some sort could have removed them. If they had not been removed and the upper floors had come down in free fall anyway, even for only a second or two, a miracle would have happened. That was what Sunder himself had explained the previous August, saying that a free-falling object would be one "that has no structural components below it" to offer resistance. Having stated in August that free fall could not have happened, NIST also stated that it did not happen, saying: "WTC 7 did not enter free fall." But then in November, while still defending the same theory, which rules out explosives and thereby rules out free fall, NIST admitted that, as an empirical fact, free fall happened. For a period of 2 and a fourth seconds, NIST admitted, the descent of WTC 7 was characterized by "gravitational acceleration (free fall)." Knowing that it had thereby affirmed a miracle, meaning a violation of a law of physics, NIST no longer claimed that its analysis was consistent with the physical principles. In its Draft put out in August, NIST had repeatedly said that its analysis of the collapse was "consistent with physical principles." One encountered this phrase time and time again. In its final report, however, this phrase is no more to be found. NIST thereby admitted, for those with eyes to see, that its report on WTC 7, by admitting free fall while continuing to deny that explosives were used, is not consistent with the principles of physics. [56] And yet the mainstream press will not report this admission. So the press continues to support the notion that anyone who questions the official reports on 9/11 is unfit for public service. [57] Conclusion The 9/11 Truth Movement has long considered the collapse of Building 7 to be the Achilles' heel of the official story about 9/11 ? the part of this story that, by being most vulnerable, could be used to bring down the whole body of lies. My latest book, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report about 9/11 Is Unscientific and False, shows that the official account of this building is indeed extremely vulnerable to critique ? so vulnerable that, to see the falsity of this account, you need only to read NIST's attempt to defend it, noting the obvious lies in NIST's report and its violations of basic principles of physics. I hope that my book will indeed help bring down that body of lies that some of us call the Bush-Cheney conspiracy theory, according to which al-Qaeda hijackers, by flying planes into two buildings of the World Trade Center, brought down three of them ? an obviously false conspiracy theory that is still being used, among other things, to kill women, children, and other innocent people in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Notes 1. This is a slightly revised version of a lecture presented at the 9/11 Film Festival at Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, California, September 10, 2009. It is based on David Ray Griffin, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report about 9/11 is Unscientific and False (Northampton, Mass., Olive Branch [Interlink Books], 2009). 2. James Glanz, "Engineers Suspect Diesel Fuel in Collapse of 7 World Trade Center," New York Times, November 29, 2001 (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/nyregion/29TOWE.html). 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 5. See FEMA, World Trade Center Building Performance Study (http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch5.pdf), Ch. 5, Sect. 6.2, "Probable Collapse Sequence." 6. Jonathan Barnett, Ronald R. Biederman, and Richard D. Sisson, Jr., "Limited Metallurgical Examination," FEMA, World Trade Center Building Performance Study, May 2002, Appendix C (http://wtc.nist.gov/media/AppendixC-fema403_apc.pdf). 7. James Glanz and Eric Lipton, "A Search for Clues in Towers' Collapse," New York Times, February 2, 2002 (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E0DE153DF931A35751C0A 9649 C8B63). 8. Shyam Sunder, "Opening Statement," NIST Press Briefing, August 21, 2008 http://wtc.nist.gov/media/opening_remarks_082108.html). 9. Quoted in "Report: Fire, Not Bombs, Leveled WTC 7 Building," USA Today, August 21, 2008 (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-21-wtc- nist_N.htm). 10. Union of Concerned Scientists, "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Federal Policymaking" (www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/scientists-sign-on -statement.h tml) . 11. "NIST Whistleblower," October 1, 2007 (http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2007/10/former-nist- employee-blows- whistle.ht ml). 12. Ibid. 13. "What is Research Misconduct?" National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General, New Research Misconduct Policies (http://www.nsf.gov/oig/session.pdf). Although this document is undated, internal evidence suggests that it was written in 2001. 14. Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (1925; New York: Free Press, 1967), 187. 15. Glanz and Lipton, "A Search for Clues in Towers' Collapse." 16. The melting point of iron is 1,538C (2,800F). Steel, as an alloy, comes in different grades, with a range of melting points, depending on (2,500F) to 1,482C (2,700 F); see "Melting Points of Metals" (http://www.uniweld.com/catalog/alloys/alloys_melting.htm). 17. Barnett, Biederman, and Sisson, "Limited Metallurgical Examination," C-13. 18. Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., Testimony before the House Science Committee Hearing on "The Investigation of the World Trade Center Collapse," May 1, 2002 (http://911research.wtc7.net/cache/wtc/official/nist/bement.htm). In the quoted statement, the name "FEMA" replaces "BPAT," which is the abbreviation for "Building Performance Assessment Team," the name of the ASCE team that prepared this report for FEMA. 19. "Questions and Answers about the NIST WTC 7 Investigation," updated December 18, 2008 (http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/wtc_qa_082108.html). 20. RJ Lee Group, "WTC Dust Signature," Expert Report, May 2004 (http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/WTC/130%20Liberty%20Street/Mike%20Davis%20LMD C %20130%20Liberty%20Documents/Signature%20of%20WTC%20dust/WTCDustSigna ture_ExpertReport.051304.1646.mp.pdf), 11. 21. RJ Lee Group, "WTC Dust Signature Study: Composition and Morphology," December 2003 (http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/WTC/130%20Liberty%20Street/Mike%20Davis%20LMD C %20130%20Liberty%20Documents/Signature%20of%20WTC%20dust/WTC%20Dust %20Signature.Composition%20and%20Morphology.Final.pdf), 17. On the differences between the 2003 and 2004 studies, see my discussion in The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report about 9/11 is Unscientific and False (Northampton, Mass., Olive Branch (Interlink Books], 2009), 40-41. 22. RJ Lee Group, "WTC Dust Signature Study" (2003), 24. 23. Ibid., 21. 24. WebElements: The Periodic Table on the Web (http://www.webelements.com/lead/physics.html). 25. WebElements: The Periodic Table on the Web (http://www.webelements.com/molybdenum/physics.html). Although the scientists involved with this USGS study discovered the molybdenum, they did not mention it in their report. Knowledge of their discovery was obtained only by means of a FOIA request. See The Mysterious Collapse, 44-45. 26. Niels H. Harrit, Jeffrey Farrer, Steven E. Jones, Kevin R. Ryan, Frank M. Legge, Daniel Farnsworth, Gregg Roberts, James R. Gourley, and Bradley R. Larsen, "Active Thermitic Material Observed in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe," The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009/2: 7-31 (http://www.bentham.org/open/tocpj/openaccess2.htm). 27. National Fire Protection Association, 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, 1998 Edition (http://www.interfire.org/res_file/92112m.asp), Section 18.3.2. 28. See The Mysterious Collapse, 142-44. 29. Jennifer Abel, "Theories of 9/11," Hartford Advocate, January 29, 2008 (http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=5546). 30. Sunder, "Opening Statement." 31. Ruvolo is quoted in the DVD "Collateral Damages" (http://www.allhandsfire.com/page/AHF/PROD/ISIS-COLL). For just this segment plus discussion, see Steve Watson, "Firefighter Describes 'Molten Metal' at Ground Zero, Like a 'Foundry,'" Inforwars.net, November 17, 2006 (http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/firefighter_describes_molten_met al_ground_z ero_like_foundry.htm). 32. Quoted in Christopher Bollyn, "Professor Says 'Cutter Charges' Brought Down WTC Buildings," American Free Press.net, May 1 & 8, 2006 (http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/cutter_charges_brought_down_wt.htm l). 33. "NIST Engineer, John Gross, Denies the Existance [sic] of Molten Steel" (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=- 7180303712325092501&hl=en). 34. James Williams, "WTC a Structural Success," SEAU News: The Newsletter of the Structural Engineers Association of Utah, October 2001 (http://www.seau.org/SEAUNews-2001-10.pdf). 35. Quoted in Francesca Lyman, "Messages in the Dust: What Are the Lessons of the Environmental Health Response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11?" National Environmental Health Association, September 2003 (http://www.neha.org/9-11%20report/index-The.html). 36. "Mobilizing Public Health: Turning Terror's Tide with Science," Magazine of Johns Hopkins Public Health, Late Fall 2001 (http://www.jhsph.edu/Publications/Special/Welch.htm). 37. Quoted in Bollyn, "Professor Says 'Cutter Charges' Brought Down WTC Buildings." 38. For the FDNY testimonies, see Graeme MacQueen, "118 Witnesses: The Firefighters' Testimony to Explosions in the Twin Towers," Journal of 9/11 Studies, Vol. 2/August 2006 (http://www.journalof911studies.com/articles/Article_5_118Witnesses_World TradeCent er.pdf): 49-123. For a brief discussion of these and other testimonies, see The Mysterious Collapse, 75-82. 39. NIST, "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions," 2006 (http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm), Q. 2. For discussion, see The Mysterious Collapse, 77. 40. NIST, "Letter of Response to Request," September 27, 2007, published in Journal of 9/11 Studies, Vol. 17/November 2007 (http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/2007/NISTresponseToRequestForC orrec tionGourleyEtal2.pdf). 41. This statement (by Peter Demarco) is quoted in Chris Bull and Sam Erman, eds., At Ground Zero: Young Reporters Who Were There Tell Their Stories (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002), 97. 42. Bartmer's statement is quoted in Paul Joseph Watson, "NYPD Officer Heard Building 7 Bombs," Prison Planet, February 10, 2007 (http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/100207heardbombs.htm). 43. For documentation of these points about the testimonies of Hess and Jennings, see The Mysterious Collapse, 84-92. 44. For discussion and documentation of NIST's treatment of the testimonies of Hess and Jennings, see The Mysterious Collapse, 92-94. 45. Letter of August 12, 2009, from Catherine S. Fletcher, Freedom of Information Act Officer, NIST, to a FOIA request of August 8, 2009, from Ms. Susan Peabody, for "[t]he complete texts of NIST's 2004 interviews of Michael Hess and Barry Jennings, which are cited in NIST NCSTAR 1-8... , 109, n.380, as 'WTC 7 Interviews 2041604 and 1041704.'" 46. For discussion and documentation of the BBC's treatment of Hess and Jennings in the first version of its program, see The Mysterious Collapse, 95-99. 47. David Ray Griffin, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? (Northampton: Olive Branch [Interlink Books], 2009). 48. Telephone conversation, September 1, 2001. 49. See The Mysterious Collapse, 98-99. 50. For documentation and discussion of the second version of the BBC's show, including the problems in Hess's testimony, see The Mysterious Collapse, 99-104. 51. See The Mysterious Collapse, 150-55. 52. For documentation and discussion of NIST's claim about the lack of girder shear studs, see The Mysterious Collapse, 212-15. 53. See The Mysterious Collapse, 187-88. 54. For discussion and documentation of this point about failed shear studs, see The Mysterious Collapse, 217-21. As I point out in the book the contradictions between NIST's final report and its 2004 interim report, involving the 4:45 fire and both claims about shear studs, were discovered by Chris Sarns. 55. Sid Jacobson and Ernie Coln, The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006). 56. For documentation and discussion of this point about free fall, see The Mysterious Collapse, 231-41. 57. I am referring to the fact that Van Jones, who had been an Obama administration advisor on "green jobs," felt compelled to resign due to the uproar evoked by the revelation that he had signed a petition questioning the official account of 9/11. The view that this act made him unworthy was perhaps articulated most clearly by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer. After dismissing as irrelevant the other reasons that had been given for demanding Jones's resignation, Krauthammer wrote: "He's gone for one reason and one reason only. You can't sign a petition demanding ... investigations of the charge that the Bush administration deliberately allowed Sept. 11, 2001 ? i.e., collaborated in the worst massacre ever perpetrated on American soil ? and be permitted in polite society, let alone have a high-level job in the White House. Unlike the other stuff ... , this is no trivial matter. It's beyond radicalism, beyond partisanship. It takes us into the realm of political psychosis, a malignant paranoia that, unlike the Marxist posturing, is not amusing. It's dangerous....You can no more have a truther in the White House than you can have a Holocaust denier ? a person who creates a hallucinatory alternative reality in the service of a fathomless malice" (Charles Krauthammer?, "The Van Jones Matter," Washington Post, September 11, 2009 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/09/10/AR20090910 03408.ht ml Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. To become a Member of Global Research The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor at yahoo.com www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner. For media inquiries: crgeditor at yahoo.com  Copyright David Ray Griffin, Global Research, 2009 The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=15201  Copyright 2005-2007 GlobalResearch.ca Web site engine by Polygraphx Multimedia  Copyright 2005- 2007 --------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 30 17:30:35 2009 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:30:35 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Palin's new book a comedy triumph Message-ID: <20091001003036.86D2EF1D4@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Just go to http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/142960/sarah_palin%27s_book_has_a_release_date select "skip this message" if necessary, and read on. The readers' comments are a hoot ! Dion Giles