From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 1 09:17:06 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:17:06 -0000 Subject: [news] Firefighters Asked to Report People who Express Discontent with the Government Message-ID: <20071201171706.8461.qmail@resist.ca> Friday, November 30 2007 It was revealed last week that firefighters are being trained to not only keep an eye out for illegal materials in the course of their duties, but even to report back any expression of discontent with the government. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/firefighters_asked_report_people_who_express_discontent_government URL: http://mostlywater.org/firefighters_asked_report_people_who_express_discontent_government From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 1 13:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Starting-points for an Anti-corporate Environmentalism Message-ID: <20071201211705.7190.qmail@resist.ca> The weakness of the environmental movement today ? that is, our inability to deliver meaningful reforms that might make a real difference on issues like climate change ? is plain to see. Though we have been successful at extracting vague promises from politicians and ?green? marketing gimmicks from corporations, we have been completely unable to secure the kind of fundamental social change needed to really grapple with the problems that we face. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/startingpoints_anticorporate_environmentalism URL: http://mostlywater.org/startingpoints_anticorporate_environmentalism From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 3 10:40:09 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:40:09 -0000 Subject: [news] Information Warfare Without Limits Message-ID: <20071203184009.1681.qmail@resist.ca> The 2003 Pentagon document entitled _Operation Roadmap_ describes the need to dominate the entire electromagnetic spectrum, 'fight the net', and use psychological operations to aggressively modify behaviour. But one major question remains; are there any limits to information warfare? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/information_warfare_without_limits URL: http://mostlywater.org/information_warfare_without_limits From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 3 10:40:09 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:40:09 -0000 Subject: [news] Annapolis Hypocrisy Hides Occupied Palestine Reality Message-ID: <20071203184009.1680.qmail@resist.ca> The grim reality of daily life in occupied Palestine against the backdrop of another peace offensive going nowhere by design. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/annapolis_hypocrisy_hides_occupied_palestine_reality URL: http://mostlywater.org/annapolis_hypocrisy_hides_occupied_palestine_reality From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 3 12:17:29 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:17:29 -0000 Subject: [news] Federal Court Strikes Down Refugee Agreement Message-ID: <20071203201730.17020.qmail@resist.ca> Fri. Nov. 30 2007 | CTV.ca News Staff The United States is not a safe country for refugees, the Federal Court said Thursday as it ruled that Canada will no longer have the right to turn back asylum seekers at the border. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/federal_court_strikes_down_refugee_agreement URL: http://mostlywater.org/federal_court_strikes_down_refugee_agreement From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 3 15:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Settlers and natives, united against the government Message-ID: <20071203231704.13787.qmail@resist.ca> Settlers and natives, united against the government Let us head down Snow Road on this morning when the plowed banks are higher than they have been any Dec. 3 for some time. Let us visit on a bitter weekend when Environment Canada has predicted the coldest winter in 15 years. And here let us talk about global warming - and the hints of heat to come in at least the next 15 years. Snow Road is not far from the Sharbot Lake standoff between the Ardoch and Obaadjiwan Algonquin First Nations - joined by an increasing number of white neighbours - and Frontenac Ventures Corp. over uranium exploration in Eastern Ontario. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/settlers_and_natives_united_against_government URL: http://mostlywater.org/settlers_and_natives_united_against_government From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 3 23:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] A Tutorial in Orwellian Newspeak: The U.S. 'Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act' Message-ID: <20071204071704.6565.qmail@resist.ca> In the service of some self-serving ?other purposes,? will ?extremist beliefs? become any belief the temporary occupants of the White House consider antithetical and threatening to their political agenda?...Will ?ideologically based violence? or the use of ?force? become little more than the mayhem resulting after a peaceful protest, daring to move beyond the barbed wire of the free speech zone, is attacked by a truncheon-wielding riot squad armed with tear gas, German Shepard dogs and water cannons? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/tutorial_orwellian_newspeak_us_homegrown_terrorism_prevention_act URL: http://mostlywater.org/tutorial_orwellian_newspeak_us_homegrown_terrorism_prevention_act From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 4 09:40:15 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:40:15 -0000 Subject: [news] Venezuela's Social Democracy Hits a Speed Bump Message-ID: <20071204174016.7064.qmail@resist.ca> Venezuela's democratic spirit remains strong in spite of Sunday's electoral setback. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/venezuelas_social_democracy_hits_speed_bump URL: http://mostlywater.org/venezuelas_social_democracy_hits_speed_bump From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 4 10:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Palestine: The One State Declaration Message-ID: <20071204181704.13812.qmail@resist.ca> ...[E]fforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them...[W]e affirm our commitment to a democratic solution that will offer a just, and thus enduring, peace in a single state based on the following principles: [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/palestine_one_state_declaration URL: http://mostlywater.org/palestine_one_state_declaration From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 4 10:40:10 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:40:10 -0000 Subject: [news] 90th Anniversary of the October Revolution Message-ID: <20071204184010.32328.qmail@resist.ca> [As a] left-winger, I am supposed to venerate the day of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. But no, I have never felt like celebrating....And yes, despite all the atrocities and blunders and the totalitarian outcome of the October Revolution, the Russian people have all the reasons to commemorate the storming of the Winter Palace...As always, this year I felt an irresistible impulse to leave Moscow...Getting off the train in [St. Petersburg], I learned the news that the workers of the Ford plant commemorated the Russian Revolution's 90th anniversary in their special way ? they went on strike. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/90th_anniversary_october_revolution URL: http://mostlywater.org/90th_anniversary_october_revolution From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 4 11:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] U.S. Changes Asylum Rules Message-ID: <20071204191704.5517.qmail@resist.ca> More people seeking asylum in the U.S. could be detained and then jailed longer under a new Homeland Security Department policy for people wanting safe harbor...Immigration and Customs Enforcement...said it issued the new policy Nov. 6 to make detention rules for asylum seekers more consistent and clear. But refugee advocates say it sets tougher standards for asylum seekers to win parole from detention. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/us_changes_asylum_rules URL: http://mostlywater.org/us_changes_asylum_rules From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 4 12:40:10 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:40:10 -0000 Subject: [news] U.S. Plans to Screen All Who Enter, Leave Country Message-ID: <20071204204011.32339.qmail@resist.ca> Personal Data Will Be Cross-Checked With Terrorism Watch Lists; Risk Profiles to Be Stored for Years By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer S. Hsu | Washington Post | November 3, 2006 [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/us_plans_screen_all_who_enter_leave_country URL: http://mostlywater.org/us_plans_screen_all_who_enter_leave_country From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 5 11:40:19 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:40:19 -0000 Subject: [news] [VIDEO] The Story Of Stuff: Unmasking Consumer Culture Message-ID: <20071205194020.32495.qmail@resist.ca> Annie Leonard A new short film released today online takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture -- from resource extraction to iPod incineration -- exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff. > The Story Of Stuff Challenges American Consumerism Just In Time For The Holidays [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/story_stuff_free_video_unmasks_consumer_culture URL: http://mostlywater.org/story_stuff_free_video_unmasks_consumer_culture From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 6 11:17:18 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:17:18 -0000 Subject: [news] "I've Been Demoralized, Humiliated...& Mistreated": South Asian Sister & Brother Allege Harassment by Victoria Cops Message-ID: <20071206191719.17011.qmail@resist.ca> A brother and sister from Vancouver Island have filed official complaints against the Victoria police, alleging officers unfairly targeted and harassed them...Bobby Kapoor and sister Monica [said]...they have been detained by Victoria police several times over the last few months..."I've been demoralized, humiliated and I feel like I've been mistreated," said Bobby Kapoor [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/ive_been_demoralized_humiliated_mistreated_south_asian_sister_brother_allege_harassment_victoria_cops URL: http://mostlywater.org/ive_been_demoralized_humiliated_mistreated_south_asian_sister_brother_allege_harassment_victoria_cops From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 6 11:40:11 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:40:11 -0000 Subject: [news] Some Thoughts on the Calexico/Mexicali "No Borders" Camp Message-ID: <20071206194012.21707.qmail@resist.ca> I don't want to make this very long, but I feel like I want to publicly offer some self-critique about the **No Borders Camp** in Calexico/Mexicali, which I helped to organize for the first year of the organizing process, but haven't been so close to in the last 6 months... [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/some_thoughts_calexicomexicali_no_borders_camp URL: http://mostlywater.org/some_thoughts_calexicomexicali_no_borders_camp From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 6 12:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Israel's "Right" to be Racist: Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist" as a Jewish State Message-ID: <20071206201703.26599.qmail@resist.ca> We must see that the uncritically accepted recognition of [Israel's] right to exist is...to accept [Israel's] claim to have the right to be racist or...Israel's claim to have the right to occupy to dispossess and to discriminate. What is it...that prevent Israelis and so many of world Jews to respond to the egalitarian challenge? What is it...that oppresses the whole world to sing the song of a "peace process" that is destined to legitimise racism in Palestine? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/israels_right_be_racist_why_israel_has_no_right_exist_jewish_state URL: http://mostlywater.org/israels_right_be_racist_why_israel_has_no_right_exist_jewish_state From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 6 16:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] U.S. Meddling in Australian Politics Message-ID: <20071207001703.22250.qmail@resist.ca> "Being just out of Australia in 1972...I was elated when receiving the news that [Gough] Whitlam had become the first Labor Party Prime Minister in 23 years. I knew he was opposed to the Vietnam War and assumed that the alliance between Australia and the U.S. on the war would be strained if not broken...Little did I realize how angry he would make the Nixon administration and the CIA." [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/us_meddling_australian_politics URL: http://mostlywater.org/us_meddling_australian_politics From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 7 12:17:23 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:17:23 -0000 Subject: [news] Salt Lake City Activist on Vancouver 2010 Olympics: "The Olympics are a Project to Quicken Gentrification" Message-ID: <20071207201724.12770.qmail@resist.ca> **Glen Bailey** is the Director of the Crossroads Urban Center in **Salt Lake City** and was a spokesperson with _Impact 2002 and Beyond_, an Olympic watchdog group in Salt Lake City in the lead up to the 2002 [Salt Lake City] Winter Olympics. He spoke over the phone with [Vancouver activist] Am Johal [about the impact of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games]. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/salt_lake_city_activist_vancouver_2010_olympics_olympics_are_project_quicken_gentrification URL: http://mostlywater.org/salt_lake_city_activist_vancouver_2010_olympics_olympics_are_project_quicken_gentrification From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 7 13:17:15 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:17:15 -0000 Subject: [news] Canadian youth are embarrassed by the lack of leadership demonstrated by Canada and the Harper government in Bali Message-ID: <20071207211716.7182.qmail@resist.ca> [![][1]][2]Early Friday morning activists from the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) dropped a large banner off of the Burrard Street Bridge to bring attention to Canada's position at the UN Climate Change summit in Bali currently taking place. The unfurled banner read "Hey Harper! Real Climate Leadership in Bali.", amidst reports from Bali that Canada is refusing to commit to reducing emissions unless all nations, even poor developing countries, accept binding targets. [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/cycc_banner.thumbnail.jpg () [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/canadian_youth_are_embarrassed_lack_leadership_demonstrated_canada_and_harper_government_bali URL: http://mostlywater.org/canadian_youth_are_embarrassed_lack_leadership_demonstrated_canada_and_harper_government_bali From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 7 13:17:16 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:17:16 -0000 Subject: [news] [2 Articles] John Graham Looses Appeal and Deported, Deprived of Family Visit Message-ID: <20071207211716.7183.qmail@resist.ca> Last Updated: Friday, December 7, 2007 [![][1]][2] The family of B.C. resident John Graham, who is accused in a decades-old murder in the U.S., say they are shocked and angry he was extradited without notice hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal to stay in the country. > "I fear that John will not receive a fair trial in the US any more than I did. I must remind you, it is court record that the FBI lied to extradite me back to the US." ? Leonard Peltier [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/JohnGraham.thumbnail.jpg () [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/2_articles_john_graham_looses_appeal_and_deported_deprived_family_visit URL: http://mostlywater.org/2_articles_john_graham_looses_appeal_and_deported_deprived_family_visit From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 8 15:17:10 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:17:10 -0000 Subject: [news] Vancouver: Probation Office Locks Glued on Night of John Graham's Extradition - Graffiti Left Message-ID: <20071208231710.16775.qmail@resist.ca> On the night of December 6, 2007, the locks of the probation office on Commercial Drive were glued shut and ?FREE JOHN GRAHAM!? was spray painted on the roof. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/vancouver_probation_office_locks_glued_night_john_grahams_extradition_graffiti URL: http://mostlywater.org/vancouver_probation_office_locks_glued_night_john_grahams_extradition_graffiti From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 9 22:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] 710 Days and Counting: Still Here Message-ID: <20071210061703.24831.qmail@resist.ca> For almost two years, Abdelkader Belaouni, or Kader, has been confined to a church in Point St. Charles, Montreal. On 1 January 2006, 704 days ago, Kader took refuge in St. Gabriel?s church after being threatened with deportation. He has been unable to leave ever since for fear of being arrested and deported. [![][1]][2] A Montreal photographer offers an intimate introduction to Kader, his life in sanctuary, his friends and supporters, his determination, his struggle to keep hope and dignity. [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/DSCF0634+037.thumbnail.jpg () [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/710_and_counting_still_here URL: http://mostlywater.org/710_and_counting_still_here From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 02:17:17 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:17:17 -0000 Subject: [news] Healthy Food a Luxury for Low-Income Families in Vancouver: British Columbia Has Worst Child Poverty Rate in Canada Message-ID: <20071210101717.24579.qmail@resist.ca> Poor families in [British Columbia] don't earn enough money to buy basic healthy food and pay rent, let alone afford clothes, transportation and personal care items, report B.C. dietitians and nutritionists...Community nutritionists report more children are struggling at school because they haven't had enough to eat, and more families...are having difficulty adequately feeding their children at a time when healthy eating is recognized as a cornerstone of health... [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/healthy_food_luxury_lowincome_families_vancouver_british_columbia_has_worst_child_poverty_rate_canada URL: http://mostlywater.org/healthy_food_luxury_lowincome_families_vancouver_british_columbia_has_worst_child_poverty_rate_canada From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 10:17:09 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:17:09 -0000 Subject: [news] Ritual Gloating Postmortems: The Corporate Media v. Hugo Chavez Message-ID: <20071210181709.1478.qmail@resist.ca> The corporate media gloats over Venezuela's referendum setback, but Chavez may get the last laugh. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/ritual_gloating_postmortems_corporate_media_v_hugo_chavez URL: http://mostlywater.org/ritual_gloating_postmortems_corporate_media_v_hugo_chavez From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 11:17:18 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:17:18 -0000 Subject: [news] Why Are We in Afghanistan? Message-ID: <20071210191720.26481.qmail@resist.ca> Whatever our reasons for invading Afghanistan in the first place, our reasons for still being there have little to do with simply pleasing the United States and everything to do with the [usual] causes of war: self-interest and profit. And all Canadians are complicit whether they know it or not...To be against this war, we must not only accept the way in which we currently benefit from it, but we must be prepared to accept the consequences of ending it. Because the reality is that it cannot be ended without cost. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/why_are_we_afghanistan URL: http://mostlywater.org/why_are_we_afghanistan From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 12:17:29 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:17:29 -0000 Subject: [news] Those Made Homeless by Katrina, Now Face Gov't Bulldozers Message-ID: <20071210201729.3703.qmail@resist.ca> By Abra Pollock WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (IPS) - Low-income residents of New Orleans are frantically struggling to secure the right to return to their homes before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) begins demolishing thousands of public housing units next week. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/those_made_homeless_katrina_now_face_govt_bulldozers URL: http://mostlywater.org/those_made_homeless_katrina_now_face_govt_bulldozers From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 12:17:29 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:17:29 -0000 Subject: [news] Is Canadian Military Aid Funding Assassinations in the Philippines? Message-ID: <20071210201730.3705.qmail@resist.ca> by Stefan Christoff As Canadian military aid to the Arroyo government continues to flow, the southern Philippines has been labeled a "new front" to the US-driven 'War on Terror' opened shortly after 9/11, in an effort to legitimate the heightened targeting of armed movements rooted in the minority Muslim community by both the Philippine military and US forces stationed in the country, according to human rights advocates. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/canadian_military_aid_funding_assassinations_philippines URL: http://mostlywater.org/canadian_military_aid_funding_assassinations_philippines From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 10 12:17:29 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:17:29 -0000 Subject: [news] How to Control the AMERICAN Population by Paul Ehrlich Message-ID: <20071210201731.3706.qmail@resist.ca> "So the first task is population control at home. How do we go about it? Many of my colleagues feel that some sort of compulsory birth regulation would be necessary to achieve such control. One plan often mentioned involved the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food. Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired population size." [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_american_population_paul_ehrlich URL: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_american_population_paul_ehrlich From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 11 10:17:28 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:17:28 -0000 Subject: [news] BP Set To Commit 'The Biggest Environmental Crime in History' Message-ID: <20071211181729.11245.qmail@resist.ca> by Cahal Milmo | December 10, 2007 | by The Independent BP, the British oil giant that pledged to move "Beyond Petroleum" by finding cleaner ways to produce fossil fuels, is being accused of abandoning its "green sheen" by investing nearly ?1.5bn to extract oil from the Canadian wilderness using methods which environmentalists say are part of the ?biggest global warming crime? in history. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/bp_set_commit_%C2%91_biggest_environmental_crime_history%C2%92 URL: http://mostlywater.org/bp_set_commit_%C2%91_biggest_environmental_crime_history%C2%92 From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 11 10:17:28 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:17:28 -0000 Subject: [news] Laibar Singh Wins Another Temporary Stay Message-ID: <20071211181730.11247.qmail@resist.ca> [![Laibar Singh][1]][2]Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun | Monday, December 10, 2007 METRO VANCOUVER - An attempt to deport a paralysed man [Laibar Singh] back to India on International Human Rights Day fell apart after a grass-roots protest at Vancouver International Airport Monday literally halted traffic and prevented border and immigration agents from taking custody of him. [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/Singh+YVR+protest.thumbnail.jpg (Laibar Singh) [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/laibar_singh_wins_another_temporary_stay URL: http://mostlywater.org/laibar_singh_wins_another_temporary_stay From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 11 12:17:21 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:17:21 -0000 Subject: [news] PFLP Leader Calls on Hamas to Renounce Hegemony Over Gaza Message-ID: <20071211201723.13877.qmail@resist.ca> Local leader of the **Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine** (PFLP), Jamil Majdalawi, called on Hamas on Saturday to renounce control over the coastal region...The leftist leader [also] criticized...Palestinian Authority (PA) arrests [underway] among local Palestinians throughout the West Bank... [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/pflp_leader_calls_hamas_renounce_hegemony_over_gaza URL: http://mostlywater.org/pflp_leader_calls_hamas_renounce_hegemony_over_gaza From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 11 19:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] NIE: "No Nukes in Iran"; Bush: "What's a NIE?" [2 stories] Message-ID: <20071212031704.10212.qmail@resist.ca> Counter Punch (Paul Roberts and Alexander Cockburn) The latest, fatal instrument of Bush?s public humiliation is the National Intelligence Estimate proclaiming in its unclassified version that Iran stopped trying to build a nuclear weapon in 2003, thus deliberately, with humiliating clarity contradicting Bush and Cheney?s unending invocation of the Iranian nuclear threat. - Cockburn [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/nie_no_nukes_iran_bush_whats_nie_2_stories URL: http://mostlywater.org/nie_no_nukes_iran_bush_whats_nie_2_stories From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 11 20:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] The U.S. and Her Fundamentalist Stooges are the Main Human Rights Violators in Afghanistan Message-ID: <20071212041705.19161.qmail@resist.ca> After about seven years, there is no peace, human rights, democracy and reconstruction in Afghanistan. On the contrary, the destitution and suffering of our people has doubled everyday. Our people, and even our unfortunate children, fall victim to the Jehadis' infighting...[T]he Taliban's untargeted blasts and the US/NATO's non-stop bombardments. The Northern Alliance blood-suckers, who are part of Karzai's team and have key government posts, continue to be the main and the most serious obstacle towards the establishment of peace and democracy in Afghanistan. --December 10 statement of **Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan** [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/us_and_her_fundamentalist_stooges_are_main_human_rights_violators_afghanistan URL: http://mostlywater.org/us_and_her_fundamentalist_stooges_are_main_human_rights_violators_afghanistan From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 12 14:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] BC Supreme Court Injunction Granted Preventing 'Shell' from Destroying Tahltan Cultural Property Message-ID: <20071212221704.19924.qmail@resist.ca> Klabona Keepers | Dec 10, 2007 This afternoon, on the 10th anniversary of the 1997 Delgamuukw landmark decision the Honorable Mr. Justice Hinkson granted Rhoda Qouck, a representative of the Klabona Keepers Society, a BC Supreme Court Interim Injunction [which] prevent[s] Shell from engaging in the road construction on Klabona Territory (Tahltan), in Northern BC, that would have risked destroying ancient trials and would certainly have destroyed other ?significant Cultural Properties?. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/bc_supreme_court_injunction_granted_preventing_shell_destroying_tahltan_cultural_property URL: http://mostlywater.org/bc_supreme_court_injunction_granted_preventing_shell_destroying_tahltan_cultural_property From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 08:17:15 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:17:15 -0000 Subject: [news] FCC Proposes Greater Media Consolidation Message-ID: <20071213161716.30428.qmail@resist.ca> FCC proposal will greatly harm independent journalism. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/fcc_proposes_greater_media_consolidation URL: http://mostlywater.org/fcc_proposes_greater_media_consolidation From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 08:17:16 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:17:16 -0000 Subject: [news] Greece: Closed Message-ID: <20071213161716.30429.qmail@resist.ca> Wednesday, December 12 2007 | Oread Daily The General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) and the Civil Servants? Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) called the nationwide general strike in protest over the country?s social security system. "Participation is almost total. There is overwhelming outrage and condemnation at the government's policies," spokesman Efstathios Anestis of GSEE told Reuters. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/greece_closed URL: http://mostlywater.org/greece_closed From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 11:17:37 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:17:37 -0000 Subject: [news] Political Science Masquerading as Climate Science Message-ID: <20071213191737.6853.qmail@resist.ca> For an adjunct professor in a Danish business school, **Bjorn Lomborg** purports to know a lot about the environment: he's made a career out of denying climate change. That's why he's been sponsored by the Fraser Institute, a right-wing business lobby group, on another Canadian speaking tour...The scientific debate over global warming has long been settled. Only a few climate sceptics such as Lomborg remain, bankrolled by the oil industry and promoted by the right wing institutes and conservative news media. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/political_science_masquerading_climate_science URL: http://mostlywater.org/political_science_masquerading_climate_science From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 11:17:37 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:17:37 -0000 Subject: [news] The Tar Sands Issue Message-ID: <20071213191737.6854.qmail@resist.ca> [![Dominion - Tar Sands Issue][1]][2]The Dominion has released its much anticipated special issue on the tar sands. What do you know about the largest industrial project in human history? If you're in Newfoundland or the Maritimes, you probably have family or friends who work there. If you live in Alberta, you probably hear about it being a major source of economic growth. If you're connected to environmental groups, you probably know that continued development in the Tar Sands will make it impossible for Canada to meet its treaty obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/dominion-tarsands-cover.thumbnail.jpg (Dominion - Tar Sands Issue) [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/tar_sands_issue_48 URL: http://mostlywater.org/tar_sands_issue_48 From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 11:17:37 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:17:37 -0000 Subject: [news] Kosovo: A New War in the Balkans? (Two Articles) Message-ID: <20071213191737.6855.qmail@resist.ca> The United States and its European allies have announced that diplomacy has failed to solve the Kosovo problem. When diplomacy fails, that means war. Especially in so serious a matter as unilaterally declaring the independence of a part of another country's territory. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/kosovo_new_war_balkans_two_articles URL: http://mostlywater.org/kosovo_new_war_balkans_two_articles From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 17:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] New U.S. Poll: Neocon Jewish Groups are Unrepresentative of Jewish Opinion Message-ID: <20071214011704.3262.qmail@resist.ca> Most American Jews resoundingly reject the Middle East militarism and [Rebublican] foreign policy championed by right-wing Jewish factions...A new survey of American Jewish opinion...demonstrates several important propositions: [R]ight-wing neocons...who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews...[V]iewpoints that are routinely demonized as reflective of animus towards Israel or even anti-Semitism are ones that are held by large majorities of American Jews; and most American Jews oppose U.S. military action in the Middle East -- including both in Iraq and against Iran. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/new_us_poll_neocon_jewish_groups_are_unrepresentative_jewish_opinion URL: http://mostlywater.org/new_us_poll_neocon_jewish_groups_are_unrepresentative_jewish_opinion From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 13 18:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Gaza: the Final Solution in Slow Motion Message-ID: <20071214021703.11827.qmail@resist.ca> For many months ill Palestinians have been dying needlessly because many...trucks have not been authorized to transport medicines or even any other basic products - to the prison into which Gaza has been transformed. The martyr children **Mohammad Turk, Mohammad Helow** and **Shaban Lulu**, are only three of the hundreds of Palestinians that have died in the last so many months as a result of the Israeli and international blockade. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/gaza_final_solution_slow_motion URL: http://mostlywater.org/gaza_final_solution_slow_motion From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 14 02:17:16 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:17:16 -0000 Subject: [news] Alert! Action at Bear Mountain Treesit! Message-ID: <20071214101716.17780.qmail@resist.ca> The Time to Take a Stand is NOW! A flurry of unfriendly visitors at the site of the proposed Bear Mountain interchange in Langford has the tree sitters preparing for an eviction notice. The Spaet Mountain Action Coalition is calling for people to join the tree sitters and help with ground support, climbing gear (especially rope) and video cameras. We ask that everyone in the community witness this action to defend the sacred cave, endangered species, and wetlands. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/alert_action_bear_mountain_treesit URL: http://mostlywater.org/alert_action_bear_mountain_treesit From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 14 11:17:06 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:17:06 -0000 Subject: [news] Arctic Summers Ice-free 'by 2013' Message-ID: <20071214191706.20149.qmail@resist.ca> [![][1]][2]By Jonathan Amos | Science reporter, BBC News, San Francisco [T]he ice-albedo feedback effect [is when] open water [absorbs] more solar radiation [than ice], which in turn leads to additional warming and further melting. "The loss this year will precondition the ice for the same thing to happen again next year, only worse. **In the end, it will just melt away quite suddenly**." [read more][3] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/arctic+ice+melt.thumbnail.jpg () [2]: http://mostlywater.org/ [3]: http://mostlywater.org/arctic_summers_icefree_2013 URL: http://mostlywater.org/arctic_summers_icefree_2013 From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 14 17:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] "B.C. Shale Gas Set to be Next Generation's Tar Sands" Message-ID: <20071215011705.20707.qmail@resist.ca> B.C. shale gas set to be next generation's oil sands PATRICK BRETHOUR December 14, 2007 VANCOUVER -- In the remote north of the province, there is a vast warehouse of hydrocarbons lurking in difficult geology, waiting for the right combination of technology, economics and entrepreneurial guts to free them. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/bc_shale_gas_set_be_next_generations_tar_sands URL: http://mostlywater.org/bc_shale_gas_set_be_next_generations_tar_sands From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 14 17:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] Crude Awakening: Why are Environmentalists Asleep at the Tar Sands Wheel? Message-ID: <20071215011705.20709.qmail@resist.ca> Crude awakening Why are environmentalists asleep at the tar sands wheel? BY Dru Oja Jay Alberta?s tar sands are on pace to become the largest industrial project in human history. The development will arguably become the single most environmentally destructive undertaking in Canadian history. The response from environmental groups and progressives has been meek. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/crude_awakening_why_are_environmentalists_asleep_tar_sands_wheel URL: http://mostlywater.org/crude_awakening_why_are_environmentalists_asleep_tar_sands_wheel From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 15 11:17:20 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:17:20 -0000 Subject: [news] The Racist Roots of the Anti-Immigration Movement Message-ID: <20071215191721.27240.qmail@resist.ca> Prominent leaders of the anti-immigration movement would have us believe that not [an] ounce of racism lies behind their efforts. The most media-visible figures in this camp...may argue the case for restricting, deporting, rounding up and cutting off public services to those ?illegals? stigmatized as culturally backward, unhealthy potential terrorists. But they protest that their motives for doing so are as pure as the driven snow...[But]...[t]he racist roots of the anti-immigration movement run deep. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/racist_roots_antiimmigration_movement URL: http://mostlywater.org/racist_roots_antiimmigration_movement From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 15 14:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] Police Limit the use of Tasers Message-ID: <20071215221705.6519.qmail@resist.ca> **Change made after watchdog's report** By CHARMAINE NORONHA | The Associated Press | December 15, 2007 TORONTO - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Friday that it will restrict its use of Taser stun guns in response to a watchdog agency report that officers were firing them too often. Three people have died recently in Canada after being shocked by stun guns. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/police_limit_use_tasers URL: http://mostlywater.org/police_limit_use_tasers From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 15 16:17:10 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:17:10 -0000 Subject: [news] Northern Michigan tribes, environment groups burned by state approval of sulfide "acid" mine; Protest rally planned Message-ID: <20071216001710.6168.qmail@resist.ca> The state of Michigan has given northern Michigan tribes and environmental groups a terrible Christmas present: Approval of permits for the Kennecott Minerals Company to build its Eagle Project sulfide mine along Lake Superior and underneath a prime trout stream near Marquette. A protest rally will be held starting at 12 noon ET on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007 in front of the u.S. Courthouse and Post Office in Marquette, Michigan. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/northern_michigan_tribes_environment_groups_burned_state_approval_sulfide_acid_mine_protest_rally_planned URL: http://mostlywater.org/northern_michigan_tribes_environment_groups_burned_state_approval_sulfide_acid_mine_protest_rally_planned From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 16 16:17:28 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:17:28 -0000 Subject: [news] "I Am a Zionist & This is Zionism": Private Contractors Being Used to Evict Israeli Arabs Message-ID: <20071217001729.18755.qmail@resist.ca> by Neve Gordon and Erez Tzafadia - UK Guardian For less than four dollars an hour, the Jewish teenagers removed furniture, clothes, kitchenware and toys from the homes and loaded them on to trucks. As they worked diligently alongside the many policemen who had come to secure the destruction of 30 houses in two unrecognised Bedouin [Arab] villages, Bedouin teenagers stood by watching their homes being emptied...[When] a Bedouin activist asked one of the Jewish teenagers why he had agreed to participate in the eviction...the teenager replied: "I am a Zionist and what we are doing here today is Zionism." [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/i_am_zionist_zionism_private_contractors_being_used_evict_israeli_arabs URL: http://mostlywater.org/i_am_zionist_zionism_private_contractors_being_used_evict_israeli_arabs From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 16 16:17:29 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:17:29 -0000 Subject: [news] Did He Jump or Was He Pushed?: Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti Message-ID: <20071217001730.18759.qmail@resist.ca> by Peter Hallward - December 15, 2007 ...[W]hat happened in the climactic hours just before [former President Jean-Bertrand] Aristide left Haiti. With his back to the wall, did he choose to save his skin and accept a US offer for safe passage to a friendly third country? Or, on the contrary, was he forced to resign by hostile foreign troops before being led...onto an American plane?...[I]t?s perfectly obvious...that Aristide was pushed out...Aristide?s government wasn?t perfect, but its violent removal was an outrageous political crime. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/did_he_jump_or_was_he_pushed_aristide_and_2004_coup_haiti_2 URL: http://mostlywater.org/did_he_jump_or_was_he_pushed_aristide_and_2004_coup_haiti_2 From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 16 19:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] There Has Never Been a True Left in Israel Message-ID: <20071217031704.8528.qmail@resist.ca> By Oren Ben-Dor - June 23 / 24, 2007 The presumption challenged is that it is morally acceptable to have a state whose legal structures assign preferential stake to all those who pass some test of Jewishness. It is not surprising that the Israeli right wing rejects this challenge. But why is the message also rejected by those Israelis, and their Western supporters, who claim to be concerned about human rights? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/there_has_never_been_true_left_israel URL: http://mostlywater.org/there_has_never_been_true_left_israel From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 16 19:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Ecuador to Evict U.S. from Air Base; Offer Base to China Message-ID: <20071217031704.8529.qmail@resist.ca> When the U.S. Air Force Southern Command's 10-year usage rights for Ecuador's Manta air base expire in 2009, it can expect to be evicted in favor of China. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/ecuador_evict_us_air_base_offer_base_china URL: http://mostlywater.org/ecuador_evict_us_air_base_offer_base_china From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 17 09:17:14 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:17:14 -0000 Subject: [news] Police State America - A Look Back and Ahead Message-ID: <20071217171716.30788.qmail@resist.ca> An analysis of how the US republic died post-9/11 Year end is a good time to look back and reflect on what's ahead. If past is prologue, however, the outlook isn't good, and nothing on the horizon suggests otherwise. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/police_state_america_look_back_and_ahead URL: http://mostlywater.org/police_state_america_look_back_and_ahead From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 17 10:17:09 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:17:09 -0000 Subject: [news] 299 Communists Escape in Daring India Jailbreak Message-ID: <20071217181709.7683.qmail@resist.ca> The Associated Press | Dec. 16, 2007 NEW DELHI - Nearly 300 communist prisoners escaped in a daring jailbreak amid a hail of gunfire Sunday in restive eastern India, police said. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/299_escape_daring_india_jailbreak URL: http://mostlywater.org/299_escape_daring_india_jailbreak From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 17 14:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Insulting the Memory of an Anti-Apartheid Activist Message-ID: <20071217221703.12196.qmail@resist.ca> By Vivian Tabar Originally published in AlWattan (Toronto), Issue24, October 2007 The Jewish National Fund (JNF) recently announced that they plan on rebuilding a section of the Birya forest, located in the Galilee, and will name it after the late Coretta Scott King, the renowned civil rights and anti-apartheid activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr. The Coretta Scott King Forest is set to be built as part of ?Operation Northern Renewal?, a $400 million campaign launched by the JNF to rebuild its forests in the North that were destroyed during Israel?s brutal assault on Lebanon last summer. Reportedly, approximately 2 million trees were either completely burned or damaged beyond repair by Hezbollah?s Katuysha rocket fire on Northern Occupied Palestine. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/insulting_memory_antiapartheid_activist URL: http://mostlywater.org/insulting_memory_antiapartheid_activist From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 18 09:17:52 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:17:52 -0000 Subject: [news] How to Control the WORLD Population by Paul Ehrlich Message-ID: <20071218171754.12861.qmail@resist.ca> Once the American population size is comfortably under control, be it by voluntary or compulsory methods, the rest of the world needs to be "helped." Paul Ehrlich's 1968 _The Population Bomb_* described a variety of methods for controlling third world population growth and who should be involved in deciding the optimum population levels for the world. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_world_population_paul_ehrlich URL: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_world_population_paul_ehrlich From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 18 09:17:53 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:17:53 -0000 Subject: [news] [Audio: CKUT 90.3FM] =?utf-8?b?UGFraXN0YW7igJlz?= Invisible Dissidents Message-ID: <20071218171755.12863.qmail@resist.ca> General Musharaf who took power in a coup d??tat on October 12, 1999, had declared emergency rule and imposed strict security measures on November 3rd 2007, 2 months before a scheduled election in Pakistan. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/pakistan%E2%80%99s_invisible_dissidents_ckut_903fm URL: http://mostlywater.org/pakistan%E2%80%99s_invisible_dissidents_ckut_903fm From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 18 10:17:20 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:17:20 -0000 Subject: [news] The Top 100 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan Message-ID: <20071218181721.24478.qmail@resist.ca> By Bill Buzenberg | The Center for Public Integrity Baghdad Bonanza - Who is making big bucks from the bombs? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/top_100_private_contractors_iraq_and_afghanistan URL: http://mostlywater.org/top_100_private_contractors_iraq_and_afghanistan From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 00:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Britain Building 'Super' Prisons Message-ID: <20071219081703.24695.qmail@resist.ca> "Last week Neo Labour announced that it would be building three new 'super prisons'...each capable of housing 2,500 inmates. The plan is to lock away 100,000 people by 2010 ? up 60% since 1996. And no wonder - 3,000 more criminal offences have hit the statute book in less than a decade..." [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/britain_building_super_prisons URL: http://mostlywater.org/britain_building_super_prisons From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 00:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Health Care Privatization Hasn't Worked Well in Britain Message-ID: <20071219081704.24696.qmail@resist.ca> Health Care Privatization Hasn't Worked Well in Britain by Frank Dobson; Monday, December 17, 2007 - Special to the Sun [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html...][1] I know that most Canadians are proud of their public health care system. Paid for by everybody and used by everybody, it pools the cost of treatment and care. [read more][2] [1]: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=e991c22c-a0d6-4958-868b-c19d33d2011f&p=2 (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=e991c22c-a0d6-4958-868b-c19d33d2011f&p=2) [2]: http://mostlywater.org/health_care_privatization_hasnt_worked_well_britain URL: http://mostlywater.org/health_care_privatization_hasnt_worked_well_britain From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 09:17:14 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:17:14 -0000 Subject: [news] The Secret Library of Hope: 12 Books to Stiffen Your Resolve Message-ID: <20071219171714.32180.qmail@resist.ca> by Rebecca Solnit | TomDispatch.com Hope is an orientation, a way of scanning the wall for cracks &em; or building ladders &em; rather than staring at its obdurate expanse. It's a worldview, but one informed by experience and the knowledge that people have power; that the power people possess matters; that change has been made by populist movements and dedicated individuals in the past; and that it will be again. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/secret_library_hope_12_books_stiffen_your_resolve URL: http://mostlywater.org/secret_library_hope_12_books_stiffen_your_resolve From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 10:17:09 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:17:09 -0000 Subject: [news] Florida: Migrant Fruit-pickers Enslaved Message-ID: <20071219181710.9627.qmail@resist.ca> **Florida: Slave Labor That Shames America** By Leonard Doyle in Immokalee, Floride | 19 December 2007 Three Florida fruit-pickers, held captive and brutalised by their employer for more than a year, finally broke free of their bonds by punching their way through the ventilator hatch of the van in which they were imprisoned. Once outside, they dashed for freedom. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/florida_slave_labor_shames_america URL: http://mostlywater.org/florida_slave_labor_shames_america From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 15:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Iran: State Murder for Sex at 13 Message-ID: <20071219231703.14829.qmail@resist.ca> by Doug Ireland - December 10, 2007 The Islamic Republic of Iran murdered **Makwan Moloudzadeh**, a lad of 21, on the cold morning of December 5. Makwan was dragged at dawn from his jail cell in the Kermanshah Central Prison and hanged in secret within the prison, without the required presence of his lawyer and family, for the so-called "crime" of having had anal sexual relations, which the authorities claimed was rape, with boys of his own age eight years ago, when he was 13. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/iran_state_murder_sex_13 URL: http://mostlywater.org/iran_state_murder_sex_13 From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 19 19:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Jerusalem's Roman Catholic Patriarch Rejects Israel's Jewish Identity Message-ID: <20071220031703.14145.qmail@resist.ca> Israel's identity as a Jewish state discriminates against non-Jews, the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic clergyman said in a pre-Christmas address on Wednesday..."If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/jerusalems_roman_catholic_patriarch_rejects_israels_jewish_identity URL: http://mostlywater.org/jerusalems_roman_catholic_patriarch_rejects_israels_jewish_identity From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 20 11:17:07 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:17:07 -0000 Subject: [news] TransLink Hijacked Message-ID: <20071220191707.5891.qmail@resist.ca> By Rafe Mair | December 17, 2007 | TheTyee.ca **How Gordon Campbell stole your vote on region's fate.** Thanks to the Campbell government the system of appointing the TransLink board has become a farce. Now all the financial aspects of TransLink are handled by a board hand picked by Campbell -- while the political problems they create are to be borne by local councils. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/translink_hijacked URL: http://mostlywater.org/translink_hijacked From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 20 12:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Holiday Season Hypocrisy Message-ID: <20071220201704.14916.qmail@resist.ca> Some thoughts on the corrupted spirit of the holiday season. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/holiday_season_hypocrisy URL: http://mostlywater.org/holiday_season_hypocrisy From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 20 21:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Lakota Sioux Withdraw from Treaty with U.S. Message-ID: <20071221051704.12511.qmail@resist.ca> Lakota Freedom: "We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/lakota_sioux_withdraw_treaty_us_0 URL: http://mostlywater.org/lakota_sioux_withdraw_treaty_us_0 From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 20 21:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Is the European Union Becoming a 'Police Superstate'? Message-ID: <20071221051704.12512.qmail@resist.ca> With the world on the brink of serious economic difficulties and the EU assault on working people moving into overdrive, our masters in Brussels are anticipating trouble and equipping themselves with the tools to deal with it. This is revealed most starkly in the establishment...of an international police force along military lines and with military status. Initial participants will be Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands...[T]his initiative "brings together armed paramilitary units, some of which are infamous for their behaviour at protests. What lines of accountability for its actions will there be? It will be accountable only to itself." [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/european_union_becoming_police_superstate URL: http://mostlywater.org/european_union_becoming_police_superstate From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 20 23:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Israeli Civil Rights Group Says Israel has Reached New Heights of Racism Message-ID: <20071221071704.9380.qmail@resist.ca> Racism against Israel's Arab citizens has dramatically increased in the past year, including a 26 percent rise in anti-Arab incidents, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel's annual report...Author Sami Michael, president of the **Association for Civil Rights in Israel**, said upon the release of the organization?s annual report that racism was so rife it was damaging civil liberty in Israel. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/israeli_civil_rights_group_says_israel_has_reached_new_heights_racism URL: http://mostlywater.org/israeli_civil_rights_group_says_israel_has_reached_new_heights_racism From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 21 11:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] How to Control the AMERICAN Population by Paul Ehrlich Message-ID: <20071221191704.17422.qmail@resist.ca> In 1968, Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich wrote a well publicized book entitled The Population Bomb*. Ehrlich predicted widespread famine and disaster unless population growth was reduced to zero in America and throughout the world by compulsory methods if necessary. [Note: this article was accidentally deleted so we're re-running it.] [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_american_population_paul_ehrlich_0 URL: http://mostlywater.org/how_control_american_population_paul_ehrlich_0 From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 22 00:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] "A Second Komagatamaru": The Laibar Singh Case Message-ID: <20071222081704.2860.qmail@resist.ca> by Harsha Walia - December 20, 2007 The [physical prevention][1] of a deportation/expulsion...has been hailed as a significant victory and has served as a powerful inspiration to movements across North Amerika...Similar to indigenous resistance struggles, the racist backlash has been vehement and goes far beyond just the 'violent protestor' stereotype...South Asian organizers within this campaign have received personal hate-based emails and phone calls. Several South Asian youth have reported an escalation of racially-motivated comments in their schools... [read more][2] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/laibar_singh_wins_another_temporary_stay [2]: http://mostlywater.org/second_komagatamaru_laibar_singh_case_0 URL: http://mostlywater.org/second_komagatamaru_laibar_singh_case_0 From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 22 01:17:07 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:17:07 -0000 Subject: [news] Left for Dead by New Labour, Liberal Britain Must Urgently Fight Back Message-ID: <20071222091707.27190.qmail@resist.ca> by John Pilger; Tuesday December 18, 2007 - The Guardian [Tony] Blair and his cult have wrecked the very beliefs millions thought they were voting for. The time for direct action is now. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/left_dead_new_labour_liberal_britain_must_urgently_fight_back URL: http://mostlywater.org/left_dead_new_labour_liberal_britain_must_urgently_fight_back From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 22 01:17:07 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:17:07 -0000 Subject: [news] Working Stinks: Reducing Unemployment a Money Maker for Private Sector Message-ID: <20071222091707.27189.qmail@resist.ca> ?There are too many people on benefit,? says Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (DWP), Peter Hain. And with cuts to disability benefits and child benefit for lone parents, Neo Labour are old hands when it comes to screwing the poor...Whilst training may be good for some people seeking work, its also a real money spinner for the private companies making millions by forcing the poor into dead end menial McJobs. And what ever happened to the right NOT to work, anyway? [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/working_stinks_reducing_unemployment_money_maker_private_sector URL: http://mostlywater.org/working_stinks_reducing_unemployment_money_maker_private_sector From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 22 14:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Zapatista Code Red Message-ID: <20071222221704.19972.qmail@resist.ca> by Naomi Klein - December 21, 2007 ...[The Zapatista] army faces a grave new threat...During the 1994 uprising, the EZLN claimed large stretches of land and collectivized them, its most tangible victory. In the **San Andr?s Accords**, the right to territory was recognized, but the Mexican government has refused to fully ratify the accords. After failing to enshrine these rights, the Zapatistas decided to turn them into facts on the ground. They formed their own government structures...and stepped up the building of autonomous schools and clinics. As the Zapatistas expand their role as the de facto government in large areas of Chiapas, the federal and state governments' determination to undermine them is intensifying. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/zapatista_code_red URL: http://mostlywater.org/zapatista_code_red From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 22 15:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] Afghanistan is Becoming the Netherlands' Vietnam Message-ID: <20071222231706.10216.qmail@resist.ca> December 19, 2007 17:44 |by Harry van Bommel, Mariko Peters and Klaas E. Meijer Waging war should not be done unless the broad support of the people is assured On Monday 17th December, the Dutch Parliament begins its debate on the country's military involvement in the Afghan province of Uruzgan - a 'mission impossible'. Almost all anti-guerilla wars have been lost, from Atjeh to Vietnam. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/afghanistan_becoming_netherlands_vietnam URL: http://mostlywater.org/afghanistan_becoming_netherlands_vietnam From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 00:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] The Partition of Palestine Ushers in Apartheid Message-ID: <20071224081703.13077.qmail@resist.ca> by Sonja Karkar: Women for Palestine - November 29, 2007 Even though the current manoeuvres for peace are a timely reminder of the world?s dreadful neglect of the Palestinians, no just solution is likely to emerge. In all this time, there has not been a single genuine attempt to redress the grievous injustice done to the Palestinians, despite the fanfare that has accompanied every peace summit. To hear the empty rhetoric yet again is painful. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/partition_palestine_ushers_apartheid URL: http://mostlywater.org/partition_palestine_ushers_apartheid From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 00:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Israel Dismisses Truce Talks with Hamas Message-ID: <20071224081703.13078.qmail@resist.ca> by Isabel Kershner in Jerusalem - Sydney Morning Herald THE Israeli Prime Minister's office has reacted coolly to an approach by the Hamas...[Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh] in Gaza suggesting truce talks...Mr Haniyeh said he had the will and the ability to stop the rocket fire directed at Israel from Gaza, on condition that Israel stopped killing Palestinians there and lifted its economic blockade of the strip...Mr Haniyeh had said he would have "no problem" negotiating with the Israeli Government on these issues, with an eye to reaching a mutual truce... [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/israel_dismisses_truce_talks_hamas URL: http://mostlywater.org/israel_dismisses_truce_talks_hamas From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 13:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Plan for Afghan Police Station Dropped After Officers Allegedly Caught Robbing Villagers Message-ID: <20071224211703.5336.qmail@resist.ca> by Allison Lampert, CanWest News Service - Friday, December 21, 2007 A plan to run the first independent Afghan police station in Kandahar province was sacked this week, just days after the officers were allegedly caught robbing villagers...The Afghan National Police was supposed to be manning the station with support from Afghan National Army and Canadian soldiers located at a nearby outpost...But after less than a week, the police officers allegedly began robbing and harassing residents in the area... [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/plan_afghan_police_station_dropped_after_officers_allegedly_caught_robbing_villagers URL: http://mostlywater.org/plan_afghan_police_station_dropped_after_officers_allegedly_caught_robbing_villagers From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 14:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] What's the Matter with Getting Off?: A Review of Robert Jensen's "Getting Off: Pornography & the End of Masculinity" Message-ID: <20071224221703.14134.qmail@resist.ca> By Cynthia Peters - December 21, 2007 The problem isn't with "getting off." The problem is the horrendous working conditions that women suffer in the pornography industry, our misogynistic culture that sees women...as objects of male pleasure and control, women's unequal access to power and wealth, and our profit-driven economy that constantly reduces our lives and our daily practices to acts of consumption. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/whats_matter_getting_review_robert_jensens_getting_pornography_end_masculinity URL: http://mostlywater.org/whats_matter_getting_review_robert_jensens_getting_pornography_end_masculinity From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 16:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Worker Fired for Posting 'Dilbert' Comic Message-ID: <20071225001703.11893.qmail@resist.ca> DES MOINES , Iowa, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- An Iowa man was reportedly fired from Catfish Bend Casino after posting a "Dilbert" comic strip that likened corporate managers to drunken lemurs. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/usa_worker_fired_posting_dilbert_comic URL: http://mostlywater.org/usa_worker_fired_posting_dilbert_comic From news at resist.ca Mon Dec 24 16:17:03 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:17:03 -0000 Subject: [news] Tories, Liberals Hack Each Other, Sell Carbon Credits and Sacrifice Planet Message-ID: <20071225001703.11892.qmail@resist.ca> Ottawa too partisan on emissions Dec 17, 2007 | Ian Urquhart Under the proposed federal emissions trading program, tar sands developers will be eligible for up to $700 million in "carbon credits" ? even as they increase their greenhouse gas emissions. [read more][1] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/tories_liberals_hack_each_other_sell_carbon_credits_and_sacrifice_planet URL: http://mostlywater.org/tories_liberals_hack_each_other_sell_carbon_credits_and_sacrifice_planet From news at resist.ca Tue Dec 25 12:17:07 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:17:07 -0000 Subject: [news] Mine and Money vs. Indigenous and Salmon Message-ID: <20071225201707.11179.qmail@resist.ca> Alaskans Weigh the Cost of Gold Mine Could Imperil Salmon, Way of Life By Karl Vick Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 25, 2007; A01 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12...][1] NONDALTON, Alaska -- The gold mine proposed for this stunning open country might be the largest in North America. It would involve building the biggest dam in the world at the headwaters of the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, which it would risk obliterating. Epic even by Alaskan standards, the planned Pebble Mine has divided a state normally enthusiastic about extracting whatever value can be found in its wide-open spaces. It is an ambivalence that has upended traditional politics, divided families and come to rest at kitchen tables like the one 75-year-old Olga Balluta sat beside one autumn afternoon, listing her favorite foods. "Brown bear fat and black bear fat. Fish gut salad -- crackly when you eat it," said Balluta, a member of the local native population that would be most directly affected by the mine. >From his chair by the sink, neighbor Rick Delkittie said, "I know my grandfather used to tell me, 'Don't ever get used to the white man's food.' " That lesson, with its implied warning against dependence on anyone outside the land and waters that have nourished local residents for nearly 10,000 years, guides the subtle, shifting and uniquely Alaskan calculation that will decide whether Pebble goes forward. Environmentalists and commercial fishing interests have mounted a well-funded public relations campaign against the project. Mining companies are investing hundreds of millions to make it inevitable. The two sides agree only that Pebble's fate is likely to pivot on the sentiments of a few thousand local residents who would have to live beside it. But how do they live? By tradition and law, natives have the run of the area for the moose, caribou and most of all the salmon that provide sustenance in a place hundreds of miles from the nearest road. But the outside world moves closer with each generation, and appetites change. The only food on the table where Balluta sat were oily paper pouches of french fries hand carried on an airplane from a McDonald's in Anchorage. Lined up on the counter behind were jumbo containers of Hills Bros. coffee, CoffeeMate and Lucky Charms. "That's all they learn to eat now," she said, gesturing to a granddaughter in the living room. "It's really changing." The mining companies count on that change, dangling the prospect of cash incomes even while bowing deeply to traditions that no native consciously rejects. "If we can't show to the satisfaction of the local people that we can protect the fisheries, we will not advance this project," said mining company spokesman Sean Magee. "We have no interest in replacing one resource with another, and we understand the burden of proof is ours." The effort is led by Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Vancouver company that signed a partnership this summer with global mining giant Anglo-American to develop the site on the peninsula between Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay, 180 miles southwest of Anchorage. The joint effort will spend almost $100 million this year on exploratory drilling and consultants hired to prepare an environmental impact statement that starts the permitting process. Though the mine itself remains years from reality, the priority is hiring. So far, about one-third of the 150 people working at Pebble's local headquarters in the village of Iliamna are natives from the surrounding area. "It's all about getting the 'social license,' " said one Northern Dynasty manager, using industry jargon for obtaining permission of the local community, and speaking privately because the company authorized only Magee to be quoted. "It's not rape and pillage anymore. It can't be." By all appearances it's an uphill battle. A recent survey by Bristol Bay Native Corp., which under federal law represents 8,000 natives with roots in the area, found 69 percent oppose the mine, 57 percent "strongly." The problem is salmon. Wild sockeye course through the bay and famously surge up the rivers that converge exactly where geologists found rich deposits of gold and copper. "I can't imagine a worse location for a mine of this type, unless it was in my kitchen," Jay Hammond, who was governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982 and died in 2005, once said. With commodity prices soaring, Magee said the find constitutes "one of the most important ore bodies in the world today." But mining it all would involve crushing 8 billion tons of rock to extract the mere 0.6 percent that is ore. The other 99.4 percent would be piled as tailings in a massive embankment that must be kept covered with water, lest the extractive chemicals react with air to create sulfuric acids that would carry heavy metals downstream. "Heavy metals and fish generally don't mix, and copper is one of the most toxic heavy metals to fish," said Carol Ann Woody, a fish biologist who until last year worked for the federal government. Woody said new research shows that tiny increases in copper levels -- a couple of parts per billion -- can wipe out a salmon's olfactory senses. The fish use their sense of smell to distinguish predator from prey and, crucially, to find their way to the streams where they are adapted to spawn. "So you wouldn't know your home," Woody said. It would "be like walking into your grandma's kitchen and it smells like the dentist's." The risk made an instant opponent of Alaska's commercial fishermen who harvest the firm, flaky wild fish considered superior to farmed salmon. The threat to the $325 million-a-year industry also made an opponent of the most powerful Alaska politician, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R), who is normally ardently pro-development. Also alarmed are about 50 lodges that fly in sport fishermen who pay as much as $1,200 a night. But no one has a deeper stake in salmon than the natives. Twice a year, families haul sockeye out of the water by the hundreds, split them in half and hang them on lodge poles to dry for canning. "When they first come up in July, we get what we need," Delkittie said at the shore of Six-Mile Lake, a dozen miles from where Pebble helicopters swarm between exploratory wells drilled into tundra too squishy to support a road. "When October comes, it's time to go fishing again. We eat so much salmon, we have a way to prepare it for dessert." Native opinion is far from monolithic, however. Long-standing rifts based on tribal and regional politics have been aggravated by Dynasty's largess. The firm pays premiums to rent lodges and homes around Lake Iliamna and this year flew natives for weekends in Anchorage, handing out envelopes of $600 in cash as spending money. "Pretty good money once you get used to it," said Garrett Anelon, who has earned $6,000 a month before taxes as a Pebble employee. He was seated in front of a TV set with his brother and a friend, playing Halo 3 while weighing the traditional against the modern. "Traditional life is pretty good," Anelon said. "Save you a lot of money. You just go out and get some gas and a dollar a bullet." The gas fuels the ATVs that native youths drive down the few paved roads and into the bush to hunt. "Yeah," said Garrett's brother, Gerald Jr., who goes by "Moose." "The mine helps you out with little things like that. But we don't have as much time to shoot when you're working." On long winter nights the brothers find video games a better pastime than the drinking that "a lot of folks do." Their mother, who manages local hires at Pebble, spoke with moving understatement about seeing residents move off welfare. But cash vs. freedom is a tension that favors part-time work. Officials at Bristol Bay Native Corp. say they expect few of the 1,000 promised Pebble jobs to be filled by natives, who have scant appetite for living weeks at a time in job-site dorms. "I don't care for it, but I work for them," said Dwight Anelon, 20, a driller helper shopping at Iliamna's only store. June Balluta, who rents the only hotel room in nearby Nondalton, said tourism makes a better fit. "We're on the doorstep of God's country," she said in a lakeside log cabin with a spectacular view. "We just have to get motivated." [1]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401915.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401915.html) URL: http://mostlywater.org/mine_and_money_vs_indigenous_and_salmon From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 26 10:17:06 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:17:06 -0000 Subject: [news] Population, Religion and Sex Education Message-ID: <20071226181706.22326.qmail@resist.ca> _Brent Jessop_ - [Knowledge Driven Revolution.com][1] - _December 24, 2007_ > "We must have population control at home, hopefully through changes in our value system, but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail." - Paul Ehrlich, 1968 (pXI) The previous two articles in this series described some of the compulsory techniques for controlling population growth in [America][2] and the [third world][3] proposed by Paul Ehrlich in his 1968 book, _The Population Bomb_*. What about changing our value system into something more compatible with Ehrlich's mindset? How do you change a societies value system? **Sex Education and the Role of Women** When trying to institute a change in society, especially a long-term change, the most important and easily manipulated group are children. And there is no better tool than the education system for indoctrination of children. >From _The Population Bomb_: > "One of the most important roles of sex education must be to impress on everyone that death control in the absence of birth control is self-defeating, to say the least." - 87 > > "We need a federal law requiring sex education in schools - sex education that includes discussion of the need for regulating the birth rate and of the techniques of birth control. Such education should begin at the earliest age recommended by those with professional competence in this area - certainly before junior high school. > > By "sex education" I do not mean course focusing on hygiene or presenting a simple-minded "birds and bees" approach to human sexuality. The reproductive function of sex must be shown as just one of its functions, and one that must be carefully regulated in relation to the needs of the individual and society. Much emphasis must be placed on sex as an interpersonal relationship, as an important and extremely pleasurable aspect of being human, as mankind's major and most enduring recreation, as a fountainhead of humor, as a phenomenon that affects every aspect of human life... In short, sex as we know it, is a peculiarly human activity. It has many complex functions other than the production of offspring. It is now imperative that we restrict the reproductive function of sex while producing a minimum of disruption in the others." - 133 Another obvious group of society that needs to have their values changed, if the population is to be reduced, are women. > "With a rational atmosphere mankind should be able to work out the problems of deemphasizing the reproductive role of sex. These problems include finding substitutes for the satisfaction and rewards that women derive from childbearing and for the ego satisfaction that often accompanies excessive fatherhood. Implicit attitudes and social pressures within our society toward parenthood, especially motherhood, add up to an even more powerful prenatal policy than our legal system represents. Equal opportunities and salaries for women in business and the professions, which are now being sought by the women's liberation movement, would strongly encourage them to seek other outlets for their energy and talents besides motherhood. Society would greatly benefit both from the resulting lowered fertility and the productive contributions of women. > > All too often today marriage either provides a "license" for sexual activity or a way of legitimizing the unplanned results of premarital sexual activity. But greater equality between the sexes, reliable contraceptives, and changing attitudes among today's young people are solving the former problem; the greater availability of contraceptives and abortion could solve the latter." - 134 **Religion** What about American religious values? Are they in need of change too? > "Somehow we've got to change from a growth-oriented, exploitative system to one focused on stability and conservation. Our entire system of orienting to nature must undergo a revolution. And that revolution is going to be extremely difficult to pull off, since the attitudes of Western culture toward nature are deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian tradition. Unlike people in many other cultures, we see man's basic role as that of dominating nature, rather than as living in harmony with it. This entire problem has been elegantly discussed by Professor Lynn White, Jr., in Science magazine. He points out, for instance, that before the Christian era trees, springs, hills, streams, and other objects of nature had guardian spirits. These spirits had to be approached and placated before one could safely invade their territory. As White says, "By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects... Both our present science and our present technology are so tinctured with orthodox Christian arrogance toward nature that no solution for our ecological crisis can be expected from them alone. **Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not**." " [emphasis mine] - 155 **Spreading the Message of the New Religion: Population Missionaries** Ehrlich finishes his book with a very descriptive answer to the question: How can people spread the new faith? > "The question I am most frequently asked after giving talks about the population explosion is, "What can I do to help?" The obvious first answer is, "Set an example - don't have more than two children." " -159 > > "First of all, get together with people who share your concerns. It's easier, pleasanter and generally more effective to **crusade** in a group." [emphasis mine] - 160 The major thrust of this section is to write letters to politician and others. > "Above all, if you really want to survive, start writing!" - 164 > > "Editors of magazines and newspapers are excellent targets for letters. Complain bitterly about any positive treatment of large families. Attack the publicizing of "mothers of the year" unless they have no more than two children or have adopted the extra ones. Request that the publications you address stop carrying any advertising **implying by statement or inference that it is socially acceptable to have more than two children**. Point out that any promotion of the idea that a growing population means prosperity is making a contribution to the destruction of America. Television and radio stations should be subjected to similar constant pressure. Series featuring large families should be assailed. More programming about the population crisis should be demanded. Ask for prime time programs on sex education and the use of contraceptives. Raise a fuss whenever **programming or commercials promote reproductive irresponsibility**." [emphasis mine] - 163 > > "Another target for your letters is the business community... "Dear Sir: Your company's advertisement was shown in the middle of _The Saturday Family_, implying your sponsorship of that program. The day is upon us when **we can no longer tolerate television programs that feature large families as if they still represented acceptable behaviour on the part of parents**." [emphasis mine] - 164 A fair bit of attention was devoted to children, as should be expected with Ehrlich's focus on sex education. > "Give your child an IUD [intrauterine device] to take to "show and tell." " - 166 He also encourages people to "proselytize friends and associates" by giving specific arguments tailor made for different types of people. Under the heading "Target is a Schoolteacher," he suggests that it is: > "easy for you to convince most schoolteachers that the population problem is very real. They have been struggling with overcrowded classrooms and ghetto children for a long time." - 176 Because of the limits placed on individual teachers by school boards: > "Subtle propaganda to the kiddies and letter writing may be all you can ask for [from a teacher]." - 177 **Conclusion** The next part in this series will examine the [major organizations, foundations and individuals][4] working toward population control. The final article will compare the current arguments for [global warming with the arguments for population control][5], including a direct comparison between _The Population Bomb_ (1968) and Al Gore's _An Inconvenient Truth_ (2006). *Quotes from: Paul R. Ehrlich. _The Population Bomb: Revised & Expanded Edition_ (1968, 1971). SBN 345-24489-3-150. * * * **Related Articles** [The Population Bomb Part 1: How to Control the AMERICAN Population by Paul Ehrlich][2] [The Population Bomb Part 2: How to Control the WORLD Population by Paul Ehrlich][3] [The Population Bomb Part 4: Those Involved in Population Control (December 31)][4] [The Population Bomb Part 5: The Apocalypse, From Paul Ehrlich to Al Gore (January 7)][5] [1]: http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200712/20071224_Bomb_Sex_Education.htm [2]: http://www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com/Articles/200712/20071210_Bomb_America.htm [3]: http://www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com/Articles/200712/20071217_Bomb_World.htm [4]: http://www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com/Articles/200712/20071231_Bomb_Help.htm [5]: http://www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com/Articles/200801/20080107_Bomb_Gore_GW.htm URL: http://mostlywater.org/population_religion_and_sex_education From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 26 10:17:06 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:17:06 -0000 Subject: [news] The Abraham Lincoln Brigade - A Profile in Courage, Honor and Hope Message-ID: <20071226181707.22328.qmail@resist.ca> The Abraham Lincoln Brigade - A Profile in Courage, Honor and Hope - by Stephen Lendman The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was an American contingent of about 2800 volunteers who fought on the side of the Second Spanish Republic during the country's 1936 - 1939 Civil War against the fascist Nationalist rebellion under General Francisco Franco. From 1937 through 1938, it aimed to stop international fascism under Hitler and Mussolini that led to WW II. This essay explains who the "Lincolns" were, why they're important, and what their relevance is to America today under George Bush. First a look at the Spanish Civil War and why these Americans fought in it. The war began when Franco's troops invaded Spain in July, 1936 to unseat an unstable Republic that developed from the social dislocations after WW I. Post-war saw a wave of revolutionary unrest that led to the military dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera in 1923. Rapid decline followed under him after the boom years of the 1920s. It weakened Spain's monarchy, returned the country to republican rule, but things weakened when a liberal-Socialist coalition tried addressing agrarian problems that beleaguered all Spanish governments for generations. Reforms failed and so did the coalition. It came apart after an attempted military coup on the right and an anarchosyndicalist insurrection on the left that culminated in the Casas Viejas massacre of Andalulsian peasants in January, 1933. By summer, Spain's many parties and organizations began regrouping and polarizing. In November, the Spanish Confederation of Right Groups (CEDA) coalition replaced the liberal-Socialists. Positions then hardened on the left and right leading to the 1934 "October Revolution" when Asturian miners in northern Spain became the epicenter of a general uprising throughout the country. It brought "Army of Africa" commander Francisco Franco from Spanish Morocco to the mainland for the first time in five centuries to defend "Christian Civilization" from "red barbarism." It was the start of class and regional conflict that became the Spanish Civil War two years later. It pitted an alliance of Nationalist forces on the right under Franco against a "Popular Front" Republican/Loyalist coalition consisting of trade unionists and their political organizations: -- the General Confederation of Workers (UGT), a labor federation of the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), and an anarchosyndicalist General Confederation of Labor (CNT); -- they, in turn, were allied with the Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) coalition of Spanish Trotskyists, Communist Left (ICE), and Workers and Peasants Bloc; the United Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC); and the small Communist Party (PCE). Few in America remember the Spanish Civil War, its significance or even that it happened which says a lot about the state of education in the richest country in the world. It should be the best anywhere but instead opts for mediocrity, ignorance and an effort to produce good citizens, most barely literate, to serve the nation's ruling class and not the greater good. That, however, is a topic for another time. The Spanish Civil War - July 17, 1936 - April 1, 1939 Like all extended wars, this one was ugly. Before it ended in April, 1939, hundreds of thousands died and many by mass killings that included Hitler's infamous fire-bombing of Guernica on April 26, 1937 that destroyed the town and killed an estimated 1650 people. An eye witness described it as follows: "The only things left standing were a church, a sacred tree, the symbol of the Basque people....There hadn't been a single anti-aircraft gun in the town. It had been mainly a fire raid....A sight that haunted me for weeks was the charred bodies of several women and children huddled together in what had been the cellar of a house. It had been a refugio." The same scene was repeated throughout the town. Guernica was in flames, but it was just a warmup, a prelude for what lay ahead. April 1, 1939 marked the end of the Spanish Civil War. Five months later in September, Hitler invaded Poland, and the world again was at war with Spain staying out of it this time. Franco instead concentrated on solidifying power at home while nominally supporting his fascist allies. He imprisoned and slaughtered tens of thousands of his opponents in a post-war bloodbath/reign of terror. The Spanish war, while it lasted, however, was an historic revolution, and how different things might have been had the other side won. A radical working class movement, never seen before or since, lost out to a fascist alliance that became dominant and is now resurgent in America. Back then, it was a rare time when oppressed workers, peasants and leftist intellectuals stood on one side and were aided by Soviet Russia, the international Socialist movement and the International Brigades. Against them were centralized state power elitists that included monarchists, the Catholic church, and the landowning and industrial fascist right supported by Germany, Italy and Portugal. Workers wanted a classless, stateless social democracy with implications far beyond a civil conflict in Spain. They were attracted to it when Franco invaded and threatened their vision. Spontaneously they seized factories and other workplaces, collectivized the land, formed workers' militias throughout the country, dismantled the pro-fascist Catholic church, confiscated its property, and established political institutions run by workers' committees. It was a remarkable event for a short-lived social transformation toward a genuinely autonomous, free and democratic society until Franco finally prevailed. In a decade of economic depression, disillusion, the rise of fascism, torment and turmoil up to WW II, the Spanish revolution was a sign of hope for working-class emancipation across the world, including in the US. It inspired intellectuals, trade unionists, and others as well as freedom-fighting men and women of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They went Spain to support the type government they wanted at home and hoped would emerge if the "Popular Front" prevailed. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade They were around 2800 American volunteers who fought alongside the "Popular Front" Republican Loyalists as the American contingent of the International Brigades. From 1937 to 1938, they joined with 35,000 others from 52 countries to defend the free Spanish Republic against Franco's Nationalist fascist alliance. They were mostly young men and women from across America, deeply affected by the The Great Depression's despair, and they feared the fascist scourge engulfing Europe could affect them back home. They were ordinary people - working class, students, teachers, artists, dancers, athletes, the unemployed and others unified in a common belief that it's "better to die on your feet than live on your knees." Most were members of the Young Communist League (CP). They allied with Industrial Workers of the World members ("Wobblies"), socialists forming their own (Eugene) Debs Column, and unaffiliated others. They were all committed in a common struggle. Some sought escape from The Great Depression, others went to fight for a better world unavailable at home, but all wanted to defeat fascism and risked their lives to do it. They also risked arrest or recrimination back home by defying a State Department prohibition against traveling to Spain so by doing it they broke the law. It was worth it for what many saw as the quintessential struggle between democracy and tyranny. British author, social critic and journalist Eric Arthur Blair, aka George Orwell, felt the same. He went to Spain in 1936 to be with the Republican side and joined with the POUM coalition. He later wrote about it in what some call his finest work - "Homage to Catalonia." It sold just 50 copies in his lifetime, but another to it with a copy owned, read and admired long ago by this writer. It was more about social revolution than a civil war and centrally about tyranny against socially democratic forces on the left. The allied groups on both sides, however, had their own agendas. On the left, the socialists (POUM) wanted a worker-controlled government, the communists (PSUC) a centralized one, and the Anarchists/Anarchosyndicalists (CNT) one that was decentralized. On the right, Franco loyalists wanted a fascist Spain like in Germany and Italy, latifundistas (big landowners) wanted a feudal system, and the Roman Catholic Church supported the monarchy and had its own elitist, pro-fascist conservative agenda. The "Lincolns," wanted democratic freedom and fascism defeated. Its volunteers became known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade although fighting units chose their own names and identities. In keeping with the "Popular Front" culture, they became part of the Fifteenth International Brigade along with nationals from other countries. They called themselves the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the George Washington Battalion, and the John Brown Battery that included 125 doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and technicians with the American Medical Bureau. They were all volunteers for a noble cause and among them was the first ever racially integrated unit in US history and first one ever led by a black commander. Most never fired a rifle or had military training, but they were committed to learn and they did fast. They also practiced what they believed in the ranks and created an egalitarian "peoples' army." Rank-and-file soldiers at times elected their own officers and generally shunned traditional military protocol. With them were well-known, or aspiring, writers, artists, composers and filmmakers, including James Lardner (son of Ring Lardner Sr.), Joseph Vogel, Ralph Fasanella, Conlon Nancarrow, Edwin Rolfe, Alvah Bessie, Phil Bard, William Lindsay Gresham and famed author Ernest Hemingway. He supported the "Popular Front," went to Spain in 1937 to report on the war, and spent most of it with the International Brigades. After the war in 1940, he wrote his famous novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It became a Hollywood film in 1943 and was the top box office hit of the year even though it failed to tell what really happened on the ground. It's the story of a young American in the International Brigades attached to an anti-fascist guerilla unit. The novel's theme is how the main characters react to the prospect of death in a struggle for their vision and how they bond and are willing to die for its sake. It was how Hemingway felt. He spoke publicly on it to raise money for the Republican side he supported. The "Lincolns" fought bravely and took casualties, including at the town of Brunete near Madrid where half its contingent was wiped out. But they gave as much as they took until Republican forces began losing later in 1938. It took a great toll on both sides, including on the International Brigades as the war continued. It finally ended for the "Lincolns" and other International Brigades volunteers in late 1938. Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrin struck a futile deal with Hitler to repatriate captured forces and ordered them withdrawn. He didn't understanding what others later learned that Hitler didn't make deals. He imposed them. Of the 2800 "Lincolns," around one-third perished. Survivors came home heros, got no official recognition for their efforts, were lucky to escape recrimination for breaking the law, but were later harassed and hounded as explained below. One survivor was its last commander - freedom-fighter, novelist and well-known peace and civil rights activist Milton Wolff. Hemingway described him as "23 years old, tall as Lincoln, gaunt as Lincoln, and as brave and as good a soldier as any that commanded battalions at Gettysburg. He is alive and unhit by the same hazard that leaves one tall palm tree standing where a hurricane has passed." He was part of Spain's bloodiest battles at Brunete, Quinto and Belchite but managed to emerge unscathed. Wolff arrived in Spain in 1937, trained as a medic, became a machine gunner with the Washington Battalion and then its leader. When Commander Dave Reiss was killed, Wolff took over and led its great offensive across the Ebro and Sierra Pandols. He then went home when the International Brigades left Spain in 1938 but continued fighting fascism as an activist, speaker and novelist in spite of being branded a "premature anti-fascist" and getting caught up in the post-WW II anti-communist hysteria. It affected anyone of prominence who was accused of leftist leanings along with many other "Lincolns" hounded by the FBI, Committee on UnAmerican Activities, and Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB). They lost their jobs and were prosecuted under the Smith Act and state sedition laws although few had convictions hold up. This was how a nation that defeated fascism rewarded them and then wiped them from the historical record for added shame. They're remembered, however, in the official Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA). The effort was founded in 1979 by Lincoln Brigade living veterans as an "educational and humanitarian organization devoted to the preservation and dissemination of the history of the North American role in the Spanish Civil War....and its aftermath." It's committed to preserving the memory and record of these heroic freedom fighters and their sacrifices by "continually expanding archival collections in exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and performances (to preserve) the legacy of activism and commitment as an inspiration for present and future generations in working conscientiously and effectively toward a better and more just society" - the one "Lincolns" fought and died for 70 years ago without success. On the eve of the great war, the Spanish Republic ended on April 1, 1939 when Madrid fell to the Nationalists and then Valencia. It held out under great pressure but gave it up the next day. In the end, the revolution failed from its own divergent ideologies and internal conflicts. They frustrated Orwell enough to say "Why can't we drop all of this political nonsense and get on with the war." It also lost to a more powerful Nationalist force that outmanned and outgunned them because Hitler and Mussolini supplied many more aircraft, artillery pieces, tanks, bombs, small arms and ammunition to give Franco the edge. It let him outlast Spanish Republican forces that got less aid from the Soviet Union while countries like Great Britain, France and the US stayed technically neutral. But a careful look shows otherwise. Britain and France refused to supply arms or assist the Republican side. Even FDR's government was duplicitous. It pressured the Martin Aircraft Company not to honor an agreement made prior to the 1936 insurrection to sell aircraft to the Republic and also strong-armed Mexico not to ship Republicans war materials that were bought in the US for that purpose. The Mexican government complied and instead sent some financial aid. Roosevelt said companies supplying the Republic were unpatriotic, but had no such feeling for those trading with the Nationalists like General Motors and the Texas Company, now part of oil giant Chevron. It cancelled contracts with Republicans but sold oil to Franco much like the dealings Charles Highham described in his 1983 book, "Trading with the Enemy." He documented how US corporations like Chase Bank, Standard Oil, Ford, GM and IBM did business with the Nazis in WW II in direct violation of the law. They betrayed their country and got away with it. The Spirit of the "Lincolns" in the Age of George Bush In their day, "Lincolns" were anti-facist freedom-fighters who are still respected by their admirers. Since the Reagan era, however, they'd be called "terrorists" because they oppose unfettered capitalism and all its harshness. Reagan launched his war on "international terrorism" that was a precursor for what lay ahead. In 1981, his Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, announced the new administration would shift from Jimmy Carter's so-called "human rights" agenda to one focused on anti-terrorism without saying what it was or that it existed. Unexplained then or now is that the US is the world's leading exponent of the very scourge it claims to oppose. Empires have that privilege. They get to have it both ways. They make the rules that others ignore at their peril. They weigh on many today under George Bush who makes Reagan's era look tame by comparison. Post-9/11, the administration declared permanent war on the world without boundaries in space and time that won't end in our lifetime. It's against any designated countries we target with ones with the most energy reserves and independent leaders topping the list. It isn't just countries that are in jeopardy. Any group, organization or individual qualifies if they dare challenge US dominance or have views opposing ours. As an anti-fascist group, the "Lincolns" would be targeted because they wanted democratic freedom, not tyranny. During the Great Depression and rise of Nazism, they were galvanized to go to Spain to "make Madrid the tomb of fascism." They'd now target Washington, their struggle would be nonviolent, but it would put them at risk in an unfriendly environment to dissent and a passion to express it. Today, there's a serious threat at home no different from the extremist ideology "Lincolns" fought against in Spain - the scourge of fascism now in America. It mirrors the Nazi kind that was based on corporatism, patriotism and nationalism; a claimed messianic Almightly-directed mission; authoritarian rule; bipartisan support; iron-fisted militarism; and thuggish "homeland security" enforcers. It illegally spies on everyone, conducts warrantless searches and seizures, makes unwarranted mass arrests and incarcerations, and can designate anyone, anywhere for any reason an "unlawful enemy combatant" with no corroborating evidence needed. It tolerates no dissent at a time the law is what the executive says it is, and checks and balances, separation of powers, and equal justice for all no longer exist. It's called fascism, despotism or tyranny that masquerades as a model democracy in an America only beautiful for the privileged, no one else. It's what "Lincolns" fought against in Spain, now threatening the US 70 years later. The dominant media support it and are part of the problem. They use hard right commentators, pundits, and talk show hosts like CNN's Glenn Beck who also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program as a platform for his type extremism. Media giant Time Warner put him in prime time (starting May, 2006) to boost ratings and billed him as "an unconventional look at the news." It barely disguises a hateful hard right agenda. Beck is one of many right wing hawks. He and the others attack anyone opposing the "war on terror" that includes the Bush agenda of iron-fisted militarism, permanent war, repression at home, and gutting social services so the most vulnerable are on their own and out of luck. Muslims top their target list in the age of "terror." They're demonized mercilessly on-air overtly and by innuendo as well as being harassed and persecuted through mass witch-hunt roundups, detentions, prosecutions and deportations. So are Latino immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shock troops the enforcers and media hosts like Lou Dobbs fully supportive. This writer called him "CNN's Vice-President of Racism" in an August, 2006 article that included others like him. They target others anyone voicing dissent at a time getting along demands going along. The "Lincolns" would be targets if they were active and and similar groups as well. They'd be savaged in a typical Beck comment like this one about Muslims: "We need to be....lining up to shoot the bad Muslims (meaning all of them) in the head (and) with God as my witness....human beings are not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting up razor wire (meaning concentration camps, Nazi-style) and putting you (Muslims) on one side of it....(meaning locked up inside)." He's serious and is backed by an administration targeting any perceived opposition with hardball tactics that include secretly constructed homeland concentration camps. They're for tens of thousands of aliens and anyone considered a threat to absolute rule. It's extremely threatening because all media giants are supportive. They fill their programming with Beck-like people while opposition voices are silenced. The scheme is to instill fear and demand loyalty of a government that may have in mind ending the republic, replacing it with tyranny, and it's arguable they've already done it. Renown print journalist George Seldes saw it emerge during the golden New Deal era under Franklin Roosevelt. If fascism threatened then, its could happen any time, and no democracy is secure without constant vigilance. Seldes monitored it around the world as a foreign correspondent and at home. He was one of the great independent journalists of his time and did what's practically extinct today outside alternative spaces. In his 1934 book "Iron, Blood and Profits," he wrote about a "world-wide munitions racket" citing WW I militarists and weapons makers in Europe and America as proof. Fascism was spreading in Europe, and he saw it emerging in America with powerful corporatists behind it. They included munitions makers, industrialists and Wall Street bankers promoting wars for profits. Seldes called them "merchants of death" financing "patriotic organizations" promoting "imperialism (and) colonization - by means of war....the healthfulness of their business depends on slaughter. The more wars (they got) the richer the profits." They traded with the enemy, sabotaged disarmament efforts, promoted war scares in newspapers, supported dictators, and lobbied and bribed government officials for continued conflict. "The war to end all wars" was just a slogan as new dark forces arose in the 1930s. Seldes returned to the theme in his 1943 book, "Facts and Fascism," that explained "Fascism on the Home Front" in the book's Part One called "The Big Money and Big Profits in Fascism." In Parts Two and Three, he went into "Native Fascist Forces" in US industry and the media of his day that had far less reach and influence than now. Seldes was an archetype crusading journalist. He was a "witness to a century" (the title of his 1987 book) until he died in 1995 at age 104. He saw it all by covering the greats and infamous like Benito Mussolini who expelled him for exposing truths he wanted suppressed. So did Lenin after Seldes interviewed him in 1922. He was very hostile to Seldes' honesty that was forbidden by Russian journalists. Seldes also covered the Spanish Civil War and believed it was a dress rehearsal for World War II. In "Facts and Fascism" he wrote: "Fascism in Spain was bought and paid for by numerous elements who would profit by the destruction of the democratic Republican Loyalist government." He cited generals wanting glory, the right wing conservative Catholic Church, the aristocracy wanting the old order back, and the "force of (big) Money" in Europe and America that wouldn't let social democracy interfere with business. He named names, knew the risks, but was a rare journalist who did what few others ever do - their job. Seldes passed before the George Bush era, and the "Lincolns" are just a memory in the ALBA archives collection at New York University's Tamiment Library. It's the largest and most important resource available for study that includes their papers, oral histories, films, photos, posters, and selections of the microfilmed records of the International Brigades. They're maintained to preserve a historic record of their achievements, memory and spirit and as an inspiration to others. They represent courageous freedom-fighters who volunteered to fight and die for equality, justice and social democracy. It's never handed to us, is always imperiled, and is only gotten and kept when men and women like "Lincolns" risk everything for it. That spirit more than ever is needed now with America's freedom imperiled. Sinclair Lewis feared it in his 1935 novel, "It Can't Happen Here." It was about a charismatic self-styled reformer, populist and champion of the common man senator who became president. It was all a front to hide his alliance with corporate interests and the religious extremists of his day. He takes full advantage of The Great Depression, supports a strong military, and gets unconstitutional laws passed during a national emergency. He further convenes military tribunals for dissenters who are called unpatriotic and traitors. Fast forward to the current era when we're all potential "unlawful enemy combatants," there are no freedom-fighting "Lincolns," and the threat of full-blown tyranny may be one more real or contrived "terrorist" attack away. Stopping it needs the same spirit of sacrifice "Lincolns" made when they risked everything abroad for what they wanted at home. Something to reflect on over the holidays. Something to act on in the new year. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net][1]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to the Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US Central time. [1]: mailto:lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net URL: http://mostlywater.org/abraham_lincoln_brigade_profile_courage_honor_and_hope From news at resist.ca Wed Dec 26 17:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Cocaine Jet That Crashed in Mexico Part of Cowboy Government Operation, DEA Sources Claim Message-ID: <20071227011704.19890.qmail@resist.ca> **Cocaine Jet That Crashed in Mexico Part of Cowboy Government Operation, DEA Sources Claim** **Mexican Officials Fear the Case, if Exposed, Could Jeopardize US Funding for ?Plan Mexico?** By Bill Conroy | Narco News Bulletin | December 19, 2007 The Gulfstream II jet that crash landed in the Mexican Yucatan in late September carrying close to four tons of cocaine was part of an operation being carried out by a Department of Homeland Security agency, DEA sources have revealed to Narco News. The operation, codenamed ?Mayan Express,? is an ongoing effort spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the sources claim. The information surfaced during a high-level meeting at DEA headquarters in mid-December, DEA sources familiar with the meeting assert. Those sources have requested anonymity out of fear they will be retaliated against by the government for revealing the information. The operation also appears to be badly flawed, the sources say, because it is being carried out unilaterally, (Rambo-style), by ICE and without the knowledge of the Mexican government ? at least it was up until the point of the coke-packed Gulfstream jet?s abrupt impact with the Earth. ?This is a case of ICE running amok,? one DEA source told Narco News. ?If this [operation] was being run by the book, they would not be doing it unilaterally? ? without the participation of DEA ? ?and without the knowledge of the Mexican government.? The fact that the Gulfstream was forced to ditch over the Yucatan after being refused landing clearance at two Mexican airports is strong evidence that this operation, if ICE operated as alleged, does not have the proper controls in place, law enforcement sources told Narco News. If the operation was being adequately monitored and controlled by U.S. law enforcement, in coordination with Mexican authorities, the jet would have been directed to a safe landing zone, they add. Mexican law enforcers subsequently apprehended the two pilots of the downed jet. Neither one of them appears to be a U.S. citizen, according to Mexican press accounts. Narco News has previously reported that the bill of sale for the Gulfstream jet ? which was sold only weeks before its crash landing ? lists an individual named Greg Smith, whose name also shows up in public documents that indicate he worked as a pilot in the past for an operation involving the FBI, DEA and CIA that targeted narco-traffickers in Colombia. [See link [here.][1]] Mexican authorities interrogated the pilots of the ill-fated cocaine jet prior to turning them over to DEA agents for questioning. DEA confirmed that it is now handling the investigation into the jet crash and subsequent seizure of the cocaine. It appears that the pilots spilled the beans on the ICE operation during their interrogation by Mexican authorities, DEA sources tell Narco News. The meeting held at DEA headquarters was focused, in part, on assessing the implications of that information. The Mexican government has chosen not to raised a stink over the matter, the DEA sources claim, for fear of jeopardizing the pending $1.4 billion U.S. aid package promised as part of the proposed ?M?rida Iinitiative? ? commonly known as ?Plan Mexico,? which will provide a Christmas list of training and equipment to the Mexican government to battle ?drug cartels.? Mexican law enforcement authorities recently arrested an alleged money launder, [Pedro Alfonso Alatorre Damy][2], who they contend is linked to the Sinaloa narco-trafficking organization. They claim the narco-trafficking organization financed the purchases of the Gulfstream II as well as a DC-9 jet that was busted by Mexican authorities last April with a payload of some 5.5 tons of cocaine. Both jets were sold while parked at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, according to a recent report by Howard Altman of the [Tampa Tribune.][3] So, there is clearly a connection between the two jets. The thread that ties the Sinaloa organization, Greg Smith and the U.S. federal agencies that appear to have been involved together, however, remains very unclear. Did the cartel hire Smith and Clyde O?Connor (the other individual listed on the Gulfstream?s bill of sale) to handle the plane?s purchase, unaware that it was falling into a sting? Was the Sinaloa organization?s connection to the planes simply invented by authorities as part of a cover-up of the operation? Or is there another explanation yet to be found? The alleged involvement of ICE in a unilateral counter-narcotics operation in a foreign nation is unusual (though not unprecedented) because DEA is supposed to be the lead U.S. agency in such efforts. ICE, however, generated a major controversy when it ran an operation several years ago targeting the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes (VCF) narco-trafficking organization in Juarez, Mexico. As part of that operation, ICE placed an informant (a former Mexican cop) inside a VCF cell in Juarez and continued the operation even after ICE agents became aware of their informant?s participation in murder. That case, since dubbed the [House of Death][4] resulted in some 12 people being tortured, murdered and buried in the back yard of a house in Juarez ? all in an effort to make a drug case against a VCF lieutenant. As is alleged with the current Mayan Express operation, ICE officials were accused of running the House of Death case unilaterally and going to great lengths to conceal information about their informant and the murders from the Mexican government. ICE public affairs officials in Washington, D.C., failed to reply to several inquiries (by phone and e-mail) from Narco News seeking comment on the alleged Mayan Express operation. Narco News also contacted Steve Robertson, a special agent assigned to DEA public affairs in Washington, D.C., for comment about the allegation that the Gulfstream II jet that crashed in Mexico in late September with some four tons of coke onboard was, in fact, part of an ICE operation. Robertson?s response: > _I can?t confirm or deny that it was an ICE operation ? even if I knew it was the case, and I?m not saying it?s true._ > > _Our Mexico City office is working an investigation on it now. It started after the seizure [the jet crash]. It?s an ongoing investigation._ > > _? It was not a DEA operation. The briefings I?ve gotten is that our investigation started after the seizure._ ##### Out of Control The structure of the Mayan Express operation, as outlined by the DEA sources, puzzles law enforcement officials contacted by Narco News. The operation appears to be playing out in Mexico and Colombia (where the cocaine was picked up) absent any tight law enforcement controls. As a result, the law enforcers agree, any criminal cases that might result from the effort likely could only be pursued once the cocaine entered the United States via an ICE-controlled delivery point, given the laws governing complex international narcotics investigations. The apparent lack of control of the operation south of the U.S. border also raises questions as to how much of the cocaine made its way into the United States unchecked due to the mechanizations of crafty informants and assets involved in the operation or the indifference of federal agents looking to advance a career-boosting case. In the case of the House of Death, the informant actually [smuggled a 100 pounds of marijuana][5] across the U.S. border behind the backs of his ICE handlers, yet ICE continued to use the informant. The bottom line, though, according to the DEA sources who leaked the information to Narco News, is that the real purpose of the Mayan Express operation remains unclear, as does the volume of drugs involved in the operation to date. ##### Spooks at the Levers One proposition that all of the law enforcers who spoke with Narco News agreed on with respect to the Mayan Express is that even if DEA was precluded from participating in the effort, the CIA almost certainly was involved on some level. They say no law enforcement operation is carried out overseas without the CIA lurking in the background. Some U.S. media have reported that the Gulfstream II jet that crashed in Mexico in September is suspected of possible links to the CIA?s terrorist rendition program and that the aircraft made several trips to Guantanamo Bay in years past ? prior to being enlisted as a cocaine transport plane. Confirming that information independently has proven difficult, but Narco News did find a report from a British government agency that lists the Gulfstream II?s registration number (N987SA) among the aircraft registration numbers European investigators were interested in obtaining more information about in relation to a probe into CIA rendition flights. Information on N987SA ? along with a number of other jets ? was released to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in June 2006 by Britain?s Department of Transport. >From the [British agency?s][6] Web site: > _On 7 April the Government published flight plan data received from Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, concerning the movement of certain US aircraft into or out of UK aerodromes since 1 January 2001. This data had previously been released by Eurocontrol to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to assist with its enquiry into allegations of ?extraordinary rendition? flights operating within Europe. It provided information on the aircraft?s type, registration number, date and time of flight, point of origin and destination and recorded user?s name. It did not however contain information about any passengers on board or the purpose of the flight._ > > _Since the disclosure of that initial flight plan data, the Council of Europe?s enquiry broadened to include investigations into a number of additional US registered aircraft. Further flight plan information was therefore sought from Eurocontrol concerning the movement of these newly identified aircraft to and from European aerodromes?._ Attorney Mark Conrad, a former high-level supervisory Customs agent who has an extensive background in the intelligence world, has no problem entertaining a CIA scenario in the Gulfstream II narco-world saga. Though he stresses that he has no knowledge of the Mayan Express operation, Conrad says based on its description, he suspects the CIA could even be running the show. Conrad says in recent years, ICE?s investigative talent has defected in droves from the agency due to Homeland Security?s obsessive focus on what he describes as a ?snatch and grab? mission targeting undocumented immigrants. As a result, he told Narco News: _ > It [the Mayan Express] makes no sense and it makes perfect sense. There probably aren?t six people left at ICE who could put an operation like this together. It could well be a CIA operation working under ICE cover. _ Conrad says such a ?cover? approach is not a crazy conspiracy theory. He adds that when he was with U.S. Customs ? which has since become part of ICE ? the CIA placed one of its agents in Japan with Customs credentials as a cover. Though speculation, such a structure could provide the Agency with the clearance it needed to carry out the operation stateside and a convenient scapegoat if the operation imploded ? along with plenty of plausible deniability. It wouldn?t be the first time that the CIA has been accused of running rough shod over law enforcement priorities. In the early 1990s, the CIA ran a spook mission designed to infiltrate Colombian narco-trafficking groups that resulted in at least a ton of cocaine ? some estimates put the figure much higher ? entering the United States unchecked. The former head of the DEA, Robert Bonner, incensed at the Agency?s actions, which were carried out over DEA?s objections, went on [ national TV][7] at the time and essentially accused the CIA of engaging in drug trafficking. The CIA operation, which was carried out with the assistance of the Venezuelan National Guard, unraveled after U.S. Customs seized a load of the dope in Miami. So, one way to avoid a repeat of that mistake in an operation like the alleged Mayan Express, assuming it is a CIA-run effort, is to use Customs (ICE) as a cover for the operation, one law enforcer suggests. Whatever the Mayan Express is designed to accomplish, the DEA sources who came forward with this information did so because they are convinced that the operation could jeopardize future legitimate law enforcement efforts overseas, but that official Washington will do whatever it can to cover-up the mess. Congress could get to the bottom of these allegations, if it chose to, but the DEA sources contend that the Mayan Express has delivered a can of worms to their doorstep that no one wants to open during this election season. Stay tuned?. [1]: http://www.narconews.com/Issue48/article2919.html [2]: http://www.pgr.gob.mx/prensa/2007/bol07/Nov/b58607.shtm [3]: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/nov/15/jets-st-pete-airport-tied-drug-cartel/?news-breaking [4]: http://www.narconews.com/houseofdeath/ [5]: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2007/4/13/205247/431 [6]: http://www.dft.gov.uk/foi/responses/2006/jun/additionaleurocontrol/ [7]: http://www.csun.edu/coms/ben/news/cia/ven/60m.html URL: http://mostlywater.org/cocaine_jet_crashed_mexico_part_cowboy_government_operation_dea_sources_claim From news at resist.ca Thu Dec 27 18:17:04 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:17:04 -0000 Subject: [news] Planning the War on Immigrants Message-ID: <20071228021704.7820.qmail@resist.ca> Planning the War on Immigrants Tom Barry | December 13, 2007 [http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4816][1] Politics can be an ugly affair, and it doesn't get any uglier than when politicians try to best one another in the politics of hate and scapegoating. That's what is happening in America, as politicians and political candidates at all levels of government join the anti-immigration bandwagon. Meanwhile, immigrants who do the dirtiest work in America are living in fear as they face a generalized immigration crackdown and stepped-up immigration raids. The war against immigrants and immigration is being fought on three main fronts: in Congress, in local and state government, and on the campaign trail. While the anti-immigration movement that is coursing through American politics is beyond the control of any individual or organization, the leading restrictionist policy institutes in Washington are setting the policy agenda of the anti-immigration forces at all levels of U.S. politics. Following their success in stopping a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate that included legalization provisions, immigration restrictionists have rallied around a common strategy: "Attrition through Enforcement." Turning Up the "Heat" on Immigrants "Attrition through enforcement" as a restrictionist framework for immigration reform has been percolating within the anti-immigration institutes in Washington, DC for the last couple of years. But it wasn't until the restrictionist movement beat back proposals for legalization that the strategy has taken hold as a unifying framework for restrictionism in America. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) took the lead in developing this strategic framework. In April 2006 this restrictionist think tank published, "Attrition through Enforcement: A Cost-Effective Strategy to Shrink the Illegal Population," which lays out the main components of a war of attrition against immigrants along with the estimated cost of a multi-front campaign to wear down immigrant residents and dissuade would-be immigrants. CIS analyst Jessica Vaughn opens the report with this observation: "Proponents of mass legalization of the illegal alien population, whether through amnesty or expanded guestworker programs, often justify this radical step by suggesting that the only alternative?a broad campaign to remove illegal aliens by force?is unworkable." "The purpose of attrition through enforcement," according to Vaughn, "is to increase the probability that illegal aliens will return home without the intervention of immigration enforcement agencies. In other words, it encourages voluntary compliance with immigration laws through more robust interior law enforcement." Key components of the war of attrition include: * Eliminating access to jobs through employer verification of Social Security numbers and immigration status. * Ending misuse of Social Security and IRS numbers by immigrants in seeking employment, bank accounts, and driver's licenses, and improved information sharing among key federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, in the effort to identify unauthorized residents. * Increasing federal, state, and local cooperation, particularly among law enforcement agencies. * Reducing visa overstays through better tracking systems. * Stepping up immigration raids. * Passing state and local laws to discourage illegal immigrants from making a home in that area and to make it more difficult for immigrants to conceal their status. CIS predicts that a $2 billion program would over five years substantially reduce immigration flows into the United States while dramatically increasing the one-way flow of immigrants back to their sending communities. According to CIS, the attrition war would require a $400 million annual commitment?"less than 1% of the president's 2007 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security." Without driver's licenses and without work because of employment-centered enforcement, immigrants will leave the country?as many as 1.5 million annually, predicts the CIS study. "A subtle increase in the 'heat' on illegal aliens can be enough to dramatically reduce the scale of the problem within just a few years," says Vaughn. War of Attrition "Attrition through enforcement" represents an aggressive step forward for restrictionism. The "attrition through enforcement" strategy signals the advance of the anti-immigration advocates from defensive and hold-the-line positions to a long-term offensive aimed at definitively taking the battlefield. Tasting the blood of their victory over liberal immigration reform, the restrictionist movement, led by Washington, DC institutes including the Center for Immigration Studies, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and Numbers USA, has opted for a war of attrition as the best strategy for rolling back immigration. The "attrition through enforcement" is a strategic framework that builds on tactical approaches. To counter proposals for legalization, restrictionists successfully argued that any proposals for increased legal immigration?either through legalization or guestworker programs?should not be considered until the borders were secured and current immigration law fully enforced. The "secure borders" and "enforcement first" frameworks for discussing immigration have been largely accepted by politicians of both parties, eliminating approval of any immigration reform initiatives that would address the plight of the 12 million-plus undocumented residents of the United States. Over the past six months, the restrictionists have moved beyond "enforcement first" to the more aggressive "attrition through enforcement" strategy. And the federal government, state government, and Congress seem to be marching in lockstep with the restrictionists as they all harden their anti-immigration posture. Anti-immigration groups are propagating "attrition through enforcement" as the sensible, practical "middle ground" or "third way" in immigration reform. Rather than calling for a costly and morally repugnant mass deportation of millions of immigrants, the restrictionists have united behind a strategy aimed at wearing down the will of immigrants to live and work in the United States. Immigration raids in the interior of the country and imprisonment by immigration officials of those crossing the border illegally combined with pervasive enforcement of the "rule of law" by police and government bureaucrats will slowly but surely drive all undocumented immigrants out of the country. Restrictionists increasingly argue that mass deportation will be unnecessary since an ever-increasing number of immigrants will "self-deport." "Attrition through enforcement" also addresses another weak point in previous restrictionist strategy. Having long demanded that the federal government gain control of the southern border, the restrictionists found that as border control increased more immigrants were staying in the United States, fearing that if they left they would never be able to return. Border control has actually increased the number of undocumented immigrants who have opted for permanent residency. Although still demanding tighter border control with more agents and more fences (virtual and real), restrictionists also have in "attrition through enforcement" what they consider to be a pragmatic and palatable solution to ridding the country of "illegal aliens." Permanent residency in the United States, if this strategy is fully implemented, will become a permanent nightmare. Attrition on the Campaign Trail All the Republican Party candidates have to some degree adopted a restrictionist agenda. Even John McCain, an original sponsor with Sen. Kennedy of comprehensive immigration reform, has said that he now supports an "enforcement first" approach. Fred Thompson won the plaudits of restrictionists when he released his immigration platform, which explicitly adopts the "attrition through enforcement" strategy. According to Thompson, "Attrition through enforcement is a more reasonable and achievable solution [than] the 'false choices' of 'either arrest and deport them all, or give them all amnesty.'" This more "reasonable" solution supported by candidate Thompson includes measures such as denying federal money to states and local governments that provide social services to undocumented residents, and ending federal educational aid to public universities that provide in-state tuition to undocumented residents. FAIR is spearheading the attrition war on the state level, working closely with a new group called State Legislators for Legal Immigration. Formed by right-wing restrictionists in the Pennsylvania state legislature, the group says nothing about legal immigration in its mission statement. Rather, the founders say the group "represents a 21st century Declaration of Independence." "Similar to the American Revolution, the personal and economic safety of Pennsylvanians and all American citizens depends upon definitive action being taken by our federal, state, and local governments to end the ongoing invasion of illegal aliens through our borders," declares the legislators' organization. By turning back this invasion, they say they will protect U.S. citizens from " property theft, drug running, human trafficking, increased violent crime, increased gang activity, terrorism, and the many other clear and present dangers directly associated with illegal immigration." State Legislators for Legal Immigration and FAIR intend to take the war of attrition to every state. According to this restrictionist group, "Once the economic attractions of illegal jobs and taxpayer-funded public benefits are severed at the source, these illegal invaders will have no choice but to go home on their own." FAIR says that the legislators' group "will be teaming up with FAIR to develop state-based initiatives to deal with the national problem of mass illegal immigration." The war of attrition is already leaving a trail of divided communities and split families in its wake. Detentions and deportations are shattering immigrant communities and families as restrictionists applaud and call for ever-harsher measures. It is also ramping up the fear and loathing on the campaign trail. As this war against the country's most vulnerable population deepens, the American people will need to ask themselves if they feel any safer or more secure, if they have more hope to find better-paying jobs, if their neighborhoods and town economies are more or less vibrant as immigrants leave, and if they are proud of themselves and their country. Tom Barry is a senior analyst with the Americas Policy Program ([www.americaspolicy.org][2]) of the Center for International Policy. For More Information See related materials: Which Way Immigration Reform? Toward A Comprehensive Immigration Policy [http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3161][3] Reshaping the Immigration Debate: The Actors and the Issues [http://americas.irc-online.org/am/2959][4] [1]: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4816 (http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4816) [2]: http://www.americaspolicy.org (www.americaspolicy.org) [3]: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3161 (http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3161) [4]: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/2959 (http://americas.irc-online.org/am/2959) URL: http://mostlywater.org/planning_war_immigrants From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 28 11:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] South African Critique of Israel's Apartheid State Message-ID: <20071228191705.15987.qmail@resist.ca> The following is a speech given to the South African Parliament by Minister Ronnie Kasrils, MP, on 6 June 2007: Madam Speaker, Honourable members, this speech is dedicated to the memory of David Rabkin, South African freedom fighter, who died in Angola. Forty years ago this week Israel's military unleashed lightning attacks against Egypt, Jordan and Syria, alleging provocations as justification for its strikes. Within six days the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights had been captured. Apart from the Sinai from which Israel withdrew in 1977, the other areas remain under Israeli military occupation and control to this day. Whilst some justify Israel's actions on the grounds of pre-emptive self-defence, the obverse was the truth. From the horse's mouth we learn whom the aggressor was: Israel's military Chief of Staff, Yitzhak Rabin stated: "I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 [1967] would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it." [1] Menachem Begin, later Israel's Prime Minister, reminisced that the Egyptian army deployment in the Sinai did not prove that Nasser was about to attack Israel. "We must be honest," he explained. "We decided to attack him." [2] General Moshe Dayan explained that "many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked by Israel." He said that the kibbutz residents who pressed the Government to take the Golan Heights ... did so less for the security than for the farmland ..." [3] These are clearly statements of an aggressor. Nevertheless, some claim that Israel is justified and obligated, from its birth as a state in 1948 in fact, to defend its land and people by force whenever necessary. But where is the morality in this? Fortress Israel, a militarist aggressive state, defends a stolen land that belonged to another people. Moshe Dayan unabashedly explained: "Before [the Palestinians'] very eyes we are possessing the land and villages where they, and their ancestors, have lived ... We are the generation of colonizers, and without the gun barrel we cannot plant a tree and build a home." [4] Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, stated in the 1950s: "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: We have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them. Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, its true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis ... but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we came here and stole their country." [5] Such statements contextualise Israel's position and show it has not been interested in real peace terms. In 1897 the founding father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, stated that once in power the aim would be to: "Spirit the penniless population (the Palestinians) across the borders." [6] Therein lies the fundamental cause of the conflict -- lest anyone remains unclear. It stems from the Zionist world view -- its belief in a perpetual anti-Semitism that requires that Jewish people around the world -- a faith group -- should have a national home of their own. The biblical narrative was evoked to proclaim Palestine as the promised land reserved exclusively for God's "chosen people" and their civilizing mission. It sounds all too familiar as a vision the Voortrekkers had in this country. It gives rise to racism, apartheid and a total onslaught on those who stand in your way, whether blacks or Arabs or red Indians. Many Jews do not agree with this Zionist world view, and declare that being anti-Zionism and critical of Israel does not equate with anti-semitism. Far from being a land without people, as Zionist propaganda falsely proclaimed, to attract and justify colonial settlement, the fact was that an indigenous people -- the Palestinians -- lived there, developed agriculture and towns since the Canaanite Kingdom over 5,500 years ago. Indeed a delegation of skeptical Vienna rabbis traveled to the Holy Land in 1898 to assess the Zionist vision and cabled home: "The Bride is indeed beautiful but already married." [7] This did not deter the Zionists who plotted to abduct the bride and murder or expel the groom by whatever means necessary; and then defend what they had stolen at all costs by creating a supremacist Fortress State. That exactly sums up the bloody and tragic history that befell the Palestinian people, and their Arab neighbours, at the hands of a rapacious, expansionist Zionist project that has been the source of war and untold suffering in the Near East for the past sixty years, and is the root cause of the conflict that threatens the entire region and beyond. With the adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan of November, 1947, a Jewish homeland was accorded 56 percent of the territory although they owned only seven percent and were one-third of the population (most of whom had recently arrived as Holocaust refugees from Europe). The Palestinian majority were given 44 percent and were never consulted nor had they anything to do with the abominable suffering of the European Jews. The Zionists accepted partition with alacrity but never intended to honour the decision. According to the Zionist's strategy, which has become public record with the declassification of documents, the intention was to roll-out a systematic reign of terror, massacres, dispossession and expulsion. This drove out the Palestinian population in a horrific episode of ethnic cleansing that saw over 750,000 or two-thirds of the indigenous people at that time becoming penniless refugees, as Herzl had promised. By the 1949 Armistice the Israeli state had expanded to 78 percent of the territory. That was almost 60 years ago. The result of Israel's war of aggression of forty years ago this week, an extension of 1948, saw Israeli military occupation of the remaining 22 percent of the land. The people within the West Bank and Gaza are literally imprisoned under the most unjust conditions suffering hardships and methods of control that are far worse than anything our people faced during the most dreadful days of apartheid. In fact any South African, visiting what amount to enclosed prison-ghettoes -- imposed by a Jewish people that tragically suffered the Nazi Holocaust -- will find similarity with Apartheid immediately coming to mind; and even more shocking, comparisons with some of the methods of collective punishment and control devised under tyrannies elsewhere. An Israeli cabinet Minister, Aharon Cizling, stated in 1948, after the Deir Yassin Massacre: "Now we too have behaved like Nazis and my whole being is shaken." [8] If anyone has any doubt what the 1948 and 1967 wars were about, listen to Ben Gurion who stated in 1938: "after we become a strong force, as the result of the creation of a state, we shall abolish partition and expand into the whole of Palestine." And mark these words of Moshe Dayan: "Our fathers had reached the frontiers which were recognized in the UN Partition Plan of 1947 [56 percent of the land]. Our generation reached the frontiers of 1949 [78 percent of the land]. Now the Six Day Generation [of 1967] has managed to reach Suez, Jordan and the Golan Heights. This is not the end." [9] Indeed the saga of agony for the Palestinians continues, inevitably creating insecurity for Israelis as well; because as we know from our own South African experience -- injustice and repression generates resistance. It is no good blaming the victims when they hit back. The Palestinian people's fate clearly reflects that of South Africa's indigenous majority during the colonial wars of dispossession of land and property, and the harsh discrimination and suffering of the apartheid period classified as a crime against humanity and violation of international humanitarian law. Israel is as guilty as the Apartheid regime. Israel's conquest and occupation, with the latest land grab caused by its monstrous Apartheid Wall and continued construction of the illegal settlements has reduced the West Bank into several disconnected pockets amounting to 12 percent of former Palestine. No wonder that Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Tutu and others compare the situation to Apartheid and the infamous Bantustans -- which gave 13 percent of land for South Africa's indigenous people. This people's Parliament should be unanimous in calling for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories -- lifting the physical, economic and financial blockade and siege of Gaza and the West Bank -- removing the physical impediments to the freedom of movement of Palestinians including the Wall and over 500 check-points - dismantling the illegal settlements -- releasing 10,000 political prisoners (113 women and children amongst them) -- negotiating a just solution with the elected representatives of the Palestinian people and implementing the UN Resolutions, including Resolution 194 of 1948, concerning the Right of Return of the Refugees. These are necessary steps to create lasting peace, justice and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike, reinforced by international guarantees, so they may live in harmony. Since 1988, when Chairman Yasser Arafat and the PLO agreed to accept 22 percent of historic Palestine in the interests of peace they show they have been ready for negotiations. Let us unanimously extend our solidarity and support to the forty-two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, including the Speakers of the West Bank and Gaza, who together with ten Ministers have been summarily detained without trial, most for nearly a year, by the Israeli security forces. This is a shocking illustration of Israel's disrespect for parliamentary democracy, the law and basic human rights so reminiscent of what we suffered under apartheid. We call for their immediate and unconditional release; and all prisoners held by both sides. In support of these demands let us join with the people of our country, and the international community, in the solidarity marches, rallies and demonstrations this week, the 40th anniversary of Israel's unjust occupation. And we make it clear to our Jewish community, these peaceful and disciplined actions, are aimed solely at that government. The struggle for freedom and justice is against a system and not a people. Let me conclude with the words of President Mandela, who declared in 1998 during the visit to South Africa by Chairman Yasser Arafat: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians." [10] Endnotes [1] David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch [2] Naom Chomsky, The Fateful Triangle [3] New York Times, 11 May 1977 [4] Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel [5] Nathan Goldman, The Jewish Paradox [6] The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, Vol 1, p 86 [7] Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall [8] Tom Seger, The First Israelis [9] London Times, 25 June 1969 [10] Speech by Nelson Mandela at the Banquet in Honour of President Yasser Arafat of Palestine on 11 August 1998 URL: http://mostlywater.org/south_african_critique_israels_apartheid_state From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 28 17:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] Bhutto Murdered: Pakistan Stares Into the Abyss Message-ID: <20071229011706.19159.qmail@resist.ca> by China Hand on [http://chinamatters.blogspot.com/][1] ![Bhutto][2]**Bhutto**Beyond the immediate tragedy of Benazir Bhutto?s death by violence in Rawalpindi, the greater tragedy for Pakistan is that the opportunity for a peaceful transfer of power?one that did not involve assassination, judicial murder, or legal vendetta?has been lost. What was going to happen after January 8 parliamentary elections was probably not going to be fair, democratic, or ungrudging, but the consensual shoehorning of some combination of Bhutto and elements of Sharif?s PML-N into Pakistan?s governing arrangement seemed imminent. Now these hopes have been dashed, brutally and seemingly totally. And at a stroke, the assassination has revealed how rickety the U.S. brokered deal to elevate her into the prime ministership was, and, more importantly, displayed frailties and fissures at the heart of Pakistan?s political institutions and civil society. Bhutto?s PPP was a one-woman show and her violent removal from Pakistan?s political scene was a contingency that the United States apparently failed to plan for. Bhutto left no obvious successor. Now her supporters, with their expectations and anger, have been cut adrift. Dawn reports: Intense violence was reported from all parts of Sindh, especially Karachi and Larkana, Ms Bhutto?s hometown. Fear and chaos ruled Karachi after news spread about Ms Bhutto?s death. The ensuing violence in the Sindh metropolis claimed at least five lives while more than 150 vehicles, some petrol pumps and a hospital were set ablaze. The city descended into anarchy as armed mobs came out in the streets, to be joined later by gangsters, holding up panicked people stuck in traffic jams on major roads. The traffic came to a standstill after hundreds of thousands of people, anticipating violence, fled their offices and sought to reach their homes. Law-enforcers were nowhere to be seen. As fearful citizens made calls to inquire about the safety of their friends and family and learn about the traffic situation, the telecommunications networks jammed because of overloading. This sparked off rumours, further fuelling panic and the sense of insecurity. Bereft of their leader, the commitment of the foot soldiers of the PPP to Pakistani democracy is now open to question. Beneath the anguished rioting is also a disturbing undercurrent of Sindh separatism (the province of Sindh was Bhutto?s homeland and her political stronghold). The fatal deficiencies of ability and/or will displayed by Musharraf?s military-backed government in protecting the democratic parties, their leaders, and the process itself are now a matter of dismayed speculation. And beneath it all is the horrified realization that Pakistan?s fragile democratic processes are nakedly vulnerable to attack not only by extremist Islamist forces. That Pakistan?s democratic process could apparently unravel so quickly with the death of one person gives a sense that Pakistan?s democratic process is so weak, so compromised, and so mismanaged that its basic viability as a vehicle for national unity and civil society is called into question. That weakness is not only fueling Islamist extremism. It?s also fueling radicalism and separatism. And disillusionment with democracy. That, I think, accounts for the deep dismay, indeed fear, expressed in the English-language Pakistani media even by people who were no fans of Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani journalist Adil Najam wrote on his influential blog All Things Pakistan: I, like most Pakistanis, am still too numb with shock and grief to think coherently about what has happened or what the implications of this are for the country and for the world. But this I know, whether you agreed with her political positions or not you cannot but be in shock. Even as I type these lines I am literally shaking. Aftab Khan Sherpao, who broke with Bhutto to set up his own political faction, was quoted by Dawn as follows: Asked if elections would be possible in such circumstances, the former two-time chief minister of the NWFP said, ?I don?t think so. This (Ms Bhutto?s death) will lead to more violence and beneficiaries of destabilization would join in.? Pakistan was expecting that an unconstitutional backroom deal brokered by the United States with the acquiescence of a politically crippled president would somehow survive its way through the sausage grinder of opposition by the secular judiciary, the intelligence services, and Islamist forces, wind its way through an opaque, rigged parliamentary process, survive whatever street demonstrations got thrown at it, and emerge as a new, viable Pakistani polity. Maybe that was hoping for too much. Maybe Pakistan?s democrats realize that now. Pakistan will survive. But its democratic aspirations may not be so lucky. People have been eager to point the finger at Musharraf and/or the intelligence services for conniving in Bhutto?s assassination. I?m more inclined toward General Zinni?s take, which is that extremist Islamist elements wanted to put paid both to an American client and to Pakistani secular democracy, and create a crisis which would boost the strategic fortunes of groups like al Qaeda. For Musharraf personally, the assassination looks like a disaster. At best he looks like a mug, at worst a murderer, in any case a like a lousy president in a country grappling with a national crisis. Nawaz Sharif, now Pakistan?s leading opposition politician, has already called on Musharraf to resign and that could easily turn into the price that Pakistan?s military is willing to pay to ratchet down the domestic crisis. It?s impossible to divine what calculations go on in the black heart of Pakistan?s intelligence services, and they are doubtless not shedding any tears over the death of Bhutto. But their future actions may provide some clues as to their complicity?and their commitment to Pakistan?s civil society and willingness to engage with and accommodate democratic forces. In the coming days, an important indicator will be whether the intelligence services and the army decide to take seriously this affront to their pretensions as stewards of Pakistan?s security. Also, if they do decide to do more than incarcerate some symbolic offenders in an attempt to appease domestic and international opinion, it will be interesting to see whether Pakistan?s soldiers and spooks can exploit their close relationship with Islamist groups to punish the offenders against Pakistan?s law, order, and society, and at the same time thread the needle between law enforcement, suppression, and oppression more successfully than the United States has done in that part of the world. As for Nawaz Sharif, with his main rival, Benazir Bhutto, out of the way, it remains to be seen if he can successfully negotiate the now-empty tightrope of Pakistan?s opposition politics to political?and personal?survival. He?d better not stare down at the abyss beneath his feet. [1]: http://chinamatters.blogspot.com/ (http://chinamatters.blogspot.com/) [2]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/bhutto.jpg (Bhutto) URL: http://mostlywater.org/bhutto_murdered_pakistan_stares_abyss From news at resist.ca Fri Dec 28 19:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 03:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] Native Residential School Activist, Nora Bernard, Found Dead Message-ID: <20071229031705.18619.qmail@resist.ca> CTV.ca News ![][1]The woman behind the landmark lawsuit for residential school survivors died Thursday in what police are calling a "suspicious death." "Police were called to a home in Millbrook First Nation, near Truro, N.S., shortly before 3 a.m. and found the body of a 72-year-old woman. While police have not confirmed her identity, friends and family identified the woman as Nora Bernard. Bernard was the native activist who spearheaded the class action lawsuit against the federal government. The lawsuit sought compensation for loss of language and culture on behalf of nearly 80,000 residential school children who suffered physical and sexual abuse in residential schools from the 1870s to the 1970s. The successful suit could be more than $5 billion and is believed to be the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history. Police have not determined the cause of death but described the circumstances as "suspicious." They spent most of the day securing a warrant to search the house she was found in. On Thursday, Bernard's daughter, Leanna MacLeod, said the community had lost a "piece of our family puzzle." "My mother was a fighter -- for somebody to go up against the government and not to back down," MacLeod told CTV Atlantic on Thursday. "It wasn't to be disrespectful. It was to bring the truth about, and that's what she did. She accomplished something that a lot of people only wish they could." Halifax lawyer John McKiggan said Bernard was determined and single-handedly made the settlement happen. "Nora would not take no for an answer. And it was only after 12 years of fighting that Nora and the other survivors across Canada were finally proven right," McKiggan said. Forensic investigators were at the house most of the day and police dogs searched the surrounding area. Sgt. Randy MacKenzie said they were preparing to handle the case as a murder. "If the cause and manner of death is determined to be criminal, then certainly we will have to lead the investigation in that manner," said MacKenzie. With a report from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh" [CTV News][2] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/bernard++nora.jpg () [2]: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20071227%2factivist_death_071227 URL: http://mostlywater.org/native_residential_school_activist_nora_bernard_found_dead From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 29 17:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] [VIDEO] Anarchist Action Figure hits San Francisco Message-ID: <20071230011705.13358.qmail@resist.ca> ![][1]Anarchist action figures were shop dropped at Target and Wal-Mart stores across San Francisco, waiting for unsuspecting consumers to pick them up this holiday season. ?When better than Christmas to make a point about hyper-consumerism?? Jennings asked the New York Times in a recent interview. A stereotype to the max, his plastic black block buddy sports a gas mask, bolt cutters, a gerry can of petrol and two Molotov cocktails. And did I mention he looks very, very angry? You can watch the confusion as cashiers attempt to ring in the toy, as Jennings sticks around and videotapes the interaction. Check out more photos and video at Packard Jennings' website. [http://centennialsociety.com/anarchist/anarchistfigure.html][2] [1]: http://mostlywater.org/system/files/images/anarchist+doll.preview.jpg () [2]: http://centennialsociety.com/anarchist/anarchistfigure.html (http://centennialsociety.com/anarchist/anarchistfigure.html) URL: http://mostlywater.org/anarchist_action_figure_hits_san_francisco From news at resist.ca Sat Dec 29 17:17:05 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:17:05 -0000 Subject: [news] [VIDEO] Solomon Criticizes CNN... on CNN Message-ID: <20071230011705.13359.qmail@resist.ca> Brasscheck TV Glenn Beck - Professional Jackass Every now and then we win. [http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/240.html][1] CNN - and in this pointed case, Glenn Beck - likes to paint itself as a reliable, unbiased source of news. For an "unbiased source" they do seem to have tremendous enthusiasm for promoting wars. Could that have anything to do with the fact that Lockheed Martin pays its bills? Media analyst Norman Solomon sucker punches professional jackass Glenn Beck with the facts. Watch Beck squirm. What I wouldn't pay to hear the transmission from the control room to Beck's head phones as the news director - those nameless invisible creeps who control what we see on TV news - tries impotently to blunt Solomon's point. This is probably the last time Norman Solomon will appear live on CNN, but I say it was worth it. Watch it, enjoy it and pass it on. The truth made it to TV...for a few minutes as least. [1]: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/240.html (http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/240.html) URL: http://mostlywater.org/video_solomon_criticizes_cnn_cnn From news at resist.ca Sun Dec 30 00:17:10 2007 From: news at resist.ca (Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:17:10 -0000 Subject: [news] KBIC Tribe, Others Sue to Stop Michigan Acid Mine Message-ID: <20071230081712.15924.qmail@resist.ca> **An Upper Peninsula American Indian tribe and several other groups are trying to stop the state-sanctioned rape and pillage of Michigan's northern wilderness by an uncaring mining company and it's minions. ** The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) strongly opposes the "acid mine" on the Yellow Dog Plains because sulfide mining tramples ceded territorial rights and the treaties of 1842 and 1856. ![feather graphic][1] ![NA Cliff carving][2] **The mine is being built not far from the natural depiction of a Native American - that the winds and waves of Lake Superior carved into the cliffs of Presque Isle below the grave of northern Michigan?s most famous American Indian Chief Charles Kawbawgam, last Chief of the Chippewa.**** While sulfuric acid may soon drip like tears from the eyes of this mysterious carving, the real Chief Kawbawgam would undoubtedly be leading the fight against the mine if not for his death about 105 years ago. ** --- ![who needs clean water][3] The state of Michigan gave the Upper Peninsula the worst of all possible Christmas gifts promising unimaginable environmental damage - in exchange for a handful of jobs and the threat of even more sulfide "acid" mining to be followed by uranium. Continuing their valiant fight for northern Michigan?s valuable wilderness, environmentalists and Native Americans have sued the state to prevent the mine from opening. Northern Michigan trout, salmon, deer, bear and other wildlife can not speak for themselves, so it's up to the people to save the woods, streams and lakes of northern Michigan. ![walking wolves][4] ![how could you say the trout][5] **Upper Peninsula turned into Land of Kennecott - short-timers who will pillage our minerals, leave behind an enviro-graveyard - and move their shovels from county to county until most remaining pristine areas of the U.P. are reminiscent of Love Canal or the mining ruins of West Virginia.** It?s pockets full of cash from other environmental savagery, Kennecott Minerals successfully lured the state down a road of environmental ruin. At issue is a controversial nickel-copper mine between Marquette and Big Bay with six new mine sites proposed within 50 miles of the Eagle Project - and that?s just the beginning. ![running wolves follow your instinct][6] ![Mqt mine protest 12-17-07][7] **Those who oppose the "acid mine" protested on Dec. 17, 2007 in front of the federal courthouse in Marquette, MI. ** **(Marquette Mine Protest Rally Photos by Earth Keeper Gail Griffith, Save the Wild UP (SWUP) board member)** ![mqt mine protest 12-17-07][8] You see, the international mining giant will be long gone in 7 years or less - after creating less than 100 short-term jobs - and local residents will be left with a huge stain (at best) - and possibly a ruined trout stream feeding a soiled Lake Superior. **The Great 2008 Betrayal: 2008 will be year of Great Betrayal of Michigan northwoods unless lawsuits prevail or mines stopped by those with the power** ![fishing no great graphic by greg][9] The ink was barely dry on the promised suit when the owners of the "acid mine" admitted what had been feared all along: similar mines will be popping up like mushrooms in all corners of the U.P. - again trading short-term gain for tourism and recreation. Many residents call the project an "acid" mine because one of its nasty byproducts is sulfuric acid when the ore hits the air. ![acid mine vital grandpa said][10] ![how will you be remembered][11] Just as our railroads and other areas are covered in iron ore pellets - much of the Yellow Dogs Plains near Lake Superior will be covered with acid or other dubious mining leftovers. At least our iron ore mines are open for a century or more and create thousands of jobs. ![Daddy hate us graphic][12] **Did state watchdogs eat bad mushrooms?: Acid, Uranium Mines to spring up like mushrooms across northern Michigan wilderness** ![acid lie graphic][13] **The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality - and democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm - betrayed the people of the Upper Peninsula in mid-December by issuing three permits that will allow the opening of an "acid" mine by the Kennecott Minerals Company.** **This time next year northern Michigan?s pristine snow will be mixed with sulfuric acid.** **The state?s top environmental watchdog - the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (aka Quitters) - bites the hands that feeds her - tourism!** "Environmental quality" is in the name of the MDEQ - the top state watchdog for Michigan?s gorgeous Upper Pensinula. The agency should be stripped of that name. **How about - MDEQ - Michigan Department of Environmental Quitters?** That way the MDEQ wouldn?t have to change the towels that will soak up the lifeblood of the U.P. - tourism. **Protect the Upper Peninsula and our:** ![revolving world][14] **Fighting the good fight: KBIC and environmental groups joined by descendants of America's Industrial Revolution** ![kbic graphic][15] ![SWUP Logo][16] ![NWE Logo:][17] **The lawsuit was filed by National Wildlife Federation, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the Huron Mountain Club and the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve.** **Thank you to these groups for taking this fight to a judge.** **I recently criticized the ultra-exclusive, pro-business and secretive Huron Mountain Club for not joining the fight as the "acid mine" will lay at its doorsteps.** **For joining the lawsuit - I must now say kudos to the Huron Mountain Club (circa 1890) - a private club built by those who led America's Industrial Revolution - that owns 13,000 protected acres including one of the largest tracts of primeval forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.** ![map of Huron Mountain area][18] ![][19] ![Hurom Mountain enviro research][20] **Thank you to these groups for taking this fight to a judge.** **Anatomy of a Murder: Part Two - Site of famous northern Michigan film will be site of mass murder of environment** ![Anatomy of a murder part duex][21] **"Have you left no sense of decency?"** A movie filmed near the location of the planned "acid mine" even has ties to this country's fight against tyranny We hope the Michigan judge, who could stop this "acid mine," has the common sense of another jurist - Joseph N. Welch - a judge on the screen and later in real life - who was portrayed in the famous 1959 movie by Otto Preminger entitled "Anatomy of a Murder" filmed near the site of this mine. The movie was based on a best selling novel written by written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice and avid trout fisherman John D. Voelker using the pen name Robert Traver. A fisherman's fisherman, Voelker spent most of his life wandering the pristine trout streams of the Upper peninsula - and in a sad irony this mine will dig beneath a prime trout stream that feeds Lake Superior. ![Mine like other tyranny in America:][22] **Welch - who was a judge in real life and portrayed an outspoken judge in "An Anatomy of a Murder" - was the lawyer who defended the U.S. Army against Senator Joseph McCarthy during his 1954 anti-communist witch hunt.** Welch uttered the following famous words - that could be used today to describe the people who are allowing this "acid mine" to proceed at lightening speed: **Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"** **You can bet the late Judges Voelker and Welch would not let this mine open - and would note its tyranny upon the U.P. wildlife, forests and streams is not unlike the scourage of the McCarthy hearings.** **Amen !** **Native Americans and the environment groups are livid that Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott, is now targeting six other U.P. sites for mines.** **"We had long suspected that this was merely the first in a series of new mines, but hiding that information until after the MDEQ approval was announced is certainly contrary to the 'good neighbor' image Kennecott has sought to portray," said Michelle Halley, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation and the other co-petitioners** **"Whether they knew it or not, the MDEQ and the Governor have egg on their faces,? Halley said.** MDEQ, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm lay with mongrels whose plans will ruin Yellow Dog Plains and tourism The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality could also stop the project - but right now those who care about the future of the U.P. are hoping a judge will have more common sense that the state of Michigan and our illustrious governor who did nothing to fight the project. Shame on the MDEQ and Governor Granholm - but there is still time for the state?s top democrat to be a hero. Kennecott Minerals is hoping to start construction on the mine in January 2008 - but it's awaiting approval of two permits from the Department of Natural Resources. ![Gov Granholm Pix][23] Disturbing questions: Why has Governor Granholm kept quiet on the project? At best, the answer is she is leading a state in the midst of a severe financial crisis - but common sense dictates the effects of these acid and uranium mines will far outweigh any short term gain. ![Salmon Trout River pix by Jackie][24] **The mine will dig below the Salmon-Trout River - a prstine fishing stream - and some think it will collapse - mixing aicd, other pollution, and clean water.** **That pollution will then quickly end up in Lake Superior - and down the chain of Great lakes.** **Photo by Jackie Donoho, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery** So I ask again - why is Governor Granholm keeping tight lipped when we need her the most? **Green money means more to the government and media watchdogs than the lush green forests** Why is many members of the northern Michigan media not doing investigative reports on the company, it?s history and the effects of other Kennecott operations across the gloge. And why is the majority of the media not writing strong editorials opposing the ill-advised project. **Could it be the tons of advertising dollars?** **Most of U.P. media fail as watchdogs: Editors of good heart - please take a firm stance against this sulfide mine and join this fight against our acidic future** Why have Marquette?s business leaders gone along with the project betraying their forefathers who founded the U.P. and are undoubtedly spinning in their soon-to-be acid soaked graves? Again, could the green of money be outweighing the burnt orange color that the rivers will turn? It boggles the mind that U.P. business leaders can betray their own grandchildren - and that Michigan Governor is willing to leave a legacy of destroying the Upper Peninsula. ![Mqt Mining Protest Quad][25] **Marquette Mine Protest Rally Photos by Earth Keeper Gail Griffith, Save the Wild UP (SWUP) board member** **A plea to actor/director Jeff Daniels: Please film a sequel to Scrooge here and bring the ghosts of Christmas past and future to bear on those who ignore the acid mine effects on our wildlife** I am also disappointed in actor/director Jeff Daniels - who has made U.P. movies and supported local theatres - but has also remained quiet on the aicd mine and is not trying to stop this project. ![actor jeff daniels pix][26] I beg these business leaders, Governor Granholm and Mr. Daniels to look deep into their hearts - the time is now to step forward and stop this looming disaster. While a real life sequel to the famous movie Anatomy of Murder is being played out in real life here in northern Michigan - maybe Mr. Daniels could film the sequel to another movie classic. **If only the sequel of Scrooge could be filmed here - and have the ghosts of Christmas past and Christmas future scare some sense into these people.** The Great Burnt-Orange North: an acid and uranium mine is coming to the wilderness theatre near you! Other possible future movie titles if the mines are not stopped: ** Pirates of the Yooperland: Northern Carribean turned into acid sea **** It?s a Terrible Life - in the once wonderful U.P.: Those responsible for this environmental disaster should all jump off the nearest bridge. **** The Sound of Murder: Acid mine is music to ears of greedy, short-sighted. **** Gone with the Whim: Acid winds blow across yooperland, Marquette is burning. **** To Kill a Mockingbird - and the rest of wildlife. That?s why we mock Kennecott - the great killing bird. **** Wizard of Odds: U.P. biz leaders gamble with northern Michigan?s future **** Mines, fines, and big-fat-heels: Planes, trains and Automobiles built with northern Michigan iron ore - fish, deer and bears pre-cooked in acid. ** --- If you have an idea for a sequel to northern Michigan?s cinema legacy - let me know. **Great White North to become Borealis version of West Virginia: The Great Burnt-Orange North will be the new name** ![Tell your grandchildren what?][27] ![Grandpa ruined our future][28] **In closing - while I do believe there is still a glimmer of hope - I recommend anyone who has ever thought about visiting the pristine Upper Peninsula had better do it quickly.** **Because - unless we are saved by the MDNR, the EPA, a judge - in the next few months northern Michigan will become the West Virginia of the Great White North.** **![Chiefs head][29]** ![iron eyes cody][30] **The state-sanctioned destruction of pristine northern Michigan wilderness - that the KBIC tribe says violates land treaties - brings to mind this famous photo of the "Crying Indian" - and the tears of "Iron Eyes Cody" - who was not Native American but lived his life dedicated to American Indian causes, adopted two American Indian children and was married to a First Nations woman.**** The historic Keep America Beautiful public service announcement - entitled "People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It" - mesmerized TV audiences after it first aired on Earth Day 1971. More than any other commercial - the ad helped ad momentum to the newly-launched environmental movement. Many Native Americans - and other U.P. residents are weeping real tears as they are being betrayed for the sake of a the almighty dollar. ![Mqt Mining Protest quad][31] Abovce Marquette Mine Protest Rally Photos by Earth Keeper Gail Griffith, Save the Wild UP (SWUP) board member; photo below courtesy Save the Wild UP. ![SWUP protest rally photo][32] ** [1]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/nativedreamcatcher10.gif [2]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/8LakeTrout184b.jpg [3]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ItsOKTommyWhoneedscleanwateranyway1.jpg [4]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/92c12838494c4b1ba7885895746c1172.gif [5]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Howcouldyou2.jpg [6]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/7c6bde66b128faca4e82babb5e72c063ecd.gif [7]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Anti-KennecottrallyDec16070133.jpg [8]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Anti-Kennecottrallyd.jpg [9]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ItsOKTommy2.jpg [10]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ItsOKTommy1.jpg [11]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/AcidMiineSupporters1.jpg [12]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Diddaddyhateuswhenhebuiltthatacidmi.jpg [13]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/GreatAcidLie1.jpg [14]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/earth1.gif [15]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/eagleojibwagraphic.jpg [16]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/SaveWildUPlogo1.gif [17]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ntlwildlifefed.gif [18]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/huronmtnclub4-1.gif [19]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/huronmtnclub1-1.jpg [20]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/huronmtnclub2.gif [21]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/anatomyofamurderpt2graphic.jpg [22]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/welchneeded.jpg [23]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Granholmpix-1.jpg [24]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/SalmonRiverJackieDonoho5.jpg [25]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/collage-3.jpg [26]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/still-JeffDaniels.jpg [27]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Whatwillyoutellyourgrandchildren1.jpg [28]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Whydidgrandparuinourfuture2.jpg [29]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ChiefsHead2fromphoto183.jpg [30]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/ironeyescody5.jpg [31]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/collage1-4.jpg [32]: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/Anti-Kennecottrallyb.jpg URL: http://mostlywater.org/kbic_tribe_others_sue_stop_michigan_acid_mine_have_you_left_no_sense_decency